fyi, paul
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Oliver Bernstein <oliver.bernstein(a)sierraclub.org>
Date: Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 12:11 PM
Subject: Sierra Club Launches Interactive Map of U.S. Coal-fired Power
Plants
To: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS(a)lists.sierraclub.org
*Special thanks to Adam Kapp and Megan Siems for all of their programming
and research on this project. Thanks also to Ginny Cramer, Adrian Cotter,
Mary Anne Hitt, Verena Owen and the Online Organizing Department.*
-----…
[View More]-----------------------------------
BLOG POST about the new coal map from Mary Anne Hitt --
Grist -
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-04-28-is-there-a-toxic-mercury-hot-spot-n…
Daily Kos -
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/28/971045/-Is-There-a-Toxic-Mercury-H…
Compass -
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/2011/04/is-there-a-toxic-mercury-hot-…
Alternet -
http://blogs.alternet.org/maryannehitt/2011/04/28/is-there-a-toxic-mercury-…
PRESS RELEASE LINK -- http://sc.org/jRtc5T
For Immediate Release – April 28, 2011
Contact: Oliver Bernstein, 512.289.8618
*Sierra Club Launches Interactive Map of U.S. Coal-fired Power Plants*
* *
*Powerful New Tool Highlights Toxic Mercury Hotspots, Outlines Roadmap for
Moving America Beyond Coal*
SAN FRANCISCO – After recently celebrating the defeat of the 152nd proposed
coal-fired power plant prevented or abandoned in the past decade, the Sierra
Club's Beyond Coal Campaign announced today that it would shift its focus
toward replacing the nation’s existing fleet of dirty coal plants with clean
energy sources. A new comprehensive, interactive
map<http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/map/>of the approximately 500
existing U.S. coal-fired power plants will help
guide concerned Americans and public officials as they seize this historic
opportunity to stand up for clean energy.
Find the coal plants nearest to you at http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/map/.
While the priority for the Beyond Coal Campaign remains opposing the
remaining handful of proposed new coal plants, it is the orderly phase-out
of the nearly 500 existing coal-fired power plants that will truly protect
public health and help avoid irreparable climate disruption.
"These aging coal plants – some of which date back to the 1920's – are the
largest sources of health-threatening, climate-disrupting pollution and the
largest obstacles to a clean energy future," said *Verena Owen, volunteer
chair of the Beyond Coal Campaign*. "We begin this exciting new phase of the
Beyond Coal Campaign on a strong foundation, having recently won important
victories in the Tennessee Valley, Colorado and Washington State."
The interactive map announced today
<http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/map>allows users to see the dirty coal
plants nearest to them, to learn more
about the toxic pollution and health threats caused by those plants and to
sign up to get involved in the local Sierra Club effort to phase out those
coal plants and replace them with clean energy. Just as the Sierra Club used
its signature Coal Plant Tracker <http://sc.org/coaltracker> to empower
activists and to monitor progress in the effort to prevent new coal
pollution, this new tool will play a key role in the fight to phase out coal
plants that already exist.
The map currently focuses on toxic mercury, an alarming health threat from
coal-fired power plants. Because toxic mercury from coal plants gets into
local waterways, most states have warnings against eating fish caught
locally. New protections proposed last month by the Environmental Protection
Agency would reduce toxic mercury by more than 90%, and the Sierra Club is
mobilizing Americans in support of the proposed new protections. The mapping
tool can evolve as needed to highlight the devastation coal causes
throughout its life cycle. For instance, when coal pollution causes air
quality to reach unhealthy levels in many towns and cities during the summer
months, the map can adapt to highlight the worst emitters of soot and smog.
"As major sources of life-threatening mercury, soot and smog pollution,
existing coal plants are finally coming under increasing scrutiny," said *Mary
Anne Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign*. "America can
replace dirty coal plants with clean energy solutions like energy
efficiency, wind, solar and geothermal to meet America’s energy needs and
create jobs. The wind industry already employs more people than the coal
mining industry in the United States. As clean energy deployment continues
to accelerate nationwide, we can repeat and greatly expand this economic
success by moving beyond coal and opening new opportunities for innovation
and job creation."
The success of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign throughout the past
eight years rests largely on the dedicated activists volunteering on the
ground in almost every state.
“Every day, more Americans join the effort to push for cleaner energy
options for their area,” added Owen. ”The Sierra Club is proud to present
this new roadmap <http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/map/> to track their
successes.”
PRESS RELEASE LINK -- http://sc.org/jRtc5T
###
--
Oliver Bernstein
National Communications Strategist
Sierra Club
Phone: 512.477.2152
Cell: 512.289.8618
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unsubscribe from the COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS list, send any message to:
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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
--
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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>>> Peter Morgan <peter.morgan(a)apps.sierraclub.org> 4/27/2011 3:12 PM >>>
As expected, WV DEP has appealed our win before the WV Environmental Quality
Board in which we successfully challenged a CWA discharge permit for a
surface mine that failed to contain limits on conductivity, TDS, sulfate,
and selenium. I've also heard that the company filed its own appeal, though
I have not seen that yet. This Greenwire story puts this case in context of
recent EPA action on …
[View More]conductivity. It also includes good quotes from local
Sierra Club member Petra Wood. We intend to defend the EQB's good decision.
6. WATER POLLUTION: W.Va. officials bicker over conductivity standard for
mountaintop mining (04/27/2011)
Manuel Quinones, E&E reporter
West Virginia environmental regulators are at odds over setting a water
conductivity standard and other safeguards to protect the environment from
mountaintop removal mining. The discussion comes amid a White House review
of a U.S. EPA interim guidance document setting a federal conductivity
standard for reviewing Appalachian mining permits.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is appealing
in court a decision by the state's Environmental Quality Board ordering the
agency to modify its permit for a Patriot Mining Company Inc. strip mining
project in Monongalia County. In issuing its decision, the board sided, at
least in part, with environmentalists who urged permit modifications,
including a numeric standard for conductivity in nearby waterways.
"This particular permit had no limits on conductivity, sulfates, really not
much of anything," Petra Wood, a Sierra Club member involved in appealing
the permit, said in an interview.
At issue is a state National Pollutant Discharge Elimination system or NPDES
permit, which EPA reviews. This particular project does not require a
Section 404 Clean Water Act permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Environmental Quality Board -- a panel of five experts appointed by the
governor for five-year terms -- did not set the conductivity standard as
environmentalists wanted but called on the DEP to include one as part of a
revised permit. The decision thrust the board into a national debate over
the proper way to examine mining's effects to Appalachian waters.
Conductivity is the measure of how well waters can carry an electric charge.
An EPA study has found higher conductivity levels downstream from
mountaintop mines and valley fills (
<http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2010/04/01/archive/1> E&ENews PM, April 1,
2010). While conductivity is not in itself a pollutant -- a point DEP is
stressing in its appeal -- environmentalists and researchers are
increasingly using it as a barometer of water health.
"The board finds that the mining operation has the opportunity and potential
to improve water quality," said Board Chairman Edward Snyder when issuing
the ruling last month. "The board finds that there is a strong positive
correlation between conductivity and diminishing macro invertebrate
community health."
But the DEP believes the board overstepped its legal bounds by mandating a
conductivity standard. "Neither [the Environmental Quality Board] nor the
DEP have the authority to impose a water quality standard that does not
currently exist in state law," DEP attorney Jennifer Hughes said in an email
exchange.
And even though the board's decision applied to a specific permit, DEP
officials believe it sets a precedent for future action.
"This appeal has never been about this one permit modification," Hughes
said. "It has always been an attempt to impose a statewide numeric standard
for conductivity through a back-door process."
Environmental advocates are dismayed at what they see as the state's assault
on efforts to protect the environment from mining. "It's kind of hard to
understand in my mind," Wood said.
But West Virginia politicians have usually been keen to protect the mining
industry, worried about jobs and the economy.
"This was the worst ruling I've ever seen out of the Environmental Quality
Board as far as a lack of respect for the rule of law," DEP Secretary Randy
Huffman told reporter Ken Ward Jr. with The Charleston Gazette.
Part of the appeal, pending before the Kanawha County Circuit Court, is the
DEP's objection to the board considering EPA's interim guidance and related
information, including the agency's study on conductivity, something the
Sierra Club highlighted as part of its efforts to modify the mining permit.
"DEP believes that, at best, the evidence presented by the Sierra Club
demonstrated that there may be a correlation between high conductivity
levels and the loss of certain sensitive species," Hughes said. "The
evidence did not show that high conductivity levels cause harm to aquatic
life."
The National Mining Association is fighting the guidance in court, saying it
amounts to rulemaking without the agency going through the proper channels,
and the state of West Virginia along with DEP are plaintiffs in the case.
Earlier this month, the mining group released a study of its own aimed at
undercutting EPA's findings. The report, prepared by Denver-based GEI
Consultants Inc., questioned EPA's assumptions about aquatic bugs and
considered other findings flawed (
<http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2011/04/01/archive/4> E&ENews PM, April 1).
Testing conductivity
Opponents of EPA's guidance, especially lawmakers in Congress, say
commercially sold water like San Pellegrino and Perrier exceed the agency's
numeric standard for conductivity. They say it is evidence of the agency's
overreach and its agenda to curtail coal mining in Appalachia.
"People who are working the mines in my district are very concerned that the
waters coming out of the mines have to be better than Perrier," said Rep.
Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) in an interview earlier this year while pushing a
budget rider to stop EPA from enforcing the guidance.
The website PolitiFact, which routinely checks politicians' assertions,
found that Evian, Perrier and San Pellegrino did in fact exceed EPA's
standard. However, scientists and advocates say opponents are missing the
point and ignoring the effects of conductivity on Appalachian wildlife.
"The science demonstrates that stream life present in waters contaminated by
mine waste is killed when salinity levels rise above levels that would not
be toxic to humans who may drink such water," EPA spokesman Richard Yost
told PolitiFact. "Aquatic organisms and people respond to salinity in very
different ways, so it is not technically valid to make direct comparisons
between healthy levels of salinity in central Appalachian streams and
acceptable levels of salinity in drinking water."
____________________________________
Peter Morgan
Project Attorney
Sierra Club Environmental Law Program
1650 38th St. Ste. 102W
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 449-5595 x102
(303) 449-6520 (fax)
CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL COMMUNICATION/WORK PRODUCT
This email may contain privileged and confidential communications and/or
confidential attorney work product. If you receive this email inadvertently,
please reply and notify the sender and delete all versions from your system.
Thank you.
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anybody planning on being on this call? thx, paul
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sierra Club Activist Network <community.manager(a)sierraclub.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 12:46 PM
Subject: Hydrofracking Team Call tonight
To: pjgrunt(a)gmail.com
Paul, you have a group bulletin from *Hydrofracking
Team<http://connect.sierraclub.org/Team/Hydrofracking_Team>
*.
*Visit Hydrofracking
Team.<http://connect.sierraclub.org/Team/Hydrofracking_Team>
*
Message:Don't …
[View More]forget to join the Hydrofracking Team on our biweekly call,
tonight at 5pm PT/8pm ET!
National Conference Calls 1 (866) 501-6174
Hydrofracking Team code: 900 367 87 337 #
*Call Agenda: *
Introduce David Meiser as Team co-leader
Welcome new members
Gasland House Parties
Frac Act, Natural Gas Act
State bans vs moratoria
------------------------------
*Visit Hydrofracking
Team.<http://connect.sierraclub.org/Team/Hydrofracking_Team>
*
------------------------------
Reply? Or other thoughts?
If you have questions about the bulletin CONTENT, please visit the group's
page and leave a
comment<http://connect.sierraclub.org/Team/Hydrofracking_Team>,
or contact the group owner.
*Technical Issues?*
Please reply to this message (or email community.manager(a)sierraclub.org) if
you have questions or problems with the bulletin itself.
If you want to stop getting email, you can either leave (unjoin) or set your
email preferences<http://connect.sierraclub.org/editor/app/group/managegroupmembership.aspx?O…>
.
--
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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>From Coal Tattoo.
JBK
WVDEP appeals major water quality ruling
April 26, 2011 by Ken Ward Jr.
Well, WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman called it the worst ruling I’ve
ever seen out of the EQB as far as a lack of respect for the rule of
law, so it probably is no surprise that the agency has appeal the state
Environmental Quality Board’s decision in the case over International
Coal Group’s New Hill West surface mine in Monongalia County.
I’ve posted a copy of the WVDEP appeal, filed in the …
[View More]circuit court of
Kanawha County, here.
Among other things, WVDEP lawyers argue in the appeal:
The board’s findings that numerous scientific studies have shown that
declines in stream macroinvertebrate communities directly downstream of
surface mining operations are caused by the combined effects of
heightened concentrations of ions was clearly wrong in the view of the
reliable, probative and substantial evidence in the record.
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am more than a little concerned about the Obama Administration's continued emphasis on nuclear and "Clean Coal" technologies, but if he is successful in cutting tax subsidies for fossil fuels by $46 billion, that would go a long way toward letting the market lead us to a clean energy future. I am also impressed by their predictions of 6 cents/kwh for residential solar power by 2030. If that happens, coal is done, because when a home solar panel is cheaper than coal, no one will be investing in …
[View More]coal. Our emphasis shjpould be on shutting down the old dinosaurs over the next ten years.
JBK
>>> Daniel Soeder 04/22/11 5:29 PM >>>
Two fossil energy-related reports came my way today that I wanted to pass along.
The final report and recommendations from the commission that reviewed the Macondo well disaster (i.e. Deepwater Horizon - BP) in the Gulf last year is available at http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report. It makes for some very sobering reading - even the cover photo is dreadful.
The second report is the "Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future" from the White House, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/blueprint-secure-energy-future. This is the plan that the federal government will be expected to follow for energy R&D under the Obama Administration.
Cheers!
- Dan Soeder
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Fascinating initiative.
Anyone interested in putting one together in WV?
Jim Sconyers
jim_scon(a)yahoo.com
304.698.9628
Remember: Mother Nature bats last.
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Sarah Hodgdon <sarah.hodgdon(a)SIERRACLUB.ORG>
To: CCL-CHAPTER-CHAIRS(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
Sent: Wed, April 20, 2011 6:44:27 PM
Subject: iMatter March May 8th
Hello,
I wanted to alert your chapter to an inspiring and exciting organization that
the Sierra Club is supporting called …
[View More]iMatter. iMatter is an organization that
is mobilizing youth (primarily aged 13-18) to raise awareness about climate
change. Their large out-of-the-gate action is a youth-led march happening across
the globe on Mother's Day, May 8, 2011.
The event is gaining momentum with nearly 60 marches already planned around the
world. The attached spreadsheet is the confirmed list and more marches are
being added every day. Check here for the most recent additions near you:
http://imattermarch.org/march/find-march/
If you're interested in getting involved with iMatter, either to identify a
host, help drive attendance or just help support a march organizer with your
guidance and expertise (remember - all marches are lead by youth) please feel
free to contact Andrew Peake at andrew(a)kvgw.orgor (530) 574-3803.
More information can be found on iMatter's website at http://imattermarch.org/
Please forward this email within your chapter.
Best,
Sarah Hodgdon
415-977-5541
828-423-7590 (cell)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe
from the CCL-CHAPTER-CHAIRS list, send any message to:
CCL-CHAPTER-CHAIRS-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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BlankThis had been beyond my radar until today.
"The case about global warming scheduled to be argued on Tuesday before the Supreme Court is a blockbuster. Eight states — from California to New York, plus New York City — sued six corporations responsible for one-fourth of the American electric power industry’s emissions of carbon dioxide."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/opinion/19tue1.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Perdue Says He Will Lead on Shale
April 17, 2011
By JOSELYN KING Political Writer , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
WHEELING - West Virginia's next governor must take the lead in making certain the state and its residents reap the benefits of Marcellus Shale drilling, State Treasurer John Perdue said in Wheeling on Saturday.
Perdue, a current Democratic candidate for governor, addressed a town hall meeting at the Stone Church Volunteer Fire Department, where nearby roads show the …
[View More]negative effects of trucks transporting natural gas from drilling sites.
He criticized three other candidates in the race - present acting governor Earl Ray Tomblin; acting Senate President Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall; and House Speaker Richard Thompson, D-Wayne - for the failure of legislation to regulate Marcellus Shale drilling to pass into law at this year's regular legislative session.
Perdue, 60, a native of Boone County, said he comes from coal country and the state's first "gold mine" of coal.
"Coal is important to West Virginia," he said. "I'm you're treasurer. I would never deny that. But what do we have left of coal today? Thirty to 35 years? It doesn't take long for that to go. When it comes to Marcellus Shale - the next 'gold mine' that God has blessed us with - we're putting the cart before the horse."
He noted it was "arguably the most important issue in the state" that the West Virginia Legislature address the issue of Marcellus Shale when members met earlier this year.
"At the end, when the bell rang, they weren't there for you," Perdue said. "They walked away. If I'm governor, I'm going to say, 'We're going to stay here until we get those checks and balances in place. We're going to stay here until we protect the people and their rights.'"
He said if he had similarly failed to do his job as treasurer, "You would be running me out of office."
"Leadership comes from experience," Perdue said. "It comes from someone who understands how to put the checks and balances in place ... and solve the problems for the people of this state.
"We have to make sure we do this one right. Big Daddy (the late U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.) is no longer here to bring millions and millions of dollars from the federal government to help us with our infrastructure and the future of this state. The federal government is broke, bankrupt."
West Virginia needs a long-term plan to maintain and improve its infrastructure - including roads, water and sewer lines, and broadband Internet access, Perdue said. And to pay for this, he proposes the state set aside some tax revenues resulting from Marcellus Shale. Addressing other issues, Perdue called for a moratorium on utility rates. He noted "people are struggling to pay utility bills bigger than their car payments."
He also suggests a change in the composition of the state Public Utilities Commission. Currently the commission's three members are all Kanawha County residents, Perdue said, and he would like to instead see members representing each of the state's three Congressional districts.
Democrats seeking the governor's office in the May 14 special primary election are Perdue, Tomblin, Kessler and Thompson, as well as Secretary of State Natalie Tennant and Charleston resident Arne Moltis. Republicans in the race are former Secretary of State Betty Ireland, current state Sen. Clark Barnes of Randolph County; Delegate Mitch Carmichael, of Jackson County; former Delegate Larry Faircloth of Berkeley County; Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia; and businessmen Bill Maloney and Ralph William Clark and Cliff Ellis, all of Monongalia County.
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