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Fw: Notification of Public Comment Period on Beech Ridge Wind Power Permit
by Frank Young 17 Aug '12

17 Aug '12

----- Original Message ----- From: Laura_Hill(a)fws.gov To: Laura_Hill(a)fws.gov Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 11:25 AM Subject: Notification of Public Comment Period on Beech Ridge Wind Power Permit The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the availability of a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), application for an Endangered Species Act incidental take permit, and associated habitat conservation plan (HCP) from Beech Ridge Energy, LLC for the Beech Ridge Wind Power Project in Greenbrier and Nicholas Counties, West Virginia. We welcome comments on the draft HCP and DEIS prior to making a final decision on the application for a permit. If approved, the permit would authorize take of endangered Indiana and Virginia big-eared bats associated with construction, operation, and decommissioning of the project. The 60-day comment period opens on August 24, 2012 and closes on October 23, 2012. Please see the attached letter for additional details on how to access documents and submit comments. As a courtesy to those concerned about release of personal e-mail addresses, I have used the blind carbon copy (bcc) feature of e-mail to send this notice so that e-mail addresses of individuals on the mailing list can not be seen by others. Please be aware that if you submit a comment via http://www/regulations.gov, your entire comment--including any personal identifying information--will be posted on the Web site. We will post all hard copy comments sent by U.S. mail on www.regulations.gov as well. If you submit a hard copy comment that includes personal identifying information, you may request that we withhold this information from public view. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. (See attached file: dear intersted party letter DEIS.pdf) _________________________ Laura Hill Assistant Field Supervisor West Virginia Field Office U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 694 Beverly Pike Elkins, WV 26241 e-mail: Laura_Hill(a)fws.gov Phone: (304) 636-6586, ext. 18 FAX: (304) 636-7824

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Fwd: Fw: Update on New Coal Ash Bill & Call for Grassroots Engagement Monday August 13 at 3p EST
by Paul Wilson 09 Aug '12

09 Aug '12

incase you are not on the COAL-ALERTS listserve. fyi,paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Verena Owen <verena_owen(a)prodigy.net> Date: Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 3:28 PM Subject: Fw: Update on New Coal Ash Bill & Call for Grassroots Engagement Monday August 13 at 3p EST To: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS(a)lists.sierraclub.org If you want to know more about "coal ash bill", please join the call on Monday. Details below. Verena ______________________________________________________________ Earlier this month, Senators Conrad, Hoeven, and Baucus introduced a coal ash bill. While this bill is being touted as a compromise on previous coal ash legislation, the changes made are minor and the bill fails to protect our communities' health and our environment. Earthjustice and Sierra Club will be organizing a conference call to discuss the new bill, the political landscape and grassroots action. We hope you will join us for this discussion. Also feel free to forward this information onto any coalition partners or affected citizens who would be interested (please no reporters). If you want to stay up to date on the latest happenings on coal ash, please feel free to email Dalal at dalal.aboulhosn(a)sierraclub.org to join the Coal Ash Listserv. WHEN: Monday, August 13th at 3pm- 4pm EST PHONE: 866.501.6174 passcode - 224.9.224 AGENDA: Failures of New Coal Ash Bill - Lisa Evans, Earthjustice (7 mins) Political Landscape - Dalal Aboulhosn, Sierra Club (7 mins) Grassroots Involvement - Andrea Delgado, Earthjustice (7 mins) Open to Questions/Discussion (40 mins) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS list, send any message to: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/ -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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Fw: Nuclear Energy Liscencing on hold!!
by Frank Young 09 Aug '12

09 Aug '12

----- Original Message ----- From: cindy rank To: WVHCBOARD(a)yahoogroups.com ; WVEC Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 9:51 AM Subject: [WVHCBOARD] Fwd: [issues] Nuclear Energy Liscencing on hold!! FYI --- cindy r. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <lec(a)wildvirginia.org> Date: Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 9:10 AM Subject: [issues] Nuclear Energy Liscencing on hold!! To: issues(a)heartwood.org Great News all around, especially here in VA with the 2 impending Mineral/North Anna reactors now on hold...thanks to Lou Zeller, BREDL and everyone working so hard on this on this! http://ens-newswire.com/?p=47633 U.S. Freezes All Nuclear Power Plant Licensing Decisions Posted by News Editor in Energy, Latest News, RSS on August 7, 2012 4:53 pm / no comments WASHINGTON, DC, August 7, 2012 (ENS) – Federal nuclear regulators today froze at least 19 final reactor licensing decisions in response to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that spent nuclear fuel stored on-site at nuclear power plants “poses a dangerous, long-term health and environmental risk.” In its ruling, the appeals court invalidated the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 2010 updates to the Waste Confidence Rule and also the Temporary Storage Rule and directed the commission to fully comply with federal law. In response, the NRC today put a hold on nine construction and operating licenses, eight license renewals, one operating license, and one early site permit. The court noted that, after decades of failure to site a permanent geologic repository, including 20 years of working on the now-abandoned Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, the NRC “has no long-term plan other than hoping for a geologic repository.” Therefore, it is possible that spent fuel will be stored at reactor sites “on a permanent basis,” the court said. In its order today, the five-member NRC said, “Waste confidence undergirds .... ... ... In hailing the NRC action in a statement today, the groups said that most of the 19 reactor projects are already “essentially sidetracked by the huge problems facing the nuclear industry, including an inability to control runaway costs, and the availability of far less expensive energy alternatives.” .... ...[and more at the main link above...] __._,_.___Reply via web post Reply to sender Reply to group Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: Visit Your Group Working since 1967 for the conservation and wise management of West Virginia's natural resources Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use • Send us Feedback . __,_._,___

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fyi
by Elizabeth Little 08 Aug '12

08 Aug '12

http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127

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Fwd: [CLEAR] Stop the Frack Attack
by James Kotcon 01 Aug '12

01 Aug '12

>>> Duane <duane330(a)aol.com> 7/31/2012 12:50 AM >>> Water is Life . .. ... .... ..... KEEP IT CLEAN. stop the frack attack 7-28-12

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NYTimes.com: Dot Earth: University of Texas Will Review Gas Study After Conflict Questions Raised
by william.depaulo＠gmail.com 31 Jul '12

31 Jul '12

This page was sent to you by: william.depaulo(a)gmail.com. Dot Earth: University of Texas Will Review Gas Study After Conflict Questions Raised http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/university-of-texas-will-revie… ---------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL This e-mail was sent to you by a friend through NYTimes.com's E-mail This Article service. For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Copyright 2012 The New York Times Company

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from ScienceDaily e-newsletter: One in five streams damaged by mine pollution in southern West Virginia
by Paul Wilson 31 Jul '12

31 Jul '12

One in five streams damaged by mine pollution in southern West Virginia<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/86w…> Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:50 PM PDT Water pollution from surface coal mining has degraded more than 22 percent of streams and rivers in southern West Virginia to the point they may now qualify as impaired under state criteria, according to a new study. -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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Fwd: WVNS story: With Coal Down, Future Fund Idea Draws More Attention
by Paul Wilson 23 Jul '12

23 Jul '12

fyi, paul w. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <wvns(a)newsservice.org> Date: Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 3:17 AM Subject: WVNS story: With Coal Down, Future Fund Idea Draws More Attention To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> With Coal Down, Future Fund Idea Draws More Attention Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27552-1 Join the discussion: facebook.com/PublicNewsService<http://www.facebook.com/PublicNewsService> Twitter: @pns_news <http://twitter.com/#!/pns_news> @pns_WV<http://twitter.com/#!/pns_WV> Google+: plus.to/publicnewsservice <http://plus.google.com/106260479325451709866> (07/23/12) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - With Appalachian coal production down, more policymakers are looking at setting aside a portion of severance taxes in a future fund to help coalfield communities adjust. Sen. Jay Rockefeller says the state urgently needs to diversify, and one good step is a future fund supported by severance taxes. Rockefeller wants to bring more manufacturing to southern West Virginia and says a future fund could help. Or, he says, it could research ways to make coal itself more viable. "The future can be manufacturing or the future can be clean coal. Not just alternative economic development, but it also could go to research on the technology which could make coal cleaner." Many coal seams in West Virginia are thinning out, and many utilities are replacing coal with cheap natural gas. According to a new report from the Central Appalachian Regional Network<http://www.carnnet.org>, states here could have tens of millions of dollars a year to invest in diversifying their economies if they set aside just 1 percent of severance tax revenues. Report co-author Roy Silver says the future fund should let the principal build up untouched, while states spend the interest. That way, he says, the states get the benefit of the natural resource, even after it's gone. "You draw down on the interest and the principal remains there, even beyond the time where, let's say, there's no coal being produced in an area." Silver, a professor of sociology at Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College, says if West Virginia put 1 percent of severance tax revenue in the future fund, fairly quickly millions of dollars would be available for things like workforce retraining in communities hit by the low demand for coal. "By 2015, the end-of-year principal balance would be $358 million. You'd have an interest generated of $31 million." During the last session, the state legislature voted to study the future fund. More information about the report can be found at the CARN website, www.carnnet.org. Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27552-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27552-1> --- To be removed from this list please send an e-mail to remove(a)publicnewsservice.org <remove(a)publicnewsservice.org?subject=remove>and put the word "remove" in the subject line. -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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Fwd: Ban fracking in California
by Paul Wilson 22 Jul '12

22 Jul '12

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Dow <ddow420(a)comcast.net> Date: Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 7:08 AM Subject: Fwd: Ban fracking in California fyi- an interesting policy decision on fracking by the Club's Board of Directors. I am not aware of any fracking programs in New England, but we certainly have members concerned about this issue (especially renewable energy activists) Begin forwarded message: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Barbara Williams <barbwill(a)comcast.net> Date: Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 8:55 PM Subject: Re: Ban fracking in California To: CONS-CNRCC-WATER-COMM(a)lists.sierraclub.org Patricia.....Just an FYI.....A board decision just came down and Sierra Club does NOT support statewide bans......here is the text of the decision.......Barb To: CCL Delegates, Chapter Leaders who responded to natural gas to Clean Energy Survey From: Allison Chin, President, and Dave Scott, Vice President of Board of Directors Re: Board decision on CCL resolution to allow chapters to support statewide bans on hydrofracking *This memo is to inform you that on June 21st the Board voted to reaffirm its standing 2011 energy resources policy on hydrofracking for natural gas and declined to amend it to allow individual chapters to be granted exemptions to advocate for statewide bans.* The vote was 8-3 with 2 abstentions, 1 absence, and the President not voting. Under existing policy chapters will continue to be allowed to call for statewide or local moratoria on fracking until strict safeguards are put in place. Chapters may also continue to call for site specific bans in environmentally sensitive areas and communities. What is not permitted is to advocate in the name of the Sierra Club for permanent bans on hydrofracking at the statewide level. The Board relied on a task force composed of staff and volunteers to gather detailed information from chapters on the pros and cons of statewide fracking bans and to examine the advisability and feasibility of adopting a Clean Energy Option . After reviewing the task force report the Board decided to stick with its national policy and not to allow chapters to vary from it. *Background* The Council of Club Leaders passed a resolution in September, 2011, asking the Board of Directors to authorize individual chapters to endorse statewide bans on hydrofracking. The Natural Gas Reform Campaign Leadership Team (now Beyond Natural Gas Leadership Team) prepared a memo listing pros and cons of allowing chapters to advocate for statewide bans. It made no recommendation. The Beyond Coal Campaign Leadership Team submitted comments arguing against granting authority to push for statewide bans. A team of staff drafted a compromise proposal suggesting that chapter requests for statewide bans should only be approved if the petitioning chapter was able to develop a plausible and aggressive plan that would reduce reliance on coal, nuclear, and natural gas by substituting clean energy alternatives: implementation of such a plan would prevent a state from needing to import more gas as a consequence of banning production within its own borders. The proposal also required a petitioning chapter to prove an ability to execute a campaign to get its plan adopted. This “Clean Energy Alternative” was not fleshed out and the practicality of its implementation was questioned by its authors, Executive Director Michael Brune, and the Board. Nevertheless, it held sufficient promise that the Board was not prepared to choose between either approving statewide bans or continuing the present policy of not allowing them without having a fuller understanding of the feasibility and advantages of the clean energy alternative. The following motion was adopted by the Board of Directors on January 19, 2012: MSC (Ela-Boldman) “In response to the CCL resolution regarding bans on natural gas fracturing, the Board directs the ExCom and the Executive Director to appoint a group to report back regarding the feasibility and desirability of adopting some form of the ’Clean Energy Option’, with the expectation that this could be done in about 90 days.” The Natural Gas to Clean Energy final report was completed in June. It included an extensive survey of the chapters representing the 33 states where fracking is taking place or is proposed. Chapters that expressed an interest in pursuing statewide bans include: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Vermont. (7) Chapters that had no interest in pursuing bans include: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah , and Wyoming. (12) Chapters that did not want to pursue a ban at this time, but might want to in the future include: Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. (8) Chapters that did not respond include: Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. (6) A copy of the final report of the Natural Gas to Clean Energy Task Force is attached. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us or any Board member. On Jul 2, 2012, at 8:51 PM, Patricia Matejcek wrote: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Aura Walker <moveon-help(a)list.moveon.org> Date: Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 11:32 AM Subject: Ban fracking in California ** *Below is an email from Aura Walker, a MoveOn member in who created a petition on SignOn.org, the nonprofit site that allows anyone to start their own online petition. If you have concerns or feedback about this petition, click here<http://civic.moveon.org/signon_feedback/?id=45203-19912849-1Y9ZLJx&t=1> .* ------------------------------ Dear California MoveOn member, California should follow the sane example of Vermont and ban fracking. It is common sense. California is earthquake-prone. Fracking will exacerbate the risk of earthquakes as huge hydraulic drills will core deep into the earth, moving already loose tectonic plates. Additionally, poisonous gases will permanently pollute many precious aquifers, irreversibly poisoning our drinking water. * Click here to protect our land, waters, wetlands, ecosystems, and oceans by signing the petition to ban fracking in California. * <http://www.moveon.org/r?r=276844&id=45203-19912849-1Y9ZLJx&t=2> * <http://www.moveon.org/r?r=276844&id=45203-19912849-1Y9ZLJx&t=3>* I love Jerry Brown. Please sir, do not let us down. Ban fracking in California. Thanks! –Aura Walker *This petition was created on SignOn.org, the progressive, nonprofit petition site that will never sell your email address and will never promote a petition because someone paid us to. SignOn.org is sponsored by MoveOn Civic Action, which is not responsible for the contents of this or other petitions posted on the site.* *Want to support our work?* MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.<https://civic.moveon.org/donatec4/creditcard.html?cpn_id=457&id=45203-19912…> ------------------------------ This email was sent to Patricia Matejcek on July 2, 2012. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here<http://moveon.org/subscrip/coa.html?id=45203-19912849-1Y9ZLJx>. To remove yourself from this list, click here<http://moveon.org/s?i=45203-19912849-1Y9ZLJx> . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-CNRCC-WATER-COMM list, send any message to: CONS-CNRCC-WATER-COMM-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-CNRCC-WATER-COMM list, send any message to: CONS-CNRCC-WATER-COMM-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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CFL bulbs
by Jim Sconyers 21 Jul '12

21 Jul '12

Lowe's and Walmart in Oakland (MD) have cheap CFLs subsidized by Potomac Edison. In Morgantown they do not. Difference : Maryland requires utility efficiency programs, West Virginia does not.

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Fwd: [ECOLOG-L] The Ecology of Natural Gas (ESA annual meeting press release)
by Paul Wilson 20 Jul '12

20 Jul '12

>From the Ecological Society of America, fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Dow <ddow420(a)comcast.net> Date: Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 7:08 PM Subject: Fwd: [ECOLOG-L] The Ecology of Natural Gas (ESA annual meeting press release) To: Patricia Matejcek Gmail <patachek3(a)gmail.com>, Alison Robb < nature(a)cape.com>, Paul Wilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> *From: *Nadine Lymn <Nadine(a)ESA.ORG> *Date: *July 19, 2012 2:17:59 PM EDT * * The Ecology of Natural Gas Scientists examine process chain of natural gas, from rural extraction to urban distribution "Fracking" stories about shale gas extraction hit the news daily, fueling a growing conflagration between environmental protectionism and economic interests. Otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing, fracking has become a profitable venture thanks to advances in horizontal drilling technology, opening up large US reservoirs and vastly changing the natural gas market. Touted as a clean energy source and a bridge fuel to transition from fossil fuels, natural gas via fracking is also frought with public health and environmental concerns. A session at the upcoming annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America will look at the natural gas process chain, from extraction and processing to transport and distribution. Read the complete ESA press release: http://www.esa.org/pao/pressreleases.php?uid=121320 Nadine Lymn Director of Public Affairs Ecological Society of America 1990 M Street, NW, Suite 700 Washington DC 20036 202.833.8773 ext. 205 ---------------------------------------------- www.facebook.com/esa.org: "Like" the new ESA Facebook page, ask friends/colleagues to do the same. http://twitter.com/#!/esa_org: "Follow" ESA on Twitter. ESA eStore: Now available: "An Ecologist's Guidebook to Policy Engagement." -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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Fwd: WVNS story: Gas Utilities Seek Hikes Despite Dropping Nat Gas Prices
by Paul Wilson 18 Jul '12

18 Jul '12

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <wvns(a)newsservice.org> Date: Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 3:17 AM Subject: WVNS story: Gas Utilities Seek Hikes Despite Dropping Nat Gas Prices To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Gas Utilities Seek Hikes Despite Dropping Nat Gas Prices Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27421-1 Join the discussion: facebook.com/PublicNewsService<http://www.facebook.com/PublicNewsService> Twitter: @pns_news <http://twitter.com/#!/pns_news> @pns_WV<http://twitter.com/#!/pns_WV> Google+: plus.to/publicnewsservice <http://plus.google.com/106260479325451709866> (07/13/12) CHARLESTON, W. Va. – Despite record low prices for natural gas, West Virginia utilities are asking the state's Public Service Commission (PSC) to confirm sharp rate hikes. Mountaineer and Dominion Hope both want the PSC to rule in their favor on rate requests based on higher natural gas costs. Clarksburg resident Steve Perdue pays Hope about $75 a month. He says the hike seems 'weird' when, all around him, he can see the Marcellus boom that has driven natural gas prices to a near-record low. "It's overwhelmed the area, there's so much gas that they're getting. We just can't see why they would be getting rate increases when the price of their basic raw material has gone way down." According to West Virginia Affiliated Construction Trades (ACT), Dominion Hope is asking the PSC to confirm a 30 percent increase in the part of the bill that goes to pay for the gas. The company says overall, bills would only go up by 17 percent, and that the rate increase is part of a standard annual procedure for utilities to recover money for legitimate, regulated costs. However, says Perdue, a lot people can't afford the increase. "Times are pretty tough, especially for our seniors. We've got a lot of people laid off. People on fixed income and your just average working person. It's tough on a family." According to Dominion Hope, the company does not make any money from recapturing the cost of buying natural gas. But critics say that's not true for Hope's sister company. Hope used a financial hedging program to set the price it paid for gas. Through the complex financial deals, another branch of the Dominion conglomerate could have made as much as $20 million off of Hope's purchases. To Perdue, that doesn't sound right. "They're in a no-lose situation, collecting all the way around. One of their diversified companies might lose money, and they'll ask for money to recoup that loss. But on the other end, they're making the money." ACT and AARP are among the groups opposing some of the rate hikes. Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27421-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27421-1> --- To be removed from this list please send an e-mail to remove(a)publicnewsservice.org <remove(a)publicnewsservice.org?subject=remove>and put the word "remove" in the subject line. -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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beans......yeah, beans
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 17 Jul '12

17 Jul '12

[image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/> <http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytim…> ------------------------------ July 16, 2012 In Tiny Bean, India’s Dirt-Poor Farmers Strike Gas-Drilling Gold By GARDINER HARRIS<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/gardiner_harri…> LORDI, India — Sohan Singh’s shoeless children have spent most of their lives hungry, dirty and hot. A farmer in a desert land, Mr. Singh could not afford anything better than a mud hut and a barely adequate diet for his family. But it just so happens that when the hard little bean that Mr. Singh grows is ground up, it becomes an essential ingredient for mining oil<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleu…>and natural gas<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/natural-gas/…>in a process called hydraulic fracturing. Halfway around the world, earnings are down for an oil services giant, Halliburton<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/halliburton_company/i…>, because prices have risen for guar, the bean that Mr. Singh and his fellow farmers raise. Halliburton’s loss was, in a rather significant way, Mr. Singh’s gain — a rare victory for the littlest of the little guys in global trade. The increase in guar prices is helping to transform this part of the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India, one of the world’s poorest places. Tractor sales are soaring, land prices are increasing and weddings have grown even more colorful. “Now we have enough food, and we have a house made of stone,” Mr. Singh said proudly while his rail-thin children stared in awe. Guar, a modest bean so hard that it can crack teeth, has become an unlikely global player, and dirt-poor farmers like Mr. Singh have suddenly become a crucial link in the energy production of the United States. For centuries, farmers here used guar to feed their families and their cattle. There are better sources of nutrition, but few that grow in the Rajasthani desert, a land rich in culture but poor in rain. Broader commercial interest in guar first developed when food companies found that it absorbs water like a souped-up cornstarch, and a powdered form of the bean is now widely used to thicken ice cream and keep pastries crisp. But much more important to farmers here was the recent discovery that guar could stiffen water so much that a mixture is able to carry sand sideways into wells drilled by horizontal fracturing, also known as fracking. The fracking boom in the United States has led to a surge in natural gas production, a decline in oil imports and a gradual transition away from coal<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/coal/index.h…>-fired power plants. Fracking may also have spoiled some rural water supplies and caused environmental damage in parts of the United States, but it is hard to find anyone in Rajasthan who sees fracking as anything but a blessing. “Without guar, you cannot have fracturing fluids,” said Michael J. Economides, a professor of engineering at the University of Houston who is a fracking expert. “And what everybody is worried about is that there is virtually no guar out there now.” India produces about 85 percent of the world’s guar. As worries rose about the prospects for this year’s monsoon, which is vital for an adequate crop, speculation over guar production built to a frenzy. Trading in guar futures was even suspended, and with the monsoon still behind schedule, it remains postponed. Ramesh Abhishek, India’s chief commodities market regulator, said guar trading would resume when supplies proved adequate. “If the physical market doesn’t provide enough supplies, then the futures market causes more harm than good,” Mr. Abhishek said. Now, an international effort is under way to ensure that guar supplies come closer to meeting the soaring demand, and hundreds of thousands of small farmers here have been recruited in the effort. Leading the way is Vikas WSP, an Indian company that specializes in the production of guar powders. Many farmers sold their seed stock last year when prices shot up, so Vikas has held rallies in small towns to pass out free seeds, including new high-production hybrids. The company persuaded farmers with irrigated land in the state of Punjab, north of Rajasthan, to plant guar in the spring instead of cotton. That crop is now coming to market. And Vikas signed contracts with farmers guaranteeing a return of nearly $800 per acre if they planted guar, no matter what this year’s monsoon brought. “Whatever they produce, we will buy,” said Sanjay Pareek, a Vikas vice president. Anticipating a heavy crop, Vikas is more than doubling its processing capacity by building two new plants in Jodhpur, the second-largest city in Rajasthan. By next year, the company will be able to produce 86,400 tons of guar powder each day, it said. Smaller producers are taking similar steps. “Last year was an extraordinary year,” said S. K. Sharma, managing director of Lotus Gums and Chemicals in Jodhpur. “In 35 years in this business, I’ve never seen that.” Mr. Sharma said his company would soon open a second plant dedicated entirely to serving gas companies, adding that he was cautiously optimistic that guar prices would remain robust. “But we know there are efforts to grow guar in China, Australia, California and elsewhere, and it has us worried,” he said. Despite the expanding supply, many analysts believe that guar prices will remain high for the foreseeable future. Neil Beveridge, an oil analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said demand for fracking services should continue to grow rapidly as the industry expanded outside North America. “We’re already starting to see a big increase in Eastern Europe, Argentina, Australia, China and India itself,” he said. Susan L. Sakmar, an energy analyst in San Francisco, cautioned that the fracking boom could slow and that guar alternatives could be developed. But Mr. Economides, the Houston fracking expert, dismissed such talk. “There are no easy or cheap alternatives to guar,” he said. That is good news for guar producers. Farmers, traders and processors around Jodhpur admitted fulfilling some long-held dreams with the profits they made last year. Some took trips to Europe; some bought gold; others got married. At a Massey Ferguson tractor dealership in Jodhpur, where sales have doubled in recent years, Nathu Parjapat of Haripura was buying a tractor for his father-in-law, whose own profits from farming guar allowed him to provide a dowry of 12 grams of gold and half a kilogram of silver when Mr. Parjapat married his daughter. “So now I’m buying a tractor for him,” Mr. Parjapat said as his father-in-law stood next to him, nodding with grave approval. Mr. Singh, the farmer with the new house, said he would plant his entire field with guar this year instead of spreading his risk among other crops. His family is able to sleep on the stone roof, where a constant breeze keeps them cool. His old mud house, now occupied by goats, has a roof made of sticks that did not allow such a luxury. Mr. Singh’s sister, Issa Rathore, showed off a silver ankle bracelet and a toe ring, both bought with guar profits. But her smile quickly vanished when she was asked whether she expected a similar windfall in the coming months. She glanced at the sky, and the children around her grew hushed. “Will the monsoon be enough this year?” she asked. “Who knows?” Sruthi Gottipati contributed reporting. -- William V. DePaulo, Esq. 179 Summers Street, Suite 232 Charleston, WV 25301-2163 Tel 304-342-5588 Fax 304-342-5505 william.depaulo(a)gmail.com www.passeggiata.com

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bad water to take to rally?
by Jim Sconyers 13 Jul '12

13 Jul '12

Does anyone know where we could get well or other water that has been tainted by drilling/fracking so we could have some to take to the Stop the Frack Attack rally? The march is going to API and ANGA to give them bad water - would be cool to take some with us. -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last.

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A little-reported impact of shale gas development.
by James Kotcon 09 Jul '12

09 Jul '12

See stories of the impacts of sand mining in Wisconsin. Some of those mines are in the County where I grew up. JBK http://ecowatch.org/2012/mining-companies-invade-wisconsin-for-frac-sand/

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Fwd: Energize West Virginia Town Hall Meeting Thursday
by James Kotcon 09 Jul '12

09 Jul '12

In a message dated 7/8/2012 4:32:51 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, stombond(a)hughes.net writes: Natural Gas Industry to Hold Town Hall Meeting in Morgantown . . July 5, 2012, WBOY, Clarksburg, WV Natural gas industry officials from Energize West Virginia ( http://www.energizewv.com/ ) and America's Natural Gas Alliance ( http://www.anga.us/ ) are hosting a town hall-style community meeting, in Morgantown, to discuss the "latest developments and activities" in the industry, in the state. The meeting will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m., on Tuesday, July 10 at the Ramada Inn ( http://www.ramada.com/hotels/west-virginia/morgantown/ramada-conference-cen… ), on Scott Avenue in Morgantown. It will include a panel of industry professionals and a presentation on hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling, job creation and economic impact from Marcellus Shale in West Virginia. The meeting is free and open to the public.

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Earth First Shuts Down Drilling Site in Moshannon State Forest | StateImpact Pennsylvania
by Duane 08 Jul '12

08 Jul '12

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/07/08/earth-first-blocks-frack… "Earth First" Shuts Down Drilling Site in Moshannon State Forest A group calling itself Marcellus Earth First! has set up a blockade in Moshannon State Forest, preventing the natural gas company EQT from operating a well. A report on an Earth First! website says the blockade on a gravel road began before 9:30 Sunday morning with about 40 protestors who successfully prevented a truck from entering the drill site. EQT spokesperson Natalie Cox says the drilling operations have shut down due to safety concerns for the company’s employees, contractors, police and protesters. Cox says activities at the well pad were in the early stages. EQT is one of the top ten largest drillers in Pennsylvania, with about 300 active wells in the western part of the state. For more information on EQT’s drilling operations, visit our Shale Map App. Pike County resident Alex Lotorto, who says he’s not a member of Marcellus Earth First!, but joined the rally, says two people have climbed trees and strung cables across an access road in such a way that cutting them would cause the tree climbers to fall and face serious injury or even death. Lotorto says state police are on the scene. “Police interaction has been courteous and respectful,” says Lotorto. “We want to make this safe as possible.” A state police officer reached by phone at the Dubois, Pa. office would not provide any information. The Moshannon State Forest spans three counties, but the protest is in the Clearfield County section of the forest. Lotoro said a group of protestors had dragged logs and branches from the forest to build blockades across the access road the night before the protest. A sign hanging from the site reads “Marcellus Earth First, no fracking no compromise.” Earth First! is an environmental activist group that uses direct action and is primarily known for protesting logging in forests along the West Coast. The group often employs the tactic of climbing into trees to stop industrial activity and call attention to their cause. Janis Copenhaver lives near Big Run, Jefferson County, not too far from the drill site. Reached by phone, Copenhaver said she didn’t know anything about the action until she overheard others in her town talking about it. “I wish I had the time and gumption to do this,” said Copenhaver. “But I have to have a fulltime job, pay a mortgage, and take care of my animals. I appreciate it when someone else is trying to defend the earth and the life I love living.” Copenhaver said it took her two hours to find the protesters on a remote access road in the forest. She says she plans to bring food and water up the mountain. “I can’t be up there hanging from a tree,” said Copenhaver, “but I’ll do what I can.” Copenhaver says she worries about gas drilling’s impact on her water. She says another drill rig sits about 600 yards from her drinking water well and she gets her water tested every two weeks. Lately, she says the salinity, and the amount of total dissolved solids have increased. “It’s just too frightening, so I started buying bottled water yesterday,” said Copenhaver. Drilling for natural gas in state forests is controversial. Although the state has leased out mineral rights in state forests since 1947, the Marcellus Shale boom has meant a rapid expansion of industrial activity on state land. More than 700,000 acres of forest land have already been leased – about twenty percent of that for Marcellus pads. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources predicts more than 1,000 drilling rigs may dot the forests, once production is at full capacity. Many feared Governor Corbett would expand drilling in the forests, but his 2012–2013 budget did not include any plans to lease out additional state forest land for natural gas drilling. Submitted by Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Sierra Club used as a corporate tool?
by James Kotcon 07 Jul '12

07 Jul '12

The line below caught my attention. Who is the "National Center for Public Policy Research", and is it worth dignifying the charge with a response? Jim Kotcon “Since the Sierra Club has been used as a corporate tool in the past, there is no reason to believe that it isn’t being used as one now, so we call upon it to fully disclose who is underwriting Beyond Natural Gas. If the Sierra Club won’t say who is funding its anti-natural gas campaign, we probably can assume there is a conflict of interest in there somewhere.” >>> "Donald C. Strimbeck" dcsoinks(a)comcast.net> 7/6/2012 3:57 AM >> ( mailto:dcsoinks@comcast.net ) McClendon: Chesapeake done with Sierra Club ( http://blog.newsok.com/energy/2012/06/08/mcclendon-chesapeake-done-with-sie… ) Posted by Jay F. Marks ( http://blog.newsok.com/energy/author/jay-marks/ ) on June 8, 2012M at 5:46 pm Chesapeake Energy Corp. is done with the Sierra Club. CEO Aubrey McClendon was questioned by the president of the National Center for Public Policy Research ( http://www.nationalcenter.org/ ) about the company’s past donations totaling $26 million to the environmental group at Friday’s annual meeting. Center President David Ridenour said he was concerned the Sierra Club would use those funds in its new “Beyond Natural Gas” ( http://content.sierraclub.org/naturalgas/ ) campaign. McClendon said he has no regrets about working with the Sierra Club to go after the coal industry. “We’re in a market share struggle with coal,” McClendon said. “As a result of that campaign, 150 new coal plants were not built. That demand will go to natural gas.” The Sierra Club distanced itself ( http://newsok.com/sierra-club-moving-away-from-natural-gas-chesapeake-cash/… ) from Chesapeake earlier this year after new executive director Michael Brune ( http://sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2012/02/the-sierra-club-and-natu… ) rewrote the group’s gift acceptance policy and began to campaign for tougher regulation of the natural gas industry. On Friday, McClendon said Chesapeake is no longer associated with the Sierra Club. “Our relationship with them is a little different today than it was a few years ago,” he said. Ridenour said he was not satisfied to McClendon’s response to his question at Friday’s meeting. “Mr. McClendon largely ignored my question, ‘By funding Beyond Coal, did you not unnecessarily pick a fight with another fossil fuel industry that now will have every incentive to fund Beyond Natural Gas? It would be darkly amusing if the coal industry did turn out to be funding Beyond Natural Gas, and did have a stipulation in its grant contract limiting the use of the gift to fighting Mr. McClendon’s industry.” “Since the Sierra Club has been used as a corporate tool in the past, there is no reason to believe that it isn’t being used as one now, so we call upon it to fully disclose who is underwriting Beyond Natural Gas. If the Sierra Club won’t say who is funding its anti-natural gas campaign, we probably can assume there is a conflict of interest in there somewhere.” “As a representative of a Chesapeake shareholder and an employee of another shareholder, I’m not thrilled that Mr. McClendon gave money to an activist group dedicated to the company’s destruction, but I’m even less happy as an American. Energy independence is important to national security, and low-cost energy is important to American jobs and prosperity. We shouldn’t be fighting things that are good for us.” Ridenour said he still hopes to find out where Chesapeake’s donations to the Sierra Club went, while letting such groups know that people are watching those types of charitable contributions

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More on the Coal Ash vote from Center for Media and Democracy. Check out the video on Perry County
by Paul Wilson 01 Jul '12

01 Jul '12

House to Vote on Effort to Preempt EPA Regulation of Coal Ash [image: Environmental Protection Agency logo]The U.S. House of Representatives will vote Thursday on a measure to urge the Transportation Conference Committee to strip the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the ability to designate toxic coal ash as a hazardous waste. This spring, the House approved H.R. 4348, the Surface and Transportation Extension Act of 2012. In this bill the House included an amendment by West Virginia Republican Representative David McKinley, that would prohibit the EPA from ever setting federally enforceable safeguards for the disposal of toxic coal ash. Now McKinley and the coal lobby are fighting to keep his amendment from being stripped out during House-Senate conference committee negotiations. Read more<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=AuVBv3Kn6KsxDPRK6DVe…> -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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Fwd: Thank you--Coal ash is out of the Trans Bill! But McKinley vows "We're not finished"
by Jim Sconyers 28 Jun '12

28 Jun '12

A win for the environment - especially in West Virginia, where coal ash is dumped heavily. Won this round. But no doubt we'll have to do it again when McKinley finds a new way to sneak his awful bill in. Eternal vigilance needed..... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lisa Evans <levans(a)earthjustice.org> Date: Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 8:44 AM Subject: Thank you--Coal ash is out of the Trans Bill! But McKinley vows "We're not finished" To: COAL-COMBUSTION-WASTE(a)lists.sierraclub.org Friends-- Thank you sincerely to all those who helped keep coal ash off the transportation bill. This was an extremely tough fight and an exceedingly close battle. Your support by joining letters, making calls, sending emails and sharing our alerts with your lists clearly made the difference. We could not have won this without your support. The full text for the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 was posted this morning. The text can be found at http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20120625/CRPT-112hrpt-HR4348.pdf. Unfortunately, we know that the House Republicans (particularly Rep. McKinley) and a cabal of Senators, lead by Baucus, will take another run at this. Today's E&E article (below) ends with the quotation, "Mr. McKinley never stops," House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica said with a smile in a recent exchange with reporters. Walking back to the House floor yesterday evening, McKinley said, "We're not finished. I can say that. We're not finished." Our next step is accountability for the 13 senators who signed the letter in support of the coal ash provision and the members who voted for McKinley's Motion to Instruct last week. It will be essential to register disapproval and public disappointment with those positions. Thank you again for your help and support! Sincerely, Lisa Defeat in transportation conference won't end battle over EPA regulation Manuel Quinones, E&E reporter Published: Thursday, June 28, 2012 Promoters of a provision limiting U.S. EPA regulation of coal ash kept the issue alive in the transportation bill negotiations until the eleventh hour, but they fell short in the face of a counterattack by environmentalists. "I'm very disappointed," Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), author of the House coal ash bill, said in an interview yesterday evening. "They're saying they used it to trade to get other expedited things on transportation, which would help." McKinley's bill would prohibit EPA from treating coal ash as hazardous. He is vowing to look for other vehicles for its passage. He smiled when asked if it could become a rider on the Interior and Environment spending bill. "We have to educate people that this is a solution," McKinley said. "It's not ideologically driven." Supporters of McKinley's H.R. 2273, which passed in the House last year with bipartisan support, call it a compromise that creates minimum national standards for disposal of the power plant waste while protecting the ash recycling industry from the stigma of a hazardous designation. "Regulatory uncertainty is damaging coal ash recycling today, and we're hopeful that Congress will act quickly to find another path to enact this substantive, bipartisan legislation," said John Ward, head of the industry group Citizens for Recycling First. Environmentalists call the recycling argument a red herring. They say electric utilities do not want to bear the cost of properly disposing of the material, including phasing out all wet dumps. As lawmakers and staff were finalizing transportation negotiations, Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project released a new tally of coal ash waste sites obtained from EPA through a Freedom of Information Act request. "The public health threat from toxic coal ash continues to grow," Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans said. "The data today reveal that coal ash is being disposed in hundreds of units that are not fit to contain hazardous chemicals. "Congressional attempts to cater to the polluters and deny the EPA the authority to protect millions of Americans living near these sites are dangerous and misguided," she added about the transportation bill negotiations. The groups said there are more than 1,100 coal ash ponds, 451 more than previously known. Almost half of those dumps lack liners that would keep toxins from leaching into groundwater. The groups also reported at least 393 active, planned or retired ash landfills. Many of those also lack liners, they said. "Unlined ponds and landfills leach the toxic pollutants in coal ash, including known carcinogens like arsenic, into drinking water supplies and waterways, placing communities and the environment at risk," said Lisa Widawsky Hallowell, an attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project. Earlier this month, the American Coal Ash Association released a report saying that coal ash is often not more dangerous than soil. As EPA delays finalizing its regulations, McKinley said, his legislation provided a framework for regulation. "If people think they've had problems with water quality, they're going to continue with water quality [problems]," McKinley said. "This amendment was intended to give them a pathway forward. So we're back to where we were." Prospects of the Senate moving forward with its version of McKinley's bill, S. 1751, are uncertain. While the measure enjoys bipartisan support in that chamber, a Senate co-sponsor, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), has expressed concerns about the language. "Now I see him changing his direction," McKinley said. "Maybe he's lost his willingness to work with us." Kirk Benson, CEO of ash recycling firm Headwaters Inc., which lobbied hard for inclusion of the coal ash measure in the transportation bill, said, "We will continue to seek other opportunities to pass this vital provision." There is also a court fight over coal ash. Environmentalists sued EPA in April to press the agency into releasing new standards. U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton for the District of Columbia recently consolidated that case with complaints by Headwaters and other recyclers. The Utility Solid Waste Activities Group and the National Mining Association, both major players in the debate, have won the right to intervene in the litigation. Industry groups, however, are hoping Congress puts an end to the debate once and for all. "Mr. McKinley never stops," House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica said with a smile in a recent exchange with reporters. Walking back to the House floor yesterday evening, McKinley said, "We're not finished. I can say that. We're not finished." wiBut , my sincere thanks to all of you who worked with us to remove the dangerous provision from the transportation bill. Lisa Evans Senior Administrative Counsel Earthjustice 21 Ocean Ave. Marblehead, MA 01945 T: (781) 631-4119 F: (212) 918-1556 www.earthjustice.org *please consider the environment before printing The information contained in this email message may be privileged, confidential and protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution or copying is strictly prohibited. If you think that you have received this email message in error, please notify the sender by reply email and delete the message and any attachments. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the COAL-COMBUSTION-WASTE list, send any message to: COAL-COMBUSTION-WASTE-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/ -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last.

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Fwd: WVNS story: "Coal Bust" Projected for Southern WV
by Paul Wilson 28 Jun '12

28 Jun '12

fyi, paul pls spread this around... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <wvns(a)newsservice.org> Date: Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 4:07 AM Subject: WVNS story: "Coal Bust" Projected for Southern WV To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> "Coal Bust" Projected for Southern WV Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27169-1 Join the discussion: facebook.com/PublicNewsService<http://www.facebook.com/PublicNewsService> Twitter: @pns_news <http://twitter.com/#!/pns_news> @pns_WV<http://twitter.com/#!/pns_WV> Google+: plus.to/publicnewsservice <http://plus.google.com/106260479325451709866> (06/27/12) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Federal figures forecast a decline in the production of West Virginia coal headed to power plants - a decline expected to hit the state's southern counties especially hard. The U.S. Department of Energy predicts much less West Virginia coal will be burned to make electricity during the next decade, according to Ted Boettner, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. He says that's going to hit some parts of the state harder than others. "Beginning to see a huge bust in coal production in southern West Virginia, which could see production cut by two-thirds over the next 10 years." Boettner says the state's leadership needs to face reality - and that southern West Virginia particularly must do more to diversify. "No matter what your views are on what's happening, today the reality is that we've got to start making plans for how West Virginia's going to create jobs and build a strong economy for our children and grandchildren." The number of mining jobs actually has increased some during the past few years. Boettner says the next decade's employment picture is complicated, as some mines are likely to continue to hire. "In the northern part of West Virginia, we're actually going to see a slight increase in coal production. That's the same area where we're seeing a boom in natural gas. So, we're really seeing two states, unfolding in different ways." He believes West Virginia should start putting money aside in a mineral trust fund to prepare for the future. "Local and state economies cannot rely indefinitely on finite natural resources for jobs and tax revenues. That's why it's so important for the state to consider creating a permanent trust fund." The coal industry has sharply attacked the Environmental Protection Agency for toughening air pollution rules. But Boettner says much of the expected decline will be the result of competition from cheap natural gas and the fact that the coal that's easiest to get has been mined out. More information is online at blog.wvpolicy.org<http://blog.wvpolicy.org/2012/06/25/-energy-projections-show-decline-in-sou…> . Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27169-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27169-1> --- To be removed from this list please send an e-mail to remove(a)publicnewsservice.org <remove(a)publicnewsservice.org?subject=remove>and put the word "remove" in the subject line. -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle

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Fwd: DC Court Upholds EPA Greenhouse Gas Standard
by James Kotcon 26 Jun '12

26 Jun '12

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Verena Owen <verena_owen(a)prodigy.net> Date: Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 12:37 PM Subject: DC Court EPA Greenhouse Gas Standard To: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS(a)lists.sierraclub.org View as web page ( http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=hBvBZsZH4Y_z0kGkQcpSww )Sent to . Not you? Sign up here ( http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=78KEa0_jNe9keXIMbnvN9Q ). ( http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=4qh1-gCczhIlVMNDhkO61Q ) ( http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=nKf343Pl7CL1TaYfHp6WaA ) ( http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=NvdKkBbiqFN2I9tpCmAQvw ) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6/26/2012 Contact: Eitan Bencuya: 202-495-3047 ( tel:202-495-3047 ), eitan.bencuya(a)sierraclub.org D.C. Court of Appeals Upholds Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Standards WASHINGTON D.C. -- Today, in a sweeping victory for public health and clean air, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued decisions in four challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) historic climate and clean air protections. Major industrial polluters joined with states like Texas to challenge these safeguards, which will protect Americans’ health, improve vehicle efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas pollution. The Sierra Club rallied tens of thousands of people across the country to support the standards, and the Sierra Club legal team joined our allies in a landmark legal defense of the protections, when they were challenged. The four rules upheld today were:The Climate Pollution Endangerment Finding, in which, after an extensive review of scientific research and peer-reviewed studies, the EPA found that six greenhouse gasses endanger human health and welfare. The Clean Car Standards, in which the EPA established cost-saving fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks sold from 2012-2016. These safeguards will save consumers an estimated $3,000 at the pump over the life of the vehicle, reduce reliance on foreign oil by 1.8 billion barrels over the life of the vehicle, and will reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 960 million tons. The standards are supported by U.S. automakers and the United Auto Workers union, among others, and the automakers and a dozen states intervened in defense of the standards. The Timing and Tailoring Rules, in which the EPA phased in carbon pollution permits for the biggest industrial pollution sources, while protecting small businesses. The Court determined that none of the challengers were injured by these regulatory relief decisions. In response, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club issued the following statement: “Today’s decision is a huge victory for American families and everyone concerned about protecting the air we breathe and the health of our children. The role of the Clean Air Act in protecting our families from dangerous carbon pollution and climate disruption should never have been in doubt, and this decision is a big step forward in putting the well-being of Americans before the boundless profits of big polluters. “Carbon pollution is dangerous to our planet and our health. The Environmental Protection Agency has the right and the duty to keep our communities healthy and now the path is clear for them to curb this dangerous pollution, which threatens our families and planet. We applaud the court’s decision and stand with the EPA as they continue to fight for the health of American families.” ### - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS list, send any message to: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp

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Fwd: URGENT: Coal ash rule in trouble - Please call Senator Rockefeller and urge him NOT to negotiate your health away
by Jim Sconyers 25 Jun '12

25 Jun '12

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lisa Graves-Marcucci <lgmarcucci(a)environmentalintegrity.org> Date: Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 9:20 AM Subject: URGENT: Coal ash rule in trouble - Please call Senator Rockefeller and urge him NOT to negotiate your health away To: Curtis Havens <curt1968(a)comcast.net>, Sharon Fineman < rfineman(a)comcast.net>, steve rhodes <slrhodes24(a)gmail.com>, Carrie Bodnar < albrightbodnar(a)gmail.com>, D H <speedydeedy10(a)yahoo.com>, Petra&John Wood < pbjmwood(a)gmail.com>, Jim Sconyers <jimscon(a)gmail.com>, James Kotcon < jkotcon(a)wvu.edu>, "Jarrett F. Jamison III" <jarrett425(a)aol.com>, Duane Nichols <duane330(a)aol.com>, "<gwen jones" <gwen.jones1(a)gmail.com>, Cindy Rank <clrank2(a)gmail.com> Cc: Lisa Evans <levans(a)earthjustice.org>, Emily Enderle < eenderle(a)earthjustice.org> *Apologies for duplication, but this is an urgent request for all our WV friends *-- see message below from Lisa Evans, Earthjustice. The Transportation Bill is in the final steps of negotiations and we are hearing the coal ash rules could be used to negotiated a final deal between the Senate and the House. *Senator Rockefeller is a key vote. Please call his office today and urge the Senator to stand strong - tell him please DO NOT negotiate your health away. Jobs are crucial, but so are health protections from toxic coal ash.* Lisa has outlined some messaging below -- please review and make this important call today -- and urge others to do the same. Many thanks for your help, LGM *Message from Lisa Evans:* Dear Friends in West Virginia: Once again, we are hearing that coal ash is in trouble and that a deal may be reached to include the coal ash provision on the transportation bill. As you know, Senator Rockefeller is on the conference committee for the transportation bill. While he has expressed interest in keeping coal ash off the bill, we must ensure that he stays strong. Thus we are asking for your immediate help to generate as many emails and calls as we can to his office to urge the Senator to keep coal ash off the final bill. We don’t have much time, because a bill must be passed by June 30. Below is the contact information for the Senator’s transportation staffer. Also included is a “script” that you can use in a call or email. *However, all you need to convey is the simple request to keep the coal ash provision out of a transportation bill in order to keep Americans safe from toxic waste.* We must keep up the pressure. Please circulate widely to your allies in West Virginia. Thank you in advance for your efforts. SEN. ROCKEFELLER’S CONTACT INFO: Transportation aide: Patrick Bond Email: patrick_bond(a)rockefeller.senate.gov Phone: 202-224-6472 ASK SENATOR ROCKEFELLER TO KEEP COAL ASH OFF THE TRANSPORTATION BILL: [sample script] Dear Patrick: I am contacting you to urge Senator Rockefeller to protect the health and environment of Americans and oppose the inclusion of a coal ash amendment in the final transportation package. As you know, this provision prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from enacting federal standards for the safe disposal of toxic coal ash. Safe disposal of this waste is a public health imperative. In nearly 200 cases in 37 states, coal ash has already poisoned water with arsenic, lead, selenium and other heavy metals. We ask the Senator to protect us from the health, environmental and ecological damage that this toxic waste causes. We urge the Senator not to side with polluters who seek to evade their responsibility to operate dumps safely and clean up the sites they have contaminated. Sincerely, [your name] -- * Lisa Graves Marcucci Environmental Integrity Project PA Coordinator, Community Outreach lgmarcucci(a)environmentalintegrity.org 412-897-0569 (cell) * -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last.

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Gazette "poll" on Rocky's remarks about coal
by Frank Young 24 Jun '12

24 Jun '12

http://www.wvgazette.com/ New poll on Gazette front page: Do you agree with Sen. Jay Rockefeller's stance regarding the coal industry and its future in West Virginia? The "nos" are ahead at the moment- 51 to 49 percent. The pol is on the left, scroll down-pas the twitter and facebook feeds and they poll is above the blogs-links

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Fwd: Cheap Coal Is Dead. Long Live Renewables
by James Kotcon 23 Jun '12

23 Jun '12

Open this one and click to read the whole op/ed by Carl Pope. If that line about India is correct, and if Indonesia is banning coal exports, that is a game changer. JBK

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