From: James Kotcon <jkotcon@wvu.edu>
To: Paul Wilson <pjgrunt@gmail.com>; WV Chapter Energy Committee <EC@osenergy.org>; Bill Price <bill.price@sierraclub.org>; Jim Sconyers <jim_scon@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thu, January 6, 2011 12:16:34 PM
Subject: Re: [EC] Sustainability in West Virginia: Spurring Economic Investment and Creating Jobs
Here is the reply I sent. feel free to use anything that makes a good
sound bite.
JBK
>>>>>
Senator Rockefeller:
I appreciate your words supporting the need for sustainability. But I
am concerned about the obvious hypocrisy in touting sustainability and
the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions one day, and the next
promoting Coal-To-Liquids facilities, or worse yet, seeking to block EPA
from their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This blatant
hypocrisy undermines efforts to achieve sustainability, and breeds
cynicism and contempt among those who should be fervent allies of true
sustainability.
I urge you again to cease your efforts to block the greenhouse gas
reduction efforts of EPA, to end your advocacy of the federal subsidies
for coal to liquids, and to make the hard decisions to promote true
sustainability here in West Virginia. If
you are unable to do this,
please at least stop making a fraud of the term, and recognize that you
are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
James Kotcon
414 Tyrone Avery Road
Morgantown, WV 26508
>>> Jim Sconyers <
jim_scon@yahoo.com> 1/6/2011 12:06 PM >>>
Yeah - I got it. What outrageous crap!
Paul - want to write an LTE? Highlighting his misguided support of
coal/clean
coal and having the chutzpah to label this as sustainability?
Jim Sconyers
jim_scon@yahoo.com 304.698.9628
Remember: Mother Nature bats last.
________________________________
From: Bill Price <
bill.price@sierraclub.org>
To: Paul Wilson <
pjgrunt@gmail.com>; WV Chapter Energy Committee
<
EC@osenergy.org>
Sent: Thu, January 6, 2011 12:02:11 PM
Subject: Re: [EC] Sustainability in West Virginia: Spurring Economic
Investment
and Creating Jobs
Nope, I’m not on Jay’s mailing list. A response and challenge to
him would be
good.
Bill Price, Sierra Club EJ Program
922 Quarrier Street, Suite 304
Charleston , WV 25311
Cell 304-389-8822
Fax 304-342-3182
Voices from the Mountains-September 25-27th
For more information go to
www.appalachiarising.org ________________________________
From:Paul Wilson [mailto:
pjgrunt@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 11:42 AM
To: WV Chapter Energy Committee
Cc: Bill Price
Subject: Fwd: Sustainability in West Virginia : Spurring Economic
Investment
and Creating Jobs
Anybody else get this stuff? paul
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (Rockefeller)
<
Sen.Jay_Rockefeller@rockefeller.senate.gov>
Date: Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 4:39 PM
Subject: Sustainability in West Virginia : Spurring Economic
Investment and
Creating Jobs
To:
Dear Friend,
Last fall, I was excited to deliver remarks at the West Virginia
Sustainability
Summit, which was sponsored by the Discover
the Real West Virginia
Foundation in
partnership with the Center for Economic Options. This was an
incredible
opportunity to highlight examples of how some of our West Virginia
businesses
are already employing sustainable practices and how we can use similar
methods
in the future.
During these tough economic times, we all realize the importance of
innovation
and creative thinking about the expansion of our core industries.
Forums like
this one help us multiply our power to spur economic investment and
create jobs.
Sustainability is being employed across industries – from
construction and
agriculture, to innovations in manufacturing and exporting. These
industries
have learned through experience that employing sustainable practices
can
increase businesses’ bottom lines and create jobs as part and parcel
of
improving the environment for future
generations.
The Summit was an important discussion about how to use sustainable
practices to
preserve our existing industries and jobs, protect our environment and
most
importantly, grow our state’s economy and create new jobs. This is an
area that
I will continue to focus on and I look forward to working with you
through the
coming year.
Please find below my remarks from the West Virginia Sustainability
Summit.
All the best,
Jay
West VirginiaSustainability Summit
Remarks
Thank you, President Clements, for that kind introduction.
Thank you Mark for the work that you do to improve West Virginia ’s
economic
future; and thank you to all of our guests and panelists for being a
part of
this important
Summit – especially the man you will hear from next,
Neil
Hawkins. Neil – I am very happy that you are here and look forward to
your
remarks.
I also want to thank the event sponsors, the Discover the Real West
Virginia
Foundation and the Center for Economic Options for hosting this event.
And,
thanks to Pam Curry for all of your help organizing – sometimes that
is a
thankless job – so thank you.
We’re here to re-ignite a dialogue on sustainability and what it
means to our
state businesses, our residents, and our future.
So, what does sustainability really mean?
I think the best way to explain it is to give some examples of how some
of our
West Virginia businesses are already employing sustainable practices.
We see sustainability in local restaurants’ commitment to buy from WV
farmers
and purchase from other state vendors.
We see sustainability at Toyota ’s Buffalo , W.Va. facility in
their
environmental management system ( EMS ). EMS remains a zero landfill
contributor — reusing or recycling materials that otherwise would
have been sent
to landfills. Toyota is finding ways to reduce waste, water usage,
greenhouse
gas emissions, hazardous materials usage and wastewater discharge –
and that is
great.
And, we see sustainability with energy companies like Dow and AEP who
are
working to sustain West Virginia’s and our nation’s energy future
by working to
lower our carbon footprint and find ways to expand sustainable energy
technology. At Dow West Virginia Operation’s South Charleston
facility, the
company has been working to reduce energy, water use, waste generation,
and has
increased the facility’s land and habitat conservation.
Sustainability is
a word that is that is often used in various ways by
many
different groups and organizations. But at its broad base
sustainability is
about doing things and using products that are more environmentally
friendly
than they are currently done.
I firmly believe that if we play our cards right, our state, which has
been an
energy producing state for generations, is poised to provide the single
most
important energy – and sustainability innovation for the
twenty-first century
-- which is truly clean coal technology.
New technologies already in place have allowed us to nearly triple
coal’s use
over the past 30 years, while vastly reducing air emissions for
pollutants like
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury.
The question is not: should we try to address climate change? The
question must
be: what tools can we
develop to improve our economy, secure coal’s
future, and
reduce emissions for our environment and the health of our families?
The best answer, I think, lies broadly in “CCS” –carbon capture
and storage.
I fought very hard to have $3.4 billion included in the Recovery Act
for CCS,
and Senator Voinovich of Ohio and I have worked together over the past
year to
write bipartisan legislation which lays out a bold roadmap for CCS.
Some have argued that transitioning to a sustainable economy means
shifting away
from West Virginia ’s historic industries and towards new ‘green
jobs’ that
may or may not be there.
This is not the case.
CCS shows that we can make important strides in sustainability that
encourage
and build upon the important industries that we already have.
I believe that CCS is just one piece – but a
very important piece of
West
Virginia ’s future in sustainable industry.
But we’re not just talking about energy. Sustainability is being
employed by all
of our panelists here in every industry – from construction to
agriculture, and
from innovation to manufacturing and exporting.
We have learned through example that employing sustainable practices
can
increase our businesses’ bottom lines and in turn can simultaneously
create jobs
and improve the environment for future generations.
During these tough economic times, we all realize the importance of
innovation
and creative thinking about the expansion of our core industries.
Ideas are the best things we have – and conversations like these only
help us
multiply our power to spur economic investment and expand business. We
are here
to explore ways to build upon the industries we have today and
be a
creator of
industries of the future.
Now, we all recognize that sustainability requires a partnership – at
the local
level – and a partnership between government and private industry.
I was proud that much of last year’s Recovery Act went toward
emerging
sustainability projects and training our workforce in sustainability
fields.
The Recovery Act gave:
* $13.1 millionto support energy efficiency and renewable
energy projects
in West Virginia under the DOE’s State Energy Program. That
money is going
toward a statewide plan that prioritizes energy savings, creates
jobs,
increases the use of renewable energy, and reduces greenhouse gas
emissions.
* $14 millionfor the Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Block
Grant program –
providing formula grants for projects that reduce total energy use and
fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency across West
Virginia .
* $15 million to our state’s weatherization program which
helps reduce the
utility bills for our most vulnerable residents while providing
needed jobs
to West Virginians .
* $6 million for West Virginia GREEN-UP which educates and
trains workers
for jobs in the new and emerging green energy sector and promotes
green
jobs entrepreneurship.
And that’s just the beginning.
The Recovery Act also gave much-needed resources to our research
institutions –
including West Virginia University and the
National Energy
Technology Lab
(NETL) here in North Central West Virginia.
Morgantown ’s National Energy Technology Lab and NETL’s Regional
University
Alliance recently received $40 million to accelerate the development
and
deployment of industrial (CCS) technology.
In addition, they’re working on some truly amazing and groundbreaking
research,
including a hydrogen fueling station at Yeager airport which is
producing
Hydrogen from water with coal-fired electricity.
This is an example where we are indirectly using West Virginia coal to
displace
foreign oil in our transportation sector. This will not only reduce
tailpipe
emissions but also improve our national security.
You’ve heard about some of the larger projects on sustainability, but
I know
that sustainability also happens every day on smaller scales – in
small towns
across
West Virginia .
All ideas about sustainability are important and all efforts to make it
work are
paving the way for a stronger future.
There is great opportunity for sustainability and the development of
sustainability practices here in West Virginia – and I know that
with minds
like yours, and conversations like these, we can help West Virginia
lead this
developing industry.
We need to have a conversation in this state about how to use
sustainable
practices to:
· Preserve our existing industries and jobs;
· Protect our environment and;
· Most importantly grow our state’s economy and create new
jobs.
I have no doubt that West Virginians and our businesses can lead the
way – and
I think today is the start.
Thank you.
--
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