May 2011 - EC - lists.bikelover.org

Drilling along Dunkard Creek
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 28 May '11

28 May '11

Anyone remember the Dunkard Creek debacle? Now Northeast Natural Energy, the same inexperienced company that is now drilling 3000 feet from Morgantown's water source, is going to be drilling in that watershed, too. http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApTopStories/201105280432 -Jonathan

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fracking for OIL
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 28 May '11

28 May '11

Shale Boom in Texas Could Increase U.S. Oil Output Michael Stravato for The New York Times By CLIFFORD KRAUSS<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/clifford_kraus…> Published: May 27, 2011 ose<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/business/energy-environment/28shale.html?…> CATARINA, Tex. — Until last year, the 17-mile stretch of road between this forsaken South Texas village and the county seat of Carrizo Springs Now the region is in the hottest new oil<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleu…>play in the country, with giant oil terminals and sprawling RV parks replacing fields of mesquite. More than a dozen companies plan to drill up to 3,000 wells around here in the next 12 months. The Texas field, known as the Eagle Ford, is just one of about 20 new onshore oil fields that advocates say could collectively increase the nation’s oil output by 25 percent within a decade — without the dangers of drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the delicate coastal areas off Alaska. There is only one catch: the oil from the Eagle Ford and similar fields of tightly packed rock can be extracted only by using hydraulic fracturing, a method that uses a high-pressure mix of water, sand and hazardous chemicals to blast through the rocks to release the oil inside. The technique, also called fracking, has been widely used in the last decade to unlock vast new fields of natural gas<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/natural-gas/…>, but drillers only recently figured out how to release large quantities of oil, which flows less easily through rock than gas. As evidence mounts that fracking poses risks to water supplies, the federal government and regulators in various states are considering tighter regulations on it. The oil industry says any environmental concerns are far outweighed by the economic benefits of pumping previously inaccessible oil from fields that could collectively hold two or three times as much oil as Prudhoe Bay, the Alaskan field that was the last great onshore discovery. The companies estimate that the boom will create more than two million new jobs, directly or indirectly, and bring tens of billions of dollars to the states where the fields are located, which include traditional oil sites like Texas and Oklahoma, industrial stalwarts like Ohio and Michigan and even farm states like Kansas. “It’s the one thing we have seen in our adult lives that could take us away from imported oil,” said Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, one of the most aggressive drillers. “What if we have found three of the world’s biggest oil fields in the last three years right here in the U.S.? How transformative could that be for the U.S. economy?” The oil rush is already transforming this impoverished area of Texas near the Mexican border, doubling real estate values in the last year and filling restaurants and hotels. “That’s oil money,” said Bert Bell, a truck company manager, pointing to the new pickup truck he bought for his wife after making $525,000 leasing mineral rights around his family’s mobile home. “Oil money just makes life easier.” Based on the industry’s plans, shale and other “tight rock” fields that now produce about half a million barrels of oil a day will produce up to three million barrels daily by 2020, according to IHS CERA, an energy research firm. Oil companies are investing an estimated $25 billion this year to drill 5,000 new oil wells in tight rock fields, according to Raoul LeBlanc, a senior director at PFC Energy, a consulting firm. “This is very big and it’s coming on very fast,” said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of IHS CERA. “This is like adding another Venezuela or Kuwait by 2020, except these tight oil fields are in the United States.” In the most developed shale field, the Bakken field in North Dakota, production has leaped to 400,000 barrels a day today from a trickle four years ago. Experts say it could produce as much as a million barrels a day by the end of the decade. The Eagle Ford, where the first well was drilled only three years ago, is already producing more than 100,000 barrels a day and could reach 420,000 by 2015, almost as much as Ecuador, according to Bentek Energy, a consultancy. Multimedia Slide Show <http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/05/29/business/energy-environment/fra…> Fracking Raises Hope for an Onshore Oil Rush<http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/05/29/business/energy-environment/fra…> What makes the new fields more remarkable is that they were thought to be virtually valueless only five years ago. “Everyone said the oil molecules are too large to flow in commercial quantities through these low-quality rocks,” said Mark G. Papa, chief executive of EOG Resources. EOG began quietly buying the rights to thousands of acres in the Bakken and Eagle Ford after an EOG engineer concluded that the techniques used to extract natural gas from shale — fracking, combined with drilling horizontally through layers of rocks — could be used for oil. Chesapeake and a few other independents quickly followed. Now the biggest multinational oil companies, as well as Chinese and Norwegian firms, are investing billions of dollars in the fields. The new drilling makes economic sense as long as oil prices remain above $60 a barrel, according to oil companies. At current oil prices of about $100 a barrel, shale wells can typically turn a profit within eight months — three times faster than many traditional wells. But water remains a key issue. In addition to possible contamination of surface and underground water from fracking fluids, the sheer volume of water required poses challenges, especially in South Texas, which faces a severe drought and rapidly diminishing water levels in the local aquifer. At the rate wells are being drilled, “there’s definitely going to be a problem,” said Bay Laxson, a local water official. Dave Thompson, regional production superintendent for the oil company SM Energy said the industry knew that water issues were “an Achilles heel.” He said his company was building a system to reuse water in the field. But unlike Pennsylvania and New York, where fracking for natural gas has produced organized opposition, the oil industry has been mostly welcomed in western and southern states. Thanks to the drilling boom, the recession<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/recession_an…>bypassed North Dakota entirely. Here in Dimmit County, Tex., the unemployment rate has fallen in half, and sales tax receipts are up 70 percent so far this year, allowing the county to hire more police officers and buy sanitation and road repair equipment. “In my lifetime, this is the biggest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Jose Gonzalez, 78, a retired teacher and son of migrant farm workers, who leased mineral rights to Chesapeake for $27,000 and sold another plot for $100,000 to a company building an RV park for oil workers. “You can see I’m happy.”

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Fw: Coal ash song for WV Siera Club
by Jim Sconyers 27 May '11

27 May '11

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: tom neilson <tomneilsonmusic(a)yahoo.com> To: jim_scon(a)yahoo.com; heatherheilman(a)yahoo.com; fooce(a)hotmail.com; gwenjones23(a)yahoo.com; freesource(a)cheat.org; sallywilts(a)yahoo.com; fyoung(a)mountain.net; ginelson(a)hughes.net; bhaddaka(a)gmail.com; jkotcon(a)wvu.edu; mdavis(a)wvu.edu; paynestake(a)verizon.net; ATDK(a)aol.com; shirley.rosenbaum(a)gmail.com; mooshy17(a)yahoo.com; blittle(a)citynet.net; djsoeder(a)yahoo.com; reginahendrix999(a)gmail.com; pjgrunt(a)gmail.com; celliot2(a)comcast.net; gregg(a)wvwc.edu; bill.price(a)sierraclub.org; michael.costello(a)wvwild.org Sent: Fri, May 27, 2011 2:15:12 PM Subject: Coal ash song for WV Siera Club WV Sierra Club Friends, My Biomess song (previously sent to you) about the proposed power plant aka wood incinerator in Greenfield has been picked as a Finalist and is awaiting deliberation by Sonic Bids judges for Music of the Earth 2011 Song of the Year. Now my coal ash song about the spill in Harriman, TN is one of 5 Finalists that has been nominated for Song of the Year for Social Action by Independent Musicians Awards. This is the second year in a row that I am a Finalist with IMA. Last year’s song was about the cancers at the nuclear weapons plant in Paducah, KY. There are 2 winners. One has already been picked by IMA. The public is being asked to vote for the other. Can you please circulate among your state chapters and other contacts? It is great publicity for both the issue of MTR and for all the groups working to protect our air, water, mountains and those who live therein. Thx for taking the time to do this. If you want to hear the songs and participate in the voting, go to http://www.independentmusicawards.com/imanominee/10th/Song/Social-Action Please share with anyone who might want to hear the music or be able to use it in their work. best, Tom 413-774-2411

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Fwd: TransGas says construction starts mid-summer
by James Kotcon 26 May '11

26 May '11

" Victor ... said TransGas has received commitments for a first portion of financing through private placement -- sale to one or a few large institutional investors -- and it's enough to begin construction by mid-summer. " See full articles below. JBK THE STATE JOURNAL: TransGas Development Systems of New York broke ground May 9 on the Adams Fork facility it has been preparing to build in Mingo County since December 2008. By Pam Kasey Back in 2007 and 2008, conventional wisdom said investors needed two conditions to feel comfortable backing the conversion of coal to liquid transportation fuels in the U.S. First, a sustained high price for oil -- above, say, $50/barrel. The price was that high at the time and, after a big dip during the recession, is that high again. That dip underscores the second, more fundamental condition: Assurance that, if the price of oil drops below a threshold, there still will be a market for the more expensive coal-to-liquid, or CTL, fuels. A favorite approach to that assurance was long-term purchase commitments by the Department of Defense -- an arrangement that would both establish a large market for the nascent industry and forestall any OPEC price manipulation to nip the industry in the bud. DoD commitments have not materialized. Nor have any other large institutional purchase commitments. Nor has a single commercial-scale CTL plant. Yet, TransGas Development Systems LLC of New York, the only company still in the running among several that have proposed CTL plants in West Virginia, broke ground May 9 on the Adams Fork facility it has been preparing to build in Mingo County since December 2008. What makes TransGas think they can make a go of it? Difficult Conditions The CTL industry in the U.S. has been trying to get its start under difficult conditions, according to Julie Dawoodjee, a spokeswoman for synthetic fuels developer Rentech Inc. In 2006, Rentech proposed the first CTL project in West Virginia. Since then, it has shelved that project but has other synthetic fuels projects under way. Oil price volatility challenges both investors and potential customers, she said. "Whenever crude reaches a high, suddenly everyone's interested in alternative energy. But then it's too late -- it's a four-to-five-year plan to get a plant producing," she said. "When crude comes down, everyone forgets, and that's when you should be building." Also making developers think twice is environmental interests' track record at holding up or stopping projects that have a coal component, she said. And, yes, government support has been lacking, she added, including long-term DoD contracts. However, Dawoodjee did say DoD contracts are not the only route to viability. "It would be very helpful if the government was interested and had the ability to sign these long-term off-take agreements," she said. "But there are other customers interested in long-term purchases." TransGas' Business Model "I've always taken issue with the people that were looking to get projects financed through an off-take agreement -- by getting a long-term contract with, say, the Defense Department," said TransGas Manager Adam Victor. It's an old model, he said, typical for building a power plant: Buy, for example, natural gas under long-term contracts at a certain price, and secure long-term power purchase agreements to sell it as electricity for, maybe, twice that price. "But in coal-to-liquids, the commodity price that you pay for coal is significantly less as a percentage of the revenue that you get from gasoline than what it would be when you buy natural gas and sell it as electricity," he said. There's plenty of cushion, he seems to feel. "The break-even price of oil for this project is between $45 and $50" per barrel, he said -- half of today's price, and a price that oil has dipped below for only about a month in the past six years. "That's when you're buying coal in the ground at today's current price of about $50/ton delivered." Victor expects to sell the fuel on the spot market and do a "back-to-back hedge," he said. "It's like if you have a floating rate on your mortgage but you don't want a floating rate, you go and enter into a hedge, a long-term swap and you get a fixed rate on your mortgage," he explained. "Same concept, but with fuel." Financing Victor's confidence seems to have convinced investors, in spite of last year's bankruptcy of an energy company he developed. Although he does not give out specifics, he said TransGas has received commitments for a first portion of financing through private placement -- sale to one or a few large institutional investors -- and it's enough to begin construction by mid-summer. To simplify the financing, the state Economic Development Authority in April authorized the potential issuance of up to $3 billion in industrial revenue bonds, or IRBs. The bonds are not tax exempt and will not implicate the EDA or any state body in the event of default, according to Brian Helmick, a lawyer with Spilman, Thomas & Battle, which serves as TransGas's bond counsel to the EDA. But the bonds simplify financing in that, while no single lender or investor would put up $3 billion, Helmick said, TransGas could, say, find five banks willing to lend. "Instead of doing five loan agreements, they could do it through one IRB structure, and each bank would buy a bond that represents its portion of the debt -- that's a simpler way to put the debt together," he explained. The bonds can be issued to bondholders at different times. In the event of default, Helmick said, the bondholders are liable or, if the bonds are insured, the insurer. Typically, although details haven't been worked out, title is pledged to the bondholders, who could take the project over just as a bank forecloses when a mortgage goes into arrears. DoD, Climate Change and Deficit Congress is considering legislation now that would extended the DoD's multi-year contract authority, according to Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association. However, as currently configured, the Adams Fork plant would not be able to sell to the DoD. The 2007 energy bill prevents the government from purchasing motor fuels that will contribute more to climate change than do conventional motor fuels. CTL produces more greenhouse gases than petroleum-based fuels, and this plant will not store its carbon dioxide emissions. Victor said he believes storing CO2 underground is dangerous, citing a 1987 mudslide in Cameroon that released volcanically generated CO2 that suffocated 1,700 people. If the government requires the CO2 to be stored away, he said, he would most like to send it to the Gulf of Mexico for enhanced oil recovery, to help increase oil well yields. But, he said, he will follow the law and the cost will not hurt his competitiveness because capturing the CO2 is an integral part of his process, whereas crude oil refineries will need large capital investments to make that capture. TransGas's output would represent slightly more than 2 percent of imported gasoline, according to Victor, and enough similar plants could make the country a gasoline exporter and pay down the trade deficit. "I think this is a game changer and important for people to rally around, for us to show it can be done here in West Virginia and then throughout the country," he said. Proposed W.Va. Coal-to-Liquid Plant Proceeds as Other Companies Hold Off on Similar Projects Posted Wednesday, May 25, 2011 ; 04:36 PM Updated Wednesday, May 25, 2011; 05:30 PM No commercial coal-to-liquid plants currently exist in U.S. By PAM KASEY and JIM ROSS pkasey(a)statejournal.com jross(a)statejournal.com With TransGas Development Systems LLC expecting to begin construction on its Adams Fork coal-to-liquids plant in Mingo County in a few weeks, it seems fair to ask: Why isn't anyone else doing this? For all the talk over the years of the need to develop liquid fuels from coal, and for all the statements by political leaders that coal-to-liquids is a bright opportunity for West Virginia, the idea just hasn't caught on with the people who would invest the time and money in siting, designing, building and operating such plants. Synthetic fuels developer Rentech Inc. of Los Angeles, Calif., which at one time considered a coal-to-liquids, or CTL, project in Mingo County, shelved its project for now. "It just kind of naturally evolved to the point where both parties (Rentech and the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority) felt there wasn't a project there at this time," said spokeswoman Julie Dawoodjee. "Energy is such a dynamic industry that you never know when a project can be resurrected, but that's not an active opportunity for us at this time." The company has one project under way for producing alternative liquid transportation fuels: its Gulf Coast Synthetic Energy Center at Natchez, Miss. As initially planned, that project would have used coal as its feedstock. "The difficult macro-economic and regulatory environments have made seeking financing for such a design challenging," according to the company's website. "Rentech is evaluating alternative configurations that could make the Natchez Project more feasible in the near term." Dawoodjee said the company is considering other feedstocks. "That could use coal or could use some other type of fossil feedstock including natural gas," she said. "We even sit in an area where we have the opportunity to use petcoke (a refinery byproduct) or biomass." West Virginia University chemical engineer Elliot Kennel noted the new abundance and affordability of natural gas for producing domestic liquid transportation fuels in a conversation last month with The State Journal. His laboratory developed a process for liquefying coal directly through dissolution. The process that TransGas would use is "indirect" in that it first gasifies the coal -- performing an energy-intensive industrial process to make a synthetic gas similar to natural gas -- then liquefies it. "There are going to be questions asked about why you want to gasify coal given the current low price of natural gas," Kennel said, not of TransGas specifically but of CTL in general. "Natural gas itself as a feedstock looks tough to compete against economically in North America." And, of course, the electric industry lately has turned to natural gas over coal for new plants. One example of that is in Meigs County, Ohio, where American Municipal Power planned to build a new coal-fired power plant a few miles down the Ohio River from Ravenswood, W.Va. Construction workers and others were looking forward to such a large project. As with most large-scale coal projects, though, that project was challenged by several groups on environmental and economic grounds. Eventually, AMP bought an existing gas-fired plant and abandoned its coal plans. American Electric Power had considered sites in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky for new power plants using the integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC, technology that converts coal to gas. But those plans have fallen by the wayside. "The proposed IGCC plant in West Virginia would have been in the rate base for Appalachian Power, which meant the plant required rate-recovery approval from both West Virginia and Virginia. West Virginia provided approval. Virginia denied it," said Pat Hemlepp, director of corporate media relations for AEP. "The proposed IGCC plant in Ohio ended up tangled in litigation. The Ohio Consumers Counsel and others challenged the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's authority to approve new generation under the current Ohio rules. The Supreme Court remanded the decision to the PUCO. It's still there... "The economic downturn has delayed the need for new generation. And the changing energy dynamics caused by the abundance of shale gas, combined with the variety of pending EPA regulations that target coal-fueled generation, has made natural gas the likely fuel of choice for new generation." It all adds up to one basic fact: Should TransGas build its facility in Mingo County, it would be unique in the United States. "There are no commercial coal-to-liquid plants in the U.S right now," Nicholas Paduano, a coal analyst with the Energy Information Administration, said in an e-mail to The State Journal when asked whether any such plants are in operation. "There is one commercial coal-to-gas plant operating in the U.S. in North Dakota. It uses North Dakota lignite coal to produce pipeline-quality synthetic gas. "There are plans right now in Illinois and Indiana to build coal-to-gas plants. The Air Force did have a coal-to-liquids project to produce fuel for aircraft, but plans for building a full-scale operation in Montana were scrapped about two years ago. West Virginia had approved a CTL project a few years ago before the recession. Consol Energy had planned to build a CTL plant in West Virginia, but that got scrapped in late 2008 after the credit crunch and drop in oil prices." Nevertheless, TransGas Manager Adam Victor is confident. "Everybody has been waiting for the government to fund these things, and I think that's been a waste of time," he said. Asked what he thinks is the reason no commercial-scale CTL plant has yet been built, he pointed to the nation's social capital over any lack of investment capital. "We have simply failed to educate people into the maths and sciences," he said. "Whether political, financial, legal -- we are not giving a rigorous enough technical education to people. We are not producing the engineers who would say, 'Of course we can do this.'"

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Fw: BACKGROUND: PEV News
by Jim Sconyers 25 May '11

25 May '11

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Edward Mainland <emainland(a)COMCAST.NET> To: CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Sent: Tue, May 24, 2011 2:32:42 PM Subject: BACKGROUND: PEV News http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/05/20/fleet-briefing-ge-to-open-ve-… May 20, 2011 Fleet Briefing: GM to Open VE Plant; 60% Would Consider a PEV; New Steel Cuts Life-Cycle Emissions by 70% General Motors broke ground Tuesday for the $269.5 million addition to the facility housing its two-mode hybrid and heavy duty transmission operations. The electric motor plant near Baltimore will be the first by a major U.S. automaker dedicated to making the components for vehicle electrification, and is slated to open in 2013. The campus will be powered in part by a 1.23 megawatt rooftop solar array by Constellation Energy, expected to generate nine percent of its annual energy consumption and save approximately $330,000 during the life of the project. Constellation Energy will build, own and maintain the solar power system, and GM will purchase all of the electricity generated by the solar panels under a 20-year power purchase agreement, the company reported. The majority of consumers would consider buying a plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) for their next car purchase, according to a global study, Plug-in Electric Vehicles: Changing Perceptions, Hedging Bets, from Accenture. However, consumer preferences for charging PEVs could increase the cost and complexity of managing the electricity grid and charging infrastructure, Accenture said. 60 percent of consumers would consider buying a PEV for their next car purchase. 68 percent would “probably” or “certainly” do so within the next three years. Respondents in China are by far the most enthusiastic, 96 percent of them probably or certainly considering a purchase in the next three years, according to the findings. Consumers’ preferences for charging PEVs, however, could challenge utilities and charging service providers by increasing grid congestion and peak time electricity demand. Two thirds of the survey’s 7,000 respondents are not willing to let charge-point operators limit when they can charge their PEV. A further 20 percent would only accept limits if they fell within time periods they had chosen. Additionally, 62 percent are not keen on the concept of battery swapping, where empty batteries are quickly replaced at service stations for fully charged ones, preferring to plug in their car to recharge their own battery. This could limit the opportunity for charging off peak, when battery swapping companies would most likely refuel batteries, Accenture said. Consumers would also need more supportive charging infrastructure in order to adopt fully electric PEVs. Only 29 percent of car drivers would buy fully electric PEVs. 71 percent would prefer plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), which also run on gasoline / diesel if the battery gets low. 85 percent say fully electric PEVs have insufficient battery range to cover their daily driving needs, the study found. The successful launch of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) depends greatly on the deployment of a robust residential and commercial network of charging equipment, according to the findings of the “Pike Pulse Report: Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment” from Pike Research. This market is in its infancy with many companies selling their product for less than five years, but the competition in this sector is set to intensify. The report evaluates electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) suppliers and rates them on 12 criteria for strategy and execution, including go-to-market strategy, product portfolio, partnerships, innovation, reach, market share, pricing, and staying power. According to Pike, two EVSE vendors are early standouts: Coulomb Technologies and ECOtality. Coulomb attained the highest overall score in the Pike Pulse report due to the company’s successful technology partnerships, global sales network, and extensive product portfolio. ECOtality is assessed as second. ECOtality’s contract to provide equipment to the federally funded EV Project, which it is also managing for the U.S. Department of Energy, is driving the majority of the company’s sales, and ECOtality likewise has formed extensive partnerships and has a strong product portfolio./ span> Rounding out the top ten are Elektromotive, AeroVironment, General Electric, Siemens, Eaton, Leviton, ClipperCreek and GoSmart, the company reported. The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), in collaboration with WorldAutoSteel, has released results of a three-year program to develop steel-intensive designs for electrified vehicles that reduce greenhouse gas emissions over their entire life cycle. The FutureSteelVehicle (FSV) program features steel body structure designs that reduce mass by more than 35 percent over a benchmark vehicle, and reduce total life cycle emissions by nearly 70 percent. This is accomplished while meeting a broad list of global crash and durability requirements, enabling 5-star safety ratings and avoiding high-cost penalties for mass reduction, according to the groups’ statement. The FSV program developed optimized advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) body structures for four proposed 2015 to 2020 model-year vehicles: battery electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV-20) for A-/B-Class vehicles; and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV-40) and fuel cell (FCV) for C-/D-Class vehicles. The FSV concepts are efficient and lightweight. FSV’s BEV concept weighs 188 kg and reduces mass by more than 35 percent over a baseline internal combustion engine body structure adjusted for a battery electric powertrain and 2020 regulatory requirements. FSV’s A-/B-Class PHEV20 vehicle weighs 175 kg, and the larger C-/D-Class vehicle versions weigh 201 kg. The FSV portfolio of advanced steel and steel technologies, including more than 20 new AHSS grades of materials, are expected to be commercially available in 2015 to 2020. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS list, send any message to: CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp

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West Virginia rated last in development of clean energy
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 23 May '11

23 May '11

CLICK<http://www.energybiz.com/article/11/05/wva-last-clean-energy-leadership?utm…> -- 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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Fw: Please Call Your Senators and Ask them to REFRAIN from Signing a Bad Coal Ash Letter Being Circulated
by Jim Sconyers 20 May '11

20 May '11

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Lisa N. Widawsky <lwidawsky(a)environmentalintegrity.org> To: "COAL-COMBUSTION-WASTE(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG" <COAL-COMBUSTION-WASTE(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG> Cc: grassroots <grassroots(a)environmentalintegrity.org> Sent: Fri, May 20, 2011 11:34:22 AM Subject: Please Call Your Senators and Ask them to REFRAIN from Signing a Bad Coal Ash Letter Being Circulated Coal Ash Allies – Thank you to the 102 groups that quickly signed on to our letter asking Senators to stand up for human health and the environment by STAYING OFF the anti-Subtitle C letter being circulated by Senators Conrad and Enzi (see attached). The Conrad-Enzi letter asks President Obama for weak coal ash protections, but we all know that Subtitle C is the most protective option for human health and the environment because it would require basic, common-sense protections for our communities. Now, we need you all to CALL YOUR SENATORS’ offices and say: “On behalf of our members and supporters, please ask the Senator to REFRAIN from signing the Conrad-Enzi coal ash letter asking President Obama for weak coal ash protections.” You can find your Senators’ phone numbers here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. After you do, please reply to let me know which offices you called and how they responded. Thanks again for continuing to fight for safe communities and a healthy environment! Sincerely, Lisa Widawsky Attorney Environmental Integrity Project 1 Thomas Circle, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 202.263.4452 (direct) 202.296.8822 (fax) The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any use of this information other than by the intended recipient is prohibited. If you receive this message in error, please send a reply e-mail to the sender and delete the material from any and all computers. Unintended transmissions shall not constitute waiver of the attorney-client or any other privilege.

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Fwd: Register today for the Sportsmen Marcellus Shale Summit, June 4
by Paul Wilson 20 May '11

20 May '11

Dam! I am already booked for June 4 tabling event! But this looks quite good. fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Katy Dunlap, Trout Unlimited <trout(a)tu.org> Date: Fri, May 20, 2011 at 9:02 AM Subject: Register today for the Sportsmen Marcellus Shale Summit, June 4 To: "Paul Wilson, Jr." <pjgrunt(a)gmail.com> [image: Trout Unlimited] <http://www.tu.org> Saturday, June 4th, 2011 University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown Campus In the heart of the Marcellus Shale region, sportsmen and women, and conservation groups are working together to identify and propose solutions to mitigate the impacts from gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing on hunting, fishing and trapping experiences. *REGISTER TODAY.<http://www.tu.org/conservation/eastern-conservation/marcellus-shale-project…> * *Learn more about the Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation efforts and listen to experts in the field, along with sportsmen and women with first-hand experience, discuss the following topics*: - Potential impacts of Marcellus Shale gas development on wildlife, coldwater fisheries, and habitat and forest ecosystems; - Impacts of Marcellus Shale gas development on the outdoors experience; - Lessons from oil & gas development in the West; - What you can do as an individual outdoorsmen; and - How sportsmen and women interests can be protected through policies and best management practices that protect fish, wildlife and the outdoors experience. To register and to learn more about the program, visit * www.sportsmenalliance.org. <http://www.sportsmenalliance.org>* *Brought to you by:* *The Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation* * ------------------------------ *Over 84 cents from every dollar contributed to TU goes directly into conservation programs. You have received this message because this email address is associated with a Trout Unlimited membership record. To remove yourself from future TU National notice emails, click on the first unsubscribe link below. To stop receiving all email communications from TU National, including appeals, action alerts and the quarterly e-newsletter, click on the second link below. All other inquiries may be directed to trout(a)tu.org or 1-800-834-2419. Please note TU Member Services staff will be unable to handle inquiries for several days due to a database upgrade. Trout Unlimited 1300 N. 17th Street, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22209 © 2011 Trout Unlimited Remove yourself from this mailing<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=enJKLQMkF5JDIYK&s=djKPK9NQJdJULcOPKtF&m=hkK…> . Remove yourself from all mailings from Trout Unlimited<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hqLQIZNwH8IKK8J&s=djKPK9NQJdJULcOPKtF&m=hkK…> . -- 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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on gas oil oil drilling: “Your authority goes as far as nobody challenges it,”
by Frank Young 19 May '11

19 May '11

BlankEven the Mayor and the Utility Board of Morgantown presumed that there is public notice of oil and gas drilling permit applications. But no; such permits are routinely issued, and without any public notice whatsoever. http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=99726 “We are very accustomed to public comment opportunities being provided and public input being solicited when water and wastewater systems are concerned,” Ball told The State Journal on May 10. “It’s a natural part of our world and it is quite surprising to us that those opportunities do not exist in the permitting of oil and gas wells.” Morgantown Mayor William Byrne said the lack of public notification put the city “behind the eight ball.” Huffman acknowledged that public notice is required for all other permits DEP issues and that it would be a good idea for oil and gas wells too, but said he doesn’t know if he has the authority. “Your authority goes as far as nobody challenges it,” he said. “But the Legislature has made a requirement that there be public notification of mining permits and water permits, but not on oil and gas permits,” he continued. “Just because I might think today that it’s the right thing to do, it’s not the public policy of the state to do that, so I think it’s better addressed by the Legislature.”

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Fw: Fwd: Here it comes! A Nonviolent Action Workshop
by Jim Sconyers 18 May '11

18 May '11

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Ann Payne <Paynestake(a)frontier.com> To: Jim Sconyers <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Wed, May 18, 2011 2:09:20 PM Subject: Fwd: Here it comes! A Nonviolent Action Workshop FYI - I forwarded this to my list. Begin forwarded message: > > >The stars are indeed aligned. A Nonviolent Action Workshop will be held here in >Morgantown on this coming Sunday! Must register! Please read on. > > >Ann > > > >Begin forwarded message: > >> >> >>Hi Friends and Concerned Citizens! >>A spur of the moment-planned event. Somehow the stars aligned for us to have a >>nonviolence trainer friend staying with us this weekend.. Could you please share >>this with your communities, especially those looking for responses to the Shale >>Drilling... >> >> >>Introduction to Nonviolent Action >>Sunday, May 22nd 7-9pm >>Morgantown Church of the Brethren/Mennonite Church USA >>464 Virginia Ave. >> >>This workshop will lay the foundation of nonviolence and direct action, >>including opportunities for role play and practice responding nonviolently >>in situations of civil disobedience. Bob Gross, facilitator, is a nonviolence >>educator and Executive Director of On Earth Peace. >> >>For more information contact Carrie at 304-292-0711, ceikler(a)morgantowncob.org >>Please RSVP so we can adequately prepare our facilitator >> >> >>-- >>Carrie A. Eikler >>co-pastor >>Morgantown Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Church USA >>304-292-5616 >>www.morgantowncob.org >> >>"Even when we don't desire it, God is ripening." Rainer Maria Rilke >> >> >> >>-- >>Carrie A. Eikler >>co-pastor >>Morgantown Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Church USA >>304-292-5616 >>www.morgantowncob.org >> >>"Even when we don't desire it, God is ripening." Rainer Maria Rilke >> >> >

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Fwd: a bit of news
by James Kotcon 18 May '11

18 May '11

>>> Vickie Wolfe <ibtreehugger(a)gmail.com> 5/18/2011 1:04 PM >>> In case you haven't already heard, Stephanie Timmermeyer has taken a job with Chesapeake Energy's Eastern Division, in "Regulatory Affairs." -- ```````````````````````````````````````````````````` Vickie L. Wolfe PHONE: (304) 744-8777 E-MAIL: IBTreehugger(a)gmail.com ```````````````````````````````````````````````````` "It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save our environment." -Ansel Adams

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Marcellus driller fined record $1.1M
by Frank Young 18 May '11

18 May '11

BlankOne would think that after more than 100 years, the drilling industry could get it right. Are there reasons other than carelessness on the part of drilling crews that this could happen? According to the consent agreement signed on Monday, the DEP investigated at least seven instances of methane migration that contaminated 16 residential water wells in Bradford County last year. The DEP blamed improper cement casings of Chesapeake gas wells for allowing the natural gas to seep into drinking water supplies. . http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20110517_Marcellus_driller_fined_reco…

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Rally - Morgantown Water Threat from Gas Drilling
by Jim Sconyers 16 May '11

16 May '11

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: "dfvet(a)aol.com" <dfvet(a)aol.com> To: jkotcon(a)wvu.edu; wyro(a)appalight.com; fmoose39(a)hotmail.com; karen.grubb(a)fairmontstate.edu; jim_scon(a)yahoo.com; blittle(a)citynet.net; heatherheilman(a)yahoo.com; nicolegood.wv(a)gmail.com Sent: Sun, May 15, 2011 10:08:09 AM Subject: Fwd: May 18: URGENT CALL TO ACTION!! DRINKING WATER AT RISK!! -----Original Message----- From: Kathleen Cash <cashkathy(a)gmail.com> To: Ann Payne <paynestake(a)frontier.com> Sent: Sun, May 15, 2011 9:01 am Subject: May 18: URGENT CALL TO ACTION!! DRINKING WATER AT RISK!! We’ve Heard from the Drillers, Now Let YOURVoice be Heard!! Marcellus Gas Drilling is Scheduled to Begin in Morgantown Industrial Park Upstream of Morgantown’s Drinking Water Plant Near County Schools PLEASE COMEto a Community-wide Rally to Express YOUR Concerns and Questions WHERE: Mon County Courthouse Square. High Street, Downtown Morgantown WHEN: Wednesday, May 18, 10:00 to Noon Bring Your Kids and Bring a Sign (G-rated) Please forward this announcement to your friends, family and neighbors. For your information: Morgantown Utility Board’s letters to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection stating its concerns are attached and can be downloaded from the Charleston Gazette blog: http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/05/13/morgantown-utility-board-see… Organized by concerned Morgantown area citizens: Kathy Cash, Sharon Goodman, Ann Payne, Marc Glass, Catherine Tall, Sandra Fallon, Cindy O'Brien

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Rally Time - change back
by Jim Sconyers 16 May '11

16 May '11

Sorry folks - rally is still at 10:00 AM to Noon on Wednesday. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ________________________________ From: Jim Sconyers <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com> To: ec(a)osenergy.org; Dave & Robin Barnett <atwoodwv(a)gmail.com>; Steve Benson <mrbenson(a)frontiernet.net>; David Brisell <dbrisell(a)mindspring.com>; Jeremy Cooper <jeremybcooper(a)gmail.com>; Brad Durst <bdurst(a)wvca.us>; Sam Dyke <irisatfarm(a)hotmail.com>; Sandra Fallon <sfallon3(a)comcast.net>; Lawrence Fraley <lfraley(a)citilink.net>; Becky Friend <enlowb(a)yahoo.com>; Dee Fulton <dfvet(a)aol.com>; Kathy Furbee <kf3(a)hotmail.com>; Nicole Good <nicolegood.wv(a)gmail.com>; Leejay Graffious <lejay(a)frontiernet.net>; Evan Hansen <ehansen(a)downstreamstrategies.com>; Dave Houser <houserr(a)labyrinth.net>; Gordon Keyes <gkeyes(a)hsc.wvu.edu>; Lew & Carolyn McDaniel <lewmcdan(a)hrea.coop>; Connie Miller <calm9654(a)gmail.com>; Amanda Pitzer <amanda(a)cheat.org>; Steven Runfola <stevenrunfola(a)yahoo.com>; Susan & Don Sauter <stsauter(a)frontiernet.net>; Jim Sconyers <jim_scon(a)yahoo.com>; Rob Seese <vgseese(a)gmail.com>; Rachel and Frank Stevens <fstevens4(a)aol.com>; Mary Kay Stiles <stilesm(a)frontiernet.net>; Martha Summers <msummers(a)hsc.wvu.edu>; Bill Thorne <anglerbill(a)access.mountain.net>; Martin Tingley <riverwaker(a)gmail.com>; Sarah Veselka <sarah(a)deckerscreek.org>; Charlie & Sandy Walbridge <ccwalbridge(a)cs.com>; Sally Wilts <sallywilts(a)yahoo.com>; Carolyn Wotring <itsgranny(a)gmail.com> Sent: Mon, May 16, 2011 12:14:01 PM Subject: Fw: [EC] Fwd: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM Note time change of Wed rally. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Jonathan Rosenbaum <freesource(a)cheat.org> To: Energy Committee <ec(a)osenergy.org>; Kitty Lozier <clozier(a)gmail.com>; Aira Loren Burkhart <airaloren(a)gmail.com>; Deb Fulton <dfvet(a)aol.com>; Cindy O'Brien <cobandyo(a)frontier.com> Sent: Mon, May 16, 2011 11:59:49 AM Subject: [EC] Fwd: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM Is this time change correct? -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 11:53:37 -0400 From: Sarah Veselka <sarah(a)DECKERSCREEK.ORG> Reply-To: Sarah Veselka <sarah(a)DECKERSCREEK.ORG> To: FODC-L(a)LISTSERV.WVNET.EDU Marcellus Gas Drilling is Scheduled to Begin in Morgantown Industrial Park Upstream of Morgantown’s Drinking Water Plant Near County Schools The Morgantown Utility Board has Expressed Concerns and Requested Additional Safeguards to the WVDEP PLEASE COMEto a Community-wide Rally to Express YOUR Concerns and Questions WHERE: Mon County Courthouse Square. High Street, Downtown Morgantown WHEN: Wednesday, May 18, Noon to 1 PM Bring Your Kids and Bring a Sign (G-rated) Please forward this announcement to your friends, family and neighbors. For your information: Morgantown Utility Board’s letters to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection stating its concerns can be downloaded from the Charleston Gazette blog: http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/05/13/morgantown-utility-board-see… Organized by concerned Morgantown area citizens: Kathy Cash, Sharon Goodman, Marc Glass, Catherine Tall, Sandra Fallon, Cindy O'Brien

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Fw: Fwd: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM
by Jim Sconyers 16 May '11

16 May '11

Note time change of Wed rally. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Jonathan Rosenbaum <freesource(a)cheat.org> To: Energy Committee <ec(a)osenergy.org>; Kitty Lozier <clozier(a)gmail.com>; Aira Loren Burkhart <airaloren(a)gmail.com>; Deb Fulton <dfvet(a)aol.com>; Cindy O'Brien <cobandyo(a)frontier.com> Sent: Mon, May 16, 2011 11:59:49 AM Subject: [EC] Fwd: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM Is this time change correct? -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 11:53:37 -0400 From: Sarah Veselka <sarah(a)DECKERSCREEK.ORG> Reply-To: Sarah Veselka <sarah(a)DECKERSCREEK.ORG> To: FODC-L(a)LISTSERV.WVNET.EDU Marcellus Gas Drilling is Scheduled to Begin in Morgantown Industrial Park Upstream of Morgantown’s Drinking Water Plant Near County Schools The Morgantown Utility Board has Expressed Concerns and Requested Additional Safeguards to the WVDEP PLEASE COMEto a Community-wide Rally to Express YOUR Concerns and Questions WHERE: Mon County Courthouse Square. High Street, Downtown Morgantown WHEN: Wednesday, May 18, Noon to 1 PM Bring Your Kids and Bring a Sign (G-rated) Please forward this announcement to your friends, family and neighbors. For your information: Morgantown Utility Board’s letters to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection stating its concerns can be downloaded from the Charleston Gazette blog: http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/05/13/morgantown-utility-board-see… Organized by concerned Morgantown area citizens: Kathy Cash, Sharon Goodman, Marc Glass, Catherine Tall, Sandra Fallon, Cindy O'Brien _______________________________________________ EC mailing list EC(a)osenergy.org http://osenergy.org/mailman/listinfo/ec

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Fwd: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 16 May '11

16 May '11

Is this time change correct? -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [FODC] Morgantown Rally Time Changed, Now from Noon to 1 PM Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 11:53:37 -0400 From: Sarah Veselka <sarah(a)DECKERSCREEK.ORG> Reply-To: Sarah Veselka <sarah(a)DECKERSCREEK.ORG> To: FODC-L(a)LISTSERV.WVNET.EDU *Marcellus Gas Drilling is Scheduled to Begin in * *Morgantown Industrial Park* *Upstream of Morgantown’s Drinking Water Plant* *Near County Schools* ** *The Morgantown Utility Board has Expressed Concerns and* *Requested Additional Safeguards to the WVDEP* *PLEASE COME*to a Community-wide Rally to Express *YOUR *Concerns and Questions *WHERE*:Mon County Courthouse Square. High Street, Downtown Morgantown *WHEN*:Wednesday, May 18, Noon to 1 PM *Bring Your Kids and Bring a Sign (G-rated)* Please forward this announcement to your friends, family and neighbors. For your information:Morgantown Utility Board’s letters to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection stating its concerns can be downloaded from the Charleston Gazette blog: /http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/05/13/morgantown-utility-board-seeks-drilling-safeguards/ Organized by concerned Morgantown area citizens: Kathy Cash, Sharon Goodman, Marc Glass, Catherine Tall, Sandra Fallon, Cindy O'Brien

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Drilling this Monday - MUB's reaction
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 14 May '11

14 May '11

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/05/13/morgantown-utility-board-see… -Jonathan

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FW: [MarcellusGasInfo] Fwd: Announcement: Extractive Industry Accountability Project Conference, May 23-25, 2011
by Beth Little 13 May '11

13 May '11

Pretty poor notice on this. The main reason I am forwarding it is to point up how much is going on. From: marcellusgasinfo(a)googlegroups.com [mailto:marcellusgasinfo@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of J Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 3:41 PM To: grassrootsVSgas; Shaleshock(a)yahoogroups.com; MarcellusGasInfo Subject: [MarcellusGasInfo] Fwd: Announcement: Extractive Industry Accountability Project Conference, May 23-25, 2011 And another movement networking opportunity. I can't make it there, but if anyone is able to head to DC and represent Marcellus region that'd be great! See below for info ~Julian ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <jim(a)oei-dc.org> Date: Mon, May 9, 2011 at 10:38 PM Subject: Announcement: Extractive Industry Accountability Project Conference, May 23-25, 2011 To: Press Climate Camp <press(a)climatecamp.org.uk>, Sac <sacsustainaction(a)gmail.com>, RQIC <rqic(a)ciso.qc.ca>, S Weigel <sweigel(a)sonoraninstitute.org>, Erika <erika(a)equit.org.br>, Esr <esr41(a)verizon.net>, Powder River <resources(a)powderriverbasin.org>, Nal <nalu(a)sof.org.br>, Native Movement <nativemovement(a)gmail.com>, NC Warn <ncwarn(a)ncwarn.org>, NCI <info(a)ncipl.org>, NEC <rwhkc(a)earthlink.net>, Sonoran Institute <sonoran(a)sonoraninstitute.org>, WV Rivers Coalition <wvrivers(a)wvrivers.org>, UMD <umdvolunteerhouse(a)gmail.com>, Western Colorado Congress <info(a)wccongress.org>, Pblase <pblasenheim(a)gmail.com>, Nirsnet <nirsnet(a)nirs.org>, Northern Plains <info(a)northernplains.org>, Northern Rockies Rising Tide <northernrockiesrisingtide(a)riseup.net>, Mary <Maryo(a)nirs.org>, Matt <matt(a)energyjustice.net>, MEP <info(a)mepartnership.org>, Mississippi <mississippi(a)climateaction.net>, MM <mm2222ut(a)aol.com>, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness <info(a)friends-bwca.org>, GBF <gbf(a)greatbear.org>, GCM <info(a)gcmonitor.org>, GRIP <grip(a)gilaresources.info>, Greater Yellow <gyc(a)greateryellowstone.org>, Groundwater Awareness Leauge <contact(a)g-a-l.info>, Hurricane Creek Keeper <hccreekkeeper(a)gmail.com>, Info WNC <info(a)wncpsr.org>, Jel <jelosegui(a)gmail.com>, Parras <parras.juan(a)gmail.com>, julian <Julian(a)risingtidenorthamerica.org>, Julie <julie(a)wnca.org>, Justin <justin(a)actnh.org>, JW <jwfarm(a)centurytel.net>, Kat <katuarkonada(a)gmail.com>, Lorax <lorax(a)riseup.net>, WK <wkatzfishman(a)igc.org>, Rafael <rberrocal(a)prensa.com>, Ramsey <ramsey(a)miningwatch.ca>, RANTWIN <rantwincities(a)riseup.net>, Regenwald <info(a)regenwald.org>, Resource Renew <rrenew.collective(a)riseup.net>, Rising Tide Bay Area <risingtidebayarea(a)gmail.com>, Rising Tide NA <contact(a)risingtidenorthamerica.org>, Rising Tide NT <risingtident(a)riseup.net>, Rootforce <rootforce(a)riseup.net>, Montana Environ Info <meic(a)meic.org>, Montana LR <info(a)mtlandreliance.org>, Wise <wiseamster(a)antenna.nl>, MWF <mwf(a)mtwf.org>, Sarah <sarah(a)voiceforthewild.org>, Stop Cliffside <info(a)stopcliffside.org>, WW4report <feedback(a)ww4report.com>, amy.anderson(a)oei-dc.org <mailto:amy..anderson@oei-dc.org> , jim(a)oei-dc.org, maginfo(a)blacksmithinstitute.org, Press CC <press(a)commoncause.org>, pblasenh <pblasenheim(a)riseup.net>, Save the Front <info(a)savethefront.net>, Smart <smartgrowth(a)mcn.net>, NRDC <nrdcaction(a)nrdc.org>, Loretta <Loretta(a)oglala.org>, Louisiana <louisiana(a)climateaction.net>, Lovely Goat <lovelygoatplantmedicine(a)riseup.net>, Manolan <manolan(a)uvm.edu>, Mario <mariociid@gmail..com <mailto:mariociid@gmail.com> >, "Marion Inst." <info(a)marioninstitute.org>, "Wild West Inst." <info(a)wildwestinstitute.org>, ORA <info(a)oregonrural.org>, Survival International <info.usa(a)survivalinternational.org>, Proletariat <proletariat04(a)gmail.com>, Stop Suits <stopthesuitscoalition(a)gmail.com>, Student Environmental AC <nationalcouncil(a)seac.org>, Pas <pasalavoz(a)movimientos.org>, OD <od(a)riseup.net>, Peaceful Uprising <info(a)peacefuluprising.org>, Philadelphia Rising Tide <phillyrisingtide(a)riseup.net>, Pollinators <pollinators(a)beehivecollective.org>, Powder River <info(a)powderriverbasin.org> Hemispheric Social Alliance / Rising Tide Mexico/ Natural Resources Project Management / Alliance for Responsible Trade / Our Earth Institute International Extractive Industry Accountability Conference May 23-25, 2011 George Washington University Washington, DC Our Earth Institute, along with it's partners, proudly presents the first "International Extractive Industry Accountability Conference" at the George Washington University in Washington, DC on May 23 - 25, 2011. The primary goal of this Conference will be to develop and implement an effective International Strategy to hold Extractive Industries accountable for the consequences of their actions and to force them to change. The conference will have several components. First, we will be holding Working Groups that will take steps to form a strategy to unite the anti-extraction groups in the United States, Central and South America, and Northern Europe to function as a united front. We will create an action plan that will allow our movement to have a more effective impact. Tentative topics include: . Creating a dynamic and interactive international union of anti-extraction organizations, which can share resources, speak with one voice, and effectively foster positive change. . Forcing extractive corporations to reimburse communities and people for any damage done to the environment, health and livelihoods of individuals, and to make them responsible for cleaning up and repairing any damage they have done. . Convincing investors in extractive industry companies to divest themselves of these assets if the corporations do not adopt safer and more fair extraction practices. . Persuading the U.S. and other nations to pass legislation requiring extractive companies to use "best practices" and to abide by domestic and U.N. treaties and standards, even when operating overseas. . Developing a "certification" system--similar to the Fair Trade label--to inform the public of the extent to which a company lives up to being environmentally healthy and socially fair. . Creating a strategy to protect Indigenous People's Land Rights, Livelihoods, and Health. Second, there will be a series of Workshops addressing topics such as: creating a successful anti-extraction campaign, ballot initiatives, effective activist strategies, fundraising, working with the media, lobbying and working with legislators, and effective public speaking on environmental issues. Lastly, the third day of the Conference will be devoted to actually Working on Capital Hill to lobby U.S. Senators and Representatives, and officials at the U.S. Bureau of Mines. It is our hope the Conference will be the first step in forming a dynamic and resilient international network that will make each individual anti-extraction group stronger, more effective, and better prepared to deal with this important battle that is getting more contentious each day. Please Join Us! Event Calendar Monday / May 23 Welcome Session 9:00am Working Groups 10:00am Lunch 12:30 - 1:30pm Working Groups 1:30 - 6:00pm Social Gathering 6:30pm Tuesday / May 24 Working Groups 9:00am - 12:30pm Lunch 12:30 - 1:30pm Workshops 1:30 - 5:30pm Summary Session 5:30 - 6:30pm Social Gathering 7:00pm Wednesday / May 25 Legislative and Government Office Visits * We suggest that you schedule your own appointment with your Senator, Representative or Mining Official at least 60 days in advance. If you need help with this scheduling we will be happy to assist. Please contact Abygale at Abygale.Lund(a)oei-dc.org Event Registration To Register for the Conference Registration Continues through: May 23, 2011 By Email: Send your and your organization's name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number to Abygale.Lund(a)oei-dc.org. Please submit your registration fee by clicking on the PayPal/Donate button on the Home Page of Our Earth Institute at www.oei-dc.org. You will receive an email confirmation of your registration and payment. By Regular Mail: Send your and your organization's name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, and a check or money order made out to "Our Earth Institute" to: Our Earth Institute 4410 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., #174 Washington, DC 20016 USA Registration Rates If you have special circumstance that do not allow you to pay, contact Abygale.Lund(a)oei-dc.org Individual rates: (USD) . Working Attendees: $40 . Low-income seniors/college students/partially employed: $30 . International Attendees: $10 Organization rates: Two individuals from your organization are allowed for this fee. (USD) . Organizations: $80 Workshop Proposals You must be registered for the conference to submit a workshop. Workshops are limited to 45-50 minutes. Proposals are due by: May 16, 2011. Please submit your proposals to jim(a)oei-dc.org Posters & Tabling There will be space provided for registered organizations to present a poster and to accommodate organizational outreach materials. Space is limited and the deadline for requests is May 18, 2011. There is no charge for tabling. Contact us if your want to table: jim(a)oei-dc.org <mailto:jim@oei-dc..org> Accommodations Affordable hotels and alternative housing are being arranged as we speak. Please consult future publications on the conference for this information. Sponsorships If you or your organization would like to be a sponsor of the event, please contact Jim Polk at jim(a)oei-dc.org Sponsorships include registration for up to four individuals from your organization and registration to give a workshop, as well as special recognition in the program. Venue The event will be held at the Cloyd Heck Marvin Center 800 21st Street Northwest, Washington D.C., at the George Washington University, which is three blocks east of the Foggy Bottom / GWU Metro Stop on the Orange/Blue line. Directions to The George Washington University Campus Cloyd Heck Marvin Center and University Conferences 800 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052 By Plane . If you are traveling by plane and flying directly into Ronald Reagan National Airport, you can reach the campus by taxi, which will cost approximately $15. You can also reach campus by taking the Metro Blue Line (heading in the direction of Largo Town Center). Exit at the stop marked Foggy Bottom - GWU. . If you are flying into Dulles International Airport, you can take the Washington Flyer Shuttle Bus to downtown Washington. Tickets can be purchased at the airport. You may also take a taxi directly form the airport. By Train If you are traveling by train, you will arrive at Union Station and can take a taxi for the approximate cost of $10. You can also take the Metro Red Line (heading toward Shady Grove). When you reach the Metro Center stop, transfer to the Blue Line (heading toward Franconia-Springfield) or the Orange Line (heading towards Vienna). Exit at the stop marked Foggy Bottom-GWU. By METRO/ Public Transit If you are traveling by Metro to campus, exit at the stop marked Foggy Bottom/GWU. As you exit the station, you will be at 23rd and I Streets. By Car . From North Interstate 95 south to Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway) toward Silver Spring/Northern Virginia. Take exit 33, heading south on Connecticut Avenue for about 9 miles. Turn right onto Florida Avenue (just past the Washington Hilton) and turn left immediately onto 21st Street. The Marvin Center is located at 800 21st Street (between H and Eye Streets). . From Northwest Interstate 270 to Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway) toward Silver Spring. Take exit 33, heading south on Connecticut Avenue for about 9 miles. Follow directions as given in From North. . From West Interstate 66 and Route 50 both connect with the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge. Cross the bridge and exit left at E Street, then again at Virginia Avenue. Bear left, following signs for 23rd Street. Turn right on 23rd 1Street and continue a few blocks to campus. Turn right on H Street. The Marvin Center is on your left between 22nd and 21st Streets. . >From South Interstate 95 to Interstate 395 Arlington Memorial Bridge exit. Cross the bridge and bear left at the Lincoln Memorial. Turn left onto 23rd Street, NW, and follow directions as given in From West. Parking The Marvin Center Garage operates from 7am - midnight Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends. Make sure you have your car out by 11:45pm. A visitor's parking garage is located between 23rd and 22nd Streets and H and Eye Streets. The visitor entrance is on Eye Street. Parking on campus is at a premium and visitors are encouraged to use public transportation when visiting the campus. The nearest METRO stop, Foggy Bottom/GWU located on the Orange/Blue lines, is a short 3-block walk from the Marvin Center. Any Questions whatsoever, call: Jim Polk 202-257-9333 or Abygale Lund 860-304-9789 -- 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 _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1375 / Virus Database: 1500/3635 - Release Date: 05/13/11

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Fw: Financial Times: France to ban fracking of fossil fuels
by Jim Sconyers 12 May '11

12 May '11

Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Peter Gollon <PGollon(a)AOL.COM> To: CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Sent: Thu, May 12, 2011 1:14:22 PM Subject: Financial Times: France to ban fracking of fossil fuels France to ban fracking of fossil fuels By Peggy Hollinger in Paris Published: May 11 2011 22:39 | Last updated: May 11 2011 23:06 French lawmakers have voted to ban a controversial technique used to extract shale gas and oil that opponents say contaminates the environment. If the vote by the lower house of parliament passes the Senate next month, France will be the first country to ban hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. The process injects water, chemicals and sand into rock formations to break them open and extract previously unattainable fossil fuel deposits. Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policywhich allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support(a)ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/907fd72c-7c06-11e0-9b16-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1M9… The overwhelming vote by the National Assembly follows months of protest across France against a technique that environmentalists say threatens to pollute the water table. Many were outraged at the beginning of the year when it was discovered that several exploration permits had been granted without public consultation. The issue has become highly political as the government prepares for a difficult presidential campaign next year. Far from claiming victory, environmentalists and opposition Socialists accused the government of yielding to industry lobbying, because last-minute amendments to the draft law will allow scientific research to be conducted on shale gas and oil and its environmental impact, albeit under the control of state entities. The government will deliver an annual report to parliament on the conditions of this research, the first due by the end of the year. France relies on nuclear power for most of its electricity, but the Fukushima disaster has encouraged interest in other energy sources. The government has found itself caught between the possibility of exploiting new energy sources and addressing public concern over the environmental consequences. A report by the industry ministry recommended that test wells be drilled as it would be “damaging for the economy and for jobs for our country to forbid itself a deeper evaluation of this potential wealth”. Industry sources said they were relieved that the law had not revoked the permits already granted. A study published this week by scientists at Duke University in North Carolina found no sign that fracking chemicals were polluting the water supply, but there was evidence that gas was leaking from shale wells into drinking water, creating an explosion risk. A report by the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security last week found that Europe could cover its energy needs for the next 60 years if it was able to develop its unconventional gas resources. Nonetheless the French oil companies association Union Francaise des Industries Petrolieres said it “strongly regrets” the ban. Assuming the bill is not significantly changed when it is debated in the upper house next month, companies will have to deliver a report on the techniques they plan to use to explore for fossil fuels. If these techniques include hydraulic fracking, their permits will be cancelled. If they fail to report the use of the banned technology and are found to be using it, executives could face a €75,000 ($107,000) fine and prison sentences. Additional reporting by Ed Crooks in New York Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/907fd72c-7c06-11e0-9b16-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1M1… - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS list, send any message to: CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp

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Fwd: wowza - this is interesting commentary on the power industry's PR needs
by James Kotcon 11 May '11

11 May '11

Is this for real? JBK >>> West Virginia News Service WVNS <wvnsnews(a)gmail.com> 5/10/2011 2:24 PM >>> This is brilliant. ------------------------------ *From:* send23-proxymailing(a)peabodyusa.com [mailto: send23-proxymailing(a)peabodyusa.com] *On Behalf Of *Peabody Energy *Sent:* Tuesday, May 10, 2011 7:50 AM *To:* *Subject:* Peabody Announces "Coal Cares," Nationwide Campaign to Fight Asthma Stigma *Peabody** Energy (NYSE: BTU) Announces "Coal Cares™" Initiative, New Nationwide Campaign Against Stigma of Childhood Asthma* ST. LOUIS, May 10, 2011 / PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Peabody Energy today announced the creation of an innovative new public health initiative designed to combat the stigma of asthma among American children ages 0-18. With Coal Cares™ (www.coalcares.org), Peabody will offer free, custom-branded inhaler actuators <http://coalcares.org/freeinhalers.html> to children living within 200 miles of a coal plant, along with coupons worth $10 towards the purchase of the asthma medication itself. "Too many young Americans face daily schoolyard taunting and bullying because of a condition over which they have no control," said Gregory H. Boyce, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Peabody Energy. "By re-branding the inhaler as a cool, individualized, must-have accessory, Coal Cares™ will empower children to tell bullies: ‘suck it up.’" Children can choose from a variety of youth-themed inhaler cases, from tween faves like "the Bieber" and "My Little Pony," to the "Emo" and "Diamond" inhalers for older, style-conscious youth. There’s even "My First Inhaler," for tots. Coal Cares™ launches today in commemoration of Asthma Awareness Month<http://www.epa.gov/asthma/awm/>, the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to call attention to rising asthma rates<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/health/research/04asthma.html?_r=3>, especially among children. Coal Cares™ and its Puff-Puff™ line of inhalers is the first, and most ambitious, market-friendly public health initiative of this scope of any privately-owned American company, and testifies to the energy industry’s commitment to the well-being of all citizens, including the youngest. "Our actions are guided by a singular mission: to be a leading worldwide producer and supplier of balanced energy solutions, which power economic prosperity and well-being," said Boyce. "Coal Cares™ brings this mission to life, empowering children everywhere to take control of their destinies, beginning with their own lungs." "Coal Cares™ is emblematic of the return to self-reliance that healthy entrepreneurship demands," said James Miasmus, Vice President of Government Affairs at Peabody USA. "Costly ‘scrubbing’ technology, on the other hand, is an untested and heavy-handed intrusion into our still-vulnerable economy. At Peabody, we're thinking globally but acting locally, and locating preventive action at the point of consumption, where it belongs." "Coal Cares™ isn’t just the name of a campaign," said Kevin Briesslau, Vice President of Communications at Peabody Coal. "It’s a philosophy, a way of doing business in harmony with the community we are a part of. After all, coal is the fastest-growing fuel in the world. We're part of America’s heritage, and we’re here to stay." To learn more about Peabody's Coal Cares™ initiative, visit: www.coalcares.org. Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in clean coal solutions. With 2010 sales of 246 million tons and nearly $7 billion in revenues, Peabody fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity. CONTACT: Vic Ganey Phone (314) 472-5539 SOURCE Peabody Energy -- West Virginia News Service (WVNS) Toll Free: 1-800-317-6705 Fax: 540-301-0801 E-mail: wvns(a)publicnewsservice.org

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Fwd: Fw: Statement from Mary Anne Hitt on Peabody "Coal Cares" prank by the Yes Men
by James Kotcon 11 May '11

11 May '11

So I guess it was a prank. JBK >>> Orli Cotel <Orli.Cotel(a)SIERRACLUB.ORG> 5/10/2011 5:01 PM >>> Hi, wanted to make sure everyone saw this statement that went out earlier today. Orli Orli Cotel Deputy Communications Director Sierra Club (415)977-5627 (work) (646)522-7751 (cell) -----Forwarded by Orli Cotel/Sierraclub on 05/10/2011 02:00PM ----- To: orli.cotel(a)sierraclub.org From: "Orli Cotel, Sierra Club" <orli.cotel(a)sierraclub.org> Date: 05/10/2011 11:52AM Subject: Statement from Mary Anne Hitt on Peabody "Coal Cares" prank by the Yes Men View a web version of this email. Contact: Orli Cotel (415) 977-5627 or (646) 522-7751 Statement of Beyond Coal Campaign Director Mary Anne Hitt, in response to the Yes Men prank launching fake “Coal Cares” website from Peabody Coal Today, a website reported to be from Peabody Coal , called "Coal Cares" www.coalcares.org, announced that the company would offer reimbursement vouchers to any family of a child with asthma living near a coal-fired power plant. The website was recently revealed to be a prank by The Yes Men. Mary Anne Hitt responds: “Today’s prank from the Yes Men may have been a fake, but it drew attention to a very real issue. Pollution from coal plants is making kids sick, triggering asthma attacks and more. Coal pollution causes over 12,000 visits to the emergency room each year – and over $100 billion in health costs. Low-income families are struggling to pay health care bills for their kids, while polluters like Peabody should be paying for the mess they create. It's clear that, well, coal doesn’t care. Peabody’s response today showed that the company is not planning to help the families that are bearing the burden of the pollution they’re creating. While this prank may have been satirical, the real effects of coal pollution on kids with asthma is not funny. This is yet another reminder that we need to transition to cleaner sources of energy like wind and solar that don't make people sick." Sierra Club | 85 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94105 | Change Media Type | Contact Us | Visit the Press Room Update My Profile | Manage My Email Preferences | Update My Interests | Unsubscribe - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS list, send any message to: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS-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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Fw: Wind Power and Wildlife: Set the Record Straight
by Frank Young 05 May '11

05 May '11

Wind Power and Wildlife: Set the Record StraightJim and all- Here is an AWEA alert about some of what I was telling you about at the ExCom meeting Saturday. I am not familiar with the draft guidelines USFWS has formulated. But AWEA is obviously mounting a campaign to weaken them. Frank ----- Original Message ----- From: Denise Bode, AWEA To: Franklin Young Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 5:36 PM Subject: Wind Power and Wildlife: Set the Record Straight Dear Franklin, The future of the American wind industry is at stake - draft guidelines from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) threaten to halt the development of 34,000 megawatts of wind projects (enough to power nearly 9 million homes) and endanger 27,500 American jobs, all without achieving benefits to wildlife beyond those available from less intrusive means. The deadline for public comments is just two weeks away and we need you to write to FWS and set the record straight. Let them know that: a.. Deploying wind power and protecting wildlife are important and complementary goals - and that the wind energy industry has worked with states, wildlife conservation organizations, scientists, tribes, and federal officials to provide recommended guidelines that would achieve just that. Click here to read more about this initiative. b.. Expanding the use of wind power improves environmental conditions for wildlife because wind power has none of the harmful emissions, water use, mining, drilling and hazardous waste of other energy sources. c.. While birds do collide with wind turbines at some sites, modern wind power plants are collectively far less harmful to birds than numerous other manmade projects like radio towers, tall buildings, airplanes or vehivcles. The National Academy of Sciences estimated in 2006 that wind power is responsible for 3 of every 100,000 bird detahs caused by humands and pets. With two weeks left in their public comment period there's still time for you to submit a comment to FWS to urge them to adopt guidelines that are workable for wind power and wildlife. We have drafted a letter for you that includes the facts referenced in this e-mail. Please personalize this letter with a sentence or two about the importance of growing wind energy development in the U.S. and click submit to send it along to FWS. Thanks so much for your help on this important issue. Sincerely, Denise Bode CEO, American Wind Energy Association If you no longer wish to receive e-mail from us, please click here.

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FW: [mountainpartyexcom] Bob Henry Baber interview with Beckley newspaper
by Grubb, Karen 02 May '11

02 May '11

April 24, 2011 Gubernatorial candidate profiles: the Mountain Party’s Bob Henry Baber<http://www.register-herald.com/todaysfrontpage/x461201913/Gubernatorial-can…> <http://www.register-herald.com/> BECKLEY — Editor’s Note: Through May 4, The Register-Herald will publish a daily story featuring in-depth interviews we conducted with candidates seeking the office of governor of West Virginia. Each of the 16 people who filed were issued an invitation to appear before our editorial board, and 14 of those came to Beckley to meet with us and discuss some of the key issues in West Virginia. The stories will appear in the order in which the candidates were interviewed. Today’s story focuses on Mountain candidate Bob Henry Baber, of Glenville. 1 — It certainly appears that Marcellus shale regulation will remain a major topic of interest for the next several years. What are the key features that you see that need to be included in West Virginia law in order to best serve the interests of all the parties involved? Obviously, I’m for the development of this relatively green energy source. We do have to have regulation, no doubt about that. That’s going to mean we’re going to have to have some fees, the tax. We’re going to have to increase the filing fees. Even the DEP says right now they really don’t have enforcement capabilities for these now about 3,000 new employees that are pretty much gallivanting around the state. It’s really, really important that we protect our water and that we make sure that the environment is protected as this new wave of development takes place. I do want to say, interestingly enough, I have a farm in Greenbrier County. And I do not own the mineral rights. It’s a broad form deed. I actually brought two of them with me. I’ll leave them with you. These are the deeds to my grandparents’ farm, and they actually outline the rights of the surface owner as opposed to the mineral owner, and/or the gas owner in this case. And really, as I jokingly said, it’s a broad form of deed; all grandpa, all you bought, was the air. These broad form deeds were revised, you might say outlawed, for strip mining purposes in every state in the union. Kentucky was the last in 1980. But the only thing the landowner is protected from, the private landowner, is from strip mining. They’re not protected from gas interests. And that gives me real pause because, guess what, I got a letter from a gas company saying we want to come in and test on your farm. I’ve got 30 acres in Greenbrier County. I’m surrounded by 300,000 privately held acres in Westvaco, and it kind of makes me wonder why they want to come in on my 30 when there’s 300,000 around me. It also gives me pause for my well, my land, my surface. I’ve only got seven acres that are cleared. The test might not be that big. But if an actual well came in, it could be significant. This poses a real growth opportunity for West Virginia. But we need to protect the environment. And there’s one thing that I’m going to say, and that is, this can probably open to maybe another conversation a little about mountaintop mining and coal mining. But we need to, with this Marcellus development, create what I’m calling the energy dividend. We need to rake some money off the top of gas and coal. I’m talking new taxes, or severance taxes, to create the new green economy. We are an energy-producing state. That’s kind of insulated us a little bit. You know, everything is happening in the country. Of course, we didn’t have a big bubble to pop. But we’ve got to bridge the future to the new energy future. We have that opportunity, being an energy-producing state now, with fossil fuels, to move into the future, to plan the West Virginia of 50 years from now. And I don’t really see anyone looking at that. 2 — As the debt for OPEB continues to rise, what steps need to be taken to stem the tide and begin reversing this trend? It’s a huge problem, and I have to say I really don’t have a ready solution for it, and I’m not sure any other politicians really do. A lot of our politicians say cut taxes and make jobs. I have no idea what that actually really means. We’re going to have to continue to be extremely fiscally responsible in West Virginia. I’ve been mayor. Even though I’m a liberal in the Mountain Party, I’m as tight as the bark on a tree. I was as tight as the bark on a tree in Richwood. You can’t spend money. Now, people say you’ve got to cut waste and use the waste to cut down the liability. Unfortunately, you know, waste is not like a slab of fat on the side of a steak. It’s not like that. So waste is extremely difficult to cut. It can be done. I found out when I was in Richwood. But it’s not a very small level. I’d like to speak from specificities of my experiences. Really, 10 percent of our budget was being wasted. We had a $1 million budget; about $100,000 was being wasted on equipment you couldn’t need, couldn’t use, couldn’t fix. Plus, and this is something you kind of get into, this is sort of a difficult issue, you have to have an investment strategy for your state. Sometimes you have to invest to save. We all know that. When your car gets really, really old, sometimes you’re better off to take a loan and buy a new one. In Richwood, when I became mayor, I found out that we had old computers that no one was trained on. We weren’t paying anybody anything to work them either, $7 or $8 an hour. Well, guess what? At the end of the year, we had to hire all the accountants to come in and redo all our books and spend a small fortune doing it, because all the data we had was garbage. So what did we do? We invested and spent some money on buying new computers and training our people to use them. We gave them pay raises from $7-$8 to $10-$12, and guess what, we saved money. So sometimes you do have to invest to save. And that’s a complex issue for people to understand, I think, sometimes. You can’t just say, well, cut, cut, cut, cut. You’re a newspaper. Sometimes you have to spend money to save money or move forward. Waste is awful hard to get at. I think we should try to do that. But that’s going to be an ongoing issue for our state. I applaud Gov. Manchin’s first forays into paying down some of our unfunded liabilities. He was a fiscally responsible governor, rolled up his sleeves and did a few things. I worked very closely in Richwood to do some things. We’re just going to have to watch our budget like a hawk and try to pay down these unfunded liabilities as best we can. 3 — Transportation remains a significant issue, especially in our region. What, specifically, will you do as governor to try to resolve the funding crisis as it relates to financing new construction and providing for adequate maintenance of our existing roads and bridges? It is a big issue. I do think that one of the hidden costs of coal is its toll on our roads, particularly in the southern part of the state. And we’re starting to see this with Marcellus shale, too, where a lot of these small roads in the rural areas are being torn all to pieces. So that’s another issue we have to take a look at. If you look at the state budget, 50 percent of it goes to education. Another 20 percent goes to welfare and social systems. Another 15 to 20 percent for security. And actually, when you start getting down to the nitty gritty, there’s not a whole lot of slack in our budget. So, I think, the federal government is not in great shape. Federal money is going to get tougher, and tougher and tougher to get. We’re going to have to get very aggressive about linking with and utilizing the federal government to... We’re already getting more than our fair share of the pie, but we’re going to have to continue to do that. We’re going to need federal dollars. It’s going to have to be part of the Marcellus shale solution, too. We’re going to have to factor in the cost to the roads and what the damage to the roads is going to be. (Would you have signed the $40 million increase in motor vehicle fees?) I’m not too happy about the vehicle tax, to be honest with you. Vehicles are something everybody has to have. I think it tends to be harder on and unfair for the lower-class person. I’m more vice-oriented. I think that taxes on cigarettes should go up. Liquor and things like that. I really don’t like raising taxes, but if you do have to raise taxes, I don’t like to do it on necessities. I am glad that we lowered the food sales tax by one percent. I hope eventually we’ll get rid of that. 4 — One of former Gov. Joe Manchin’s major platform issues was education reform. While much was discussed, no wide-ranging changes to the way we educate our children have been made in the recent past. What are your plans when it comes to education reform? Well, first, I want to say I really am a big supporter of small schools, and I think we should maintain as many of those as we possibly can, particularly our little elementary schools out in the rural area. Now, I come from Richwood. Richwood is continuing to be in decline. The elementary school would be fine. Richwood High School is hanging in there. Richwood High School actually is the heart and soul of that town right now, the town itself economically. Richwood used to be the Lewisburg of the mountains. It’s now like a bubble of southern West Virginia with the loss of coal jobs and the emergence of Summersville as a regional hub. If Richwood lost its high school, it would literally have no heart left. On the other hand, I’m in Gilmer County right now. Gilmer has lost half its population in 20 years. We have five little, tiny, old elementary schools, and frankly, they don’t want to lose them, because these little towns that have them, Normantown, whatever, if they lose their school, that’s kind of the end of their town, last little focal point. On the other hand, when you’re in a county that’s lost half of its population, you may have to consolidate in some cases. And that’s to be avoided. I hate long bus rides for the kids. But it may have to happen. Going up to the next level, we definitely need to link higher education more effectively with our students coming out of high school. So many students showing up at Glenville don’t have the skills to make it. They really don’t. And I really love what our colleges are doing. You know, we have the hidden P.R.O.M.I.S.E. Scholarship program. It’s actually the wave of the future of West Virginia. I’m going to tap my institution at Glenville. We’ve caught the wave, you might say. And our idea is to identify great students who might be first generation and have specific needs and start cultivating them in the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th grade, bring them to camps, get them introduced to college. Give them some scholarship money. If they come to Glenville, great. But if they go to college, great. If you look at the United States today, 25 percent of United States citizens have bachelor’s degrees. In West Virginia, it’s 17 percent, and in central West Virginia it’s 13 percent. And I’m going to say something here that’s probably going to be a little unpopular with some of your readers. But I do believe that the P.R.O.M.I.S.E. Scholarship should be needs-based. Really. I’m a professor myself. And I’ve been a single dad. I’ve raised three kids. I’m not making any big money. I’ve got two in college. So it’s a bit of a struggle for me. But I’m making a decent salary, too. But you know, traditionally, the vehicle by which people could move up in our society was through higher education. And really, when you have doctors and lawyers and professors such as myself, those kids are more apt to get P.R.O.M.I.S.E. Scholarship but don’t have as great a need. We need to reach down here and help these students who are not going to make it to school unless we help them out. And I will say on the federal level, even though this is not specifically about West Virginia, Obama has called for $44 billion for Pell Grants and loans. The Republicans want $17 billion. To me, that’s a cut that should not be made. That’s an investment strategy. We’re now No. 9 in the world in terms of graduation and sinking fast. If we’re going to compete in the world of the future, we’ve got to continue to get college graduates, and that means giving them the money to go to school. Even as it is, the students... My son is going to Glenville right now. He’s borrowing some serious money. He’s going to be $30,000 in debt, or more, when he gets out. Well, that’s daunting to me, to think about starting out life that way. We’ve got to help our students. (On the issue of dropouts) I think this program we’ve got at Glenville... We’ve got a mentoring component, identifying students who are leader students. We’ve really got to start reaching down in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. You cannot wait until the ninth, 10th and 11th grades. They’re lost to you by then. So we’ve got to start intervening early in identifying the at-risk students and trying to get them interested in going to college and keeping them going. Also, we traditionally in West Virginia, unfortunately, have sort of brought up the rear in terms of community colleges. We’ve made some progress that way. But they really are the gateway institutions. So, linkages to those students who may not want to do a traditional four-year school but would want to be in the different trades. I’ll give you a great example from Glenville. We have a land resources program. Those students are doing very, very well now, with everything that’s going on in the gas fields. Well, you know a bunch of our programs are associate degree programs. Most people don’t know that, even though we’re a four-year school. So you can get a two-year degree and leave Glenville and go right out into the oil and gas fields and make a good salary for yourself and a good living. So, these are the kinds of things we need to look at, very pragmatic linkages with what our state’s needs are and the needs of our students. (On charter schools) I’m not opposed to charter schools. They don’t really seem to be that big of an issue in West Virginia. We really don’t have the wherewithal to make a whole lot of charter schools. In urban areas, charter schools have been used and some by the Republicans, I think, as kind of a wedge into the public school system. I like the public school system and support the public school system. To come back to one of your earlier questions, I would like to see us have sort of... Obama had sort of a Race to the Top. I like the idea that we would put out grant programs that would not penalize schools that are necessarily doing poorly but reward schools for doing very well and reward teachers who are doing well. So I think that would be a way to improve our schools. 5 — We are constantly being told, and are witnessing every day the far-reaching impacts of drug abuse. What will you do as governor to address the epidemic and do you have any specific plans for interdiction efforts? That is a deep, deep-breath question. I saw plenty of it in Richwood. We’ve got plenty of opportunity to walk around the corner and get some OxyContin if you’ve got a mind to do it. And OxyContin is terribly frightening to me. These designer drugs are so enticing. I feared for my own children, to be honest with you, when they were in Richwood. You’re just thinking, “Hey, you know, it’s one thing to be smoking marijuana, and a lot of our kids do, right?” That doesn’t really frighten me that much. But when you think about them crushing up the first OxyContin pill and doing it, and knowing their brain circuitry is going to be rewired, that’s a terribly frightening thought. I think we’ve just got to — our education system — we’ve just got to get our kids interested in making a life for themselves. And it’s tough. I know in Richwood, you know, that town is very depressed. The kids are depressed. And the temptation, you know, to self-medicate, is very, very strong. So I think we need to do education. We need to be talking to students about the perils of this. To be honest with you, I think our “Just Say No” strategy is a bit naive and foolish, because you can say that and the kids will be with that until they’re about 10 or 12, and they’re going to try marijuana, and they’ll get a little high and kind of enjoy it. And then they’ll start drinking and saying, “Well, you say drinking was bad, but I kind of enjoyed those first couple of beers. Now maybe I’ll hit it a little bit harder.” So I think some reality-based discussions with the, about the true nature of what can happen to you if you head down the serious drug road. We need to get that word out there. Maybe we need to get people who have really lost it and fallen apart, have them in schools talking more about this to kids, where they can see people who have gone to prison, people who have lost their families and their jobs. A little reality-based talking. Please highlight the key points of your platform. I want to say a couple of things. First, I run kind of as a common person. You might say in the Mountain Party, we’re sort of the bake-sale party. And I think that actually speaks well of us. Because as the big money is raised by the Republicans and Democrats, you got to be wondering, you know, what influence is that buying? It will buy influence. I’ve lived all over West Virginia. I have a child born here in Beckley. I’ve been in Beckley, Williamson, Montgomery, Richwood, Charleston, Huntington and Glenville. I’ve lived all over the state. And I’ve been everything from a house painter and a landscaper to an executive director, a Kellogg fellow, and a mayor. I’ve really got a breadth of experience that I think probably many of the other politicians don’t have. One thing that has to be addressed in our discussion here today is the issue of mine safety. I’m very unhappy with what happened at Upper Big Branch. I am not an enemy of coal. However, if coal is gong to put profits above the lives of 29 miners, and that’s what happened at Upper Big Branch... We all know there were no carbide tips on the front of the machine. The mine was laced with coal dust. So those sparks followed the coal dust to the methane. It’s murder. I’m not against coal. We are going to be dependent on coal. We are going to mine coal in West Virginia. But we need to do it safely and responsibly. Also, in regard to mountaintop mining, which is a huge plank of the Mountain Party, none of the Republicans or Democrats who are running are going to say they’re against mountaintop removal, because they want to be governor, and if you say that, you can’t get to be governor, which is unfortunate. >From an ecological point of view, we should stop mountaintop removal today. However, we have to take a reality bite here and that is right now, there are 6,000 miners directly tied to that employment, and probably another 10 to 15,000 indirect jobs. So we need to phase out mountaintop removal. We need to put the bulldozers in reverse, actually, and start reclaiming the land that’s already behind us. And I have a proposal to do that. We should take abandoned mine land; that’s what the money is for. We’ve got to start a transition in those southern counties toward what I call a green economy. We take some money off of coal and gas, and we create solar manufacturing plants and solar collector stations, and we transition to the new green economy, which is coming. And we need to get ahead of the curve and think forward, not backward. We have a lot of politicians now digging in their heels, looking backward, trying to defend coal. No, let’s take this last window of opportunity with coal and this new window of opportunity with fracking and create the new green that’s coming. I wanted to say this about jobs. So we have green energy jobs. I’ll not talk about the West Virginia Development Office. You may not be aware of this. I’ve been in grant writing and have written $21 million grants in my life. West Virginia is getting one-fourth of the federal and private grant dollars that Mississippi is getting. Why? We don’t have enough people in West Virginia that know how to write grants to get our fair share of the pie. Our West Virginia Development Office should have 10 grant writers that do nothing but follow the big foundations around — Wal-Mart, Lumina, putting out huge money for education. And on the list goes. Grants for health care, obesity — all the issues that our state needs to address. We’re not getting the private dollars to augment what we need. Tourism. I’m huge on tourism, and that is one place I would invest more money in. Tourism is huge for West Virginia’s future; that would include bringing the retirees back. We’re seeing quite a bit of that. Tourism is huge for West Virginia. We need to push, push, push on that. But unfortunately, mountaintop removal is antithetical to tourism. So, we’ve got to protect our environment. One little catch phrase I’d like to throw out to you — what I call the “green new deal.” I want to talk about the jobs that are going to be the new green jobs for West Virginia. Does coal have a future in green energy world? Coal is going to be with us for awhile. It does not matter. Right now, the environmental groups are trying to end mountaintop removal. You know, the Spruce Knob has been significantly downsized, or even stopped, by EPA for now. They had other alternatives, and they did not submit them. They could have done 80 to 90 percent of what they wanted to do, but they got a little greedy. Here’s the big story that’s not being told to West Virginia: Mountaintop removal will end, and it’s not going to end because of the EPA or the environmentalists. It’s going to end because we are in competition with the Powder River basin in Wyoming, which is now producing 400 million tons of coal a year, 40 percent of all the electrical energy made by coal in the United States. And that mine is growing by leaps and bounds. We’re not going to compete much longer with that mine. I believe that mountaintop removal is going to end in West Virginia, no matter what, probably at a maximum 15 to 20 years. My biggest fear is that it’s going to end, and in its wake, the coal companies are going to pull out and leave behind massive chunks of unreclaimed land. That’s the worst possible scenario that can happen. The country is going to continue to consume coal. We’re hooked on it. We’re hooked on coal, and we’re hooked on oil. We have no place else to go. So, coal’s not going anywhere. Now, our metallurgical coal will continue to be a very viable export. When people say I’m an environmentalist, but guess what, I tanked up my car to drive down here to see you guys here today. And I like to turn on the lights in my house, too. I’m just as dependent as you are. We’re all part of the problem. So, I haven’t got my head stuck in the clouds, saying, “We’re just going to pull the plug on coal,” and say, “Oh, well, that’s it for coal.” That ain’t going to happen. Mountain Party's Bob Henry Baber talks about green jobs and the economy in W.Va. gov race<http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/3166f997419540adba798a7afe4236c6/WV--…> * BRITTANY ERSKINE Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Preparing West Virginia for the economy of the future is exactly what Bob Henry Baber wants to do. "We're just not doing what we need to do to move forward," Baber said. "West Virginia should be able to educate our people and move our people forward and be a cutting edge state." The 60-year-old former mayor of Richwood is one of two Mountain Party candidates competing for the party's nomination, which will be decided at convention Sunday. Six Democrats and eight Republicans are running in the May 14 primary election. This year's special gubernatorial election is to fill the remaining term of former Gov. Joe Manchin, who was elected to the U.S. Senate last year following the death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Baber sees the state gradually transitioning to producing and using green energy. "We could have solar factories making solar panels and selling them around the world," he said. "We're in a key position to make a transition to becoming the new green energy state." As governor, his two priorities would be "education and tying education to jobs." As a major gifts officer and former professor at Glenville State University, Baber praises the school's Hidden Promise program. The program identifies sixth-graders with promise, but in "need some help getting to go to college." Participants receive tutoring, mentoring and other activities designed to keep them in school and help them get into college. A small schools person, Baber wants to see the state's merit-based PROMISE scholarship shift to a needs-based scholarship to better help those in the middle class and below. "Needs should get it first," he said. "Fair is fair." Tying the curriculum of vocational schools to industry would help create jobs, particularly for the work force that will be demanded by Marcellus shale development, Baber said. He said community development could be enhanced by expanding access to high-speed internet and by fiscally empowering communities. "We tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but they have no capital," Baber said. ""It's not like these little towns don't know what they need to do. They know what they need to do, but the ones with no money don't have the capital to invest so they can't do it." One way to get money to communities for economic development projects may be through foundation grants, he said. According to FoundationSearch.com, in 2010 over $3.1 billion in grants were distributed throughout the nation. Only $4.8 million of that went to West Virginia. "One of the first things I would do as governor, I would hire 10 new people for the West Virginia Development office who would do nothing but link state needs with what the foundations were giving away nationally," he said. Calling the Republicans and Democrats "more alike than different," Baber said the Mountain Party offers voters a truly alternative platform.

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FW: Bob Henry Baber Wins Mountain Party Nomination for State Governor
by Grubb, Karen 02 May '11

02 May '11

Please read and forward widely to your organizational groups. Karen Grubb Mountain Party Secretary ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Ronda Gregory <ronda.gregory4(a)gmail.com> To: dhcorcoran(a)gmail.com; BErkskine(a)ap.org; russell(a)earthday.net; atoma68(a)yahoo.com; Roger.Sublett(a)myunion.edu; kmw(a)wvexecutive.com; mark(a)imagesbyromano.com; dbeard(a)dominionpost.com Sent: Mon, May 2, 2011 9:40:56 AM Subject: Bob Henry Baber Wins Mountain Party Nomination for State Governor Folks: Attached is the press release announcing that Bob Henry Baber was nominated yesterday as the Mountain Party candidate for governor. If you have any questions, please contact either me or Mr. Baber. Thank you for your time and attention to this wonderful news. Ronda Gregory Ronda Gregory Communications Director Bob Henry Baber for Governor Campaign Cell: (304) 685-3557 E-mail: ronda.gregory4(a)gmail.com<mailto:ronda.gregory4@gmail.com> Bob Henry Baber Home: (304) 462-0320 Cell: (304) 904-2440 E-mail: mayorbobhenrybaber(a)yahoo.com<mailto:mayorbobhenrybaber@yahoo.com>

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EC May 2011