MVCAC December 2019

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Fact Check: Setting the record straight on President Trump’s recent wind comments - Into the Wind
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 24 Dec '19

24 Dec '19

https://www.aweablog.org/fact-check-setting-record-straight-president-trump… Fact Check: Setting the record straight on President Trump’s recent wind comments From an Article by Greg AlvarezDecember 23, 2019 This weekend, the President made a series of inaccurate statements about wind energy while omitting the many benefits it brings to communities throughout the country, particularly in the Midwest. A number of media outlets have already fact-checked the President’s remarks, but here’s a quick rundown of reality. Wind energy is not expensive Wind is now the cheapest source of new electric generating capacity in many parts of the country, according to sources like Wall Street investment firm Lazard Inc. In fact, wind’s costs have fallen by 70 percent over the last decade, and in many cases it’s now more cost-effective than coal or natural gas plants. Another recent study from Vibrant Clean Energy looked at Colorado’s energy future and found transitioning to wind and solar is the lowest-cost path moving forward. Wind power creates American manufacturing jobs Over 500 U.S. factories build wind turbine parts, employing more than 25,000 Americans. Many of these facilities are located in states that played a key role in President Trump’s election. Ohio leads the nation with 60 wind factories, while Texas is runner up with 46. Large wind manufacturing footprints are also found in Michigan (26 factories), Wisconsin (28 factories) and Pennsylvania (29 factories). Wind power supplies pollution-free electricity Wind turbines are largely composed of steel and concrete, the same materials as other power plants and countless other things in our modern world. A typical wind turbine repays its carbon footprint in less than six months and generates carbon-free electricity for the remainder of its 20 to 30 year lifespan. In 2019, wind helped avoid 43 million cars’ worth of carbon emissions. Wind also avoids significant amounts of air pollution like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates, which create smog and trigger asthma attacks. Studies show wind does not affect property values The most comprehensive study to date, published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2015 by researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Texas A&M University and San Diego State University, and involving data from more than 50,000 home sales among 27 counties in nine U.S. states concludes: “We find no statistical evidence that home values near turbines were affected in the turbine post-construction or post-announcement/pre-construction periods. Three of the most influential factors that affect property values include tax levels, school system quality, and strength of the local economy, and wind plays a positive role in all three. Wind farms nationwide paid over $1 billion in state and local taxes and land lease payments in 2019. Rural communities that often have low tax bases benefit tremendously from the influx of new tax revenue wind farms bring. For example, the town of Sheldon, New York eliminated its local taxes for eight years because wind revenue covered the community’s entire budgetary needs. In Ohio, the Lincolnview School District was able to provide every student with a laptop because of new wind resources. And wind improves local economies, strengthening family farms by paying over a quarter of a billion in lease payments every year and creating well-paying wind technician positions in rural communities. Wind energy is wildlife friendly Wind causes less than 0.01 percent of all human-related bird deaths. Exponentially larger sources include tall buildings (550 million) and cars (80 million). “You can’t be against renewable energy, wind and solar, if you are for protecting birds,” said David O’Neill, chief conservation officer at the Audubon Society. Wind also has vanishingly small impacts on bald eagles– only a few bald eagles in the four-decade history of the industry have ever been impacted by wind projects. There is no certain number of bald eagles a wind turbine can kill before it must be shut off. Many of President Trump’s supporters are from communities in the Wind Belt, which stretches from Texas up through the Dakotas. In fact, American wind power has invested $125 billion in states that voted for the President, and almost 80 percent of the wind farms built in the U.S. since 2016 are in states the President carried. At the Congressional level, 78 percent of Republican districts have a wind farm, wind-related factory, or both. We hope the President recognizes these positive impacts moving forward. Fact Check, December 23, 2019 Greg Alvarez Greg is AWEA's Deputy Director of External Communications. He is the head editor and writer for Into the Wind, and oversees AWEA's online content and opinion writing. Greg holds a Master's degree in Global Environmental Policy from American University's School of International Service. He also holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and Journalism from Lehigh University.

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Into the air, right ..... ?
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 22 Dec '19

22 Dec '19

Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance Reports ....... PRESIDENT TRUMP COMMENTING ON WIND ENERGY IN A DECEMBER 21 SPEECH: "We’ll have an economy based on wind. I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. I've studied it better than anybody I know. It's very expensive. They're made in China and Germany mostly — very few made here, almost none. But they're manufactured tremendous — if you're into this — tremendous fumes. Gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint — fumes are spewing into the air. Right? Spewing. Whether it's in China, Germany, it's going into the air. It's our air, their air, everything — right?" — From the White House transcript of President Trump's speech to the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach on Saturday.

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E.I.P. Seminar on US EPA
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 18 Dec '19

18 Dec '19

https://environmentalintegrityproject.salsalabs.org/webinaronshiftingfromep… Sent from my iPad, DGN

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Greta Thunberg Slams COP25, Says Response to Climate Crisis Is “Clever Accounting and Creative PR” | Democracy Now!
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 15 Dec '19

15 Dec '19

Greta Thunberg Slams COP25, Says Response to Climate Crisis Is “Clever Accounting and Creative PR” | Democracy Now! At the U.N. climate summit in Madrid, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed world leaders Wednesday, hours after she was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Thunberg came to the talks after a trip to meet with climate leaders across North America in anticipation of the scheduled climate conference in Santiago, Chile, before the talks were abruptly moved to the Spanish capital. In her address, Thunberg warned that the planet’s carbon budget is down to just eight years, and urged bold action. “I still believe that the biggest danger is not inaction. The real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR,” Thunberg said. https://www.democracynow.org/2019/12/12/greta_thunberg_speech_cop_time_maga… Sent from my iPad

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Health Effects of Air Pollution on Older Adults
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 11 Dec '19

11 Dec '19

https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2019/air-pollution-e… Rising Air Pollution May Be Hurting Your Health New study shows that dirty air is causing earlier deaths among older adults by Cheryl Platzman Weinstock, AARP, November 21, 2019 Comments: 0 fotog/Getty Images If air pollution has become a political issue, a new study shows it is increasingly becoming a health hot button, too, especially for older Americans. It's shaving weeks to years off their life expectancy and causing serious lung and other conditions. According to a new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, air quality declined by 5.5 percent on average nationwide from 2016 to 2018 after almost a decade of improvement. The villain behind these new findings is the rise in microscopic particulate matter, known as PM2.5, from car emissions, trucking, soot, smoke from wildfires, volatile compounds from factories, diesel generators and the burning of natural gases, said Karen Clay, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "The increase in PM2.5 is important because of its health impact,” said Clay, lead author of the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. She and her colleagues monitored 653 counties across the U.S. from 2009 to 2018. They found that the increase in air pollution was associated with 9,700 additional premature deaths of adults over age 30 from 2016 to 2018 and about 18,000 years of life lost among the elderly nationally. They attributed about 1,400 of the deaths in California to pollution stemming from the fires there in November 2018. In no way are the effects of air pollution so small as to be typically “killing people a day or two before they would have died anyway,” Clay noted. When microscopic particles from pollution are inhaled, they penetrate the deepest part of the lungs, which can create a cascade of reactions and inflammation, said pulmonologist Zab Mosenifar, medical director of the Women's Guild Lung Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The reactions then “take on a life of their own,” Mosenifar said. A healthy person may have a minor reaction, or the inhaled particles can create progressive scarring, or fibrosis, of lung tissue, causing shortness of breath, fatigue and a chronic cough in vulnerable adults with emphysema or other respiratory illnesses.

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Tell the WV PSC to support lower energy bills and cleaner air.
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 10 Dec '19

10 Dec '19

> Date: December 10, 2019 > > Subject: Tell the WV PSC to support lower energy bills and cleaner air. > > > > As a Morgantown resident and Mon Power electric customer, I want cleaner air AND a lower energy bill. And we can have both, but only if the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) approves Mon Power’s proposal to stop burning coal at the MEA (Morgantown Energy Associates) coal plant! > Please join me in asking the WV PSC to approve replacing the costly MEA coal plant. Add a personal message to let the PSC know how you’re affected by high energy bills and polluted air. > > Take Action! > Mon Power customers have been paying above market rates for electricity from the dirty MEA coal plant for more than a quarter of a century -- and we’d be on the hook for nearly another decade -- unless the PSC approves a proposal from Mon Power and MEA to replace it now. MEA also provides waste heat to WVU, and under the proposal, MEA would use gas boilers so that WVU would still get steam to heat the buildings. By closing this dirty coal plant, we'd ultimately pay less for electricity and breathe healthier air. > > Let the WV PSC know today that you want them to support replacing this plant to save money on our energy bills. > > One of the only groups opposing the companies’ smart proposal is the coal supplier. We can't let one company block this opportunity for Mon Power customers to save money. > > Thank you for standing up for lower energy bills and cleaner air by contacting the WV PSC today. > > Sincerely, Jim Kotcon, West Virginia, Sierra Club > Chapter Conservation Chair > > > > >

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Virginia's 'cleanest-burning coal plant' racks up third consent order for air pollution violations - Virginia Mercury
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 09 Dec '19

09 Dec '19

https://www.virginiamercury.com/blog-va/virginias-cleanest-burning-coal-pla… Virginia’s ‘cleanest-burning coal plant’ racks up third consent order for air pollution violations From an Article by Sarah Vogelsong, Virginia Mercury, December 6, 2019 Dominion's Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County, Virginia, 2019. (Sarah Vogelsong/Virginia Mercury) A Southwestern Virginia power plant praised by Dominion Energy as “one of the cleanest-burning coal plants in the country” has agreed to consent orders for violating state environmental laws more times than any other Dominion facility in Virginia since 2002, despite only being in operation seven years. This October, the utility signed a consent order with the Department of Environmental Quality for exceeding state particulate matter limits at the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County during stack testing conducted this past April. The company also agreed to pay a $32,550 civil penalty for the violations. A consent order is a legal agreement between the state and another party to institute corrective action following a violation instead of engaging in litigation. A review of DEQ enforcement actions since 2002 shows that no other Dominion facility during that time has had as many as Virginia City. The utility entered into two for the Chesapeake Energy Center, one in 2014 and one in 2015, but that facility has since been shut down. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dominion spokespeople have previously said the company has a policy against speaking with the Mercury. The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board offered no reaction to Virginia City’s latest violation during its December meeting, although members showed some confusion about what high-priority notices of violation — a label given to the facility’s most recent violation — mean and how much leeway the group has in dealing with them. “Do we have any flexibility in terms of increasing the penalty or decreasing the penalty?” board member Roy Hoagland asked. DEQ staff said they would brief the board on its ability to adjust proposed fines at its next meeting. State law closely governs the assessment of civil penalties. According to the latest notice of violation, DEQ tests found that the Virginia City facility had exceeded its particulate matter limits by between 42 and 47 percent. Particulate matter is a combination of solids and liquids emitted from industrial facilities that can be harmful to human health when inhaled and consequently is regulated by both the federal and state governments. Virginia City previously violated particulate matter emissions limits in spring 2013 and summer 2017. The spring 2013 violations also involved carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide emissions above permitted levels, while the 2017 violations included excessive hydrochloric acid emissions and a failure to conduct certain routine sampling and analysis. Dominion paid civil penalties of $47,651 in 2013 and $73,351 in 2017. Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center has been controversial since it was proposed. Although the facility is considered a co-fired plant, 93 percent of the fuel it currently burns to produce energy is coal, with the remaining 7 percent being biomass. In recent regulatory proceedings, Dominion stated that the plant has never operated without burning coal; nevertheless, the utility has sought to include the proportion of the energy the facility produces from biomass in its renewable energy portfolio.

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Giving Tuesday is Tomorrow, MonValley Clean Air Coalition!
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 02 Dec '19

02 Dec '19

From: Clean Air Council <members(a)cleanair.org> > Date: December 2, 2019 at 4:25:15 PM EST > Subject: Giving Tuesday is Tomorrow, MonValley Clean Air Coalition! > > > > December 2, 2019 > > > Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > You might have seen that yesterday, in our excitement, we let the cat out of the bag early. We hope you think the early announcement was just as incredible as we do! > > As we said yesteday, Clean Air Council and its new sister organization Clean Air Action Fund will work in lock-step to ensure that our elected officials and polluters of all kinds are held accountable and that you have a voice in the process that is stronger than ever. > > If you'd like to see the original announcement again, we have it posted on our blog here. > > To see an expanded list of the Council's 2019 achievements and victories that includes the topics discussed over the course of Membership Week, check out our blog here. > > None of what we accomplished this year was possible without your support. As you well know, tomorrow is Giving Tuesday and I sincerely hope that you will consider a gift to the Council while all gifts are matched. I hope I can count on seeing your name as one of our 2020 supporters. > > > > Sincerely, > > > Joseph Otis Minott, Esq. > > Executive Director and Chief Counsel > > PHILADELPHIA > > 135 S. 19th Street > Suite 300 > Philadelphia, PA 19103 > P: (215) 567-4004 > F: (215) 567-5791 > Pittsburgh > > > 200 First St. > Suite 200 > Pittsburgh, PA 15222 > P: (412) 954- 8494 > WILMINGTON > > 100 W. 10th Street > Suite 607 > Wilmington, DE 19801 > P: (302) 691-0112

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MVCAC December 2019