EC September 2010

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6 participants
15 discussions

Fw: Alliance Hiring new coordinator
by Jim Sconyers 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Bill Price <bill.price(a)sierraclub.org> To: Jim Sconyers <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com>; Bill DePaulo <william.depaulo(a)gmail.com>; Karen Grubb <karen.grubb(a)fairmontstate.edu>; Kevin Fooce <fmoose39(a)hotmail.com>; Rodger Dotson <bhaddaka(a)yahoo.com>; Heather Heilman <heatherheilman(a)yahoo.com>; Jim Kotcon <jkotcon(a)wvu.edu> Sent: Fri, September 10, 2010 11:31:35 AM Subject: Alliance Hiring new coordinator Job description is attached. Please distribute far and wide. 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

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Marcellus boom makes state man multimillionaire (22 times over!)
by Frank Young 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Blank September 9, 2010 Marcellus boom makes state man multimillionaire NEW MARTINSVILLE, W.Va. -- The rush to tap the Marcellus shale natural gas field has made one West Virginia landowner a millionaire -- 22 times over. By The Associated Press The Associated Press AdvertiserNEW MARTINSVILLE, W.Va. -- The rush to tap the Marcellus shale natural gas field has made one West Virginia landowner a millionaire -- 22 times over. Ed Broome, who owns an oil and gas company of his own in Glenville, says Chesapeake Energy offered him $22 million for 22,000 acres of oil and gas rights in Wetzel County. Broome told The Intelligencer of Wheeling he knew it was a good deal. He didn't pay anything close to that in the mid-1990s. Broome's land is on 250 plots stretching from New Martinsville to the borders of Marion and Monongalia counties. Oklahoma-based Chesapeake says it won't comment on deals it makes. Broome, who lives in Glenville, says it was just the right time to sell. http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201009090256

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Coal Ash - NYT article and DEP study
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

[image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/> ------------------------------ January 7, 2009 Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation By SHAILA DEWAN<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/shaila_dewan/i…> [image: 07sludge_600.JPG] The coal ash pond that ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee last month was only one of more than 1,300 similar dumps across the United States — most of them unregulated and unmonitored — that contain billions more gallons of fly ash and other byproducts of burning coal. Like the one in Tennessee<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessio…>, most of these dumps, which reach up to 1,500 acres, contain heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/environ…>to be a threat to water supplies and human health. Yet they are not subject to any federal regulation, which experts say could have prevented the spill, and there is little monitoring of their effects on the surrounding environment. In fact, coal ash is used throughout the country for construction fill, mine reclamation and other “beneficial uses.” In 2007, according to a coal industry estimate, 50 tons of fly ash even went to agricultural uses, like improving soil’s ability to hold water, despite a 1999 E.P.A. warning about high levels of arsenic. The industry has promoted the reuse of coal combustion products because of the growing amount of them being produced each year — 131 million tons in 2007, up from less than 90 million tons in 1990. The amount of coal ash has ballooned in part because of increased demand for electricity, but more because air pollution controls have improved. Contaminants and waste products that once spewed through the coal plants’ smokestacks are increasingly captured in the form of solid waste, held in huge piles in 46 states, near cities like Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Tampa, Fla., and on the shores of Lake Erie, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. Numerous studies have shown that the ash can leach toxic substances that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems in humans, and can decimate fish, bird and frog populations in and around ash dumps, causing developmental problems like tadpoles born without teeth, or fish with severe spinal deformities. “Your household garbage is managed much more consistently” than coal combustion waste, said Dr. Thomas A. Burke, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who testified on the health effects of coal ash before a Congressional subcommittee last year. “It’s such a large volume of waste, and it’s so essential to the country’s energy supply; it’s basically been a loophole in the country’s waste management strategy.” As the E.P.A. has studied whether to regulate coal ash waste, the cases of drinking wells and surface water contaminated by leaching from the dumps or the use of the ash has swelled. In 2007, an E.P.A. report identified 63 sites in 26 states where the water was contaminated by heavy metals from such dumps, including three other Tennessee Valley Authority dumps. Environmental advocacy groups have submitted at least 17 additional cases that they say should be added to that list. Just last week, a judge approved a $54 million class-action settlement against Constellation Power Generation after it had dumped coal ash for more than a decade in a sand and gravel pit near Gambrills, Md., about 20 miles south of Baltimore, contaminating wells. And Town of Pines, Ind., a hamlet about 40 miles east of Chicago, was declared a Superfund site after wells there were found to be contaminated by ash dumped in a landfill and used to make roads starting in 1983. Contamination can be swift. In Chesapeake, Va., high levels of lead, arsenic and other contaminants were found last year in the groundwater beneath a golf course sculptured with 1.5 million tons of fly ash, the same type of coal ash involved in the Tennessee spill. The golf course opened in 2007. State requirements for the handling of coal ash vary widely. Some states, like Alabama, do not regulate it at all, except by means of federally required water discharge permits. In Texas, the vast majority of coal ash is not considered a solid waste, according to a review of state regulations by environmental groups. There are no groundwater monitoring or engineering requirements for utilities that dump the ash on site, as most utilities do, the analysis says. The lack of uniform regulation stems from the E.P.A.’s inaction on the issue, which it has been studying for 28 years. In 2000, the agency came close to designating coal ash a hazardous waste, but backpedaled in the face of an industry campaign that argued that tighter controls would cost it $5 billion a year. (In 2007, the Department of Energy estimated that it would cost $11 billion a year.) At the time, the E.P.A. said it would issue national regulations governing the disposal of coal ash as a nonhazardous waste, but it has not done so. “We’re still working on coming up with those standards,” said Matthew Hale, director of the office of solid waste at the E.P.A. “We don’t have a schedule at this point.” Last year, the agency invited public comment on new data on coal combustion wastes, including a finding that the concentrations of arsenic to which people might be exposed through drinking water contaminated by fly ash could increase cancer risks several hundredfold. If such regulations were issued, the agency could require that utilities dispose of dry ash in lined landfills, considered the most environmentally sound method of disposal, but also the most expensive. A 2006 federal report found that at least 45 percent of relatively new disposal sites did not use composite liners, the only kind that the E.P.A. says diminishes the leaching of cancer-causing metals to acceptable risk levels. The vast majority of older disposal sites are unlined. Most coal ash is stored wet in ponds, like the one in Tennessee, almost always located on waterways because they need to take in and release water. But scientists say that the key to the safe disposal of coal ash is to keep it away from water, by putting dry ash into landfills with caps, linings and collection systems for contaminated water. Environmentalists, scientists and other experts say that regulations could have prevented the Tennessee spill. Andrew Wittner, an economist who was working in the E.P.A.’s office of solid waste in 2000 when the issue of whether to designate coal ash as hazardous was being debated, said the agency came close to prohibiting ash ponds like the one at Kingston. “We were going to suggest that these materials not be wet-handled, and that existing surface impoundments should be drained,” Mr. Wittner said. If storing coal ash were more expensive, environmental advocates say, utilities might be pushed to find more ways to recycle it safely. Experts say that some “beneficial uses” of coal ash can be just that, like substituting ash for cement in concrete, which binds the heavy metals and prevents them from leaching, or as a base for roads, where the ash is covered by an impermeable material. But using the ash as backfill or to level abandoned mines requires intensive study and monitoring, which environmentalists say is rarely done right. The industry takes the position that states can regulate the disposal of coal ash on their own, and it has come up with a voluntary plan to close some gaps, like in the monitoring of older disposal sites. “There probably isn’t a need for a comprehensive regulatory approach to coal ash in light of what the states have and our action plan,” said Jim Roewer, the executive director of the Utility Solid Wastes Activity Group. Mr. Roewer said there was a trend toward dry ash disposal in lined landfills, though that trend was not identified in the 2006 federal report on disposal methods. Environmentalists are skeptical of the industry’s voluntary self-policing plan and the states’ ability to tighten controls. “The states have proven that they can’t regulate this waste adequately, and that’s seen in the damage that is occurring all over the United States,” said Lisa Evans, a former E.P.A. lawyer who now works on hazardous-waste issues for the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice. “If the states could regulate the industry appropriately, they would have done so by now.” Utility companies are often aware of problems with their disposal system, Ms. Evans said, but they put off improvements because of the cost. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the Kingston Fossil Plant, where the Tennessee spill occurred, tried for decades to fix leaks at its ash pond. In 2003, it considered switching to dry disposal, but balked at the estimated cost of $25 million, according to a report in The Knoxville News Sentinel. That is less than the cost of cleaning up an ash spill in Pennsylvania in 2005 that was a 10th of the size of the one in Tennessee.

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Fw: 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs Proposals Now Being Accepted
by Jim Sconyers 09 Sep '10

09 Sep '10

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: David Foster <event-information(a)certain.com> To: Jim Sconyers <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Wed, September 8, 2010 2:37:36 PM Subject: 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs Proposals Now Being Accepted Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference and Expo 2010 Dear Jim, We are now accepting proposals for the 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference taking place February 8-10 in Washington, D.C. Read the submission guidelines and fill out the online submission form. The 2011 Conference will focus on putting into practice the ideas and strategies for a new green economy - and creating good, green jobs - around the country. We will highlight successful state and local initiatives, emerging and growing green sectors, efforts to create a Green Infrastructure Model through smart transportation and urban development, successful work development programs, model partnerships between government, the private sector and local interests - all demonstrating the breadth of the coalition working to build a green economy and to create the good jobs that come along with it. We hope you will consider submitting a proposal. The success of the 2010 Conference was due in large part to the exciting workshops and panels that helped turn ideas into action to build a new, green economy. For more information on the2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference and the Request for Proposals, visit www.greenjobsconference.org. I look forward to seeing you in February. Sincerely, David Foster, BlueGreen Alliance P.S. Don't forget to forward this email to friends and colleagues to let them know about this unique opportunity. Registration Powered by Certain Meetings Event Management Software :: Online Event Management :: Online Registration Meeting Management Software :: Conference Registration :: Event Planner Software © 2009 Certain Software ®, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy.

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Fw: HIRING: Coordinator for The Alliance for Appalachia
by Frank Young 07 Sep '10

07 Sep '10

I have been asked to help distribute the following notice: The Alliance for Appalachia is hiring a new coordinator. Please help us spread the word by passing onto your networks. The job description is included below and attached. Applications will be accepted until September 24th. For more information, email Hiring(a)TheAllianceForAppalachia.org, call (304) 546-8473, or send application letter, resume, and 3 references to Hiring(a)TheAllianceForAppalachia.org The Alliance For Appalachia Job Announcement Applications accepted until September 24th BACKGROUND: The Alliance For Appalachia is a regional alliance with the goal of ending mountaintop removal coal mining. The Alliance For Appalachia began in 2006 and consists of thirteen organizations across five states. We are pursuing a multi-dimensional campaign to stop mountaintop removal and create a clean, healthy, sustainable, and just Appalachia by phasing out our dependence on coal and phasing in a sustainable economy for the mountains and survivable energy sources for our region and the nation. The Alliance is governed by a Steering Committee made up of one representative and an alternate from each of the thirteen member organizations. We have Coordinating Committee and Work Teams on legislative strategy, enforcement strategy, economic conversion, as well as other ad-hoc teams working on special projects. We are pursing a number of complementary strategies including grassroots organizing, leadership development, strategic communications, alliance building, research, and more. We believe that our campaign to abolish mountaintop removal mining can be an important element of the national effort for progressive, systemic change in our nation’s energy, economic, and environmental policies. By highlighting the dangers and true costs of our dependence on coal, we can help move the nation away from our current extraction economy and toward a new ethic of conservation, efficiency and renewable energy. Title: The Alliance for Appalachia Coordinator Duration: Full-Time Reports to: The Steering Committee of The Alliance, with direct oversight furnished by the Coordinating Committee of The Alliance Scope: Plans, organizes and coordinates the activities of The Alliance for Appalachia in carrying out the assigned campaigns and programs in the region. Participates in the development of strategies and priorities and implements strategy developed by the Steering Committee. Activities: · Coordinates meeting and event logistics, including all Alliance Committee meetings and conference calls. § Coordinates Alliance participation and travel logistics for key events, including the annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington and trainings. § Implements fundraising strategy with appropriate Alliance committee oversight. § Works with Alliance leaders to coordinate facilitation of calls, meetings, etc. § Takes notes of all meetings and is responsible for follow through on actions/decisions of The Alliance § Responsible for administrative duties and internal communications among all entities of The Alliance § Prepares a quarterly report for the Steering Committee. § Works closely with The Alliance member groups to nurture positive working relationships among member groups and with national and regional allies § Responsible for electronic communications, basic research and maintaining The Alliance web presence. § Coordinates media outreach with the appropriate Alliance Committees. § Heavier seasonal workloads may occur as a result of project deadlines and during peak activity periods, such as during the annual Week in Washington and training weekends. Weekend and/or evening work required. Must have the ability to travel Skills/Qualifications: § Experienced in working with non-profit organizations; experienced in working in coalitions. § Knowledge of mountaintop removal concerns and other issues impacting residents of Central Appalachia. § Good time management skills, must be a self-starter § Good written and verbal communication skills including some facilitation experience § Experienced in working with a wide variety of volunteers, community leaders and staff. § Willing to travel and be flexible about time. § Good computer skills Compensation: Commensurate with experience. Competitive benefits package, including full family health insurance. We provide annual cost of living adjustments and annual salary bumps to credit experience. Time off includes fifteen vacation days per year, ten holidays, nine sick days and three personal days. We have a compensation time policy and a one month maternity/paternity/family leave policy. Location: Central or Southern Appalachian area, specifically near the coalfield areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia Please submit resume, writing sample, two professional and one personal reference to: Hiring(a)TheAllianceForAppalachia.org For a description of The Alliance for Appalachia member groups go to: www.TheAllianceForAppalachia.org The Alliance for Appalachia is an equal opportunity employer. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply. Dana Kuhnline Alliance for Appalachia PO Box 11701 Charleston, WV 25339 Call: (304) 546-8473 Fax: (304) 342-3182 www.ilovemountains.org www.theallianceforappalachia.org It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little. Sydney Smith

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EC September 2010