MVCAC September 2017

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1 participants
4 discussions

Petrochemical America comes to SW Penna.
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 25 Sep '17

25 Sep '17

To: MonValley Clean Air Coalition, Join the growing regional conversation around the proposed expansion of the petrochemical industry in southwest Pennsylvania at an art exhibition about the petrochemical’s impact on the environment and people’s health. This exhibition was inspired by the book Petrochemical America by Richard Misrach and Kate Orff, which tells the story of the environmental degradation of the Louisiana landscape and the people who live there. This exhibit will feature work designed to relate to the growing web of fossil-fuel infrastructure in southwest Pennsylvania, including drawings from Petrochemical America, photography from the Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, audio recorded by Public Herald, and a selection of documentary films. This show is curated by Sophie Riedel in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab, Clean Air Council, Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community, PennFuture and the Air Quality Collaborative. Schedule of events: Opening Reception with Wilma Subra: September 27 – 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Regional Visioning Session: Elected officials and the public are invited to a conversation to envision a healthier economic future for our region. October 4 – 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. Closing Reception with Gena Wirth of SCAPE Studio: October 7 – 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. Location: SPACE, downtown Pittsburgh, 812 Liberty Ave RSVP: Reservations for the evening speakers are required through Eventbrite. Admission is free. Click Here! Documentary Film Screenings: Documentary films will be screened on a rotation throughout the event, with the exception of a Special Screening for each film noted in the list below. The films tell the stories of citizens and communities across the U.S. and Canada impacted by the petrochemical industry. TRIPLE DIVIDE (REDACTED) Pittsburgh Premiere Directors: Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman Distributor: Bullfrog Films (2017) Length: 52 minutes Special Screening: Thursday, September 28, 5 p.m. FENCELINE: A COMPANY TOWN DIVIDED Directors: Slawomir Grünberg Distributor: Filmmakers Library (2002) Length: 53 minutes Special Screening: Saturday, September 30, 5 p.m. LIVING DOWNSTREAM Directed by: Chanda Chevannes Distributed by: First Run Features (2010) Length: 55 minutes Special Screening: Sunday, October 1, 4 p.m. CANADA’S TOXIC CHEMICAL VALLEY Director: Patrick McGuire Distributor: Vice (2013) Length: 31 minutes Special Screening: Thursday, October 5, 5 p.m. ADDICTED TO PLASTIC Director: Ian Connacher Distributor: Bullfrog Films (2008) Length: 53 minutes Special Screening: Friday, October 6, 5 p.m. Photo credit: From Pipe to Plastic Bag, Petrochemical America by Richard Misrach and Kate Orff. More details on Facebook @PetrochemicalAmerica Clean Air Council, CREATE Lab, Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community, PennFuture and Air Quality Collaborative gratefully acknowledge Aperture Foundation books and exhibitions departments and SCAPE for the rights to reprint the work.

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New study shows air pollution may be causing kidney disease in the US
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 24 Sep '17

24 Sep '17

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/new-study-shows-air-pollution-may-be-causin… New study shows air pollution may be causing kidney disease in the US Robert Ferris, CNBC, September 21, 2017 Add kidney disease to the list of health problems associated with air pollution. A team of scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System found an association between tiny particulate matter and kidney disease in two different data sets. The scientists compared Veteran Affairs data on kidney disease with data on air pollution from two separate sets: satellite data from NASA and information from the Environmental Protection Agency. Their study consistently found that risk of kidney disease rose along with air pollution levels across the continental United States. As might be expected, many of the areas of the U.S. at greatest risk tend to be more heavily populated. The part of the country with the lowest risk overall is a section that runs roughly from Montana through West Texas. There are pockets of lower-risk areas in other places, but much of California and the Eastern half of the United States are more vulnerable. The scientists published their results Thursday in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. It is important to note that this only found an association with air pollution — the study did not conclusively determine pollution to be the cause of kidney disease. But the fact that the study found the association in both the EPA data set and the NASA data set is compelling, said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a senior author on the study and an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University, in a statement. "The beauty of using both EPA and NASA data is that the agencies used two distinct techniques for collecting data, yet the results were similar," he said. "This constellation of findings suggests that chronic exposure to air pollution is a significant risk factor for the development and progression of kidney disease." The study focused on a type of pollution called PM 2.5, which is particulate matter up to 2.5 microns in size. This particular form of pollution can come from myriad sources, including vehicle emissions, fossil fuel power plants, wildfires or even campfires. Scientists say the particles can enter the bloodstream once they are breathed into the lungs. Air pollution has been linked to health problems as varied as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and weight gain. The study's authors say that one of those conditions could be responsible for kidney damage, rather than the pollution itself. They also noted that the population they studied was mostly older white male military veterans, so the results might not apply to other populations. The scientists tried to account for confounding factors, but there could still be additional variables, such as diet or genetics, or even other environmental factors such as exposure to heavy metals. But the data show a clear association. "In our analyses, the risk of chronic kidney disease and its progression was most pronounced at the highest levels of fine particulate matter concentration," Al-Aly said in the release. "This suggests further study is needed for a broader assessment of the global burden of kidney disease attributable to air pollution." Air quality has improved in the United States in recent decades, but Al-Aly pointed out that there is no safe level of exposure to PM 2.5; even low levels can increase risk. Other parts of the world have serious problems with hazes of pollution. China has even had to essentially shut down entire cities for days at a time. Just breathing Beijing's air might be as bad as smoking 40 cigarettes a day.

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WV MetroNews – Former mining CEO indicted on campaign fraud charges
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

http://wvmetronews.com/2017/09/19/former-mining-ceo-indicted-on-campaign-fr… Former mining CEO indicted on campaign fraud charges WHEELING, W.Va. — A Morgantown man was indicted Tuesday on campaign fraud charges after allegedly using employees of his company to make contributions to several federal campaigns. James Laurita Jr. was indicted on multiple counts, including scheming to cause false statements to the Federal Election Commission; causing contributions in the name of another; causing excessive contributions; and causing false statement to the Federal Election Commission. Laurita, the former president and CEO of mining and processing corporation Mepco, is also accused of creating a scheme to use employees and their spouses to make campaign contributions with company funds. The donations are believed to have occurred from March 2010 to July 2013. The FBI has launched an investigation. MORE: Read the indictment.

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Air board refuses to hear concerns over Institute methanol plant
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-politics/20170918/air-board-refuses-to-he… Air board refuses to hear concerns over Institute methanol plant From an Article by Ken Ward, Jr., Charleston Gazette-Mail, September 18, 2017 Photo: Air Quality Board Chairman Michael Koon (left) and board lawyer Mark Weiler announce the board’s ruling Monday on an appeal of a permit for a US Methanol plant that is under construction in Institute, WV. Members of a state board on Monday refused to hear a permit appeal from a citizen group that is concerned that potential fires, explosions or other accidents at the US Methanol plant under construction in Institute could pose health and safety risks for area residents. The West Virginia Air Quality Board granted the Department of Environmental Protection’s motion to dismiss an appeal that the group People Concerned About Chemical Safety filed, agreeing with the DEP that the issues raised were beyond the scope of the state agency’s job. The decision means the board won’t hold a full hearing with testimony about the citizen group concerns. In arguing against the appeal being dismissed, Bill DePaulo, attorney for the People Concerned organization, urged the board members to make clear what ruling for the DEP’s motion would be saying to the public. “Win or lose, I’d just like a clear ruling,” DePaulo told board members. “Do it in big, bold letters: ‘We do not consider the human health and safety in issuing this permit.’ ” US Methanol hopes to start production in mid-2018 at the plant that would convert natural gas to methanol, a common industrial feedstock. The facility, located at the Institute property now operated by Dow Chemical, would use parts from a deconstructed plant in Brazil. A variety of political leaders, including Gov. Jim Justice and Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper praised the project, which promises 60 permanent jobs, during a groundbreaking ceremony two weeks ago. Construction had already begun, despite the pending challenge to the project’s air pollution permit. In the permit appeal filed in April, People Concerned argued that the DEP’s Division of Air Quality did not examine the potential consequences for the surrounding community of a spill, leak, fire or explosion at the US Methanol facility. The citizen group had planned to present an expert to testify to the board about what could happen if one of the facility’s largest tanks — holding up to 1.2 million gallons of methanol — explodes. The expert, James Rogers of West Texas A&M University, said in an affidavit that the risks associated with the facility include “catastrophic explosions” and that “critical safety features” to prevent such incidents were not included in the DEP-approved permit for US Methanol. The appeal also expressed concern about the potential effects on the health of nearby residents from routine emissions from the facility. It also urged the DEP to collect baseline public health data in the area before allowing US Methanol to begin operations. DEP attorney Jason Wandling told the board that such issues are beyond the limits of what his agency regulates under the state Air Pollution Control Act. Wandling said the People Concerned group was pushing for a broad reading of the state’s air pollution law, while the DEP focuses on specific statutory duties that spell out specific actions the agency is empowered to take. Wandling compared what the citizen group was asking the DEP to do to the agency deciding to ban smoking because it is harmful to human health. “If we tried to incorporate any of the provisions appellants ask for, [US Methanol] would be challenging those requirements, and [the] DEP would almost certainly lose that appeal,” Wandling said. Dave Yaussy, a lawyer for US Methanol, read a long list of local, state and federal agencies that he said are charged with dealing with the safety of plants like US Methanol. “There is no need for DAQ to duplicate those efforts,” Yaussy said. “If the board agrees to hear this appeal, it is rewriting the state’s Air Pollution Control Act.” DePaulo reminded the board that the Institute plant is located adjacent to a historically black university, and that other parts of the property were home for many decades to a huge stockpile of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, the chemical that killed thousands of people in a December 1984 leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. And the Institute plant itself, DePaulo reminded the board, has had plenty of serious leaks, fires and explosions over the years. “It doesn’t take someone who is paranoid or delusional to imagine the circumstances under which this particular facility could cause a very significant threat to health and safety,” DePaulo said. The board heard about 20 minutes of arguments on the DEP’s motion to dismiss, and then went behind closed doors for more than 45 minutes to deliberate on the motion. When board members returned to the public session, Chairman Michael Koon said the board was “very sympathetic” to the citizen concerns but that the issues “are not in the purview” of the DEP. Koon said the board had reached a “consensus,” but that the decision was not unanimous. He did not provide a vote count or specify which board members voted which way. Other board members taking part in the meeting were Grant Bishop, Stanley Mills, Tom Hansen and Jon Hunter.

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MVCAC September 2017