- EC - lists.cheatlakeclear.org

Fwd: tri-ennial review
by James Kotcon 08 Jun '13

08 Jun '13

>From my backlog of e-mail, here is an idea for a new initiative. DEP is required to do a review of water quality standards every three years. In preparation for that, they solicited public comments last fall (available at: http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/Programs/wqs/Pages/2014TriennialReviewofWaterQual… Among the environmental groups, Appalachian Mountain Advocates recommended a standard for conductivity, John and Petra Wood recommended standards for conductivity, sulfates ad TDS, and Duane Nichols recommended a TDS standard. Not surprisingly, First Energy wants to weaken the arsenic standard. And AEP wants to limit the Category A (Public water supply) implementation, as well as restrict uses of the Stream Condition index (benthic insects), rescind the selenium Acute criterion, and weaken standards for mercury, beryllium, iron and aluminum (the aluminum and beryllium changes happened in the Legislature this year). Although we missed the deadline for initial comments, it would be a good step for us to support a WQS for TDS or conductivity as an extra tool for Marcellus activities, and adding a sulfate standard would be useful for coal-related impacts, as this is the dominant toxicant in TDS, and needs a stand-alone standard. Whaddya tink? Jim Kotcon P.S. Please keep the message form the "mole" below to ourselves. >>> Here are some comments from a mole in the water office. What I'm hearing is that it would be good for the environmentalists to request that DEP develop a sulfate criteria, that the Legislature needs to be lobbied to pass the TDS standard, and that they should be keeping up with what DEP's watershed assessment branch is doing with the fish IBI. Both our water quality standards group, Kevin Coyne and Watershed Assessment Branch, John Wirts are willing to meet with them to help them understand what DEP is doing. That used to happen but the enviros have not requested a meeting for a long time. They should try to meet with the staffers vs the politicos to get the best info. There is alot of room for intereference and influence on the fish IBI so it would be best not to let industry get the upper hand. As far as the specifics below, it all looks good. DEP staff feels pretty confident about the fecal coliform/e coli switch and don't see much of a threat there, but welcome the comments. It is suggested that Michael Becher, Appalachian Mt. Advocates is knowledgeable on the Category A issue listed here, but this group is probably aware of that.

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underground mine to close
by Jim Sconyers 08 Jun '13

08 Jun '13

Alpha closing Justice No. 1 mine in Boone County. http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201306070105 -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last. *There is no Planet B!*

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link from Barbara Fallon
by Barbara Fallon 07 Jun '13

07 Jun '13

http://nukegets.info/gxco/swwgcfvakgv

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from ScienceDaily e-newsletter: Disincentives to energy efficiency can be fixed
by Paul Wilson 05 Jun '13

05 Jun '13

Disincentives to energy efficiency can be fixed<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/y92…> Posted: 04 Jun 2013 12:35 PM PDT A new study finds that utilities aren't rewarded for adopting energy efficiency programs, and that reforms are needed to make energy efficiency as attractive as renewables. -- 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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Re: [EC] Fwd: Article from E&E News on WV Senate race
by Jim Sconyers 04 Jun '13

04 Jun '13

Sad, isn't it. Even a Democrat has to kiss King Coal's butt. On Jun 4, 2013 10:18 AM, "Paul Wilson" <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> wrote: > fyi, paul > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Emily Diamond-Falk <emily_diamond-falk(a)tws.org> > Date: Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 10:00 AM > Subject: Article from E&E News on WV Senate race > To: Birth Place of Rivers <birthplaceofrivers(a)tws.org> > > > CAMPAIGN 2014:**** W.Va. Dems hopeful of finding pro-coal candidate to > follow Rockefeller**** > > Manuel Quinones, E&E reporter**** > > Published: Tuesday, June 4, 2013**** > > West Virginia Democrats are expressing optimism about their chances of > replacing retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller with another Democrat in next > year's election, despite their apparent difficulty in tapping a strong > candidate.**** > > Yesterday, well-known West Virginia radio talk show host Hoppy Kercheval > raised eyebrows when he reported that Charleston attorney Nick Preservati > -- who had been called a potential "unicorn" candidate and an electable > pro-coal Democrat -- would not jump into the race because of family reasons. > **** > > Preservati did not return a call to confirm his intentions in time for > publication. But news that he would likely not be running sparked observers > in West Virginia and Washington, D.C., to chatter about the party's uphill > climb against Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who announced her > intention to run even before Rockefeller announced his retirement.**** > > "I think with or without Preservati, this was looking like a really > difficult hold for Democrats," said Nathan Gonzalez, campaign analyst with > the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, which has the West Virginia > Senate race leaning in favor of the Republicans.**** > > Gonzalez said Democrats "were excited about Preservati and his family's > connection to the coal industry, but the political reality is that it's > going to take a special Democratic candidate to win in West Virginia in the > second midterm of President Obama in the White House."**** > > West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Larry Puccio brushed off claims > that the party was in dire straits in its efforts to find a candidate.**** > > "The truth of the matter is, we have a couple of individuals who we > believe will have a positive announcement in the near future," Puccio said > in an interview.**** > > One name that keeps popping up is West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie > Tennant, a former journalist who has worked to increase her statewide > profile. She came in third in a 2011 primary for governor.**** > > Puccio, while not revealing names of candidates who have expressed their > interest to run, said support for the state's coal industry was an > important test of electability.**** > > "I think that's extremely important in this state," said Puccio. "And I > will tell you, of the candidates who have spoken to me, they are all > extremely supportive of coal in West Virginia."**** > > In recent days, attorney Ralph Baxter, the former CEO of global law firm > Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe LLP and a West Virginia native, also > decided against taking on Capito.**** > > Republicans were already painting Baxter as too liberal for West Virginia > and highlighting his connections to San Francisco, where the firm is > headquartered.**** > > Former state GOP Chairman Mike Stuart told Kercheval on West Virginia > MetroNews "Talkline" that Baxter's background was "frankly not in tune with > most of the people in West Virginia." Stuart said Baxter would have spent > "millions of his own dollars and [have lost] badly."**** > > George Carenbauer, former state Democratic chairman, shot back, saying > that Capito's record is "not necessarily a record that fits well with the > average West Virginian." He mentioned Medicare, likely referring to > Capito's vote for the GOP budget plan that would rework the system.**** > > Democrats control the West Virginia Legislature and the governor's > mansion. There are more registered Democrats than registered Republicans in > the state. Plus, along with touting their support for the state's coal > industry, Democrats generally also tend to favor strong worker protections, > endearing them to the United Mine Workers union.**** > > "Yeah, Democrats can get elected, but those state offices are built around > a completely different set of issues," said Gonzalez, noting that when it > comes to federal elections, Mountain State voters want to see candidates > who can prove their independence from more liberal national Democrats and > an unpopular Obama.**** > > Popular Sen. Joe Manchin has emerged as a model for an electable West > Virginia Democrat at the national level. Many observers called Preservati, > who has represented the coal companies and has family connections to the > industry, another "Joe Manchin."**** > > But even though some Democrats think Preservati's lack of an electoral > record is a good thing, Gonzalez said, "Joe Manchin didn't just develop his > political profile a year before his election to the Senate. He was a > two-term governor who also ran a good campaign."**** > > Rep. Nick Rahall, a Democrat serving his 19th term in the House, mulled a > Senate run but decided against it earlier this year. He may face a tough > race of his own for re-election.**** > > "West Virginia has lost a tremendous amount of seniority already with the > loss of Sen. [Robert] Byrd and [soon to retire] Sen. Rockefeller," said > Rahall in a recent interview. "And I felt that for the best interests of > the state of West Virginia and its people, that my seniority should stay in > the House of Representatives."**** > > Addressing his party's Senate prospects, Rahall said, "We'll come up with > a good candidate that can attract sufficient votes. The seat, I believe, > can be won by a good, strong Democrat who backs our coal industry and would > continue to diversify our economy and has experience in those areas."**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *Emily Diamond-Falk* > > Communications Manager**** > > *The Wilderness Society *| Washington, DC** > > 202.429.2608| cell: 202.841.8605**** > > www.wilderness.org**** > > ** ** > > Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheWildernessSociety**** > > Twitter: twitter.com/Wilderness <http://twitter.com/#!/Wilderness>**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *[image: cid:image001.jpg@01CC7170.6F236C10]**We protect wilderness and > inspire Americans to care for our wild places*** > > ** ** > > > > -- > 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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Forwarded article re comeback of coal from Power Line
by william.depaulo＠gmail.com 03 Jun '13

03 Jun '13

COAL MAKES A COMEBACK..... http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/06/coal-makes-a-comeback.php I highly recommend giving it a read. ---------------------------- This e-mail was sent because you were recommended via SmartAddon.com Share Tool - To stop all e-mails coming from us, please visit: http://www.smartaddon.com/?unsubscribe=ec@osenergy.org

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Arch's Leer mining complex ramping up outside Grafton - State Journal Article re vast expansion of production at Arch mine............
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 03 Jun '13

03 Jun '13

http://www.statejournal.com/story/22399790/archs-leer-mining-complex-rampin…

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Re: [EC] ] Articles on Chilling Dissent
by Beth Little 02 Jun '13

02 Jun '13

This is a quote from the article linked below. If a bill like this were passed in WV, I would be a felon and an ecological terrorist, except that some of the videotaping I did of the Lochgelly UIC by myself. The anti-fracking effort is becoming something much deeper than just trying to curtail pollution. Anybody know a computer geek who could tell if my computer is monitored? It seems pretty slow, but that could just be Frontier. Earlier this year, a bill was introduced into the Pennsylvania legislature that would make it a felony to videotape farming operations in Pennsylvania - so-called "ag-gag" legislation that has already passed in Utah and Iowa, and has been introduced in several other legislatures. Many of the ag-gag bills draw on language crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act." (In recent years ALEC has received considerable support from the natural gas industry). Section D of the ALEC bill defines an animal or ecological terrorist organization in broad terms "as any association, organization, entity, coalition, or combination of two or more persons" who seek to "obstruct, impede or deter any person from participating" not only in agricultural activity but also mining, foresting, harvesting, and gathering or processing of natural resources. The proposed law has many anti-drilling activists worried. If such language were included in the bill (it is currently in committee and will be revised before it comes to the floor) it would greatly limit the ability of residents to photograph or video well sites, compressor stations, and pipeline development - all of which could be considered part of the "gathering or processing of natural resources." From: wvec-board(a)yahoogroups.com [mailto:wvec-board@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of cindy rank Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 5:14 PM To: WVEC Subject: Re: [wvec-board] Articles on Chilling Dissent good one.... On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 2:04 PM, Steve Thompson <unclesteve197(a)yahoo.com> wrote: I think it was George Carlin that suggested sending a copy of the Constitution to himself every day by e-mail on the off chance that the national security state might actually read it... May 29, 2013 We Are Being Watched Corporate Spying on Environmental Groups by ADAM FEDERMAN http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/29/corporate-spying-on-environmental-gro ups/ May 29, 2013 Welcome to the Freakshow Media Gets Targeted by Obama, Discovers No One Cares Except the Media by BETHANIA PALMA MARKUS http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/29/media-gets-targeted-by-obama-administ ration-discovers-no-one-cares-except-the-media/ (Referenced in above article) Obama's personal role in a journalist's imprisonment By Glenn Greenwald Salon.com Wednesday, Mar 14, 2012 http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/obamas_personal_role_in_a_journalists_impris onment/ <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxcGY3czB0BF9TAzk3 MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxNTg0MDQxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTM2NTM5MgRtc2dJZAMzNDgwBHNlYwNm dHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTM2OTc2MTQ0OA--?act=reply&messageNum=3480> Reply via web post <mailto:deniseap@earthlink.net?subject=Re%3A%20WVEC%20Calendar%20June%20%26% 20July> Reply to sender <mailto:wvec-board@yahoogroups.com?subject=Re%3A%20WVEC%20Calendar%20June%20 %26%20July> Reply to group <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJmYnJ0Z3VyBF9TAzk3 MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxNTg0MDQxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTM2NTM5MgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNudHBj BHN0aW1lAzEzNjk3NjE0NDg-> Start a New Topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board/message/3480;_ylc=X3oDMTM1dHZjaGU3 BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxNTg0MDQxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTM2NTM5MgRtc2dJZAMzNDgw BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTM2OTc2MTQ0OAR0cGNJZAMzNDgw> Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board;_ylc=X3oDMTJmOG1yODg3BF9TAzk3MzU5N zE0BGdycElkAzIxNTg0MDQxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTM2NTM5MgRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0a W1lAzEzNjk3NjE0NDc-> Visit Your Group <http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaHB2NHYzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxN Tg0MDQxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTM2NTM5MgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTM2OTc2MTQ0O A--> Error! 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May 30 - McKinley Climate Change Forum
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 29 May '13

29 May '13

May be an interesting event for some local Sierra Club members to attend: Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. David B. McKinley, P.E. (R-WV) announced a panel of distinguished experts in the field of climate science will conduct a panel discussion in Fairmont. What: Discussion on the Origins and Response to Climate Change Who: The Office of Rep. David B. McKinley, P.E. (R-WV) and the West Virginia High Tech Consortium Foundation Where: W.Va. High Tech Consortium Foundation, 5000 NASA Boulevard, I-79 Technology Park in Fairmont, WV When: Thursday, May 30th from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This event is open to the media and the public. Please call 202-225-4172 for more information or to R.S.V.P. Confirmed Attendees: • Annie Petsonk, International Counsel of Environmental Defense Fund. • Marc Morano, Executive Director and Chief Correspondent for ClimateDepot.com; former senior advisor, speech-writer and climate researcher for Senator James Inhofe. • Jim Hurrell, Director, NCAR Earth System Laboratory. • Myron Ebell, Director of Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute. • David Kreutzer, Ph.D., Research Fellow in Energy Economics and Climate Change, The Heritage Foundation. • Thomas Sheahan, Ph.D., MIT educated physicist and author. • Dennis Avery, Director, Center for Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute and author of “Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1,500 Years”. • Sarah Forbes, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute. • A. Scott Denning, Professor, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University. • Dr. John Christy, Distinguished Professors of atmospheric science, and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

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Fwd: You're invited: Forum on science, democracy, and fracking
by Paul Wilson 29 May '13

29 May '13

fyi, the link will go to my RSVP form so you will need to register with UCS or clear the form and start from scratch. It is on July 25th so there is a lot of time to sign up but space may be limited. best, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: UCS Science Network <sciencenetwork(a)ucsusa.org> Date: Tue, May 28, 2013 at 5:32 PM Subject: You're invited: Forum on science, democracy, and fracking To: pjgrunt(a)gmail.com [image: UCS Science Network] *Register for the Forum Today* Join the Center for Science and Democracy for a live webcast of our *Science, Democracy, and Community Decisions on Fracking Forum* on July 25, 2:00 p.m. PDT/5:00 p.m. EDT. As a Science Network member, you can also sign up for a chance to win an free trip to the forum<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=E9INvInhunyAhe7-updT7w> . *[image: RSVP button]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=i1uKNdz3WpjGs7VyxzMOCA> * Related Links What Do Food and Fracking Have in Common? We Need Information to Make the Best Choice <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=pOOIW6RLozxNYM_BrN_YWw> Lewis M. Branscomb Science and Democracy Forums<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=47hMwPJPKHY0SiUcXYqbcA> Tell A Colleague Please encourage your colleagues to sign up<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=hfRwZpMeu_seikh3P8ILQw>and help increase our effectiveness in creating a healthy environment and a safer world. CLICK HERE<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=RnN8BhlXQbfYCeEggOJ17g> . Science, Democracy, and Community Decisions on Fracking A Lewis M. Branscomb Forum Dear Paul, The Union of Concerned Scientists invites you to join us for a public forum webcasted live from the University of California, Los Angeles on July 25. This forum will convene leading thinkers and key stakeholders for a candid discussion on how the best available science can help communities make informed decisions on hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") amidst the current expansion in drilling for shale oil and gas across the United States. *Science, Democracy, and Community Decisions on Fracking<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=99S1FKLfKZJzeKjx1pgR_A> * *A Lewis M. Branscomb Forum* Date: Thursday, July 25 Time: 2:00-5:00 p.m. PDT/5:00-8:00 p.m. EDT Location: UCLA *Register for the Webcast Today<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=YOuO0ezUNKSDuPtR_g-N4Q> * We will share a line-up of speakers and a detailed program soon. But as space is limited for this distinctive event, we want to give UCS supporters like you the opportunity for early event registration<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=M4yVVi9flo_ELAxRlk8Dvg>to join via webcast. *Want to join us in person?* As a member of the UCS Science Network, you can participate in the *UCS Science Network's Science and Democracy Forum Sweepstakes* for a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to the forum as a Science Network Special Guest. *Click here to learn more and sign up for the sweepstakes. <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=sNy1-m0WcEBoZl8iWLgnpg>* The rapid growth in fracking is driving many communities to make decisions on fracking without access to comprehensive and reliable scientific information of the potential impacts on their air and water quality, community health, and economic well-being. The forum will provide a unique opportunity to learn from experts, decision makers, and community leaders about the state of the science around fracking, the state and federal policy landscape, and what citizens and policy makers need to know to make informed decisions about whether, and under what conditions, to extract oil and gas using fracking. We look forward to you joining us and contributing to the conversation. Sincerely, [image: Andy Rosenberg signature.jpg] Andrew A. Rosenberg, Ph.D. Director, Center for Science and Democracy Union of Concerned Scientists The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future. UCS is a 501(c)(3) organization. All gifts are tax deductible. You can be confident your donations to UCS are spent wisely. <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=zVPxxSJ-EnFxD1_813U_4g> Union of Concerned Scientists 2 Brattle Square Cambridge, MA 02138-3780 Phone: 800-666-8276<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=wGhDdFbreVuX06tJ15xkJA> Fax: 617-864-9405 <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=XpLrJEHFh8pZynQBT9jF4w> *ucsaction(a)ucsusa.org* <ucsaction(a)ucsusa.org> *www.ucsusa.org* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=OLTRU7lMHAbDsBZbMdoDCg> *About UCS* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=YSWTM6aE_dDkaKwYLs5y9Q> | *Take Action* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=QZGOxRXaqZpTV7LJx_tVaA> | *Donate * <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=86JvXQMR5lfvTB-DbnENVQ> | *Contact Us*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=AIOQAmFQVnzj_rIOvSl17w>| *Privacy Policy* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=92yUvudnHtAc31d6-J7eTA>| *Unsubscribe*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/CO?i=JmPHG4ESwLswPDvKQFetQh7ATGdctngE&cid=178…>| *Update Your Profile*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Xmae0Zs02ap63Hyup1FL2w> © Union of Concerned Scientists. All rights reserved. [image: powered by CONVIO] <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Rj0tPUBrPPBNzPzJmRvtLQ> nonprofit software <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=LcjtIloqm0tyI40Y_pTXXw> -- 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: [MarcellusGasInfo] Map of Gas Infrastructure, Susquehanna Co. PA + S. Broome NY
by Beth Little 24 May '13

24 May '13

From: marcellusgasinfo(a)googlegroups.com [mailto:marcellusgasinfo@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of William Huston Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:27 PM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: [MarcellusGasInfo] Map of Gas Infrastructure, Susquehanna Co. PA + S. Broome NY Holy God (see attached) -- -- May you, and all beings be happy and free from suffering :) -- ancient Buddhist Prayer (Metta) -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MarcellusGasInfo" group. To post to this group, send email to marcellusgasinfo(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to marcellusgasinfo+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/marcellusgasinfo?hl=en This listserv is managed and owned by the Binghamton Regional Sustainabiliy Coalition (BRSC) For our email list policy, visit For BRSC email list policy, visit http://groups.google.com/group/marcellusgasinfo/files --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MarcellusGasInfo" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to marcellusgasinfo+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3343 / Virus Database: 3184/6351 - Release Date: 05/23/13

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Fwd: WVNS story: Another Power Plant Being Unloaded Onto WV Consumers?
by Paul Wilson 22 May '13

22 May '13

f;yi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <newsservice(a)newsservicemail.org> Date: Mon, May 20, 2013 at 3:04 AM Subject: WVNS story: Another Power Plant Being Unloaded Onto WV Consumers? To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Another Power Plant Being Unloaded Onto WV Consumers? Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32546-1 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> (05/20/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - With coal-fired power plants around the nation shutting down, why are corporations such as American Electric Power trying to sell coal-generating capacity to customers in West Virginia and Kentucky? Critics say the corporations are trying to move plants that are no longer cost-effective onto the backs of ratepayers who would have no choice but to pay for them. Alex Desha, an organizer with the Sierra Club in Kentucky, said that motivation is behind a plan to have AEP subsidiaries Appalachian Power and Kentucky Power take the Mitchell power station in Moundsville from a deregulated AEP subsidiary in Ohio. "It's essentially playing a shell game with our money," he said. "They're buying an old, outdated power plant and they're locking us into coal-fired generation for an extended period of time." Critics said the plan would raise rates and make consumers more dependent on a single fuel source, maybe adding to future costs, while making the deregulated Ohio subsidiary more diversified and flexible. AEP also wants to shift part of the John Amos plant to Appalachian Power, and a separate power company - FirstEnergy - wants to do a similar thing with a power plant in Harrison County. Cathy Kunkel, policy analyst, Energy Efficient West Virginia, pointed out that this is happening as dozens of coal plants have shut down due to competition from cheap natural gas. She said if AEP tried to sell the Mitchell plant on the open market, it might get only a quarter of what the power company wants Appalachian Power to pay. "The low price of natural gas has really driven down open-market sales of coal plants," Kunkel said. "It's cheaper to generate and buy power from natural gas plants." AEP said its regulated West Virginia and Kentucky subsidiaries need the generating capacity. However, Kunkel noted, the corporation initially said Appalachian Power needed 80 percent of the Mitchell Plant's capacity, until Kentucky Power decided to retire part of one of its plants, meaning it could buy some of the Mitchell capacity. "Appalachian Power's plan suddenly changed," Kunkel explained. "They said, 'Oh, we only need 50 percent of the Mitchell plant.' Is this actually about what's the best way to meet the capacity needs of Appalachian Power, or AEP offloading the Mitchell plant?" The West Virginia PSC will hold a hearing later this summer. 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/32546-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32546-1> --- 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: WVNS story: Report: WV Coal Production Will Fall, but Employment Will Rise
by Paul Wilson 16 May '13

16 May '13

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <newsservice(a)newsservicemail.org> Date: Thu, May 16, 2013 at 3:01 AM Subject: WVNS story: Report: WV Coal Production Will Fall, but Employment Will Rise To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Report: WV Coal Production Will Fall, but Employment Will Rise Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32502-1 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> (05/16/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - For the next two decades, more miners will be digging less coal in West Virginia, according to an in-depth report<http://downstreamstrategies.com/documents/reports_publication/the-continuin…> . Morgantown consulting firm Downstream Strategies analyzed federal and other figures and pins the cause on thinner coal seams and, to a lesser degree, cheap natural gas. By 2040, the report said, central Appalachian coal production will be about a third of where it was at its 1997 peak. Even so, Downstream president Evan Hansen said employment actually will rise. "It takes more miners to produce a ton of coal," he said. "Generally that's because the thickest, most easily accessible coal seams are being mined out." Both production levels and per-miner productivity already have fallen a great deal in the past decade, Hansen said, adding that he expects that trend to continue. The industry attacks what it calls a "war on coal" by regulators, but Hansen said their real enemy is geology. Thinner coal seams and cheap gas mean much of the demand for central Appalachian coal from power plants is going away, he said, and regulations often don't enter into it. "If there's less demand," he said, "then frankly it doesn't matter how strict the regulations are because people are not going to buy as much." Despite the decline in demand from power plants, the report said, the number of mining jobs will rise - in part, Hansen said, because of a shift from highly mechanized surface mining that supplies coal for power plants to more labor-intensive underground mining for coal to make steel. According to the report, five West Virginia counties - Mingo, Kanawha, Lincoln, Boone and Nicholas - will be especially vulnerable as production declines.They could face a tough patch, Hansen said, but devoting part of the severance tax to a future fund would help pay for the transition. "Set aside that fund so that it can be used in these counties long into the future, as a perpetual source of funding to help diversify the economy," Hansen said. The report is available online at downstreamstrategies.com<http://downstreamstrategies.com/documents/reports_publication/the-continuin…> . 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/32502-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32502-1> --- 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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WVU's VenNostrand - strong op-ed against FE deal
by Jim Sconyers 16 May '13

16 May '13

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/ WVU's James VanNostrand has an excellent analysis and statement of everything wrong with the FE deal to sell Harrison Station to Mon Power. -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last. *There is no Planet B!*

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CLIMATE CHANGE - Can we live with it?
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 16 May '13

16 May '13

How can we live with it?Thomas Jones - BUY<http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/product.php?productid=58996&utm_source=LRB&utm_med…> The Carbon Crunch: How We're Getting Climate Change Wrong - and How to Fix It by Dieter Helm <http://www.lrb.co.uk/search?author=Helm,+Dieter> Yale, 273 pp, £20.00, September 2012, ISBN 978 0 300 18659 8 - BUY<http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/product.php?productid=60773&utm_source=LRB&utm_med…> Earthmasters: The Dawn of the Age of Climate Engineering byClive Hamilton<http://www.lrb.co.uk/search?author=Hamilton,+Clive> Yale, 247 pp, £20.00, February, ISBN 978 0 300 18667 3 - BUY<http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/product.php?productid=63016&utm_source=LRB&utm_med…> The City and the Coming Climate: Climate Change in the Places We Live by Brian Stone <http://www.lrb.co.uk/search?author=Stone,+Brian> Cambridge, 187 pp, £19.99, July 2012, ISBN 978 1 107 60258 8 You are invited to read this free book review from the *London Review of Books*. Subscribe now to access every article from every fortnightly issue of the*London Review of Books*, including the entire LRB archive of over 12,500 essays and reviews.<http://ads.lrb.co.uk/www/delivery/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=554__zoneid=9…> On a damp, chill, blustery August afternoon in Whitby a few years ago I overheard a disgruntled holidaymaker declaiming - to his family, to anyone who would listen, to the wind - that 'global warming is a load of codswallop.' One of his children, a boy of around ten, was valiantly trying to explain to him the difference between climate and weather. But he wasn't paying attention, or couldn't hear over the gale and the sound of his own voice. 'Global warming,' he insisted again, 'is a load of codswallop.' This year's April snows provoked similar sentiments in many quarters. 'After such a long spell of cold, wet weather,'*Channel 4 News* asked, 'should scientists admit that the drastic temperature rises they predicted have failed to materialise?' A few days later, *Nature Geoscience*published a paper showing summer melting on the Antarctic Peninsula at a level 'unprecedented over the past thousand years'. The codswallop brigade say that even if the climate is changing, it isn't our fault. 'We human beings,' Boris Johnson wrote in the *Telegraph* in January, 'have become so blind with conceit and self-love that we genuinely believe that the fate of the planet is in our hands.' On the one hand, then, the modest mayor of London. On the other, a former head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (as paraphrased by Brian Stone): 'Only Newton's laws of motion may enjoy a wider scientific consensus than a human-enhanced greenhouse effect.' There isn't consensus, however, either scientific or political, about the best ways to respond to the problem; in part because so many possible avenues of research are being explored, and it's still too early to say which, if any, have a reasonable chance of leading us out of the woods (or rather the desert, or the floodplain). The facts, rehearsed so often, for so long and to so little effect, nonetheless bear repeating. The greenhouse effect was first hypothesised in 1824 by Joseph Fourier - though his analogy was the bell jar rather than the greenhouse - and proved experimentally by John Tyndall in 1859. In the 19th century it could be seen as unambiguously a good thing: if carbon dioxide and other trace gases didn't trap heat in the atmosphere, the earth wouldn't be warm enough to support life as we know it. But there is now far more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there has been at any point in the last 800,000 years (we know this because researchers have analysed air bubbles trapped in the ice in Greenland and Antarctica: the deeper you go, the older the bubbles). The concentration has increased from nearly 320 parts per million (high, but not unprecedented) in 1960 to more than 390 ppm today, 30 per cent higher than any previous peak, largely as a result of human activity. Not even the most fervent climate change denier can argue with the fact that burning carbon produces carbon dioxide: before the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were 280 ppm. Since 1850, more than 360 billion tonnes of fossil fuels have gone up in smoke. Average global temperatures have risen accordingly, for the last quarter century pretty much in line with the predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its first assessment report (1990). Almost every year since 1988, when the IPCC was established, has been the hottest ever recorded. The most optimistic projection, which governments are nominally committed to (that's to say, the signatories of the Copenhagen Accord in 2009 agreed it would be nice), is that the average global temperature will rise no more than 2ºC by the end of the century. Sea level has risen 6 cm since 1990. The IPCC's fourth assessment report (2007) projected that it would rise between 18 and 59 cm by 2100. According to a more recent study, it could be anything from 33 to 132 cm. The question of how to prevent climate change - we're way past that point now - has morphed into the question of how to slow it down. There's no shortage of theoretical answers about the best way to pump fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, or suck more of them out, or lower the temperature by other means. (Another week, another book about climate change: the mood optative, the structure evangelical; threats of doom followed by promises of salvation, punctuated by warnings against false prophets.) And yet carbon emissions, temperatures, sea level and the frequency of extreme weather events just keep on going up. Which leads to another, perhaps even more urgent question: if climate change is not only inevitable but already underway, how are we to live with it? The shift in emphasis towards adaptation will be reflected in the IPCC's fifth assessment report, due next year. The aim of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, negotiated at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, was to 'stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system'. So much for that. Twenty years on, after many more rounds of inconclusive talks, declarations of good intentions and accusations of bad faith, the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol has expired, with next to nothing to show for it, despite its excessively modest demands. Of the world's eight biggest national emitters of carbon dioxide, which between them account for more than 66 per cent of global emissions, only Germany (2.4 per cent) has agreed to legally binding reductions in the second commitment period (2013-20). Canada (1.7 per cent) has withdrawn from the protocol; the United States (16 per cent) never ratified it; China (29 per cent), India (5.9 per cent), Russia (5.4 per cent), Japan (3.7 per cent) and South Korea (1.8 per cent) are still signatories but don't have binding targets. Even the apparent successes of the first commitment period turn out to be not only modest but illusory: as Dieter Helm points out in *The Carbon Crunch*, Western Europe's 10 per cent reduction in emissions since 1990 is largely attributable to a decline in manufacturing. A lot of the energy generated in China's coal-fired power stations, which burn nearly as much of the black stuff as the rest of the world put together, is used to manufacture things for export to the West. We haven't really cut our emissions; we've just outsourced them. China is now pumping four times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as it was thirty years ago. There is a widely held view that if only China would stop burning coal, everything would be more or less OK (it's almost the only thing Helm and Clive Hamilton agree on). The government in Beijing said in February that China's coal burning will peak in the next two years. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Nicholas Stern, who wrote a report on the economics of climate change for the British government in 2007, reckons the world would do well to take China at its word. 'Smart investors can already see that most fossil fuel reserves are essentially unburnable,' he wrote in the foreword to a recent report by the Carbon Tracker initiative and the LSE's Grantham Institute, if we are 'to avoid global warming of more than 2°C'.1<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n10/thomas-jones/how-can-we-live-with-it?utm_sourc…> The report imagines that emissions targets will somehow be met, which means that up to 80 per cent of the vast quantities of fossil fuel reserves held as assets by publicly listed companies will lose all their value, and the huge sums currently being expended on finding new reserves will all be wasted: result, financial meltdown (again). It isn't hard, however, to turn the argument on its head: there's too much money at stake for those reserves not to be burned, so global warming of only 2°C is a pipedream.2<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n10/thomas-jones/how-can-we-live-with-it?utm_sourc…> Either way, Beijing is apparently pouring money into renewable energy (hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal), as well as setting up an emissions trading scheme like the one the EU introduced in 2005. The idea behind an ETS is that power stations and factories are allocated a greenhouse gas emissions quota. If they emit less than their quota, they can sell the difference to a factory or power station that wants to emit more. A report in*Nature Climate Change* last autumn cautiously concluded that 'armed with powerful state machinery, China may be able to avoid some of the earlier failures of the EU ETS.' The European failures include handing out too many permits and giving them away rather than making companies pay for them. In April, the European Parliament voted against temporarily reducing the allowances (a reduction might have stimulated the flagging market): the economic slump means there's been very little demand for excess pollution rights. After the vote the carbon price fell even further. 'Some environmentalists,' the *Economist* said, 'fear that the whole edifice of European climate policy could start to crumble.' Others are hoping it will, so that something that works may be put in its place. * Helm, an economist and British government adviser (he's the chair of the Defra Natural Capital Committee and a member of the Economics Advisory Group to the secretary of state for energy and climate change), has a three-part proposal: switch from coal to gas; introduce a carbon tax to replace the ETS and apply it to imports to encourage other nations to get out of coal too; and invest in research into renewable energy. He almost makes it sound simple. Current renewables, he argues, simply aren't up to the task: he especially has it in for wind, quoting the dismaying statistic from David MacKay's *Sustainable Energy: Without the Hot Air* that a four-kilometre-wide belt of offshore windfarms all the way round the coast of Britain would provide less than an eighth of Britons' average daily energy consumption (according to official, conservative figures, which don't take imports into account).3<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n10/thomas-jones/how-can-we-live-with-it?utm_sourc…> And nuclear power stations are just too slow to build, too unpopular and too expensive. [image: Felix Dennis Tour 2013]<http://ads.lrb.co.uk/www/delivery/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=656__zoneid=5…> So natural gas, which is half as polluting as coal, is the best - indeed the only realistic - 'transitionary option', Helm says, until a carbon-neutral alternative capable of meeting the world's growing energy demands is developed. He acknowledges some of the problems with gas, especially shale gas: leakages (methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, though it doesn't stay in the atmosphere for nearly so long, ten years rather than hundreds); water pollution at fracking sites; the abundance, cheapness and greener-than-coal reputation of gas reducing or delaying incentives to develop genuinely green alternatives. But he shrugs them off, as lenient on them as he is unforgiving of the supposedly insurmountable difficulties with wind power. Other commentators (Bill McKibben is one) are less sanguine. And it is convenient, not to say suspicious, that Helm should be pushing gas as a solution to climate change, however 'transitionary', just as, in Barack Obama's words, 'we're producing more natural gas than ever before.' Helm doesn't make clear why current renewables, however imperfect, should be seen as an obstacle to the development of better alternatives and not as a 'transitionary' step in the right direction. It seems a bit like saying: 'No thank you, Mr Stephenson, you can keep your slow and inefficient steam locomotive; I'm waiting for the bullet train.' As for the form the bullet train could take, Helm won't hazard a guess. 'It is impossible to pick the winners in this technology race,' he says, noting po-faced that his 'email inbox is full of excited reports of the latest "breakthrough"'. 'The best we can do is identify classes of technologies that look like good prospects': including next generation solar (using, for example, carbon rather than silicon in photovoltaic cells), biotechnologies, nuclear and geothermal heat. The nuclear possibilities still include fusion, though Helm doesn't mention it. The amazing thing about fusion is that it doesn't produce radioactive waste or greenhouse gases, only helium, and it doesn't require nuclear fuel, only deuterium (a hydrogen isotope readily extractable from seawater) and a relatively small amount of lithium (already mined in large quantities for use in batteries). The really big problem is how to set up a fusion reaction that produces more energy than it consumes. That's what happens in stars, but creating the conditions for productive fusion on earth is far from easy. Three years ago, at Cadarache in south-east France, work started on the EURO 13 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor: a joint venture by China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US. The hope, when it eventually goes online (in 2020, supposedly), is that it will be able to generate ten times as much power as goes into it: 500 megawatts from 50. In order to do this it will have to reach temperatures of 150,000,000°C, ten times hotter than the middle of the sun. 'The goal of the ITER fusion programme,' its website says, 'is to produce a net gain of energy and set the stage for the demonstration fusion power plant to come.' Even if everything goes according to plan, large-scale electricity generation from nuclear fusion is a very long way off. Researchers at Lockheed Martin are working on a nippier approach that could, they say, 'be ready with a power plant in ten years' that 'would enable us to meet global electricity demands by around 2050, in time to have a significant impact on our climate.' But no one else seems to be holding their breath. As for biotechnologies, Helm mentions using algae to produce biodiesel. But that's the least of it. The Bioenergy Systems Research Institute at the University of Georgia announced in March that they'd found a way to 'remove plants as the middleman ... We can take carbon dioxide directly °from the atmosphere and turn it into useful products like fuels and chemicals without having to go through the inefficient process of growing plants and extracting sugars from biomass.'*Pyrococcus furiosus* ('rushing fireball'), discovered in the Aeolian Islands in 1986, is a micro-organism that thrives at high temperatures (around 100°C) near underwater geothermal vents. Organisms able to live in conditions that would kill most things - under extremes of temperature, pressure, acidity, radiation - are known as extremophiles. Bacteria known as snottites (the etymology is bluntly Anglo-Saxon) live in caves deep underground where they feed on hydrogen sulphide. Among the largest extremophiles are half-millimetre-long eight-legged animals called tardigrades. Johann Goeze, who first described the phylum in 1773, called it *kleiner Wasserbär* ('little water bear'); they're also known as moss piglets. More than a thousand species have since been identified, found everywhere from the seabed to the peaks of the Himalayas. The oldest tardigrade fossils date from 530 million years ago. They can survive for several minutes at 150°C or near absolute zero (and for several days at -200°C); endure both a vacuum and 6000 atmospheres of pressure; and tolerate levels of radiation a thousand times higher than would kill a human being. They've been taken up on space shuttles, exposed to open space for ten days and survived. According to a paper by a team of German researchers published in *Bioinformatics and Biology Insights* last year, the 'specific molecular pathways for stress adaptations' in tardigrades 'are partly conserved in other animals and their manipulation could boost stress adaptation even in human cells.' The mere existence of extremophiles (though 'mere' is hardly the word) is, in its way, bleakly comforting: evidence that life in some form seems bound to continue, whatever destruction humanity may wreak. But they offer more immediate grounds for hope. The researchers at UGA genetically modified *P. furiosus* to feed on carbon dioxide at much lower temperatures and, with the addition of some hydrogen, to produce 3-hydroxypropionic acid, a useful industrial chemical. Tinker with its genes in other ways and, in theory, you could have a micro-organism that would more or less guzzle CO2 and piss petrol. But not just yet. * Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, is suspicious of 'the lure of the technofix'. In *Earthmasters*, between the handwringing ('for those who value civilised society and who are not willing to turn their faces away from the poorest and most vulnerable people of the world, the reasons to fret are numberless') and the awkward imagery ('I will suggest that climate engineering is the last battle in a titanic struggle between Prometheans and Soterians,' Soteria being 'the goddess of safety, preservation and deliverance from harm'), Hamilton gives a fairly thorough survey of schemes to counteract global warming through large-scale manipulation of the stratosphere or the oceans. As we're doing such a hopeless job of pumping less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, how about trying harder to suck some of it out? In the budget in March, George Osborne announced that the government intended to take 'two major carbon capture and storage projects to the next stage of development'. One of them, in the words of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, 'involves capturing around 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide from part' - how large a part it doesn't say - 'of the existing gas-fired power station at Peterhead before transporting it and storing it in a depleted gas field beneath the North Sea'. The other scheme 'involves capturing 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide from a new super-efficient coal-fired power station at the Drax site in North Yorkshire, before transporting and storing it in a saline aquifer beneath the southern North Sea'. The cynical view is that such projects - these two 'involve' private companies including Shell and BOC - are (skimpy) fig leaves for the fossil fuel industry. Two other projects are being held in reserve. 'A final investment decision will be taken by the government in early 2015 on the construction of up to two projects.' 'Up to two' could mean one. Or it could mean none. Whichever, it won't be nearly enough to have a discernible effect on Britain's emissions, let alone global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Other, more ambitious carbon sequestration schemes are based on the idea that, given a little chemical encouragement, other species could do the capture and storage for us. Twenty-five years ago, one of the 11-year-olds in my science class asked our teacher why 'they' didn't invent machines to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. 'They have,' Mr Cooney replied. 'They're called trees.' But trees are slow growing, and vulnerable to fire and chainsaws, and when they rot or burn the carbon they've captured and stored is released back into the atmosphere. Half the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by photosynthesis not in trees but in phytoplankton. They reproduce incredibly fast and, when they die, some of the carbon they've taken from the air eventually sinks to the ocean floor (passing through the bodies of a series of larger creatures along the way), where it will remain for possibly thousands of years. Phytoplankton blooms can be encouraged by fertilising the seas with iron (they can't photosynthesise without it). This happens naturally when high winds blow iron-rich dust from the land out to sea. Or it can be done artificially by spraying a few thousand litres of iron sulphate solution off the back of a boat. Several experiments have been carried out to determine how effective this is as a way of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere for the long term: probably not very, because far less carbon than was hoped actually tends to sink to the seabed, though it depends where the experiment is carried out (phytoplankton with shells, which can only grow if there's silicon in the water to make their shells from, sink better than those without). And iron fertilisation has any number of unintended and unpredictable consequences for marine ecosystems. But none of that stopped Russ George - a Californian businessman variously described as a 'geo-vigilante', 'rogue geoengineer' or 'climate hacker'; he calls himself 'a translator of science into application' - from discharging a hundred tonnes of iron sulphate, far more than any previous experiment had used, into the Pacific last summer. It produced a phytoplankton bloom over 4000 square miles of ocean. Beyond that, the effects are as yet unknown. Another possibility, instead of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, is to turn down the heat, using what's known as 'solar radiation management'. The term was coined by Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric scientist at the Carnegie Institute, who told Hamilton he came up with it while organising a workshop with Nasa in 2006 and wanted a 'boring sounding name' that wouldn't scare bureaucrats who were 'queasy' about 'geoengineering'. Worried about the negative connotations of the word 'radiation', Caldeira later suggested that the acronym SRM stood for 'sunlight reflection methods'. The more visible sunlight that is reflected back into space, the less there is to be absorbed by the earth and re-emitted as lower frequency infrared radiation, which is what's absorbed and re-emitted into the atmosphere by greenhouse gases. One of the many reasons the melting of ice sheets, ice-caps and glaciers is such bad news is that ice and snow are highly reflective - it's the reason they look white to us - and rocks are not: less ice means less reflected sunlight means more warming. Proposed artificial sunlight reflection methods include launching giant mirrors into space, making clouds brighter by spraying seawater into the air (clouds are formed when water vapour condenses on tiny particles of dust, say, or soot, or sea salt; more salt in the air means denser clouds; denser clouds reflect more light), and spraying sulphates into the stratosphere. Large volcanic eruptions - Mount Laki in 1783, Mount Tabora in 1815 (1816 was 'the year without a summer'), Mount Pinatubo in 1991 - can send enough ash into the stratosphere to bring the average temperature down significantly: by 0.5°C during the year after Mount Pinatubo. Rather than waiting for the next volcano, we could spray sulphates into the stratosphere using planes, or even a giant hose. 'Stratospheric aerosol spraying is the archetypal geoengineering technique,' Hamilton writes. 'It would be easy, effective and cheap, and have the most far-reaching implications for life on earth.' The two big problems with geoengineering are, first, that interfering with vast, complex and poorly understood systems may well have unforeseen and potentially disastrous consequences, though that has to be weighed against the fact that simply carrying on as we are has consequences that are largely foreseeable and certainly disastrous; and, second, moral hazard: if the symptoms of global warming can be relieved by geoengineering, there's even less incentive for greenhouse gas emitters to do anything about the cause. Hamilton quotes a study that models what would happen if carbon emissions continued to rise at their present rate, but solar radiation management were used to offset the global warming between 2020 and 2059 and then for whatever reason abruptly stopped: temperatures would soar, and we - and other species - would have to (or in many cases fail to) adapt to the surge over ten years rather than fifty. Hamilton hazily worries that geoengineering crosses some kind of line in humanity's relationship with 'nature', though you could just as well argue that our ancestors crossed that line when they first struck flint to pyrite over tinder tens of thousands of years ago. 'There is something deeply perverse,' Hamilton writes, 'in the demand that we construct an immense industrial infrastructure in order to deal with the carbon emissions from another immense industrial infrastructure, when we could just stop burning fossil fuels.' But, actually, we couldn't. Not because it would be too expensive, and not only because billions of people would promptly die - from starvation, disease, cold, heat - but also, as Hamilton observes elsewhere in*Earthmasters*, because one immediate effect would be a sharp rise in global temperature. One of the effects of burning fossil fuels is the maintenance of a thick haze of sulphate aerosols in the atmosphere, which keeps the sunlight out and the temperature down. Sulphates last only weeks in the atmosphere; carbon dioxide endures for centuries. We are in a multiple bind. Both emissions and atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases need to be severely reduced. Cutting one without the other would be either fruitless in the long term or dangerous in the short term. We may well need to find other ways to keep the temperature down without fooling ourselves into believing we've made the problem go away. And we need to do all these things at the same time. * But who are 'we'? Who will - who can - do what is required? Neither the 'international community' nor such enterprising individuals as Russ George are in a position to save the planet (not that 'the planet' per se is in any need of saving, not even from the people who want to cool it down by shifting its orbit further from the sun using nuclear missiles and asteroids; just some of the lifeforms clinging to or scurrying around on its surface). The problem is so vast that it seems beyond anyone's individual or collective power to do anything about it. The theme of Earth Day 2013 on 22 April was 'The Face of Climate Change', an attempt to 'personalise the massive challenge climate change presents'. Another way of putting it would be to say that everybody needs to start looking at climate change as a local as well as a global problem. This may or may not have been what the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meant when she said earlier this month at the end of a 'very productive week' of talks in Bonn that 'there is a growing realisation that this cannot be done exclusively by governments.' Carbon dioxide, wherever it may be emitted, is evenly distributed around the globe. But warming isn't. (Britain's recent cold winters don't disprove anything: they may well be caused by melting Arctic sea ice.) Brian Stone points out in *The City and the Coming Climate* that cities are getting hotter faster than anywhere else - so much so that they're often excluded from calculations of average global warming as statistical outliers. But more than half the people in the world now live in cities, and the proportion is set to increase to 70 per cent by 2050. The infrastructure that cities depend on is far more fragile than we care to think about. In August 2003, a short circuit on a power line in rural Ohio left 55 million people in the north-eastern United States without electricity. Stone begins his book with a riveting account of the devastating heatwave that swept over Europe ten years ago, when a temperature of 100ºF was recorded for the first time ever in the UK: In all, the EU estimated that more than 70,000 citizens of 12 countries died from heat-induced illnesses over a four-month period in the summer of 2003. This number represents more fatalities than have resulted from any EU or American conflict since World War Two or any natural disaster (e.g., hurricanes, earthquakes and floods) to have ever struck a developed nation. It dwarfs the 1800 deaths attributed to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and effectively renders trivial the 900 lives lost during the highly publicised Sars epidemic that struck in the same year as the heatwave ... Americans would need to experience more than 20 terrorist attacks equivalent in destruction to 9/11 before such a death toll would be approached. Yet the global response to this climate event, an event that reveals more about the profoundly changing environment in which we now live than any other yet endured, has largely been one of indifference. The reasons for the indifference aren't unobvious: the slow burn of a heatwave is less dramatic than a hurricane, an earthquake, a flood or a terrorist attack; most of the victims were old and many of them unidentified, buried in unmarked graves; the death toll is calculated by counting excess deaths, comparing the number of people who died during the heatwave with the number in previous years, so it's possible to say how many were killed, but not who they were. Heatwaves resist personalisation. 'Cities do not cause heatwaves,' Stone writes, 'they amplify them.' At the peak of a heatwave in July 1999, Chicago was more than 6ºF warmer than rural Illinois. The urban heat island effect was first documented in 1818, when Luke Howard, an amateur meteorologist, took a series of temperature measurements in and around London which showed that the city was on average 4°F warmer than the surrounding countryside. It's partly down to human activity (from driving to cooking to air-conditioning to breathing), partly because cities tend to be built from materials that are really bad at reflecting sunlight (tarmac's especially terrible), and partly because of the lack of trees. It takes a certain amount of energy to turn a liquid into a gas. When water evaporates, its molecules absorb heat from the surroundings: that's why sweating cools you down. The heat is then 'locked up', as Stone puts it, in the water vapour. Plants don't sweat, they transpire; but the principle, as far as water's concerned, is the same. So trees mitigate global warming not only by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but also by cooling the earth down. Yet the emphasis on greenhouse gases in UN legislation means that planting or preserving trees gets you negligible points under the Kyoto Protocol, because of the uncertainty as to how long the carbon they take out of the atmosphere will be sequestered for. Even though, in Stone's words, 'a cessation of rainforest destruction in just two countries, Brazil and Indonesia, would by itself bring the world four-fifths of the way to meeting the cumulative targets of the Kyoto Protocol.' The difference trees make is demonstrated by a 2003 study that modelled the effects of reforesting the Sahara (there were trees there five thousand years ago). 'In theory,' Stone says, 'a Saharan subtropical forest could absorb enough CO2 each year to cease altogether greenhouse-driven climate change, and it could do so without the decommissioning of a single power plant.' Though it would require a logistically daunting and tremendously expensive network of desalination plants and irrigation pipes across a dozen of the world's politically less stable countries. More modestly, Stone recommends changes in global policy to focus on land-use management as well as carbon emissions (on turning the heat down under the saucepan as well as taking the lid off, to use one of his analogies), and a shift in urban planning towards densely populated cities with plenty of trees and good public transport systems, surrounded by forests rather than suburban sprawl. What's not to like? Local improvements in urban planning also have the advantage that they stand a realistic chance of being implemented, certainly compared to the prospect of united global action*.* The smothering pollution in Chinese cities is one of the major incentives for the government in Beijing to set about reducing carbon emissions. One of the 20th century's more effective pieces of environmental legislation was the 1956 Clean Air Act, a response to the great smog of 1952 that killed as many as 12,000 Londoners. Atlanta (Stone teaches at Georgia Tech) introduced a 'no net tree loss' policy a few years ago, but it's still a work in progress: 15,000 trees are cut down in the city each year; only 3000 are planted to replace them. Stone urges the adoption of 'mitigation strategies that yield concurrent adaptive benefits'. Examples of the opposite - adaptation without mitigation - are easier to come by. In 2004, Tim Flannery said that 'there is a fair chance Perth will be the 21st century's first ghost metropolis' because of the threat to its freshwater supply. The capital of Western Australia has since then opened one desalination plant, powered by wind turbines, and is in the process of setting up a second, much larger one, driven by coal. 'The benefits to Perth are direct and immediate (new water) and the harms are diffuse and intergenerational,' Robert Glennon wrote in *National Geographic* last year. 'That's what makes climate change such an intractable problem.' * There's no immediate need for desalination in Britain. But ahead of the UK National Adaptation Programme that will be published later this year, Defra last year released the first of its new five-yearly Climate Change Risk Assessments.4<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n10/thomas-jones/how-can-we-live-with-it?utm_sourc…> It outlines the 'priorities for adaptation' under five 'themes' (Agriculture & Forestry; Business and Services; Health & Wellbeing; Buildings & Infrastructure; Natural Environment) and considers not only the risks associated with climate change - flooding, drought, supply chain disruption, flooding, disease, higher energy demand, flooding and more flooding - but possible opportunities, too: under the business theme, for example, there is hope for a 'possible increase in market opportunities such as tourism and leisure industry' (presumably this means luring the codswallopers back to a warmer, sunnier Whitby, even if most of the beach will have disappeared under the North Sea). Now there's a reason to look on the bright side. There are more detailed ideas in the Environment Agency's action plan for the Thames Estuary. The 'assets and people at risk in the tidal Thames floodplain' include 135 square miles of land, 1.25 million residents, 500,000 homes and 40,000 businesses with a combined property value of £200 billion, 400 schools, 16 hospitals, eight power stations, more than a thousand electricity substations, four World Heritage Sites, 35 Tube stations, 51 railway stations, more than a hundred miles of railway and 200 miles of road. In its first decade of operation, between 1982 and 1992, the Thames Barrier was closed 11 times. Between 1999 and 2009, it was closed 81 times. The current worst-case scenario is a rise in maximum water levels by 2100 of 2.7 metres (revised down from a previous estimate of 4.2 metres; it may yet be revised up again), which means that the Thames Barrier and 'associated defences' will need 'significant improvements' from 2035: not least, embankments and flood defences will have to be made higher. 'Major changes to the structure of the system will not be needed until much later in the century - under the government's current climate change guidance new arrangements must be in place by 2070.' Those new arrangements will have to be settled on by 2050. Under current plans they will include either replacing the current barrier at Woolwich or building a new one at Long Reach or Tilbury. The outlook may not be so bad for American and British cities. But the news that there are ways for the global North and West to adapt to and tolerate global warming is hardly reassuring for, say, the 12 million residents of Dhaka, which faces a much greater risk of flooding and has far less money to spend on defences. A paper published in *Natural Hazards* last year comparing the vulnerability to flooding of nine cities found - unsurprisingly, but it's useful to have it quantified - that Shanghai, Dhaka and Calcutta were far more vulnerable than Rotterdam, Marseille and Osaka. The director of the Research Institute of Global Climate and Ecology at the Russian Academy of Sciences, according to Hamilton, has said that 'it would be cheaper to resettle Bangladeshis threatened by sea-level rise' than to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol - and cheaper still to do neither. A recent Unicef briefing reiterated the obvious but important point that the world's poorest children are the most vulnerable to climate change. The report's recommendations include 'providing crops that are more drought resistant to smallholder families in areas that are increasingly prone to drought.' Unicef doesn't spell it out, but drought-resistant crops probably means genetically modified crops. One way to make crops hardier is using genes from tougher organisms like *Pyrococcus furiosus*. The International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines recently announced that it had developed a new kind of 'super salt-tolerant' rice by crossing two very different strains, one of them a wild species that 'is extremely difficult to cross with cultivated rice varieties'. If last year is anything to go by, British farmers are going to need new varieties of winter wheat that are more tolerant of cold and flooding. But last year may not be anything to go by. One of the difficulties with trying to adapt to climate change is that while the long-term average global effects seem to be fairly predictable, local and temporary effects are not. Depending on how you tweak the models, rainfall in Kansas, for example, could increase or decrease by more than 40 per cent by 2060, or stay roughly the same as it is now. That's quite a range of possibilities. Britain in the last ten years has seen severe heatwaves and extremely cold winters, periods of drought and serious flooding. It's hard to say which are the greatest long-term threats locally, which is a reason people talk about 'adaptive capacity': in other words, we need to prepare to be prepared. Policymakers aren't entirely to blame for the frustrating vagueness of their proposals, which often seem to consist of no more than a commitment to look at the situation again in a few years' time. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that somehow - using some of the technologies and policies I've discussed here, and some of the many I've overlooked - we'll muddle through. But only if we slow climate change to a rate that we, like other organisms that evolved when the world was mild, can adapt to. If we don't, we may indeed be doomed. And*Pyrococcus furiosus*, which needs us a lot less than we may need it, will inherit the earth. We hope you enjoyed reading this free book review from the *London Review of Books*. Subscribe now to access every article from every fortnightly issue of the *London Review of Books*, including the entire LRB archive of over 12,500 essays and reviews.<http://ads.lrb.co.uk/www/delivery/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=552__zoneid=1…> The print edition of the *London Review of Books* in which this book review appears<http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/product.php?productid=63015&utm_source=LRB&utm_med…> and a downloadable PDF version of this book review<http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/product.php?productid=62997&utm_source=LRB&utm_med…> are also available for purchase from the*London Review Bookshop*. Contact us<http://www.lrb.co.uk/contacts> for rights and issues enquiries. facebook - - 64 - twitter - - 35 - share - - email - letter - cite - print - More from this issue <http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n10/contents> >> - More by this contributor<http://www.lrb.co.uk/contributors/thomas-jones> >> [image: Subscribe to the London Review of Books]<http://ads.lrb.co.uk/www/delivery/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=612__zoneid=3…> [image: Combined Academic Publishers]<http://ads.lrb.co.uk/www/delivery/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=659__zoneid=4…> ISSN 0260-9592 Copyright <http://www.lrb.co.uk/copyright> (c) LRB Ltd., 1997-2013 | Send Us Feedback <http://www.lrb.co.uk/feedbackform> ^ Top<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n10/thomas-jones/how-can-we-live-with-it?utm_sourc…> | Mobile website<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n10/thomas-jones/how-can-we-live-with-it?utm_sourc…> | Librarians <http://www.lrb.co.uk/librarian> | Copyright<http://www.lrb.co.uk/copyright> | Terms & Conditions <http://www.lrb.co.uk/terms> | Privacy<http://www.lrb.co.uk/privacy> | Sitemap <http://www.lrb.co.uk/sitemap> | Acce<http://www.lrb.co.uk/accessibility> ssibility <http://www.lrb.co.uk/accessibility> -- 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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Fwd: [Coal Volunteers List] Join us for "Beyond Coal Campaign - We're Halfway There! What's Next?"
by Paul Wilson 15 May '13

15 May '13

fyi, paul w. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Becki Clayborn <becki.clayborn(a)sierraclub.org> Date: Tue, May 14, 2013 at 6:30 PM Subject: [Coal Volunteers List] Join us for "Beyond Coal Campaign - We're Halfway There! What's Next?" To: #Coal-Volunteers <coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org> Beyond Coal Campaign - We're Halfway There! What's Next? Join us for a Volunteer Webinar on May 28th at 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 6pm MT / 5pm PT! <https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/165438239> The Beyond Coal Campaign set out to retire 105,000MW’s of coal fired electricity by 2020 – and according to the commitments we have secured - we're half way there! This webinar will highlight how we secured those MW retirements and the campaign’s strategic thinking heading into the second half of MW’s targeted. Join this webinar to hear the vision strategy and outlook for the next stage of the Beyond Coal Campaign from Mary Anne Hitt, Campaign Director and Verena Owen, Campaign Volunteer Lead. Q&A will be held at the end. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/165438239 *Title:* Beyond Coal Campaign - We're Halfway There! What's Next? *Date:* Tuesday, May 28, 2013 *Time:* 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM CDT After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. *System Requirements* PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Mac®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer Mobile attendees Required: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet -- Becki Clayborn Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Internal Capacities and Communications Coordinator Chicago, IL 312-251-1680 630-881-3480 (cell) -- To access the Beyond Coal Campaign Resource Portal, go to: https://sites.google.com/a/sierraclub.org/beyond-coal-resource-portal/ To sign up for this list, email becki.clayborn(a)sierraclub.org with the subject and message "SUBSCRIBE #coal-volunteer" --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "#Coal-Volunteers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coal-volunteers-list+unsubscribe(a)sierraclub.org. To post to this group, send email to coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org. -- 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: Is Mon Power Trying to Stick Customers With a White Elephant?
by Paul Wilson 14 May '13

14 May '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <newsservice(a)newsservicemail.org> Date: Mon, May 13, 2013 at 3:13 AM Subject: WVNS story: Is Mon Power Trying to Stick Customers With a White Elephant? To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Is Mon Power Trying to Stick Customers With a White Elephant? Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32433-1 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> (05/13/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Consumer advocates say Mon Power is trying to stick ratepayers with an overpriced white elephant, in a deal that would benefit another subsidiary of FirstEnergy. The utility has asked the Public Service Commission to let it buy 80 percent of the huge Harrison power plant from sister company Allegheny Energy Supply. With natural gas cheaper than coal, said Cathy Kunkel, a policy analyst for Energy Efficient West Virginia, the Harrison plant is not as cost efficient. FirstEnergy wants to shift the liability from a out-of-state subsidiary that would have to eat the cost to Mon Power, which would stick ratepayers for it, Kunkel said, adding that the sale price is way too high. "Every utility in the country right now basically is running away from coal towards natural gas," she said. "Coal plants have been going for about a quarter of the price that Allegheny Energy Supply wants to sell Harrison for." Kunkel said Mon Power would be paying too much for generating capacity for which it doesn't have nearly the demand. "Buying the Harrison plant is way more energy and capacity than the company even needs," she said. "If they buy this plant, they're going to have excess energy and capacity for more than 10 years into the future." A properly designed energy conservation program actually could make money for the company while reducing customers' bills, Kunkel said. That would be a lot smarter than paying too much for a generating station that has serious competitive disadvantages, she said. "Around the country, time and again, we've seen that those sorts of energy-efficiency investments are actually much cheaper than investments in new generating capacity," she said. The company says the Harrison County plant would give it more predictable future power costs. However, Kunkel said most projections are that gas will stay cheap at least through 2020. The PSC will hold hearings on the case May 29-31. The case number is 12-1571-E-PC. 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/32433-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32433-1> --- 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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400 parts per billion......
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 11 May '13

11 May '13

[image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/> ------------------------------ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/science/earth/carbon-dioxide-level-passes… May 10, 2013 Heat-Trapping Gas Passes Milestone, Raising Fears By JUSTIN GILLIS<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/justin_gillis/…> The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years. Scientific instruments showed that the gas had reached an average daily level above 400 parts per million — just an odometer moment in one sense, but also a sobering reminder that decades of efforts to bring human-produced emissions under control are faltering. The best available evidence suggests the amount of the gas in the air has not been this high for at least three million years, before humans evolved, and scientists believe the rise portends large changes in the climate and the level of the sea. “It symbolizes that so far we have failed miserably in tackling this problem,” said Pieter P. Tans, who runs the monitoring program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that reported the new reading. Ralph Keeling, who runs another monitoring program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography <http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/> in San Diego, said a continuing rise could be catastrophic. “It means we are quickly losing the possibility of keeping the climate below what people thought were possibly tolerable thresholds,” he said. Virtually every automobile ride, every plane trip and, in most places, every flip of a light switch adds carbon dioxide to the air, and relatively little money is being spent to find and deploy alternative technologies. China is now the largest emitter, but Americans have been consuming fossil fuels extensively for far longer, and experts say the United States is more responsible than any other nation for the high level. The new measurement came from analyzers atop Mauna Loa<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/science/earth/22carbon.html?pagewanted=al…>, the volcano on the big island of Hawaii that has long been ground zero for monitoring the worldwide trend on carbon dioxide, or CO2. Devices there sample <http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/weekly.html> clean, crisp air that has blown thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean, producing a record of rising carbon dioxide levels that has been closely tracked for half a century. Carbon dioxide above 400 parts per million was first seen in the Arctic last year, and had also spiked above that level in hourly readings at Mauna Loa. But the average reading for an entire day surpassed that level at Mauna Loa for the first time in the 24 hours that ended at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday. The two monitoring programs use slightly different protocols; NOAA reported an average for the period of 400.03 parts per million, while Scripps reported 400.08. Carbon dioxide rises and falls on a seasonal cycle, and the level will dip below 400 this summer as leaf growth in the Northern Hemisphere pulls about 10 billion tons of carbon out of the air. But experts say that will be a brief reprieve — the moment is approaching when no measurement of the ambient air anywhere on earth, in any season, will produce a reading below 400. “It feels like the inevitable march toward disaster,” said Maureen E. Raymo, a scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, a unit of Columbia University. >From studying air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice, scientists know that going back 800,000 years, the carbon dioxide level oscillated in a tight band, from about 180 parts per million in the depths of ice ages to about 280 during the warm periods between. The evidence shows that global temperatures and CO2 levels are tightly linked. For the entire period of human civilization, roughly 8,000 years, the carbon dioxide level was relatively stable near that upper bound. But the burning of fossil fuels has caused a 41 percent increase in the heat-trapping gas since the Industrial Revolution, a mere geological instant, and scientists say the climate is beginning to react, though they expect far larger changes in the future. Indirect measurements suggest that the last time the carbon dioxide level was this high was at least three million years ago, during an epoch called the Pliocene. Geological research shows that the climate then was far warmer than today, the world’s ice caps were smaller, and the sea level might have been as much as 60 or 80 feet higher. Experts fear that humanity may be precipitating a return to such conditions — except this time, billions of people are in harm’s way. “It takes a long time to melt ice, but we’re doing it,” Dr. Keeling said. “It’s scary.” Dr. Keeling’s father, Charles David Keeling, began carbon dioxide measurements on Mauna Loa and at other locations in the late 1950s. The elder Dr. Keeling found a level in the air then of about 315 parts per million — meaning that if a person had filled a million quart jars with air, about 315 quart jars of carbon dioxide would have been mixed in. His analysis revealed a relentless, long-term increase superimposed on the seasonal cycle, a trend that was dubbed the Keeling Curve<http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/>. Countries have adopted an official target to limit the damage from global warming, with 450 parts per million seen as the maximum level compatible with that goal. “Unless things slow down, we’ll probably get there in well under 25 years,” Ralph Keeling said. Yet many countries, including China and the United States, have refused to adopt binding national targets. Scientists say that unless far greater efforts are made soon, the goal of limiting the warming will become impossible without severe economic disruption. “If you start turning the Titanic long before you hit the iceberg, you can go clear without even spilling a drink of a passenger on deck,” said Richard B. Alley, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. “If you wait until you’re really close, spilling a lot of drinks is the best you can hope for.” Climate-change contrarians, who have little scientific credibility but are politically influential in Washington, point out that carbon dioxide represents only a tiny fraction of the air — as of Thursday’s reading, exactly 0.04 percent. “The CO2 levels in the atmosphere are rather undramatic,” a Republican congressman from California, Dana Rohrabacher, said in a Congressional hearing several years ago. But climate scientists reject that argument, saying it is like claiming that a tiny bit of arsenic or cobra venom cannot have much effect. Research shows that even at such low levels, carbon dioxide is potent at trapping heat near the surface of the earth. “If you’re looking to stave off climate perturbations that I don’t believe our culture is ready to adapt to, then significant reductions in CO2emissions have to occur right away,” said Mark Pagani, a Yale geochemist who studies climates of the past. “I feel like the time to do something was yesterday.” This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: *Correction: May 10, 2013* An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of carbon dioxide in the air as of Thursday’s reading from monitors. It is .04 percent, not .0004 percent. -- 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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Fwd: WVNS story: Fight Over Clean Water Rules
by Paul Wilson 11 May '13

11 May '13

FYI. Paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Public News Service" <newsservice(a)newsservicemail.org> Date: May 10, 2013 3:05 AM Subject: WVNS story: Fight Over Clean Water Rules To: "PaulWilson" <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Cc: Fight Over Clean Water Rules Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32354-1 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> (05/10/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Congressional Republicans want to force the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen clean water laws, but coalfield residents say their water is too polluted now. Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, are backing a bill that would force the EPA to act on coal mining permits or have them approved automatically. But coalfield residents say pollution from the mines already threatens their health. Bo Webb of Peachtree Creek in Raleigh County, W.Va., says in the last year and a half, 14 people in that small community have found they have cancer, including his wife. "I got home on December the 1st, my wife wasn't feeling good,” he recalls. “And we went to the doctor, and she'd thrown up some blood. And the doctor called, so we went in. And my wife had cancer. Then on March 3rd she died. And so, it takes its toll." The Republicans say the EPA is sitting on permits in a back-door attempt to shut down coalmines, part of what they call a "war on coal." Meanwhile coalfield residents are bringing gallons of brown and red water to Congress to show what they drink, cook and wash with. The GOP bill, known as the Coal Jobs Protection Act, has the backing of coal industry associations and a variety of business groups. But Ada Smith of Whitesburg, Ky. says the focus should be more about overall job diversification in the region. "I think that most people understand that coal isn't going to be the number one source of employment,” she says. “It hasn't been for a really long time." Many citizen and environmental groups say the clean water that coalfield residents depend on is at risk of being sacrificed for mine company profits. Sue Tallichet, a member of the grassroots citizens group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, calls the legislation "a bailout for coal." "McConnell's bill is very deceiving in that, it's even called the Coal Job Protection Act,” she argues. “They're not protecting jobs and miners – they're protecting profits." 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/32354-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32354-1> --- 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.

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Food, Farms, Forests and Fracking: Connecting the Dots
by Beth Little 09 May '13

09 May '13

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27489.cfm

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Fracking fracas over Smokey Bear
by Beth Little 09 May '13

09 May '13

http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/14955/smokey_the_bear_anti_fracking_i nsurgent/ John, The Mon is mentioned in this article - specifically the disaster at the Fernow. The article mentions that the artist who created "Only you can prevent faucet fires" wants/needs support from other groups in her legal battle. Maybe we can put a picture in the Voice along with an article. Here's more: http://williamahuston.blogspot.com/2013/05/dont-look-you-may-be-party-to-cri me.html

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Fwd: Report: More US C02 reductions from EE than Switching in Nat Gas
by James Kotcon 08 May '13

08 May '13

For those who still think natural gas is a way to reduce greenhouse gases, join the EE campaign team. Lower your bills, create thousands of jobs, and save the planet! Jim Kotcon ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jennifer Miller <jen.miller(a)sierraclub.org> Date: Thu, May 2, 2013 at 12:50 PM Subject: Report: More US C02 reductions from EE than Switching in Nat Gas To: CONS-FRED(a)lists.sierraclub.org http://co2scorecard.org/home/researchitem/27 "Energy related CO2 emissions in the US fell by 205 million metric tons in 2012. CO2 Scorecard breaks it down and shows that nearly 75% of the decline is accounted for by demand reduction primarily due to the economy-wide energy efficiency and conservation measures in the transportation, residential and commercial sectors; the mild winter in the first quarter of 2012 also gave a helping hand." -- Jen Miller (614)563-9543 ( tel:%28614%29563-9543 ) Senior Campaign Representative for Energy Efficiency Sierra Club National Beyond Coal Campaign

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Re: [EC] Power purchase agreements - bringing rooftop solar
by Jim Sconyers 05 May '13

05 May '13

Very interesting discussion of PPAs 3rd party power purchase agreements. Bringing more rooftop solar. On May 3, 2013 8:18 AM, "Ivy Main" <ivymain(a)cox.net> wrote: > Jim, the discussion of the PPA is here: powerforthepeopleva.com. > > Ivy Main > 703-967-2876 > >

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THE PROPHETS OF OAK RIDGE.
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 02 May '13

02 May '13

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2013/04/29/the-prophets-of-oak-ridge… THE PROPHETS OF OAK RIDGE Last summer, in the dead of night, three peace activists penetrated the exterior of Y-12 in Tennessee, supposedly one of the most secure nuclear-weapons facilities in the United States. A drifter, an 82-year-old nun and a house painter. They face trial next week on charges that fall under the sabotage section of the U.S. criminal code. And if they had been terrorists armed with explosives, intent on mass destruction? That nightmare scenario underlies the government’s response to the intrusion. This is the story of two competing worldviews, of conscience vs. court, of fantasy vs. reality, of history vs. the future. CHAPTER 1 Mission *The devil was* just over Pine Ridge. >From the deserted parking lot on the edge of town, the three servants of God looked into darkness. They clicked on their flashlights, pushed through the initial thicket of brush and began their trek, aiming for the black wooded slope. First, the house painter: bearded, calm, quiet. Second, the Catholic nun: gentle, grandmotherly, short of breath. Third, the drifter: alert, intense, shouldering supplies. They crept across the marshy field, led by some combination of God and Google Maps. Behind them was the city of Oak Ridge, Tenn., 30 minutes west of Knoxville. On the other side of Pine Ridge was Bear Creek Valley — cradle of the Y-12 National Security Complex, the “Fort Knox of Uranium,” birthplace of the heart of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima 67 years earlier. It was, the house painter would later recall, as if the Almighty were guiding each step, across 1,000 feet of open field and up an embankment. By 3 a.m. on Saturday, July 28, 2012, two career peace activists, with eight years jail time between them, and an 82-year-old nun had reached the first obstacle in their two-hour, one-mile hike toward one of the country’s most secure nuclear facilities. A six-foot chain-link boundary fence bordered a gravel patrol road. Strung along the fence were yellow “No Trespassing” placards threatening a $100,000 fine and up to one year in prison. The house painter gripped a pair of bolt cutters, fixed the jaws around a link and squeezed. He cut links in three lines, then opened the new flap. No alarm. No patrol cars. The nun went through first. After the two men followed her, they closed the fence with twine, crossed the patrol road and began the 40-degree ascent to the dark crest of the ridge. The crime had started, which meant they were one step closer to justice. One step closer to rattling the Department of Energy. One step closer to assailing the nation’s storied nuclear identity. One step closer to changing their lives and the lives of the people on the other side of the slope — including the first man they would meet once they cut through three more fences and entered the kill zone. John Hendrix, an ascetic who lived in East Tennesse during the early part of the 20th century, was nicknamed the Prophet of Oak Ridge after his death. His grave is located near the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) CHAPTER 2 ‘… and the earth will shake’ *In those same* woods, around 1900, a middle-aged ascetic named John Hendrix gazed up at the sky and heard a voice like a clap of thunder. The voice told Hendrix to sleep in the woods for 40 nights. So he did. And he had a vision of the future, according to “The Oak Ridge Story<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1440051658/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=17…>,” a 1950 book by George O. Robinson Jr. “And I tell you,” Hendrix said to his farming community after his retreat, “Bear Creek Valley some day will be filled with great buildings and factories and they will help toward winning the greatest war that ever will be. . . . They will be building things and there will be great noise and confusion and the earth will shake.” Hendrix often summited Pine Ridge, Robinson wrote, to pray over the vista of peach orchards and log cabins. “I’ve seen it,” was his refrain. “It’s coming.” On Nov. 11, 1942, decades after Hendrix’s death, a letter from the government arrived at the home of his son: “The War Department intends to take possession of your farm Dec. 1, 1942. . . . Your fullest cooperation will be a material aid to the War Effort.” The government paid Curtis Allen Hendrix $850 for his 60-acre farm, which would be overtaken by the Manhattan Project, the country’s race to build an atomic bomb before Hitler did. Three thousand homesteaders were displaced by the government, which then built a city from scratch by laying 200 miles of road, constructing 44,000 dwelling units and importing 75,000 workers: steelmen from Pennsylvania, machinists and woodworkers from Michigan, riveters and physicists and stenographers and chemists from coast to coast. The 14-square-mile “Secret City” of Oak Ridge was forested with billboards that said “Keep mum about this job” and “We will win in ’44 with your help.” Click or press to view full image Scores of East Tennessee high school girls were trained to operate the dials on complex machinery at the Y-12 site. They didn’t know that each flick of their wrists aided the gram-by-gram production of U-235, the uranium isotope that can sustain the chain reaction of fission necessary to create a nuclear explosion. The science seems simple enough: When a neutron strikes the nucleus of a U-235 atom, the nucleus splits and releases thermal energy and more neutrons, which in turn strike and split more uranium nuclei, and on and on, in an instant, until . . . The biggest boom, from the smallest of particles. Around the clock for 18 months, the Secret City hummed and hustled. Hendrix, his vision borne out, was posthumously deemed the Prophet of Oak Ridge. For most townspeople, the full nature of their mission became clear only in bold newspaper ink on Aug. 6, 1945. “ATOMIC SUPER-BOMB, MADE AT OAK RIDGE, STRIKES JAPAN,” announced the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Sunset at the Y-12 National Security Complex, where weapons-grade uranium is stored and processed. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) CHAPTER 3 Sabotage *It was into* this land and history that outsiders intruded 67 years later: Sister Megan Gillespie Rice, now 83; drifter Michael Robin Walli, now 64; and house painter Gregory Irwin Boertje-Obed, 57. They, like Hendrix, had a vision. They, like Hendrix, can come off a little batty. Michael, though fiercely intelligent, often departs on tirades about the Antichrist. Sister Megan, adamant about not harming any living thing, vowed that if they were attacked by guard dogs inside the complex she would not even raise her hands in self-defense. Greg is so meek in demeanor that it’s hard to imagine him wielding cutlery, let alone bolt cutters. Hendrix envisioned the improbable construction of a wartime city. Michael, Sister Megan and Greg envision its improbable dismantlement. With elbow grease and blind faith, they would make a symbolic incursion to defeat the site’s $150 million-a-year security operation. They would mortify the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, which since 1940 has cost at least $9.8 trillion in 2013 dollars — costlier than all other government expenditures except Social Security and non-nuclear defense programs, according to nuclear weapons policy analyst Stephen Schwartz’s recent update of his1998 Brookings Institution audit<http://www.brookings.edu/research/books/1998/atomic> . In short: Nuclear weapons have been the United States’ third-highest national priority since World War II, in terms of dollars, and we spend a fortune every year to manage and secure them. Yet a crucial facility in this nuclear enterprise “wasn’t even nun-proofed, much less terrorist-proofed,” as a Tennessee congressman would put it in a February hearing on the break-in, which shut down Y-12 site operations for two weeks. This is how Congress describes the intrusion and fallout: “Embarrassing.” “Astonishing.” “Unprecedented.” This is how Greg, Michael and Sister Megan describe it: “God’s will.” “Victory.” “A miracle.” Another step toward the eradication of immoral weapons. When superimposed on the small-town history of Oak Ridge or the quotidian mechanics of federal Washington, their anti-nuclear beliefs can look heroic or treasonous. Nuclear bombs are existential weaponry. They ignite existential debates. Paradoxes proliferate. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, sometimes unclear at first. Sometimes one must step away from lawfulness in the service of a greater good. Sometimes the very thing that keeps us safe is the one thing that can exterminate us. Sometimes we bargain over the lesser of two evils. What is unambiguous: The nun, the drifter and the house painter have been charged with two felonies whose combined maximum sentence is 30 years in prison. One of these felonies is rarely leveled against civilians: “intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense of the United States,” as written under the “Sabotage” chapter of the U.S. Code<http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t17t20+991+0+…> . Their jury trial is scheduled to begin May 7 in Knoxville. The defendants do not view it as *their* trial, even though they proudly admit to trespassing and damaging government property. By exposing what they believe to be the fallacy of national security, by smuggling their anti-war message into the judicial system through the back door, they believe they are putting the country on trial. CHAPTER 4 The summit *The nun plodded* up the steep and densely wooded ridge. In front of her was the painter, behind her the drifter and the boundary fence. Pathless, they snaked slowly in wide turns to ease the climb, pausing often so she could catch her breath. Sister Megan Gillespie Rice *The Holy Spirit directs a person to what is right and what is possible*, the nun thought, *and *this *was possible*. Her parents taught her that life is about moving toward one’s purpose. She had been working her way toward this climb since the age of 9, when she learned her family’s next-door neighbor in New York City was a Columbia University biophysicist privy to the secret Manhattan project. She remembers Pearl Harbor and covering her eyes when the newsreels played war footage before matinees at Trans-Lux movie theaters in Manhattan. She remembers her obstetrician father, who spoke of impoverished patients at Bellevue Hospital; her mother, whose PhD thesis explored the Catholic opinion on slavery; and her uncle, Walter Hooke, a Marine who was yoked with “the terrible weight of knowing” after surveying the decimation of Nagasaki, where all that survived in the city’s cathedral was a scorched wood statue of the Virgin Mary. She remembers committing as a teenager to the teaching order Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus because of their work in Africa, and learning at Boston College how radioactivity affects human cells. The servants of God stopped to rest. A dog barked in the distance. From town? From over the ridge? She had known danger. Kneeling down to block traffic at the entrance to the Nevada Test Site in the ’80s. She had known hardship. Sleeping in classrooms in rural east Nigeria. No running water, no electricity. She had known Sister Anne Montgomery<http://ncronline.org/news/people/sr-anne-montgomery-plowshares-leader-again…>, who, in 2009 at 83, broke into Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, which harbors nuclear submarines, and was convicted, with four others, of trespassing and damaging federal property. How can I get involved? Sister Megan asked Sister Anne after the trial. Call Greg Boertje-Obed, Sister Anne said. “It’s idolatry, putting trust in weapons. And weapons are made like gods. … Weapons are always false gods because they make money. It’s profiteering.”Sister Megan Rice And now there she was, an old lady in sturdy shoes, reaching the limits of her mortal energy at the top of Pine Ridge with Greg, about 90 minutes into the mission. There was the vista over which the Prophet of Oak Ridge had prayed more than a century before, where a national security complex now winked in the darkness. There was still a slope to descend, and three more fences to cut through. The plan was to hike along the ridge, breach the fences away from the facility’s guard towers and then walk casually toward the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, which houses the nation’s cache of highly enriched uranium — an estimated 400 tons of it, racked in cans floor-to-ceiling across 110,000 square feet. Inside the building was enough radioactive material to fuel over 10,000 nuclear bombs, which would end civilization many times over. Sister Megan was tired and fading with the night, so they recalibrated. They started down the slope immediately. Once clear of the trees, they would head for the first building they saw. The woods of Pine Ridge, which separates the city of Oak Ridge from the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) CHAPTER 5 The belly of the beast *Mission planning involved* searching the Bible and the Internet. All of the relevant information on Y-12’s layout was available online. All of the relevant motivation was available in the books of Psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah. The Y-12 break-in is the latest “Plowshares” disarmament action, a tradition of symbolic and intrepid civil resistance dating to September 1980, when the Berrigan brothers and six others hammered on Minutemen missiles and poured blood on documents at the General Electric weapons plant in King of Prussia, Pa. The Plowshares activists take their name and inspiration from Isaiah 2:4, a verse prophesying a world without war. A parade of actions, each with its own name, has followed over the years. The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house in Petworth is home to several Plowshares alumni, including Michael, and a home away from home to Sister Megan, who resides in her order’s residence on Newton Street NE. (Greg lives with his wife and daughter in Duluth, Minn.) In the context of Plowshares history, the July action was both typical and astounding, says Paul Magno, a Plowshares veteran and a leader of D.C. nonprofit Witness for Peace. “To me, it goes to not only the over-hype, the over-sell of the whole security mythology, but it goes to what you can do with an act of faith,” Magno says. “God’s people can be faithful and the Red Sea parts and lets them through when there’s no reason to believe that should be possible.” Sister Megan Rice holds her bible. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) The action last summer was dubbed “Transform Now Plowshares” because its three participants desire the immediate conversion of all nuclear weaponry from agents of war to resources that benefit mankind. Michael and Sister Megan live in the world as they believe it should be, not in the world as it is. Sister Megan doesn’t vote. “It would mean I would be a citizen of this regime. I am a citizen of the world. I act in consequence.” Michael derides Washington as the belly of the beast. “Did you know that the last president who wasn’t a war criminal was Herbert Hoover?” Says Sister Megan of Michael: “His mind is never still.” Says Michael of Sister Megan: “She’s a visionary.” Together they’re like an overactive younger brother and patient older sister. Michael summons the brimstone, Sister Megan the bromide. When she and Michael retell their story, which they do often to eager foot soldiers of social justice groups, they put it in tidy parable form on PowerPoint: We saw injustice at Y-12, so we broke in to bring truth and attract the world’s attention, and here is the U.S. government’s seven-decade budget for nuclear-weapons infrastructure. After one such presentation, at the weekly “Clarification of Thought” at the Dorothy Day house, a visitor asks about the forces they faced once they made it through the final fence that summer night. “The first person to really lose his job was this lovely security guard,” says Sister Megan, adding that she hopes to meet him when she, Greg and Michael go to Knoxville for a pre-trial hearing on whether they can offer moral conviction as a defense in court. CHAPTER 6 The descent *The lights of* the Antichrist flickered through the trees. The drifter prayed. *Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. For all the glory is yours, and on the last day Jesus will come like this, like a thief in the night, and the warmongering United States will fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy by beating its swords into plowshares.* Michael Robin Walli He had duct-taped the head of his flashlight to reduce the beam to a sliver. On the downward slope of Pine Ridge, he moved in front of the nun, clearing branches and stones from her path. He was just a frail earthen vessel, he believed, but she was a daughter of God. He was her bodyguard. On his head was a construction hat painted light blue, with “UN” marked on the front. On his breath was the stink of Top brand tobacco. In their backpacks, he and the nun carried twine, matches, candles, a Bible, three hammers, six cans of spray paint, three protest banners, copies of a letter they wished to deliver to Y-12 employees and two emblems of sustenance — a packet of cucumber seeds and a fresh-baked loaf of bread with a cross molded into the top. And six baby bottles of human blood. Click or press to view full image This was easy compared with Vietnam, where he carried briefing boards of heavy hinged plywood out of Phuoc Long province during the Cambodia incursion. Michael was an Army specialist, an expert marksman with an M-14 and M-16. The carpet-bombing from American B-52s still echoes in his head. “Like thunder, but it didn’t stop.” He earned a Bronze Star. He considers himself a war criminal. He left the Army after two tours, found Jesus, became an ascetic, worked in a homeless shelter in Chicago, stormed the gates of the CIA with 1,500 other activists in April 1987, wound up in Fairfax County’s jail and decided to stay in Washington upon his release. And now, 45 years after his enlistment, he was at the edge of the woods on the other side of Pine Ridge, the flood-lit expanse of Y-12 in front of him. “In heaven Jesus has no arsenal of nuclear weapons. And as we pray in the Our Father prayer: ‘Here on Earth as it is in heaven.’ … Nuclear weapons are a product of hell and we need to send them back there.”Michael Walli As predicted long ago, the valley was filled with great buildings, many rusted and dating to the Manhattan Project. But right in front of them was a vast, new fortress of reinforced concrete with a foundation anchored in bedrock. As luck, or providence, would have it, this was their original target: the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, a large part of Y-12’s mission to reduce its physical footprint, improve its safety and modernize its operations. >From the treeline, they watched a patrol SUV pass one way on Bear Creek Road, then the other. Then they walked across the two lanes and approached the first of three eight-foot chain-link fences. This outer fence, with three lines of barbed wire on top, was part of Y-12’s “perimeter intrusion detection and assessment system.” It was no match for bolt cutters. The house painter began cutting links in the first fence near a sign that said “Danger: Halt! Deadly force is authorized beyond this point.” Somewhere on the site, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s nuclear reporter Frank Munger, were Gatling guns capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute — a fusillade that could reduce a trespasser to pink mist. The painter pulled back the flap of chain links like a curtain. The nun entered the kill zone first. Oak Ridge, Tenn., was created in 1943 by the U.S. government to play an integral role in the Manhattan Project. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) CHAPTER 7 The Secret City *Nestled in a* river valley, Oak Ridge looks unremarkable on the surface. Its old town square has been overtaken by a congested turnpike lined with fast food joints, credit unions and parking lots. Cul-de-sacs of single-family homes unfurl up the foggy foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Roads are named Hickory, Poplar and Whippoorwill, and Manhattan, Palladium and Boeing. Flagpoles clang. The Panera is always packed. Locals pronounce their city “Oh-*kridge*.” On a knoll on the front lawn of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, a six-foot marble statue of the Virgin Mary gazes southward over the low-rise downtown, toward Pine Ridge. Her face shaded by dark green mold, the Virgin stands barefoot on a spheroid plinth that represents Earth. This Mary, like most Marys, has her foot on a serpent, but there’s a curious non-biblical icon on the Earth under her toes: a nucleus framed by a whirl of electrons. The atomic symbol is on the facade of the public high school. It is rendered in stained glass inside the public library. It is on the big green sign that heralds the Y-12 National Security Complex just over Pine Ridge. Click or press to view full image At noon on the first Wednesday of every month, the DOE tests its public-warning sirens for three minutes. Every June, reenactors stage the Allied invasion of Normandy in the town park. Though you haven’t needed a badge to get into the town since 1949, Oak Ridge’s soul hasn’t changed. It’s still a company town, and the company is the government, and the business is bombs. Its centerpiece, Y-12, has become a large processing shop and warehouse for most of the country’s highly enriched uranium. It’s one of five production sites connected to three research labs under the umbrella of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous entity within the Department of Energy created in the year 2000 to manage and secure nuclear weapons and non-proliferation programs. Y-12 processes highly enriched uranium for a variety of purposes, including “life-extension programs” for three classes of warheads and the B61 bomb<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-b61-bomb-a-case-s…>. The renovation of these weapons programs<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-nuclear-arsenal-is…> could take 25 years, officials estimate, and cost $20 billion. The site also dismantles weapons components and “downblends” the highly enriched uranium, reducing its radioactivity for use in research and nuclear reactors. Weapons, war and secrecy are the city’s economy, its legacy and, for now, its future. Concrete guard stations from the early 1950s lurk on the roadsides. A “commemorative walk” salutes the 43ers — those thousands of people who moved to Oak Ridge at the government’s behest in 1943. One plaque says residents’ work “made possible a weapon that was instrumental in bringing peace to a world anguished by the brutal six-year war in which 54 million people died.” The activists of Transform Now Plowshares are in West Knoxville in early February, at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, testifying to the congregation after a Sunday service. Church members ask them how they can claim nonviolence when they destroyed property. “Maybe the triviality of that destruction comes from a truth that is monstrous,” Sister Megan says. “Those very fences are illegal, and guarding lies and secrecy and corruption and great danger to the world.” White-haired Lillian Mashburn stands, arms crossed, in the back of the church. She’s thinking of her father, who was an infantryman stationed in the Pacific when Oak Ridge’s uranium fell toward Hiroshima. “He was saved by that bomb,” Mashburn, a church board member, says after the discussion. “They were told when they landed they would be killed as part of the first wave. . . . There’s a whole generation of people, most of whom would’ve been dead, who were saved.” What saves Oak Ridge are the dollars that gush from Washington to East Tennessee. The complex is the second-largest employer in East Tennessee and creates 24,000 indirect jobs, according to the site contractor’s Y-12 Community Relations Council. Eight thousand people go to work there, including contractors, subcontractors, protective-force guards and 80 federal employees of the Department of Energy. For 2014, $1.2 billion was requested by the NNSA for the management and operation of Y-12. Y-12 is slated to construct a new Uranium Processing Facility, a massive building that will ensure that America’s nuclear arsenal remains operational. Peak construction of the UPF will create 1,500 construction jobs and 5,000 support jobs. “This community serves the DOE,” says Ralph Hutchison, 56, the coordinator of the nonprofit Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance <http://orepa.org/>, whose ultimate goal is to abolish nuclear weapons, which means halting operations at Y-12. “It’s the environment in which they live. It’s the air they breathe.” CHAPTER 8 The miracle *The trio stood* in a moat of white rocks between the first and second fence. The complex was lit bright as day. No one was racing to apprehend them. The middle fence was intimidating, and wired for something. Motion sensoring? Electricity? *This is not going to work*, the house painter thought. *We are not going to get through this.* Gregory Irwin Boertje-Obed He had known doubt before. Greg was a Presbyterian Iowa farm boy who joined the ROTC to afford Tulane University. He went into active duty at Fort Polk in 1981, as the nuclear-freeze movement rallied against President Ronald Reagan’s stockpile buildup. He read Daniel Berrigan. His government said: Be ready for nuclear war. The prophet Isaiah said: Do not put your trust in horses and chariots. He couldn’t reconcile the two. He left the Army as a conscientious objector, he says, and returned to New Orleans in time to hear Berrigan talk about Plowshares actions. Greg heard an inner voice say, *Go in this direction*. Within two years, he was living at Jonah House, the Catholic Worker residence in Baltimore, where he met his wife, Michele. While raising their daughter, they scheduled their protests to make sure that only one of them was facing jail at any given time. His first action was hammering Trident II missile tubes at Quonset Point shipyard in Rhode Island. Twenty-six years later, a nun would call him up, looking to make her own first action. “We are a little bungling. We are just ordinary people, and inept. … So we chose a date and said come in advance. We thought Sunday. We thought maybe there would be fewer workers, maybe they would be in a more charitable mood – if it’s a Sunday, they’re less likely to shoot you.”Greg Boertje-Obed And now this middle fence, and the possibility that their mission was over. Surely security cameras had spied them by now. Surely this fence would trip an alarm. *You won’t know unless you try*, the inner voice told him. He began cutting links in the middle fence, severing fiber-optic sensors. No one came for them. *This is grace*, he thought, and he climbed through after the others. He cut through the last fence, and they were through the Red Sea, and there was nothing between them and the Fort Knox of Uranium. *God is with us*, he thought. *This is a miracle*. They shook cans of red and black spray paint. They gripped the baby bottles of blood. They spray painted the building’s north wall, which was designed to withstand the impact of aircraft but not the words of the Book of Proverbs. They poured and splashed blood that had once been in the veins of a painter-activist named Tom Lewis, one of the Catonsville Nine who, on Hiroshima Day 1987, hammered on the bomb racks of an anti-submarine plane at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station near Boston. In 2008, Lewis died in his sleep, and his blood was frozen so that he might one day participate in one last Plowshares action. In bright red rivulets, the last of Tom Lewis streaked down the concrete. They removed the hammers from the drifter’s backpack. “TRANSFORM NOW” was written in red marker on the handle of the claw hammer. Burned into the handle of the small sledge hammer was “Repent! God’s kingdom is at hand!” They began to strike the pentagonal base of a guard tower at the northwest corner of the building. Chips of concrete fell to the asphalt. Blood dribbled into the scar. They believed they were also hammering on what had not yet been built. The wide open space to the right of the tower was designated for the Uranium Processing Facility, now projected to cost at least $6.5 billion, a stockpile of money that they wanted spent on life-extension programs for people. They rang their hammers down on the senselessness of it all. They waited to be arrested. In a matter of minutes, a single guard would be sent to investigate. >From left, Sister Megan Rice, Shelley Wascom, Sarah Hutchison, Michael Walli and Gregory Boertje-Obed pray before dinner in Knoxville on Feb. 4, 2013. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) CHAPTER 9 The quantum theory of physics *Greg is prepping* baked potatoes. Sister Megan is setting silverware. Michael is carrying armloads of firewood in from outside. They are gathering for a dinner of salmon, tofu and broccoli with a couple of other members of the Transform Now Plowshares support group at a supporter’s house in south Knoxville. From this home base, in the days before their February pretrial hearing, they bring their anti-bomb evangel to various settings. At the University of Tennessee, where they are guest speakers in a systems theory class, Greg talks about the diffusion of social responsibility and how he feels personally responsible for nuclear weapons because his taxes have paid for them. Michael, who is wearing a T-shirt that says “GROUND THE DRONES,” calls Y-12 “a failed rogue terrorist state.” “I think there’s a deafening silence about what’s going on at Y-12,” says student Rochelle Butler, “but I do know people who work there are good people. Why would I believe outsiders rather than people who work there, who I believe to be good?” “We love these people in a deeply compassionate way,” Sister Megan says of the Y-12 employees. “Our motivation was in solidarity with people who spend their time making nuclear bombs to feed their children. . . . We are all so intertwined and empower each other. A thought creates its own energy. The quantum theory of physics is always at work.” The theory is at work a couple of days later at Maryville College, where the trio eats pizza with 15 students from a progressive Christian group. “They are each connected to 50 others,” Sister Megan whispers before chatting with music student Chris Hickman. “I know nothing about the anti-nuclear movement,” Hickman tells her. “I was born in ’92, and it’s kind of an afterthought for my generation.” Greg, Michael and Sister Megan visit with two dozen people at a meeting of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Committee of East Tennessee. “Prince of Peace, we thank you for your prophets who’ve spoken your word down through the ages, and we thank you for the prophets among us,” says host Scott Brunger during his opening prayer. The attendees chat about the fallout from the break-in. Someone asks about what their intrusion has cost taxpayers — at least $15 million in security alterations by the NNSA, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel<http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/feb/01/nnsa-cost-of-y-12-break-in-at-leas…> — and Greg says that they saved taxpayers $12.2 million that was docked from the management contractor’s award fee. Sister Megan again brings up the first guard they encountered inside the facility and how he lost his job. She says how he saved their lives by not escalating the situation. “I feel very guilty not contacting him,” Sister Megan admits. The guard’s number is listed. He’ll answer the phone if you call. And when you ask about the three people who broke into Y-12 last summer, you can almost hear his grip on the phone tighten as he says: “You mean the people who ruined my life?” Security guard Kirk Garland on the property of his former home, now in foreclosure after he lost his job at Y-12. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) CHAPTER 10 ‘I’ve served my country’ *Two weeks after* the break-in, Kirk Garland was handed a letter from the site’s protective-force contractor that said he “failed” in his responsibilities as a guard on the morning of July 28, 2012. The letter said he showed “blatant disregard for the seriousness of the situation.” It said he was terminated, effective immediately, and his health insurance would expire two days later. Kirk Garland A solid man with a cinnamon-colored mustache, Kirk started working in nuclear security in 1983 at Colorado’s now-shuttered Rocky Flats Plant, which processed plutonium for weapons. For three years, he worked in a similar job at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Tex., where nuclear weapons are put together and taken apart. Then he moved to Y-12, where the fuel is processed. What Oak Ridge built, he says, he was proud to protect. “In my eyes, after being a guard for 30 years, I feel that I should be treated the same way as somebody who served in Iraq,” says Kirk, 52. “I’ve served my country for 30 years by protecting my nation’s nuclear assets.” He was four years from retirement, bringing home $85,000 a year with overtime, with a pristine employment record. The sign on the front door of his modest house says, “This property has been determined to be vacant and abandoned.” He could rescue it from foreclosure, but doesn’t have the money. What he has is a rental home in nearby Clinton, a sick wife, a month’s worth of losing lottery tickets, a 16-year-old daughter who has curtailed her passion for barrel-racing horses, and a small contingent of German shepherds that he raises to sell to police department K-9 units. “I do okay,” he says, standing in the ransacked backyard of his former home in Lake City, Tenn. “My wife don’t. She can’t come up here. Nothing I can do about it. Thirty years with DOE. And you’re looking at everything.” Scattered cinder blocks. Sodden heaps of pink insulation. The kennel hauled off by vandals, the small stable stripped of its roof and most of its siding. It had been a good life in Lake City, 20 miles north of Y-12, where he worked for nearly 5 1/2 years until those people, he says, decided to overexert their First Amendment right. The report on the break-in by the inspector general of the Department of Energy faults Kirk for not pulling his weapon, for not securing the area. The site’s management contractor, Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12, faults him for not immobilizing the intruders and for turning his back while they rummaged through their backpacks. The site’s protective-force contractor, WSI-Oak Ridge, faults him for an “embarrassing” and “casual” response to the intrusion. NNSA officials were “horrified” by surveillance video of Kirk first addressing the intruders from his car, instead of immediately jumping out, and for making assumptions about their intent. If he had acted too aggressively, on the other hand, Y-12 might have had a dead nun on its hands. Kirk says there was no reason to unholster his gun, that it was unsafe for one man to try to cuff three people, that an entire patrol team should’ve been dispatched to a zone with multiple alarms. He had previously dealt with peace protesters at Rocky Flats, which is how he knew that the three trespassers were not dangerous, he says. The “blatant disregard,” he says, lies elsewhere. In fact, the security camera that watched Zone 63, the area of the trio’s incursion, had been out of service for six months, according to a subsequent report from the Department of Energy’s inspector general. At the time of the break-in, there were 56 busted security tools across Y-12, seven broken security cameras surrounding the HEUMF and an average of 2,170 sitewide alarms per day — many caused by wildlife, weather and foliage. None of this was Kirk’s responsibility. “In my eyes they’ve ruined my name,” Kirk says of the government and its contractors. “I worked hard. I mean, I put my family second a lot of times to keep this clearance for 30 years, just to have it jerked out from me like that. . . . I think they were embarrassed that an 82-year-old got in that far. And they used me for their scapegoat. They used me to say, ‘Well, he messed it up. We got rid of him.’ But I wasn’t the problem.” The problem, according to a string of reports over the years from the DOE’s inspector general and the Government Accountability Office, was a lax security culture and hands-off federal oversight. The problem was “a culture of compliance, as opposed to a culture of performance,” according to a B&W Y-12’s post-mortem of what became known internally as “the Security Event.” A GAO report released, coincidentally, three days after the break-in admonished the NNSA for cost overruns, mismanagement and an absentee relationship with contractors. To date, Kirk is the only individual to have been fired outright because of the incident. The guards who failed to detect and initiate a proper response to the breach were suspended, and the supervising lieutenant was disciplined. B&W Y-12 removed four managers, allowing the top two to formally retire. Four federal officials with security oversight jobs were reassigned. The leaders of the guard force retired or were reassigned, says Paul Donahue, chief executive of G4S Government Solutions, the parent company of the protective force company, which lost its contract. The management and operations contractor lost $12.2 million of its award incentive fee, and the same firms, with different partners, have bid on a new 10-year contract for both Y-12 and Pantex worth $23 billion. Kirk has a car repairman dogging him for a $1,000 debt that he can’t pay. In March, he took a guard job at a county jail that he says pays $24,000 a year. His case is slated for arbitration this fall through the International Guards Union of America. He’s reached for his Baptist faith to temper his anger. He attends services at Faith Promise, a massive church on a hill on the outskirts of Oak Ridge. He doesn’t understand how law-breaking activists can be inspired by the same God that guides his life down the straight and narrow. “I’ve got to sit down and ask a priest,” Kirk says. “Doing the Lord’s work is not protesting and getting arrested. You don’t get to heaven on your works anyway. You get to heaven on salvation. . . . God’s got a different plan for me. Everything happens in his timing, whenever he’s ready to move us along.” When told that Sister Megan thinks he saved her life by not escalating the situation — that, in fact, he was her salvation — Kirk is speechless. His wife is not. “That’s amazing that she’d make that kind of statement,” scoffs Joann Garland. “She is safe — because of him — to be able to go and do what she’s doing. . . . The joke of it is they came in God’s name. God does not say to break laws. Sorry. God does not say that.” Knoxville attorney Francis Lloyd Jr. listens to his client, Sister Megan Rice, during a meeting before their February pre-trial hearing. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) CHAPTER 11 Scales of justice *If religion gives* meaning to the chaos of the cosmos, the law developed alongside to order society’s unruliest parts. Greg, who represents himself in court, stood behind the microphone and delivered his testimony in monolithic terms. “So when you build a nuclear weapon, you are planning and preparing to commit mass murder,” he argued in a November pre-trial hearing in Knoxville. “You are giving your assent to the killing of civilians.” In that precursor episode to *The United States of America v. Walli et al*, the defense argued that it is illegal for the United States to possess nuclear weapons because their sole purpose is to inflict damage that cannot be contained: Civilians perish en masse, the environment is poisoned for generations and the mere threat of this scenario — even under the guise of deterrence — constitutes “imminent harm” that cannot be ignored for one more minute, let alone successive generations. After the defense cited the Geneva and Hague conventions and invoked the Nuremberg principles, the government argued that international treaties do not take precedence over laws Congress enacts to ensure national defense, including nuclear weapons programs. At the notion of complicity to war crimes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey E. Theodore balked. “They say if they didn’t act, that they are somehow complicit in this ‘illegality,’” Theodore argued in November. “Well, then, therefore, all the people here who have not acted, not [broken] in to Y-12 to stop the ‘illegal’ operations there, then . . . they’re complicit in war crimes, I guess, which is . . . a ludicrous argument.” William Quigley, the defendants’ pro-bono counsel, told the court his clients should be allowed to testify about their moral imperatives for the break-in. “The effort to preclude necessity, international law, nuclear policy, God, conscience, history, who knows the other things — I think it’s, it’s inconsistent with our search, our mutual search for the truth,” Quigley said. After Michael, Greg and Sister Megan refused a plea bargain, the government hit them with the more serious charge under the sabotage act. That led Transform Now Plowshares and its support group to Courtroom 3B of U.S. District Court in downtown Knoxville in Feburary, for a second hearing on obstructing the national defense, scheduled between a case of bank robbery and a case of Social Security fraud. That morning, Sister Megan has trouble getting through security. “Any metal on you, sister?” a guard asks during her third run through the metal detector. “I have titanium in my wrists,” the nun says, then gestures to the X-ray machine. “Do you wear lead vests standing next to this all day? I think you should.” The support group swells to 25 people and fills all rows on the defense’s side of the courtroom. Ralph Hutchison and folks from the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance are here. As they await the start of the hearing, the supporters begin singing softly. “Peace is flo-wing like a riiiii-ver,” they warble from their seats. “Flo-wing out into the deeeeesert.” Hutchison chuckles. “Oh the judge *loves *it when they sing,” he says. Click or press to view full image CHAPTER 12 Reaction *In Washington, a* congressman asks the nun to please stand up. “We want to thank you for pointing out some of the problems in our security,” says Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.). Another congressman expresses a different kind of gratitude. “Thank you for your willingness to focus attention on this nuclear weapons buildup that still exists in our world,” says Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), “and how much we need to do something to reduce it.” A third congressman is incredulous at the nun’s mere presence at this September oversight hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. “Why are they even here in this hearing room?” says Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.). “Why are they not being held in — in detention somewhere?” Since July 28, Congress has been sputtering with indignation. Hearings were scheduled on Sept. 12 and 13,Feb. 28<http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/hearings-display?ContentRecord_id=…> and March 13<http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/doe-management-and-oversight-its-nu…> so legislators could vocalize how “shocked” and “appalled” they are. The phrase “wake-up call” is uttered and re-uttered. “Peace through strength” becomes a refrain. The word “culture” is used 72 times to explain how a complex, highly funded operation could be so vulnerable. Federal officials at the witness table get lost in a maze of their own jargon. Congress members wonder over and over what would have happened if the intruders had been terrorists, not peace activists. Brig. Gen. Sandra Finan, commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, appears several times to present her task force’s findings on “Lessons of the Y-12 Security Failure<http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Tes…>”: NNSA has muddled lines of authority, and its security culture has “focused on fiscal limitations over effective performance.” Megan Rice and Michael Walli attend a hearing on nuclear security conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Between them is activist and supporter Paul Magno. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Sister Megan and Michael witness each hearing in sweat pants and parkas. They are lost in the navy thicket of young legislative assistants. On one of these field trips, they get off the Metro at Capitol South station and grimace at the giant Raytheon ads that feature military vehicles and mottos like “Any threat, any mission.” On Feb. 28, the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces tries to sniff out blame. “And as the chairman correctly pointed out,” says Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) at one point, “it’s hard to find that anybody was punished except the lowest-level guard.” At a break, Sister Megan approaches one of the expert witnesses, retired Maj. Gen. C. Donald Alston, the former Air Force assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration. “I’ll give this to you,” she says, handing him a folded sheet of white paper. It’s a letter calling for the immediate suspension of funding for the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12. “The whole thing can be solved by changing the mission,” Sister Megan says to the major general. “Change the mission, brother.” “We have a lot of stability in the world because of” nuclear weapons, says Alston, smiling, towering over her in uniform. “It’s impossible to even secure *one*,” Sister Megan says. “We can change the mission. It’s possible.” “Okay,” he says. “We can have projects that sustain humanity.” “Okay,” he says, starting to leave the witness table. “This is the nun,” Michael says, coming to her side. “*Oh*,” Alston says, before turning away. Sister Megan is not concerned with this slight. The world needs positive * and *negative charges, she says. You can’t have energy without both. On March 13, during a second hearing in front of the Energy and Commerce’s oversight subcommittee, Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) cites a 2010 Department of Energy memo<http://hssoutreach.doe.gov/documents/meetings/20100316_SafetySecurityReform…> in which Deputy Secretary Daniel B. Poneman called for the elimination of “excessive Federal oversight” of contractors and the awarding of “decision-making authorities” to “the lowest level of contractor and Federal management.” The subcommittee, as a body, wonders if the department had farmed out the stewardship of nuclear assets to contractors who self-police and self-appraise, and therefore continue to collect fees while cutting corners. “What we were trying to do, sir, was to get rid of the check-box mentality of just looking at paperwork and creating paperwork,” Poneman replies. “To get back to performance testing so we could be better, safer and more secure.” Sitting just over Poneman’s shoulder at each one of these hearings are two of the people who have put him on this hot seat for the past eight months. “I appreciate what you did,” a staffer for the Government Accountability Office tells Sister Megan after the hearing adjourns. “But don’t do it again, because I don’t want you to get hurt.” The mushroom cloud at Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force) CHAPTER 13 ‘A sheet of sun’ *The last shipment* of highly enriched uranium bound for Japan left Oak Ridge on July 25, 1945, and arrived two days later on the island of Tinian in the oblivion of the Pacific Ocean. On Aug. 6, a 9,700-pound, 10-foot-long atomic bomb was loaded onto a B-29 bomber, flown 1,500 miles northwest, and dropped over Hiroshima. Eyes melted from the heads of those who had been looking skyward at the “sheet of sun,” as John Hersey’s “Hiroshima<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/148258798X/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=17…>” described the light of the explosion. Some 160,000 were dead, dying or injured. Five square miles burned. “A harnessing of the basic power of the universe,” President Harry Truman announced. “One of the greatest blunders of history,” wrote physicist Leo Szilard, an architect of the Manhattan Project. “WAR ENDS,” The Knoxville Journal declared. Our national complex was just beginning. The bomb created to stop one war imbued all future wars with apocalyptic power. The United States raced Russia to amass nuclear weapons — a peak of 30,000 stateside in the mid-1960s — then began to reduce the stockpile as other nations pursued and attained nuclear capability. This past January, the Indian government distributed to Kashmiris a nuclear-war advisory<http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/01/201312382354914360.html> that encouraged the building of bunkers. In March, Secretary of State John F. Kerry told ABC News that “confrontation becomes more possible” if Iran continues its plan to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weaponry. In April, North Korea publicized its desire to strike the United States, and the White House announced that it had helped the Czech Republic remove its entire stockpile<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-says-us-h…>of highly enriched uranium — all 150 pounds of it, or enough for two or three nukes. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953 The United States possesses roughly 4,650 active nuclear weapons plus another 3,000 awaiting dismantlement,according to the Federation of American Scientists<http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/nukes/publications1/TrimmingNuclearExcess.p…>, a non-partisan think tank created by Manhattan Project scientists. To satisfy the New START Treaty with Russia, our 1,950 strategically deployed high-alert nuclear weapons must be reduced to 1,550 by 2018. In order to get the treaty ratified by the Senate in 2010, President Obama promised $85 billion<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/17/fact-sheet-enduring-c…> through 2020 for modernizing the U.S. stockpile. In a time of austerity, our weapons budget is rising as our stockpile is falling. The officials who lay awake at night worrying how to safeguard Cold War leftovers have a delicate, intricate mission fraught with peril and obstacle. “Of course, what’s also undeniable is that the threat remains. There are still too many bad actors in search of these dangerous materials, and these dangerous materials are still vulnerable in too many places. It would not take much… to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people.”President Obama, March 26, 2012 “We have been running a system a certain way for such a long time and not really thinking about whether it was working or not,” says acting NNSA administrator Neile Miller, charged with overseeing the politically choreographed — and therefore incremental — transition from proliferation to disarmament. Miller, during an interview in April at the DOE, acknowledges failures in management and says she understands the protester mentality and frustration. But the wish for a nuclear-free world of the future, she says, can distort perception of the policy that guides the world of the present. “I know people want to believe that everybody here is just of one mind . . . and we’re all somehow of this military-industrial complex — and it just doesn’t work that way,” she says. “ . . . People tend to be religiously for or religiously against. And as a result, they tend to attribute motivations and actions to all sorts of things that, in my personal experience, so very rarely turn out to be anywhere near what’s actually happening.” Our very national position on nuclear weapons, though, is a paradox. “As long as nuclear weapons exist,” says the administration’s 2010 Nuclear Posture Review<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/2010NuclearPostureR…>, “the United States will sustain safe, secure, and effective nuclear forces.” As long as nuclear weapons exist, Sister Megan, Michael, Greg and their fellow activists will hammer on their infrastructure. Incrementalism is the danger, they believe, because the threat is imminent, the consequences are catastrophic and society suffers financially and morally. And what if these backpack-wearing peaceniks had been terrorists, for whom obtaining highly enriched uranium is the likeliest way to create mass destruction? With those 20 minutes of uninterrupted access to the site, they could have blown through the doors or walls of the HEUMF with an explosively formed penetrator and rigged an improvised nuclear device using highly enriched uranium and conventional explosives. A 10-kiloton detonation at Y-12 would cause an estimated 60,000 casualties, including 18,000 deaths, in East Tennessee. Radiation would have sickened people over 40 miles. This worst-case scenario is presented in a yet-to-be-published report on UPF by the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, which combines a “design basis threat” scenario from the Department of Energy with a Department of Defense hazard-prediction algorithm employed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy nonprofit. NNSA officials, noting classified security measures inside HEUMF, call this worst-case scenario “very, very far-fetched.” But then so is a nun breaking into the Fort Knox of Uranium. The intruders who weren’t terrorists admit to their actions. The legislators have thanked them for initiating security reforms. The deputy secretary of the Department of Energy said in February — during the Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Arlington — that the intrusion, while “unacceptable,” did not compromise the uranium and therefore did not directly imperil the nation. The Justice Department has charged the trio with intending to do just that. So what is really on trial the second week of May? The limits of the judicial system, or the limits of social-justice actions? The moral arch of the universe versus the bottom line of governance? Is it the bargain we strike with ourselves? CHAPTER 14 Fission *In the late* afternoon of Friday, July 27, 2012, the guard drove to Y-12, put on his camouflage uniform, embroidered with “Semper Vigil,” and holstered a Sig P226 9 mm on his hip. Over his 12-hour shift, day became night. For his last two hours, 4 to 6 a.m., he rotated into a patrol vehicle. Around 4:20 a.m., a three-second tone came over his radio — a low-priority alarm that was cleared by an officer in short order. Soon after, the guard’s cellphone rang. The cleared alarm keeps bouncing back, his supervising lieutenant said; the alarm station was suggesting “something is not right” in Zone 63, and that a maintenance crew might be at work. The guard was then dispatched to a sector of the security fence that runs around the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. He arrived there in less than a minute and pulled slowly to the fence in his vehicle. Nothing seemed amiss, until movement caught his eye. He turned his head away from the fence to the HEUMF. An old woman was walking toward his vehicle, a grizzled man on either side. At first he thought it was a painting crew — it wasn’t uncommon for maintenance to be done overnight — but behind them were three phrases spray-painted red and black onto the white building. THE FRUIT OF JUSTICE IS PEACE. PLOWSHARES PLEASE ISAIAH. WOE TO AN EMPIRE OF BLOOD. Click or press to view full image Their hands were up. *Peace protesters*, he thought, as his phone rang again. It was his lieutenant, checking in. “I’ve got three individuals here who have appeared to have breached our system,” the guard told him, “and they’ve written graffiti all over the walls.” His lieutenant thought he was kidding. “I’m telling you what I got. They’re peace protesters. I need backup.” He then identified himself through the vehicle window and asked the trio: “What are you doing here? “God led us here,” said one of the men. “Stop where you’re at,” the guard said, exiting his vehicle. The old woman bowed to him. “Keep your hands where I can see them.” “Will you listen to our message?” she said. The three began to recite text from a white piece of paper. “Brothers and sisters, powers that be, we come to you today as friends . . .” The two men retrieved candles from their backpacks nearby and lit them. “A loving and compassionate creator invites us to take the urgent and decisive steps to transform the U.S. empire, and this facility, into life-giving alternatives which resolve real problems . . .” It would be five minutes before another security officer would show up, brandishing an M-16, ready to help cuff the intruders on the ground as they sang “This Little Light of Mine.” It would be another two hours until special agents from the Department of Energy arrested the trespassers and mobilized the wheels of justice, and six hours until the trespassers were booked in the Blount County Jail, and one day until the biblical graffiti was scrubbed clean, and 10 days until the three were charged with “maliciously” attempting to destroy a structure within the Y-12 National Security Complex, and two weeks until the complex reopened and the guard lost his job, and nine months until the trespassers would face trial before a jury of their fellow citizens that would have the power to convict them of intending to endanger the United States. But for those next five minutes the scene was simple, almost sacramental. Four servants of God, drawn together by conviction and coincidence, regarded each other as dawn approached. The Lord may have been there. The devil, too. Or maybe human beings colliding in the quantum theory of physics was almighty enough. *About this story.* The intrusion at Y-12 in Tennessee was re-created for this article through reporting in the city of Oak Ridge, extensive interviews with the three activists and former protective-force guard Kirk Garland, and interviews with federal officials and site employees. This account also draws upon congressional testimony and detailed written reports on the security event from the inspector general of the Department of Energy and the contractor partnership Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12. WRITER - Dan Zak EDITOR - Ann Gerhart ART DIRECTION - Janet Michaud DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT - Andrew Metcalf - Tim Wong ILLUSTRATION - Jeffrey Smith TEXT AND VISUAL EDITING - Brian Cleveland - Kat Downs - Jesse Lewis - Sarah Sampsel PHOTOGRAPHY - Linda Davidson - Anne Farrar - Dee Swann - Sarah L. Voisin GRAPHICS - Laris Karklis - Todd Lindeman GALLERY: The activists <http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-activists/2013/04/29/d2da…> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-activists/2013/04/29/d2da…> GALLERY: The Secret City <http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-secret-city/2013/04/29/06…> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-secret-city/2013/04/29/06…> GALLERY: Wartime billboards <http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/words-to-live-by/2013/04/29/8…> -- 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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from ScienceDaily e-newsletter: Residents concerned about health effects of hydrofracking
by Paul Wilson 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

Residents concerned about health effects of hydrofracking<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/IVv…> Posted: 28 Apr 2013 08:04 PM PDT Some residents living in areas in Bradford, Co, Pa., near natural gas operations, also known as hydraulic fracturing, are concerned their illnesses may be a result of nearby drilling operations. Twenty-two percent of the participants in a small pilot study surmise that hydrofracking may be the cause of such health concerns as sinus problems, sleeping difficulties, and gastrointestinal problems. -- 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: Embarrassing video:
by Jim Sconyers 25 Apr '13

25 Apr '13

Leading off is our own WV Congressman McKinley. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jon Carson, BarackObama.com <info(a)barackobama.com> Date: Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 11:45 AM Subject: Embarrassing video: To: James S <jimscon(a)gmail.com> ** [image: Organizing for Action] James -- Right now, way too many lawmakers in Washington flat-out refuse to face the facts when it comes to climate change. We're never going to make real progress on this issue unless members of Congress get serious. Instead, some of them have made a habit of publicly mocking it. We thought it was time to call them out for denying what's basic science. *Watch this embarrassing video of climate deniers in Congress -- and say you're ready to help hold them accountable:<https://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c1a95b/6cec4c83/3666dba8b/173a7777/1532…> * [image: Denying climate change keeps us from finding a solution. Watch this.]<https://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c1a95b/6cec4c83/3666dba8b/173a776f/1532…> The science matters in this. That's the message way too many people in Washington need to hear right now. In 2011, there were 240 members of Congress who voted to say that climate change is a hoax. Most of them are still around today, and they're getting away with it -- some of them are actually proud of it. They think the whole debate is pretty funny. If we want to make progress on climate change, we need everyone in Congress on board for a solution. It's our job to show them there's a price to pay for being a climate denier. *Take a look at this video and join the fight:* *http://my.barackobama.com/Climate-Change<https://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c1a95b/6cec4c83/3666dba8b/173a7768/1532…> * Get ready -- more on this coming soon. Thanks, Jon Jon Carson Executive Director Organizing for Action @JonCarsonOFA ---------------- A movement of millions elected President Obama. Let's keep fighting for change. *Chip in $10 or more to support Organizing for Action today.<https://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c1a95b/6cec4c83/3666dba8b/173a7767/1532…> * Paid for by Organizing for Action Contributions or gifts to Organizing for Action are not tax deductible. This email was sent to: *jimscon(a)gmail.com*. If that is not your preferred email address, you can update your information here<https://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c1a95b/6cec4c83/3666dba8b/173a7762/1532…>. We believe that emails are a vital way to stay in direct contact with supporters. Click here<https://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c1a95b/6cec4c83/3666dba8b/173a779e/1532…>if you'd like to unsubscribe from these messages. Organizing for Action, P.O. Box 66732 Washington, D.C. 20035 -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last. *There is no Planet B!*

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WVU Law School gas confrence
by Jim Sconyers 24 Apr '13

24 Apr '13

Conference title: Natural Gas as the Bridge to Sustainability and Economic Growth - major oxymoron there. The main point of the conference seemed to be gas prices are too low, how can we get prices and consumption up> -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last. *There is no Planet B!*

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WVU Gas Conference today
by Jim Sconyers 24 Apr '13

24 Apr '13

I asked why the governor deleted all alternative vehicle energy - electric, hybrid - from SB 185 except gas. After a lot of evasion and BS, his rep Ms. Mason of the Natural Gas Vehicle Task Force finally stated flatly that he wanted to benefit the gas industry. What a surprise! -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last. *There is no Planet B!*

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Fwd: WVNS story: Court Cases Confirm EPA's Right to Limit MTR Pollution
by Paul Wilson 24 Apr '13

24 Apr '13

from WV Public News Service. fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <wvns(a)newsservice.org> Date: Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 3:34 AM Subject: WVNS story: Court Cases Confirm EPA's Right to Limit MTR Pollution To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Court Cases Confirm EPA's Right to Limit MTR Pollution Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32126-1 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> (04/24/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Citizen groups say two big legal victories confirm what they've asserted for years - that mountaintop removal causes dangerous pollution levels, and the Environmental Protection Agency can and should protect the public. One federal court ruled that the Corps of Engineers has been too lax in issuing mountaintop removal permits, while another ruled that the EPA has the right to veto a Corps permit after it's been issued. The second decision, which could block the huge Spruce mine in Logan County, is important, said Jon Devine, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council's water program, because it strengthens the EPA's right to enforce clean-water laws. "The court said clearly - and reaffirmed what the law says clearly - that EPA can act," Devine said. The court decisions came as a group of independent scientists was calling for a moratorium on mountaintop removal. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice report <http://www.chej.org/mtopreport> cited such health effects as higher rates of cancer and birth defects. Aimee Rist, a mother of two from Fayetteville, said it's deeply troubling to those living close to a mountaintop removal site. "But I don't want to leave my home," she said. "It's beautiful. The people are wonderful. It just makes you question what my children might be breathing, what they might be drinking in their water." The researchers believe some West Virginia women's miscarriages could be associated with the mining. It's an emotional topic for Rist. "I had two miscarriages in West Virginia before I had Emma," she said. "And so I wonder, is it something that I was breathing or something that I was drinking?" The coal industry argues that the controversial mining practice creates jobs, but some medical researchers estimate it costs more to pay for the damage to human health than the mining pays in terms of economic development. The report on the health effects of mountaintop removal is online at chej.org <http://www.chej.org/mtopreport>. 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/32126-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/32126-1> --- 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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sallywilts@yahoo.com has shared something with you
by sallywilts＠yahoo.com 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

What a nice Earth Day gift! http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2013/04/23/appeals-court-sides-with-e… --- This message was sent by sallywilts(a)yahoo.com via http://addthis.com. Please note that AddThis does not verify email addresses. To stop receiving any emails from AddThis, please visit: http://www.addthis.com/privacy/email-opt-out?e=0oW4853_rvWz9a_3pL6y4ro

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Fwd: [ACTNET-FRAC-NEWS] Rolling Stone interviews BIDDER 70 hero, Tim DeChristopher
by Jim Sconyers 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

Tim is the son of founding WVSC chair Chris DeChristopher. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lauren Swain <video(a)mindseyeworld.com> Date: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 9:27 PM Subject: [ACTNET-FRAC-NEWS] Rolling Stone interviews BIDDER 70 hero, Tim DeChristopher To: ACTNET-FRAC-NEWS(a)lists.sierraclub.org Rolling Stone interviews BIDDER 70 hero, Tim DeCristopher: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/tim-dechristopher-is-a-free-man-w… By Alexander Zaitchik<http://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/alexander-zaitchik> April 22, 2013 4:35 PM ET There are worse ways for a climate activist to celebrate getting out of jail than speaking to a packed theater of comrades and supporters. Tonight, that's how Tim DeChristopher will publically mark his release from two years of state custody, spread over four states and five institutions – from the isolation wings of federal prisons to the halfway house he left yesterday. Following an address that will represent DeChristopher's public return to grassroots climate activism, Salt Lake City's Tower Theater will screen *Bidder 70* <http://www.bidder70film.com/>, a documentary about his 2009 trial. Both the talk and the screening will be live-streamed to 50 theaters around the country. The Fossil Fuel Resistance: Meet the New Green Heroes<http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/lists/the-fossil-fuel-resistance-meet-…> It's a happy coincidence that the event is taking place on Earth Day – but there was never any question it would be in Salt Lake City. It was there, in December 2008, that DeChristopher disrupted a federal Bureau of Land Management auction by submitting nearly $2 million in bids on oil and gas concessions. For the crime of what the prosecution called "obstruct[ing] lawful government proceedings," DeChristopher was whisked from the courthouse following his sentencing to begin his term, which ended yesterday. The 31-year-old activist talked to *Rolling Stone* about his time served and the future of the climate movement. *What are your immediate plans now that you're out? * I'll be traveling around a bit over the summer. Then in the fall, I start Harvard Divinity School. I see divinity school and the ministry as an extension of my activism, not as a new direction. It's probably the best outlet for the skills I've built so far. I take inspiration from the activist leaders of the past, whether it's the [antiwar activist] Berrigan brothers, or Martin Luther King, or many ministry leaders that have also been at the front of social movements throughout American history. *Will you keep up an activist's schedule w**hen you start school**?* Obviously I won't be able to do quite as much. I expect divinity school to be pretty demanding, so I won't be keeping up the full-time schedule that I had when I was a full-time activist. But I will still be doing certain speaking events and stuff like that. *Are you prepared to return to prison in the future? * Definitely. Especially having experienced it and knowing that I can handle it. If the opportunity comes up again to do something impactful, then I'd have to take that opportunity. *A lot of famous activists over the years have spoken about the benefits of prison time. Did you find that to be the case?* There are certainly upsides. They call it "doing time" for a reason. You just have a lot of time on your hands. So I read a lot. A lot of my day consisted of exercising and walking and reading. It was a very reflective environment and very low-stress environment. It kind of naturally lent itself to introspection. *Did you have a lot of conversations about climate and energy issues with other inmates? * I had a lot of conversations more about general social justice issues, about corporate control of our government, how the criminal justice system works. *Looking ahead, it seems activism around climate and energy is moving into a more militant posture. For example, the anti-fracking leader Sandra Steingraber and some of her colleagues in the so-called "Seneca Lake 12" went to jail in New York just as you were being released. * I certainly think the climate movement is going to get more aggressive. There's been a tremendous amount of movement in the past few years. And with changes like the Sierra Club completely overhauling the way they were operating [in terms of civil disobedience] – that's a massive shift, and I think those changes will continue. And I think there will also be more kind of bottom-up actions in the future. More things like the tar sands blockade in Texas, things that are not necessarily done by big organizations saying, "This is what you need to do and this is how you're going to do it." The grassroots side of the movement is really stepping up in a big way, and that's been the big shift since 2009. The grassroots side is no longer willing to limit themselves to the directions given by the big green groups and the Washington-centric side of the movement. The big green groups failed horribly in 2009 with the Waxman-Markey bill. Up until that time, they kind of kept everyone in check by saying, "We know how change happens, we know how to do things in Washington. This is what's politically feasible." And they fell on their face. Now a lot of folks are saying, "Well, we tried it your way. Now we're going to do it our way." *And your group, Peaceful Uprising, was part of that shift. * Yeah, Peaceful Uprising was forming during that time, largely out of an awareness that what the climate movement was doing wasn't working and we needed to do something else. It was started largely for the purpose of experimenting, and simply trying something new. Not saying this is the one right way. But saying we need a new way of doing things. And hopefully there will be more experimenting in the climate movement. A movement that gets a little bit out of control – that's what we need. One that's more spontaneous, trying more things and is more willing to do things even if it's not the exact right thing to do, but just because we need to move forward. *Will you stay involved with Peaceful Uprising? * I handed over the reins when I was convicted. I was pretty much out of the picture once I was incarcerated. I am not really in a leadership position there anymore. *Because of the publicity around your trial and incarceration, and now with the documentary, you have achieved a national profile and will be seen as a sort of spokesperson for the movement. Are you comfortable with this new level of fame? * As far as being seen as a speaker and that sort of thing, that's a role that I'm willing to serve. I kind of ended up in the role as the guy who always talked about civil disobedience just because that was the opening that the movement had in 2008 and 2009. So I sort of ended up in that role by default. Now I'll try and fill whatever role is needed. And I feel like I naturally look at things from a holistic perspective. I tend to be good at articulating a vision of where we need to go. I feel like I'm well suited for the role that I'm in right now. Bidder 70* opens in New York for a limited run on May 17th. * Lauren Swain (303) 964-9592, (303) 887-5951 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This email list is associated with the Hydrofracking Team on the Sierra Club's Activist Network. Join the Hydrofracking Team at http://sc.org/frac. This list is open to the public and subscribers are not moderated. Please be aware that information you share may be forwarded to or read by others beyond this list. To unsubscribe from the ACTNET-FRAC-NEWS list, send any message to: ACTNET-FRAC-NEWS-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last. *There is no Planet B!*

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Fwd: [Coal Volunteers List] EPA - water pollution from power plants rulemaking
by Paul Wilson 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Verena Owen <baumling(a)aol.com> Date: Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 9:55 AM Subject: Re: [Coal Volunteers List] EPA - water pollution from power plants rulemaking To: dave.oleary(a)mdsierra.org, coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org Hi Dave, I have seen our statement about the rule on another list, see below. I don't think we know yet if there are going to be hearings but I am sure we will collect comments. This is an important rule and there will be activities around it. Stay tuned. Verena FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 22, 2013 *After 30 Years of Inaction, EPA Finally Proposes Plans for Power Plant Water Pollution* *Includes options protecting waters from toxic pollution as well as weaker standards that maintain the status quo* Washington, D.C. – The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a number of regulatory options late last Friday night, known as steam electric effluent limitation guidelines for power plants<http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/steam-electric/proposed.cfm>, two of which will finally clean up water pollution from hundreds of power plants. Power plant water discharges are filled with toxic pollution such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium – heavy metals that can cause neurological and developmental damage, cause harm *in utero*, damage internal organs and cause cancer. Power plants are the biggest sources of water pollution in the country, yet the EPA has not reviewed regulations for this industry in more than 30 years. To address this unacceptable delay, environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2010 to force the EPA to take action and regulate this dirty industry. The following statement is from Appalachian Voices, Clean Water Action, Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Waterkeeper Alliance on today’s proposal: “After 30 years of inaction, the EPA has finally offered a plan that utilizes affordable, available pollution controls to clean up toxic power plant waste water. We need strong protections that limit the amount of mercury, lead, arsenic, chromium, and other heavy metals that power plants are dumping into the rivers, lakes, and streams where we fish, boat, swim, and drink. The technology to clean up power plant water discharges exists, and in many cases is already being used. While the EPA has presented a menu of options, there are two options (Options 4 and 5)<http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/steam-electric/proposed.cfm> that address all of the contaminated wastewaters of concern across the industry. We are heartened to see that the EPA has identified these options as both achievable and affordable, and we urge the agency to settle on a final choice that will keep America’s waters safe and clean as the Clean Water Act requires. “In addition to the protective alternatives identified by the agency, the EPA also included many weaker options that would allow power plants to continue to dump poisons unabated from unlined pits. Some of these options also create sweeping exemptions. “Toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants makes people sick. Those who live in the communities around these plants have had all kinds of concerns about the pollution – everything from reduced property values to extremely rare forms of cancer. We applaud the EPA for taking this next step to address the problem, and we will keep fighting to ensure the EPA chooses the strongest regulation to protect our health and our water.” -----Original Message----- From: dave o'leary <dave.oleary(a)mdsierra.org> To: coal-volunteers-list <coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org> Sent: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 10:26 pm Subject: [Coal Volunteers List] EPA - water pollution from power plants rulemaking Hi - I haven't seen this noticed shared yet and I'm wondering about the plans to engage in this process. Has anyone reviewed the four options yet and is there any guidance on comments? Thanks, David O'Leary Sierra Club, Maryland Chapter U.S. EPA News Release: EPA Proposes to Reduce Toxic Pollutants Discharged into Waterways by Power Plants > 04/19/2013 > CONTACT: > Stacy Kika (News Media Only) > Kika.stacy(a)epa.gov > 202-564-0906 > 202-564-4355 > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > April 19, 2013 > > > EPA Proposes to Reduce Toxic Pollutants Discharged into Waterways by Power > Plants > > WASHINGTON — In accordance with a consent decree and in line with > requirements under the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection > Agency (EPA) > today will propose a range of options to help reduce dangerous pollutants, > including mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium that are released into > America’s waterways by coal ash, air pollution control waste and other > waste from steam electric power plants. Today’s proposal includes a variety > of options > for whether and how these different waste streams should be treated. EPA > will take comment on all of these options, which it will use to help inform > the > most appropriate final standard. > > Steam electric power plants currently account for more than half of all > toxic pollutants discharged into streams, rivers and lakes from permitted > industrial > facilities in the United States. High exposure to these types of > pollutants has been linked to neurological damage and cancer as well as > damage to the > circulatory system, kidneys and liver.Toxic heavy metals do not break down > in the environment and can also contaminate sediment in waterways and > impact aquatic life and wildlife, including large-scale die-offs of fish. > > “America’s waterways are vital to the health and well-being of our > communities,” said Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe. “Reducing the > pollution > of our waters through effective but flexible controls such as we are > proposing today is a win-win for our public health and our economic > vitality. > We look forward to hearing from all stakeholders on the best way forward.” > > EPA has put a focus on ensuring any final rule would protect public health > while being sensible and achievable, and in line with that goal, under > every preferred option proposed by EPA today, more than half of America’s > coal fired power plants would be in compliance without incurring any > additional cost. > > The proposal updates standards that have been in place since 1982, > incorporating technology improvements in the steam electric power industry > over the last three decades as required by the Clean Water Act. The > proposed national standards are based on data collected from industry and > provide flexibility in implementation through a phased-in approach and use > of technologies already installed at a number of plants. Under the > proposed approach, new requirements for existing power plants would be > phased in between 2017 and 2022, and would leverage flexibilities as > necessary. > > Fewer than half of coal-fired power plants are estimated to incur costs > under any of the proposed preferred options, because many power plants > already have the technology and procedures in place to meet the proposed > pollution control standards. > > The four preferred options differ in the number of waste streams covered > (such as fly ash handling systems, treatment of air pollution control waste > and bottom ash), the size of the units controlled and the stringency of > the treatment controls to be imposed. EPA estimates that the regulations > would reduce pollutant discharges by 470 million to 2.62 billion pounds > annually and reduce water use by 50 billion to 103 billion gallons per year. > > EPA also announced its intention to align this Clean Water Act rule with a > related rule for coal combustion residuals (CCRs, also known as > “coal ash”) proposed in 2010 under the Resource Conservation and Recovery > Act. The two rules would apply to many of the same facilities and > would work together to reduce pollution associated with coal ash and > related wastes. EPA is seeking comment from industry and other stakeholders > to ensure that both final rules are aligned to reduce pollution > efficiently and minimize regulatory burdens. > > There are approximately 1,200 steam electric power plants that generate > electricity using nuclear fuel or fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and > natural gas in the U.S. Approximately 500 of these power plants are coal > fired units which are the primary source of the pollutants being addressed > by the proposed regulation. Power plants that are smaller than 50 > megawatts would not be impacted by these new standards, and the majority of > coal-fired power plants would incur no costs under the proposed standards. > > The public comment period on the proposed rule will be open for 60 days > after publication in the Federal Register. The agency is under a consent > decree > to take final action by May 22, 2014. > > More information: > http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/steam-electric/index.cfm > > > -- To access the Beyond Coal Campaign Resource Portal, go to: https://sites.google.com/a/sierraclub.org/beyond-coal-resource-portal/ To sign up for this list, email becki.clayborn(a)sierraclub.org with the subject and message "SUBSCRIBE #coal-volunteer" --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "#Coal-Volunteers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coal-volunteers-list+unsubscribe(a)sierraclub.org. To post to this group, send email to coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org. -- To access the Beyond Coal Campaign Resource Portal, go to: https://sites.google.com/a/sierraclub.org/beyond-coal-resource-portal/ To sign up for this list, email becki.clayborn(a)sierraclub.org with the subject and message "SUBSCRIBE #coal-volunteer" --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "#Coal-Volunteers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coal-volunteers-list+unsubscribe(a)sierraclub.org. To post to this group, send email to coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org. -- 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: Re: We won the 6th Circuit appeal on NWP 21!
by Jim Sconyers 22 Apr '13

22 Apr '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Aaron Isherwood" <aaron.isherwood(a)sierraclub.org> Date: Apr 22, 2013 11:44 AM Subject: Re: We won the 6th Circuit appeal on NWP 21! To: "Mark Kresowik" <mark.kresowik(a)sierraclub.org> Cc: "Bruce Nilles" <bruce.nilles(a)sierraclub.org>, "Mary Anne Hitt" < maryanne.hitt(a)sierraclub.org>, "David Muhly" <david.muhly(a)sierraclub.org>, "Ed Hopkins" <ed.hopkins(a)sierraclub.org>, "Bill Price" < bill.price(a)sierraclub.org>, "Jim Sconyers" <jimscon(a)gmail.com>, "Lane Boldman" <lanebold(a)earthlink.net>, "Rick Clewett" < rick.clewett(a)insightbb.com>, "Axel C Ringe" <onyxfarm(a)bellsouth.net>, "Alex DeSha" <alex.desha(a)sierraclub.org>, "Marley Green" < marley.green(a)sierraclub.org>, "Bonnie Swinford" <bswinford1(a)yahoo.com>, "Sean Sarah" <sean.sarah(a)sierraclub.org>, "Glen Besa" < glen.besa(a)sierraclub.org>, "Peter Morgan" <peter.morgan(a)sierraclub.org>, "Pat Gallagher" <pat.gallagher(a)sierraclub.org> Just got this draft from Jim... Sean, are you available to make suggestions? This is a national case, so should we include a quote from Mary Anne or Ed? Aaron *Appeals Court Invalidates Nationwide Permit* *Used to Bury Streams with Mining Waste* * * The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit today invalidated the 2007 version of the nationwide permit used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to authorize the dumping of coal mining waste into hundreds of miles of Appalachian headwater streams. **** ** ** “The Court agreed with us that the Corps failed in 2007 to demonstrate that filling streams with mining waste has minimal cumulative impacts and that the mining companies can mitigate those environmental impacts to insignificance, ” said Jim Hecker, Environmental Enforcement Director at Public Justice in Washington, DC. “This permit should never have been issued, because it was based on the Corps’ unsupportable assumption that filling these streams has minimal environmental effects.”**** ** ** Since 2003, coalfield residents and state and national environmental groups have been challenging the legality of Nationwide Permit 21 in West Virginia and Kentucky federal courts. A West Virginia federal court enjoined the permit’s use in that state in 2009, but a Kentucky court disagreed with that decision in 2011 and allowed its use in that state to continue. The Sixth Circuit today reversed that Kentucky decision and agreed with the earlier decision by the West Virginia court. **** ** ** The Clean Water Act only authorizes nationwide permits for stream-filling activities that have minimal environmental effects, both individually and cumulatively. Mountaintop removal coal mining produces enormous quantities of waste that is commonly disposed of in adjacent valleys and streams. Scientific studies have shown that the waters downstream from valley fills are degraded, and there is no scientific evidence that buried headwater streams can be re-created successfully elsewhere.**** ** ** The Sixth Circuit found that the Corps’ determination that the 2007 NWP 21 would have cumulatively minimal effects was irrational, for two reasons. First, the Corps failed to analyze the present effects of its past actions allowing the filling of hundreds of miles of streams prior to 2007, and instead improperly limited its analysis to the effects of future filling from 2007 to 2012. Second, the Corps had no documented information showing that mitigation could offset the loss of headwater streams at mining sites. **** ** ** The Sixth Circuit stayed its decision for 60 days to give the lower court and the parties time to assess its impact on existing projects. While the appeal in the Sixth Circuit was pending, the 2007 NWP 21 expired, but the Corps reissued the NWP in 2012 for five more years with more stringent conditions (namely, a 300-foot limit on filling and a prohibition against valley fills). In reissuing that permit, the Corps created a new loophole that gave about 70 uncompleted projects under the old 2007 NWP 21 five more years to use it without meeting the more stringent conditions of the 2012 NWP 21. That loophole is now likely to be closed. At a minimum, these grandfathered projects will require additional analysis and should have to comply with the more stringent 2012 conditions.**** ** ** More broadly, the court’s decision raises serious questions about the Corps’ entire approach to cumulative impacts and compensatory mitigation for coal mining projects. The court directed the Corps to use past mining impacts more carefully to assess cumulative impacts and to document in detail whether mitigation can effectively reduce cumulative impacts. Up to now, the Corps has refused to take these issues seriously and to measure mitigation effectiveness. Recent scientific studies on the relationship between the percentage of mining in a watershed and the severity of downstream biological impairment indicate that surface coal mining is having serious cumulative impacts. **** ** ** “This decision has been a long time coming. Every year we see the health of rivers and streams in eastern Kentucky declining. In 2010, according to the Kentucky Division of Water, only 1% of eastern Kentucky streams fully supported fish and other aquatic life. I’d say that we can see an impact from mining,” stated Judy Petersen, executive director of Kentucky Waterways Alliance.**** ** ** The groups that have challenged NWP 21 in court actions are: in Kentucky—Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, and Kentucky Riverkeeper; in West Virginia—Ohio River Environmental Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch, and Natural Resources Defense Council. The legal team opposing NWP 21 has been led by Jim Hecker at Public Justice in Washington, D.C., assisted by Joe Lovett at Appalachian Mountain Advocates in Lewisburg, WV, and Stephen Sanders at the Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Whitesburg, KY. On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 8:40 AM, Mark Kresowik <mark.kresowik(a)sierraclub.org > wrote: > Congrats! Is anyone working on media about this already? Seems like > something we'd want to highlight? > > Mark > > > On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 11:39 AM, Aaron Isherwood < > aaron.isherwood(a)sierraclub.org> wrote: > >> Excellent news...! >> >> Aaron >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: Jim Hecker <JHecker(a)publicjustice.net> >> Date: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 6:33 AM >> Subject: We won the 6th Circuit appeal on NWP 21! >> To: Joe Lovett <jlovett(a)appalmad.org>, Derek Teaney <dteaney(a)appalmad.org>, >> Mike Becher <mbecher(a)appalmad.org>, Margaret Janes <mjanes100(a)gmail.com> >> Cc: cindy rank <clrank2(a)gmail.com>, Aaron Isherwood < >> aaron.isherwood(a)sierraclub.org>, Peter Morgan < >> peter.morgan(a)sierraclub.org>, dianne bady <dbady.ovec(a)gmail.com>, Alan >> Banks <alan.banks(a)eku.edu>, Judy Petersen <judy(a)kwalliance.org>, Kevin >> Pentz <kevin(a)kftc.org> >> >> >> After eight years of litigation, the Sixth Circuit reversed our loss at >> the district court level and agreed with the prior decision by Judge >> Goodwin in the 2009 Hurst case that NWP 21 violates NEPA, both the >> cumulative impacts and mitigation issues.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> I will have more analysis later.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> Jim Hecker**** >> >> Public Justice**** >> >> 1825 K Street, NW Suite 200**** >> >> Washington, D.C. 20006**** >> >> (202) 797-8600**** >> >> fax (202) 232-7203**** >> >> jhecker(a)publicjustice.net **** >> >> ** ** >> >> > > > -- > Mark Kresowik > Eastern Region Deputy Director > Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign > mark.kresowik(a)sierraclub.org > 202-675-7914 (o) > 319-621-7393 (c) > 50 F St NW Eighth Floor > Washington, DC 20001 >

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KEN WARD ARTICLE IN GAZETTE RE COAL FUNDED "SCHOLARSHIP"
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 22 Apr '13

22 Apr '13

HERE IS A LINK<http://books.google.com/books?id=OTNQLteehOgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage…>TO THE COAL INDUSTRY FUNDED RESEARCH INTENDED TO CAST DOUBT ON MICHAEL KENDRYX'S PEER-REVIEWED HEALTH STUDIES. -- 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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Fwd: Coal companies don't want you to see this:
by Paul Wilson 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

check out the report and the "Ask the Scientist" question. fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Union of Concerned Scientists <action(a)ucsusa.org> Date: Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 9:38 AM Subject: Coal companies don't want you to see this: To: pjgrunt(a)gmail.com *Read this issue on the UCS website.<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=rZCgHspScqPPufjdGDp9lw> * [image: The Pulse: Facts you need from experts you trust] Dear Paul, <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Ad5DalomdqPfV5Qr38dw2A> Coal-fired power plants pollute our air and water and are one of our nation's largest sources of global warming emissions. But times are changing. People like you and me have been working to advance cleaner, more sustainable energy solutions—and it's starting to pay off. Our new report, *Ramping Up Renewables <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=LDXoUktQ4dX4zK1Xfrm4iQ>*, shows that renewable energy is *already* providing reliable power to consumers and that we can dramatically expand our renewable energy use. *Unfortunately, the fossil-fuel industry doesn't want the rest of the country to catch on.*They're working day in and day out to roll back policies that support our transition to a cleaner, renewable future. It's up to us to fight back, so read on! —*Karla* Science in Action [image: Billowing Smokestack] *Take action for more renewable energy in West Virginia* In 2012, new wind power capacity outpaced coal and natural gas for the first time, a success made possible in part by 29 states and the District of Columbia, which require power companies to generate a certain amount of electricity from renewable sources like the wind and sun. These states are demonstrating that we can transition away from dirty, coal-burning power plants toward cleaner sources of electricity while maintaining a reliable and affordable electricity system. This progress threatens the fossil-fuel industry, and they're fighting back—opposing efforts to pass renewable electricity standards in states across the country. *Don't let the fossil-fuel industry stop clean energy progress! Contact your elected officials now to let them know you support a renewable electricity standard in your community!*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=AtCaQiaOGPIZmkX4sagPrg> [image: Click Here to Take Action]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=uELl9yU7Ls7PmGwauNo_DA> *Share:* [image: Share on Facebook]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=oDnkYrJzCIJU9tAiEomfmg> [image: Share on Twitter]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=27wytFY38s3xL7mnFi8DWw> Cartoon of the Month Links for Paul [image: Cartoon: Solar Power]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=j8NT8msZWlDGFpqjmhIFvw> *Click to view larger image.*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=YOT8bPx9M0o_lQGRjLPT_A> *Share:* [image: Share on Facebook]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=0v4HB6VDjil40qasC3ECWQ> [image: Share on Twitter]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=mebnlvTwNYW0CMqjdXFewQ> You know renewable energy is good, but how good? Dive into the details!<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=o7kVutqOmX3lUjkdGEIoCA> What does energy use have to do with our water supply? Find out!<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=sI-V4KHUc5pIejdl9E3HBw> Stay on top of important clean energy updates. Follow our *Ramping Up Renewables* blog series.<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Ua28lieo9Q1150Gyf-0q5A> INFOGRAPHIC: What *science* says about climate change and extreme weather.<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=jR6SeAvDDFjnyp8pChzvxQ> Ask the Scientist [image: David Wright]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=XsD-mRXdd66-JqQa53zv_A> Laura Wisland Senior Energy Analyst, Climate and Energy Program *Follow Laura's blog >>* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=kOmgh3dR6g-nkhLocEnjmg> *A friend of mine claims that if all direct and indirect government subsidies were eliminated, the cheapest electricity source would be coal and that renewables of any kind would be most expensive. Can you clarify how the cost of renewables actually stacks up against other sources? —George E. Milkowski, Chicago, IL* The most important thing to emphasize in answering your question is the fact that renewable sources of electricity are providing clean, safe electricity at competitive prices *right now* across the country. That's a big reason why electricity suppliers are making record-level investments in resources like wind and solar. In fact, the latest data indicate the U.S. wind industry installed more electric generation capacity in 2012 than any other energy source, beating even natural gas. And, thanks in part to government incentives and a maturing industry, renewable sources are getting substantially cheaper. But let's try to unpack some of your friend's claims and assumptions to gain a fuller understanding of how the cost of renewables compares to other sources of electricity. *MORE*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=mM5hZaqbci0VuG_pP9J06g> *Share:* [image: Share on Facebook]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=n6v8saQT42I-rItnuX_nTg> [image: Share on Twitter]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=7PuEoI9UMK96LY4S5M1lFg> Do you have a question for UCS scientists? *Submit your question today.*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=yNOiW375VDRad2pL2bCttw> This Just In [image: Clean Energy Works]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=tVQed4BMVfjnE1YNqibU1A> *Don't believe the critics. Renewable energy works!* When it comes to America's energy future, there's a lot of crosstalk and deception, and the fossil-fuel industry and its allies just want us to keep swallowing their misinformation. Citing inaccurate data, they falsely claim that renewable energy provides few benefits to the environment and assert it must cost more. *That's where science steps in.* To fight their distortion, UCS has released a new report, *Ramping Up Renewables<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=4S6fuDpNEkyl5jlm-4eqgQ> *, which shows how renewable energy solutions are already delivering reliable power to homes and businesses in the United States. The report also describes how the United States can transition to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future if we take the right steps. Read this exciting new report and share it with your family and friends. *MORE*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=ENrRA_NOfl4T1DtJ2w9RBg> * Share:* [image: Share on Facebook]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=nMN4sNr47jv6a6-NQbtgMA> [image: Share on Twitter]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=6VxfeWwPAvPsBeb-kjGVPA> [image: Got Science]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=ownY3QWe7WJcEtLveO1qkg> *For more than a year, officials in South Carolina tried to suppress a science-based report about the impacts of climate change in the state. Here's how science and sunlight finally won the day...* * * *MORE* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Z6vAaEHLKZIX1FcMuz186g> [image: Buzz from the UCS Blog: The Equation]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=ESQOEWJbwiMLyoRX9VZ-pQ> *Doug Gurian-Sherman:* *Biotech Rider* a Threat to Farmers and the Environment <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=va3bnAehwCVNbNKvf1CRZg> *Francesca Grifo:* Who Keeps an Eye on *EPA* Science?<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=aWhmv4abfJDcdEaUtDypRw> *Jeremy Martin:* The Future of *Biofuels* in 10 Charts and Maps<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=MR7cC1NWJxjqtAT10JOo2g> *Michael Halpern:* Four Hours after UCS Report Release, *United States Geological Survey* Takes a Step Forward<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=kJxJnb1VMjdmeR_Wof17eg> *MORE* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=aUTPvgrPZRUT6n-dwe12Bg> [image: UCS on Twitter]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=PWM0U3bj6BXjCS2SQkgVBw> Absurd: #Ohio Senator compares renewable #energy policy he voted for to "Joseph Stalin's 5-year plan" http://ow.ly/jzPfA <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=oaCKNe3ZnIYV6HkRaORz9A> The 2012 figures on US #solar installations have just come in, and things are looking, well, sunny.ow.ly/jiry3<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=YB9zTo7k7ASSu5jTlLJ-jQ> "Detroit Voices" by @FairFoodNetwork--inspiring look at how city is coming together to expand access to healthy food! http://ow.ly/juYZb<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=upGcBTKyCnBxKEteX3k5Jg> #science groups too! http://bit.ly/14tdSGG MT @cleanairfrank: Health & enviro grps praise EPA #driveclean proposal: http://bit.ly/11WNyAG<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=ilARWLUB8Xcs0JTKl8qncg> *MORE* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=zA_s0MfL2E0z7HHmOtYjoQ> DEFEND SCIENCE! Your commitment to UCS ensures that scientific facts inform decisions that affect our environment, our health, and our security. *Donate today.*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=R-mVKBp56wI-JjYFXqilTQ> [image: Make a Donation]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=qIIbaQhUSTgfS7FcgQJEvw> *STAY CONNECTED TO UCS* [image: You Tube]<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=hqbO8o1ZNH6SaT9jFfnfsw> [image: RSS] <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=g_khx0X-BaZKX2Pkr8hlOA> [image: Facebook] <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=_AZWSC7HAmUqt5LAWnLrHQ> [image: twitter] <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=fHo4r1EVtkEAfIJTScBWlw> The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2 Brattle Square Cambridge, MA 02138-3780 phone: 800-666-8276 | Fax: 617-864-9405 | ucsaction(a)ucsusa.org | www.ucsusa.org <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=sLvJsSMdwCn3vkpkYGOEHQ> UCS is a 501(c)(3) organization. All gifts are tax deductible. You can be confident your donations to UCS are spent wisely. About UCS<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=rj2MAEqeULOXwMxmpNoNgA>| Take Action <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=0lceNMQMEdvTNQvX4tAcZw> | Donate<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=8N4Iuc3OngQkugAOKhmIKw>| Contact Us <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=VnwNq4h8Ab0VXAw5hDCKIQ> | Privacy Policy <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=CPPgUotHseGpmHCoJAqW7Q> | Unsubscribe<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/CO?i=XM83aok9p4T3Oq0AusnbBvP5pCu0CIwc&cid=1786>| Update your profile <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=gc_vSLB0M-252jilZ19Zqg> © Union of Concerned Scientists. All rights reserved. [image: powered by CONVIO] <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=nx_2F2n9oMi4Ir5fZBE2nQ> nonprofit software <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=kJ4eTkiV8MGK61gj1Ea6Qg> -- 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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Coal squeezed by Nat gas?
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

Fuel Prices, Emission Standards, and Generation Costs for Coal vs Natural Gas Power Plants <http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es4001642> Lincoln F. Pratson<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Pratson%2C+L+F&qsS…> * <http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021%2Fes4001642#cor1>, Drew Haerer<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Haerer%2C+D&qsSear…> , and Dalia Patiño-Echeverri<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Pati%C3%B1o%5C-Ech…> Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, United States Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP *DOI: *10.1021/es4001642 Publication Date (Web): March 15, 2013 Copyright © 2013 American Chemical Society *Phone: (919) 681-8077; fax: (919) 684-5833; e-mail:lincoln.pratson@du<lincoln.pratson(a)duke.edu> ke.edu <lincoln.pratson(a)duke.edu>. ABSTRACT [image: Abstract Image] Low natural gas prices and stricter, federal emission regulations are promoting a shift away from coal power plants and toward natural gas plants as the lowest-cost means of generating electricity in the United States. By estimating the cost of electricity generation (COE) for 304 coal and 358 natural gas plants, we show that the economic viability of 9% of current coal capacity is challenged by low natural gas prices, while another 56% would be challenged by the stricter emission regulations. Under the current regulations, coal plants would again become the dominant least-cost generation option should the ratio of average natural gas to coal prices (NG2CP) rise to 1.8 (it was 1.42 in February 2012). If the more stringent emission standards are enforced, however, natural gas plants would remain cost competitive with a majority of coal plants for NG2CPs up to 4.3. Print<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/08/study-the-coal-i…> ------------------------------ Study: The coal industry is in far more trouble than anyone realizesBy Brad Plumer, Updated: April 8, 2013 Here’s some bleak news for the coal industry: As much as 65 percent of the U.S. coal fleet could find itself under threat in the years ahead, thanks to cheap natural gas and stricter air-pollution regulations. That’s according to a new peer-reviewed study<http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021%2Fes4001642> by three researchers at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, who take a detailed look at the costs of operating both coal-fired power plants and natural-gas plants around the United States. Their conclusion? Coal power is far more economically vulnerable than most analysts have realized to date. Here’s why: *Cheap natural gas is crowding out coal: *Already, a glut of cheap natural gas from shale deposits in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere is upending the electricity sector. The researchers found that around 9 percent of the U.S. coal fleet has become uneconomical — it’s now cheaper to burn natural gas for electricity than to keep running those coal plants, which are now slated for retirement. The chart below sums up the ongoing shift quite vividly. Many coal plants are now operating at far lower capacity in 2012 than they were back in 2007: <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/04/coal-capacity.png> *And new pollution rules could accelerate that shift: *But the shift to gas could become even more dramatic in the years ahead. Under the Obama administration, the EPA has been tightening various standards for air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and mercury. By 2016, power-plant operators will have to start installing costly new emissions controls at their coal units to comply with these rules. And that will further sway the economics of power generation. By looking carefully at operating costs, the Duke researchers found that an additional 56 percent of the U.S. coal fleet could become more expensive than natural gas, assuming the ratio of gas prices to coal stayed around its current level. That poses a huge challenge to the coal industry — far bigger than previous analyses have suggested. “That was the most surprising thing to come out of this analysis,” says Duke’s Lincoln Pratson, who led the study. “There has been a lot of focus on those 9 percent of coal plants set for retirement — mostly smaller, older plants. But what were seeing is that there are a very large number of younger plants that would become more costly to run than the median natural-gas plant if they were to upgrade their emissions controls.” *That said, there are some caveats: *That doesn’t mean 65 percent of the coal fleet is set to shut down in the years ahead. This analysis all depends on a number of assumptions. First and most obviously, natural gas prices could start rising again — the early glut of gas from the fracking boom already appears to be leveling off<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/22/what-happens-whe…>. That would help many coal plants hang on. Yet, surprisingly, Pratson and his colleagues found that natural gas would stay competitive even if the ratio of natural gas to coal prices rose from its current level of 1.7 to 4. ”Even in that case, we wouldn’t see the situation we had [in the early 2000s] where every coal plant was cheaper to run than every single natural gas plant,” Pratson says. The study makes a few other debatable assumptions as well. For one, it assumes that power plant operators will comply with the EPA rules by installing new emissions controls — rather than, say, buying allowances under cap-and-trade systems like the acid-rain program. On the flip side, the study doesn’t take into account further potential EPA regulations on cooling water or coal ash. As such, says Pratson, the analysis is offering a “mid-range estimate” on coal’s vulnerability. As a side note, the study also helps referee a contentious political debate. During the 2012 campaign, there were two big theories for what, exactly, was killing the U.S. coal industry. Many conservatives blamed the EPA’s air pollution rules, part of President Obama’s “war on coal.” Other analysts largely chalked it up to cheap natural gas — this was just the market at work. This new study suggests that *both* are crucial factors, and tries to look at how, precisely, natural gas and the EPA will interact with each other in the years ahead. *Further reading:* –The decline of coal, in three charts<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/31/the-decline-of-u…> . –The shift from coal to natural gas has helped drive down U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions. But natural gas will only be effective in tackling climate change if the industry gets a handle on methane leaks<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/04/methane-leaks-ar…> . –What happens to America’s coal if we don’t burn it? Mining companies will try to ship it abroad<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/what-happens-to-us-coal-i…>, mainly to China. But that all depends on whether they can build new export facilities<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/can-the-united-states-inf…> in the Pacific Northwest. © The Washington Post Company -- 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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Fwd: WVNS story: Halliburton's Dirty Secrets Pumped Into WV?
by Paul Wilson 08 Apr '13

08 Apr '13

Chuck is quoted in this WVNS story. fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <wvns(a)newsservice.org> Date: Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 6:25 AM Subject: WVNS story: Halliburton's Dirty Secrets Pumped Into WV? To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Halliburton's Dirty Secrets Pumped Into WV? Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/31805-1 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> (04/08/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Landowners, citizen groups and environmentalists are concerned about legislation now before the House of Delegates that would allow drilling companies to keep secret the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Outreach coordinator Chuck Wyrostok, West Virginia Sierra Club, said the industry, led by the huge oilfield service company, Halliburton Corp., has convinced lawmakers in several states to treat the chemical formulas as trade secrets. The drilling service company wants to do the same thing is West Virginia, Wyrostok warned. That is acting with contempt for the people living around Marcellus natural gas drilling, he said. "It's pretty ludicrous to say, 'We're gonna pump secret chemicals into the ground, and we're gonna transport them through your towns, past your schools. And I'm sorry, you just can't know what they are,'" Wyrostok said. Senate Bill 243 <http://goo.gl/DpM0w> inserts what Wyrostok and others call the "Halliburton dirty-secrets amendment" into a bundle of rules proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection. It has passed the Senate and is now before the House Judiciary Committee. Drillers use hundreds of chemicals to help break up the rock deep underground and get the gas out. Halliburton spokesmen have said the company wants to keep competitors from learning its formulas. But critics say it is more likely they don't want landowners and residents to know. There are practical reasons for not treating the fracking formulas like CIA secrets, Wyrostok pointed out. "Say a truck going through a town in West Virginia crashes or ruptures, and no one knows what the chemicals are. How do the first responders react to that? They don't know what's in that truck." Landowners have a hard time testing their well water for contaminates if they don't know what they're looking for, he said, noting that doctors would have to ask the companies what chemicals might be making their patients sick. No one knows how long the company might take to respond, Wyrostok said, or even if it would. Plus, if the doctors find out what the chemicals are, the new rule would forbid them from telling anyone, he added. "Basically, it's a gag order," he said. "I don't think the medical community is gonna go along with that. Doctors in Pennsylvania are suing the state over it." Information about the status of SB 243 is available at http://www.legis.state.wv.us <http://goo.gl/DpM0w>. 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/31805-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/31805-1> --- 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: WVNS story: Justice Loughry: Public Financing Offers An Alternative To Cynicism
by Paul Wilson 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <wvns(a)newsservice.org> Date: Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 3:29 AM Subject: WVNS story: Justice Loughry: Public Financing Offers An Alternative To Cynicism To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Justice Loughry: Public Financing Offers An Alternative To Cynicism Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/31726-1 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> (04/04/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - As lawmakers consider two bills<http://goo.gl/54PU9>making public financing for State Supreme Court elections permanent, the justice elected under the pilot program says it worked because it gave people a chance to feel good about politics for a change. Justice Allen Loughry accepted public financing for his campaign last year and won, astounding many seasoned political observers. The justice said he cannot endorse legislation, but he added that it is vital that people get a chance not to feel cynical about judicial elections. "You should not be able to buy a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court like you go into a convenience store and buy a candy bar off the shelf," Loughry said. When he accepted public financing, Loughry also accepted strict limits on how much he could spend. That meant he faced opponents with a lot more money, which caused most observers to dismiss his chances. Loughry noted one thing his election proved: You do not have to match your opponents dollar for dollar. "We were still able to reach average West Virginians," he said, "and part of that was because we ran a very positive campaign." To qualify for public financing, Loughry had to raise hundreds of small donations from registered voters across the state's congressional districts. He said that was hard to do, but stressed that it should be hard, to make sure only candidates with a real shot at being elected get a chance at public money. "I don't want to see that change," he said. "You have to be able to show that enough average West Virginia voters would support your campaign. Only at that point should you qualify for that funding." House Bill 2805 would make the pilot program permanent. It has passed the house and is now awaiting action in the senate. HB 2805 and its companion bill in the senate, SB 413, are available at http://www.legis.state.wv.us<http://goo.gl/54PU9> . 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/31726-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/31726-1> --- 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: Re: AEP utilities seek incentive for energy efficiency programs
by James Kotcon 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

This looks like one we should examine carefully, as we may want to support AEP on this case, or perhaps even urge a more aggressive EE target. Jim Kotcon >>> Bill Howley <billhowley(a)hughes.net> 4/3/2013 9:17 AM >>> I haven't studied their incentive plan, because I'm out of town. But incentives are absolutely vital for expanded efficiency programs. When power companies sell less power, they still have to cover their basic overhead costs. Unless they can still cover those costs, they have no interest in selling less power. Even with the incentives, EE will save people money in fuel costs and operating costs. Bill Howley Research -- PO Box 3 -- Chloe, WV 25235 -- 304-655-8255 On 4/2/2013 4:14 PM, Daniel Chiotos wrote: AEP utilities seek incentive for energy efficiency programs ( http://www.statejournal.com/story/21857235/aep-utilities-seek-incentive-for… ) Posted: Apr 02, 2013 2:39 PM EDTUpdated: Apr 02, 2013 2:48 PM EDT By Pam Kasey - email ( mailto:pkasey@statejournal.com?body=http://www.statejournal.com/story/21857235/aep-utilities-seek-incentive-for-energy-efficiency-programs ) Energy What does Patriot propose for escaping bankruptcy? ( http://www.statejournal.com/story/21857934/what-does-patriot-propose-for-es… )WV House votes to expand Mine Safety Technology Tax Credit ( http://www.statejournal.com/story/21857500/wv-house-votes-to-expand )Coal Association supporting transfer of Harrison to Mon Power ( http://www.statejournal.com/story/21857653/coal-association-supporting-tran… )AEP utilities seek incentive for energy efficiency programs ( http://www.statejournal.com/story/21857235/aep-utilities-seek-incentive-for… )Two WV AEP subsidiaries not seeking rate increases ( http://www.statejournal.com/story/21854023/two-wv-aep-subsidiaries-not-seek… ) More>> ( http://www.statejournal.com/category/222501/energy ) Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power want a financial incentive for the energy efficiency programs they offer customers. The companies made their case in an April 1 filing ( http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityI… ) with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. Both AEP's Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power and FirstEnergy's Mon Power and Potomac Edison have in recent years established basic energy efficiency programs for their customers, ordered and approved by the PSC. The AEP companies' programs include, for residential customers, subsidized sales of compact fluorescent light bulbs, home energy audits with recommendations for improvements and offers of rebates, and support for the state's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP. To commercial and industrial customers, the companies offer rebates for more efficient lighting and heating and cooling. In 2012, the programs saved 51 million kilowatt-hours, up from 22 million in 2011. The AEP companies take in about $6.1 million a year in customer rates to support the programs, and propose to continue that for the coming year. But they also seek an incentive. A challenge in asking utilities to promote energy efficiency among their customers is that utilities make a return on investments that increase supply but they lose money on energy efficiency investments that decrease demand: not only do they get no return on the investments, but, by reducing demand, the programs also cut sales. The companies propose to receive 5 percent of the pre-tax net benefits of the programs as their incentive, up to a total of 12 percent of program cost. The incentive for 2012 would come to about $605,000, according to the filing. The companies said in the filing that regulators in other jurisdictions have allowed their sister companies incentives for energy efficiency efforts and that, as a result, those companies have much larger energy efficiency programs, both in terms of spending and of kilowatt-hour savings achieved for participating customers. An incentive, or lack of an incentive, will figure into the companies' future plans for expanding their energy efficiency programs, they said. To follow the case, subscribe to case number 13-0462 on the Public Service Commission's website ( http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/CaseSubscriptions/SubscriberLogin.cfm ).

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Fwd: Major tar sands oil spill in Arkansas
by Jim Sconyers 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Vanessa Kritzer <feedback(a)lcv.org> Date: Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 2:54 PM Subject: Major tar sands oil spill in Arkansas To: jimscon(a)gmail.com [image: LCV logo header] *Enough is enough! Join us in saying NO to more tar sands spills. Help us reach one million comments against the dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. <http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=YSpaol2X6uByoV4T0a89mw>* Jim, * <http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=f0CfeDHryI_732JC-dMuIg>* *[image: Arkansas oil spill large]<http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=6ij8fMTNox5wfguVPR8CLA> * *More than 500,000 gallons of tar sands oil and water just spilled in Arkansas. Don’t let this dirty oil nightmare ooze across America. * *Help us gather 1 million comments to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline! Submit your comment here >><http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=NCmCSdaIdRIiSQm9IrTcYQ> * Imagine coming home to this: Oil oozing down your driveway, pooling in your back yard, and filling up your local waterways. Sounds like a nightmare, right? This is the reality that families in Mayflower, Arkansas, have had to deal with since more than 500,000 gallons of dirty tar sands oil and water spilled out of a ruptured Exxon Mobil pipeline this past Friday. This spill is terrible and our hearts go out to the community in Mayflower affected by this disaster. This shouldn’t have happened. That’s why it’s critical that President Obama and Secretary Kerry reject the construction of a much bigger pipeline, Keystone XL, which could cause even more devastating spills of tar sands crude in waterways and lands across America. *We need you to raise your voice now. Tell the State Department to keep us safe from more tar sands spills by rejecting the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline! <http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=I2xAhD4B16VzpIeBIfYMtg>* Unfortunately, the spill in Arkansas repeats a story we know too well. In 2010, an Enbridge Energy pipeline in Michigan broke and spilled more than 800,000 gallons of toxic tar sands crude into the Kalamazoo River -- and it still hasn’t been fully cleaned up. That same year, TransCanada, the company that wants to build the Keystone XL pipeline now, built a pipeline that experienced 12 separate spills in a single year. In 2011, one of Exxon Mobil’s pipelines in Montana ruptured and contaminated the Yellowstone River. And even just last week, a train derailed in Minnesota and spilled 30,000 gallons of tar sands crude. If these stories make your stomach churn, I know how you feel. It’s absolutely infuriating that we keep allowing Big Oil to put our lands, water, and wildlife at risk, when we have seen over and over how it ends. *The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be a monster -- carrying 20 times more oil than the Exxon pipeline that burst in the Yellowstone River two years ago. If we have any hope of stopping it, we need you to tell Secretary of State John Kerry that this dirty pipeline is all risk and no reward. Send a message asking him to reject it here >><http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=EUQrqZvtSk6V_BwT-zwWsg> * Right now, the State Department is accepting comments on its review of the potential environmental impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline. The initial draft of this review was completely off-base, downplaying the risks of spills and the devastating impact that this dirty oil would have in fueling climate change. Luckily, we have the chance to weigh in on this draft and push them to change it to recommend what many scientists have attested to -- that this pipeline is too dangerous to build and the tar sands oil needs to stay in the ground. *So we’re joining with groups across the environmental movement to gather one million comments opposing the dirty Keystone XL pipeline by the end of the comment period on April 22. With only 20 days to go, we need you to send a message now. <http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=WLCqlKdGJk5pIotkzABNww>* Thanks to contributions from more than 3,000 LCV members, we hit our goal in our fundraising drive for this campaign and now we’ve got all the resources we need to win this fight. But we can’t do it without your help. So thanks for taking a moment to make your voice heard today<http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=ouNexmqd2GvWguXc0DtedA> . Let’s do this, [image: Vanessa] Vanessa Kritzer Online Campaigns Manager League of Conservation Voters Update Your Profile <http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=NR9awocIis0FyYJZTj9_IA> To Unsubscribe Click Here<http://action.lcv.org/site/CO?i=ma1nN4n3fm81MDSdw0YRmIdfNA9o-eo8&cid=0> 1920 L Street, NW Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 202-785-8683 [image: powered by CONVIO] <http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=nWJcPOJ6rfOEmr81Bo2qRA> nonprofit software <http://action.lcv.org/site/R?i=mxgUgD0DkbYc6b2ThDv75Q> -- Jim Sconyers jimscon(a)gmail.com 304.698.9628 Remember, Mother Nature bats last. *There is no Planet B!*

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Washington Post headline: Top climate activist to retire from NASA
by Paul Wilson 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

*Top climate activist to retire from NASA<http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/LI37JS/26TJ9O/DSHOZO/WPDJQ7/FX2FEW/8…> * Outspoken scientist James Hansen will turn to full-time activism after 46 years at the space agency. ( by Juliet Eilperin , The Washington Post) -- 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: Should Fracking Waste be Barged on Ohio River?
by Paul Wilson 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Public News Service <wvns(a)newsservice.org> Date: Mon, Apr 1, 2013 at 4:45 AM Subject: WVNS story: Should Fracking Waste be Barged on Ohio River? To: PaulWilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Should Fracking Waste be Barged on Ohio River? Dan Heyman, Public News Service-WV http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/31636-1 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> (04/01/13) CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Toxic waste from fracking could soon travel the Ohio River, if the U.S. Coast Guard gives the green light to a proposal by a Texas company. GreenHunter Water, which owns a fracking waste facility in Washington County Ohio, wants approval to ship the waste by barge at a rate of up to a half-million gallons per load. Environmental groups, including Appalachia Resist!, called it a dangerous idea that could threaten the drinking water source for more than 5 million people. Sasha White, an organizer with the group, explained why. "Frack waste is showing pretty significant levels of carcinogens, toxic heavy metals, radioactive particles," White said, "and the fact that it has been dispersed in a watery medium makes it particularly frightening that they would be shipping it on our waterways." According to GreenHunter, barge transport is safer and more cost-efficient than hauling the waste by truck. The Coast Guard is investigating and has not said when a decision is expected. Some have advised that a safer approach would be to recycle more of the fracking fluids and brine through what is called a "closed loop system." Don Garvin, legislative coordinator with the West Virginia Environmental Council, said the state legislature recently killed a bill that would have made that mandatory in West Virginia. However, he noted, several of the state's largest drilling companies already use a closed loop, because it's cheaper. "It decreases the amount of water that has to be disposed of and decreases the risks from spills and it facilitates the reduction in waste at a drilling site," Garvin said. White said environmental groups are also concerned that if the Ohio barge plans are approved, it could encourage more waste to be produced and injected into wells, a practice that has been linked to small earthquakes. "According to the company that proposed it, one barge could contain the same volume as over 1,000 truckloads," White explained. "If you're able to ship that off to one place, you can increase how much waste you're actually producing." It is estimated that millions of barrels of fracking waste, often from operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, are injected each year into more than 170 wells in Ohio. 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/31636-1<http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/31636-1> --- 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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Re: [EC] [wvec-board] Fwd: Energy-Efficient Homes Are Much Less Likely to Go Into ...
by DSGJr＠aol.com 31 Mar '13

31 Mar '13

The House took up the rule, as HB 2660. It passed Gov Org, then Judiciary, and has been put in a different bundle, as HB 2626. No changes that I can find were made to the rule. It is on third reading on House Calendar on 4/01/13. Here is a link: _http://www.legis.state.wv.us/bill_status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB2626%20SU B.htm&yr=2013&sesstype=RS&i=2626_ (http://www.legis.state.wv.us/bill_status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB2626%20SU…) I have no idea why the House is originating this bundle, instead of the Senate. Probably just sharing the workload. And I have no idea why it is being held up for final passage. don garvin In a message dated 3/31/2013 3:42:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, jkotcon(a)wvu.edu writes: Any idea what happened to the WV Energy Efficiency Building codes (87-CSR-4)? SB 251 went to Senate Judiciary, but was never taken up. Other Dept. of Commerce rules are in SB 250, but I can't find any reference to the energy building codes in the version on the Legislature's web page? Jim Kotcon ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jennifer Miller <_jen.miller(a)sierraclub.org_ (mailto:jen.miller@sierraclub.org) > Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 2:47 PM Subject: Energy-Efficient Homes Are Much Less Likely to Go Into Default To: _CONS-FRED(a)lists.sierraclub.org_ (mailto:CONS-FRED@lists.sierraclub.org) --------------------------- cc:Mail Users----------------------------- ** Remember to DELETE the 'Sender: ...' lines above before REPLYing ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New study by IMT that could be helpful to EE and building codes advocates! Energy-Efficient Homes Are Much Less Likely to Go Into Default * _Emily Badger_ (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/authors/emily-badger/) * Mar 19, 2013 _http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/03/energy-efficient-homes-are -much-less-likely-go-default/5025/_ (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/03/energy-efficient-homes-are…) Green builders and environmental advocates have long suspected it to be true that families living in energy-efficient homes might be less likely to get in trouble making their monthly mortgage payments. Their energy bills are lower and more predictable, without those wild swings between summer’s air conditioning costs and winter’s heating oil delivery. It also seems plausible that a homeowner who has weighed the up-front costs of energy improvements over the long-term payoff in lower utility bills might be equally conscientious in sizing up the risks of a 30-year mortgage. But there’s never been hard data to support any of this – let alone to help make the case that energy efficiency should be baked into how we underwrite mortgages. A _new study released today_ (http://www.imt.org/resources/detail/home-energy-efficiency-and-mortgage-ris…) attempts for the first time to quantify the connection between energy efficiency and default risk. The research, funded by the _Institute for Market Transformation_ (http://www.imt.org/) and led by University of North Carolina researcher Nikhil Kaza, looked at 71,000 nationally representative owner-occupied single-family homes, 21,000 of them with _Energy Star certifications_ (http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cbd_guidebook.cbd_guidebook_apply_3) . And it turns out the energy-efficient houses were 32 percent less likely to go into default when sized up against comparable homes without that rating. The study looked at loans that originated between 2002 and 2012, spanning the mortgage crisis. And it also found that the more energy-efficient the house, the lower the default risk. The researchers controlled for the size and age of the houses, neighborhood income, climate, home value, local unemployment rates, utility prices and borrower credit scores, among other variables. And so this is not a snapshot of pricey solar-powered homes compared to 1950s-era bungalows. “We’re going to similar homes in the same neighborhoods, with the same price, with the same credit scores of the borrowers,” says Robert Sahidi, a co-author of the report’s executive summary and the director of the Energy Efficiency Finance Policy program at IMT. “It’s not like were picking somebody making $100,000 and comparing it to somebody making $50,000 with a lower credit score and a lower home price.” The average sale price of the non-Energy Star homes in the study was $218,461 (for 2,183 square feet), and $221,919 for the Energy Star homes (for 2,283 square feet). The homes also came from fairly prosperous zipcodes with average income of about $73,000 and an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent. On this map, the Energy-Star homes studied in the paper are noted in red and the control homes in blue (data was unavailable for states like California that aren’t represented): As best as the researchers can tell in their data, there’s little visible difference between the two groups that might explain their varying default rates, other than the efficiency of their homes. “There’s always going to be some portion of unobserved variables that might explain some of this result,” says Kaza, who’s a researcher with the _UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Community Capital_ (http://www.ccc.unc.edu/) . “But we tried as much as we can to make sure control and treatment groups are roughly similar.” He can’t say, though, exactly why the default rates are significantly different. Does the added cost of all those utility bills really add up to the difference between defaulting on a mortgage or staying on top of it? Or is there some other explanation at play – that, for instance, the owners of energy-efficient homes are happier with where they live and more likely to try hard to stay there? Green homes can also be healthier ones, meaning that the families who live there may have lower medical expenses tugging at the family budget from another direction. “But under certain circumstances,” says Cliff Majersik, the executive director of IMT, “you can act on data like this without knowing which portion comes from lower utility bills, which portion comes from healthier homes, which portion comes from happier homeowners.” This evidence is enough, he argues, to justify adjusting federal mortgage guidelines to take into account the fact that would-be owners of energy-efficient homes pose a lower risk of default. A similar argument has been _made about “location-efficient” homes_ (http://www.cnt.org/tcd/location-efficiency/lem) , where homeowners arguably have more money to spend on housing as a result of their lower transportation costs. One day, it’s possible that federal mortgage guidelines could pursue these two ideas in tandem, weighting the benefits of housing that comes with both lower utility and transportation costs – and, in the process, increasing market demand for it. Top image: _Pupes_ (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-718555p1.html) /_Shutterstock_ (http://www.shutterstock.com/) Keywords: _utility bills_ (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/utility-bills/) , _default_ (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/default/) , _Mortgages_ (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/mortgages/) , _energy efficiency_ (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/energy-efficiency/) -- Jen Miller _(614)563-9543_ (tel:(614)563-9543) Senior Campaign Representative for Energy Efficiency Sierra Club National Beyond Coal Campaign pst....My work is now national in scope, but I'm still based in Columbus, Ohio (the Eastern Time Zone)! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-FRED list, send any message to: _CONS-FRED-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG_ (mailto:CONS-FRED-signoff-request@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG) Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: _http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp_ (http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp) To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: _http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp_ (http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp) __._,_.___ _Reply via web post_ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxdWIzNGdpBF9TAzk3… Rtc2dJZAMzMzkzBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTM2NDc1ODk2MA--?act=reply&mes sageNum=3393) _Reply to sender _ (mailto:jkotcon@wvu.edu?subject=Re:%20Fwd:%20Energy-Efficient%20Homes%20Are%20Much%20Less%20Likely%20to%20Go%20Into% 20Default) _Reply to group _ (mailto:wvec-board@yahoogroups.com?subject=Re:%20Fwd:%20Energy-Efficient%20Homes%20Are%20Much%20Less%20Likely%20to%20Go%2 0Into%20Default) _Start a New Topic_ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJmNjU4cjYwBF9TAzk3… WQDMTcwNTM2NTM5MgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNudHBjBHN0aW1lAzEzNjQ3NTg5NjA-) _Messages in this topic_ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board/message/3393;_ylc=X3oDMTM1cWoxaHFy… 5MgRtc2dJZAMzMzkzBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTM2NDc1ODk2MAR0cGNJZAMzMzk z) (1) Recent Activity: _Visit Your Group_ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvec-board;_ylc=X3oDMTJmMmw4bm43BF9TAzk3MzU5N… nRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzEzNjQ3NTg5NjA-) (http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJlYmRiZmkyBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIxN… MA--) Switch to: _Text-Only_ (mailto:wvec-board-traditional@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change Delivery Format: Traditional) , _Daily Digest_ (mailto:wvec-board-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email Delivery: Digest) • _Unsubscribe_ (mailto:wvec-board-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe) • _Terms of Use_ (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/) • _Send us Feedback _ (mailto:ygroupsnotifications@yahoogroups.com?subject=Feedback on the redesigned individual mail v1) . __,_._,___

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Fwd: [Coal Volunteers List] Energy Efficiency Win in Ohio
by James Kotcon 31 Mar '13

31 Mar '13

If WV had Integrated Resource Planning, we could see these savings too. JBK ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mary Anne Hitt <maryanne.hitt(a)sierraclub.org> Date: Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 3:08 PM Subject: [Coal Volunteers List] A remarkable, historic week - thank you To: #Coal <coal-list(a)sierraclub.org>, coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org Hello Beyond Coal team, Big Energy Efficiency Win in Ohio ( http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/03/firstenergy_corp_ordere… ) This week, the Ohio Public Utilities Commission required utility FirstEnergy to include energy efficiency as part of the portfolio of energy sources they will put into the market for auction this year. The utility had ferociously resisted doing this because they only wanted to put their coal power on the market, to protect their aging, increasingly uncompetitive merchant coal plants. The Commission's action will save Ohio electric customers tens of millions of dollars and will also result in an estimated 300 MW of coal and gas within PJM -- the regional grid operator -- failing to clear in this year's auction, removing a critical revenue stream for these uneconomic plants and hastening their retirement. Perhaps most exciting, the Commission's action signals that they are likely to require something similar for Ohio's other utilities, which also participate in PJM. If so, we're likely to see something like 800-1,000 additional megawatts of cheap, carbon-free energy displacing dirty capacity within the PJM footprint. -- Mary Anne Hitt Director, Beyond Coal Campaign Sierra Club Twitter ( http://twitter.com/#!/maryannehitt ) | Blog ( http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/coal-director/ ) 304-876-7064 ( tel:304-876-7064 ) (w) | 540-239-0073 ( tel:540-239-0073 ) (c) www.beyondcoal.org -- To access the Beyond Coal Campaign Resource Portal, go to: https://sites.google.com/a/sierraclub.org/beyond-coal-resource-portal/ To sign up for this list, email becki.clayborn(a)sierraclub.org with the subject and message "SUBSCRIBE #coal-volunteer" --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "#Coal-Volunteers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coal-volunteers-list+unsubscribe(a)sierraclub.org ( mailto:coal-volunteers-list%2Bunsubscribe@sierraclub.org ). To post to this group, send email to coal-volunteers-list(a)sierraclub.org.

1 0

Fwd: Energy-Efficient Homes Are Much Less Likely to Go Into Default
by James Kotcon 31 Mar '13

31 Mar '13

Any idea what happened to the WV Energy Efficiency Building codes (87-CSR-4)? SB 251 went to Senate Judiciary, but was never taken up. Other Dept. of Commerce rules are in SB 250, but I can't find any reference to the energy building codes in the version on the Legislature's web page? Jim Kotcon ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jennifer Miller <jen.miller(a)sierraclub.org> Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 2:47 PM Subject: Energy-Efficient Homes Are Much Less Likely to Go Into Default To: CONS-FRED(a)lists.sierraclub.org --------------------------- cc:Mail Users----------------------------- ** Remember to DELETE the 'Sender: ...' lines above before REPLYing ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New study by IMT that could be helpful to EE and building codes advocates! Energy-Efficient Homes Are Much Less Likely to Go Into Default Emily Badger ( http://www.theatlanticcities.com/authors/emily-badger/ ) Mar 19, 2013 http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/03/energy-efficient-homes-are… Green builders and environmental advocates have long suspected it to be true that families living in energy-efficient homes might be less likely to get in trouble making their monthly mortgage payments. Their energy bills are lower and more predictable, without those wild swings between summer’s air conditioning costs and winter’s heating oil delivery. It also seems plausible that a homeowner who has weighed the up-front costs of energy improvements over the long-term payoff in lower utility bills might be equally conscientious in sizing up the risks of a 30-year mortgage. But there’s never been hard data to support any of this – let alone to help make the case that energy efficiency should be baked into how we underwrite mortgages. A new study released today ( http://www.imt.org/resources/detail/home-energy-efficiency-and-mortgage-ris… ) attempts for the first time to quantify the connection between energy efficiency and default risk. The research, funded by the Institute for Market Transformation ( http://www.imt.org/ ) and led by University of North Carolina researcher Nikhil Kaza, looked at 71,000 nationally representative owner-occupied single-family homes, 21,000 of them with Energy Star certifications ( http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cbd_guidebook.cbd_guidebook_apply_3 ). And it turns out the energy-efficient houses were 32 percent less likely to go into default when sized up against comparable homes without that rating. The study looked at loans that originated between 2002 and 2012, spanning the mortgage crisis. And it also found that the more energy-efficient the house, the lower the default risk. The researchers controlled for the size and age of the houses, neighborhood income, climate, home value, local unemployment rates, utility prices and borrower credit scores, among other variables. And so this is not a snapshot of pricey solar-powered homes compared to 1950s-era bungalows. “We’re going to similar homes in the same neighborhoods, with the same price, with the same credit scores of the borrowers,” says Robert Sahidi, a co-author of the report’s executive summary and the director of the Energy Efficiency Finance Policy program at IMT. “It’s not like were picking somebody making $100,000 and comparing it to somebody making $50,000 with a lower credit score and a lower home price.” The average sale price of the non-Energy Star homes in the study was $218,461 (for 2,183 square feet), and $221,919 for the Energy Star homes (for 2,283 square feet). The homes also came from fairly prosperous zipcodes with average income of about $73,000 and an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent. On this map, the Energy-Star homes studied in the paper are noted in red and the control homes in blue (data was unavailable for states like California that aren’t represented): As best as the researchers can tell in their data, there’s little visible difference between the two groups that might explain their varying default rates, other than the efficiency of their homes. “There’s always going to be some portion of unobserved variables that might explain some of this result,” says Kaza, who’s a researcher with the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Community Capital ( http://www.ccc.unc.edu/ ). “But we tried as much as we can to make sure control and treatment groups are roughly similar.” He can’t say, though, exactly why the default rates are significantly different. Does the added cost of all those utility bills really add up to the difference between defaulting on a mortgage or staying on top of it? Or is there some other explanation at play – that, for instance, the owners of energy-efficient homes are happier with where they live and more likely to try hard to stay there? Green homes can also be healthier ones, meaning that the families who live there may have lower medical expenses tugging at the family budget from another direction. “But under certain circumstances,” says Cliff Majersik, the executive director of IMT, “you can act on data like this without knowing which portion comes from lower utility bills, which portion comes from healthier homes, which portion comes from happier homeowners.” This evidence is enough, he argues, to justify adjusting federal mortgage guidelines to take into account the fact that would-be owners of energy-efficient homes pose a lower risk of default. A similar argument has been made about “location-efficient” homes ( http://www.cnt.org/tcd/location-efficiency/lem ), where homeowners arguably have more money to spend on housing as a result of their lower transportation costs. One day, it’s possible that federal mortgage guidelines could pursue these two ideas in tandem, weighting the benefits of housing that comes with both lower utility and transportation costs – and, in the process, increasing market demand for it. Top image: Pupes ( http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-718555p1.html )/Shutterstock ( http://www.shutterstock.com/ ) Keywords: utility bills ( http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/utility-bills/ ), default ( http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/default/ ), Mortgages ( http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/mortgages/ ), energy efficiency ( http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/energy-efficiency/ ) -- Jen Miller (614)563-9543 ( tel:%28614%29563-9543 ) Senior Campaign Representative for Energy Efficiency Sierra Club National Beyond Coal Campaign pst....My work is now national in scope, but I'm still based in Columbus, Ohio (the Eastern Time Zone)! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-FRED list, send any message to: CONS-FRED-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp

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Fwd: 2 articles: U.S. Electricity Use on Wane / Efficiency in New England Saves $260 Million in Transmission Costs
by James Kotcon 31 Mar '13

31 Mar '13

The Energy Information Administration is projecting that electricity use in the U.S. will rise an average of just 0.6% a year for industrial users and 0.7% for households through 2040. Mon Power projects twice that rate of growth (1.4 % per year) as the justification for purchasing the Harrison plant. If there is surplus generation on the market, now is NOT the time to buy a power plant. See below. JBK ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jeff Schmidt <jeff.schmidt(a)sierraclub.org> Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 3:44 PM Subject: 2 articles: U.S. Electricity Use on Wane / Efficiency in New England Saves $260 Million in Transmission Costs To: CONS-FRED(a)lists.sierraclub.org --------------------------- cc:Mail Users----------------------------- ** Remember to DELETE the 'Sender: ...' lines above before REPLYing ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323689604578217831371436110.h… U.S. Electricity Use on Wane January 2, 2013, 7:39 p.m. ET By REBECCA SMITH Americans are using more gadgets, televisions and air conditioners than ever before. But, oddly, their electricity use is barely growing, posing a daunting challenge for the nation's utilities. The Energy Information Administration is projecting that electricity use in the U.S. will rise an average of just 0.6% a year for industrial users and 0.7% for households through 2040. That's a far cry from the middle decades of the past century, when utilities could rely on electricity consumption growing by more than 8% a year. Even after the Arab oil embargo in 1973, the growth in electricity demand averaged 2% to 4% annually. But those days may be long gone. In response to tepid demand, electricity production in the U.S. fell in 2008 and 2009, amid the recession, then ticked up slightly in 2010 before falling again in 2011. For decades, electricity use was viewed as a barometer of economic growth, but the link has become less clear cut in recent years, partly because of a big push to make major appliances and other products, such as compact fluorescent lightbulbs and high-efficiency motors, that use less electricity. The erosion of U.S. manufacturing also has contributed to the consumption slowdown. Industrial electricity use, which includes manufacturing, accounts for about a quarter of the nation's total. From 1998 to 2010, the electricity used for manufacturing fell 18% as industrial processes grew more efficient and companies produced fewer goods in the U.S. The slower pace of growth in electricity use may be helping the environment, since most of the nation's electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels. But it has power companies scrambling to trim spending or redirect capital investment, to improve their profits regardless of consumption patterns. Some companies, including Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. and Northeast Utilities, are pouring money into high-voltage transmission lines—superhighways for electricity—because federal regulators are allowing them to collect above-average returns from customers on those outlays to encourage new investment in the nation's aging power networks. Others are slashing spending, including Exelon Corp., which is cutting investment in nuclear-plant expansions by more than $1 billion and in renewable-energy projects by $1.3 billion from now until 2015 as it tries to avoid a credit downgrade. The Chicago-based company is even hinting at the previously unthinkable: cutting its dividend. "Even with all the actions we've taken, our balance sheet is stressed…and we have no other meaningful levers to pull," Chris Crane, Exelon's chief executive, told investors in November. He added that the company may be forced to lower its payout, which offers investors a return of 7%, based on the company's current stock price. Analysts expect it to reduce the return to closer to 5%. Many utilities with regulated and unregulated operations are redirecting spending to their regulated side, where regulators practically guarantee them a profit. PSEG plans to triple its investment in its fully regulated electricity-transmission business to $2.4 billion in 2014 from less than $866 million in 2008. Ralph Izzo, the company's CEO, recently told investors that he likes spending on power transmission, because "it's not dependent on [electricity] load growth." Part of his motivation is the return on equity of 11.7% to 12.9% set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. plans to spin off its power-transmission business into a new company that will join the Midwest Independent System Operator, a regional power-grid operator. Doing so would place it under FERC rules, and make the new company eligible for potentially higher profits. "They don't see any light at the end of the tunnel and are making adjustments," Daniel Krueger, managing director of power generation for the consulting firm Accenture in Chicago, said of the companies' shifting strategies. New England's biggest utility company, Northeast Utilities, expects to invest $3.5 billion of shareholder equity in its transmission business by 2017, versus about $2 billion today. It also has said it is planning to cut spending for operations and maintenance by 3% annually at utilities it owns in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire from 2013 to 2015. Nick Akins, CEO of American Electric Power Co., which has the nation's biggest high-voltage transmission network, said he is focused on projects that can be built quickly, mostly connecting utilities it owns in 13 states. Mr. Akins said he wants to avoid the bruising battles that delayed or doomed big projects in the past, like the 275-mile Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline project from West Virginia to Maryland. AEP and partner FirstEnergy Corp. dropped development plans for the complex project in 2011. "Sometimes, we were just dreaming" that the companies could get enormous power lines built across multiple states, Mr. Akins said. He said AEP now is focusing on shorter projects blessed by federal regulators that eliminate grid bottlenecks. "It's where you want to put your money," he said. Write to Rebecca Smith at rebecca.smith(a)wsj.com Copyright ©2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Back to top http://cleantechnica.com/2012/12/27/energy-efficiency-saves-new-england-260… Energy Efficiency Saves New England $260 Million In Transmission Costs December 27, 2012 Silvio Marcacci Energy efficiency represents the biggest potential to cut consumer costs and reduce power demand – one report has found America is just 43.8% efficient. While individual projects show small results, when they accumulate across a regional grid, efficiency savings add up quickly, as New England’s grid operator recently discovered. State and private programs designed to reduce consumer energy demand have recently cut the need for $260 million in planned transmission system upgrades across the six states within the ISO-New England (ISO-NE) region. The announcement was made during ISO-NE’s energy-efficiency forecast, the first multi-state outlook in the U.S. Big Investments = Big Energy Savings ISO-NE is one of the nation’s largest grid operators, managing electricity supply and demand for 14 million people in 6.5 million households and businesses across 8,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 350 generators. The system has more than 32,000 MW of capacity, including more than 2,000 MW of demand response resources. Roughly $1.2 billion was spent across the ISO-NE region from 2008-2011, resulting in a total reduction of 3,502 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in electricity use. The average state reduced electricity consumption 876 GWh annually, with total summer peak demand savings of 514 megawatts (MW). The overall effects of these savings are hard to ignore. Regional peak demand is only forecast to grow .9 percent from 2012–2021 (roughly 2/3 the previous estimate), with a flat annual growth in energy consumption over the same period, and winter peak demand actually projected to decline nearly .5 percent. Lower Demand Leads To Lower Infrastructure Costs In the long term, this consumption decline will have a major impact. >From 2015–2012, ISO-NE estimates annual savings of 1,343 GWh from energy efficiency — roughly the same amount of electricity used by 2 million average homes in the region. New England will spend an estimated $5.7 billion on energy efficiency program over the same time period, according to the report. As a result, ISO-NE was able to lower long-term planning needs for the system’s grid beyond 2020. “Revised analysis shows that the region can actually defer 10 transmission upgrades that earlier studies showed were needed to ensure system reliability,” said Stephen Rourke, vice president for system planning. “By deferring these upgrades, the region will save an estimated $260 million.” Energy efficiency programs across the region were comprised of relatively simple steps, like encouraging consumers to swap out incandescent light bulbs for efficient lighting like CFLs or LEDs, upgrade HVAC systems and building insulation, purchase Energy Star appliances, or integrate more efficient industrial processes and motors. Diverse Funding Streams Foot the Bill Funding for the 125 different individual programs has come from four main sources: state-designated funding, revenue from the system’s Forward Capacity Market (long-term capacity sales), a designated “systems benefits charge” on ratepayer bills, and revenue from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Energy efficiency programs have been the largest recipients of RGGI investments by far, garnering 66 percent of all carbon auction revenue to date, according to the RGGI 2011 Investment Report. Given all this, it’s no surprise New England leads the U.S. in the energy efficiency economy, with Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island all listed in the annual ranking of the top ten most energy efficient states. Image Credits: electricity demand chart via ISO on Background presentation About Silvio Marcacci Silvio is Principal at Marcacci Communications, a full-service clean energy public relations company based in Washington, D.C. © Cleantechnica 2012 Back to top _______________________________________________ Pa-transmission mailing list Pa-transmission(a)lists.conserveland.org http://lists.conserveland.org/mailman/listinfo/pa-transmission To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.conserveland.org/mailman/listinfo/pa-transmission or email info(a)conserveland.org with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE - TRANSMISSION LISTSERV. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-FRED list, send any message to: CONS-FRED-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/

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Fwd: Environment Program - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
by James Kotcon 28 Mar '13

28 Mar '13

Something for our EE campaign? Or maybe WVEC? JBK >>> Todd Walters 3/28/2013 10:08 AM >>> Sponsor: Kresge Foundation SYNOPSIS: The sponsor's goal is to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by speeding the adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy. They award support to organizations whose work aligns closely with their strategies and holds strong promise to bring about positive change and organizations that work nationally, across multiple states or at the regional or statewide level. The majority of grants and program-related investments are made within the United States. Deadline(s): Established Date: 04/16/2010 Follow-Up Date: 04/01/2014 Review Date: 03/27/2013 Contact: Address: 3215 West Big Beaver Road Troy, MI 48084 U.S.A. E-mail: Web Site: http://www.kresge.org/programs/environment Program URL: http://www.kresge.org/programs/environment/energy-efficiency-and-renewable-… Tel: 248-643-9630 Fax: Deadline Ind: Receipt Deadline Open: Yes *See Restrictions for further information. DEADLINE NOTE The Environment Program primarily accepts grant requests by invitation. However, if your organization’s work is consistent with the program goals, you may submit a preliminary application as a means of letting Environment Program staff learn more about your activities. Award Type(s): General Project Citizenship/Country of Applying Institution: Any/No Restrictions Locations Tenable: Canadian Institution U.S.A. Institution (including U.S. Territories) Appl Type(s): Non-Profit State/Local Agencies Tax-exempt Target Group(s): NONE Funding Limit: $0 NOT PROV Duration: 0 Indirect Costs: Unspecified Cost Sharing: No Sponsor Type: NONE Geo. Restricted: NO RESTRICTIONS CFDA#: OBJECTIVES: Investments focus on three strategies: Promoting policy reform -- the sponsor supports organizations seeking to promote energy-efficiency resource standards, as well as standards for appliance and equipment efficiency and renewable energy. In addition, the sponsor funds work on policies that encourage utility investment in energy-efficiency programs and transmission policy reform for the Midwest and at a federal level. The aim is the implementation of programs and policies that support energy efficiency and renewable energy as contributors to meeting demand. Bringing energy-efficiency retrofits to scale -- the sponsor seeks to demonstrate through grants and program-related investments that energy-efficiency retrofits can be brought to scale by addressing barriers such as financing, performance measurement and disclosure, marketing and behavior. Supporting next-generation approaches -- the sponsor helps those working to push the bounds of what is considered possible and practical for efficiency improvements in the built environment, and support practices that drive innovation in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy. ELIGIBILITY Eligible applicants include U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organizations and their Canadian equivalents, as well as government entities. The sponsor will not support projects outside of North America. Todd Walters Grants Specialist Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design West Virginia University 1005B Agricultural Sciences Building P.O. Box 6108 Morgantown, WV 26506-6108 Phone: 304-293-2404 Fax: 304-293-3740 http://www.davis.wvu.edu/

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Re: [EC] Fwd: Renewable energy cost: Setting the record straight
by John Christensen 22 Mar '13

22 Mar '13

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Fwd: Renewable energy cost: Setting the record straight
by Paul Wilson 22 Mar '13

22 Mar '13

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: UCS Science Network <sciencenetwork(a)ucsusa.org> Date: Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:02 PM Subject: Renewable energy cost: Setting the record straight To: pjgrunt(a)gmail.com [image: UCS Science Network] *Webinar on April 3* Join UCS energy experts as we explore effective ways to respond to misinformation about the cost of renewable energy. *Register Today* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=i0Z7lEsJsRQynNWEtX9mqw> Related Links Driving Renewable Energy: Policies That Matter<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=GSY0sKlgJBuLiU2PA2QbQQ> State Renewable Electricity Standards: A Cornerstone in America's Clean Energy Transition <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=8SO0dbXadgkSqpFeSl9x6A> Misinformation about Renewable Energy: Coming to Your State?<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Xj8DzA2sVem931giFt8V1Q> Tell A Colleague Please encourage your colleagues to sign up<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Km26K3WpWLxp8ukvHiwkgQ>and help increase our effectiveness in creating a healthy environment and a safer world. CLICK HERE<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=7bHe6z2_UnMeeyaoqe7oTw> . WEBINAR INVITATION Setting the Record Straight on Renewable Energy Cost Dear Paul, *Fact: Renewable energy is providing affordable electricity across the country right now. And it is getting even cheaper.* Unfortunately, public understanding of the role renewables now play in supplying clean, affordable, and reliable electricity to millions of households is muddled by outdated perceptions and misleading claims at the center of misinformation campaigns funded by fossil fuel interests. We invite you to join the Union of Concerned Scientists for a webinar exploring how you can use your expertise to effectively respond to misinformation about renewable energy cost. *Setting the Record Straight on Renewable Energy Cost<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=C_cTt_sNckJSEjalnNp85w> * *Date:* Wednesday, April 3 *Time:* 3:00-4:00 p.m. (EDT) *Register for the Webinar Today<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=PYhio0DEUmN6xe4PeWRCbw> * Featuring the following UCS staff: - *Jeff Deyette*, assistant director of energy research and senior energy analyst in the Climate & Energy Program, will examine a series of misleading studies funded by the Koch brothers at the center of a misinformation campaign targeting renewable energy requirements in more than a dozen states; - *Laura Wisland*, senior energy analyst, will explore common misperceptions about renewable energy costs, such as the claim that renewables cost significantly more than coal, natural gas, or nuclear power; and - *David Anderson*, outreach coordinator, will highlight the important role you can play in setting the record straight. Please join us as we examine some of the top misconceptions about renewable energy cost and highlight best practices for communicating the facts. Sincerely, [image: David Anderson] David Anderson Outreach Coordinator Climate & Energy Program Union of Concerned Scientists** * * The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future. UCS is a 501(c)(3) organization. All gifts are tax deductible. You can be confident your donations to UCS are spent wisely. <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=_ZtIl5LRrI2VuG6AIhZxpw> Union of Concerned Scientists 2 Brattle Square Cambridge, MA 02138-3780 Phone: 800-666-8276<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=hUYKHXNLjeLt4QzVtYoHdQ> Fax: 617-864-9405 <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=gZ1WvNVkBNTqIK0Zyj12Cw> *ucsaction(a)ucsusa.org* <ucsaction(a)ucsusa.org> *www.ucsusa.org* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=jmrNY18KTGLaKQ8Ws-FpDg> *About UCS* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=R3nQpMLUvgiU1e0Pm6tGNQ> | *Take Action* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=NAsSOXaf8I5kosTCqekelA> | *Donate * <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Oym8k6iskfIBAvZq0eDekQ> | *Contact Us*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=XuudAVin8pXtCdTJG4OsCw>| *Privacy Policy* <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=Nnecw5-FNoS6ad08L3Wilg>| *Unsubscribe*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/CO?i=tSZs4PY5I2ByKapE25f03v50RFgBvEfG&cid=178…>| *Update Your Profile*<http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=is-h6g2lTDYFSiiu8obWKQ> © Union of Concerned Scientists. All rights reserved. [image: powered by CONVIO] <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=2tq-sGnmDAFAnGO2CdjKRA> nonprofit software <http://action.ucsusa.org/site/R?i=ey4fL3ICxIG5J2DZOxhq5Q> -- 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: URGENT: Tell Senators-- Don't cut environmental regulations on coal
by Paul Wilson 22 Mar '13

22 Mar '13

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Dow <ddow420(a)comcast.net> Date: Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 10:15 AM Subject: Fwd: URGENT: Tell Senators-- Don't cut environmental regulations on coal To: "patachek3(a)gmail.com Gmail" <patachek3(a)gmail.com>, "pam394(a)aol.comPolloni" < Pam394(a)aol.com>, Paul Wilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> fyi Begin forwarded message: *From: *"Marice Keever, Friends of the Earth" <foe(a)foe.org> *Date: *March 22, 2013 9:50:27 AM EDT * * [image: http://www.foe.org] [image: Donate to Friend of the Earth]<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9qkRysaNcDw4JKcZvZi0…> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=R6H9OvNirhrkBVPtutY4…><http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=hsrVuJZec9Tl2s3DCgvs…><http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qjJOSG%2FDgSojRIczXJ…><http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1qXoJ7ckBwi4gLS4CJ7l…> *Dear David,* *Don't let Big Coal and their allies in Congress eliminate environmental protections on coal exports.*<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kKiNqdgZdw2dY%2Fv9NV…> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=v6Dsi32PELhokneLOVU2…> * Tell your Senators to vote NO on amendment 184!<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nmEQUQnS2sbzqCebeE4t…> * Big Coal and its allies are attempting to sneak through a last-minute budget amendment to stop federal agencies from limiting the greenhouse gas emissions of exported coal and other fuels. Right now agencies are legally bound to consider the health and climate impacts of greenhouse gases when reviewing export proposals -- including coal. But under Senator Barrasso's (R-WY) amendment (#184), agencies would be barred from considering environmental impacts from exporting coal or other fossil fuels. If this amendment passes there will be nothing to stop Big Coal from sending millions of tons of U.S. coal to be burned in China. And we'll all pay the climate and health consequences. *This amendment will come up for a vote in the next 24 hours. Please act right now -- use the form below tell your Senators to vote NO on Amendment 184!*<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=i66iluTue%2FQdkJ17pr…> Here’s more background on the issue: - Under the National Environmental Policy Act, an agency that issues a permit for a major project involving the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels has to consider the impacts of burning those fuels on the health and well-being of Americans, regardless of whether those fuels are burned in the U.S. or whether they are exported and burned somewhere else in the world - When it comes to greenhouse gases, the impacts on Americans are exactly the same wherever the fuel is burned, because carbon pollution spreads globally and respects no boundaries. - But under this new amendment the agencies would be forced to ignore the impacts on Americans, just because the fuels were exported. - All this does is protect the profits of the big corporations that export fossil fuels, at the expense of the health and well-being of the American people. *Please act now and tell your Senators to vote NO.<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=euz5qKHPVhAz%2Fy2qcx…> * Thank you for speaking up! *Marcie Keever, and all of us at Friends of the Earth* Contact us Friends of the Earth U.S. Washington DC Berkeley CA 1-877-843-8687 Contact us »<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Gox9324MeL%2BAJjJAor…> Email preferences Click here to unsubscribe »<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gragEFkiBJuaTVbv6u7p…> View email in web browser »<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nqsHNlcWoCFUE5LNxVqW…> Learn more www.foe.org/news »<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dG%2B3g8xvsT9PNk%2Fe…> www.foe.org/about-us »<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vEe0ZoLr0QvYOodlt6YB…> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ygUFdeO3EGpycmd6hEQp…> [image: Follow Friends of the Earth on Facebook]<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pt4JdFkYyxnOeEKlBjtj…> [image: Follow Friends of the Earth on Twitter]<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=S3XQqrvtSgyEu6khJotN…> [image: View photos from Friends of the Earth on Flickr]<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9K8H53YxcCEMPCD%2BkB…> [image: empowered by Salsa] <http://www.salsalabs.com/?email> **** -- 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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