EC December 2008

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Scientific American article The Dirty Side of Clean Coal
by Paul Wilson 16 Dec '08

16 Dec '08

Link to Dec. 9th Scientific American article on clean coal. Spread it around. cheers, paul http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-dirty-side-of-clean-coal -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-6975 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha

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Fwd: What's Wrong With the Grid Article
by Paul Wilson 12 Dec '08

12 Dec '08

fyi, somewhat dated (2003) but good article on grid and grid management. best,paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Paul Wilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 9:14 AM Subject: Re: What's Wrong With the Grid Article To: Keryn Newman <keryn(a)frontiernet.net> Thanks, Keryn: I got it just fine. There is a link to a PDF version of the article at the top of the page. I will send the link to others in WV Sierra Club.. See you tonight. paul On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 10:20 PM, Keryn Newman <keryn(a)frontiernet.net>wrote: > Here's the link to the article > > http://www.tipmagazine.com/tip/INPHFA/vol-9/iss-5/p8.html > -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-6975 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-6975 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha

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Fwd: sorting-the-controversy-over-obama-s-epa-pick
by James Kotcon 12 Dec '08

12 Dec '08

>From the Club's State Government Programs list serve. JBK >>> jeff tittel <jeff.tittel(a)SierraClub.org> 12/12/2008 12:25 PM >>> --------------------------- cc:Mail Users----------------------------- ** Remember to DELETE the 'Sender: ...' lines above before REPLYing ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Barack Obama has reportedly <http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/10/163358/09> tapped Lisa Jackson to be his new EPA head. Jackson was previously working in New Jersey as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. There, she earned raves from Governor Jon Corzine, who recently <http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/12/09/corzine-lisa-jackson-remarkabl e/> told ThinkProgress, "I think Lisa has done a remarkable job of trying to move the environmental agenda forward within a constrained world." (Most notably, New Jersey has been trying to enact a plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.) But not everyone shares that assessment. In a widely circulated and remarkably scathing press release <http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1136> , The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a non-profit group that works with whistleblowers inside various government agencies, absolutely blasted the Jackson pick. In a letter to Obama, PEER executive director Jeff Ruch claimed that Jackson took a "highly politicized approach to decision-making" in New Jersey that resembled Bush's tenure at the EPA, was cozy with lobbyists, and actually had a woeful record on climate change. Read the full press release <http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1136> here; it's pretty brutal. So is PEER correct? Is Lisa Jackson a poor environmental pick? I'm not convinced. On balance, her record really does look quite green. Earlier this afternoon, I called Jeff Tittel, who directs the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter and has worked closely with Jackson on a number of environmental initiatives over the years. He quickly dubbed PEER's press release "total crap" and criticized PEER for having little on-the-ground presence in New Jersey. In Tittel's view, any blame for New Jersey's mixed environmental record should rest squarely on the shoulders of, ironically, Corzine himself, whom Tittel called "the worst environmental governor we've ever had." Lisa Jackson, he argues, was the biggest (maybe the only) bright spot in New Jersey. Among other things, PEER's press release had excoriated Jackson for appointing a lobbyist from the New Jersey Builders Association to be her assistant commissioner, overseeing water quality and land-use permits. Tittel rejects this criticism, noting that Corzine basically gave Jackson two choices to fill the spot: either the New Jersey Builders Association person-who, Tittel notes, actually wrote policy papers for NJBA, not lobbying, and had previously worked in the state's environmental agency-or... a lobbyist from the Chemical Council. Jackson made the greener pick. Indeed, Tittel argues that Jackson has frequently battled hard against both Corzine and New Jersey's business community on a number of contentious issues, from protecting 300,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands from sewer permitting to forcing the governor to revise the notorious "Permits Extension Act," which would've extended building permits into environmentally sensitive areas. (That bill was such a galling giveaway that even Bush's EPA protested.) Although Tittel agrees that the final bill was still horrendous, he credits Jackson for standing up to her boss and taking out "75 percent of what was bad in that law." Likewise, on climate change, where New Jersey has been relatively sluggish in meeting its targets, Tittel puts most of the blame on Corzine, and credits Jackson with getting a renewable-electricity standard in place. When I mentioned this pushback to PEER's Jeff Ruch, he wasn't impressed. "That's shaky," he says, arguing that you can't separate Jackson from Corzine so cleanly. "She was going to go work as his chief of staff [before getting tapped by Obama]." What's more, Ruch adds, "One of Jackson's big outgoing actions was to convene an industry-dominated task force that recommended rewriting the rules for building permits." But Tittel fires back at this, too: "Look, I was on that task force," he sighs. "They haven't even read the report." Tittel says that this much-maligned task force was Jackson's way of, again, curtailing Corzine's pro-builder tendencies and bringing the Department of Environmental Protection back into the permitting process-giving the agency more authority to conduct environmental impact assessments, for starters. New Jersey is a state that's long been dominated by developers and real-estate interests, both of which have a tight grip on the Corzine administration. Last year, Corzine slashed the state's environmental budget, declaring that Jackson's agency would have to "do less with less." Jackson, for her part, appears to have fought back fiercely. Now, you could argue that that's setting expectations too low. ("This is like saying someone who did a good economic job in Bangladesh should go be head of the World Bank," says Ruch. "She's coming from an agency where there's a lot of unhappiness, and going to a bigger camp [i.e., the EPA] with even more unhappy campers.") But Jackson's green instincts do seem strong. Among other things, Tittel points out that Jackson hails from New Orlean's Ninth Ward, and her mother was badly injured in Katrina. "If you want someone who understands the effects of climate change firsthand," he says, "that's her." --Bradford Plumer

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Rockefeller's comments at WV "Energy Summit"
by Jim Sconyers 10 Dec '08

10 Dec '08

Excerpt below from Rockefeller's remarks to the WV "Energy Summit" (actually coal summit) yesterday. This is very scary news - fox overseeing henhouse - since Jay has become one of the most active and vocal coal proponents (didn't want to use the w word here...). "And I think there may be an announcement – maybe even as soon as this week -- that I will be elected by my colleagues to chair the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. That committee deals explicitly with climate change and with the technology and research needed to achieve energy security." Complete text at http://rockefeller.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=305559& Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 603.969.6712 Remember: Mother Nature bats last.

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Unclean Coal - The Reality Coalition
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 09 Dec '08

09 Dec '08

I just saw an actual advertisement on the t.v. from the reality coalition debunking the clean coal myth, this is also shown on their website at http://action.thisisreality.org/ . Good to see some big bucks are going into a serious media campaign. Here is the Sierra Clubs Dec. 4 press release: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=81141.0 I am interested in what people think about this particular ad, do you think it conveys its message effectively? -Jonathan

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Re: [EC] Unclean Coal - The Reality Coalition
by Michael Price 09 Dec '08

09 Dec '08

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Fw: clean coal
by Jim Sconyers 08 Dec '08

08 Dec '08

Have you seen this cool ad? Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 603.969.6712 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Jacob Sconyers <chaosjake(a)yahoo.com> To: dad <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Sunday, December 7, 2008 11:47:19 AM Subject: clean coal I've been seeing this commercial on TV a lot this week, thought you might get a kick out of it: http://www.thisisreality.org/#/?p=facility If the link doesn't work try youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdHuB7Ovl2o

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Fw: [ Email Story ] Bank of America to stop financing mountaintop removal
by Jim Sconyers 08 Dec '08

08 Dec '08

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 603.969.6712 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: "jim_scon(a)yahoo.com" <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com> To: jim_scon(a)yahoo.com Sent: Friday, December 5, 2008 6:44:18 PM Subject: [ Email Story ] Bank of America to stop financing mountaintop removal jim_scon(a)yahoo.com sent you this article ----- December 5, 2008 Bank of America to stop financing mountaintop removal By Ken Ward Jr. Staff writer One of the world's largest financial institutions said this week it will phase out lending money to coal operators that use mountaintop removal mining. Read more -----

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Re: [EC] Fw: Google Alert - stream buffer zone
by Jim Sconyers 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

Bummer!! I had a Google alert keeping me informed - supposedly. This is truly terrible news. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 603.969.6712 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ________________________________ From: "aaron.isherwood(a)sierraclub.org" <aaron.isherwood(a)sierraclub.org> To: Jim Sconyers <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 8:02:12 PM Subject: Re: Fw: Google Alert - stream buffer zone Approved today, as you've probably seen. Aaron Isherwood Senior Staff Attorney Sierra Club Environmental Law Program 85 Second Street, 2d Floor San Francisco, CA 94105-3441 Phone: (415) 977-5680 Fax: (415) 977-5793 CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL COMMUNICATION/WORK PRODUCT This e-mail may contain privileged and confidential attorney-client communications and/or attorney work product. If you receive this e-mail inadvertently, please reply to the sender and delete all versions on your system. Thank you. Jim Sconyers <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com> 12/01/2008 11:55 AM To ec(a)osenergy.org, Vivian Stockman <vivian(a)ohvec.org>, Joe Lovett <jlovett(a)appalachian-center.org>, aaron isherwood <aaron.isherwood(a)sierraclub.org>, Allan Tweddle <allantweddle(a)msn.com>, Barb Howe <barbara.howe(a)mail.wvu.edu>, Autumn <blisssister(a)hotmail.com>, Beth Little <blittle(a)citynet.net>, Barbara Fallon <brbr_fallon(a)yahoo.com>, Dave Saville <daves(a)labyrinth.net>, Duane Nichols <duane330(a)aol.com>, Ed Milam <Ed.Milam(a)occ.treas.gov>, Amy Donahoe <edon1985(a)comcast.net>, Jim Kotcon <jkotcon(a)wvu.edu>, Marva Williams <marvaevon(a)aol.com>, Bob Warren <nhisbobness(a)aol.com>, Pam Klundt <pamalasue922(a)verizon.net>, Paul Wilson <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com>, Regina Hendrix <regina1936(a)verizon.net>, Sally Wilts <sallywilts(a)yahoo.com>, Bill DePaulo <william.depaulo(a)gmail.com> cc Subject Fw: Google Alert - stream buffer zone Stream buffer zone rule has still not been approved by EPA, but apparently this rule is one of the ones needing only 30 days advance notice, not 60 as many of us had assumed. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 603.969.6712 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply(a)google.com> To: jim_scon(a)yahoo.com Sent: Monday, December 1, 2008 11:52:09 AM Subject: Google Alert - stream buffer zone Google News Alert for: stream buffer zone Kentucky Objects to Proposed Change for Mining Waste EP Magazine - Dallas,TX,USA ... weaken a 1983 federal regulation that restricts where mining waste can be dumped, a so-called "Excess Spoil minimization -- Stream Buffer Zone" rule. ... See all stories on this topic Google Blogs Alert for: stream buffer zone Still no action taken of the Stream Buffer ZoneRule Change By Kevin Pentz For those of you who have been trying to follow the twists and turns of the saga that has been the rule making of the changes to the Stream Buffer Zone rule, the good news is that so far the Bush administration has not changed the rule. ... KFTC Blog - http://www.kftc.org/blog ________________________________ This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google. Removethis alert. Createanother alert. Manageyour alerts.

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[Fwd: [fom] LTE in Gaz--Small choices can make big difference]
by Regina Hendrix 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

FYI

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EC December 2008