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Proposed additional Longview Power Plant at Ft. Martin, Monongalia Co., WV
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 06 Feb '20

06 Feb '20

1. MON VALLEY CLEAN AIR COALITION, Monongalia County, WV NOTE: The following 13 items were submitted to the Monongalia County Commission at the regular weekly meeting on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 by Duane Nichols 1. The WV Public Service Commission held a Public Hearingon the proposed Longview II power plant this past Thursday in Charleston.Public comment was limited to only 2 minutes. The local newspaper indicated that Duane Nichols of Maidsville spokeabout the traffic flows on WV Route 53 thru the Ft. Martin community. 2. 2. Duane Nichols is from Stewartstown, but was speakingfor many residents of Maidsville. Actually,Stewartstown, Bakers Ridge, Pt. Marion and other areas are downwind of the twocoal fired plants and gets more than their share of the pollution. Now a third plant is proposed but is notneeded. 3. 3. The lawyer for Longview stated to the Public ServiceCommission that the “non-binding term sheet,” which is the financial arrangement of a PILOT agreement from the Monongalia CountyCommission, is actually a binding document; that it is official and formal andcommits the County to the project. SinceI was not aware of when or where the Mon. Commission had approved this project, Iwas in a state of shock. 4. 4.Since last Thursday, I have learned more about thetraffic in Maidsville and on the Ft. Martin hill. Listen to this: there are approx.300 diesel coal trucks per day hauling Pennsylvania coal up the hill toLongview I; --- there are special diesel trucks hauling Longview I flyash downthe hill and off to a remote facility, often after dark and perhaps during thenight; --- next, there are diesel trucks hauling First Energy flyash from theFt. Martin power plant down to the old Humphrey mine site off WV Route 100; ---next there is employee traffic for the power plants, --- delivery trucks forthe power plants, ---and then resident traffic and school buses. (Now much more is being proposed.) 5. 5. This Commission is planning to permit hundreds ofvehicles MORE for Longview II construction employees AND the large scalemovement of heavy power plant equipment. The Longview CFO told the PublicService Commission that some traffic could be from the north if the Shannopin dockat the mouth of Dunkard Creek is utilized. In my opinion, this is unlikely. So the traffic issues are much muchgreater than we ever were aware. Ibelieve the residents of the Ft. Martin community deserve more considerationthan they have been given. 6. 6. Residents of the Ft. Martin community have complainedto the WV DOH, to the WV PSC, to the State Police, and indeed to thisCommission. Yet, these challenges keep getting worse. The residents of Ft. Martin can actually “feel”and hear the truck vibrations inside their homes. And, driving on Routes 53 and 100 is quitedangerous.(All this traffic is adding to the air pollution.) 7. 7. Longview submitted the following two items to thePublic Service Commission on January 17, 2020 regarding the public roads:PROPOSED CONDITION 8. “Applicant and their contractors and subcontractors,shall not block roads by changing shifts or heavy haul while school buses arescheduled to be on the roads within 1 mile of the site.” PROPOSED CONDITION 13. “Applicants will consult with the DOH onthe advisability and feasibility of constructing a right turn lane on the CR 53approach to the Project site.” This is a puzzle because the project site is tothe left. Further, right turns arealmost always of no concern since they do not cross on-coming traffic. [This isthe only traffic control item proposed.] 8. 8. NEW TOPIC. Longviewsubmitted application materials to the WV-PSC on September 12, 2019. Includedin Exhibit 2 on page 17, the last paragraph reads as follows: “To the east,along the new entrance road to the CCGT Facility, the foundation of a homesteadfarm house will be preserved when the access road is constructed through thisarea. In addition, one of the stormwater management ponds located near the farm house foundation will be convertedto a recreational pond. This area willbe developed with the addition of a pavilion with picnic tables, a walkingtrail, and baseball/softball field. Signage will be added for the walking trail. The new Project Park will be considered aspart of the CCGT Facility operational footprint. The Project Park will be open for bothCompany and community functions and events at times approved by theCompany. The homestead ruins will bepreserved and identified by signage. Trees and shrubs will be planted around the pavilion and along thewalking trail.” However, these proposalsare absent from the Proposed Conditions of Exhibit JLK-3 submitted on January17, 2020. 9. 9. Consider the existing Ft. Martin Grade School, an oldstructure on Route 53. It is locked tight,probably has not been opened for 20 years. What are the plans for this school building? Can we consider moving itto a location where it could safely be appreciated, perhaps the Mason-Dixon Park. There it could be looked after by responsiblepeople. 1 10. Theexisting Longview I coal conveyor could be relocated to the Ft. Martin hill,and with cooperation from First Energy, could be used to transfer coal from theRiver up to the Longview I power plant. Cooperation among the power companies over there would be necessary.This County Commission would serve the county well by facilitating cooperationamong the parties. 11. Regardingthe coal-fired 1400 MW Ft. Martin power plant. Coal arrives by railroad carsbut the ash is conveyed up the hill to Route 53. It is then trucked down the hill and ontoRoute 100 where it is dumped onto the old Humphrey mine property, if I amcorrect. Now this is very near the Monongahela River, so the surface runoff andgroundwater leachate can ultimately flow to the River. We should insist that this ash be disposed uptop as originally planned, somewhere on top of the hill or inPennsylvania. This would remove some ofthe trucks and dust on the Ft. Martin hill. 12. Dust from the trucks gets on the roadway anddries, then the traffic suspends it into the air as an aerosol where some itsettles out in yards and on the homes of the residents. Some residents keepboots available for walking in the muck at their mail-boxes. 13. Manyletters have been received at the PSC raising issues with a PILOT agreement.The PSC is not forwarding these to Monongalia County. And, I doubt seriously that the CountyCommission is giving them any consideration. PILOT agreements are quasi-legal,not having a firm foundation in law. So, any PILOT agreement should beprepared, negotiated and approved only with the full and open participation ofthe pubic citizens. (Further, an alternative site should be chosen or better yet, limit the project to an alternative energy project of solar cells.) Duane G. Nichols, MVCAC Coordinator, 330 Dream CatcherCircle, Stewartstown, WV 26508Date: February 5,2020. Nichols330(a)gmail.com; 304-216-5535. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> RE: W.V. PUBLIC SERVICECOMMISSION: Case 19-0890-E-CS-CN,Longview Power II.Note: This Case will be open for comment until February 24th.Early comments are needed particularly with regard to whether the Ft. Martin site is right for another power plant. This new plant will generate some 4 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, adding to over 10 million already. A proposed agreement for property taxes in place of routinetaxes, called a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT), has been prepared by theMonongalia County Commission and submitted to Longview Power, LLC, for theirconsideration. This was done without the participation of the citizens of thecounty. A study and report of PILOTagreements in general and this one in particular has been completed by the WVCenter on Budget and Policy, as shown here: "PILOTAgreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at LongviewPower Plant" - West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, Ted Boettner,October 15, 2019 https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an… A. Letters of Information, Support or Protest can bemailed to: Ms. Connie Graley, Executive Secretary, WV Public ServiceCommission, 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, WV 25301. Specify the Case Numberand Title: Case 19-0890-E-CS-CN, Longview Power II. B. Comments Can Be Filed Electronically directly to theWV-PSC: Go to: WV Public Service Commission, choose “Submit a Comment,” choose “FormalCase,” enter the case number; click on the case number, enter the requestedinformation and your comment. Or, try the following link that may take you tothis same screen: http://www.psc.state.wv.us/Scripts/OnlineComments/formalComments.cfm?CaseID… C. Comments May be Submitted Electronically to theMonongalia County Commission: https://monongaliacounty.gov/contact_us/index.php

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Sierra Weekly Dispatch: A cascade of wins on coal and clean energy
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

From: "Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Club". Date: January 31, 2020 > Subject: Sierra Weekly Dispatch: A cascade of wins on coal and clean energy > > > > > For Beyond Coal Regional Campaign Director Holly Bender, the fight for a clean energy future is a family affair. > Dear Concerned Citizens..... > > This has been an incredible month for our Beyond Coal Campaign. First, the independent economic research group Rhodium issued a study showing that greenhouse gas emissions actually declined in the U.S. in 2019, almost entirely due to plummeting use of coal. When we started our campaign ten years ago, taking on the coal industry felt daunting. This month, we got the news that we’d won our 300th coal plant retirement...and then our 301st, 302nd, 303rd, and 304th. > > Let’s add that up. The five coal plants announced just this month churned out 25 million tons of climate-destroying CO2 in 2018 alone; closing them is like permanently taking 5.3 million cars off the road. On top of that, one of the last two proposed plants of the Bush-era coal rush—the Holcomb plant in Kansas—was finally abandoned this month, after a fourteen-year fight by our coal team. > > As Beyond Coal Regional Campaign Director Holly Bender explained: > > “Some of these coal fights live deep in our bones. Holcomb was one of mine. I started working on it as an intern with the Environmental Law Program in 2007. On January 15, we got the news that the proposal was finally abandoned for good. My family celebrated with homemade pizza, and we got the good Trader Joe’s wine (you know, the ‘Diamond Reserve’ label). I got to tell my two daughters that it was a really good day, and that all the pollution from the plant that could harm people, animals, and our environment would never happen.” > > These wins are the result of the tenacity, creativity, and commitment of thousands of volunteers and staff like Holly. Here’s a recap of what they’ve been able to accomplish just since we rang in the new year: > > January 2: Largest coal ash clean up in history announced through a settlement with the Sierra Club and allies. > January 6: Study in prestigious journal finds reduced US coal use saved 26,000 lives over the past decade > January 8: Coal plant #300 (Dolet Hills in Louisiana) announced to retire through a settlement with Sierra Club. > January 9: Tri-State announces coal retirements #301 and 302: Craig in Colorado and Escalante in New Mexico. > January 13: Reuters projects that 2019 will be the second biggest year ever for coal retirements. > January 15: Tri-State commits to 100 percent clean energy for Colorado by 2040, 50 percent renewable energy by 2024 for their electric cooperatives, and no new fracked gas plants as it phases out coal. > January 15: The proposed Holcomb coal plant in Kansas is finally abandoned. > January 21: Coal plant retirement #303 is announced: Merom Generating Station in Indiana. > January 22: Arizona utility announces a major new climate plan that will retire the Four Corners Power Plant—one of the biggest emitters carbon in the US, and commits to 100 percent clean power by 2050. > January 24: Coal plant retirement #304 is announced: Dairyland’s Genoa plant in Wisconsin. > > What a way to kick off this pivotal decade for our climate. We’re not finished yet—we’re only about halfway to our goal of retiring every coal plant in the US. As we do that work, we're also supporting an economic transition for coal workers and communities. And we’re already deep into tackling another big challenge: stopping the rush to fracked gas, which poses an enormous threat to our climate . But we have the wind at our backs. And I want to pause long enough to appreciate these victories and everyone who made them possible—including our generous donors. > > Your support is truly helping move the needle on a scale that matters for our climate and our future. As a mom with a big stake in that future, I can’t thank you enough. > > Warmly, Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Beyond Coal Campaign > > *501(c)3 contributions to the Sierra Club Foundation do not go toward our legislative lobbying efforts. Any lobbying activities are conducted by Sierra Club using 501(c)4 non-tax-deductible funds. > > > > > > > > >

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A CLIMATE UPDATE, SUNDAY @ 10:45 by Jim Kotcon
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

WVU Prof. Jim Kotcon will present: "A Climate Update: International, National, State and Local Activities." February 2 at 10:45 AM at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Morgantown, Prof. Kotcon will be updating us on climate change, and will share his knowledge of opportunities to get involved. Join in and learn more. The UUFM is a Welcoming Congregation. The UUFM is located at 429 Warrick Avenue, off University Avenue between campuses. More info at 304-906-1014

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Airborne measurements point to low EPA methane estimates in south central US | Penn State University
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 27 Jan '20

27 Jan '20

Airborne measurements point to low EPA methane estimates in south central US | Penn State University, January 27, 2020 In prior research, Barkley determined EPA estimates for methane from natural gas facilities were also low in a portion of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region. https://news.psu.edu/story/605629/2020/01/27/research/airborne-measurements…

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Appalachian Stewardship Foundation & Longview Power, LLC
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 27 Jan '20

27 Jan '20

DOMINION POST OPINION 26 JANUARY 2020 “APPALACHIAN STEWARDSHIP FOUNDATION” By LARRY HARRIS, ASF Chairman In response to a recent article that appeared in The Dominion Post on January 16th, the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation (ASF) would like to correct several inaccuracies. ASF is an independent 501(c)3 grant-making foundation. ASF activities are funded in the amount of $500,000 per year through 2021, and $300,000 thereafter by the terms of a settlement agreement of a 2004 legal challenge to the air quality permit of Longview Power, LLC. The three environmental groups challenging the permit — Trout Unlimited, Sierra Club and National Parks Conservation Association — entered into the settlement, as did Longview Power, LLC. All parties at the table signed and accepted the terms of legal settlement agreement. The environmental result of that challenge process was a cleaner plant: lower SO2 (sulfur dioxide), NOx (mono-nitrogen oxides) and particulate emissions, the first mercury monitor on a coal-burning plant. That has led to less pollution within the heavily populated area immediately surrounding the plant, West Virginia as a whole and across its neighboring states. The other outcome of the legal permit challenge process was the funding by Longview Power, LLC of the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation, with an independent governing structure of one voluntary board representative each to be appointed from the three environmental groups as well as one non-voting board representative each from Longview and AMD Reclamation. The funds would be used to: @ Reduce greenhouse gases; @ Restore streams and fisheries; @ Promote public awareness; @ And create innovative carbon-reduction research and projects, including programs directed at the reduction, offset, sequestration, mitigation and storage of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The geographical range of the foundations’ activities includes West Virginia, parts of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Since its first granting round in 2012, ASF has received $4 million from Longview Power and approved grants totaling over $2.2 million to groups across West Virginia and Virginia through our twice annual grant distribution process. A description of that grant process and a complete list of those grants awarded to date is available on the ASF website at appalachianstewards.org A statement (contained in an internal email from Longview’s president and CEO) that ASF has paid $1.2 million to lawyers, individually or collectively, is false. ASF has not paid legal fees to any lawyer. As noted, the terms of the legal settlement provide for $500,000 annually for the first 10 years ASF operates, and then a drop down to $300,000 annually thereafter, for the life of the Longview plant. ASF has set aside a portion of its annual funding to date to establish an endowment fund to mitigate against that 11th year drop. This fiscally responsible setaside, now totaling just under $1.6 million, will ensure that ASF is able to continue granting at its current levels even after funding from Longview decreases, and will ensure that the environmental work ASF supports will continue into the future. ASF has not, nor will it, take a position on the expansion of generating capacity at Longview. Monies from Longview do not pass through other groups before arriving at ASF. In addition, ASF is not funded through tax dollars or public funds of any sort. We are happy to have the opportunity to share the above information. >>> LARRY HARRIS, Ph.D., is chairman of Appalachian Stewardship Foundation’s Board.

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Letter to Editor: All parties should study report on PILOT deals
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 18 Jan '20

18 Jan '20

Letter to Editor: All parties should study report on PILOT deals >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Letter to the Editor, Morgantown Dominion Post, Submitted January 16, 2020 Mon County is Losing Millions in Tax Revenue, Exposed to Power Plant Emissions An in-depth look at the PILOT agreement for the Longview Power plant that is now operating has been performed by Ted Boettner, Director of the WV Center on Budget & Policy. This was published to their web-site on October 15, 2019. PILOT is the “payment in lieu of taxes” agreement approved by the Monongalia County Commission back in 2003. According to the analysis, the tax abatement (taxes not collected) is estimated at $457 million over 30 years. The proposed new Longview II power plant tax abatement that might be approved by the Monongalia County Commission, would forgive $217 million over 30 years. Thus, the total tax abatement for Longview according to Boettner is $674 million. Everyone should read and study the document on the web-site of the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy as it covers PILOT agreements in general. It is about 10 pages long. And, this document contains eight (8) guidelines or “best practices” that can help increase transparency, reduce waste, and ensure a more democratic process in the abatement process. The Monongalia County Sheriff, the School Board and the County Commission should study and use the facts and information in the above referenced document if approving another PILOT agreement, in the best interest of the public health and welfare. This is the reference: “PILOT Agreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at Longview Power Plant,” Ted Boettner, October 15, 2019. The source is: https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an… The Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition is concerned about putting another large power plant where so many will be affected, the Ft. Martin community, Maidsville, Star City, Stewartstown, Cheat Lake area, Pt. Marion, etc. Already we have over 300 diesel trucks per day on the Ft. Martin hill. The location of University High School and all the health care facilities of Mon General Hospital and the WVU Hospital system are downwind and subject to concerns especially during adverse weather conditions as thermal inversions in the atmosphere. My information is that the proposed new Longview II power plant will have emissions of over 10 tons per year of “hazardous air pollutants” (HAPs), 200 tons per year of fine particulate matter (PM), 500 tons per year of “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs), and 4 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, based upon data from the WV Department of Environmental Protection. All this would add to the even greater emissions from the existing Longview I and Ft. Martin coal fired power plants. We don’t want over 35 thousand residents and 35 thousand students to be exposed to these conditions. Duane G. Nichols, Stewartstown, WV 26508 > A truncated or edited version appears today in the Morgantown Dominion Post, as letters are limited to 300 words. > SEE ATTACHMENT > >

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Meet the woman who first identified the greenhouse effect
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 12 Jan '20

12 Jan '20

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/09/02/the-woman-who-identified-the-g… Meet the woman who first identified the greenhouse effect Article by Megan Darby, Climate Change News, 02/09/2016 Eunice Foote demonstrated the heat-trapping properties of carbon dioxide at a scientific conference in 1856, newly digitised records show Irish physicist John Tyndall is commonly credited with discovering the greenhouse effect, which underpins the science of climate change. Starting in 1859, he published a series of studies on the way greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide trapped heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. A recently digitised copy of The American Journal of Science and Arts suggests a woman beat him to it, however. It includes a presentation by Eunice Foote to a top US science conference in 1856. She describes filling glass jars with water vapour, carbon dioxide and air, and comparing how much they heated up in the sun. “The highest effect of the sun’s rays I have found to be in carbonic acid gas,” she writes, using the contemporary term for carbon dioxide. “The receiver containing the gas became itself much heated – very sensibly more so than the other – and on being removed, it was many times as long in cooling.” She goes on to speculate that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air could influence global temperatures. “An atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth a high temperature; and if as some suppose, at one period of its history the air had mixed with it a larger proportion than at present, an increased temperature from its own action as well as from increased weight must have necessarily resulted.” Climate scientist and communicator Katharine Hayhoe found Foote’s contribution after a colleague asked why there were no women in the history of the discipline. Her interest piqued, Hayhoe has approached local historians and Foote’s descendents through a family history website to try and find a picture of her or more information. Foote’s results were not definitive, Hayhoe says, with too many uncontrolled factors in the experiment. She could not have anticipated that atmospheric CO2 levels would rise from 290 parts per million at the time to 400ppm, prompting a global crisis. Still, her hypothesis was prescient and a version of her experiment is used to teach high school children today. “There was a bit of luck involved,” says Hayhoe, “but I think it is amazing that she connected the dots and came to a conclusion that subsequent science has proved to be correct.” Hayhoe is not the first to resurrect Foote’s legacy. In 2011, independent researcher Raymond Sorensen got an article published in the journal AAPG Search and Discovery. He relied on an observer’s account of Foote’s presentation, not having access to her own words. The report, by a David Wells in the Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1856, hints at how unusual it was for a woman to appear at such a gathering. It states: “Prof. Henry then read a paper by Mrs. Eunice Foote, prefacing it with a few words, to the effect that science was of no country and of no sex. The sphere of woman embraces not only the beautiful and the useful, but the true.” Eunice Foote, born Newton, would have been unlikely to get the opportunity without the support of her husband, Elisha Foote. Judging by the related paper Elisha presented at the same conference, it seems the married couple worked together. They feature in The Road to Seneca Falls, an account of the women’s rights movement of the time. Elisha was a judge specialising in patent law and patented several inventions himself, according to author Judith Wellman, including a skate, drying machine and a reaping and binding machine. Eunice patented a “filling for soles of boots and shoes” in 1860. Tyndall does not appear to have heard of Foote’s work when he started on a similar line of inquiry. His publications are more extensive and include accurate quantification of how much different gases absorbed infrared radiation – “radiant heat” – from the sun. “With the exception of the celebrated memoir of M. Pouillet on Solar Radiation through the atmosphere, nothing, so far as I am aware, has been published on the transmission of radiant heat through gaseous bodies,” he wrote when presenting his initial results to the Royal Society of London in 1859, as cited by Sorensen. “With regard to the action of other gases upon heat, we are not, so far as I am aware, possessed of a single experiment.” It can be hard to assess claims of priority in science, says Sorensen, particularly if work is not in the public domain. But he adds: “It is clear that Eunice Foote deserves credit for being an innovator on the topic of CO2 and its potential impact on global climate warming.”

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Living on Earth: This Week's Show
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 11 Jan '20

11 Jan '20

AUSTRALIA’S WILDFIRES POINT TO THE FUTURE (PRI: Living on Earth) Australia is in the throes of its worst fire season in modern history. As thousands of homes are incinerated and an estimated billion animals perish, the world is getting a glimpse of our future in a warming world. Penn State University climatologist Michael Mann joins Host Steve Curwood from Sydney, where he is taking a sabbatical to study the influence of climate change on extreme weather events. Prof. Mann explains the clear link between climate disruption and wildfire disasters, and discusses Aussies’ frustration with the response of their government to the climate crisis. (13:48) Living on Earth: This Week's Show, January 10, 2020 http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.html?programID=20-P13-00002

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GREEN Newsletter, Volume 30 Issue 1
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 10 Jan '20

10 Jan '20

West Virginia Environmental Council, Box 1007, Charleston, WV 25324 GREEN Newsletter, Volume 30 Issue 1, January 10, 2020 https://wvecouncil.org/green-volume-30-issue-1/

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Write your letter or make your online comments now: Longview II
by via MVCAC 06 Jan '20

06 Jan '20

So I got back a little while ago from the Public Service Commission's hearing about Longview II (or Son of Longview, as I think of it) in Morgantown at the Mon County Courthouse. The PSC has received only SIX letters or online comments opposing the plant and 103 letters and comments in support of the plant. So now is the time for you to submit a comment or letter, the PSC will accept them until late January when they have evidentiary hearings, so please, do it now! File a Letter of Protest with the WV Public Service Commission or File a Comment Online and ask that the Certificate of Site Approval be denied as it is written now. Please be sure to reference Case # 19-0890 in your letter or comments and state you are opposed (you are filing a 'letter of protest'). * Mail letters to (and don't forget to mention Case # 19-0890): * Ms. Connie Graley, Executive Secretary * West Virginia Public Service Commission * 201 Brooks St * Charleston, WV 25301 * Or Comment Online Protesting Case Number 19-0890 at: http://www.psc.state.wv.us/Scripts/OnlineComments/formalComments.cfm?CaseID= 73056 <http://www.psc.state.wv.us/Scripts/OnlineComments/formalComments.cfm?CaseID =73056&CaseNumber=19%2D0890%2DE%2DCS%2DCN> &CaseNumber=19%2D0890%2DE%2DCS%2DCN Things you may want to consider as you write your letter or comment: * Why are we subsidizing a fossil-fuel plan that will be obsolete by the time it comes online? Rather, let's put all of our hard-earned tax money into renewable energy, which is growing faster and becoming cheaper than gas-fired generation. Gas plants will soon be what coal plants are now: obsolete. Longview II proposes a little bit of solar generation (mostly in Pennsylvania) so it can pretend it cares about the environment. As one of the speakers tonight said at the PSC hearing, "This is Greenwashing." * Why are we, Mon County and state taxpayers, giving a tax break to this for-profit company to build an antiquated power plant? ... especially when this same company has already bilked us for many millions of dollars? Read this West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy article for the facts about why giving tax abatements (tax breaks) to Longview II through a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) scheme is a bad idea: https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an- in-depth-look-at-longview-power-plant/. The Mon County Commission has not even released the final PILOT agreement. No one has calculated if the last PILOT we gave Longview was worth it. There is no transparency and no accountability. West Virginians are poor. We should not be giving corporate welfare to rich, for-profit companies polluting our air and water to produce electricity for people outside our state. * West Virginia generates three times more electricity than it consumes: we should not be subsidizing electricity for people and business outside our state. We don't need the electricity here in Mon County or in West Virginia. We already generate much more power than we use. The Beechurst plant may stop burning coal, but it will burn gas and continue to operate. Fort Martin isn't going anywhere soon. Longview II will not replace the Fort Martin Power Plant (which, by the way, is in West Virginia, nor Pennsylvania). Proponents of the original Longview said Longview I would do that, but the Fort Martin Power station is still operating over 20 years past it's designed life expectancy. Huge coal-fired power stations still operate just north of us in Masontown, PA and south of us in Harrison County, WV. Other, smaller power stations are all around us. * The "gas is clean" argument does not hold up. Natural-gas extraction has adverse real-time consequences for West Virginians in addition to climate change. From polluted air and water near well pads and compressor stations to constant noise and dangerous roads. Once again people in West Virginia pay the price, with their taxes and their lives, for dirty electricity used outside our state. The Dominion Post constantly publishes Longview's BS line about how their current coal-fired facility is so clean and wonderful (the cleanest in the universe), when in reality, Longview took our money and went bankrupt after its plant cost more than DOUBLE the $900 Million Longview Power said it would cost, and then the plant did not completely function when it eventually came online. Coal-fired Longview finally became fully operational only after many more millions of dollars were sunk into the plant by its creditors, just in time for natural gas prices to plummet and make coal uneconomical. Longview lies. They lied to us before, they are lying now, and they will lie in the future. Longview knows it can get money from us again because we fell all over ourselves to give it money last time. Yes, we are suckers. As the saying goes, "Fool me twice, shame on me." We are being fooled again. Please, write the letter. -paula

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Satellite Images Show Australia's Devastating Wildfires From Space – NASASPXA.COM
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 04 Jan '20

04 Jan '20

https://nasaspxa.com/2020/01/04/satellite-images-show-australias-devastatin… From Kathryn Madison, Facebook, Morgantown, WV, January 4, 2020 NASA operates a group of 26 satellites collectively known as the Earth Observing System (EOS), and its flagship satellite, a bus-sized spacecraft named Terra, hit its 20-year mark in space in December 2019. Other NASA satellites, like Aqua and Suomi NPP, also contribute data to EOS, a mission tasked with taking global measurements of the air, land and water to help scientists learn how those systems fit together and morph over time. The Worldview tool from NASA’s EOS Data and Information System transforms satellite data into an interactive page with over 900 imagery layers. You can view current natural disasters, like the Australian wildfires, on Worldview by date and information layer (such as thermal anomalies, borders and place labels). You can also watch an animation of activity by selecting a time range.

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Longview can build power plant, but shouldn't get tax breaks | Opinion | wvnews.com
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 03 Jan '20

03 Jan '20

https://www.wvnews.com/statejournal/opinion/longview-can-build-power-plant-… Longview can build power plant, but shouldn't get tax breaks The December 2nd editorial by Jeffrey Keffer asks for our support for the proposed Longview II gas-fired power plant and complains about “extreme environmental organizations” opposing the project. In particular, they are asking us for multi-million dollar tax breaks to make their proposal economically competitive. Unfortunately, Keffer and his supporters simply refuse to acknowledge the reality of climate change. Although he touts the plant as “cleaner,” it would produce 3 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, and that does not include the upstream emissions from pipelines, compressor stations and wells. Unfortunately for Keffer, the “extreme” organizations keep citing facts from respected organizations such as the National Academy of Science, the United Nations, and virtually every major scientific society. Unfortunately for Keffer, the demand for electricity simply is not keeping pace with the number of new generating facilities. According to the US Energy Information Agency, the U.S. has installed almost three times as much new generation capacity as it has seen in retirements in 2019 (23. 7 GW versus 8.3 GW) (https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37952). The bad news for West Virginia is that the majority of that new generation is from renewables, and little of it is in West Virginia. Too much of the rhetoric from the fossil fuel industry simply ignores the issue of climate change, as if pretending it does not exist will mean it goes away. The result is an echo chamber of preaching to the choir, instead of facing reality. How many fossil fuel companies insisted “Our best days are ahead” right up to the day they declared bankruptcy. Longview’s proposal for a 20-MW solar farm makes long-term economic and environmental sense, but a 1200-MW gas-fired power plant does not. Of course, America is still a free country, and Keffer and Longview are free to propose more unneeded fossil fuel construction, in spite of the damage it causes to our communities and our environment. Just don’t ask us to give them tax breaks for it. Jim Kotcon, Conservation Chair West Virginia Chapter of Sierra Club Morgantown, WV 26504

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» PILOT Agreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at Longview Power Plant
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 02 Jan '20

02 Jan '20

Longview Power Proposed Gas-Fired Power Plant | Sierra Club Position — What you can do: File a Letter of Protest with the WV Public Service Commission. Ask that the Certificate of Site Approval be denied unless Longview installs carbon capture to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Be sure to include the reference to Case # 19-0890. Mail letters to: Connie Graley, Executive Secretary, West Virginia Public Service Commission, 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, WV 25301. Or file comments Protesting Case Number 19-0890 on line at: http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/onlinecomments/default.cfm Attend the Public Hearing. The PSC will hold a public hearing on Monday, Jan. 6, 2020 at 5:30 PM at the Monongalia County Courthouse, 243 High Street, Morgantown. You can present your comments in person at that time. SEE THE FACT SHEET DOCUMENT ONLINE ..... https://www.sierraclub.org/west-virginia/longview-power-proposed-gas-fired-… ######################################### https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an… PILOT Agreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at Longview Power Plant By Ted Boettner, WV Center on Budget & Policy, October 15, 2019 Over the last decade or so, local governments entities in West Virginia have used a myriad of business property tax incentives to reward or induce local economic development projects. These can include tax increment financing or TIFs, lease agreements, tax credits (e.g. local B&O), issuing bonds to purchase property, and the use of Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) agreements. A PILOT agreement is a property tax abatement where a company (sometimes a non-profit) agrees to make annual payments to local governments instead of paying the property taxes it would normally owe. Usually these payments are just a fraction of what otherwise would have been paid over the time of the PILOT agreements or a fixed percentage of property taxes owed. While it is unknown how many PILOT agreements and property tax abatements exist in West Virginia and what their impact is on our revenue systems or economic development, there are several options that policymakers can pursue to provide the accountability and transparency needed to discern whether they are a sound use of public funds. PILOTs in West Virginia The way PILOTs usually work in West Virginia is that a government entity – usually the county or a local development authority, but sometimes the WV Economic Development Authority – purchases the property (sometimes by issuing revenue bonds) to be developed and then enters into a long-term lease with the company when construction begins. Since ownership of the property is with a government entity or economic development authority (and pursuant to WV Code §7-12-10 or §8-19-4), it is exempt from real and personal property taxes (along with the leasehold interest). Instead of paying property taxes, the company agrees to make annual payments to local governments – including the school board, the country commission and municipality (if applicable). The terms of the payments can differ greatly depending on the size of the project and the negotiation that takes place with the interested parties. Over the last several years, some of the largest business expansions or new operations have included PILOT agreements as part of a package of business economic development incentives. For example, a proposed PILOT agreement between Jefferson County government officials and Rockwool (a controversial insulation manufacturer) in Ranson, WV included an agreement where the local economic development authority would purchase $150 million worth of property to build the plant by selling revenue bonds that Rockwool would then make payments on so they would not have to pay property taxes (although the terms on this deal have changed). Neighboring Berkeley County has signed several PILOT agreements with companies, including Quad Graphics (commercial printer), Macy’s (warehouse and distribution center), Procter & Gamble (product manufacturer), Knauf Insulation (insulation manufacturer), and Argos (cement factory). For most of these PILOT agreements, the WV Economic Development Authority has issued billions in revenue bonds to purchase property that is leased back to these companies so they do not have to pay property taxes. More recently, there have been a flurry of PILOT agreements made between local governments and electric power plants in Harrison, Brooke and Monongalia County. In June of 2003, Monongalia County officials, including the Mon County Commission, Sheriff’s Office, Assessor, and Board of Education and Mon County Development Authority signed a PILOT agreement with Longview Power on a $2.2 billion coal-fired power plan. The agreement provided a 100% abatement of property taxes in exchange for $105 million in payments over a 30 year period. More recently, Longview Power is negotiating a new PILOT agreement in Mon County for a $1.1 billion expansion that includes a 1,200 megawatt natural gas fired power plant and 50 megawatt solar installation (located close to their plant in Pennsylvania). Transparency & Accountability of PILOT Agreements There is very little in the way of transparency or accountability with regard to local property tax abatements or PILOT agreements, including how much revenue the state or local governments lose each year. In the executive state budget released every year, there is a section on the estimated forgone revenue from economic development tax expenditures (page 75), but according to the budget report, “no accurate estimate is available for county-imposed payment in lieu of tax (PILOT) arrangements. Based on available PILOT payment data, however, the net PILOT tax expenditure is likely similar in magnitude to the value associated with certified capital additions.” If that’s true, these agreements cost the state over $40 million per year. When it comes to PILOT agreements in West Virginia, there is not only very little transparency but there is no evaluation of these property tax abatements at the state or local level. Unlike some of the state business tax credits that have capital investment and job creation requirements, and claw-back or recapture provisions, these requirements do not exist for local property tax abatements. A new accounting rule from the Government Accountability Standards Board (GASB) – Statement Number 77 – is supposed to require local government entities that use General Accounting Acceptable Practices (GAAP) to disclose annually the yearly lost revenue from “tax abatements” (aka corporate tax breaks in the name of economic development). While many counties and school boards discuss GASB 77 in their annual audits, few if any estimate the tax revenue lost from these abatements. For example, neither Berkeley or Jefferson County estimate the tax revenue forgone from the PILOT agreements mentioned above in their annual audits. And the school boards don’t fare much better. In Monongalia County School Board’s 2018 audit, the PILOT agreement with Longview Power is mentioned under “tax abatements” but the audit says “property tax revenues were reduced by an unknown amount.” A recent WV Supreme Court case brought by coal companies challenged whether some PILOT agreements were in the “public interest” because local governments failed to disclose the forgone property tax revenue from these property tax abatements. Longview Power PILOTs While state and local governments do not disclose the forgone revenue from these agreements, it is possible to estimate the value of the tax expenditure by looking at what Longview would be paying if it paid the same tax rate as most businesses in Mon County. The chart below looks at the value of PILOT payments from Longview Power’s first PILOT agreement (Longview #1) and the second PILOT agreement proposal (Longview #2) over the life of the agreement. These estimates are based on the capital investments in each project ($2.2 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively), an average annual depreciation rate of 2.76% on public power utilities in West Virginia, and Class 3 Mon County property tax rates (2.08% in FY20). The difference in PILOT payments and the estimated property taxes owed without the abatement is stark. The estimated tax abatement for the first Longview Power PILOT agreement is $457 million compared to $217 million for the second proposed PILOT agreement with Longview Power. Altogether, the property tax abatement over 30 operating years for both PILOTs is estimated to be $674 million. These estimates should be taken with caution because the assessed valuations of the property could vary significantly depending on the depreciation rate used for the property and capital improvements over time. According to an economic impact analysis (paid for by Longview Power) of the proposed project that includes a 1,200 MW natural gas-fired combined cycle turbine power plant and a 70 MW utility scale solar power facility, it will create 628 permanent jobs and 5,002 job-years during the 3-year construction phase of the project (or an average of 1,667 job per year for three years). Based on the above estimates (which is very debatable), this adds up to 794 full-time jobs per year over the 30 years of the PILOT agreement. This means that the cost of the property tax abatement amounts to an estimated $273,000 per job created. To put this in perspective, the state’s Economic Opportunity Tax Credit program has a cost of just $25,000 per job created. It is important to keep in mind that the estimated employment impacts of this proposed project are jobs not just within West Virginia or to local workers. Only a share of the new jobs (30%) will be to local workers, with many construction workers working temporarily in West Virginia on the project. And the permanent full-time jobs estimated (628) rely on a very high multiplier (for every one direct job created 16 other jobs will be created). Like all economic impact analysis that uses models (IMPLAN), the results are based on the economic assumptions being made and what is included in the “black box” to inform the results. Furthermore, no economic analysis is complete until it also includes a fiscal impact analysis. This should include an examination of the the costs of direct public services (e.g. schools, waste water, etc.) generated by the project and population growth, the cost of expanded infrastructure capacity required to handle the new business activity and population, and the cost of the tax incentives themselves on public services. IMPLAN models do not provide these types of cost feedbacks. While it is difficult to compare the property tax owed by similar plants in surrounding states, a close look at two new gas-fired power plants in Pennsylvania reveal that similar plants do not pay much in property taxes. For example, the Caithness Moxie Freedom Generating Station in Salem Township in Luzerne County Pennsylvania, which is a new $1 billion 1,000 megawatt gas-fired power plant that went online in 2018, had an assessed value of $42.5 million and a total property tax bill of just $752,000. Meanwhile, a new 940 megawatt gas-fired power plant in Westmoreland County Pennsylvania that had a direct construction cost of around $500 million with 24 full-time employees was assessed at just $1.9 million in 2019 with a total property tax bill of just $179,000. The Lordstown Energy Center operates a 940 megawatt gas-fired power plant in Ohio that went online in 2018 and received a 100 percent tax abatement for 15 years while having to make annual payments that total $19 million over 15 years. One reason for the low amount of assessments and taxes paid by these facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania is because these state do not tax business personal property. Another new gas-fired power plant owned by Duke Energy in Anderson County, South Carolina (W.S. Lee Station) is estimated to pay $4.4 million in taxes in 2019. The W.S. Lee is a 750-megawatt plants that cost an estimated $700 million to construct. Another way to compare the above PILOT payments with property tax payments is to look at what publicly regulated electric power utilities pay in West Virginia. For example, Mon Power owns the Harrison County Power Plant in Haywood, WV, which was built in 1994 and has a assessed value of $210 million and a property tax liability of $4.8 million. The Mitchell Power Plant in Moundsville, WV, which is owned by Wheeling Power (AEP) and is a 1600 megawatt unit built in 1968, has an assessed value of $257 million and a property tax liability of $5.2 million. Best Practices for PILOT Agreements and Property Tax Abatements There are several reasons for the proliferation of PILOT agreements. Property taxes comprise a large share of total state and local business taxes paid in the United States and in West Virginia. In West Virginia, they make up about 36 percent, compared to 39 percent nationally. Unlike the state corporate income tax, which is easier for large corporations to avoid paying by shifting their taxable income offshore (yes, there are ways to fix that in West Virginia), the property tax is harder to avoid. And that’s one reason companies go out of their way to avoid paying it. Often the result is an economic race to the bottom between states (think Amazon HQ2). The best evidence to date shows that economic development incentives don’t play a large role in tipping the decision for companies on where to locate. In exhaustive review of over 30 studies, economist Tim Bartik found tax incentives are the determining factor in location decisions between two and 25 percent of the time. This means in most instances that business location or expansion decisions would have happened anyway. This doesn’t stop companies, however, from doing all they can to shift their business costs on the public and workers. In West Virginia, there are no rules or laws that govern local property tax abatements or PILOT agreements. If fact, there is a pending lawsuit questioning whether even property tax abatements are even legal under our state constitution. That said, there are best practices that can help increase transparency, reduce waste, and ensure a more democratic process in the abatement process. These include: 1) Giving school boards decision-making power over approving PILOT agreements and tax abatements including negotiating the PILOT with the interested parties. 2) Ensuring that a portion of collected PILOTs go to affected governments (county, municipality, schools boards). 3) Granting abatements only when necessary to attract development that would not occur otherwise. 4) Limiting abatements only to areas in need of rehabilitation or redevelopment and to those that maximize beneficial outcomes (Emphasis should be on infrastructure improvements, creation of quality jobs, revenue gains from other sources, and anticipated improvements in surrounding areas). 5) Limiting the number of years of the abatement that is necessary to attract the development sought. 6) Conducting a cost-benefit analysis to ensure that the deal is worthwhile over the short- and long-term of life of the project, including the forgone property tax revenue over the term of the PILOT agreement. 7) Including appropriate enforcement mechanisms, including claw-back and recapture provisions, job creation requirements, and the imposition of penalties or other measures to ensure for when the developer fails to fulfill its obligations. 8) Ensuring that the state plays an active role in the abatement process by increasing guidance on granting and implementing property tax abatements, including disclosing all PILOT agreements online, their impact on the state budget, and increased monitoring of local property tax abatements. To improve the accountability and transparency of PILOT agreements and the resulting tax abatements, it is imperative that the public, and especially local schools boards that rely on about two-thirds of all property tax revenues, has the tools needed to approve or disapprove PILOT agreements and to evaluate their short and long-term impact. While states and local governments have varying levels of transparency and accountability with regard to property tax abatements, Shelby County Tennessee’s economic development authority called EDGE (Economic Development & Growth Engine) provides a good example of transparency and some accountability of PILOT agreements. Since 2003, EDGE has approved 95 PILOTs and lists each of them on its website. EDGE also requires a cost-benefit analysis before any PILOT can be approved to help ensure that the amount of tax abatements do not outweigh the new tax revenue from the business expansion or relocation and investment. For example, EDGE estimates that its PILOT program has a benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.60, meaning every $1 dollar of tax abated created $2.60 in new tax revenues. At the very least, PILOT agreements in West Virginia, especially those where almost all of the economic impact happens during construction, like Longview Power, should require that the new tax revenue from the project exceeds the property tax abatement and that there are job creation and retention requirements.The assessments should also include the value of forgone revenue for local and state governments. While there have been several economic impact studies of the Longview Power Plant, and the other new gas-fired power plants that have received PILOT agreements, those studies should be conducted by neutral third-parties instead of the companies themselves. When companies or the local economic development authorities pay for these economic impact studies it can create a perverse incentive which can lead to inflated expectations and the loss of more tax revenue. Property tax abatements included in PILOT agreements have a significant impact on state and local budgets and they often occur behind closed doors. They can also be highly controversial (see Rockwool). It is incumbent upon our state and local governments to ensure that PILOT agreements and local property tax abatements provide a good investment for our communities. And they must ensure that we are not just shifting costs on to workers and taxpayers for investments that businesses would have made anyway. While state and local government can improve the process for property tax abatements and PILOT agreements by including more transparency and accountability, they should also ask whether alternative development measures such as enhancing local infrastructure, investing in education and job training programs, or undertaking local beautification projects provide a better return on investment.

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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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Huge Battery Investments Drop Energy-Storage Costs Faster Than Expected, Threatening Natural Gas
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

Huge Battery Investments Drop Energy-Storage Costs Faster Than Expected, Threatening Natural Gas, Jeff McMahon, Green Tech, October 29, 2019 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/10/29/huge-battery-investment…

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Thursday night
by Barbara Howe via MVCAC 04 Nov '19

04 Nov '19

Thanks for the phone message, Duane, but I have another commitment Thursday evening and cannot attend. Barb

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A Scary Year for Climate Change - Scientific American Blog Network
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 03 Nov '19

03 Nov '19

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-scary-year-for-climate-… A Scary Year for Climate Change Scientists’ warnings about climate change have intensified over the past 12 months. Will world leaders finally listen? Article by Cristine Russell, Scientific American, November 2, 2019 Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish Parliament Credit: Anders Hellberg Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) One year ago, the international scientific community could hardly have expected that Greta Thunberg, a teenager from Sweden, would become one of its greatest allies. Since beginning her weekly “School Strike for the Climate,” the petite 16-year-old has skillfully used her public appearances and powerful social media presence to push for bolder global action to reduce carbon emissions. “Again and again, the same message,” she tweeted recently. “Listen to the scientists, listen to the scientists. Listen to the scientists!” Well, what are the scientists saying?The answer, of course, is that they have been warning about severe global impacts from climate change for more than three decades. But over the past 12 months those warnings have intensified. Reports detailing the massive environmental, economic, and human consequences of unfettered global warming have come at a fast and furious pace. And, collectively, they are far scarier than the sum of their parts. The deluge began last October, with the release of a special report from the United Nations’ global climate science authority, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on the potential impacts of a rise in global temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius or more. Three international IPCC working groups with 91 authors and editors from 40 countries examined 6,000-plus scientific studies and called for “global carbon dioxide emissions (to) start to decline well before 2030” to avoid the most severe consequences of global warming. It said “global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate.” The release of the report provided a “breakthrough” moment in public consciousness and press coverage, with countless soundbites, headlines, and images warning of a “12-year” deadline to head off “climate change catastrophe.” The “12-year” catchphrase was even more alarming than the IPCC’s already strong admonitions. The planet won’t implode in 2030, but further delays in major global actions will make it increasingly difficult to move to a low-carbon world. In November, the United States’ Fourth National Climate Assessment, produced by government and outside experts, reinforced the gloom-and-doom message of the October IPCC report. “Climate change creates new risks and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in communities across the United States, presenting growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth,” it warned. The Trump administration’s attempt to minimize media coverage of America’s climate report card by releasing it on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, backfired: The congressionally mandated report got double coverage as both an environmental and a political story. The dire news didn’t abate as 2018 drew to a close. A December report from the World Health Organization (WHO) said that emissions from fossil fuel-powered electricity, transportation, and other sources are “a major contributor to health-damaging air pollution, which every year kills over seven million people.” It called extreme weather events linked to human-caused climate change “a clear and present danger to health security” and concluded the health benefits of addressing climate change “far outweigh the costs of meeting climate change goals.” Just as the disastrous future impacts of climate change were coming into clearer focus, we also received sobering news about the present. Last December, the Global Carbon Project projected that carbon dioxide emissions worldwide reached an all-time high in 2018, up more than two percent after three years of almost no growth. A January 2019 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report estimated an increase of nearly 3 percent in 2018 energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, the largest jump since 2010 — reversing a trend that had seen three consecutive years of decline. The EIA estimated that total U.S. emissions would fall in 2019, and that prediction appears to be bearing out, due to a drop in coal consumption. However, total global carbon dioxide emissions will see a rise again for 2019, says Stanford University’s Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project’s Scientific Steering Committee. Alarm bells about climate change impacts in the Arctic sounded throughout the year. In April, a NASA-funded study of the Greenland ice sheet, published online on Earth Day, found the mass loss of ice discharged into the ocean from glaciers on the world’s largest island had increased six-fold since the 1980s. Meanwhile, sea level had risen nearly 14 millimeters since 1972, with half of that in the last eight years. (Later, a severe mid-summer Arctic heat wave contributed to historic melting of the Greenland ice sheet, with 12.5 billion tons of ice melting into the ocean on a single day — the “biggest single-day volume loss on record,” according to the Washington Post). A little-publicized Stanford University study, also released on Earth Day, found that global warming from fossil fuel use “very likely exacerbated global economic inequality” over the past 50 years. The study’s authors found that warming has likely enhanced economic growth in cooler, wealthier countries while dampening economic growth in hotter, poorer countries. In May, a landmark U.N. biodiversity report provided another stark statistic: One million animal and plant species on Earth are threatened with extinction, and rates of extinction are “accelerating.” The report gave a devastating assessment of how climate change and global economic development over the past 50 years have impacted nature and threatened the health of ecosystems important to humans and all other species. The report’s research underpinnings are strong: a systematic review of some 15,000 scientific and government sources that also includes indigenous and local knowledge. In August, on the heels of record-breaking global heat waves, from South Korea to northern Norway, another major IPCC special report called attention to land-related climate change threats. It found that “climate change, including increases in frequency and intensity of extremes, has adversely impacted food security and terrestrial ecosystems as well as contributed to desertification and land degradation in many regions” of the world. The report recommended sustainable land development and adaptation practices to combat further destruction. The highly anticipated September 23rd U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York brought additional climate reports. On September 22nd, the U.N. Summit’s Science Advisory Group released United in Science, an ambitious synthesis connecting the dots between “the very latest authoritative” science and “concrete actions” to “halt the worst effects of climate change.” The IPCC released a post-summit blockbuster report outlining profound changes underway in the Earth’s oceans and frozen regions, including glaciers and ice sheets. The report concluded that warming oceans, melting ice, and rising sea levels are already affecting everything from coral reefs to the nearly 10 percent of the global population living in low-lying coastal areas — and negative impacts will greatly worsen in the future. The oceans report capped 12 months of overwhelming scientific evidence of global climate change hazards. The consistent message is that severe climate-change damage is already well underway; some impacts will be long-lasting or irreversible; the damage disproportionately hits vulnerable populations; and combatting climate change will require unprecedented economic, social, and technological transformation. But, crucially, the reports say it is likely not too late to prevent the worst effects of global warming by adopting meaningful adaptation and mitigation strategies. So, where does this leave us? I’d argue that, more than anything, we’re left with a heightened sense of urgency, as well as uncertainty, about immediate and forthcoming climate dangers. For many years, coverage of climate science reports had an implicit future tense, as in, “It’s a problem for your grandchildren.” Alas, the future came faster than science had predicted, and the world is now confronted with the reality of climate change-related extreme weather events and other threats. The frightening wildfires now racing through Southern and Northern California show what this climate-related new reality looks like for the country’s most populous state. The upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference — the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the U.N. climate treaty — will once again put pressure on delegates from nearly 200 nations to deliver concrete action on promises made under the 2015 Paris Agreement. (COP25 was set to be held in Santiago in early December before the Chilean government abruptly pulled out of hosting the event.) The disappointing substantive and political outcomes of the September summit in New York, particularly the lack of stronger commitments from big carbon emitters like China, India, and the U.S., mean expectations are low. The leadership vacuum left by American President Trump, with his strident pro-fossil-fuel rhetoric and planned exit from the Paris Agreement, makes things worse. But don’t underestimate the persistence of Greta Thunberg and the growing Fridays for Future youth movement she inspired. An estimated 7.6 million people protested worldwide during September’s U.N. Climate Week. Strike organizers are planning a major global protest on Black Friday directed at COP25 decision-makers. In her emotional speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit, Thunberg chastised world leaders for failing to act on climate change: "For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.” Her angry phrase “How Dare You?” went viral on social media, and millions viewed the video of Thunberg’s speech on YouTube. This plucky young activist is likely to deliver a similarly strong message at COP25, pushing the scientific case for significant government action now to help protect her generation and others in the future. Will the world leaders at COP25 be listening, and what will they do?

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Public Meeting on Longview II Power Plant — Thursday, November 7th at 6 pm
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 30 Oct '19

30 Oct '19

........................... MON VALLEY CLEAN AIR COALITION (MVCAC) .................... To Our Residents and Friends Monongalia County, WV On November 7, 2019, from 6 to 9 pm, the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition is hosting a public meeting in the Monongalia Arts Center at 107 High Street. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a public forum to discuss the proposed Longview II gas-fired power plant and the tax breaks proposed for a PILOT Agreement (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes). We believe that it is important for the public to be heard on any such huge projects that will affect our county for decades. In addition to financial considerations, there are air quality and public health to consider. And, it is now obvious that greenhouse gases are affecting our way of life here on earth. We are aware of other issues that deserve a hearing. We will publicize the event and encourage members of the public to come to learn more about the proposed plant and to express their views. You will also be invited to speak, if you so wish. We hope to have a good turnout and encourage well-informed discussion. Sincerely, Duane Nichols Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition 330 Dream Catcher Circle Morgantown WV 26508 duane330(a)aol.com

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Public Meeting on Longview II — November 7th at Mon Arts Center
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 30 Oct '19

30 Oct '19

Public Meeting on Longview II — November 7th Mon Arts Center, 107 High Street, Morgantown, WV ..... 6 PM

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Recent Increase in Fine Particulate Matter Associated With More Premature Deaths in U.S. - Tepper School of Business - Carnegie Mellon University, October 21, 2019
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 26 Oct '19

26 Oct '19

https://www.cmu.edu/tepper/news/stories/2019/october/muller-clay-research.h… PM 2.5 — Tepper School of Business @ CMU (Pittsburgh) Carnegie Mellon University October 21, 2019 Recent Increase in Fine Particulate Matter Associated With More Premature Deaths in U.S. In the United States, annual average levels of fine particulate matter--PM2.5, a measure of solid particles and liquid droplets that are 2.5 micrometers or smaller found in the air--declined 24% from 2009 to 2016, then increased 5% between 2016 to 2018. In a new study, researchers explored how the increase occurred by looking at economic activity, wildfires, and enforcement of the Clean Air Act during this period. They found that the increase was associated with 9,700 additional premature deaths, and that these deaths represent damages of $89 billion. The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), is published as an NBER working paper. "The health implications of this increase are significant," notes Karen Clay, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, who led the study. "The number of deaths and the damages highlight the importance of air pollution as an important and timely policy issue." To learn more about the increase, the researchers used data from the Air Quality System database of daily monitored readings provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA maintains a network of air pollution monitors because PM2.5 is regulated under the Clean Air Act. In total, the researchers studied 653 counties with monitors for fine particulate matter. They also looked at information from the EPA's enforcement database, as well as vital statistics (population and mortality rates) by county. Increases in PM2.5 from 2016 to 2018 were observed in many U.S. counties. In the West and Midwest Census regions, fine particulate matter rose during this period; in the Northeast and South Census regions, it stayed the same. Every year, the EPA designates each county as having met or failed to meet air pollution standards under the Clean Air Act. Increases in fine particulate matter occurred in counties that met the standards as well as in those that failed to meet them, according to the study. The rise in PM2.5 increased the number of premature deaths of adults over age 30 by about 9,700 from 2016 to 2018, with 80% of the premature deaths occurring among the elderly and 20% of the premature deaths among adults ages 30 to 64, the study found. These calculations use the same methods used by the EPA to relate fine particulate matter to mortality. The damages of $89 billion are calculated by multiplying deaths by the EPA's value of a statistical life. Increases in PM2.5 in the air were especially pronounced in California, with 43% of the rise in deaths nationally from 2016 to 2018 occurring in the state. The researchers present evidence on three possible causes for the national increase: Changes in economic activity: Increased use of natural gas in households and industries, and growth in the number of miles traveled by fossil fuel-powered vehicles likely contributed to the rise in PM2.5 in certain counties, while decreases in coal-fired power drove declines in other areas. Increases in wildfires: In parts of the West and Midwest, rising numbers of wildfires during the period studied were associated with increases in fine particulate matter. California experienced numerous wildfires during this period, with the most deadly--the Camp Fire--taking place in November 2018. Decreases in enforcement of the Clean Air Act: Enforcement of this law may influence compliance by firms, and the study found that the most frequent type of enforcement of the Clean Air Act fell from 2009 to 2016 and continued to fall from 2016 to 2018. "This research demonstrates that recent increases in fine particulate matter have appreciable effects on risks of premature mortality," explains Nicholas Muller, associate professor of economics, engineering, and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, who coauthored the study. "These increases are worrisome and should persuade policymakers to take the necessary steps to maintain limits on air pollution."

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Modern life is killing our children: Cancer rate in young people up 40 per cent in 16 years
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 22 Oct '19

22 Oct '19

Sent out by Jan Milburn, Westmoreland County, PA, October 22, 2019 So concerning. ""Dr Denis Henshaw, Professor of Human Radiation Effects at Bristol University, the scientific adviser for Children with Cancer UK, said air pollution was by far the biggest culprit, accounting for around 40 per cent of the rise, but other elements of modern lifestyles are also to blame. Among these are obesity, pesticides and solvents inhaled during pregnancy, circadian rhythm disruption through too much bright light at night, radiation from x-rays and CT scans, smoking during and after pregnancy, magnetic fields from power lines, gadgets in homes, and potentially, radiation from mobile phones." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/03/modern-life-is-killing-our-c… Sent from my iPad, DGN

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CLIMATE CHANGE position of Mon Co Comm
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 16 Oct '19

16 Oct '19

Climate Change Has Come Home to Roost This Fall We Cannot Say “Not in My Backward” About Climate Change,It’s Already Here>>> From the Editorial of the Morgantown DominionPost, October 6, 2019 <<<Perpetual heatwaves and severe drought are a big issue. Unlike some issues, fear of climatechange is as real as the threat it poses.Theenormity of climate change demands a sense of urgency to address but is yetdifficult to comprehend and respond to effectively. For many in north-centralWest Virginia it’s obvious our climate is increasingly hotter and drier. Septemberwas one of the warmest and driest on record. Less than an inch of rain wasrecorded in the month.Thoughheat waves were never uncommon in West Virginia, in recent years episodes ofsuch intense hot spells are almost the new norm. Despite our current respitefrom the heat, drought conditions are worsening statewide that make the loss ofcrops and water shortages likely.The U.S.Drought Monitor map classified large parts of southern West Virginia in asevere drought while the entire northern swath of the state was labeledabnormally dry. Recent unusual mild winters with little snowfall and averagetemperatures far above average, though welcomed by many, have left that seasonout of balance, too.We haveyet to see 90 degree days in January, but it’s increasingly possible as ourstate’s climate no longer aligns with any calendar or past weather trends.Other signs of climate change that some of us have observed for several yearsare also making headlines now.Accordingto one major study, the total bird population in the United States and Canadahas declined by 29% since 1970 — t h at ’s 3 billion birds. That loss is notlimited to several threatened species, either. Indeed, it is spread across awide array of birds, from migratory to backyard.The studywas primarily a census and did not attempt to determine the causes of thesedeclines. Some are obvious, such as buildings and wind turbine collisions anddisease outbreaks. But since bird population health truly is the canary in thecoal mine regarding environmental health, this fact alone is reason for graveconcern.We may bewasting our breath asking state and federal governments to commission furtherdetailed studies to more aptly address the issues this decline of birdsportends.But in the spirit of theSeptember 20th Global Climate Strike, we demand ourleaders do more to combat these changes that are no longer just in the public’sconsciousness, but are in its backyard. Talk of the planet’s warmingoften causes many to freeze up. What can one person do to stop something thataffects us on a global scale. Consequently, this issue must be elevated to atop priority much like our national security and public safety. Defense of our planet is just asimportant as defense of our country or our home. As some have said, otherwise,what is there to defend? It’s notunusual when forecasts turn out to be wrong. But there’s something wrong withthe weather and the birds. Something that should be a major concern beyond justthe Weather Channel and the Audubon Society.#########################See this report: North America Has Lost More Than 1 in4 Birds in Last 50 Years, New Study Says | Audubon Society,September 19, 2019See also: Plummeting insect numbers ‘threatencollapse of nature’| Environment | The Guardian, February 10, 2019 Submitted to the MonongaliaCounty Commission by Duane Nichols, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition, 330 DreamCatcher Circle, Morgantown, WV 26508 on October 16, 2019.

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Public Meetings on the Longview Power Plant(s)
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 10 Oct '19

10 Oct '19

NOTE: Longview is proposing to continue to run the existing coal fired coal power and install a waste stream pipeline into Robinson Run and/or the Monongahela River. Also, proposed is Longview II — a gas fired power plant — which will emit thousands of tons of carbon dioxide each day along with nitrogen oxides, particulates and other pollutants. ATTN: Longview Working Group-Planning meeting Sunday > > We have reservations for a large public meeting on Nov. 7 (6-9 PM at the MAC on High Street), and our goal is to get 100 people there. > > So we will hole our next planning meeting this Sunday (Oct. 13) at the Suncrest Panera's at 6:30 PM. The room holds 15, so if each person brings a friend, we can fill the space. > > Can we count on you? > > Thanks to Justin, here's the Facebook event for Sunday's meeting, if everyone could share that out and invite friends. > > https://www.facebook.com/events/1383548498460251/ > > Jim Kotcon

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April Pierson-Keating: the Best of West Virginia – Appalachian Chronicle
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 29 Sep '19

29 Sep '19

https://appalachianchronicle.com/2019/09/29/april-pierson-keating-the-best-… April Pierson-Keating: the Best of West Virginia We honor her too-brief life by fighting to the end, as she exemplified From the Memorial of Michael M. BarrickSeptember 29, 2019 BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — The first time I met April Pierson-Keating in 2014, I immediately knew I had met a woman that had no time to waste when it came to fighting the natural gas companies that are damaging public health and destroying the environment throughout much of West Virginia through fracking and related pipeline development. With April’s passing yesterday, we have lost a relentless happy warrior. For sure, she was stern with those that believe that they had dominion over the land of others, to take and use and destroy. They believe in sacrificial zones. April did not. The people, she was determined, would be heard. And heard she was, from her home in Upshur County to Virginia and points in between. Yet, she was also a happy presence. So, her smile, as well as her intellect and determination, brought joy wherever she went. So, we are just processing the reality that her voice is silent. Or is it? We must keep April’s voice alive. Nobody, of course, can replace her. Our hearts are heavy. But those of us who knew April know one thing for sure — she expects us to keep fighting for justice for the people of West Virginia and all of Appalachia. A few years ago, when trying to share with my younger friends/readers one of the benefits of being engaged in a good fight — building lifelong relationships with people that are among your best friends — I wrote this article. April is pictured in it. That was the first meeting of the Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance. I made a great new friend that night. My head and heart ache for the loss of that friend. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and the people of West Virginia. Yet, April — though gone in the physical body — remains influential and even present today so long as we honor her life by fighting for justice with the same vigor with which she did. Let us live her example — fight until the very end. It is what, I believe, she expects of us. I understand that is was April’s wish that we post photos of water in her honor since she worked so hard to protect our source of life. To that end, let us rush, as does the water tumbling over Blackwater Falls, to establish justice in our land.

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Longview is at it again. Beware of Longview II
by via MVCAC 24 Sep '19

24 Sep '19

Longview Power, knowing a sucker when they see one, is back at the Monongalia County Commission with their hand out. yet again. This time they want the taxpayers of Mon County and West Virginia to subsidize another one of their misguided, polluting schemes. The Mon County Commission has an agreement in hand giving Longview II (or Son of Longview for you horror-movie fans) a tax break with a payment in lieu of taxes (PiLoT) arrangement to build another power plant near their first power station. Longview has already filed for permits with the WV Department of Environmental protection (DEP). This time Longview has plans for a gas-fired power station to be built next to their coal-fired power plant in Mon County, in the community of Fort Martin, WV. Yes, this is right by the 1960s-era Fort Martin Power Station, which is still chugging, churning, and spewing along with NO sign of shutting down in the foreseeable future. Longview also supposedly has plans for a solar array in PA. There is little opposition to the solar installation, but I wonder if that is just a distraction. We know from Longview's past dealings that they dangle these "green" shiny objects to divert our attention, but then renege on all of their green promises once they get what they want (see the cooling water and coal transport paragraphs below). I fear the solar panels may just be another one of those expendable items. Just to refresh your memory on Longview Power I (sorry, this is long): GenPower/Longview Power was a power-plant real-estate agent from Massachusetts, putting together all the parties and obtaining tax breaks from Mon County along with low-interest public loans/bonds from the state of West Virginia to build a coal-fired power plant. They then sold the project to someone else (along with the name Longview Power), and skedaddled out of town with the profits before anything was built. They are just brokers making a deal. They don't operate power plants. They do this all over the country. When GenPower/Longview started this process here in Mon County shortly after the year 2000, they planned on building a gas-fired power plant in the Fort Martin Community on land owned by the Mon County Development Authority. At that time (early 2000s), natural gas prices were relatively high compared to coal and the movers and shakers here and elsewhere in West Virginia convinced GenPower/Longview Power that they needed to build a coal-fired plant, not a gas-fired plant, as WV is a coal state. The construction unions loved this as long as the plant was built with union labor. They did not care that all of the coal was coming from non-union mines. Coal-fired plants take much longer to build than gas-fired plants, so they pushed hard for the coal plant over the gas plant. They didn't care what was being built as long as they built it, and the longer it took to build, the better. Building and Construction Trades members turned out in droves from multiple states to speak in favor of the plant during our local public hearings. The poor, unrepresented union miners only had a couple of voices at these meetings. Fast forward to startup: Longview did not run at more than 40% capacity for the first three or so years. I lived across the river from the plant, and I could tell when they were running full bore and when they were merely idling with a little bit of steam coming out. The people of the Fort Martin community know even better. No wonder this "cleanest coal plant in the nation" supposedly has low emissions: it hardly ran for the first few years of operation! Longview's design-build model resulted in faulty design and faulty equipment. Sure there were wisps of steam coming out of the plant most of the time, but it was not fully operational until the equipment manufacturers, who became the creditors after Longview LLC filed for bankruptcy, poured millions of more dollars into it (over the $2+ billion it cost to build). Starting up a coal-fired power station can take three days. If you are nearby, you know when it happens. Longview promised to be clean. For cooling water, Longview promised to treat and use contaminated mine water which, when pumped down, would allow a flooded coal seam to be mined. A win-win, right? Well after Longview was almost ready to start up, they 'discovered' that the mine water was net acid! Imagine that. In this region of acid-mine drainage, they did not know, after many years and many analyses, that the mine water they would be pumping was acidic. You just have to see the orange stream channels around the Fort Martin community to know that! So Longview had to get cooling water from the Mon River after all, even though they promised in all of their permitting that they wouldn't need to do that. Then there is coal transportation: another lie. Longview touted themselves as a mine-mouth plant. In other words, they were supposedly situated right next to the mine, so the coal they used would not have to be barged on the river and trucked up to the power station. There was a little bit about the loooong conveyor belt they were building from the PA side of the mine.. But oh no, there wouldn't be those big pesky overweight trucks running up and down Fort Martin Rd starting in the early morning hours, running people off the road, creating all kinds of noise, and spewing nasty fumes. Oh no ... Oh yes! Just like the water lie, Longview now gets its coal from river barges and then trucks it up Fort Martin Hill to the plant, starting at 4 in the morning, destroying the road, creating noise and air pollution, and literally running other cars into the ditch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ Now back to the present: Natural gas is a fossil fuel. Burning it emits carbon dioxide and hastens climate change. Getting it out of the ground, compressed, and transported to where it is used is a whole other set of issues on top of that. Please call, write, or e mail all three commissioners on the Mon County Commission and tell them you are opposed to this next phase of Longview lies. Contact Info: Commissioner Thomas C. Bloom Commissioner Edward A. Hawkins Commissioner Sean P. Sikora Monongalia County Commission 243 High St Morgantown, WV, 26505 Phone: (304) 291-7257 https://www.monongaliacounty.gov Thanks for your attention if you made it this far, paula

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Surprising Recovery of Red Spruce Shows Value of Clean Air Act | UVM Today | The University of Vermont
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 16 Sep '19

16 Sep '19

https://www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news/surprising-recovery-red-spruce-shows-value… Surprising Recovery of Red Spruce Shows Value of Clean Air Act Since the 1960s, scientists at the University of Vermont have been documenting the decline of red spruce trees, casualties of the damage caused by acid rain on northeastern forests. But now, surprising new research shows that red spruce are making a comeback—and that a combination of reduced pollution mandated by the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act and changing climate are behind the resurgence. The new study was led by Alexandra Kosiba of the University of Vermont with co-authors Paul Schaberg of the USDA Forest Service and University of Vermont researchers Shelly Rayback and Gary Hawley. The scientists examined data from 658 trees in 52 plots spanning five states—and found that more than 75 percent of red spruce trees and 90 percent of the plots exhibited increasing growth since 2001. “Our evidence suggests that the Clean Air Act is working to enhance conditions for red spruce,” says Kosiba, a staff scientist for the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative at UVM. “This is a surprising and positive story.” The team’s study was published in the journal Science of thepublished in the journal Science of the Total Environment Total Environment. Recovery, for now The research team assessed the relationship between red spruce growth and factors that may influence growth such as tree age and diameter, elevation, slope, geographical position, and environmental variables including temperature, precipitation, a suite of climate measures—and the sulfur and nitrogen pollution that cause acid to be deposited in falling rain and snow. The results show a clear signal that “acid rain decline has helped red spruce recover, as well as higher temperatures in the fall, winter, and spring,” says Paul Schaberg, a researcher in the Forest Service’s Northern Research Station and adjunct professor at UVM. “Higher temperatures help some species and hurt others—right now, red spruce are benefiting, but they could be vulnerable to change in the future.” Red spruce have unique characteristics that make them particularly susceptible to acid rain. For example, they have little genetic variation and they have only moderate tolerance to the cold. But they are also able to “wake up” and photosynthesize during warm interludes of the dormant season, a characteristic that may better position the species to take advantage of recent climate shifts that extend the functional growing season. Yet the study notes that future changes in habitat suitability may not be as favorable to red spruce as those already experienced—it will likely depend on how extreme future changes are. “Red spruce are adapted to a certain range of climate conditions. Our work shows that reduced acid rain, warmer winter temperatures, and a lengthening growing season have benefited them recently,” says Kosiba. “But we don’t know how much change they’ll be able to tolerate in a warmer future.” The scientists are confident that their research represents the current state of red spruce in the entire region, according to Kosiba. “Our study included a broad range of tree ages and sizes as well as a variety of plot locations and characteristics,” she said. “We are confident that we are capturing the regional status of red spruce forests, not just a snapshot of a specific location.” “More broadly our work demonstrates the importance of using research to identify ecosystem problems that inform policy to mitigate those issues, and result in biological recovery,” noted Kosiba. Pioneers on the mountain Pioneering studies on acid rain were conducted by famed University of Vermont researcher Hub Vogelmann and other UVM scientists on Vermont’s iconic mountain, Camel’s Hump, in the 1960s. This scientific work was instrumental to the formation of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act that have brought reductions in acid deposition in the Northeast. Later research by Paul Schaberg, Gary Hawley, and others led to a deeper understanding of how calcium leaching from the soil was a key part of the mechanism that caused acid rain to damage spruce trees and other plants. “Calcium is slow to replenish in the ecosystem, so even though we've had this decline in acid rain, there has been a delay in seeing recovery,” says Kosiba who completed her doctorate in forest science at UVM in 2017. “There was some thought that, maybe, red spruce was not going to be a big component of our forests anymore, that there was too much damage.” Even as recently as 2003, scientists noted a major winter-kill of red spruce and acid rain was a key culprit. Although the pollution that causes acid rain in the Northeast has been greatly reduced in recent decades, there have been very few studies to show that this cleaner air has improved the health of the region’s forests. “So it’s great that we're finally seeing recovery of spruce,” Kosiba says, who notes that a recent study of red spruce in the Central Appalachians came to a similar conclusion. “There is a legacy of red spruce research in Vermont — starting with Hub Vogelmann. His work contributed to legislative change that reduced acid rain. Now our new research helps continue the story. It shows that the Clean Air Act works."

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New Studies Conclude Role of Natural Gas As a “Bridge Fuel” Is Over
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 12 Sep '19

12 Sep '19

ABRA Update #244 – September 12, 2019 (Allegheny - Blue Ridge Alliance) Source: ABRA_Update_244_20190912.pdf > > > New Studies Conclude Role of Natural Gas As a “Bridge Fuel” Is Over > > Two new reports released by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) conclude that “the role of natural gas as a ‘bridge fuel’ is behind us.” In announcing the reports, RMI states: > The past decade has seen a dramatic reduction in the costs of wind, solar, and storage technologies. At the same time, sophisticated utilities and market operators are increasingly able to procure grid reliability services from these non-traditional resources. As a result, leading US utilities are now prioritizing investment in “clean energy portfolios” (CEPs)— combinations of renewables, storage, and demand-side management strategies—that can cost-effectively provide the same reliability services as traditional gas-fired power plants. > RMI analyzed the economics of every proposed gas-fired power plant in the United States and found: > • Over 90% of proposed gas-fired capacity would be more expensive than an equivalent CEP. > • If built, owners of these gas assets will face tens of billions of dollars of stranded costs with uncertain future revenues as clean energy continues to fall in price. > • US electricity customers could save US$29 billion (NPV) by investing in CEPs instead of these uneconomic gas plants. > • This reprioritization of capital would also avoid 100 million tons of CO2 emissions each year, equivalent to 5% of the current emissions of the US electricity system. > > RMI also projects that pipelines expected to ship gas to power plants will be underutilized: >>>> Growth in US economy-wide demand for natural gas has been driven almost exclusively by the power sector over the past 20 years. In turn, this demand growth has helped drive $115 billion in gas pipeline investment over the same period, and interstate gas pipeline developers have proposed another $30 billion in new investment through 2025 in part to meet the expected increase in demand. > > RMI’s analysis, however, shows that growth in power sector gas use will stop in the near future, with dramatic implications for pipelines that rely on revenue from new gas plants: > • In the Eastern United States, throughput on new gas pipelines will fall 20%–60% below presumed levels by 2035. > • This decline in utilization will lead to rising unit costs for delivered gas borne, in most cases, by captive utility customers. >> To download the two RMI reports – The Growing Market for Clean Energy Portfolios and Prospects for Gas Pipelines in the Era of Clean Energy – click below: > > https://rmi.org/insight/clean-energy-portfolios-pipelines-and-plants/ >> >> Another new report – released September 11 by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy – concludes that the era of carbon-intensive energy derived from the burning of fossil fuels is coming to an end, and a cleaner, more reliable energy future based on renewables like wind and solar will be the new normal. The Speed of the Energy Transition offers compelling evidence that stakeholders in the global energy system must prepare for change urgently, because it is coming fast. >> The Speed of the Energy Transition Gradual or Rapid Change? | World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/the-speed-of-the-energy-transition

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Back to School, to Strike for Climate! School-age children are protesting for new policies — Grid Magazine
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 11 Sep '19

11 Sep '19

https://www.gridphilly.com/grid-magazine/2019/9/10/back-to-school-to-strike… Back to School, to Strike for Climate! School-age children are protesting for new policies By Meenal Raval, The Grid (Philly), September 10, 2019 It’s September. With summer vacations almost over, children are getting ready to go back to school. And this year, back to school means back to an event called, “School Strike for Climate.” There’s a Global Climate Strike planned for Friday, September 20, days before the United Nations Climate Summit in New York City on September 23. The Global Climate Strike invites people of all ages to strike—by refusing to attend work and school—to disrupt the social order and to push our governments to act on the climate emergency we find ourselves in. Imagine the distruption possible when both young and old join forces. Started in August 2018 by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden camping outside local government offices until they treat the climate crisis like the emergency it is, the movement has spread like wildfire—to Europe, Australia and within 4 months, the rest of the world. The School Strike for Climate is dubbed Youth Climate Strike US, and locally, Climate Strike PA. Why are our youth in the United States striking? Because we have only 11 years to prevent even worse effects of climate change. Their platform lists demands of the federal, state and local governments: A Green New Deal A declaration of a national climate emergency Compulsory education about the climate crisis Preservation of our public lands & wildlife Deem access to clean water a human right Locally, I’ve met many young people inspired by Greta, who rise for climate. Led by youth Sabirah Mahmud, a high school student who organized the Climate Strike rallies first in March and then again in May, launched a boot camp in July for youth new to Climate Strike PA. “The climate crisis is going to affect us all in different ways and it’s so important for us to take action,” Mahmud says. With 30 new people attending the organization’s boot camp—where students learned about civil disobedience, the climate crisis and more—the September school strike for climate is expected to bring more people. Mahmud tells us they may plan a march in Center City Philadelphia that morning. With details still being worked out as of this writing, the Climate Strike PA team asks interested parties to follow it on social media. “Let’s make September 20th the biggest strike to ever take place and make our governments accountable for their inaction against this global crisis,” she says. Mahmud also asks youth all over Pennsylvania to get their own school involved and “champion for a strike” wherever they are by contacting Climate Strike PA. Calling all kids! Over Memorial Day weekend, 12-year-old Hadassah Weinmartin organized the “first meeting ever” of the Sunrise Movement’s Northwest Philly hub. This first house party brought in 25 of her friends, and 10 of their parents. Since that first hub meeting, Weinmartin has organized another local meeting, as well as a presidential debate watch party. She’s the youngest with the Sunrise Philly team. Her message to us? “You’re never too young to make a difference.”

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Interview with Dr. Sofia Valenzuela: Global potential of forest biotechnology - Alliance for Science
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 10 Sep '19

10 Sep '19

https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2019/09/interview-global-potent… Interview with Dr. Sofia Valenzuela: Global potential of forest biotechnology A group of 15 leading scientists in forest biotechnology research recently published a letter in the Science Magazine, calling on international forest certification programs to review and modify their standards that exclude genetically modified (GM) and gene-edited trees. Although the review won‘t take place until October, researchers believe it‘s necessary to raise their voices through this and other initiatives, such as a public petition managed by the Alliance for Science and signed by more than 1000 people last January. Among the scientists who signed the letter, the only Latin American was Sofía Valenzuela, who is a biochemist from the University of Chile with a PhD in Natural Resources (TU Braunschweig, Germany). She works as a professor on the faculty of forestry sciences at the University of Concepcion and also as a researcher at the Biotechnology Center of the same university. In addition, she engages in science communication and activism in favor of gender equality in science and participated in the 2016 Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows Program executive session. Taking advantage of her expertise in the field, I conducted an interview in which Dr. Valenzuela explains in more detail research under way globally and in Latin America on GM and gene-edited trees, their potential in the context of climate change and the challenges of the field. Question: Since the commercialization of GM crops began in the mid-1990s, they have made significant progress in research, commercial and consumer approvals around the world. However, this same recombinant DNA technology applied to the forestry sector didn‘t experience the same commercial growth. What factors are behind this uneven development of genetic engineering in the agricultural and forestry sector? Answer: The development of GM trees takes several years, almost three decades; however, its acceptance and therefore its use in commercial plantations has been complex. On the one hand, most forestry companies are nationally and internationally certified and the certifying entities don‘t allow the use of GM trees in their production chain. Since 1988, nearly 1500 field trials have been carried out using GM trees, most of them in the United States and Brazil. The poplar corresponds to the species with the highest number of trials, followed by eucalyptus and pine. The traits that have been modified are growth, content and type of lignin, herbicide tolerance, reproductive development and cold tolerance, just to mention the main ones. These trials have been developed by both private entities and universities, among which we can mention Arborgen, Oregon State University and Futuragene. Some trials that have been able to advance on a larger scale correspond to Bt poplar in China (2003) and in 2014, Futuragene in Brazil obtained permission to commercialize GM eucalyptus with higher yield. On the other hand, there has been a lot of debate regarding the use of GM trees. Some people think that when we talk about GM trees, we talk about forests, which they associate with nature and say that nature shouldn’t be modified. In reality, the main objective is the use of these species in forest plantations. Otherwise, there is fear—unfounded—that unlike agricultural crops, GM trees will be planted for more than a decade, which would entail a greater environmental risk—mainly “gene flow.” Others argue that the main traits used in agriculture for the production of GM crops—herbicide tolerance and Bt, or both—aren‘t of great economic relevance for the forestry sector. Despite these public concerns, there is sufficient scientific evidence that GM trees have no major negative impact on the environment or human/animal health. In fact, if GM forest species were allowed for commercial plantation purposes, we could have higher productivity per hectare, which would reduce the pressure for more land for plantations. This is why, led by Dr. Steve Strauss of Oregon State University, we made the letter and a petition that has been signed by more than 1000 people, so that the use of GM or genetically edited trees is changed and accepted. We are sure that there is scientific evidence to allow the use of these trees, and this may bring benefits to society, but especially small and medium farmers, who will have the opportunity to have better trees for their plantations. Dr. Sofía Valenzuela Q: Aside from the famous case of genetic modification of the Hawaiian papaya tree, which saved the Islands’ farms from the ringspot virus without having to use conventional control methods, which trees for food or industrial use are commercially approved or already planted in the world? What socioeconomic and environmental impact have they generated? A: It is necessary to differentiate fruit trees from forest species for commercial purposes. In the case of fruit trees there is a greater acceptance, both from producers, farmers and even consumers. There are several studies with GM fruit trees, including some of them ready to be marketed, especially in the USA, given that the genetic modifications used confer tolerance to diseases or pathogens in fruit species. This implies reducing both the use of pesticides and losses in production while maintaining a fruit industry that could be threatened by pathogens, which will be increasingly frequent in the face of the climate change scenario. It‘s likely that given the commercial and social impact that these trees or fruit species have, it will be easier for them to be accepted and commercialized by both farmers and consumers. In the case of forest trees for commercial purposes, it has been, for some reason that I fail to understand, much more complex to gain acceptance and use. Q: Among the various developments of GM trees that you have seen or investigated, which ones stand out for their potential or are in advanced phases of research/field trials? Which countries could be the first to take advantage of them on their lands? A: Most of the research on forest trees has been in poplar, where different genetic modifications have been made. Many of them are focused on obtaining trees with more cellulose and less lignin, which increases productivity per hectare—more cellulose/ha. In this case, many field trials have been carried out and different events have been obtained with a greater production of cellulose—without changes in the tree phenotype—so this would be a case that could be marketed promptly. However, there are also studies to have disease-tolerant trees and for better tolerance of environmental conditions, such as drought. It has worked with other species such as eucalyptus, poplar, chestnut, just to name a few. Some companies like Arbogen conducted cold-tolerant eucalyptus tests in the USA; China a few years ago planted Bt poplar; in Brazil Futuragene obtained permission to market a eucalyptus with better wood quality. Moreover, this technology could be used in the future for the control of invasive plant species. In the short term and seeing the investment, bets that are being made that possibly China will one of the first countries where GM trees will be authorized and result in commercial plantations. Q: Regarding the new techniques of genome editing like CRISPR, are there countries advancing in new developments with this technology? Is there any ongoing debate whether they will be regulated as GMOs or “natural mutants,” as is the case in Europe for agricultural crops? A: With applications in the forestry sector there are many advances with this technology in China and the USA, mainly, where they have investigated in poplar. As in the case of agricultural crops, for trees edited with CRISPR/Cas it is the same debate. I think this could be a new opportunity to have edited trees in plantations. It has been a long battle to have GM trees commercially, after almost three decades we haven‘t succeeded in authorizing their use. I see that the genome editing opens a new door for us to have these trees in commercial plantations. It is not that someone wants to replace all plantations with GM trees, but they can be a good alternative in specific cases. Like agricultural crops, it‘s one of the alternatives. What is requested is that the option of its use be given. Q: At the Latin American and Chilean level, what biotechnological forestry developments are being carried out? Do you lead any at the University of Concepción? A: In Latin America, research in forest biotechnology has focused mainly on the development of biotechnological tools that support forest breeding programs and shorten the selection times of the best trees. The first investigations focused on the development of micropropagation techniques, followed with the use of molecular markers for both clonal genotyping and for marker-assisted breeding. Nowadays, progress is being made with the use of genomic selection, GWAS and genome sequencing of forest species, as well as in the validation of candidate genes associated with different traits of interest, which will be the basis for GM trees in the medium term—once we have the legislation that allows it. In Brazil, a GM eucalyptus has already been generated. There is progress and if we could have the authorization to use these trees we would be conducting more studies in the area. In our case, we are investigating the use of genomic selection in forest species of interest in Chile. Also in the validation of candidate genes that confer tolerance to abiotic conditions—cold and drought. For now we use the Arabidopisis model plant and next year we hope to have the option of validating them in poplar at the laboratory level, with the authorization of Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG). For this reason, I am currently in the laboratory of Dr. Vincent Chiang, at Northeast Forestry University in Harbin, China, with whom we are collaborating in this area. Q: In the context of climate change, population growth and the need to produce more using less land, what new useful features could forest biotechnology offer to meet these challenges? A: Today the concept of bioeconomy is increasingly imposed, where we could replace the use of fossil fuel with renewable natural resources, with trees as one of them. With these, we can obtain not only cellulose, but many biomaterials from cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses, the three main components of wood. At the same time, wood is an excellent building material, not only for houses, but also for buildings. Therefore, we may need more area to meet these needs. An alternative is to look for more land for this, and another is to obtain trees that have a better quality of wood (for different goals) and are more productive, healthy and tolerant of extreme environments—drought, cold, heat, salinity. This can be done—and there are already some examples—with GM trees or developed through gene editing. Q: In Chile, the endemic tree Araucaria Araucana—a very important tree in our culture, especially for the native peoples of the south—was declared endangered last year. Could genetic modification offer a solution to the millenary forests of Araucaria that are disappearing? A: It could definitely be an alternative. Once the cause that is affecting the Araucaria is known, we could find a solution through genetic engineering or gene editing. This doesn‘t mean that alternatives can’t also be sought or used in parallel or in conjunction with conventional breeding. This is a case very similar to what happened with the American chestnut in the USA, where the species was affected by a fungus and there were very few specimens. Two options were carried out: one was to generate a hybrid with an Asian chestnut (pathogen tolerant) and the other was the development of a genetically modified chestnut tolerant to the pathogen. And thanks to this, today there are many GM chestnut plants that can be planted, recovering the species Now, together with creating a GM tree, a lot of research goes hand in hand; for example, knowing the genome of the species, evaluating the effect that the gene or genes will have on the new phenotype and carrying out complete and complex environmental risk and benefit assessments, among many other studies. That is, a GM Araucaria is not going to be done in the laboratory and immediately taken to the field, but it will go through a series of detailed scientific studies before being released to the environment. This is a mechanism that new agricultural crops or forestry varieties aren‘t subjected to when they are obtained by other techniques of conventional breeding. Q: In mid-2017, the IUFRO Tree Biotechnology Conference was held at the University of Concepción, which suffered vandalism by activists who protested against the “genetic contamination towards native forests” claiming that this type of research ends up “filling the pockets of big companies.” What would be your message for opponents who share this type of fear or objection? A: Yes, I remember it very well. First, there is a lot of misinformation. For example, a clone is confused with a genetically modified tree, so in Chile there are clonal plantations, but they are not genetically modified. The language is also critical. On the one hand we have commercial plantations and on the other hand we have forests. In order for any [gene flow] contamination to occur in native forests, the species must be sexually compatible, and if we think of the commercial species used in Chile—pine and eucalyptus—they are both exotic, and not compatible with the native species. If one day we could have commercial plantations with GM trees, you can be sure that these will have been rigorously evaluated, much more than any other agricultural crop or non-GM tree, so there will be scientific evidence that they won‘t cause damage to the environment. In the end, GM trees shouldn‘t be feared. They aren‘t sinister, they don‘t cause damage to the environment; on the contrary, they will allow healthier trees with less pesticide application, better management and at the same time a higher productivity per hectare. Q: Among the 15 scientists who signed the letter in Science, you and Heather Coleman were the only women. In your opinion, what are the causes behind this gender disparity? How can we encourage more women to dedicate themselves to science and your research field? A: Yes, it is a problem. In the forestry field, the research led by female scientist must be close to 15-20 percent. In fact, if we do a search for forest biotechnology in the WOS, we will see that the main and most cited authors are all men. We noted this low participation (or presence) of researchers during the IUFRO Tree Biotechnology 2017 congress, which we held in Concepción. That was a first step, making visible that the main researchers are men, almost all from the northern hemisphere! This allowed two things. One, that for the first time two women were chosen as deputies in the tree molecular biology section of the IUFRO (2.04.06)—in this case, Heather Coleman and me—and this year four young researchers joined. Secondly, this year’s IUFRO Tree Biotechnology Congress held in Raleigh, NC, USA, included a panel of diversity and the opportunity for young researchers to make oral presentations on their work. We hope those elements will remain in subsequent versions of this congress, with the next to be held in 2021 in China. This has allowed the community in forest biotechnology to start reflecting on how to have more women in a subject area that is very masculine. One of the missions is to have role models, to give greater visibility to the leading researchers in this field who are young and also to those who belong to minority groups. It‘s not easy to change the status quo, but for now we are having more actions and support from our male colleagues. For example, some of them have promised not to attend panels comprised solely of men and to support more female researchers, especially when they decide to be mothers, which is a critical stage where the academic careers of women are affected. Though equal numbers of men and women pursue university careers, for some reason the number of women leading research working groups barely reaches 20 percent. We are taking the first steps to reverse the situation. I hope it will not take us a century, as some studies indicate, but that we will be able to have equity in science and forest biotechnology by 2050. Sent from my iPad

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West Virginia Air Pollution Sources
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 25 Aug '19

25 Aug '19

> Subject: NSR Permits for Review (Current) > > > https://dep.wv.gov/daq/Pages/NSRPermitsforReviewCurrent.aspx/ > > > NSR Permits for Review (Current) > NSR Permits for Review - 2018 to present > > ONLY AVAILABLE ON OUR DATABASE!! PLEASE READ DIRECTIONS BELOW > > Below is a list of applications for permit, draft permits, final permits, evaluations, and other documents that are in conjuction with registrations. We have them listed alphabetically by county, company, then facility. If you would like to view any of the documents listed, please click HERE to access our database. When you open the database to login simply enter DEP as the user and DEP as the password. (ALL CAPS) Once on the site, click on PERMITSAIR and you can search by any of the parameters listed. If you know the permit number, which is is the second column below, you may enter it into the SECONDARY ID NUMBER field. > > Use the CTRL + the F keys as a shortcut for the Find command to search text on this web page. Pressing CTRL + F will bring up a search box. Just type in that search box and it will locate the text you are looking for on this page. Examples would be county names, company names (full or partial) or permit numbers. >

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Oil company records from 1960s reveal patents to reduce CO2 emissions in cars | Environment | The Guardian
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 27 Jul '19

27 Jul '19

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/20/oil-company-records-exxon-… Oil company records from 1960s reveal patents to reduce CO2 emissions in cars ExxonMobil and others pursued research into technologies, yet blocked government efforts to fight climate change for more than 50 years, findings show Suzanne GoldenbergLast modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 18.04 GMT The patent records were among a new trove of documents published by the Center for International Environmental Law, and deepen the public relations challenge for Exxon. Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters The forerunners of ExxonMobil patented technologies for electric cars and low emissions vehicles as early as 1963 – even as the oil industry lobby tried to squash government funding for such research, according to a trove of newly discovered records. Patent records reveal oil companies actively pursued research into technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change from the 1960s – including early versions of the batteries now deployed to power electric cars such as the Tesla. Scientists for the companies patented technologies to strip carbon dioxide out of exhaust pipes, and improve engine efficiency, as well as fuel cells. They also conducted research into countering the rise in carbon dioxide emissions – including manipulating the weather. Esso, one of the precursors of ExxonMobil, obtained at least three fuel cell patents in the 1960s and another for a low-polluting vehicle in 1970, according to the records. Other oil companies such as Phillips and Shell also patented technologies for more efficient uses of fuel. However, the American Petroleum Institute, the main oil lobby, opposed government funding of research into electric cars and low emissions vehicles, telling Congress in 1967: “We take exception to the basic assumption that clean air can be achieved only by finding an alternative to the internal combustion engine.” This 1970 patent, assigned to Esso (now ExxonMobil), is a design for a low-polluting engine system. Photograph: Handout And ExxonMobil funded a disinformation campaigned aimed at discrediting scientists and blocking government efforts to fight climate change for more than 50 years, before publicly disavowing climate denial in 2008. The patent records were among a new trove of documents published on Thursday by the Center for International Environmental Law, and deepen the legal and public relations challenge for Exxon. “What we saw was an array of patent technologies that demonstrated that these companies had the technologies they needed and could have commercialised to help address the problem of C02 pollution,” said Carroll Muffett, president of the Ciel. “They then turned to Congress and said you don’t need to invest in electrical vehicle research because the research is ongoing and it’s robust.” The findings echo those in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, which explored the deliberate destruction of GM’s first electric vehicles. Alan Jeffers, an Exxon spokesman, insisted he could not comment directly on the documents as he was unable to access the Center for International Environmental law website on which they were published on Thursday morning. In an emailed statement, Jeffers said: “The Guardian gave us only a few hours to comment on documents from four decades ago.” Jeffers went on: “This further illustrates the Guardian’s well-established bias on climate change issues which has been demonstrated previously through its keep it in the ground campaign.” He said the company believed the risks of climate change were real, was researching lower emission technologies, and engaged in “constructive dialogue” with policy makers about energy and climate change. Researchers discovered more than 20 such patents filed by oil companies from as early as the 1940s for technologies that could help in the development of electric cars. However, Ron Dunlop, president of Sun Oil and API chairman, told a joint hearing of the commerce committee in 1967 that government funding of research into electric cars would be misplaced – because the oil companies were so advanced in their research of cleaner cars. “We in the petroleum industry are convinced that by the time a practical electric car can be mass produced and marketed, it will not enjoy any meaningful advantage from an air pollution standpoint,” he told Congress. “Emissions from internal-combustion engines will have long since been controlled.” Muffett said the findings were the result of three years of research and were not exhaustive. “The question is what did they do to try to commercialise these technologies, knowing what they did about climate change,” he went on. The revelations, the second set of documents released by Muffett’s organisation, reinforce charges by campaigners that Exxon was well aware that the burning of fossil fuels was a main driver of climate change – despite its public posture of doubt. In addition to the technologies with potential for electric cars, Exxon and other oil companies were actively researching methods to cut emissions of carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas. In another historic document that surfaced last month, a Canadian subsidiary of Exxon admitted the company had the technology to cut carbon emissions in half. However, the corporate memo dating from 1977 said it would be prohibitively expensive – doubling the cost of electricity generation, according to the documents obtained by Desmog blog. New York and 17 other attorneys general, including DC and the US Virgin Islands, are investigating whether the oil company lied to investors and the public about the threat of climate change. Campaigners plan to further turn up the heat on the company next week when Exxon holds its annual shareholder meeting in Dallas. Campaigners have argued for more than a decade that Exxon bankrolled a network of front groups and conservative think tanks aimed at discrediting well-established science – confusing the public and delaying governments efforts to cut the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for warming. Those efforts to put Exxon on the spot gathered pace after Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times reported that the company’s own scientists knew as early as the 1970s that greenhouse gases caused climate change. The attorney general of the US Virgin Islands has subpoenaed Exxon to turn over email, documents and statements over the last decades. Exxon has dismissed the investigations as politically motivated. However, the company has reversed its opposition to fuel cell technology. Earlier this month, the company announced it had been conducting a joint research effort on fuel cell power plants with FuelCell. The initiative, which got underway in 2011, aims to route the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning power plants into fuel cells, producing low emissions electricity. The company has estimated it can cut 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. “At ExxonMobil, we share the view that the risks of climate change are serious and warrant thoughtful action,” Rex Tillerson, Exxon’s chief executive, told the US Energy Association after receiving its annual award.

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Greater prevalence of congenital heart defects in areas with high intensity of oil and gas well activity - CU Anschutz Today
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 21 Jul '19

21 Jul '19

of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Search for: WebmailUCD AccessCanvasQuick Links Evidence of relationship between birth defects and oil, gas activity Greater prevalence of congenital heart defects in areas with high intensity of oil and gas well activity July 18, 201hare Mothers living near more intense oil and gas development activity have a 40-70% higher chance of having children with congenital heart defects (CHDs) compared to those living in areas of less intense activity, according to a new study from researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health. “We observed more children were being born with a congenital heart defect in areas with the highest intensity of oil and gas well activity,” said the study’s senior author Lisa McKenzie, PhD, MPH, of the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. At least 17 million people in the U.S. and 6% of Colorado’s population live within one mile of an active oil and gas well site. Lisa McKenzie, PhD, MPH, of the Colorado School of Public Health The study was published today July 18th in the peer-reviewed journal Environment International. The researchers studied 3,324 infants born in Colorado from 2005-2011. They looked at infants with several specific types of CHDs. https://www.cuanschutztoday.org/greater-prevalence-of-congenital-heart-defe…

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Berkeley becomes first U.S. city to ban natural gas in new homes - SFChronicle.com
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 17 Jul '19

17 Jul '19

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-becomes-first-U-S-city… Berkeley becomes first U.S. city to ban natural gas in new homes Sarah Ravani, San Francisco Chronicle, July 15, 2019 Berkeley became the first city nationwide to ban the use of natural gas in new low-rise residential buildings in a unanimous vote Tuesday by the City Council. The ordinance, introduced by Councilwoman Kate Harrison, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020, and phases out the use of natural gas by requiring all new single-family homes, town homes and small apartment buildings to have electric infrastructure. After its passage, Harrison thanked the community and her colleagues “for making Berkeley the first city in California and the United States to prohibit natural gas infrastructure in new buildings.” The city will include commercial buildings and larger residential structures as the state moves to develop regulations for those, officials said. The ordinance allocates $273,341 per year for a two-year staff position in the Building and Safety Division within the city’s Department of Planning and Development. The employee will be responsible for implementing the ban. “I’m proud to vote on groundbreaking legislation to prohibit natural gas in new buildings,” Mayor Jesse Arreguín said on Twitter. “We are committed to the #ParisAgreement and must take immediate action in order to reach our climate action goals. It’s not radical, it’s necessary.” The ordinance applies to buildings that have been reviewed by the California Energy Commission and determined to meet state requirements and regulations if they are electric only, said Ben Gould, the chairman of Berkeley’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission. Gould said he spoke as a private citizen and not as a representative of the commission. Those buildings are low-rise residential buildings, which include single-family homes, town homes and small apartment buildings. Therefore, Berkeley’s ordinance only applies to those buildings, but as the state approves more building types, the city will follow, Gould said. The way the ordinance is written, the city’s regulations will update as the state commission approves more building models without having to return to the City Council for a vote. “We need to find ways to move forward innovative groundbreaking climate policy,” he said. “This policy is really important and critical. It helps address one of the largest sources of emissions in Berkeley.” In 2009, the city adopted a Climate Action Plan that aimed to reduce emissions by 33% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. The plan also commits the city to using 100% renewable electricity by 2035. In June 2018, the council declared a climate emergency and called for a review of Berkeley’s greenhouse emission reduction strategies. The city determined in a report last year that gas-related emissions have increased due to an 18% population growth since 2000. The report also concluded that the burning of natural gas within city buildings accounted for 27% of Berkeley’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2016. As the city’s population soars, the need for more housing has also increased. From 2014 to 2017, the Planning Department approved building permits for 525 residential units and 925 built units were approved for occupancy. More housing is expected, particularly with the Adeline Corridor Plan, which calls for the construction of 1,400 units along Adeline Street and a portion of South Shattuck Avenue. Electric-only buildings prevent the installation of natural gas pipes and instead install heat pumps and induction cooking, Gould said. “Think about a refrigerator and how it makes inside your refrigerator cold and blows hot air out of somewhere else,” Gould said. “A heat pump works like that, but in reverse. It takes outside air and emits cold air outside and provides hot air inside. They can also be flipped in reverse and work as an air conditioner.” Induction cooking transfers heat directly to any magnetic cookware, including cast-iron and steel, without using radiation. “It transfers heat right to the pot,” Gould said. “It boils water faster than anything else that exists. It’s very even, very quick to respond.” At Tuesday’s meeting, Harrison’s staff demonstrated the use of an induction cooktop by making chocolate fondue. The staff placed a piece of paper between the stove and the pot to show its safety features. The pot turned hot, but the paper didn’t burn, Gould said. The ordinance restricts developers applying for land-use permits from building anything that includes gas infrastructure, including gas piping to heat water, space and food. Accessory dwelling units — built-in basements or attics of existing homes — are exempt from the ordinance. A public interest exemption may also be allowed if the council or the Zoning Adjustments Board determines that the use of natural gas is necessary.

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Delaware City Refining Company agrees to $950, 000 settlement for Clean Air Act violations - WHYY
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 12 Jul '19

12 Jul '19

https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-city-refining-company-agrees-to-950000-s… Delaware City Refining Company agrees to $950,000 settlement ByEmily PontecorvoJuly 11, 2019, WHYY, Philadelphia, PA The settlement does not cover violations from a fire that broke out in February, releasing hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide into the air. (Cris Barrish/WHYY) The Delaware City Refining Company, LLC has agreed to pay a $950,000 penalty to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control for violations of the Clean Air Act that date back to 2010. The settlement also addresses appeals the company made to DNREC-issued air quality permits. The violations include releases of volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide — pollutants that are known to cause breathing problems, skin irritation, and in some cases nausea, vomiting, and neurological effects such as dizziness. The refinery has also been cited for releases of methane, one of the most powerful heat-trapping gases that contributes to global warming. DNREC has agreed to revise the permit language regarding emissions caps on certain units at the refinery. There is an annual cap on the facility’s emissions, but certain units have shorter-term limits that prevent large releases all at once. The new language allows the company more flexibility on some units under certain circumstances, such as when equipment is malfunctioning. The revised permits will now enter a comment period. Once the comment period closes and the revised permits are issued, pending no major changes, the company has agreed to dismiss its appeals. DNREC has been fighting the refinery over outstanding air and water violations since the facility’s restart in June 2010. DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin told WHYY that the agency decided to separate the two issues due to the complicated nature of the air quality permit appeals. The new settlement does not cover outstanding water violations by the refinery or any air quality violations after October 2018. For example, it does not cover violations from a fire that broke out in February, releasing hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide into the air. Garvin said these more recent violations will be addressed through the usual investigation process. “In any agreement, you don’t get utopia,” he said. “I think we got to a place in which we addressed a lot of backlogged issues that had been building up over time and set the stage for more clarity moving forward.” He expects to address future violations more quickly than those addressed by the settlement. The Delaware City Refining Company is part of PBF energy, the owner of five refineries including the Paulsboro Refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey. The company did not respond to a request for comment on this story. Sent from my iPad

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Investigation: Cracker plant will bring jobs, pollution
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 08 Jul '19

08 Jul '19

https://www.wtae.com/article/investigation-cracker-plant-will-bring-jobs-po… From an Article by Paul van Osdol, WTAE Action 4 News, May 9, 2019 MONACA, Pa. — The massive ethane cracker plant in Beaver County is bringing thousands of jobs to Western Pennsylvania. But Action News Investigates has learned it may also bring thousands of tons of air pollutants to a region that already has some of the nation's dirtiest air. At the cracker plant site, dozens of cranes soar into the sky as thousands of construction workers assemble the petrochemical facility that will convert natural gas liquids into plastics. The project has breathed new life into what was an industrial wasteland. But some medical experts who are also environmental advocates said breathing will be much harder once the plant is up and running. “To me it's about breathing. It's about health,” said Dr. Ned Ketyer, a retired pediatrician affiliated with Pitt's Climate and Global Change Center. He said the plant's toxic fumes will affect health as far south as Pittsburgh. “Allegheny County is already dealing with higher risks of cancer because of air pollution and I believe this is going to make things much worse,” Ketyer said. Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are a major industrial pollutant. Environmental Protection Agency records show the industrial plant with the largest VOC emissions in Western Pennsylvania is the Clairton Coke Works, with 291 tons of VOCs in 2014, the most recent year available. But the cracker plant's state permit says it is allowed up to 522 tons of VOCs per year. Ammonia is another air toxin. “That can have immediate effects on the brain and the liver,” Ketyer said. EPA records show the Coke Works and U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock combined emitted 139 tons of ammonia in 2014. But the cracker plant's permit allows for even more -- 152 tons. The cracker plant is also allowed to emit 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. That is equivalent to 488,000 cars. Shell and the state Department of Environmental Protection said there is no need to worry. “Those numbers seem large but they are absolutely the lowest numbers that can be achieved using the technology that's currently available,” said Ron Schwartz, regional director for the DEP. He said the DEP did two studies of the cracker plant's potential health impacts and they showed “that there would be no detrimental effect on human health through the environment, and the Department of Health also reviewed those results and concurred with our findings.” Shell spokesman Joseph Minnitte said the company "takes the health of the community and our staff very seriously." Further, “Inhalation risk assessments performed by Shell and PA DEP concluded that chronic cancer and non-cancer risks as well as acute non-cancer risks do not exceed PA DEP's benchmarks," Minnitte said. But chemist and environmental advocate Wilma Subra, of Louisiana, disagrees. “The air emissions are going to be so severe, they're going to notice it immediately,” she said. Subra has studied the impact of cracker plants in Louisiana, where an industrial area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge has been called "cancer alley." She said that, as in Louisiana, the Beaver cracker will lead to more petrochemical plants in the area, and that will have a dramatic impact on public health. “It's going to be as bad or worse than any of the plants in Louisiana and then suddenly, you're going to have a Pennsylvania cancer alley like we have here in Louisiana,” she said. Asked if the cracker plant could lead to a cancer alley in Pennsylvania, Schwartz said, “That's not something I can comment on.” In Beaver, where the business district is just a couple of miles from the cracker plant, shoppers said they were excited about the number of jobs being created. But some of them said they had no idea how much pollution may be coming out of the plant. “It's not a big conversation that I hear in town,” said Gayle Latulippe, of Beaver. But some area residents were alarmed to hear the cracker plant is allowed more VOC emissions than the Clairton Coke Works. “Oh, it's a big concern. I mean, how are we supposed to breathe?” said Liz Zagorski, of Beaver. She lives a mile from the plant. She said she is especially worried for her great-nephew: “What's it going to be like when he gets to be old enough to be running around?” she said. Subra said local residents are right to be worried. “The politicians are going to be looking back and their children are going to be looking at them saying, 'Why did you do this? Why did you sell us out?'" she said. A second cracker plant, in eastern Ohio, is in the planning stages. And West Virginia officials are discussing the possibility of another cracker plant. A consent agreement between Shell and several environmental groups will require continuous air monitoring at the fence line of the cracker plant. The DEP said it will also monitor the air near the plant starting early next year.

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Fire officials: "there was a little lack of communication" around coke plant emergency | WTOV
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 30 Jun '19

30 Jun '19

NOTE. .... air pollution in the northern Panhandle of WV ........ DGN https://wtov9.com/news/local/fire-officials-there-was-a-little-lack-of-comm… Fire officials: "there was a little lack of communication" around coke plant emergency FOLLANSBEE, WV (WTOV) - A Saturday evening emergency situation at a Follansbee coke plant sparked concern among many residents. The Mountain State Carbon plant located along Route 2 suffered a complete loss of power, resulting in massive flames and billowing smoke clouds emitting from the facility. Although the flames and smoke may have looked bad, a former employee at the plant says it is all part of a normal procedure. "It's a normal process," said Andy Williams. "This is just a rare occurrence that, you know, you lose power and the transformer and everything." But things got more complicated when the power stayed off, forcing firefighters to respond to the carbon plant - not to battle a fire, but to help keep the coke ovens cool. "When we went in pretty much our specific purpose was to cool certain areas of the #8 coke battery so the guys working on top of the battery can work without all the heat," said Follansbee Fire Chief Larry Rea. "There were little spot fires." Brooke County emergency dispatchers say that firefighters from Follansbee, Colliers, Beech Bottom and Franklin were on the scene as well as several other units from across the region. "The biggest reason for all the extra fire departments we brought in was being with the power outage, they couldn't pump water," said Rea. With water storage tanks dwindling and being unable to pump water, Rea called in more tankers to help. However, even with a prolonged period without power, the public was never in danger. "No, there was absolutely no harm to the public," said Rea. He described the situation as controlled chaos. Rea has more than 45 years of experience working with the plant and says he has never seen anything quite this bad. "This was the worst that I have seen that battery like that. Again, this is the first time they have ever lost, in the history of the coke plant, the first time they have ever lost complete power plant wide." Throughout the entire emergency, he says that plant officials and his team worked together to tackle a task they have never faced on a level this severe. "They're trained, they know what to do. They handle this in the utmost professional manner." The only thing that Rea says he would change with the whole scenario is the way they communicate with the public. "I'll admit it, there was a little lack of communication. The EMA was notified, Bob Fowler, head of EMA wasn't notified in a timely fashion." In the future, if an event like Saturday evenings would occur again, Rea says he would utilize the city's one call system to notify residents as well as the county's resources. Rea also told News9 that the area likely experienced an exceedance of air pollution levels, but the biggest thing to take away from the entire incident is that the public was never in danger.

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Clairton Coke Works fire renews residents’ concerns over air quality | June 18, 2019
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 18 Jun '19

18 Jun '19

https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/clairton-coke-works-fire-re… Clairton Coke Works fire renews residents’ concerns over air quality in Mon Valley From an Article by JAMIE MARTINES, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, June 18, 2019 Some Mon Valley residents are once again wondering if their air is safe to breathe after another fire this week at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. “It’s really scary actually, because it’s summertime, and we like to be outside,” Clairton resident Tonya Carroll, 29, said Tuesday. Carroll, who has two young children, can see some of the plant’s stacks from her porch on Locust Avenue, less than a mile from the plant. She worries her little ones are at risk for developing respiratory issues. An early-morning electrical fire Monday at the Clairton Coke Works caused the shutdown of three control rooms at the plant — 1, 2 and 5 —responsible for pollution control. That shutdown included the same equipment that was offline for months following a Dec. 24 fire at the facility. During the first shutdown, the Allegheny County Health Department recorded several instances of higher-than-normal emissions of sulfur dioxide, or SO2, from the plant. Pollution controls are now back online, and the Allegheny County Health Department confirmed Tuesday that department air quality monitors did not record SO2 emissions that exceeded federal limits. SO2 is a colorless gas that could cause irritation to the nose, eyes and throat in healthy people, and could exacerbate existing respiratory conditions. “With that fire, shouldn’t they shut it down?” said Derique Johnson, a lifelong resident of Clairton. The stacks sometimes billow yellow or brown plumes — and that’s concerning, said Johnson, 23. But he also worries about the potential for larger, more catastrophic fires or explosions at the plant. Carol Johnson, 61, has lived in Clairton for about 21 years. She has COPD — a respiratory condition that makes it difficult to breathe — and worries that pollution from the plant makes it worse. She worries that her grandchildren, who often visit her home on Maple Avenue, less than a mile from the plant, could also be at risk. She was up late with her grandson the night before, who had a bad cough, she said. “I don’t know how dangerous all that is,” she said. Others say concerns about the plant are overblown. Tanya Lewis, 37, spent a humid Tuesday afternoon at a playground off Division Avenue. She has 11 children — none of them have breathing problems, she said — and has lived in Clairton her entire life. She has worked at the plant, and her father, 61, has worked at the plant since he was 17. Neither have experienced breathing issues, she said. “It’s just hype,” Lewis said as kids jumped from the swings and climbed over the playground equipment nearby. “Everybody’s got to complain about something.” Clairton residents living a bit farther from the plant — about a mile uphill — say that they don’t feel the effects of pollution as intensely. “There’s always a concern about the air, we always have that,” John Pfefferkorn, 67, said from his Wylie Avenue home. He knows the jobs at the plant are important: The retired steel worker was born in McKeesport but has been living in Clairton for about 40 years, having worked at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works in West Mifflin after earning a teaching degree. The air is better now than it was back then, he said. But he’d like to see U.S. Steel protect both jobs and the health of local residents. “You can have it both ways,” he said. Donald Fry, 76, has lived in his Mitchell Avenue home — a local landmark and former home of Clairton Coke Works Superintendent Henry Davis from 1903 to 1910 — for about 20 years. At this point, he’s not surprised to find debris or film on his lawn furniture. But earlier this year, in the months after the December fire at the Clairton Coke Works, he came down with pneumonia. His partner, Rebecca Starr, 75, had bronchitis. His son, who lives in Scott Township, can’t visit for long — he has asthma, and it gets worse when he comes by the house. “It could have been a fluke,” Starr said of their recent illnesses, adding that she has no history of respiratory issues. She’d like to leave the city, but knows they might have difficulty selling the house. Area scientists studying air pollution have set up a sensor in the couple’s backyard to monitor air quality. It’s attached to an old, rusty pole that used to hold up a birdhouse, and a group stops by once a month to take readings, Starr said. U.S. Steel has not released additional details about the cause of the fire. The county health department said it “remains concerned about redundancies to equipment and will be continuing to push U.S. Steel to address that concern and ensure that a failure such as this can be avoided in the future.”

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Internal emails reveal how the chemical lobby fights regulation
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 22 May '19

22 May '19

Internal emails reveal how the chemical lobby fights regulation By Emily Holden, The Guardian (US News), May 22, 2019 The US has long allowed companies to use thousands of chemicals with little or no data on whether they are safe. A 2016 update to US chemical laws is meant to require more testing, but critics say Trump’s EPA is using the new process to undermine ongoing reviews. The EPA says the changes to how it assesses chemicals will let the agency “expeditiously” regulate dangerous ones. NOTE: From personal knowledge and experience, the American Chemistry Council cannot be trusted. Nor can the Administrator of the US EPA, at this time. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a trusted professional society. Duane Nichols, Chem. Engr. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/internal-emails-reveal-how-…

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The Worst Air in Pennsylvania is in our Monongahela River valley!
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 09 May '19

09 May '19

Does Mon Valley Have Worst Air in PA? New Report Says: Yes See also: GASP — https://gasp-pgh.org/ A recent report published by Clean Water Action details the history of violations of the federal Clean Air Act standards in the Mon Valley over the past 12 years. The results found air quality monitors in the Mon Valley recorded some of the worst air, not just in Allegheny County, but throughout Pennsylvania. The report details the failure to protect Mon Valley residents from illegal levels of both sulfur dioxide and fine particles, or breathable soot. More than 400 exceedances of federal standards for these pollutants have been recorded by monitors in the Mon Valley since the EPA established the health based standards in 2006. “This report makes clear that both industry and government have failed to protect Mon Valley residents. When we know that this pollution, especially from U.S. Steel, is harming people, it should not take a decade to act. There is talk of how we are improving, but in 2018 the Mon Valley clearly had the worst air in Pennsylvania,” stated Myron Arnowitt, Pennsylvania director for Clean Water Action. Read the key findings and access the entire report here

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Researchers Now Have Even More Proof That Air Pollution Can Cause Dementia – Mother Jones
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 07 May '19

07 May '19

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/05/researchers-now-have-even-m… Researchers Now Have Even More Proof That Air Pollution Can Cause Dementia A Mother Jones investigation prompted the study that turned up the most convincing evidence to date. Aaron Reuben, Mother Jones Magazine, May 2019 A few years ago I stood in a cramped trailer beside the busy 110 freeway in Los Angeles as researchers at the University of Southern California gathered soot thrown off by vehicles pounding by just a few yards from their instruments, which rattled whenever a heavy truck passed. I was there to learn about how scientists were beginning to link air pollution—from power plants, motor vehicles, forest fires, you name it—to one of the least understood and most frightening of illnesses: dementia. “I have no hesitation whatsoever to say that air pollution causes dementia,” said one leading researcher. At that time, as I reported in Mother Jones, the research implicating air pollution as one factor that can contribute to dementia was alarming, consistent, and, ultimately, “suggestive.” Since then scientists have published a wave of studies that reveal that air pollution is much worse for us than we had previously imagined. The evidence is so compelling, in fact, that many leading researchers now believe it’s conclusive. “I have no hesitation whatsoever to say that air pollution causes dementia,” says Caleb Finch, gerontologist and the leader of USC’s Air Pollution and Brain Disease research network, which has completed many of these new studies. In terms of its effects on our health and welfare, Finch says, “air pollution is just as bad as cigarette smoke.” This evidence arrives alongside the alarming news that air quality is actually worsening for many cities in the United States, while the Trump Administration continues its effort to delay or roll-back environmental safeguards. What makes Finch—and the half dozen other researchers I talked to—so sure? Of all the new research, three studies in particular paint a stark picture of the extent to which the quality of our air can determine whether we will age with our minds intact. In one from 2018, researchers followed 130,000 older adults living in London for several years. Those exposed to higher levels of air pollutants, particularly nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter released by fossil fuel combustion, were significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease—the most common kind of dementia—than their otherwise demographically matched peers. In total, Londoners exposed to the highest levels of air pollution were about one and a half times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s across the study period than their neighbors exposed to the lowest levels—a replication of previous findings from Taiwan, where air pollution levels are much higher. Another, a 2017 study published in the Lancet, followed all adults living in Ontario (roughly 6 and a half million people) for over a decade and found that those who lived closer to major high-traffic roads were significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease across the study period regardless of their health at baseline or socioeconomic status. Both of these studies estimated that around 6 to 7 percent of all dementia cases in their samples could be attributed to air pollution exposures. Those studies from Canada and the UK are certainly intriguing. But the most compelling, and least reported on, study comes from the United States. It was also, incidentally, inspired by our previous reporting. Following our early report on the link between air pollution and dementia, three economists at Arizona State University—Kelly Bishop, Nicolai Kuminoff, and Jonathan Ketcham—decided to pursue a large-scale investigation of the issue. “We found the Mother Jones article compelling,” Ketcham says. “It was informative about the plausible pathways and the need for more rigorous studies that could test causality.” Ultimately, Bishop, Kuminoff, and Ketcham decided to link EPA air quality data to fifteen years of Medicare records for 6.9 million Americans over the age of 65. Rather than simply ask if Americans exposed to more air pollution developed dementia at higher rates, the team identified a quasi-natural experiment that arbitrarily separated Americans into higher and lower air pollution exposure groups. In 2005, the US Environmental Protection Agency targeted 132 counties in 21 states for increased regulation because they were found to be in violation of new air quality standards for fine particulate matter pollution. Residents of those counties consequently saw their air quality improve at a faster rate than their demographically matched peers living in other counties who, initially, had equal exposures but lived in counties with pollution levels that just barely fell below the new air quality standards. This quirk of different standards across the country allowed the researchers to ask if a manipulated decrease in air pollution exposure actually led to fewer cases of dementia, from Alzheimer’s or other dementing diseases, like strokes. This overcame a significant limitation of the other existing studies, which could only compare differences in exposure and disease arising “naturally” among people who lived in different places rather than by a planned intervention. “If people who have lower levels of education, who are less wealthy, and who are less healthy for reasons that we can’t observe end up living in more polluted areas,” says Ketcham, “it’s difficult to say which of those factors could have led to disease.” All told, a lead study author says, enforcing the EPA’s stricter air quality standard in 2005 likely resulted in 140,000 fewer people living with dementia by 2014. As they reported in the National Bureau of Economic Research last year, Bishop, Kuminoff, and Ketcham determined that air pollution could indeed cause dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s dementia. In counties that had to quickly comply with the new air quality standards, older people developed Alzheimer’s at lower rates than their peers in counties where the new rules didn’t apply. Annual exposure to an average of one more microgram of fine particle pollution per cubic meter of air (an amount well within the range of difference you could see if you moved from a clean neighborhood to a more polluted neighborhood) raised the typical US elder’s risk of dementia as if they had aged 2.7 additional years. The authors estimated that the size of this elevated risk approached that of other well-known dementia drivers, including hypertension and heart disease. All told, Ketcham says, enforcing the EPA’s stricter air quality standard likely resulted in 140,000 fewer people living with dementia by 2014. He places the economic value of that avoided disease burden at around $163 billion. Researchers now better understand what happens in the brain when you breathe polluted air—and how that can lead to neurodegeneration years later. When you inhale pollutants, the smallest particles, emitted by cars, power plants, and other places where fuel is burned, lodge in your lungs’ sensitive tissue or else pass into your blood stream. In those places they trigger an immune response that seeks to trap, contain, and remove the invading particles. In time that response generalizes to what we call “systemic inflammation,” or an over-active, overly excited immune response across the body. Systemic inflammation appears to be the primary way that air pollution harms the brain, says Caleb Finch. In early 2017 Finch and his colleagues showed that inflammation following air pollution exposure leads to the formation of Alzheimer’s plaques in the brains of mice genetically altered to develop Alzheimer’s pathology. “That was impressive,” says George Martin, Director Emeritus of the University of Washington’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, who was not involved in the study. Because of that study, and others like it, Martin now believes that air pollution could be one potential cause of dementia, although he wants more evidence on the mechanisms, “and, ideally, on a specific component or components of air pollution.” “My view of Alzheimer’s is changing,” said one prominent Alzheimer’s expert, “and I think the field is changing with it.” In the coming years, these new findings could shape scientists’ understanding of neurodegenerative disease. Because of these new studies, says George Perry, Chief Scientist of the Brain Health Consortium at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, “my view of Alzheimer’s is changing, and I think the field is changing with it.” Perry now believes that air pollution is a potential risk factor for dementia, and his Alzheimer’s journal will soon run a special issue devoted to the link between the two. Motivated, in part, by the new evidence, Perry also increasingly sees dementia as a disease like cancer, where multiple factors could lead to pathology. “People develop cancer without smoking or being exposed to air pollution,” he says, “But each of those will raise your risk.” Unlike with smoking, we can’t always know when we are being exposed to dirty air, and we can’t decide when to quit. Yet Arizona State’s Kuminoff firmly believes that we could avoid more dementia by strengthening our existing air pollution standards. If there is a safe level of exposure, he says, “We haven’t gotten there yet.” One More Thing And it's a big one. Mother Jones is launching a new Corruption Project to do deep, time-intensive reporting on the corruption that is both the cause and result of the crisis in our democracy. The more we thought about how Mother Jones can have the most impact right now, the more we realized that so many stories come down to corruption: People with wealth and power putting their interests first—and often getting away with it. Our goal is to understand how we got here and how we might get out. We're aiming to create a reporting position dedicated to uncovering corruption, build a team, and let them investigate for a year—publishing our stories in a concerted window: a special issue of our magazine, video and podcast series, and a dedicated online portal so they don't get lost in the daily deluge of headlines and breaking news. We want to go all in, and we've got seed funding to get started—but we're looking to raise $500,000 in donations this spring so we can go even bigger. You can read about why we think this project is what the moment demands and what we hope to accomplish—and if you like how it sounds, please help us go big with a tax-deductible donation today.

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State natural gas rule misses chance to curb climate changing pollution | Opinion - pennlive.com
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 06 May '19

06 May '19

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2019/05/state-natural-gas-rule-misses-chan… PA State natural gas rule misses chance to curb climate changing pollution | Opinion Essay by Prof. Peter DeCarlo, PennLive.com, May 6, 2019 We must reduce air pollution caused by Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry. Lawmakers in Harrisburg are working on a rule to do just that, but they’re only getting it half right. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) current proposal to curb air pollution at thousands of existing natural gas facilities targets health-damaging and ozone-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but only describes reducing methane emissions as a “co-benefit.” Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and a significant cause of climate change. It is unlikely we will achieve the goal of 80 percent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as promised by Governor Wolf if we do not directly regulate methane. Targeting methane reductions must be a central focus of the proposed rule. It cannot be downgraded to an indirect benefit. As an atmospheric and climate scientist at Drexel University, I’ve studied leakage from the natural gas industry throughout the Commonwealth for eight years. My research team documented a 300 percent increase in methane emissions in northeastern Pennsylvania between 2012 and 2015. During that same time period, the estimates from the natural gas industry suggested a 30 percent decrease in methane emissions. That disturbing discrepancy is a clear indicator that the state must to do more to measure and mitigate methane emissions from existing natural gas sites and not rely on imprecise estimates. The draft rule as currently written will allow leaks in many parts of the state to emit substantially more methane before triggering VOC controls. Most of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania is comprised of dry gas, meaning it contains a lower fraction of VOCs in the natural gas than the “wet gas” area of the state (primarily southwest Pennsylvania). By not addressing methane leakage directly, DEP would be allowing a significant amount of methane leaks to occur at gas infrastructure throughout the state. From a climate change perspective, this is irresponsible. In addition, the rule also unfortunately includes an exemptions for natural gas wells that produce a low amount of gas. Research has shown that these low-producing wells can actually emit just as much methane or more than higher producing wells. In the interest of limiting climate-damaging methane emissions, this exemption must be removed from the proposed rule. I voiced my support for a rule that addresses these shortcomings at a recent meeting of DEP’s air quality advisory committee in Harrisburg. I shared my research findings concluding that methane emissions are considerably higher than industry and DEP estimates. As the rule advances to the Environmental Quality Board, the state’s environmental rule-making body, and becomes available for public comment, I hope DEP will improve the draft rule by specifically targeting methane at existing natural gas operations in Pennsylvania and removing exemptions. If we want a chance to avoid the impacts of catastrophic climate change, DEP must do everything within its authority to protect current and future generations. Peter DeCarlo, associate professor at Drexel University’s College of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences.

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Clairton Coke Works Receiving On-Going Air Pollution Monitoring
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 02 May '19

02 May '19

Cleaner air, but not clean enough for Mon Valley residents Article by DON HOPEY, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 1, 2019 The Allegheny County Health Department says the air in the still-industrial Mon Valley is cleaner than it’s been in decades, but a dozen residents at the Board of Health meeting Wednesday afternoon said that’s not good enough. Jim Kelly, department deputy director of environmental health, repeated Tuesday’s announcement that the soot monitor in Liberty, downwind from U.S. Steel Corp.’s Clairton Coke Works, met the federal standard for airborne particles in 2018 for the first time. And he said the county’s portion of a state plan to control pollution shows that Liberty and all eight county monitors measuring PM 2.5, or pollution particulates 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller, would meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards by 2021. “Meteorology may have had an influence on the PM levels because of all the hard rain events and fewer and less severe inversions, but we don’t think it was a significant effect,” Mr. Kelly said. “More significantly, violations were way down and Clairton [Coke Works] had the fewest since 2015. So 2018 was a particularly clean year.” The 2018 annual PM 2.5 value for the Liberty monitor was 11.5 micrograms per cubic meter, slightly lower than the Environmental Protection Agency standard of 12, and more than a point below the 2017 value of 13.4. The short-term, daily PM value was 28 micrograms per cubic meter, lower than the EPA standards of 35 and below the 2017 value of 36.5. All other county monitors are also in compliance. But Matt Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, a coalition of 24 local environmental organizations, told the health board “it’s premature to be doing a victory lap” even with the Liberty numbers much improved. “We have to make sure that U.S. Steel doesn’t backslide,” he said. “There is much work yet to be done.” Don Nevills, a Navy veteran and business owner from Clairton, urged the health board to take quick action on new, tougher coke oven emissions standards. “I understand what the [coke works] means to the region. I get it. But what I can’t understand is why we can’t have clean air,” Mr. Nevills said. “We’ve come part way, but we’ve got a long way yet to go.” He said at the same time the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker is making $1.8 billion in profits, the cancer rate in Clairton is significantly higher than the national average. “The company is reaping the rewards. It can afford to start replacing its three antiquated coke batteries that are causing so many problems,” Mr. Nevills said. “You [the health board] can help us live longer and breathe easier by holding U.S. Steel accountable.” Mark Dixon, a local environmental filmmaker, called the steelmaker’s operation of the coke works following a Dec. 24 fire that destroyed its desulfurization equipment and led to nine violations of sulfur dioxide emissions standards “criminal” and the health department response “impotent.” “Air quality better than it used to be is no longer good enough,” Mr. Dixon said. “We demand clean air now.” “It’s important we do figure out the sources and emissions,” said Joylette Portlock, a health board member, “and link those to the actual health impacts.” Kurt Barshick, general manager of U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, which includes Clairton, the Edgar Thomson steel mill in Braddock and the Irvin mill in West Mifflin, said the operations have had no sulfur dioxide exceedances since the pollution control repairs were completed at the coke works April 4 and has met the performance requirements set forth in several consent orders. After the lengthy meeting ended, Health Department Director Karen Hacker said the department has heard the complaints and requests for help from Mon Valley residents and is taking unprecedented action to address the air pollution problems. “We’ve done nothing but increase our efforts in that area. We have heard their complaints, and I am glad they are speaking out,” Dr. Hacker said. “I welcome their comments, but we also need to acknowledge improvements when we see them.” She said the department is reviewing whether to intervene on the side of PennEnvironment and the Clean Air Council in a federal lawsuit filed Monday in Pittsburgh that alleges U.S. Steel violated the federal Clean Air Act by continuing to operate the coke works and its Edgar Thomson and Irvin steel mills without adequately controlling emissions of sulfur dioxide and other coke oven gases. “We want to make sure we don’t get in the way of the citizens’ complaint they filed,” she said. The department is reviewing air quality data but has not yet assessed fines related to the emissions that occurred for 102 days from the date of the fire until the desulfurization equipment went back in operation. https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2019/05/01/Cleaner-air-but-not-clean-enou…

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Climate Action Now Act
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 25 Apr '19

25 Apr '19

We Can Take Climate Action Now – and Create Millions of Green-Collar Jobs By Grant Smith, Environmental Working Group, April 22, 2019 When Congress returns, the House will consider the Climate Action Now Act, which would direct the Trump administration to honor America’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. The bill, H.R. 9, would require President Trump to draft a plan to reduce national carbon dioxide emissions by 2025 to 28 percent below 2005 levels. https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/04/we-can-take-climate-action-no…

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GASP Air Pollution Announcement
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 25 Apr '19

25 Apr '19

YOU'RE INVITED: Clean Air Council, Citizens for Clean Air Hosting Listening Session in Clairton About Air Quality Mark your calendars, because you’re invited to attend an event being hosted by Clean Air Council, with support from GASP and other organizations, as well as the newly formed group, Citizens for Clean Air, that will give members of the Clairton community an opportunity to speak out about the recent air quality issues related to the U.S. Steel fire and subsequent facility repair. The event, Clean Air Now for the Mon Valley, is slated for 6 p.m. May 9 at the Church of Jesus Christ in Clairton. Elected officials have also been invited to the event to listen to residents’ concerns. “Help us amplify the voices of the residents of Clairton and the Mon Valley,” organizers wrote on the e-invite. Want to go? You can register online here. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Source: Group Against Smog & Pollution (GASP) in Pittsburgh & Allegheny County. These issues are also relevant to the coke oven battery in Follansbee, WV. See also: https://gasp-pgh.org

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Pittsburgh region's air quality gets an 'F' grade | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 24 Apr '19

24 Apr '19

Pittsburgh region's air quality gets an 'F' grade From Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, April 24, 2019 The Pittsburgh region’s bad air history isn’t history after all, according to the American Lung Association’s 20th annual “State of the Air” report released Wednesday. The report found worsening daily and annual soot pollution in the tri-state metro region for the three-year period, 2015 through 2017, along with higher levels of ground-level ozone, the principal component of unhealthy smog. Allegheny County was the only county outside of California to receive failing grades in both soot categories and ozone. But the region wasn’t alone in registering poorer air quality. While there were more regions where air quality has improved there were also many regions that experienced more days of high ozone levels and short-term airborne particle spikes in the three years covered by this year’s report than in the previous report for 2014-2016. Don Hopey Emotional speakers beg for stronger controls on methane emissions “Residents of Pittsburgh and the metro area should be aware that we’re breathing unhealthy air, driven by local emissions, upwind sources, and extreme heat as a result of climate change, placing our health and lives at risk,” said Kevin Stewart, the ALA’s director of environmental health for advocacy and public policy. The report ranked the 12-county Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton metro area 28th worst in the U.S. for ozone. It was ranked 37th worst last year. And even as many other regions showed progress in reducing soot pollution, the tri-state region ran counter to that trend, ranking 7th worst nationally in annual airborne particle emissions and 10th worst in daily spikes exceeding healthy limits. As it has for 19 of the 20 years the Lung Association has published a report, Los Angeles remains the metro area with the worst ozone pollution. The Fresno, Calif., metro area has had the worst annual particle pollution, and Bakersfield, Calif., is ranked 1st for short-term soot pollution. Mr. Stewart said many eastern metro regions registered reduced annual levels of fine airborne particles during the three years covered by the report as power plants switched fuel from dirty coal to cleaner burning natural gas and vehicle emissions also improved. But the Pittsburgh metro region has more industry than most, and its daily and annual soot pollution levels were significantly higher in this year’s report than they were in the previous report. “The [particulate matter] levels are driven by local industry,” Mr. Stewart said. “Other metro areas don’t have that level of industry and not all metro areas have as many monitoring stations near obvious industrial sites. And its river valleys also trap pollution along the ground.” Don Hopey U.S. Steel: The desulfurization system damaged in December fired up and running again While the report states that “most of the nation has much cleaner air quality than even a decade ago,” and the national trend is toward reduced soot pollution, ozone levels are up in more regions that not, a product of warmer temperatures from 2015 through 2017. According to the report, those years were the hottest recorded in global history. Mr. Stewart said the warming climate not only makes ozone more likely to form, but also makes it harder to keep in check once it does. According to the Lung Association, both ozone and particle pollution are dangerous to public health and can increase the risk of premature death and serious health effects such as lung cancer, asthma, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm. The Lung Association’s air pollution “report card” uses the latest available quality-assured local, state and federal pollution data to calculate its rankings. Mr. Stewart said the Clean Air Act has been successful in reducing emissions, but air quality is “not close to where we want to be.” He said the ALA supports more stringent emissions standards. “Current controls,” he said, “are inadequate to protect public health.” Dr. Karen Hacker, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, which regulates and enforces air emissions in the county, said the ALA’s report is “a reminder that air quality continues to be one of the most pressing public health challenges in our area.” She said the department has ramped up enforcement efforts in the past two years, and will continue to aggressively hold polluters accountable. She said the department is working to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter measured by the Liberty air monitor, downwind from U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works in the Mon Valley. “The Liberty monitor is the only monitor in the county that is out of attainment with EPA standards for sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, and addressing this issue is a top priority,” Dr. Hacker said. She said the department will soon submit the county’s portion of a federally required state emissions control plan, which will address the county’s failure to meet soot limitations. The department is also working on formulating new coke oven rules to deal with fugitive emissions at the Clairton coke plant. “We all want and deserve clean air, and we will continue to use all of our tools to improve the air that we all breathe,” Dr. Hacker said. “But we cannot do this alone, and we call upon industry leaders, such as U.S. Steel, to address all non-compliance issues and improve our air quality.” Don Hopey: dhopey(a)post-gazette.com, 412-263-1983, or on Twitter @donhopey Sent from my iPhone

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Windborne Microplastics Are Everywhere - EcoWatch
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 21 Apr '19

21 Apr '19

Windborne Microplastics Are Everywhere - EcoWatch https://www.ecowatch.com/microplastics-wind-health-2634780390.html?share_id… From an Article by Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch.com, April 19, 2019 Plastic gets around. Previously, researchers had discovered fragments of microplastics in the world's most remote locations, like the depths of the Marianas Trench and Antarctica. New research has shown that microplastics rain down on the pristine peaks of the Pyrenees mountains. The researchers found a daily rate of plastic pollution falling from the sky in the Pyrenees was comparable to the amount raining down on Paris and Dongguan, a large industrial city in China, NPR reported. "It was incredible how much microplastic was being deposited," said Deonie Allen, a researcher at EcoLab in the School of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Toulouse, France, as reported by National Geographic. There were no obvious sources for the microplastics within 60 miles, said Allen, the lead author of the study published Monday in Nature Geoscience. The study is the first of its kind to show the how far microplastics can travel on the wind. Scientists had previously thought that atmospheric microplastic pollutants would rise up and settle again near the cities and industrial hubs where they originated. The researchers looked at computer models of wind patterns to pinpoint the source of the microplastics, but none was found within a 60-mile radius of the region — which is sparsely populated and without commercial, industrial or large agricultural centers. While scientists know how dust gets blown and travels from the Sahara to Europe, they know very little about how microplastics move. "We don't have this sort of material in nature," said Deonie Allen, as NPR reported. She noted that microplastics vary in shapes and density, which might alter how long they remain wind-borne. The researchers also suspect that rain or snow carries some particles down to the ground, but they don't need precipitation to fall to Earth, according to NPR. Microplastics, which measure less than one-fifth of one-inch, have been shown to affect the health and reproductive systems of marine life. In fact, they were present in every marine mammal that researchers looked at in a recent British study. Microplastics also contaminated the drinking water, according to The Guardian. The new study suggests that humans will not only consume microplastics, but also inhale them. "We ... don't know what they do to humans," said Allen to NPR. "They're a brand new [type of] pollution, but there's so much of it and it's increasing so fast that it's something we really need to start learning about." Yet, there are some things we do know. Microplastics smaller than 25 microns can enter the human body through the nose or mouth and those less than five microns can end up in lung tissue. And, we know that microplastics tend to be sticky and accumulate heavy metals like mercury and persistent organic pollutants, including materials with known health impacts, according to National Geographic. To make matters worse, the researchers say that atmospheric plastic pollution is nearly impossible to clean up, so the only solution is to produce less plastic, according to Science.

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My goodness. This is Climate Change news to me.
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 18 Apr '19

18 Apr '19

READER SUPPORTED NEWS — with not enough support. FOCUS: A Lawyer Set Himself on Fire to Protest Climate Change. Did Anyone Care? https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/56046-focus-a-lawyer-set-hi…

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Comments prepared for Mon. Co. Commission, for March 13, 2019. Questions/comments?
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 13 Mar '19

13 Mar '19

Comments on LongviewPower, Past, Present, and Future; MVCAC, March 12, 2019 The Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition was an outgrowth of theissues raised by Longview Power and its impacts on the regional environmentincluding the public health, air quality, roads, etc. We participated in the Public Hearing on the PILOT Agreementheld in ca. 2003 here in the Court House. We asked representatives of Longview if they would put into writingtheir promise to use WV coal, their promise to refrain from consuming waterfrom the Mon River for cooling water, and their promise to be a “Zero Discharge”facility. We learned early on that all three of these promises were broken. Longview elected to use coal from Pennsylvania, althoughthey did use a conveyor belt to avoid extreme truck traffic on the local roadsuntil recently. Trucking of coal there is a severe problem. Longview decided to use Mon River water in their cooling andother operations, and installed Reverse Osmosis units to purify the riverwater. Longview, from the beginning has not been a “Zero Discharge”facility. Their stacks emit largevolumes of flue gases containing thousands of tons of carbon dioxide and manyother chemicals in lesser quantities. The fly ash and bottom ash are waste discharges from the plant and gointo the local environment. Their liquidwaste pipeline flows north into Pennsylvania and down into abandoned mineoperations, contaminating the water underground. At the present time, the 300 (plus) heavy diesel trucks perday transport Pennsylvania coal from a Mon River dock up and over a steepunstable county road, thru the Ft. Martin community, up to the Longview Powerplant. This road is the subject of severedamages due to the high level of truck traffic and the dangerous condition forauto drivers. Alternatively, the shorter and relatively flat road from theCumberland Mine would bring this coal directly south from Pennsylvania to thepower plant. The vapor plume from the Longview power plant continues toobscure the western sky for the University High School and all those residentsalong Bakers Ridge Road, Pt. Marion Road, Stewartstown and the northern CheatLake area. Longview is now proposing to construct a natural-gas-fired powerplant in Ft. Martin, and add a solar panel farm nearby. The existing PILOT Agreement now in force representsa public agreement arrived at thru a process of limited public participation. Any modification to this agreement oradoption of any new agreements needs to be developed with the maximum ofopenness and public participation. A potential tax statement exclusive of aPILOT is a prerequisite. Greenhouse gases, global warming and climate change can nolonger be ignored. The burning of methane, ethane and/or other hydrocarbonsmust be offset with carbon taxes or other schemes. And, every effort should bemade to locate the solar panels in West Virginia, not Pennsylvania. Duane G. Nichols, Coordinator, Mon Valley Clean AirCoalition, Morgantown, WV 26508

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Longview Gas Plant and Solar Panels
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 12 Mar '19

12 Mar '19

> On Sunday, February 24, 2019, 9:17:51 AM EST, James Kotcon <jkotcon(a)wvu.edu> wrote: > > > The Feb. 24th Dominion Post has an article highlighting Longview's $900 million plan to add 1200 MW of gas-fired generation by 2020. They also propose a 50-MW array across the state line in PA, and a 6-mile, 20-inch gas pipeline to connect with the TransCanada Colombia 1804 Interstate line in PA. > The story indicates that Longview may need to develop a new PILOT agreement with the Mon County Commission. > > An earlier news story is available at: > > https://www.wvnews.com/morgantownnews/news/longview-power-aims-to-have-gas-… > > > > Jim Kotcon > >

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Eastman Chemicals in Jefferson Hills south of Pittsburgh
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 14 Feb '19

14 Feb '19

GASP Submits Petition Asking Allegheny County Health Department to Deny Eastman Chemical Permits The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) on Thursday submitted a petition adorned with 250 signatures asking the Allegheny County Health Department to deny installation permits sought by Knoxville, TN-based plastics company Eastman Chemical Resins Inc., which operates a facility in Jefferson Hills. The reason why? Eastman’s plant is a major source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOCs are a type of pollution regulated by the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act requires Eastman and other major sources of air pollution to have what’s known as a Title V Operating Permit. “Eastman and ACHD need to prioritize Eastman’s compliance with the requirements of a seven-year-old federal consent order over authorizing increased production limits, which carry with them increased pollution,” said GASP’s Senior Attorney, John Baillie. In addition to submitting the petition, GASP also submitted formal comments on Eastman’s installation permit applications. For more information, or to read the full petition, visit the GASP website. https://gasp-pgh.org/

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Environmental Groups Appeal PTT Global Chemical Permit for Proposed Cracker in Belmont County | News, Sports, Jobs - The Intelligencer
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 21 Jan '19

21 Jan '19

http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2019/01/environmental-gr… Environmental Groups Appeal PTT Global Chemical Permit for Proposed Cracker in Belmont County From an Article by Jennifer Compston-Strough, Wheeling Intelligencer, January 21, 2019 COLUMBUS, Ohio — A national environmental group and three partner organizations are challenging the state’s decision to issue an air permit-to-install for a proposed petrochemical complex in Belmont County. The Sierra Club and its partners filed an appeal Friday with the Environmental Review Appeals Commission seeking to have the permit issued on Dec. 21 vacated. If it is not overturned, the permit will allow Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical and its partner, Daelim Industrial Co. LLC of South Korea, to build an ethane cracker plant that is projected to process 1.5 million tons of ethane from the local natural gas stream annually. Cracker plants use ethane to create ethylene, a component of plastics and chemicals such as antifreeze, solvents and cleaners, as well as many consumer products including textiles, adhesives and paints. Ethane is an abundant part of the natural gas stream found in the Utica and Marcellus shales that underlie much of Eastern Ohio and parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Proponents of the facility say it would bring thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent positions to the Ohio Valley and would attract additional related industry to the region. PTT and Daelim have invested millions of dollars in design work and planning, and to buy property at the proposed site at Dilles Bottom. However, they still have not committed to building the project, which could cost as much as $10 billion. Opponents — such as the Sierra Club and its appeal partners the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthworks and the Freshwater Accountability Project along with some local residents – believe the plant would cause air and water pollution that would endanger the surrounding environment, public health and the overall climate. They say it would emit harmful amounts of particulate matter and dangerous chemicals, including benzene, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In the appeal, the groups cite several “assignments of error” as reasons for the commission to vacate the permit. They state that Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler based issuance of the permit on a “fatally flawed” air dispersion model that does not reliably establish whether the facility will violate state and national air quality standards for multiple pollutants. The appeal also states the Ohio EPA failed to utilize certain data properly, ignored short-term peak emissions, failed to properly account for VOCs that would be emitted by flares and thermal oxidizers at the facility, and approved monitoring requirements that are insufficient to assure reasonable compliance with permit limits. They believe the permit as issued requires inadequate frequency of stack testing and other monitoring procedures. They also say the permit’s limitations and standards lack the specificity necessary to be enforceable. The Sierra Club and its partners said the Ohio EPA ignored testimony from dozens of concerned citizens at a public hearing on the permit that was conducted at Shadyside High School on Nov. 27. Representatives of the Sierra Club and other similar organizations were on hand for that hearing, along with about 100 other area residents and representatives of local government and organized labor. Some of those present did testify about environmental concerns linked to the project, but others supported the plan to build the plant. “Communities shouldn’t be forced to breathe toxic, polluted air just to prop up fracked gas and petrochemical companies,” Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Director Kelly Martin said in a news release Friday. “This plant, and the broader effort to build out a petrochemical hub in this area, would be a danger to clean air, public health, and our climate. The health and safety of Ohioans and those who live downstream on the Ohio River are worth more than fossil fuel industry profits.” Lea Harper, managing director of Freshwater Accountability Project, agreed. “The Ohio EPA’s rubber stamp of the cracker plant air permit shows a total disregard for expert input and concerns of the local residents,” she said. “We are dismayed that there is not more regulatory oversight of such a toxic polluter in the Ohio River Valley.” Lauren Packard, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, echoed their thoughts. “These plants will contaminate Ohio River Valley communities just to create more plastic pollution,” she said. “We need to keep fossil fuels in the ground instead finding wasteful new uses for them. Industry’s plans to increase plastic production will worsen climate change and the ocean plastic crisis at the expense of Ohioans.” According to Ohio EPA, the plant would use six ethane cracking furnaces and manufacture ethylene, high-density polyethylene and linear low-density polyethylene, which are used in plastics and chemical manufacturing. As a result of this process, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and greenhouse gases are expected to be emitted from the plant, but Ohio EPA said it determined those pollutants would not exceed acceptable levels as defined by state and federal laws. Ohio EPA also said its agents considered all comments received before making a final decision on the permit. The final permit and the Response to Comments document are available online at epa.ohio.gov/dapc/newpermits/issued. Dan Williamson, spokesman for PTTGC America, declined to comment on the appeal, saying it is a legal matter. He previously lauded the issuance of the permit, saying it was an important step in the companies’ decision-making process. The Environmental Review Appeals Commission has statewide jurisdiction to hear and resolve appeals of decisions by the directors of the Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the State Fire Marshal, the State Emergency Response Commission and county and local boards of health. Decisions of the commission can be appealed to the Franklin County Court of Appeals or to the court of appeals for the district in which a violation is alleged to have occurred. The commission meets every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for consideration and review of documents filed. Preliminary prehearing conferences are generally scheduled within 30-40 days after an appeal is filed.

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SO2 from Clariton Coke Works
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 17 Jan '19

17 Jan '19

Updates on Christmas Eve Fire at Clairton Coke Works On Christmas Eve, a fire burned for five hours at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, doing significant damage to equipment that takes sulfur out of the coke oven gas. The cause of the fire has been preliminarily identified as "mechanical failure." The timeline for repair completion is unknown. Since the fire, sulfur dioxide levels in the area have repeatedly violated legal limits. Exposure to sulfur dioxide can cause a number of respiratory problems, such as sore throat, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and more. It can also exacerbate existing respiratory illnesses like COPD or asthma. Those who are especially vulnerable include people who already have these ailments, children, and the elderly. Outdoor activity can increase a person's exposure and as a result, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) issued a warning for residents of over 20 communities in the Mon Valley to limit their outdoor activities. The risk of more sulfur dioxide spikes remains and the health advisory is still in effect. The increases in sulfur dioxide in the air near the plant may have already caused health effects. Dr. Deborah Gentile is an asthma researcher. She has previously discovered that the childhood asthma rate in Allegheny County is almost 3x the state average. During a January 14 check on Clairton students with asthma, she found that over a third of the students participating in an asthma management clinic had significant drops in lung function. Read about her findings in Environmental Health News and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After facing sharp criticism concerning their efforts to communicate the dangers and risks to the public, ACHD has taken several steps to improve communication. Updates are now given at 3 p.m. on sulfur dioxide levels recorded at monitors near the plant. You can get updates from ACHD's Facebook page, a new county web page dedicated to this issue, or by signing up to receive information through the "Allegheny Alerts" system, where you can choose to receive alerts via a phone call, text, or email. Please remember to call or email an odor complaint to ACHD. The complaint line is (412) 687-ACHD and the web page to email a complaint is found here. You can also use the Smell Pgh app to record complaints on your phone, and to see other people's complaints across the region. GASP will continue to follow this issue and report to you. Thank you for staying informed and fighting for better air quality in our region!

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Pa. environmental board slams Sunoco air-quality permit | News | delcotimes.com
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 10 Jan '19

10 Jan '19

https://www.delcotimes.com/news/pa-environmental-board-slams-sunoco-air-qua… Pa. environmental board slams Sunoco air-quality permit By Bill Rettew, Delaware County Times, January 10, 2019 PHILADELPHIA >> A state Environmental Hearing Board ruled the state Department of Environmental Protection unlawfully issued an air-quality permit for Sunoco at its Marcus Hook facility. The Marcus Hook facility is the end point for Sunoco and Energy Transfer Partners Mariner East 2 pipeline project. The pipeline will deliver hundreds of thousands of barrels of liquid gases such as ethane, butane and propane to the facility every day. Once there, they will be stored and eventually shipped for the most part to overseas destinations. On Wednesday, the environmental board ruled that DEP unlawfully issued an air-quality permit for natural gas liquids processing equipment at the Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. facility in Marcus Hook. The processing equipment is designed to handle liquids from the Mariner East pipelines, which run across Pennsylvania. The decision came in response to Clean Air Council’s appeal in April 2016, leading to a trial in May 2018. Specifically, the board said that DEP was mistaken when it considered various portions of the plan as separate entities. Instead the board noted DEP should have reviewed the project as a whole. Alex Bomstein, senior litigation attorney for Clean Air Council, hailed the ruling. “The board’s ruling really shows that no one – not even Sunoco – is above the law,” Bomstein said. “The industry’s practice of dividing up big projects into smaller pieces that sneak under pollution thresholds, what we call segmentation, has gone on for too long. This decision is a major step towards restoring the protections that help ensure we have clean air to breathe.” Sunoco/ETP spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger took a different view of the ruling Thursday. “Today’s ruling has no impact on the construction and operation activities authorized under Plan Approval E while the PA DEP conducts an analysis of the permit, which we feel was permitted correctly,” Dillinger said. “We will work with the PA DEP to provide them with the appropriate information for their review, and we are pleased that the overriding outcome was the Environmental Hearing Board’s denial of the Clean Air Council’s request to revoke the permit.” The board held that the project in question was really part of an overarching project to transform the former Marcus Hook refinery into a natural gas liquids processing facility. The larger project was unlawfully broken up into smaller projects for the sake of permitting. Where separate construction activities are really all part of the same project, the emissions from all of those projects must be aggregated to determine if more stringent requirements are triggered. Ultimately, the board sent the air permit back to DEP so that DEP can re-evaluate how the project should be permitted. The board’s decision enhances existing law by providing detailed guidance on when multiple related projects should be considered one project in a review of an air permit application. “The Environmental Hearing Board’s decision is not only a victory for Clean Air Council, it is a victory for public health and the neighboring communities,” said Joseph Otis Minott, executive director and chief counsel for Clean Air Council. “Too often, big industry players have avoided pollution controls by creating loopholes that jeopardize air quality protections. Sunoco/ETP has been one of the worst offenders in this regard, time and again circumventing the rules and putting the public at risk. The board decision has finally closed this loophole.” Mariner East 2 is a multi-billion dollar project that will carry liquid gases from the state’s Marcellus Shale regions across the full 350-mile width of Pennsylvania, ending in Marcus Hook. Mariner East 2 is now online, utilizing a mix of different size pipes because of delays and shutdowns on the full, 20-inch pipeline. The board’s opinion is available in full at: http://ehb.courtapps.com/efile/documentViewer.php?documentID=44482.

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PetroHub and Ethane Crackers in the Ohio Valley
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 05 Nov '18

05 Nov '18

Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, With the Shell Ethane Cracker under construction in Potter Township, Pennsylvania and several other petrochemical facilities proposed along the Ohio River in Ohio and West Virginia, our many decision makers have encouraged the growth of natural gas extraction and plastic production in the region. We need to let our political leaders know that the residents of the Ohio River Valley want clean, environmentally-conscious industries - not industries that threaten our health and the health of our environment. Let the governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia and your state legislators know that the residents of the Ohio River Valley want renewable energy sources and clean industry in the region. Sincerely, Dave Smith & Kelly Yagatich Southwest PA Outreach Coordinators

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UN climate report author: ambitious actions needed to slow global warming | Cornell Chronicle
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 02 Nov '18

02 Nov '18

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/10/un-climate-report-author-ambitious-… UN climate report author: ambitious actions needed to slow global warming By David Nutt | October 18, 2018 Robyn Wishna/Provided Natalie Mahowald, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences. In March 2017, Natalie Mahowald, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future’s faculty director for the environment, was selected by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a lead author on the “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.” The final report made international headlines when it was released Oct. 8. Among its key findings: scientific evidence is clear that human activities have caused 1 C of global warming since the late 1800s, and current trends suggest if the planet keeps warming at the same rate global warming will pass 1.5 C around 2040, with disastrous consequences for humans and ecosystems alike. (In Fahrenheit, a change of 1 C is 1.8 F and 1.5 C is 2.7 F.) In this Q&A, Mahowald discusses her role in the report, its findings and proposed solutions, and the work everyone must do to limit global warming. How would you describe your role in preparing the IPCC report? My title is lead author, and I worked on Chapter One: Framing and Context. I was also asked to be an author on the Summary for Policymakers, which is actually line by line approved by governments. I was in South Korea for that process last week. Ninety-one authors and review editors from 40 countries worked on the report. What does that kind of collaboration look like? There’s 400 pages for the whole report if you look at it in a Word file. We each have our own section that we’re the lead on. We spent a lot of time talking to each other and making sure we’re reaching consistent assessments of the peer-reviewed literature. We included citations of 6,000 articles, so it’s a huge amount of work. This report was unique in the way it was so cross-disciplinary. That means everyone speaks a slightly different language. And yet we have to make sure we speak consistently across the whole report. How does involving that many people shape the findings? In a lot of ways, it’s really a consensus document. This is what we can all agree to. It goes through three rounds of expert reviews, and then the governments review it. That means the results are really in the middle of what the science suggests. They’re not the most alarmist, and they’re not the most skeptical. How do you see countries working together to address issues raised in the report? This report is also unique in that the governments called for its creation. It came out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The governments asked us to look at how we could limit global warming to 1.5 C, as well as a 2 C target (or 3.6 F), and what the differences would be. In previous reports, the scientists decided what the questions would be. But I think policymakers are better at figuring out what’s policy-relevant. Now we’ve passed it off to them to decide what to do with it. Why is 1.5 C significant? The Paris Agreement had looked at the impacts of reaching 2 C, but there are some countries that are very, very sensitive to temperature and at 2 C probably these countries will be under water. So these countries called for limiting warming to 1.5 C, and the rest of the countries backed them up. Even at 1.5 C, many of these countries will be highly threatened. It’s an existential threat. Many of the Pacific Island states, they’re small, they don’t have a lot of hills or high terrain, and they will be heavily impacted by any increase in temperature. But there’s a lot of countries, including the United States, that are going to feel the sea-level rise under 1.5 C. A lot of Florida, for example, is extremely susceptible. And pretty much the whole eastern and western seaboards are going to be heavily impacted. Any country that has a coastline, really, will feel a sea-level rise. I can’t think of a place on the planet that won’t be impacted if we move to 1.5 C or 2 C. When the report was requested, we were at about 0.9 C. We are at 1 C right now. So it is possible to limit warming to 1.5 C, but we have to act extremely aggressively to do so. How drastic are the transitions we need to make? In some ways they’re incremental, and some are complete transformations. One way to think about it is, “Well, how did the world look 50 years ago? What kind of technology did we use, what kind of transportation, how interconnected was the world?” It was totally different. And in another 50 years it will be totally different. As we build new infrastructure, we’ll need to think about low-carbon emissions. Depending on how successful we are, we’ll still have to adapt to climate change, even if we limit warming to 1.5 C. What are the critical areas that need to be addressed immediately? There are a lot of different ways to limit warming to 1.5 C, but we can’t just choose one of these options. It’s much easier to reach a lower temperature target if we change our own behavior, if we conserve energy, if we think about where our food is sourced, if we reduce food waste. In addition, we need to convert to sustainable energy, without a doubt. Luckily there’s all these innovations in wind and solar, and now they’re cheaper than using fossil fuels. A lot of ways we’re going to reduce our impacts actually help us now. For example, if we switch off of fossil fuels like coal or natural gas and move onto something like wind or solar, air quality will improve. What technologies and methods are available to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? There are really easy, inexpensive things that make a ton of sense, like reforesting old forests that were cut down. We can also use agricultural soils to draw down more carbon dioxide, and that makes the land more fertile and enhances biodiversity, too. In addition, there are new technologies being developed here at Cornell, as well as other places, that can potentially sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make plastics or new fuels. Are these technological developments achievable in the given timeline? Climate change is really a long-term problem, so we need to be moving relatively quickly to transition from dirty energy sources to cleaner, cheaper energy sources, like wind or solar, as well as sustainable agriculture, over the next 10 years. Then in 20 or 30 years, we want to have large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies, if we can develop ones that make sense and aren’t environmentally damaging or impact food security. Sooner is better, but we’re not under the gun for all technologies. What do you say to people who are daunted by the massive amount of change that needs to occur to keep global warming to 1.5 C? I understand it is a really big problem. Who’s going to solve it? Well, everybody’s going to have to solve it. What an individual can do, and must do, is make individual changes in energy conservation, changes in diet, and think about reducing your impact. In addition, at the city level, the state level, the government level, within businesses, within nonprofits like Cornell, we all have to be thinking about how to reduce our carbon emissions and act in a way that is consistent with our low-carbon goals. We all have to be working together. Are there any other big takeaways from the report? I think it is important that some of the new studies within the report show a rise of 0.5 C – which doesn’t sound like very much – actually will be felt by humans and by ecosystems. It makes a statistically significant difference in extreme precipitation, in extreme heat events, in drought occurrences. It matters. We’ve already felt climate change, right now at 1 C, and at 1.5 C we’re going to be able to tell the difference. And between 1.5 C, and 2.0 C, we’ll be able to tell the difference. It’s also important for people to understand the impacts from climate change only get worse as the temperature rises. So if somebody says to you, “Well, we’re not going to keep global warming to 1.5 C, so let’s just give up,” that’s not the right attitude. The right attitude is we should get as low a temperature as we possibly can, and that will make it much easier for humans and ecosystems to survive. David Nutt is managing editor of the Atkinson Center. Sent from my iPad

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< MVCAC> Join the Southwest PA Neighbors for Clean Air
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 29 Aug '18

29 Aug '18

From: Clean Air Council <kyagatich(a)cleanair.org> > Date: August 29, 2018 > Subject: Join the Southwest PA Neighbors for Clean Air > Reply-To: kyagatich(a)cleanair.org > > > Donate > Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > For far too long, industry has carelessly polluted the air in southwest Pennsylvania, while the region’s air quality has continually failed to meet federal health standards. We must work together to demand that industry and government protect our health, environment, and quality of life. > > Clean Air Council is organizing a campaign to mobilize and train concerned residents across southwest PA to become local experts on issues related to air pollution in their communities. It is a way for people of all knowledge levels to work together to advocate for cleaner air. > > Clean Air Council is hosting ongoing training sessions for volunteers interested in becoming a Southwest PA Neighbors for Clean Air group leader. New group leaders will be trained in how to facilitate group meetings and advocacy efforts. The Council will provide leaders with educational materials, action steps, facilitator notes, and ongoing support. Leaders are responsible for recruiting about 10 members and scheduling group meetings. > > Please join us at one of the following trainings: > > Thursday, August 30th from 6:00 - 7:30pm at the Porch, 221 Schenley Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 > Wednesday September 5th from 6:00 - 7:30pm at Panera Bread, 4172 William Penn Hwy, Monroeville, PA 15146 > Wednesday, September 12th from 4:00 - 5:30pm at Crazy Mocha, 2 E North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 > Friday, September 21st from 1:00 - 2:30pm at Delanie's Coffee, 1737 E Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 > Thursday, September 26th from 6:00 - 7:30pm at Mt. Lebanon Public Library, 16 Castle Shannon Blvd, Mt Lebanon, PA 15228 > To sign up for a scheduled training, arrange a different training time, or learn more about the campaign, please contact Kelly Yagatich at kyagatich(a)cleanair.org or 412-723-7055. > > Sincerely, > > Dave Smith & Kelly Yagatich > Southwest PA Outreach Coordinators > > Support our work > > When you give to the Clean Air Council, you’re not just providing us with the resources to defend clean air and public health. You’re joining with over 8,000 other members to show government, courts, and polluters whose side the people are on. > > Donate now > CONNECT WITH US > > > Philadelphia office > Suite 300 > 135 S. 19th Street > Philadelphia, PA, 19103 > > Pittsburgh office Suite 200 > 200 First Ave. > Pittsburgh, PA 15222 > Harrisburg office > Suite 113 > 107 N. Front Street > Harrisburg, PA, 17101 > > Wilmington office > Suite 1004 > Box #607 > 100 W. 10th Street > Wilmington, DE, 19801 > View this email in your browser Unsubscribe > > > >

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To kill climate rule, Trump’s EPA wants to redefine danger of soot | Science | AAAS
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 11 Aug '18

11 Aug '18

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/kill-climate-rule-trump-s-epa-wants-… To kill climate rule, Trump’s EPA wants to redefine danger of soot By Niina Heikkinen, E&E NewsAug. 6, 2018 , 8:35 AM The Environmental Protection Agency is rethinking how to calculate the costs and benefits of regulations, including those aimed at curbing smog, shown here enshrouding Los Angeles, California. Bob Travis/Flickr () Originally published by E&E News Whether it's in haze-shrouded cities, plumes of car exhaust or even clear skies, fine particle pollution can be found just about everywhere in the United States. These pollutants are so small they can slip inside buildings and penetrate deep into lung tissue. On hot summer days, high concentrations of the pollutant help trigger poor air quality alerts, warning the very young, elderly and sick to stay indoors. Exposure to fine particles is linked to premature death and higher risks of asthma and heart attacks. After decades of increasingly strong assertions that there is no known safe level of fine particle exposure for the American public, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Donald Trump’s administration is now considering taking a new position. The agency is floating the idea of changing its rulemaking process and setting a threshold level of fine particles that it would consider safe. The change would affect how EPA counts the health benefits of reducing fine particles when crafting rules aimed at reducing other pollutants, like greenhouse gases. If the plan moves forward, it could have implications for how well EPA's regulations protect human health. The Trump administration introduced the idea in the fall of 2017, when it publicly released a proposal for repealing the Clean Power Plan, a former President Barack Obama-era rule to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. While the rule wasn't focused on fine particles, it would have reduced them anyway by requiring plant operators to install new technology to cut CO2 emissions. The authors of the rule had counted the health benefits from reducing particles in their justification for why the benefits of regulating greenhouse gases outweighed the costs of implementing it. The health benefits of cutting CO2 become even more evident when paired with the "co-benefits" of cutting fine particles. This process of weighing the economic pluses and minuses of any particular rule is known, in EPA lingo, as a cost-benefit analysis. It's a key factor in determining whether a rule makes sense both in terms of its environmental and health benefits and in the costs it imposes on industry. Critics see EPA's latest proposal on particulates as a way to undermine efforts to establish strict controls on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, by making the benefits of regulating them seem significantly lower. "It would be hard for the Trump administration to say [the Clean Power Plan] is a net bad for the American people; the total benefits were significantly more than the cost," said Richard Revesz, director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University (NYU) in New York City. Revesz noted that Trump's EPA was only able to legally justify rolling back the rule by "mangling" the Clean Power Plan's direct greenhouse gas benefits and its additional co-benefits of cutting pollutants like fine particles. Roughly half of the estimated benefits from reducing greenhouse gases at power plants comes from the accompanying reductions of fine particles. The Obama administration estimated that the Clean Power Plan would have $20 billion in climate benefits and an added $13 billion to $30.3 billion in benefits from reductions in particulates. From coal plants—and cigarettes EPA is considering changes to its cost-benefit analysis, even as researchers studying fine particles warn that federal regulations already fail to fully protect the public from the pollutants' effects on human health. Fine particles, or particulate matter (PM), get their shorthand name, PM 2.5, from their size. Measuring in at a minuscule 2.5 micrometers, these particles are a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair. The Administration, and other regulation opponents, suggest theirs is a logical way to account for effects, arguing that including these benefits artificially inflates the positive effects of regulating. But what they advocate is a dishonest attempt to obscure the actual effects of regulations from the public. Richard Revesz and Kimberly Castle, New York University They can come from sources like power plants and automobiles, and from smaller sources like fireplaces and cigarette smoke. Fine particles can also form from other pollution sources in the atmosphere through a chemical reaction. They're everywhere. Because of their ability to travel deep into the lungs, a number of its effects are linked to the cardiovascular system. The pollutants have been found to enter the bloodstream. Health studies have also drawn connections between fetal exposure and low birth weight, and increased risk of lung cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The PM 2.5 index is most strongly associated with health effects than any other," said C. Arden Pope, an economics professor at Brigham Young University. He is one of the researchers involved in the landmark studies of the pollutant called the "Harvard Six Cities" and the American Cancer Society study. Both outlined the connections between human health and exposure to fine particles. Pope describes the relationship between fine particle exposure and its harm on people as linear. Like lead or cancer-causing compounds, there is no known safe level of exposure. In other words, PM 2.5 is not a "threshold pollutant," meaning there is no level below which no risk exists. It's this fact that has Pope and other experts concerned about the EPA proposal on particulates buried in the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. To reset that threshold, the agency turned to another air regulation, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). This nationwide standard limits emissions of particle pollutants to within an "adequate margin of safety." Currently, that standard is set at an annual average concentration of 12 micrograms per cubic meter. In its proposal, EPA suggested it would assume there were no health benefits in cutting fine particle pollution below the levels set in the NAAQS. Such an approach would leave out the very lowest concentrations of fine particle exposure. Debate over small levels of pollution It's still unclear whether the particle proposal will make it into the final replacement for the Clean Power Plan. A draft notice is still under White House review and could become public in the coming weeks. Because the benefits of cutting fine particles, to health and the economy, are included in a variety of federal rules, the implications of altering those values could extend beyond the Clean Power Plan. Pope said it was "absurd" for EPA to make the argument that there was no benefit to reducing fine particles below the current national standard set by NAAQS. "There is no evidence there is anything magical in 12 micrograms," said Pope. Similarly, EPA's proposal to not count fine particles below the "lowest measured level," or LML in epidemiological studies, also raised concerns about not fully accounting for health risk. (The lowest measured level EPA took comment on in its repeal proposal was between 8 or 5.8 micrograms per cubic meter.) Just as EPA is assuming adequate health protections from controls of fine particles set by NAAQS, in this approach it's assuming that any concentration of NAAQS that hasn't been tested in health studies carries no risk. Using LML instead of NAAQS would mean that EPA counts more benefits of cutting fine particles but still suggests that some exposure for the American public is OK. "LML is just a better arbitrary threshold than the NAAQS," said John Bachmann, former associate director for science, policy and new programs in EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. Bachmann pointed out that recent research using Medicare data found there was an increased risk of premature death from fine particle exposure at less than half the concentrations controlled by NAAQS. That 2017 study relied on data from 60 million Medicare recipients nationwide. The EPA proposal on fine particles is supported by industry representatives like Robert Kappelmann, an energy and environmental consultant working for the Florida Municipal Electric Association. Kappelmann and other critics of the Clean Power Plan argue that EPA is "double-counting" health benefits already accounted for under NAAQS, which requires states to craft their own plans to control particulate pollution. He noted that most places in the country are already compliant with NAAQS standards. Kappelmann pointed to EPA's standard for fine particulate matter, stating EPA had established 12 micrograms to be within a "margin of safety." That means either EPA's value is wrong or particulate levels below that are safe enough for human exposure, he said. "Something is out of whack there. We think that's inappropriate," Kappelmann said of the Clean Power Plan's original co-benefit analysis. Other groups, like the Utility Air Regulatory Group, have raised similar concerns in public comments to EPA. The group noted that EPA's own modeling from 2016 predicted that just 5% of the population would be exposed to particle levels that reach 12 micrograms per cubic meter. Most of the predicted benefits of the Clean Power Plan would come from reducing fine particles below that level, the group said. "Because, as discussed above, NAAQS are set at the level EPA has determined is protective of public health, it is improper to claim benefits below that level," the group wrote. Trump aims for “underpinnings” But former EPA officials noted that when the agency talked about bringing fine particle levels down to within a "margin of safety," officials weren't saying that level of exposure was without risk. "That doesn't mean zero pollution—there's a judgment for the administrator to make each time the NAAQS are reviewed, looking at the newest science, weighing public health protection against the certainty of scientific information," said Janet McCabe, former acting assistant administrator of EPA. She argued that the Trump administration's main target is the "underpinnings" of public health protections. Bachmann, the former EPA official, also rejected the idea that EPA was double-counting benefits. Factoring in the co-benefits of other regulations is a regular part of drafting rulemaking, he said. Besides, he added, the Clean Power Plan was looking at benefits of fine particle reductions below the levels controlled under NAAQS. "Most of the things we regulate, it's hard to quantify the benefits, so we quantify what we can," said Bachmann. In this case, it was cutting particulate pollution. If EPA does go forward with its proposal on particles, it could have ripple effects on other federal rules. In a recent working paper in the Minnesota Law Review, NYU's Revesz and co-author Kimberly Castle said that if the proposed changes are finalized, the ensuing court challenges could have "far-reaching consequences" for climate and other public health rules. That's because the co-benefits of particulate reductions below 12 micrograms are widely used in regulations on emissions from stationary sources. In addition to the Clean Power Plan, the value of reducing fine particles plays a major role in backing up the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. The Obama administration estimated that reducing mercury and toxics would save between $4 million and $6 million, while a whopping $37 billion to $90 billion would come from the byproduct of lessening particle pollution. Revesz said it's hard to imagine the courts would accept any attempt by EPA to undo its use of co-benefits. That would deviate from standard practice at the agency. He and Castle slammed the Trump administration's proposed changes. "The Administration, and other regulation opponents, suggest theirs is a logical way to account for effects, arguing that including these benefits artificially inflates the positive effects of regulating. But what they advocate is a dishonest attempt to obscure the actual effects of regulations from the public," they wrote. Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from E&E News. Copyright 2018. E&E provides essential news for energy and environment professionals at www.eenews.net Niina is a reporter with Climatewire and joined the company in 2015. She covers the shifting world of climate policy at U.S. EPA under the Trump administration, following changes from Capitol Hill to the scientist's workbench. Sent from my iPad

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'Unprecedented' Heat Wave Fueling Arctic Fires Made More Than Twice as Likely by Climate Change: Analysis
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 27 Jul '18

27 Jul '18

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/27/unprecedented-heat-wave-fuelin… 'Unprecedented' Heat Wave Fueling Arctic Fires Made More Than Twice as Likely by Climate Change: Analysis From an Article by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, July 27, 2018 With wildfires raging the world over, a new preliminary analysis conducted by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) and reported by the Guardian found that the global climate crisis notably increased the likeliness of last year's Hurricane Harvey and "Lucifer" heat wave, as well as the current heat wave sweeping across Northern Europe and fueling fires in the Arctic Circle. "This is something that society can and should prepare for. But equally there is no doubt that we can and should constrain the increasing likelihood of all kinds of extreme weather events by restricting greenhouse gas emissions as sharply as possible." — Friederike Otto, University of Oxford "We found that for the weather station in the far north, in the Arctic Circle, the current heat wave is just extraordinary—unprecedented in the historical record," said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and WWA. The researchers found that climate change made the heat wave in Northern Europe more than twice as likely, Hurricane Harvey three times more likely, and the Lucifer heat wave 10 times more likely. "By comparing extreme weather with historical measurements and with computer models of a climate unaltered by carbon emissions, researchers can find how much global warming is increasing the risk of dangerous weather," the Guardian explained. This analysis differs from a full study that would require "many climate models to be run on high-powered computers, which takes months." Summarizing their conclusion, Friederike Otto of the University of Oxford and WWA told the newspaper, "The logic that climate change will do this is inescapable—the world is becoming warmer, and so heat waves like this are becoming more common." While "most heat wave studies have been done on large scale averages, so European-wide temperatures," Otto noted that "in this study, we have looked at individual locations, where people live, to represent the heat wave people are actually experiencing." The heat wave that has fueled more than 50 fires in Sweden in recent weeks has also caused excessive heat throughout the U.K. and Europe—including in Greece, where a fire killed dozens earlier this week. Pointing to recent comments from British politicians who are demanding concrete action to prevent such events from becoming the "new normal" and endangering thousands or even millions of lives, 350.org echoed their call and highlighted worldwide rallies planned for September 8th to demand a future free of fossil fuels. So true. The intense heat so many people are experiencing just goes to show – climate change is here, now. It will get worse – so we have to do better. Let's all take action and #RiseForClimate on September 8th. See also: http://350.org/rise — 350 dot org (@350) 9:28 AM - July 27, 2018 "What was once regarded as unusually warm weather will become commonplace, and in some cases, it already has," Otto concluded. "So this is something that society can and should prepare for. But equally there is no doubt that we can and should constrain the increasing likelihood of all kinds of extreme weather events by restricting greenhouse gas emissions as sharply as possible."

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Clean Air Council, Workshops in SW Penna.
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 22 Jun '18

22 Jun '18

Donate Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, This summer Clean Air Council will host a series of workshops across the Southwest PA region to train community members on how to write letters to the editor regarding environmental issues. We encourage you to come out to a workshop near you and learn how to effectively voice your opinions through the media. This week's workshop will be held in Fox Chapel on Wednesday, June 27th from 6:30 - 8:00pm at Christ Church (630 Squaw Run Rd E, Pittsburgh PA 15238). If you are unable to attend this week's workshop, the times and locations of the remaining summer workshops are as follows: Wednesday, July 11th from 6:00 - 7:30pm at First Presbyterian Church, 252 College Ave, Beaver, PA 15009 Tuesday, July 17th from 6:00 - 7:30pm at the Citizens Library Central Library, 55 S College St, Washington, PA 15301 Wednesday, July 25th from 3:00 - 4:30pm at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 987 Beaver Grade Rd, Coraopolis, PA 15108 Monday July 30th from 6:00 - 7:30pm at Mount Lebanon Public Library Central Library, 16 Castle Shannon Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15228 To attend this week's workshop or a future workshop, please call or email Dave Smith at 412-954-8494 or dsmith(a)cleanair.org. Sincerely, B. David Smith Southwest PA Outreach Coordinator Clean Air Council

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Pennsylvania, for first time, sets methane requirements on natural gas wells | StateImpact Pennsylvania
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 19 Jun '18

19 Jun '18

Pennsylvania, for first time, sets methane requirements on natural gas wells | StateImpact Pennsylvania https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2018/06/07/pennsylvania-for-first-…

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Fwd: [App. Gas Working Grp.] Sign-On Against Petrochem Hub - Another Push
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 14 Jun '18

14 Jun '18

It is proposed that the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition sign on to the Letter protesting the Appalachian Storage Hub, the financing of which is not public information. Duane Nichols Please reply with questions or comments. P.S. This project was described a few days ago here: www.FrackCheckWV.net > From: <lara(a)appvoices.org> > Date: June 14, 2018 > To: Stop The Pipelines WVVANC > Subject: Fwd: [App. Gas Working Grp.] Sign-On Against Petrochem Hub - Another Push > Hi everyone. > Some of you may have seen this already but some of you may not. We would like to do another push to get sign-on to our letter of support against the Appalachian Petrochemical Hub. We would like to have folks sign-on no later than June 16th so the letter can be presented at an action in Pittsburgh on the 18th. We currently have 39 organizations/groups and almost 100 individuals. And please share in your networks and with anyone you might think is interested. > > Organizational sign-on form is here: https://goo.gl/forms/sGRpDbKpERGChRj92 > > If individuals would like to sign, that link is here: https://goo.gl/forms/P3KtSXBH6itrc5Zn1 > > Here is a blog about the call for sign-ons: https://ohvec.org/sign-on-ash/ > > Thanks everyone.

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WVU researcher receives NIH grant to explore effects of fracking on cardiovascular health | WVU Today | West Virginia University
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 05 Jun '18

05 Jun '18

https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/2018/06/05/wvu-researcher-receives-nih-gra… WVU researcher receives NIH grant to explore effects of fracking on cardiovascular health Press Release, WVU Today, June 05, 2018 Photo: Travis Knuckles, assistant professor in the WVU School of Public Health, works with undergraduate research assistants (L to R) Allison Tolbert, a public-health major, and Haley Twilley, a recent graduate of the public-health program. Knuckles is studying the effects of fracking emissions on cardiovascular function. One goal of his NIH-funded project is “to involve students—especially undergraduates—in research where they wouldn’t typically be included,” he said. Building and operating a hydraulic fracturing well site can emit airborne particles in multiple ways. But scientists still don’t fully understand how these particles impact human health. Travis Knuckles, assistant professor in the West Virginia University School of Public Health, has received $450,000 from the National Institutes of Health to investigate these questions. Hydraulic fracturing is a process in which oil and gas are extracted from rock by injecting mixtures of water, sand and chemicals underground. Over three years, Knuckles will explore how particulate matter in the air from fracking sites can make it harder for the body to control how much blood enters the capillaries, the narrowest blood vessels, and turn oxygen into ATP, a chemical that is a primary energy source for cells. The particulate matter at the center of Knuckles’ study is especially fine. Each particle has a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers. That’s smaller than a particle of talcum powder—even smaller than a red blood cell. Particles that small have been shown to cause cardiovascular disease, worsen its symptoms and make it more deadly. “We have a pretty good idea of what particulate matter does in general,” said Knuckles, who is part of WVU’s Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences and the WVU Health Sciences Center Toxicology Working Group. “The issue is that we have not looked at particulate matter from these gas wells as a toxicant unto itself. How is that emission different from a typical emission near a roadway? Is it more toxic than ambient particles in a broad sense?” He and his research team will compare how airborne-particulate samples collected from the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory near Morgantown and from downtown Morgantown influence microvascular tissue. Using pre-clinical models, they will examine whether the very fine particles that fracking releases are more toxic than the particles normally found in urban air. They will also study how the fracking-related particles’ toxicity decreases as the wind blows them away from the well site. The team will pay special attention to whether the microvascular system can constrict or dilate properly when it’s exposed to very fine fracking-related particles. Knuckles predicts the particles will weaken dilation, cause inappropriately strong constrictions or both. “The other thing that could be happening is that whatever exposure is taking place creates a condition where the mitochondria of the heart have decreased functionality. They’re just not as good at converting oxygen into ATP,” he said. “This grant has offered us a great opportunity to look at the intersection of particle-exposure cardiac contractile function and bioenergetics,” said John Hollander, a member of the research team and exercise physiology professor in the WVU School of Medicine. Hollander’s lab will focus on the molecular-level changes that fracking-related emissions trigger, whereas the WVU lab led by Timothy Nurkiewicz, another team member, will concern itself with vascular-level toxicology. “This is a diverse team-science approach,” said Nurkiewicz, an associate chair of research and professor of physiology, pharmacology and neuroscience in the WVU School of Medicine. “Dr. Knuckles is taking a very important environmental challenge and using resources across the Health Sciences Center to assess what the health risks may be.” The data that the project generates could be fodder for a larger epidemiological study in the future—which, in turn, could guide legislation that deals with where and how fracking occurs. “What is the effect on physiology, and is that fact correlated pretty well in human data that come from these areas?” Knuckles asked. “I think we need science to inform policy in this case.” Research discussed in this publication is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, divisions of the National Institutes of Health, under Award Number 1R15ES028005. -WVU-

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Tri State Letter on Fossil Fuels
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 01 Jun '18

01 Jun '18

A Cleaner, Better Vision for the Tri-State Region Dear Governors Justice, Kasich & Wolf, On March 20, 2018, you made the unfortunate decision to continue a 2015 Agreement to Enhance Regional Cooperation and Job Growth Through the Continuing Development of Shale Gas in the Appalachian Basin (the “Gas Agreement”) through 2021. In three years, the Gas Agreement has done little to boost regional or local economies, and our states have already experienced multiple petrochemical “accidents” that have threatened public health and damaged public resources. For example, on March 16, just 4 days before you extended the Gas Agreement, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued its 40th Notice of Violation to the owners and operators of the Sunoco Mariner pipeline for releasing drilling fluids into a stream. We, the undersigned organizations, represent tens of thousands of residents in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia who call upon you, our Governors to rescind this Agreement and uphold your sworn duties to safeguard the people, our health, and our environment. The revitalization of our region is not beholden to the fading fossils of yesteryear; it depends on a continued pivot to 21st century industries such as clean energy and sustainable agriculture. The Gas Agreement is focused on promoting the development and use of shale gas and fracked gas liquids in the Tri-State Region. However, the development and use of gas and other nonrenewable resources have very real, negative impacts on our air, our water, and human life/the health of our people. It is impossible to develop fracked gas and fracked gas liquids in an environmentally sound manner. And shale gas is not the answer to our economic challenges. The production of Appalachian shale gas and fracked gas liquids will not offer significant economic opportunities for the people of the Tri-States, nor will it provide domestic security for the United States. We should keep it in the ground. We need a new agreement that looks to capitalize on the growing green economy. Our coalition has resolved to work with the states to develop a regional strategy for sustainable economic development and job creation in the region. Our states can cooperate to support a sustainable economy by (1) Sharing information; (2) Organizing seminars, workshops, and training; (3) Collaborating on policies to promote environmental health and economic growth; and (4) Promoting clean energy and energy efficiency, ecotourism and outdoor recreation, recycling and other sustainability practices. Let’s work together for the betterment of all. The Gas Agreement is a bad deal for the people of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Please do the right thing, rescind this dirty compact, and give our region a chance to build the clean and thriving future that we deserve. Thank you for listening to your constituents. We look forward to a productive conversation. Sincerely, Center for Coalfield Justice Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition Sierra Club Ohio Chapter Sierra Club West Virginia Chapter Cheryl Johncox Beyond Dirty Fuels Organizer Sierra Club (740)-360-0420 Pledge to Bank Fossil Free: Sc.org/Divest Represented by the Progressive Workers' Union There is no environmental justice without social justice.

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DEP Public Notice - NOTICE OF COMMENT PERIOD FOR DRAFT/PROPOSED OPERATING PERMIT RENEWAL-Monongalia County-Longview Power, LLC
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 25 Apr '18

25 Apr '18

> Subject: DEP Public Notice - NOTICE OF COMMENT PERIOD FOR DRAFT/PROPOSED OPERATING PERMIT RENEWAL-Monongalia County-Longview Power, LLC > > > =========================================================== > Wednesday, April 25, 2018 @ 12:31 PM > =========================================================== > > NOTICE OF COMMENT PERIOD FOR DRAFT/PROPOSED OPERATING PERMIT RENEWAL > > Title V of the Federal Clean Air Act and the state Air Pollution > Control Act requires that all major sources and certain minor sources have a > permit to operate which states all requirements (e.g. emission limitations, > monitoring requirements, etc.) established by regulations promulgated under the > aforementioned programs. The Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has determined that > the draft/proposed permit renewal referenced herein meets this requirement. > > The DAQ is providing notice to the general public of its > preliminary determination to issue an operating permit renewal to the following > company for operation of the referenced electric generating facility: > > Longview Power, LLC > Longview Power Plant > Plant ID No.: 061-00134 > 1375 Fort Martin Road > Maidsville, WV 26541 > > This notice solicits comments from the public and affected state(s) > concerning the above preliminary determination and provides an opportunity for > such parties to review the basis for the proposed approval and the "draft" > permit renewal. This notice also solicits comments from the U.S. EPA > concerning the same preliminary determination and provides an opportunity for > the U.S. EPA to concurrently review the basis for the proposed approval as > a “proposed” permit. This notice also incorporates changes to the General > Requirements of the following preconstruction permit(s): R14-0024F. > > All written comments submitted by the public and affected state(s) > pursuant to this notice must be received by the DAQ within thirty (30) days of > the date of publication of this notice. Under concurrent review, written > comments submitted by the U.S. EPA must be received by the DAQ within forty- > five (45) days from the date of publication of this notice or from the date the > U.S. EPA receives this draft/proposed permit renewal, whichever is later. In > the event that the 30th/45th day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the > comment period will be extended until 5:00 p.m. on the following regularly > scheduled business day. The public shall have 135 days from the date of > publication of this notice to file petitions for concurrently reviewed > permits. Upon notice by the U.S. EPA to the DAQ, prior to the end of the 45- > day notice period, the U.S. EPA may choose to hold the 30 day comment period on > the draft permit and the 45 day comment period on the proposed permit > sequentially. During the public comment period any interested person may > submit written comments on the draft permit and may request a public hearing, > if no public hearing has already been scheduled. A request for a public hearing > shall be in writing and shall state the nature of the issues proposed to be > raised in the hearing. The Director of the DAQ shall grant such a request for a > hearing if he concludes that a public hearing is appropriate. Any public > hearing shall be held in the general area in which the facility is located, > after 30 day notice is given. The DAQ will consider all written comments prior > to final action on the permit. > > Copies of the DAQ Fact Sheet and Draft/Proposed Permit Renewal may > be downloaded from the DAQ's web site at the following address: > http://www.dep.wv.gov/daq. Copies of the Permit Application, DAQ Fact Sheet, > and Draft/Proposed Permit Renewal are available for public review at the > following location between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.: > > WV Department of Environmental Protection > Division of Air Quality > 601 57th Street SE > Charleston, WV 25304 > Contact: Frederick Tipane > (304) 926-0499 ext.: 1215 > > Comments and questions concerning this matter should be addressed > to the above referenced individual. > > > =========================================================== > To view past notices of open public comment periods or to unsubscribe from this Mailing List, login at: > http://apps.dep.wv.gov/MLists2/ > >

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WV-PSC -- Longview Case No. 17-1450, January 19, 2018
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 19 Jan '18

19 Jan '18

WEST VIRGINIA Public Service Commission This Order grants a siting certificate to the modification consisting of discontinuance of the conveyor commitment, subject to certain conditions. Coal to be transported by truck from 6 am to 10 pm, 314 trucks per day. http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityI…'WebDocket'

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PSC Consumer Advocate Petitions for Answers and Relief in Longview Case
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 14 Dec '17

14 Dec '17

CONSUMER ADVOCATE DIVISION STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 700 Union Building 723 Kanawha Boulevard, East Charleston,West Virginia 25301 (304) 558-0526 December 13, 2017 Ingrid Ferrell Executive Secretary Public Service Commission of West Virginia 201 Brooks Street Charleston,WestVirginia 25301 RE: Longview Power, LLC Case No. 17-1450-E-CS-PC Dear Ms. Ferrell: Enclosed for filing in the above-captioned proceeding are an original and twelve copies of The Consumer Advocate Division 's Motion for Reconsideration of Commission Order Granting Request by Monongahela Power Company and the Potomac Edison Company to Withdraw as Intervenors and/or Supplement to Its Motion to Intervene, a copy of which has been served on all parties of record. Very truly yours, Heather B. Osborn http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityI…'WebDocket' Sent from my iPad

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WV PSC received another Longview letter today
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 12 Dec '17

12 Dec '17

http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityI…'WebDocket' Sent from my iPad

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Public Hearing Set by WV-PSC in Longview Case for 12/18/17 in Charleston
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 08 Dec '17

08 Dec '17

Case No. 17-1450-E-CS-PC at the WV Public Service Commission. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityI…'WebDocket'

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WV-PSC Document: dck20171127150652
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 27 Nov '17

27 Nov '17

Please find the document of Wallace Venable in protest of the Longview plan to truck coal from the Cumberland mine (Greene Co., PA) from river barges up the Ft. Martin hill. The estimate is 314 diesel trucks per work day. The main concerns are air pollution, noise and traffic flow. The public comment period closes on December 3rd.

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Letter and Article for WV Public Service Commission
by via MVCAC 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

To: MVCAC Tomorrow on Monday, I am sending the following letter and two attachment to the WV Public Service Commission. I hope to prepare another more detailed submission, but I need a couple more days. If you have comments or suggestions, please let me know. Duane Nichols

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Fwd: WV-PSC ORDER: ord20171030163339 (Longview Power LLC)
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 13 Nov '17

13 Nov '17

Greetings from the MVCAC. Without a quorum available, we will NOT be meeting tonight in Morgantown. Instead, I will draft a statement as a response, to the PSC, and send it to you this week. Duane Nichols > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Duane Nichols via MVCAC <mvcac(a)osenergy.org> > Date: Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 12:30 PM > Subject: Re: [MVCAC] WV-PSC ORDER: ord20171030163339 (Longview Power LLC) > To: MVCAC(a)osenergy.org > > > URGENT: Please know that Longview Power is proposing to change its coal source and coal delivery approach. This is creating a number of issues of public concern. > > Let me propose a meeting of the MVCAC for Monday, November 13th, at 6 pm to be held at the Eat N Park on Patterson Drive. > > Please let me know your availability ASAP and whether you have comments or questions. > > Mon Power has already applied to intervene, as shown in my next email. > > > > ______________________________ _________________ > MVCAC mailing list > MVCAC(a)osenergy.org > http://wvcompletestreets.org/ mailman/listinfo/mvcac > > > > >

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Mon Power Petition: dck20171107154016
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 08 Nov '17

08 Nov '17

Attached please find the recent Petition of Mon Power relative to coal transport and transfer in the Ft. Martin area. Duane Nichols Sent from my iPad

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Re: [MVCAC] WV-PSC ORDER: ord20171030163339 (Longview Power LLC)
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 08 Nov '17

08 Nov '17

URGENT: Please know that Longview Power is proposing to change its coal source and coal delivery approach. This is creating a number of issues of public concern. Let me propose a meeting of the MVCAC for Monday, November 13th, at 6 pm to be held at the Eat N Park on Patterson Drive. Please let me know your availability ASAP and whether you have comments or questions. Mon Power has already applied to intervene, as shown in my next email. See the original Order here: Sent from my iPad

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Air Quality Monitoring Recommended by GASP
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 13 Oct '17

13 Oct '17

Improvements Needed for Southwestern PA Air Monitoring RSS Feed In Southwestern Pennsylvania, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) each operate a network of air quality monitoring stations. Federal regulations provide a number of technical requirements covering the monitors themselves and require that the monitoring networks meet three basic objectives: 1. provide air pollution data to the general public in a timely manner; 2. support compliance with ambient air quality standards; and 3. support air pollution research studies. GASP believes that monitoring air quality is one of these agencies’ most important tasks, because it informs and protects the public. The box on the right side of our homepage, showing current air quality conditions for Pittsburgh, is informed by data from ACHD’s and DEP’s monitoring efforts. To further the goal of public education in this area, GASP has recently added a feature to our permit clearinghouse map: showing all of the air monitoring stations in Southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s not by chance that there is a great deal of monitoring sites near concentrations of industrial activity. As noted above, compliance is also an important part of DEP’s and ACHD’s monitoring activities. The Clean Air Act requires each state and local authority to submit an annual report to the EPA describing how it monitors ambient air quality. Although both agencies appear to operate the minimum number of monitoring sites required, GASP’s comments on the ACHD and DEP plans noted several areas where we believe the agencies should be doing more to protect public health: 1. Monitoring near oil and gas operations The task of monitoring, researching, and analyzing air quality around oil and gas operations should be one of DEP’s most fundamental roles as the industry expands in Pennsylvania. For years, citizens have raised air quality concerns and the DEP has admitted that it needs additional monitoring data to properly characterize the risks associated with emissions from these sites. Yet, DEP has failed to implement additional monitoring and must now do so as soon as possible. 2. Monitoring fine particulates (PM2.5) Part of DEP’s oil and gas monitoring plan that it has yet to implement includes monitoring for fine particulate matter near oil and gas operations. Although PM2.5 is only one of several emissions from these sites, this data would help them characterize a host of risks associated with the facilities themselves. In Allegheny County, monitoring for fine particulate matter is essential because the County struggles to meet national ambient air quality standards for this pollutant. Of special concern are emissions from diesel engines and how those contaminants increase in the downtown Pittsburgh area during the morning and evening rush hours. In the coming months, ACHD will be issuing new guidelines aimed at lowering particulate matter concentrations for the entire region. Expansion of monitoring efforts will be critical to ensure that the entire county comes into compliance with the national standard. 3. Sulfur Dioxide Largely due to our region’s continued reliance on coal for power plants and industrial processes, several areas in Southwestern Pennsylvania have elevated levels of sulfur dioxide. Specifically, the Liberty-Clairton area in Allegheny County, a portion of Beaver County along the Ohio River, and all of Indiana County suffer from this issue. Sulfur dioxide causes wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. Although the law allows the use of mathematical models to show how sources will comply with emissions limitations, GASP has urged ACHD and DEP to increase the use of air quality monitors to ensure that sulfur dioxide levels in towns and neighborhoods near these sources are within safe levels. –Ned Mulcahy, Staff Attorney

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Report on H2S by the Group Against Smog & Pollution (GASP)
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 13 Oct '17

13 Oct '17

Hydrogen Sulfide Limits Repeatedly Violated in Mon Valley RSS Feed Comments made to the Allegheny County Board of Health by Sue Seppi, September 13, 2017 Waking up in the morning or the middle of the night to “rotten egg odors” is not an uncommon event in Allegheny County, especially in or downwind of the Monongahela Valley. That smell very likely comes from hydrogen sulfide (H2S), whose odor is perceptible by most at a very low concentration. Of course there are other disagreeable outdoor odors, but the H2S odor is so unpleasant and common that Pennsylvania has required H2S in the ambient air to be below .005 parts per million (ppm), averaged over 24 hours. This standard has been adopted and is enforceable by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) Air Program. The World Health Organization states, “in order to avoid substantial complaints about odor annoyance among the exposed population, hydrogen sulfide concentrations should not be allowed to exceed 7 µg/m3 (0.005 ppm), with a 30-minute averaging period.” Pennsylvania’s more lenient averaging time of 24 hours allows for considerably higher hourly H2S levels. High hourly concentrations usually occur at night or early morning during our region’s frequent atmospheric inversions, when pollutants get trapped in chilled ground level air. H2S is also heavier than air, so it may stick close to the ground at breathing level. Recently, the public received a new option— to not just hold their noses but to report these window-slamming odors to the ACHD Air Program with the Smell PGH app, developed by the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University. The Smell PGH app recorded 396 specific “rotten egg” odor complaints between September 29, 2016 and September 5, 2017. Additional “rotten egg” malodor complaints likely were made directly to the ACHD Air Program or to Smell PGH, but with the smell description on the app left blank. Most of the time there are consequences which force improvements when air quality standards are breached, but for the 24 hour H2S standard in the Mon Valley, not so much. This standard, even with the generous 24 hour averaging period, has been significantly violated at the air pollution monitor in Liberty: Year Violations of .005 ppm standard 2017 through 9/5 35 2016 41 2015 87 2014 49 2013 28 2012 65 Is the Allegheny County Air Program paying enough attention to excessive hydrogen sulfide or other odor issues? Some citizens in the Mon Valley area have resorted to litigation, recently suing U.S. Steel in part because of “noxious odors” alleged to be caused by U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Plant air emissions. Recently the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a broad interpretation of Article 1 Section 27 of the Pennsylvania State Constitution. Section 27 affirms a Pennsylvania citizen’s right to clean air and the preservation of the esthetic values of the environment. GASP urges the Board of Health to require the County Air Program to do better—to develop and implement a plan to eliminate violations of the H2S standard and to be held accountable for improvement. Odor is the most recognizable part of air quality. We’ll never really be worthy of our high rankings on the “Most Livable Cities” or other lists until we must achieve healthy, agreeable air quality.

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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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Fwd: Eat Air Pollution "Dessert" at our Air Fair Exhibit
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 28 Jul '17

28 Jul '17

> From: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > Date: July 28, 2017 > Subject: Eat Air Pollution "Dessert" at our Air Fair Exhibit > Reply-To: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > > > > > Group Against Smog and Pollution improves air quality to ensure human, environmental, and economic health for our region. > Join GASP > > Facebook > > Twitter > > Website > > Email > Share > Tweet > Forward > Clean Air Lovers: Assemble! > > "GASP for Clean Air! Sources, Symptoms, and Solutions" is an art exhibit put on by GASP and hosted at Assemble throughout August 2017. This family-friendly exhibit focuses on air quality issues impacting Southwestern PA and what they mean for the people who live here. Through a variety of interactive installations, the exhibit addresses how air quality interacts with environmental justice, human health, and life in an increasingly industrialized world. > > Join us at the Air Fair on August 10th from 6-8 p.m.! Explore our art exhibit while snacking on free "air pollution desserts," courtesy of Shelby Brewster, from the University of Pittsburgh. Meet representatives from organizations invested in our region’s air quality, and learn what these groups are doing to better the air we breathe and how you can play a role. > > Along with the Air Fair, the exhibit will be open to the public on the following days: > August 4th from 6-10 p.m.: This day coincides with Unblurred: First Fridays. We will have pig lungs (!), a slime-making station, and our exhibit will be ready to explore. > August 14th from 6-8 p.m.: Exhibit is open to the public. There will also be an opportunity for kids to get crafty! > August 21st from 6-8 p.m.: Exhibit is open to the public. We will also be showing a short film about Clairton's air pollution entitled “Toxic Air in Steam Valley.” > Ready to attend? RSVP for the Air Fair now or contact Chelsea at chelsea(a)gasp-pgh.org to learn more. See you there! > CMU Looking for Volunteers to Host Air Monitors: Special Need for Mon Valley Residents > > From our friends at CMU: > Have you ever wondered about the quality of air you breathe at home, at work, and in between? > Do you bicycle to work for the exercise benefits (or want to!), but worry that it increases your exposure to air pollution? > Are you a teacher interested in exposing your students to real-world data? > The CMU RAMP network can help you answer these questions, and more! The Real-time, Affordable, Multi-Pollutant (RAMP) air quality monitor measures carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and fine particulates. Volunteers are especially needed to host the RAMP sensors in locations in the Mon Valley from Braddock to Clairton to improve our knowledge of air quality in our neighborhoods. If you know someone in this region, please share this information with them, > > CMU will provide the monitors, mounting equipment, extension cords, etc., and access to the data as well through a web site. Read here a recent Allegheny Front article about the program. > > Learn more and register here. > CommentAiry > > "'The [DEP] permits were massively deficient, the construction is designed wrong and pipe is being laid in the wrong places." A Pennsylvania judge halts Mariner East 2 pipeline construction under waterways for two weeks after a number of spills and leaks. > Together, we can make a difference in our region's environment. We won't trade or sell your email address with other organizations or inundate you with messages. Visit our website at gasp-pgh.org or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information or to become a member today. We can't do this without you! > Copyright © 2017 Group Against Smog and Pollution, All rights reserved. > Thanks for receiving our air news and for being engaged! > > Our mailing address is: > Group Against Smog and Pollution > 1133 South Braddock Avenue > Suite 1A > Edgewood, PA 15218 > > Add us to your address book > > > unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences > >

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AIR POLLUTION: 'Sue and settle' critic Pruitt abides by NOx consent decree -- July 17, 2017 -- www.eenews.net
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 19 Jul '17

19 Jul '17

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060057465 AIR POLLUTION: 'Sue and settle' critic Pruitt abides by NOx consent decree From an Article by Sean Reilly, E&E News, Greenwire: July 17, 2017 After a five-year review, U.S. EPA has proposed leaving unchanged its two primary air quality standards for nitrogen oxides. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, acting under a court-ordered deadline, signed a rulemaking notice Friday, and then it was quietly posted on an agency website. "This proposed decision has been informed by a careful consideration of the full body of scientific evidence and information available in this review," the draft rule says, citing the recommendations of EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and an agency assessment of recent research into the health effects of nitrogen oxides. The proposal will have a 60-day comment period upon publication in the Federal Register, accompanied by a public hearing if requested. Under a settlement clinched earlier this year in response to a lawsuit by two environmental groups, EPA must have the final rule in place by next April (Greenwire, May 1). NOx — with nitrogen dioxide serving as a regulatory stand-in for the broader class of gases — is a key ingredient in smog. Major sources are cars, trucks and coal-fired power plants. Exposure to low levels can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, while inhalation over a day or two can lead to fluid buildup in the lungs, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Under the Clean Air Act, primary air quality standards are intended to protect public health. For nitrogen oxides, EPA's annual standard of 53 parts per billion dates back to 1971, supplemented by a one-hour 100 ppb limit added in 2010. The decision to leave the current thresholds in place represents a victory for carmakers and other industry groups. Dissenting was the American Lung Association, which had argued in a filing in November that the one-hour standard should be tightened to allow for a "margin of safety" for asthma sufferers. NOx is among a half-dozen "criteria pollutants" named in the act. EPA is supposed to review and — if warranted — revise the thresholds for those pollutants every five years in light of available scientific research. In practice, the agency is chronically late. Under the law, for example, the NOx review should have concluded two years ago. It took the lawsuit brought last year by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health to prod the agency into agreeing to hard deadlines. While Pruitt, like other Republicans, has derided what he calls "sue-and-settle" deals, he made no attempt to undo the consent decree that had been tentatively reached under the Obama administration and was made final in April. The same consent decree also applies to a new review of the standards for sulfur oxides, with a proposed rulemaking due by next May. The NOx review, launched in 2012, was a relatively sleepy affair in comparison with the tumult that surrounded the agency's decision two years ago to reset the ozone standard. By EPA's estimate, total NOx releases have fallen more than 60 percent since 1980, with the decline expected to continue as stricter vehicle emissions limits take effect. There are no areas in the United States now in nonattainment for either the annual or hourly benchmarks. Agency officials had signaled their intent to stick with the status quo last fall with the release of a draft policy assessment that found current evidence "does not call into question any of the elements of the current standards" (Greenwire, Sept. 28, 2016). In a March report, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, a group of outside experts, seconded that conclusion. The policy assessment was made final soon afterward. The secondary NOx standard, designed to protect ecosystems, was not part of the review. It remains at 53 ppb on an average annual basis.

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CMU Scientists Help Clairton Residents Find Out What’s In Their Air – The Allegheny Front
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 03 Jun '17

03 Jun '17

http://www.alleghenyfront.org/cmu-scientists-help-clairton-residents-learn-… CMU Scientists Help Clairton Residents Find Out What’s In Their Air Kara HolsoppleJune 2, 2017 R. Subramanian has been working on air quality issues for about 15 years. He started with a background in mechanical engineering, then added chemistry and atmospheric science while working on a Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University. “There are problems to be solved. And I’m an engineer. And I will learn what I need to solve them.” Like many scientists, Subramanian –who goes by the name Subu–finds problem solving appealing. And he says air quality research is even more satisfying because it helps people. There are problems to be solved. And I’m an engineer. And I will learn what I need to solve them. Subu and his team at Carnegie Mellon are one year into a three-year project to help people in the Pittsburgh region learn more about pollutants they’re exposed to through the air. It’s funded through the EPA’s Air Pollution Monitoring for Communities program, and it was one of only six projects funded throughout the country. LISTEN: CMU Scientists Help Clairton Residents Find Out What’s In Their Air I met up with Subu in the driveway of a house on the outskirts of the Mon Valley town of Clairton, south of Pittsburgh. It’s just a few miles from the largest coke plant in the country, US Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. Residents have complained for years about the smell, and some have even filed a class action lawsuit against the company because they say they’re being exposed to toxic chemicals through the coke work’s emissions, and that it erodes their property values. Subu and his research assistant Srini Kumar are visiting this small house, with a creek running behind it, because just a few weeks ago an air quality sensor was strapped to its front porch. And right now the sensor’s not working. It stopped reporting data, so Subu and Kumar are here to troubleshoot. The homeowner got in touch with researchers through a Clairton community Facebook page, and offered to host the sensor as part of the project. It’s one of about 30 that’s been deployed in the Pittsburgh area since last August. Twenty more will be placed in Clairton and nearby Braddock this summer. Braddock is home to US Steel’s Edgar Thomson works. “In these communities, housing is cheaper than in other areas. People who are lower income may prefer to live there, but they end up being exposed to potentially higher pollution from certain sources,” Subu says. “They end up bearing the environmental cost of these economic activities, disproportionately,” Subu says. The sensor is just above the researchers heads, so Kumar has to hop up onto the porch to see what’s going on. It’s essentially a box–it looks a little like a fuse box–and it’s called a RAMP–Real-time Affordable Multi-pollutant sensor. It’s powered by a lap-top style charger, and it looks like the RAMP isn’t working because the charger cable just came loose. “Stupid stuff happens,” Subu says. The RAMP picks up five gases in the air through holes on its bottom: carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and ozone. They’re recorded four times a minute. And the data is averaged every 15 minutes. The Allegheny County Health Department’s air monitor in the area averages data about once an hour, so these RAMP monitors might be able to pick up pollution spikes that aren’t currently being detected. On the side of the device is a little telescope-like tube that’s pointed up to the sky. It’s called a nephelometer and detects PM 2.5–airborne particulate matter. This is a way for people to realize that science is something that is useful, and actually makes a difference in their lives. PM 10 is particulate matter that’s smaller than 10 microns, and Subu says that’s the stuff that gets into your nose. Anything larger than PM 2.5 tends to remain in your respiratory tract, causing throat infections and asthma. “And then anything smaller than 2.5 microns can actually make it all the way to your lungs, and that is more likely to cause cardiac disease or lung cancer,” Subu says. As they wait 10 minutes for the RAMP to charge, Subu tells me the next phase of the project is some kind of public interface so residents can see the data being collected. “At the end of the day, it’s about empowering people with more information,” Subu says. “Empowering them to make choices that would lower their exposure to air pollution.” Subu hopes Mon Valley residents can start using the data this summer, in whatever way makes sense to them. He stresses as researchers, he and his team aren’t advocating for specific outcomes. But rather, giving people another tool to make their own decisions about how to act. That could mean having more specific examples to make a complaint about industrial pollution to the health department, or to decide if it’s safe enough for kids to play outdoors. The next phase of the project is working with community members and environmental groups, like the Group Against Smog and Pollution, to put together an advisory board. They’ll recruit volunteers to participate in surveys about interacting with the air quality data. “This is a way for people to realize that science is something that is useful, and actually makes a difference in their lives.” Sent from my iPad

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Court suspends case over Obama climate rule | TheHill
by Duane via MVCAC 02 May '17

02 May '17

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/331060-court-suspends-case-ove… Court suspends case over Obama climate rule BY TIMOTHY CAMA, The Hill, 04/28/17 A federal appeals court is pausing its case over former President Barack Obama’s landmark climate change regulation, notching a major victory for the Trump administration. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday halted the case while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works through the process of repealing the Clean Power Plan. The decision means that the federal court will not publish its ruling on whether or not the regulation, the main pillar of Obama’s climate change agenda, is legal. The court heard oral arguments in September in the challenge by conservative states, fossil fuel businesses and others who argue that the Clean Air Act and the Constitution prohibit the EPA from writing the regulation. The Trump administration also opposes the rule. President Trump signed an executive order last month to start the process of repealing the Clean Power Plan, and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt led the legal challenge against it in his previous job as Oklahoma’s attorney general. Shortly after Trump signed his order, the Justice Department asked the court to hold off on the case. The EPA and other opponents of the rule applauded the court’s action. “Last year, the Supreme Court granted a stay on the Clean Power Plan, so we always knew there were serious legal problems with this initiative from the Obama administration and we welcome this news from the D.C. Circuit,” said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R), the lead litigant in the case, also cheered the order. “The court recognized the landscape has changed and that a decision on the merits is not appropriate at this time,” he said in a statement. The supporters of the Clean Power Plan said the order will not stop them from defending the rule against Trump. “Today’s temporary pause in the litigation does not relieve EPA of its legal obligation to limit carbon pollution from its largest source: fossil-fueled power plants,” said Eric Schneiderman (D), New York’s attorney general. “Nor does it change the reality of the dire harm climate change is causing to communities around New York and across the country.” Most of the court’s 10 judges who heard the case in September seemed to lean toward the Obama administration’s position that the regulation at issue is proper and can be enforced. The rule would have ordered a 32 percent cut in the power sector’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, with targets individually assigned to each state. It has been on hold since February 2016 because of a Supreme Court order. The Trump administration is working to repeal the Clean Power Plan. The process requires a proposal and an opportunity for public input, and could take a year or more. At that point, environmentalists, Democratic-led states and others are likely to sue the administration to keep the regulation in place. The D.C. Circuit asked the Trump administration to file updates every 30 days on its process of formally reviewing the rule. The court also put on hold a separate case over a related EPA rule setting limits on emissions from newly built coal and natural gas power plants. Similarly, the Obama administration wrote that rule, and the Trump administration wants to repeal it. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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EPA Should Not Be Allowed to Dodge Clean Power Plan Ruling, Cities and States Tell Court | InsideClimate News
by Duane via MVCAC 09 Apr '17

09 Apr '17

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06042017/epa-clean-power-plan-donald-tru… EPA Should Not Be Allowed to Dodge Clean Power Plan Ruling, Cities and States Tell Court Coalition of states, cities and green groups urges D.C. Court of Appeals to reject Trump administration request to stall decision on cornerstone climate regulations. By John Cushman, Inside Climate News, April 6, 2017 The Trump Administration is seeking to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the Obama Administration's climate policies. A coalition of states, cities and environmental groups filed twin briefs on Wednesday accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of trying to "perpetually dodge" court decisions that could keep alive the Clean Power Plan, which the Trump Administration wants to dismantle. They urged the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reject the administration's new petition to put the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the Obama Administration's climate policies, into an indefinite state of limbo, while the EPA sends the rule back to the drawing board. The appeals court heard oral arguments in the case months ago and should be ready to rule at any time. A quick ruling could, within a year, put the regulations on the docket of the Supreme Court, which issued a stay in 2016. The tussle over how to proceed now that President Donald Trump has ordered the EPA to review the Clean Power Plan suggests that those who favor the rule are more eager for an appeals court verdict than those who oppose it. A prolonged delay would "concretely harm" people living in their states, the brief said—"many of whom have sought for more than a decade to compel EPA to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants." The brief even made a veiled threat that if the courts ultimately rule that states have no recourse under the Clean Air Act to regulate CO2, they might fall back on a tactic that worked for them in the past: suing polluters under common law for the "nuisance" of intense storms, rising seas and damage to public health. That was a reference to an earlier lawsuit, Connecticut v. American Electric Power, which was tossed out when the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act pre-empted common law. The brief noted that it's not clear how the EPA could even conduct a thorough review of the Clean Power Plan under Trump's latest budget proposals. Recently leaked draft documents describe deep cuts to staff working on climate change, including the score of lawyers working on the Clean Power Plan for the agency's general counsel. In a companion brief, several environmental groups made similar complaints. The Trump team's motion to put the case in abeyance, they wrote, is an atttempt "to do what it could not do otherwise: effectively and indefinitely suspend a duly promulgated rule without proposing, taking comment on, justifying, or defending in court any legal or factual premises that might support such a result." The briefs cited extensive precedents for rejecting the Trump argument. But one might carry particular weight: a ruling on April 3, when the Supreme Court itself rejected a comparable request for an abeyance on a different rule, under the Clean Water Act. "An order mothballing this case would leave our millions of members with no federal protections in place from this dangerous pollution with long-term impacts," the green groups pleaded. "Moreover, the combination of the judicial stay and abeyance would leave scant incentive for EPA to act." Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: Join in the 2017 Run for Clean Air, presented by Toyota Hybrids
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

> From: Run for Clean Air > Date: March 15, 2017 at 10:00:46 AM EDT > > Subject: Join in the 2017 Run for Clean Air, presented by Toyota Hybrids > Reply-To: events(a)cleanair.org > > > > > > Toyota Hybrids > > Toyota Hybrids and the Clean Air Council invite you to "Run for Clean Air." > > REGISTER NOW > > Hi MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > Since 1981, the Clean Air Council has held the Run for Clean Air in Philadelphia, in celebration of Earth Day. > > Toyota’s unwavering commitment to clean air and environmental sustainability makes the brand an ideal sponsor and continued partner. Toyota Hybrids is proud to once again, present the 36th annual Run for Clean Air on April 9, 2017. > > Toyota, a leader in hybrid technology, makes it easier than ever to be a force for environmental good this Earth Day and beyond. Each Toyota hybrid is thoughtfully designed to help you save fuel and reduce emissions, and the Run for Clean Air is a celebration of a cleaner tomorrow. > > Interested runners can register for the Run for Clean Air right now at cleanair.org/runforcleanair. > > And to learn more about Toyota’s expanding collection of hybrid vehicles, visit buyatoyota.com. > > > Connect with Us > > > > Run for Clean Air > Clean Air Council > 135 S. 19th St. Suite 300 > Philadelphia, PA 19103 > run(a)cleanair.org > 215-567-4004 > > CLICK HERE TO UNSUBSCRIBE > >

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Public Forum with WV DEP Secretary Austin Caperton, Morgantown, Feb 27
by Duane via MVCAC 12 Feb '17

12 Feb '17

Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. See the main Article in full: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170211/dep-eliminates-protections-for-n… See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net From: Sierra Club - West Virginia Chapter <autumnlong11(a)gmail.com> > Date: February 12, 2017 9:21:38 AM EST > To: Sierra Club - West Virginia Chapter <alert(a)sierraclub.org> > Subject: Public Forum with WV DEP Secretary Austin Caperton, Morgantown, Feb 27 > Reply-To: Sierra Club - West Virginia Chapter <autumnlong11(a)gmail.com> > > Public Forum with WV Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Austin Caperton > Monday, February 27, 7pm > Shenandoah Room at the Mountainlair > WVU Downtown Campus > 1550 University Ave, Morgantown WV 26506 > > A public forum featuring newly appointed WV DEP Secretary Austin Caperton will take place on Monday, February 27th, at 7pm in the Mountainlair's Shenandoah Room on WVU's downtown campus. The event is co-hosted by the WVU Sierra Student Coalition and the Mon Group of the WV Sierra Club. Secretary Caperton will discuss his plans and vision for the WV Department of Environmental Protection under his leadership. The Secretary's remarks will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience. The public is encouraged to attend. > > Questions? Contact Mon Group Chair Autumn Long, 304-841-3539, autumnlong11(a)gmail.com or WVU Sierra Student Coalition, wvussc(a)googlegroups.com > > To adjust your Sierra Club email preferences, please reply to this email with a description of your wishes. Thank you. > > Sierra Club 2101 Webster, Suite 1300, Oakland, CA 94612

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Brain pollution: Evidence builds that dirty air causes Alzheimer’s, dementia | Science | AAAS
by Duane via MVCAC 29 Jan '17

29 Jan '17

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/brain-pollution-evidence-builds-dirt… THE POLLUTED BRAIN By Emily Underwood, Science Magazine, January 26, 2017 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—In a barbed wire–enclosed parking lot 100 meters downwind of the Route 110 freeway, an aluminum hose sticks out of a white trailer, its nozzle aimed at an overpass. Every minute, the hose sucks up hundreds of liters of air mixed with exhaust from the roughly 300,000 cars and diesel-burning freight trucks that rumble by each day. Crouched inside the trailer, a young chemical engineer named Arian Saffari lifts the lid off a sooty cylinder attached to the hose, part of a sophisticated filtration system that captures and sorts pollutants by size. Inside is a scientific payload: particles of sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon, and heavy metal at least 200 times smaller than the width of a human hair. The particles are too fine for many air pollution sensors to accurately measure, says Saffari, who works in a lab led by Constantinos Sioutas at the University of Southern California (USC) here. Typically smaller than 0.2 µm in diameter, these “ultrafine” particles fall within a broader class of air pollutants commonly referred to as PM2.5 because of their size, 2.5 µm or less. When it comes to toxicity, size matters: The smaller the particles that cells are exposed to, Saffari says, the higher their levels of oxidative stress, marked by the production of chemically reactive molecules such as peroxides, which can damage DNA and other cellular structures. Some of the health risks of inhaling fine and ultrafine particles are well-established, such as asthma, lung cancer, and, most recently, heart disease. But a growing body of evidence suggests that exposure can also harm the brain, accelerating cognitive aging, and may even increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The link between air pollution and dementia remains controversial—even its proponents warn that more research is needed to confirm a causal connection and work out just how the particles might enter the brain and make mischief there. But a growing number of epidemiological studies from around the world, new findings from animal models and human brain imaging studies, and increasingly sophisticated techniques for modeling PM2.5 exposures have raised alarms. Indeed, in an 11-year epidemiological study to be published next week in Translational Psychiatry, USC researchers will report that living in places with PM2.5 exposures higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) standard of 12 µg/m3 nearly doubled dementia risk in older women. If the finding holds up in the general population, air pollution could account for roughly 21% of dementia cases worldwide, says the study’s senior author, epidemiologist Jiu-Chiuan Chen of the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Deepening the concerns, this month researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada reported in The Lancet that among 6.6 million people in the province of Ontario, those living within 50 meters of a major road—where levels of fine pollutants are often 10 times higher than just 150 meters away—were 12% more likely to develop dementia than people living more than 200 meters away. The field is “very, very young,” cautions Michelle Block, a neuroscientist at Indiana University in Indianapolis. Nonetheless, it’s a “hugely exciting time” to study the connections between pollution and the brain, she says. And if real, the air pollution connection would give public health experts a tool for sharply lowering Alzheimer’s risks—a welcome prospect for a disease that is so devastating and that, for now, remains untreatable. Demented dogs in Mexico City in the early 2000s offered the first hints that inhaling polluted air can cause neurodegeneration. Neuroscientist Lilian Calderón-Garcidueñas, now at the University of Montana in Missoula, noticed that aging dogs who lived in particularly polluted areas of the city often became addled, growing disoriented and even losing the ability to recognize their owners. When the dogs died, Calderón-Garcidueñas found that their brains had more extensive extracellular deposits of the protein amyloid b—the same “plaques” associated with Alzheimer’s disease—than dogs in less polluted cities. She went on to find similarly elevated plaque levels in the brains of children and young adults from Mexico City who had died in accidents, as well as signs of inflammation such as hyperactive glia, the brain’s immune cells. Calderón-Garcidueñas’s studies didn’t have rigorous controls, or account for the fact that amyloid b plaques don’t necessarily signal dementia. But later work lent weight to her observations. Those tubes of fine particles from the 110 freeway have played a key role. In a basement lab at USC, Sioutas and his team aerosolize the pollutants with a hospital nebulizer, then pipe the dirty air into the cages housing lab mice that have been engineered to contain a gene for human amyloid b. Control animals housed in the same room breathe clean, filtered air. After a designated period—220 hours over several weeks, in a recent experiment—the team hands the rodents over to colleagues at USC, who kill the animals and check their brains for signs of neurodegeneration. Caleb Finch and Todd Morgan, USC neuroscientists who combine studies of aging and the brain, are in charge of the analysis. In mice that breathed the dirty air, they have found, the brain’s microglia release a flood of inflammatory molecules, including tumor necrosis factor a, which is elevated in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and has been linked to memory loss. The pollution-exposed mice also showed other signs of brain damage, the group has reported in several recent papers: more amyloid b than in the control mice and shrunken and atrophied neurites, the cellular processes that extend from neurons toward other cells. Just how the fine airborne particles might travel from a rodent’s nasal cavity to its brain is a mystery. But a research team led by Günter Oberdörster at the University of Rochester in New York has used traceable, radioactive specks of elemental carbon to demonstrate that inhaled particles smaller than 200 nanometers can get through the delicate tissues lining a rodent’s nasal cavities, travel along neurons, and spread as far as the cerebellum, at the back of the brain, triggering an inflammatory reaction. To understand what the animal studies might mean for people, however, scientists need to correlate air pollution exposure with human brain scans and with results from rigorous cognitive testing. Photo: A cloudy suspension of smog particles, collected near a Los Angeles, California, freeway, will be turned into an aerosol and piped into tanks holding laboratory mice. Photo: Scientists let one group of mice breath polluted air for several weeks, while exposing another to clean air. After several weeks, they examine the brains of both groups. That’s not easy to do, as long-term, historical data on pollution exposures are scarce in the United States and many other countries, says Kimberly Gray, a program administrator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Durham, North Carolina. But in a September 2016 review of 18 epidemiological studies from Taiwan, Sweden, Germany, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States, all but one showed an association between high exposure to at least one component of air pollution and a sign of dementia. The review, published in Neurotoxicology, included a 2012 analysis of 19,000 retired U.S. nurses, which found that the more fine particulates the nurses were exposed to, based on monitoring data near their homes, the faster they declined on cognitive tests. For every additional 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air they breathed, their performance on tests of memory and attention declined as if they had aged by 2 years, says Jennifer Weuve, an epidemiologist at Boston University, who led the analysis. Imaging studies also suggest that pollution attacks the human brain. In a 2015 analysis of brain MRI scans of people enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study, a long-term cardiovascular study in New England, researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston found that the closer people had lived to a major roadway—and thus the more PM2.5 they had likely been exposed to—the smaller their cerebral brain volume. The association held up even after adjusting for factors such as education, smoking, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Shortly after that study was published, USC’s Chen reported another example of brain shrinkage: In 1403 elderly women, the total volume of white matter—the insulated nerve fibers that connect different brain regions—decreased by about 6 cubic centimeters for every 3.5-µg/m3 increase in estimated PM2.5 exposure, based on air monitoring data from participants’ residences for 6 to 7 years before the brain scans were taken. Chen’s white matter findings are consistent with studies of cultured neurons, which show that exposure to PM2.5 can cause myelin—the fatty insulation that wraps around neuronal axons—to “peel up at the ends, like a Band-Aid,” Block says. Modes of attack Pollutant particles might make their way to the brain and damage it directly, or they might attack it from a distance, by triggering the release of inflammatory molecules. Where the risk is greatest is far from clear. Burning just about anything produces PM2.5: oil and gas, firewood, vegetation. Federal- and state-funded networks of air quality monitors in the United States get turned off and on according to political whim, and are frustratingly uneven. According to the American Lung Association less than a third of U.S. counties have ozone or particle pollution monitors, and coverage is especially sparse in rural areas. Those that exist have only measured PM2.5 since 1997—before that, EPA did not monitor particles smaller than PM10. Over the past several years, however, new computational models have made it possible to fill in some of the gaps in monitoring data, Gray says. In September 2016, NIEHS and the National Institute on Aging launched several new epidemiological studies that will use such modeling to look at the link between air pollution and brain health. One, based in Seattle, Washington, will estimate participants’ lifetime exposure to PM2.5 pollution and correlate it with the incidence of dementia, says Lianne Sheppard, a biostatistician at the University of Washington in Seattle. For their study of the Seattle region, Sheppard and her colleagues will take advantage of a model they developed for an earlier study of air pollution and atherosclerosis. Creating it, she says, took “a huge amount of behind-the-scenes work.” First, they compiled more than a decade of air monitoring data on PM2.5 and other pollutants from 600,000 locations across the United States. For each location, they calculated 800 different geographic variables, such as the distance to ports, factories, refineries, residual oil, and roads. Then they fitted their models to the monitoring data using a 25-by-25-meter grid and estimated PM2.5 concentrations in each grid cell. Building on the model, Sheppard and colleagues will create an even more detailed estimate of past air pollution levels in and around Seattle. To survey dementia in the region, the team will tap the Adult Changes in Thought study, which has monitored 5000 elderly people in the Seattle area for more than 20 years. Although all the participants were cognitively normal when they joined, at age 65 or so, roughly 1000 have since developed dementia, including 859 Alzheimer’s cases. When the participants die and donate their brains to science, as more than 600 already have, pathologists examine their brain tissue for abnormal protein deposits, cerebrovascular damage, and other signs of cellular stress. Combined with genetic studies, Sheppard says, such analyses will allow her group to probe “not just the epidemiology of the relationship between air pollution and cognition, but start drilling down to mechanisms” that explain how airborne pollutants affect the human brain. I think [air pollution] will turn out to be just the same as tobacco—there’s no safe threshold. Caleb Finch, University of Southern California Some people may be more susceptible than others. In the Translational Psychiatry study, Chen’s team found that women carrying the Alzheimer’s risk gene APOE4 faced a disproportionately higher risk from pollution. And recently, Finch has started to examine the overlap—and potential synergy—between PM2.5 and cigarette smoke. The smoke is itself rich in ultrafine particles and can trigger the production of amyloid plaques and neuroinflammation in mouse models. Although smoking was once considered protective against Alzheimer’s, prospective studies have since established tobacco smoke as a major risk factor, he says. In 2014, for example, a report published by the World Health Organization attributed as much as 14% of Alzheimer’s disease worldwide to smoking. Pollution may take a greater cognitive toll on the poor, in part because they are more likely to live in places with higher PM2.5 exposures, such as near major roadways or ports. Jennifer Ailshire, a USC sociologist, says stresses linked to poverty also could amplify the effects of the toxic particles. In one of her most recent studies, elderly people who rated their neighborhoods as stressful—citing signs of decay and disorder, such as litter and crime—did worse on cognitive tests than people who were exposed to similar pollution levels, but lived in less stressful neighborhoods, she says. “Living in L.A. [Los Angeles], we are all exposed to a lot of pollution, but some of us are fine,” she says. When seeking to reduce the negative health impacts from air pollution, cities “might want to try to focus specifically on reducing pollution in communities particularly vulnerable to these exposures,” she says. But no one studying the suspected effects of pollutant particles on the brain is eager to do triage. If PM2.5 is guilty as charged, they say, the goal for policymakers worldwide should be to push down levels as far as possible. When all the research is in, Finch says, “I think [air pollution] will turn out to be just the same as tobacco—there’s no safe threshold.” See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Rex Tillerson and the 'Exxon Knew' controversy, explained - Business Insider
by Duane via MVCAC 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

http://www.businessinsider.com/rex-tillerson-exxon-knew-2017-1 The 'Exxon Knew' controversy is plaguing Rex Tillerson — here's what it means From an Article by Dana Varinsky, Business Insider, January 11, 2017 Outside the hearing on former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s nomination as secretary of state, 15 people dressed as T-Rex dinosaurs joined hundreds of protesters. In addition to calling Tillerson a climate dinosaur — a reference to Exxon's history of climate change denial — the demonstrators’ rhetoric centered around one phrase: #ExxonKnew. The allegation refers to two damning investigations conducted by the LA Times and InsideClimate News in 2015, both of which found that Exxon leaders knew humans were causing climate change as early as 1977, yet intentionally misled the public about global warming while lobbying the government to block emissions regulations. The reports sparked outrage, spreading online with the hashtag #ExxonKnew. InsideClimate News’ series, which was published after an eight-month investigation, suggests that Exxon was briefed by scientists and even conducted its own robust climate modeling programs for years, all of which suggested that fossil fuels were to blame for spiking global temperatures. (The LA Times’ report confirms the same.) But despite this information, Exxon continued to push for the appointment of officials who broke with the mainstream opinion on climate change, and set up the Global Climate Coalition, a lobbying partnership devoted to opposing controls on carbon pollution. A 2007 report from the Union of Concerned Scientists also suggested that Exxon used the same tactics as the cigarette industry to promote uncertainty about the facts of climate change. Tillerson actually does acknowledge that climate change is a problem (unlike EPA nominee Scott Pruitt and President-elect Donald Trump). However, environmental advocates believe Exxon’s record speaks louder than Tillerson’s words. According to an analysis by NextGen Climate published by the Huffington Post this week, Exxon gave more than $6.5 million to groups that deny fossil fuels contribute to global warming between 2008 and 2015. The company vowed nine years ago to stop funding groups that promoted misinformation about climate change. Senator Tim Kaine questioned Tillerson about that history during the hearing today, asking him whether Exxon Mobil knew about climate change long ago, despite what the company has publicly stated. Tillerson declined to comment, suggesting that he can’t speak for the company now that he no longer works there. “Do you lack the knowledge to answer my question, or are you refusing to answer my question?” Mr. Kaine asked. “A little of both,” Mr. Tillerson replied. Both Kaine and various environmental groups took this response as confirmation of the “Exxon Knew” controversy. It's shameful Tillerson refused to answer my questions on his company's role in funding phony climate science. Bottom line: #ExxonKnew — Senator Tim Kaine (@timkaine) January 11, 2017 May Boeve, executive director of grassroots environmental organization 350.org, immediately issued a statement highlighting Tillerson’s refusal to answer Kaine’s question. “Tillerson is still lying about what Exxon knew about climate change,” Boeve said “Tillerson deserves a federal investigation into Exxon’s lies, not a cabinet appointment.” Stephen Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International, an organization that works to expose the dangers of fossil fuels and promote a clean energy transition, echoed these sentiments. ”Unsurprisingly, Tillerson essentially pled the fifth when asked about Exxon’s long history of denying climate science, explicitly refusing to answer the question, or accept any responsibility for the actions of the company of which he was CEO for the last decade,” he said. “The record is clear: Exxon Knew.” Various states, including Massachusetts and California, are currently investigating whether Exxon Mobil indeed lied to the public and its shareholders, since that could mean the company engaged in fraud and violated various environmental laws. In November 2016, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed over a million of Exxon’s internal documents. Whether or not Tillerson becomes our next Secretary of State, Exxon’s past will undoubtedly continue to plague him. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Shell Cracker Plant in Beaver County, Penna.
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 13 Dec '16

13 Dec '16

Pennsylvania sets Dec. 15 meetings on modified cracker permits Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled a public meeting and hearing on Dec. 15 on modifications to air and water permits for Shell Appalachia’s proposed ethane cracker plant in Beaver County. That will be followed by a public hearing from 7 to 9 p.m. regarding the agency’s intent to issue a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water permit amendment and its intent to authorize a modification to the already approved air plan for the plant. Both hearings will be held at Central Valley High School, 160 Baker Road Extension, Monaca. Those who wish to testify are asked to contact environmental justice coordinator Nora Alwine at 412-442-4137. Individuals will have up to three minutes to testify. The agency will accept comment on the changes until Dec. 26. Written statements on the water amendment should be sent to Clean Water Program, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 400 Waterfront Dr., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222. Written statements on the air amendment should be sent to Air Quality Program at the same address. Information on the proposed permit changes is available at: www.dep.pa.gov/About/Regional/SouthwestRegion/Community%20Information/Pages…

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This Abandoned Pennsylvania Town Has Been On Fire For 53 Years | The Huffington Post
by Duane via MVCAC 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

This Abandoned Pennsylvania Town (Centralia) Has Been On Fire For 53 Year And it could burn for another 250 years. From an Article by James Cave, The Huffington Post, August 28, 2015 Signs warn visitors to the dangers of death by asphyxiation or being swallowed by the ground, but the old mining town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, was once home to more than 1,000 people. Now it’s nothing more than a smoldering ghost town that’s been burning for half a century. It started with a fire intentionally set to burn out a landfill before Labor Day in 1962 — the problem was that the landfill was also an old strip-mine pit connected to a maze of abandoned underground mining tunnels full of coal. Though the town was able to extinguish the fire above ground, a much bigger inferno burned underneath, and it eventually spread its way under Centralia’s town center. “Through a monumental series of blunders and inadequate attention over the years, it got to the size underground where it basically destroyed the town of Centralia and everybody had to move,” Davod Dekok, a Pennsylvania historian, told the Associated Press in the video below on the occasion of the fire’s 50th anniversary in 2012. The fire was so widespread, destructive and unending — it’s said that there’s enough coal underground to fuel the fire for another 250 years — that in 1980, a $42 million relocation plan incentivized most of the townspeople to relocate (most of the homes were demolished), leaving only about a dozen holdouts behind. The Smithsonian describes it bleakly: Today Centralia exists only as an eerie grid of streets, its driveways disappearing into vacant lots. Remains of a picket fence here, a chair spindle there — plus [John] Lokitis and 11 others who refused to leave, the occupants of a dozen scattered structures. Over the decades, the ground has opened up with sulfurous gases sometimes billowing out — the road along Highway 61 swells and cracks open, rife with graffiti and hot to the touch. In the winter, snow melts in patches where the ground is warm. Explore the eerie town through the photos in this article. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-abandoned-pennsylvania-town-has-be… See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Newburg mine fire continues to burn, Rice: 'It is a scary situation. I don’t think anyone would want a mine fire that close to their home' | News | theet.com
by Duane via MVCAC 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

http://www.theet.com/content/tncms/live/ Newburg mine fire continues to burn, Rice: 'It is a scary situation. I don’t think anyone would want a mine fire that close to their home' From an Article by Theresa Marthey, Preston County News & Journal,Dec 4, 2016 NEWBURG — Newburg residents are becoming more and more concerned with the Newburg Brocom Run No. 1 Mine fire that continues to burn. Newburg resident Ruth Taylor who lives near the fire said the fire is getting closer to their homes on Scotch Hill. “There are days where the smoke just lays over our homes making it impossible to go outside and enjoy the day,” Taylor said. “And the smell is horrific.” The fire has been burning inside the abandoned mine for at least three years. The mine is in the Pittsburgh coal seam, but the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does not have any specific data on the mine. Rob Rice, Chief of the DEP Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation Division, said the DEP has been working on finding a solution to the extinguishing the fire. Newburg Fire Chief Bill Larew said their department receives calls about the fire at least once a week if not more. “This is a project that we know has to be done,” Larew said. “It is a scary situation. I don’t think anyone would want a mine fire that close to their home.” “We just had a call yesterday about the smoke,” Larew said on Thurs., Dec. 1. “It seems like when it rains like it did the water seeps into the coal seam causing steam and making it worse.” Larew said his department checks out the fire occasionally, but he doesn’t like to risk his men going into the area. “The area is undermined and under post,” Larew said. “We don’t like walking on top because you don’t know where you are. One wrong spot and you can fall in.” Larew said temperatures in the area are probably pushing 600 degrees underground. “You will be finished,” Larew said. “Fire gear isn’t going to help anyone in that.” Rice said his department’s funding for abandoned mines has decreased steadily over the years, and this year’s projections looks like they will only be receiving $24 million for next year’s projects. “Unfortunately with the size of the fire it is cost prohibitive to handle the fire with a typical funding source,” Rice said. “There is approximately five acres on fire, and it will cost approximately $10 million to put the fire out.” “We use to get between $50 and $70 million a year for projects,” Rice said. “But because of the economy and coal severances decreasing, so has our funding.” In the meantime while researching ways to fund the project, Rice said the DEP is still scrambling to find a way to remove the coal in the seam. “First thing we did was talk to coal companies and see if they would be interested in a ‘no-cost’ retrieval of the coal,” Rice said. “That means the company would come in and extract the coal that is in the seam and reclaim the land.” Rice said since the DEP does not have any records of the mine, the companies did not want to take the risk. “The problem is we cannot find any mine maps,” Rice said. “We don’t know the perimeters of the mine. We could not tell the companies if there was any other coal in the seam except the pillars.” Rice said they are not exploring a temporary solution to make an immediate impact on the residents of the area by filling the portals and fissures. “It would alleviate some of the problems,” Rice said. “It should help to reduce the smoke in the area, but won’t completely solve it until the fire is permanently put out.” The process to put out the fire would be a mountaintop removal type project. “You cannot just put water on the fire as it is now because the water could cause a steam geyser making the situation worse,” Rice said. “To properly put the fire out, you need to take the soil off, remove the coal by the bucket full.” “Once you remove the coal, it is taken to an adjacent area where it is spread thin,” Rice continued. “At that point, you can put water on it to put it out.” After all the material is removed and out, then the material would be transported back to the mine site and reclaimed. “One thing we do know is this seam is approximately 100 feet underground,” Rice said. “So this is not a small undertaking.” DEP officials told the Preston County News & Journal on Friday, Dec. 2 they will meet on Tuesday, Dec. 6 with their federal counterparts to inspect the site, and hand out carbon monoxide detectors to people who live nearby, as a precaution. “This project is a priority,” Rice said. “It was always on our list of projects to reclaim, but when the fire began it was moved up.” See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: CPP Intervenors - Murray Energy litigation in Northern District of West Virginia
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

To: MVCAC, I propose that we continue our participation in support of the Clean Power Plan, aka CPP. Duane > From: "William V. DePaulo, Esq." <william.depaulo(a)gmail.com> > Date: November 30, 2016 at 9:07:54 AM EST > To: Chad Cordell <protectourwaterwv(a)gmail.com>, John McFerrin <johnmcferrin(a)aol.com>, Nichols Duane <Duane330(a)aol.com>, Paul Corbit Brown <paulcorbitbrown(a)gmail.com>, Stockman Vivian <vivian(a)ohvec.org>, VERNON HALTOM <vernoncrmw(a)gmail.com>, Young Frank <fyoung(a)mountain.net>, Gary Zuckett <garyz(a)wvcag.org>, Natalie Thompson <natalie(a)ohvec.org> > Subject: CPP Intervenors - Murray Energy litigation in Northern District of West Virginia > > Murray Energy has filed -- and prevailed to date -- in an action based on Clean Air Act section 321 which requires EPA to evaluate the employment impact of its rules. The employment provision says: > > (a)Continuous evaluation of potential loss or shifts of employment > The Administrator shall conduct continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may result from the administration or enforcement of the provision of this chapter and applicable implementation plans, including where appropriate, investigating threatened plant closures or reductions in employment allegedly resulting from such administration or enforcement. > > Murray Energy (and its co-plaintiff coal companies) prevailed on the merits in NDWV district court and is now trying to persuade the court to enter an order preventing EPA from enforcing any rule that affects the coal industry. > > However, Section 321 explicitly states that the employment requirement cannot undermine existing rules under other Clean Air Act provisions: > > (d)Limitations on construction of section > Nothing in this section shall be construed to require or authorize the Administrator, the States, or political subdivisions thereof, to modify or withdraw any requirement imposed or proposed to be imposed under this chapter. > > > > Trump's incoming administration will not defend EPA; if the Murray litigation is to be blunted it will have to be as a result of intervenors. Sierra Club, with whom we intervened in the CPP litigation, has asked that I examine which of you would be willing to intervene in the NDWV litigation at this time. Keeper of the Mountains will intervene. > > I attach copies of relevant documents. Please call me if you have any questions. This is, obviously, on a fairly quick turn around, so don't hesitate to contact me by cell rather than email. > > All the best, > > Bill cell 304-541-1984 > > William V. DePaulo, Esq. > 122 N Court Street, Suite 300 > Lewisburg, WV 24901 > Tel 304-342-5588 > Fax 866-850-1501 > william.depaulo(a)gmail.com > > > > <amended complaint_Murray CAA321 suit NDWV 5-23-2014.pdf> > <docket sheet as of 11-17-2016 in Murray Energy CAA 321 suit NDWV.docx> > <EPA memo supporting mot to dismiss Murray CAA321 suit NDWV 6-30-14.pdf> > <EPA mot to dismiss Murray CAA321 suit NDWV 6-30-14.pdf> > <EPA reply supporting mot to dismiss Murray CAA321 suit NDWV 8-11-14.pdf> > <Murray Energy resp to EPA section 321 proposal.pdf> > <Murray opp to mot to dismiss Murray CAA321 suit NDWV 7-25-14.pdf> > <Order denying motion to dismiss in Murray CAA 321 suit NDWV 3-27-2015.pdf> > <order denying motion to dismiss or to strike request for relief Murray CAA321 NDWV 9-16-2014.pdf> > <US memo in support of SJ motion_Murray CAA321 suit NDWV 5-2-2016.pdf> > <US SJ motion_Murray CAA321 suit NDWV 5-2-2016.pdf>

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<MVCAC> GASP
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 26 Nov '16

26 Nov '16

Webinar: Links Between Cancer and Early Life Exposures to Environmental Pollutants Thursday, December 8 12:15-1:15 p.m. While pediatric cancer is still a rare disease, the rate of new cancers has increased nearly 30% since 1975. In this webinar, presenters will review the state of the science on the contribution of environmental exposures in early life to cancer, and reflect on its implications for clinical practice and engagement of health professionals in policy change. A special focus of the webinar will be on air pollution. A description of exposures from mobile and point sources in Southwest Pennsylvania will provide a case study in the challenges and opportunities for reducing exposures as industrial economies transition. Presenters include Dr. Phil Landrigan, Dean for Global Health and Professor of Pediatrics and Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai; Dr. Jim Fabisiak, GASP Board Member and a toxicologist with expertise in the mechanisms and injury of air pollutants; and Dr. Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist who specializes in environmental and occupational cancer. Learn more and RSVP. A Petrochemical Plant For a Neighbor? Thursday, December 1 6-8:30 p.m. Beaver Station Cultural and Event Center 250 East End Avenue Beaver, PA 15009 What happens when a major petrochemical manufacturing plant becomes the heart of a community’s strategy for social and economic development? What can Beaver County residents learn from those who have lived through such changes? Join speakers Iris Carter and Ann Rolfes to learn, to share, and to get answers to the question "What can I do?" Iris Carter and Ann Rolfes have spent their lives close to petrochemical facilities in Louisiana. These educators have valuable insights to share about how local citizens can address the social and health impacts of such facilities. Framing their stories and advice will be a screening of the PBS POV video Fenceline: A Company Town Divided. Speakers from Beaver County communities will also share their own questions and concerns. Iris Carter was raised in Louisiana next to a Shell cracker plant. After losing family members to illnesses related to chemical exposure, she became a leading spokesperson and negotiator for The Concerned Citizens of Norco. Iris has traveled around the country and the world making presentations, attending shareholder meetings, and encouraging other communities in their environmental justice campaigns. Anne Rolfes founded the Louisiana Bucket Brigade in 2000 to empower communities to stop pollution in her home state. The Bucket Brigade has created cutting edge tools, including the iWitness Pollution Map, the Refinery Accident Database, and street-based artistic performances. Anne was raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, where many people made their fortunes from the oil industry. She has seen the wealth and the poverty created by oil production and seeks to make the industry more equitable. She has a Masters in International Development from Tulane. CommentAiry "The goal for Millvale is to be a clean air community where people can breathe easy indoors and out." Large turnout for EcoDistrict Pivot meeting as Millvale takes on its air issues. "...Pittsburgh is continuing to compete with the best cities in the nation to be economically, environmentally and socially competitive for our future workforce." New legislation requiring reporting on energy and water use in large buildings will make it easier to improve building performance in the city. "The Methane Mapping Project uses sensors attached to Google Street View cars to create detailed maps of places where natural gas is leaking from utility pipes under city streets." See some early results from a few Pittsburgh neighborhoods here. >>>>>>>>>>>>> Together, we can make a difference in our region's environment. We won't trade or sell your email address with other organizations or inundate you with messages. Visit our website at gasp-pgh.org or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information or to become a member today. We can't do this without you! Copyright © 2016 Group Against Smog and Pollution, All rights reserved. Thanks for receiving our air news and for being engaged! Our mailing address is: Group Against Smog and Pollution 1133 South Braddock Avenue Suite 1A Edgewood, PA 15218 Add us to your address book

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Fwd: Our health and climate are on the line!
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 26 Sep '16

26 Sep '16

> From: Clean Air Council <members(a)cleanair.org> > Date: September 26, 2016 at 11:14:59 AM EDT > To: duane330(a)aol.com > Subject: Our health and climate are on the line! > Reply-To: eroben(a)cleanair.org > > > > Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > In 2014, the U.S. oil and gas industry leaked 9.8 million metric tons of the greenhouse gas methane into our air. That's the climate equivalent of running almost 225 coal-fired power plants for a year. What's more, everywhere methane leaks it is accompanied by other toxic air pollutants that threaten the health of those who live nearby. > > Last May, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized standards that will reduce air pollution leaks from new oil and gas facilities. But the air pollution leaks from the 1,193,118 existing oil and gas facilities continue unchecked. > > As the oil and gas industry has expanded across our country, regulations have lagged. And while industry is making a profit, our health and climate are suffering the impacts of a severely under-regulated industry. > > When our health and climate are on the line, we have to demand bold action from our nation's leaders. Write to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and tell her we need to stop these dangerous leaks now! > > > Sincerely, > > > > Joseph Otis Minott, Esq. > > Executive Director > > PHILADELPHIA > > 135 S. 19th Street > Suite 300 > Philadelphia, PA 19103 > P: (215) 567-4004 > F: (215) 567-5791 > HARRISBURG > > 107 N. Front Street > Suite 113 > Harrisburg, PA 17101 > P: (717) 230-8806 > F: (717) 230-8808 > WILMINGTON > > 100 W. 10th Street > Suite 607 > Wilmington, DE 19801 > P: (302) 691-0112 > Unsubscribe > >

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Sept. 24 - Citizen Science Gathering in Morgantown
by Jonathan Rosenbaum via MVCAC 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

The following was sent to you because you are a Member of the DEP News List mailing list. ============================================================ Wednesday, September 14, 2016 @ 2:11 PM ============================================================ Sept. 14, 2016 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Reminder: Registrations Still Being Accepted for Sept. 24 Citizen Science Gathering MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s not too late to sign up to attend the Sept. 24 Citizen Science Gathering in Morgantown. Registrations for the event will be taken through Sunday, Sept. 18. The event was organized by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Environmental Advocate’s Office, in conjunction with West Virginia University, Trout Unlimited, and several other groups. The gathering will be at the WVU College of Law from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will include presentations and roundtable discussions about the applications of citizen science. Citizen science, or “citsci,” involves the collection of environmental data by concerned citizens. This data can sometimes be used to shape environmental policy, but often there is confusion on the part of the citizens about best practices for collection and presentation of that data. The purpose of this gathering is to help eliminate some of that confusion. Renowned coal mine safety expert Davitt McAteer will speak on the legal applications of citizen science, and there will be presentations from WVU’s Michael McCawley, Gretchen Gehrke of PublicLab.org, and Ryan Grode of the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project. The registration fee is $20. To sign up, or to obtain more information, email Diana Smith atdiana.k.smith(a)wv.gov by the end of the day on the 18th. You can also leave a phone message for Diana at 304-926-0499, ext. 1329. For more DEP news and information, go to www.dep.wv.gov. Also, be sure to connect with the agency on all social media platforms. Follow @DEPWV on Twitter and find us on YouTube by searching “Environment Matters.” For specific information about our REAP (Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan), West Virginia Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), West Virginia Watershed Improvement Branch, Youth Environmental Program and Human Resources initiatives, connect on Facebook. ###

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by Annuity Rate Quotes 14 Aug '16

14 Aug '16

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SNL: EPA lays out road ahead for states to address particulate matter
by Duane 09 Aug '16

09 Aug '16

https://www.snl.com/web/client?auth=inherit#news/article?id=37292672&KeyPro… ### --- EPA lays out road ahead for states to address particulate matter --- ### The U.S. EPA issued a final rule for states to use in creating their plans to address particulate matter pollution, including new due dates for attainment and plan submissions and information on how to demonstrate compliance. The July 29 publication addresses current and future National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter, which sets limits on emissions of that pollutant. Particulate matter can be emitted directly from a source, such as unpaved roads or construction sites, which the EPA regulates through the primary NAAQS for the pollutant, but can also be formed in the air due to a chemical reaction after certain pollutants are emitted from sources such as power plants. The EPA regulates this particulate matter as the secondary standard, referring to the chemicals necessary for the reaction as "precursors." Power plants are among the leading sources of the precursor pollutants. Also on July 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a decision related to the issues addressed in the rule, but the EPA confirmed in an Aug. 2 email that the decision and the rule release will have no impact on each other. The D.C. Circuit in 2013 remanded the EPA's NAAQS for particulate matter back to the agency, finding that the standards were set under an incorrect section of the Clean Air Act. The EPA responded by issuing the PM2.5 Deadline and Classification Rule in April 2014 under the correct section of the act, which was the underlying rule at issue in the July 29 court decision, the agency said. The final rule issued the same day also responds to the remand by finalizing planning requirements for states with areas that do not meet the 1997 and 2006 particulate matter standards, as well as for the 2012 standards. The agency said states that do not meet the standards addressed in the new rule will now have to develop plans, and the new rule offers guidance on how to demonstrate compliance. Those plans must be completed within 18 months of being designated as out of attainment with the NAAQS consistent with the corrected Clean Air Act section. The new guidance applies to current areas deemed nonattainment and future regions that receive such a designation. The final rule selects the precursor pollutants — sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia — which will need to be controlled in most circumstances. But the rule also gives states a chance to demonstrate that a particular pollutant is not contributing to the exceedance of particulate matter pollution in a given nonattainment area. There are two classes of attainment designations, moderate and serious, and the EPA has now clarified the process of reclassifying areas from moderate to serious. The agency is revoking the original 1997 primary standard for areas designated as attainment because the agency revised that standard in 2012. The particulate matter NAAQS were reviewed and revised in 2006 and most recently in 2012. Finally, the rule addresses new source review permitting, defining major sources and major stationary sources of particulate matter precursor pollutants and designating significant emissions rates of these precursors that would apply for modifications of existing major stationary sources. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Take Action |Mon Valley Needs Clean Air
by Duane Nichols 01 Jul '16

01 Jul '16

http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2155/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=195… We Need a Proactive Plan for Clean Air in the Mon Valley U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works looms over 37,000 people who have to live with constant health problems due to dangerous coke oven emissions, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified as a carcinogen. Recently the Health Department announced a consent agreement with U.S. Steel to attempt to resolve the 6,700 violations Clairton has incurred over three and a half years. Sadly, this is just the latest in a series of consent agreements dating back to 2007 that have failed to bring the plant in compliance with the law. Sign the Petition and tell the Health Department we need immediate and proactive leadership to clean up Clairton.

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by susan＠stonecircleinc.com 30 May '16

30 May '16

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Clean Power Plan set for DC District Court on September 27th
by Duane 17 May '16

17 May '16

Full Appeals Court to Hear President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan From an Article by Casey Junkins, May 17, 2016, The Wheeling Intelligencer WASHINGTON (AP) - The full appeals court in Washington will hear arguments in the legal fight over President Barack Obama's plan to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, potentially accelerating the case's path to the Supreme Court. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order Monday scheduling oral arguments on the legality of the Clean Power Plan for September 27. A three-judge panel had been scheduled to hear the case June 2, but whichever side lost was considered likely to seek a review by the full appeals court. By using its discretion to skip a step, the appeals judges are potentially shaving months off the time before the case could be heard by the high court. About two dozen mostly GOP-led states sued the Environmental Protection Agency over the new carbon-cutting regulations, which aim to slow climate change by reducing power-plant emissions by one-third by 2030. More than 100 conservative advocacy groups, electric utilities and coal mining companies have also filed suit. If the Clean Power Plan were to be struck down in court, it would become more difficult for the United States to meet its goals for cutting carbon emissions under the landmark international climate treaty signed in Paris at the end of last year. The U.S. is the world's largest emitter of harmful greenhouse gases. Of the 11 active judges on the DC Circuit, Chief Judge Merrick Garland and Judge Cornelia Pillard recused themselves from hearing arguments on the Clean Power Plan. Garland, who is Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court seat vacated by the February death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, has been recusing himself from active cases. The court's order gave no explanation for Pillard's recusal. Even without them, the court's makeup could favor Obama. Of the nine remaining judges, five were appointed by Democratic presidents. Environmental groups cheered the court's move. "The court's order may well speed up final resolution of the case," said David Doniger, director of the Climate and Clean Air Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We look forward to our day in court - and remain confident that the Clean Power Plan will prevail over efforts by polluters and their allies to block climate action." The Supreme Court voted 5-4 earlier this year to delay implementation of the plan until the legal challenges are resolved, but that vote was taken prior to Scalia's death. Republicans leaders in the U.S. Senate have promised not to vote on Garland's nomination until after a new president is elected in November, leaving the Supreme Court split 4-4 between conservatives and the more moderate and liberal justices. If a ninth justice is not appointed before the high court takes up the Clean Power Plan, then the appeals court's decision would stand in the event of a tie. Opponents of the plan reiterated Monday that the outcome of the case is still far from certain. They have portrayed the Obama Administration's move to use the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon emissions as an illegal power grab. "So much about the Clean Power Plan has defied precedent," said Scott Segal, a lawyer representing the pro-coal Electric Reliability Coordinating Council. "When it comes to the Clean Power Plan, it is best to expect the unexpected." See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Group Documenting Marcellus Gas Well Leaks / Public News Service
by Duane 16 May '16

16 May '16

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2016-05-16/climate-change-air-quality/grou… Group Documenting Marcellus Gas Well Leaks By Dan Heyman, WV Public News Service, May 16, 2016 Charleston, WV -- Armed with a specialized thermal imaging camera, a group is traveling in the West Virginia Marcellus fields this week documenting natural gas leaks and pollution. Nadia Steinzor, eastern program coordinator for Earthworks, says the environmental group bought a forward looking infrared camera (FLIR) because most gas industry leaks of methane and volatile organic compounds can't be seen with the naked eye. Steinzor says people who live down wind of leaks have a tough time getting their health issues taken seriously. "The same complaints all across the country of headaches, nausea, dizziness – and yet they've been dismissed as just anecdotal information,” she points out. “We purchased this camera in order to make invisible pollution visible." Oil and gas drillers defend their industry as much cleaner than many other kinds of energy production, and say reports of air pollution are often exaggerated. Steinzor says residents interested in having facilities near them examined can get in touch with the team via the invisible air pollution page at earthworksaction.org. Last week the Obama administration finalized the first ever rules on oil and gas industry methane leaks. The regulations aim to reduce those emissions by more than 40 percent over the next decade. Steinzor says the drilling companies will be pushed into doing a better job of dealing with the kind of leaks Earthworks is documenting. "That final rule is going to go a long way toward requiring operators to do leak detection and repair,” she stresses. “They are themselves going to have to go out and inspect their own operations and then take action." Criticism of the new methane rules has been muted. Steinzor says that's probably because estimates from the EPA and others say the regulations will end up saving the industry more money than they cost. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Lobbying Continues Unabated on EPA's Clean Power Plan
by Duane 14 May '16

14 May '16

EPA to issue carbon-trading guidance this summer The Environmental Protection Agency intends to issue guidance to states looking to trade emissions credits under the Clean Power Plan, even as the rule is on hold pending court action. Separately, congressional lobbying on the CPP continued in the first quarter, with more than 130 organizations disclosing such activity. http://www.bna.com/lobbying-continues-unabated-n57982070620/ Lobbying Continues Unabated on EPA's Clean Power Plan By Anthony Adragna, Bloomberg BNA, May 3, 2016 Near-impossible odds of legislative success and upcoming oral arguments in federal appeals court haven't deterred entities from continuing aggressive lobbying of Congress on the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan. More than 130 entities reported lobbying on the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's domestic efforts on climate change during the first quarter of 2016, according to disclosures reviewed by Bloomberg BNA. That number is virtually unchanged from a year ago when efforts to stop the regulation were at a near-fever pitch in Congress. Lawmakers have previously passed legislation and resolutions of disapproval to overturn or block the regulation, but support was always well below the levels needed to override the stroke of Obama's veto pen. Despite that reality, many of the entities reported lobbying Congress on those same efforts during the first quarter of 2016. The continued lobbying doesn't surprise academics and other outside experts. “This is hardly surprising,” Lee Drutman, a senior fellow with New America, told Bloomberg BNA May 3. “The passage of legislation is just the first battle in the endless fight on almost every issue. There's always another venue, and another opportunity for lobbying, another chance to make your case. Especially when you have lots of paying corporate clients.” Diversity in Groups Represented As in previous reporting periods, the entities lobbying on the Clean Power Plan ranged from major public health organizations to large publicly traded companies to coal companies (139 ECR, 7/21/15). Among the companies lobbying on the centerpiece of the Obama administration's domestic efforts on climate change were Westrock Co., Alcoa Inc., Tesla Motors Inc., Xcel Energy Inc., Occidental Petroleum Co. and Siemens AG. Public health and environmental advocates, including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States, all disclosed lobbying on the Clean Power Plan. Southern Co., Vectren Corp., Duke Energy Co., Calpine Corp., NorthWestern Energy Corp. and Entergy Corp. are among the energy interests that also said they pushed Congress on the regulation. Entities Lobbying on Issue Entities lobbying on the issue were identified through a search of lobbying records with the keywords “Clean Power Plan,”“111(d),” the number of the resolution of disapproval passed by Congress ( S.J. Res. 24) and two pieces of legislation (H.R. 2042; S. 1324) that would impede or outright kill the EPA's regulatory efforts under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. After Obama vetoed both resolutions of disapproval Dec. 18, 2015, congressional aides and lawmakers said they were unlikely to try to override them. Oral arguments in a federal appeals court case challenging the regulation are slated for June 2 and possibly June 3 (West Virginia v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1363, oral argument 6/2/16). Lobbying Interest Not Surprising Despite the shift away from Congress to the courts in the fight over the Clean Power Plan, observers said they were not surprised lobbying efforts continued. Congress remains influential in the debate surrounding the EPA rule, some said. “Whether or not litigation is the best strategy, Congress retains the ability to influence the process ... so it makes sense that industry lobbyists would continue to spend time talking to them,” Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, told Bloomberg BNA. “I am slightly surprised that the amount of money spent would be exactly the same, but I’d imagine they are also spending comparable resources on every potential avenue that might influence the outcome.” Jennifer Victor, a professor of legislative politics at George Mason University, told Bloomberg BNA many of the groups lobbying on the EPA rule have the primary purpose of advocacy before Congress. Others are membership-based and may feel pressure to show they are doing something, she said. “Some pretty big shift in the political landscape would be necessary for them to curtail this kind of activity,” Victor said, such as a change in administration or the end of litigation on the Clean Power Plan. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Group Against Smog & Pollution (GASP)
by Duane Nichols 07 May '16

07 May '16

Making the Connection: Air Pollution and Brain Health Join GASP as we host Doctors Michelle Block and Jane Clougherty for our next Making the Connection event. They will speak on the effects that urban air pollution, diesel vehicle pollution, and social stressors have on brain health. The event is free and will be held Wednesday, May 11. Please click below to learn more and to register. Inspire Speakers Series Featuring Paul Hawken Paul Hawken, an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author, comes to Pittsburgh May 19. His work includes starting ecological businesses (including some of the first natural food companies), writing about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with heads of state and CEOs on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. He is the author of several best-selling books, including Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. Mr. Hawken will be speaking on his new endeavor "Drawdown," a solutions-based approach to climate change that uses data to model how reducing atmospheric carbon benefits us all. Join him and Dr. Joylette Portlock, board member of the Allegheny County Board of Health and president of Communitopia, a Pittsburgh nonprofit focused on climate change communication. Learn more and register. CommentAiry "It remains to be seen when Pennsylvania's methane proposals will be finalized, what they will accomplish, and the degree to which operators will be held accountable for the pollution they cause." Pennsylvanians waiting for methane and VOC protection. "'...unprecedented insight into literally block-by-block air quality' in Pittsburgh." Large grant funds new air monitoring center at Carnegie Mellon University. Together, we can make a difference in our region's environment. We won't trade or sell your email address with other organizations or inundate you with messages. Visit our website at gasp-pgh.org or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information or to become a member today. We can't do this without you! Copyright © 2016 Group Against Smog and Pollution, All rights reserved. Thanks for receiving our air news and for being engaged! Our mailing address is: Group Against Smog and Pollution 1133 South Braddock Avenue Suite 1A Edgewood, PA 15218

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Ethane increasing dramatically in Earth's atmosphere
by Duane 03 May '16

03 May '16

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ETHANE_POLLUTION_MTOL-?SITE=AP&SE… STUDY: US OIL FIELD SOURCE OF GLOBAL UPTICK IN AIR POLLUTION BY MICHAEL BIESECKER AND MATTHEW BROWN, ASSOCIATED PRESS, APRIL 29, 2016 WASHINGTON (AP) -- An oil and natural gas field in the western United States is largely responsible for a global uptick of the air pollutant ethane, according to a new study. The team led by researchers at the University of Michigan found that fossil fuel production at the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Montana is emitting roughly 2 percent of the ethane detected in the Earth's atmosphere. Along with its chemical cousin methane, ethane is a hydrocarbon that is a significant component of natural gas. Once in the atmosphere, ethane reacts with sunlight to form ozone, which can trigger asthma attacks and other respiratory problems, especially in children and the elderly. Ethane pollution can also harm agricultural crops. Ozone also ranks as the third-largest contributor to human-caused global warming after carbon dioxide and methane. "We didn't expect one region to have such a global influence," said Eric Kort, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of climatic science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The study was launched after a mountaintop sensor in the European Alps began registering surprising spikes in ethane concentrations in the atmosphere starting in 2010, following decades of declines. The increase, which has continued over the last five years, was noted at the same time new horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques were fueling a boom of oil and gas production from previously inaccessible shale rock formations in the United States. Searching for the source of the ethane, an aircraft from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2014 sampled air from directly overhead and downwind of drilling rigs in the Bakken region. Those measurements showed ethane emissions far higher than what was being reported to the government by oil and gas companies. The findings solve an atmospheric mystery - where that extra ethane was coming from, said Colm Sweeney, a study co-author from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The researchers said other U.S. oil and gas fields, especially the Eagle Ford in Texas, are also likely contributing to the global rise in ethane concentrations. Ethane gets into the air through leaks from drilling rigs, gas storage facilities and pipelines, as well as from intentional venting and gas burnoffs from extraction operations. "We need to take these regions into account because it could really be impacting air quality in a way that might matter across North America," Kort said. Helping drive the high emission levels from the Bakken has been the oil field's meteoric growth. Efforts to install and maintain equipment to capture ethane and other volatile gases before they can escape have lagged behind drilling, said North Dakota Environmental Health Chief Dave Glatt. Glatt's agency has stepped up enforcement efforts in response. Last year, the state purchased a specialized camera that can detect so-called fugitive gas emissions as they escape from uncontained oil storage tanks, leaky pipelines, processing facilities and other sources. "You're able to see what the naked eye can't and it reveals emissions sources you didn't know where there," Glatt said. "It's a game changer. A lot of the companies thought they were in good shape, and they looked through the camera and saw they weren't." Regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency were reviewing the study's results. Spokeswoman Laura Allen said Friday that new clean air rules recently announced by the Obama administration to curb climate-warming methane leaks from oil and gas drilling operations should also help address the harmful ethane emissions. There are other ways ethane gets into the atmosphere - including wildfires and natural seepage from underground gas reserves. But fossil fuel extraction is the dominant source, accounting for roughly 60 to 70 percent of global emissions, according to a 2013 study from researchers at the University of California. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Clean Air Council active on eminent domain in Penna.
by Duane330＠aol.com 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Legal update: Council Wins First Round Against Sunoco From: Clean Air Council, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, & Wilmington, DE Source: http://www.cleanair.org/ Sunoco has been behind many of the pipelines now criss-crossing Pennsylvania, including the proposed Mariner East pipelines. Now Sunoco is trying to use eminent domain to build pipelines. Eminent domain allows Sunoco to seize landowners' property for construction, regardless of whether the landowner agrees to it or not. How can Sunoco, a private company, get away with this? Part of the reason lies with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC). The PUC is able to grant or deny public utility status, which comes with the right of eminent domain. The PUC is supposed to do this by determining what best serves the public needs of Pennsylvanians. Sunoco is saying that its Mariner East pipelines, which would carry chemicals dug up during fracking operations, serve a public need. The Council recently took Sunoco to court over this claim. While it's sometimes true that pipelines deliver chemicals that serve a public need for Pennsylvanians, it's not true of the Mariner East pipelines specifically. Sunoco will be delivering chemicals to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex in Philadelphia for export overseas, meaning the residents of Pennsylvania would see little benefit from their construction. Sunoco tried to quash the Council's argument before it gained steam, asking the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to throw out our case. But on February 5th, the court ruled against Sunoco and sent the case to the next highest court, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, to hear and decide on. No date has been set for the next hearing on this case, but the Council will keep its members and supporters updated on the case as it progresses through the courts. For more information on this case please contact Alex Bomstein at 215-567-4004 ext. 118 or email _abomstein(a)cleanair.org_ (mailto:abomstein@cleanair.org) Clean Air Council, 135 S. 19th Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19103 P: (215) 567-4004, F: (215) 567-5791

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Longview Power Plant Background Story
by Duane Nichols 29 Feb '16

29 Feb '16

DOMINION POST Sunday 28 Feb 16 Op-Ed commentary Power plants can afford to mitigate harm BY LARRY HARRIS On Feb. 9 an article in The Dominion Post described Rep. David McKinley’s visit to Longview Power Plant, and his promotion of the use of coal for energy. He correctly pointed out that this power plant was one of the cleanest in the United States, and suggested that the technology used would make other coal-burning plants cleaner also. What is missing from this story is how Longview came to be this clean. Back in 2004 Longview obtained an air quality permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Three environmental groups legally appealed that permit: Trout Unlimited, Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association. Longview asked if we would consider a settlement of our appeal. We enlisted the aid of an environmental lawyer and expert energy engineer to recommend ways to make Longview even cleaner. The result was lower SO2 (sulfur dioxide, NOX (mono-nitrogen oxides) and particulate emissions, the first mercury monitor on a coal burning plant, and a mitigation fund to support measures to overcome the damage done by mining and burning coal. The agreement also called for the establishment of a nonprofit organization to administer these funds: The Appalachian Stewardship Foundation (ASF). Since the plant went on line in 2011, ASF has distributed more than $1 million for projects that reduce energy consumption, lower carbon emissions and restore streams damaged by coal mining and burning. ASF has funded projects ranging from providing low-energy light bulbs in Preston County to allowing Downstream Strategies to evaluate ways to lower energy consumption in Morgantown. Other projects have been funded to increase solar power opportunities, monitor streams to detect pollution related to energy development, and to help communities improve energy efficiency. Most importantly, we have supported several youth education projects designed to focus young people on striving for a cleaner energy future. So while McKinley is touting the cleaner technology that Longview uses, we would encourage him to acknowledge the mitigation funds that should be a part of every energy project. No matter what fossil fuel is used there is significant damage to the environment and to public health that the energy company should pay to mitigate. West Virginia coal mining communities are at the top of the list of populations impacted by the adverse health effects of coal-fired electricity, including increased rates of birth defects, neurological damage, cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, and significantly reduced life expectancy. If fossil fuels continue to be part of the mix, as McKinley suggests, we will need even cleaner plants than Longview. Continued emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and other greenhouse gases are now recognized as contributing to climate change. We must lower these emissions to prevent further environmental and health damage. Most of the world communities recognize the need to lower the use of fossil fuels and are moving in that direction, while McKinley continues to promote the coal industry without addressing the health and environmental issues. As citizens he represents, we deserve a cleaner and healthier energy future. Larry Harris is the chairman of the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation. He lives in Morgantown.

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Air pollution raises risk of death 'for decades after exposure' | Environment | The Guardian
by Duane 11 Feb '16

11 Feb '16

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/09/air-pollution-raises-ris… Air pollution raises risk of death 'for decades after exposure' Longest-running study to date analyses long-term mortality risks of Britons exposed to historic particulate pollution <<< High pollution levels were recorded in London in late January. And, a new study shows that health impacts from air pollution persist for a long time. >>> From an Article by Damian Carrington, February 9, 2016 Air pollution raises the risk of death for many decades after exposure, according to the longest-running study to date. The analysis of 368,000 British people over 38 years also showed that those living in the most polluted places have a 14% higher risk of dying than those in the least polluted areas. Those exposed to particulate air pollution were more likely to die from respiratory problems, like pneumonia, emphysema and bronchitis, and also from cardiovascular problems, like heart attacks. “What this study shows is that the [health] effects of air pollution persist for a very long time,” said Dr Anna Hansell, at Imperial College London, who led the new study. “There is an imperative that, because the effects are so long-lasting, we really ought to act on it. We have to think about what we are doing to the long-term health of the population.” Many Britons are currently exposed to illegal levels of air pollution, with 29,000 premature deaths a year - or 5% of all deaths - blamed on air pollution. The UK government lost a supreme court legal battle in 2015 and was forced to produce an action plan. If successful, this will cut air pollution to legal levels by 2020 in most cities and 2025 in London. The impact on children, whose lungs can be stunted for life, has been of particular concern to experts. The truth about London's air pollution The new research, which is published in the journal Thorax on Tuesday, selected individuals at random from anonymised Office of National Statistics data and tracked them via the national censuses in 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001. The study also estimated their exposure over time to particulate air pollution, which is produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels in power stations and by vehicles. “We found a statistically significant association between [air pollution] exposure in 1971 and mortality in 2002-09,” said Hansell. The risk of death rises by 2% for each extra unit of pollution (10 micrograms of particulates per cubic metre) a person was exposed to in 1971.” Hansell added: “The more recent exposures appear to be the more harmful to health.” For each extra unit of pollution exposure in 2001, the risk of death in 2002-09 rises by 24%. Hansell said this gave another urgent reason to reduce air pollution, as cuts now would improve health in the next few years as well as in the long term. The reason the risk of death falls with time since the exposure is probably because the health impacts of air pollution fade over time, said Hansell, although the different mix of pollutants today compared to 1971 might be more toxic. The researchers found that the 36,800 people exposed to the highest levels of air pollution had a 14% greater risk of dying than those exposed to the lowest levels of air pollution. By coincidence, that applied to exposure in both 1971 and in 2001, although overall particulate pollution levels have fallen significantly - about 80% - in the decades between. Gary Fuller, an air pollution expert at King’s College London and not part of the new new study, said: “It feeds into the developing body of evidence about air pollution affecting us throughout the course of our lives. It increases the imperative for action to reduce the way in which the air that we breathe today can compromise our health and our children’s health later in life.” The research did not assess the impact of nitrogen dioxide, a toxic pollutant present at very high levels in some of the UK’s cities, which is linked to the failure of car manufacturers including Volkswagen to produce cars with emissions below official limits in real driving conditions. Hansell said: “It’s important to remember that the effects of air pollution are small compared to other risk factors. Your risk of dying early is much more dependent on other aspects of your lifestyle, like whether you smoke, how much you exercise and whether you are overweight.” In the study, those who died in accidents or could not be traced in later censuses were excluded. The researchers adjusted the data for the effect of age, sex, and social deprivation. They also accounted for lung cancer deaths, which are strongly related to smoking, but this made little difference to the conclusions. Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Supreme Court Puts Obama's Clean Power Plan on Hold - ABC News
by Duane 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/supreme-court-puts-obamas-clean-po… Supreme Court Puts Obama's Clean Power Plan on Hold By Michael Biesecker, ABC News, February 9, 2016 A divided Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to halt enforcement of President Barack Obama's sweeping plan to address climate change until after legal challenges are resolved. The surprising move is a blow to the administration and a victory for the coalition of 27 mostly Republican-led states and industry opponents that call the regulations "an unprecedented power grab." By temporarily freezing the rule the high court's order signals that opponents have made a strong argument against the plan, which aims to stave off the worst predicted impacts of climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions at existing power plants by about one-third by 2030. A federal appeals court last month refused to put it on hold. The appeals court is not likely to issue a ruling on the plan until months after it hears oral arguments begin on June 2. But any decision likely would be appealed to the Supreme Court, meaning resolution of the legal fight is not likely to happen until Obama leaves office. The high court's four liberal justices said Tuesday they would have denied the request for delay. Compliance with the new rules isn't required until 2022, but states must submit their plans to the Environmental Protection Administration by September or seek an extension. Many states opposing the plan depend on economic activity tied to such fossil fuels as coal, oil and gas. They argued that power plants will have to spend billions of dollars to begin complying with a rule that may end up being overturned. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, whose coal-dependent state is helping lead the legal fight, hailed the court's decision. "We are thrilled that the Supreme Court realized the rule's immediate impact and froze its implementation, protecting workers and saving countless dollars as our fight against its legality continues," Morrisey said. Implementation of the rules is considered essential to the United States meeting emissions-reduction targets in a global climate agreement signed in Paris last month. The Obama administration and environmental groups also say the plan will spur new clean-energy jobs. To convince the high court to temporarily halt the plan, opponents had to convince the justices that there was a "fair prospect" the court would strike down the rule. The court also had to consider whether denying a stay would cause irreparable harm to the states and utility companies affected. —— >> Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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World faces narrow window to cut carbon emissions — study
by Duane 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

http://www.governorswindenergycoalition.org/?p=16054 World faces narrow window to cut carbon emissions — study By Amanda Reilly, E & E News, February 9, 2016 Humans have only a small window to zero out carbon dioxide emissions that could lead to changes affecting the globe for tens of thousands of years, according to new research published today. The study in the journal Nature Climate Change warned that the climate change debate has focused on time frames that are too short, largely ignoring long-term changes to the ecology and geology of the world. The only way to avert these long-term changes, the authors wrote, is by shaping a new energy system with net-zero or net-negative carbon dioxide emissions within the next few decades. “Much of the carbon we are putting in the air from burning fossil fuels will stay there for thousands of years — and some of it will be there for more than 100,000 years,” Peter Clark, an Oregon State University paleoclimatologist and lead author, said today in a statement. “People need to understand that the effects of climate change on the planet won’t go away, at least not for thousands of generations.” Researchers from the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France, Australia and the United Kingdom participated in the study. The authors contend that researchers and policymakers have overwhelmingly focused on relatively short-term shifts linked to climate change, changes in the last 150 years and their effects up to the year 2100. Using computer models, the research team projected how human actions will affect the globe over the next 10,000 years. It found that humans have only a few decades to halt “potentially catastrophic climate change that will extend longer than the entire history of human civilization thus far.” “Our greenhouse gas emissions today produce climate-change commitments for many centuries to millennia. It is high time that this essential irreversibility is placed into the focus of policymakers,” said Thomas Stocker, a climate modeler at the University of Bern in Switzerland. “The long-term view sends the chilling message [about] what the real risks and consequences are of the fossil fuel era.” The team predicted that sea levels will rise by 25 meters with warming of 2 degrees Celsius and 50 meters with warming of 7 C, over a time frame of the next several centuries to millennia. On the low end, 122 countries will see at least a tenth of their population affected by higher sea levels. The latest report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that sea levels could rise by 1 meter by 2100. “It takes sea-level rise a very long time to react — on the order of centuries,” Clark said. “It’s like heating a pot of water on the stove; it doesn’t boil for quite a while after the heat is turned on — but then it will continue to boil as long as the heat persists.” According to the authors, studies that focus only on near-term risks, as well as the economic practice of discounting future climate impacts, tend to play down the future, more severe impacts. While short-term emission reduction targets — such as the ones nations committed to in the recent Paris climate deal — are “important,” the authors said, only a “complete transformation” of the globe’s energy system within the next few decades will halt severe impacts. They called for a “fourth industrial revolution” entailing changes in energy, land use and agriculture. “We are making choices that will affect our grandchildren’s grandchildren,” said Harvard University geology professor Daniel Schrag, a co-author of the study. “We need to think carefully about the long-term scales of what we are unleashing.” >>>> Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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States, industries make final pleas to Supreme Court - Governors' Wind Energy Coalition
by Duane 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

http://www.governorswindenergycoalition.org/?p=16034 States, industries make final pleas to Supreme Court By Robin Bravender, E & E News, February 8, 2016 Dozens of states, utilities and coal groups Friday made their final arguments in an attempt to urge the Supreme Court to block the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The request to the court to step in and block the controversial rule as a lower court weighs the case is widely seen as an unusual legal maneuver, but that shouldn’t stop the court from taking action, a coalition of more than two dozen states led by West Virginia said in its filing to the justices. “To be sure, requests of this Court for a stay of agency action pending review in the court of appeals appear to be rare. The States have not identified any case ‘in which this Court has granted a stay of a generally-applicable regulation pending initial judicial review in the court of appeals,'” the states’ attorneys wrote. Litigation over the rule is still pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judges on that court refused requests to block the rule while the case proceeds. However, the states said, “EPA and its intervenors have not identified a single instance where this Court has rejected such a request. Critically, there is nothing to suggest that the scarce precedent reflects anything more than that the circumstances rarely warrant the time and expense of seeking such a stay from this Court.” The states added that “the Power Plan is the most far-reaching and burdensome rule EPA has ever forced onto the States.” In a separate document to the court, utility groups responded to EPA’s claims that a stay would be “extraordinary.” This is “not an ordinary case. Never before has EPA claimed such sweeping authority to reorganize an entire sector of the economy in the name of reducing emissions,” the groups said. And coal industry groups warned the court that those seeking a stay will suffer from “irreparable harm” if the rule is allowed to go forward (see related story). “Concrete evidence shows many examples of closures attributable to the Power Plan, as well as examples of long-term planning by utilities, which are currently making plant shut-down and resource decisions that will be implemented or made permanent in 2016.” Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is weighing the arguments from both sides and is expected to issue a reply soon. He could act on his own or consult with his colleagues before deciding whether to grant a stay. Click here to read the states’ reply. Click here to read coal industry groups’ reply. Click here to read utilities’ reply. Click here to read business groups’ reply. >>>> Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Eating Crickets is Good for You—and the Planet | The Allegheny Front
by Duane 22 Jan '16

22 Jan '16

........... Shall we go for less greenhouse gases ....... ? http://www.alleghenyfront.org/story/eating-crickets-good-you%E2%80%94and-pl… Eating Crickets is Good for You—and the Planet From the Allegheny Front, Pittsburgh, January 22, 2016 At an artsy hipster bar in downtown Youngstown, Ohio—and yes, there is an artsy hipster bar in Youngstown—they serve gourmet hot dogs with 50 different kinds of toppings. The golden pickled beets and root beer BBQ sauce are definitely among the most unique. But if you really want to get adventurous, you’ll go for the deep-fried crickets. “We go through quite a bit of them. More than you’d think actually,” says the cook at Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts, tossing a batch into the deep frier. They get the crickets from a farm just a mile down the road. It’s owned by Kevin Bachhuber and his partner, who left their jobs in software and finance in California to start the farm. Why Youngstown? It had cheap space to rent and plenty of water. But Bachhuber’s farm doesn’t look like any farm you’ve probably ever seen. Big Cricket Farms is basically a warehouse. “The whole thing with indoor agriculture is that you’re moving away from the traditional sprawling farms into something that’s much more condensed,” Bachhuber says. You want crickets with that? At Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts in Youngstown, Ohio you can get hot dogs with more than 50 different toppings—including deep-fried crickets. Photo: Julie Grant In the section of the warehouse where they raise and breed the crickets, there are eight bins—each about the size of a large bathtub. Half of them are low to the ground with the others lofted above like bunk beds. In each bin, there are stacks and stacks of cardboard—like egg cartons, but bigger—layered with peat moss. And the crickets are everywhere—hopping around on the cardboard and trays piled with cricket food. “They eat anything, they’re consummate omnivores,” Bachhuber says. The organic mash that he’s serving them is made of the same grains found in pig or chicken feed. And the peat moss—that’s vital for breeding. “If you look, right here, this is a lady cricket,” Bachhuber says, pointing out a cricket with a long stinger-like structure extending from its back. “That’s an ovipositor. She’ll use that to deposit her eggs into a moist, dirtlike substrate. So that’s the peat moss stuff.” The farm only breeds a small percentage of their crickets because each female cricket can lay more than a thousand eggs per season. Crickets are fast growers too and can be ready for harvest in just six to eight weeks. Bachhuber says they try to use every part of the cricket. A worker at the farm sifts out the legs, which are sold to a local fish farmer. And they also separate the insect waste, which is full of nitrogen and phosphorous, and sell it to be mixed with compost. “The farmers and the composters—they freakin’ love it.” It’s not super fancy, but crickets don’t need much high-tech gadgetry to do their thing. Some bathtub-sized bins, cardboard, peat moss and food is about all Kevin Bachhuber needs to keep his cricket population happy. Photo: Julie Grant The cleaned crickets go out to customers like Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts. Some of the bugs even make it into cricket flour, which is used in things like protein bars. There’s even such a thing as “ gourmet” crickets. Bachhuber’s partner, Jaci Ampulski, says they tinker with the taste by feeding the crickets basil from another nearby farm. “They got to eat it for about seven days, and when we harvested them, they tasted like basil,” Ampulski says. “We did it with mint too, and those turned out fantastic. It’s like ‘hint-of-mint’ cricket.” Bachhuber got the idea to raise crickets in 2006. He was drinking beer and watching bad TV in a Thailand bar when someone put out a basket of fried crickets. He loved them. Then in 2013, he saw the United Nations report pushing crickets and other insects as an environmentally friendly protein. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization found that edible insects contain high-quality protein, vitamins and amino acids. Insects also need six times less feed than cattle—and half the feed required by pigs and broiler chickens—to produce the same amount of protein. Insects also emit fewer greenhouse gases. The report got Bachhuber to look more seriously at the cricket industry, which ultimately led him to his life as a cricket farmer. But that’s not the reason he got into it. “The sustainability thing is great. But I got into this because of taste. I like having a wide palate. I like the taste of bugs. I like eating them.” And the taste? The crickets are salty and crunchy, with a unique meaty texture. It might take a little getting used to. But Bachhuber says with orders on the rise, he expects we’ll get more chances to try them. ### In Pittsburgh, you can find Bachhuber’s crickets at Strip District Meats.

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Clean Power Plan stay motion denied! Full steam ahead on implementation!
by Duane 21 Jan '16

21 Jan '16

> Clean Power Plan stay motion denied! Full steam ahead on implementation! > > NEWS: Federal Court Rejects Fossil Fuel Industry Effort to Delay #CleanPowerPlan Implementation http://bit.ly/1SAb3wB #ActOnClimate > View as webpage > > Federal Court Rejects Fossil Fuel Industry Effort to Delay Clean Power Plan Implementation > Court rejects motions to block nation’s first-ever limits on carbon pollution > > Washington D.C.-- Today, in a decision applauded by clean energy companies, public health and environmental groups, and many states, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the fossil fuel industry’s legal attempt to block the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which sets the first-ever protections against dangerous carbon pollution from U.S. power plants. > > Under the Clean Power Plan, states will have 15 years to fully implement the new standards, which incorporate a broad array of flexible, cost-effective compliance options to reduce dangerous pollution. The CPP builds on existing trends in the power sector that have allowed many states around the country to reduce pollution at a rapid rate over the last decade. > > In response Joanne Spalding, Sierra Club’s Chief Climate Counsel, released the following statement: > > “We applaud the Court’s denial of polluter-backed efforts to block the Clean Power Plan. This decision clears the way for states to continue implementing this common-sense standard. The only people who won’t be cheering this decision are those who profit from pollution and their political allies. > > “This is just the latest attack from the fossil fuel industry on the Clean Power Plan to be rejected by a federal court, and it won’t be the last. The fact is, the Clean Power Plan is based on legislation passed by Congress, upheld by the Supreme Court, and implemented by the President. It's a vital, lifesaving policy that draws on the strength and ingenuity of American innovation to curb dangerous carbon pollution being dumped into our air, while driving investment and creating jobs in energy efficiency and clean energy. In limiting the pollution that is causing climate disruption, the Clean Power Plan will also reduce pollution that causes serious respiratory diseases, heart conditions, and premature death -- effects that disproportionately burden communities of color and the most vulnerable members of our society. > > “Today’s decision allows states, power providers, and clean energy companies to continue building on the momentum from the Paris climate summit, moving us closer to powering the nation with 100% clean energy.” > > Rudhdi Karnik > Associate Press Secretary, Federal Affairs > Sierra Club, Beyond Coal Campaign > (o) 202.495.3055 > > >

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Fwd: Good News on Methane Pollution in Pennsylvania!
by Duane 21 Jan '16

21 Jan '16

> From: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > Date: January 21, 2016 > > Subject: Good News on Methane Pollution in Pennsylvania! > > > > > > Group Against Smog and Pollution improves air quality to ensure human, environmental, and economic health for our region. > GASP Needs YOU! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Good News on Methane Pollution! > > Yesterday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf released details on actions his administration will soon take to reduce methane pollution from the unconventional natural gas industry. These proposals will reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas in a very cost-effective manner, since they help the industry keep more of the gas they're trying to gather and sell. By enacting these proposals, Pennsylvania stands to be a national leader on this issue. > > We now need the DEP to follow through on this proposal and put strong regulations into place soon. We also need action on the federal level, since Pennsylvania is only one of many states that produce natural gas. Stay tuned to these alerts and our blog for more information as this work continues. > > Take a look at the DEP's proposals for yourself. > > You can also find some media coverage here, here, and here. > Make My Trip Count: > Survey Results Are In! > > The Green Building Alliance (GBA) and their partners (including GASP) labored hard to create a survey that investigated how people heading to Downtown or Oakland get to work or school and back. GBA and its partners will use this new dataset to better understand what planning needs to be put in place to improve our commutes while reducing our environmental impact. > > See the results! > > > In the Air: Visualizing > What We Breathe > > The environmental, social, and economic effects of air quality can hardly be overestimated. But they are often hard to visualize. In the Air: Visualizing What We Breathe is a photography exhibit at Pittsburgh Filmmakers that shows how the lives of Western Pennsylvanians are affected by the quality of the air that they breathe. Four photographers spent a year documenting people and places in our region affected by poor air quality, and their images (such as the one at the top of the email) are sure to make you think about this important issue in new ways. > > The exhibit runs until February 26 and is free to attend. Learn more about the exhibit or peek at some of the images. > Upcoming Events > > 4th Urban Transition Cities Movement Workshop > > Join the Kingsley Association for free training on reducing your energy and water use, minimizing exposure to air pollution, saving money, and more. Partners include GASP, the Pittsburgh Mayor's Office, and many others. > > Friday and Saturday, 1/22 (6-8:30 p.m.) and 1/23 (12-5 p.m.) > More info/RSVP > > Monitoring Groundwater Variability from Space > > Hear from Dr. Matthew Rodell of NASA's Hydrological Sciences Laboratory. He'll present on the importance of and difficulties in using satellites to monitor groundwater levels worldwide. Groundwater isn't just a vital local resource--it's a key marker for understanding climate change. > > Wednesday 1/27, 4 p.m. > More info/RSVP > Together, we can make a difference in our region's environment. We won't trade or sell your email address with other organizations or inundate you with messages. Visit our website at gasp-pgh.org or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information or to become a member today. We can't do this without you! > > > Our mailing address is: > Group Against Smog and Pollution > 1133 South Braddock Avenue > Suite 1A > Edgewood, PA 15218 > > Add us to your address book > >

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The Future of Coal Mining
by Duane 17 Jan '16

17 Jan '16

CHARLESTON GAZETTE OP-ED, Thursday, January 14, 2016 WV must nurture something besides extraction, By S. Thomas Bond, Lewis County, WV While West Virginia politicians fight “the war on coal,” China is not going to approve any new mines for the next three years. Obviously this coincides with a slower Chinese economy, but it is a decision a long time in coming. Some mines have been closed in the past and more will be closed in the coming year. It is also very much the result of a new awareness of the problems of using coal to produce energy. The plan is to shift to nuclear and other sources of energy that do not cause air pollution, namely, hydro, wind and solar. The next five years will see millions of kilowatts generating capacity added. China is now the largest coal producer in the world; 64 percent of its energy comes from coal.This move has been in the works for some time. Coal use declined in 2014, and appears to have peaked in 2013. The most obvious driver is the terrible air pollution in Beijing, China’s capital, but it is known that about 1.6 million Chinese die each year because of air pollution, so 17 percent of the deaths each year. Sometimes it is so severe that the government tells people to stay inside at home, rather than to go outside. Many residents have expensive air purifiers in their homes. China will not be the only beneficiary. It is a major contributor to global warming, too. So when will politicians in West Virginia catch on?The West Virginia coal industry provides about 30,000 direct jobs, out of 750,000 workers in West Virginia as of November, or about 4 percent. Our hearts go out to these people. They do a hard, dangerous job. Last year was the first time since 2009 that West Virginia did not have the most fatalities in the industry in the United States. West Virginia is a resource colony for the Northeast. The state is losing population. We are at or near the bottom of any measure of education. For example, we have the lowest percent of people with bachelor’s degrees of any state. It is an unattractive place for most up and coming industry as a result. The people are loyal, famous for being hard workers and love the outdoors, but for most there is only unattractive, low-paid, work. The current emphasis on unconventional gas extraction continues this tradition. The state government leans over backward to please extraction interests, which are capital intensive, offer only a few tough jobs, mostly for men, and people to provide services for them.We need development of something better. We are no longer isolated. We have great recreational opportunities, a system of colleges and universities that should help, and (still) abundant, clean headwaters, which no one seems to be trying to protect. Hey, legislators and officials, catch on! The world is moving on and we are not moving with it. Thomas Bond, of Jane Lew, is a retired teacher, chemist and is a member of the Guardians of the West Fork and the Monongahela Area Watersheds Compact. Source: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/gazette-opinion/20160114/s-thomas-bond-wv-must…

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<GASP> Old News You May Have Missed; Getting Ready for 2016
by Duane 01 Jan '16

01 Jan '16

Saying Goodbye to Wellington Development’s Greene Energy Resource Recovery Project GASP Hotline Newsletter, Spring 2014. By Joe Osborne, GASP Legal Director, www.gasp-pgh.org Nearly a decade after it was first conceived, we can finally say goodbye to Wellington Development’s Greene Energy Resource Recovery Project-—a proposed 525 MW waste-coal-fired power plant that would have been located in Cumberland Township, Greene County. In February 2014, PADEP terminated the air permit for the Greene Energy Resource Recovery Project at Wellington Development’s request. The permit termination appears to mark the end of a coal power project that would have posed a serious and unjustifiable threat to human health and the environment in southwestern Pennsylvania. For many years, the proposed plant clung to life in spite of: • its significant environmental impacts (the facility’s air permit would have allowed it to emit thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide; hundreds of tons of particulate matter, over 100 tons of ammonia, and over 100 tons of volatile organic compounds in any 12-month period); • lack of any compelling economic justification for building the plant in light of weak demand for generating capacity; • several legal challenges in state and federal court brought by a coalition of local citizens and environmen- tal organizations including GASP; and • a protracted, snail-like pace of plant construction that is difficult to reconcile with source operators’ Clean Air Act obligation to complete facility construction “within a reasonable time.” PADEP authorized construction of the Greene Energy Resource Recovery Project in June 2005. A DEP site inspection in December 2012 noted, “the only sign of any construction are four (4) poured concrete slabs.” REFERENCES: 1. For past reports on the excruciating saga of the Greene Energy Resource Recovery Project, see Hotline Fall 2005, Summer 2006, Winter 2006, Summer 2007, Winter 2007, Winter 2010. 2. 40 CFR §52.21. 3. PADEP Inspection Report – Greene Energy Resource Recovery Project (Dec. 19, 2012).

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Shenango Coke Works to Close in January
by Duane330＠aol.com 17 Dec '15

17 Dec '15

Shenango Coke Works has long been one of the worst polluters in the Pittsburgh area. Today, they announced they will be shutting down in mid-January. Officially, DTE Energy (the owner of the Coke facility) cited "global overcapacity in the steel industry" as the cause of the closure. Importantly, DTE has also committed to helping their employees in the transition with 60 days of pay after the facility closes, severance packages, and, crucially, outplacement assistance. The workers must be adequately helped through this process. The Council had taken legal action against the facility before, finding that _over a 432 day period it violated air pollution laws on 330 of those days_ (http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=D5pTDAk6cN+Y0rHPiMDTft/UDu5…) . Despite repeated warnings from Allegheny County officials, the facility continued to pollute at illegal levels. This pollution, of course, has a major impact on the surrounding community. One resident, Ted Popovich, said Shenango was "out of control" and "a danger to the health and well being of its workers and nearby residents." Another resident, a mother who lives just across the river from the facility, called for "regulatory agencies and environmental groups to do everything within their power to stop the coke works from continuing to pollute the air my family and I breathe." This is big news for Pittsburgh, the 6th-most polluted city in America. This is an important step forward, but there is still much more work to do. I look forward to continuing these fights and keeping you updated on all future progress. Sincerely, Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director Clean Air Council, Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Wilmington

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Fwd: Action Alert: Core Arboretum threatened by plans for bridge
by Duane Nichols 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

> From: Sierra Club - West Virginia Chapter <jimscon(a)gmail.com> > Date: December 14, 2015 at 2:42:02 PM EST > To: Sierra Club - West Virginia Chapter <alert(a)sierraclub.org> > Subject: Action Alert: Core Arboretum threatened by plans for bridge > Reply-To: Sierra Club - West Virginia Chapter <jimscon(a)gmail.com> > > Anyone who values the green space, incredible wildflower displays and mature forest, hiking trails and wildlife watching opportunities at this loveliest of ecological refuges on the edge of a busy city should definitely send a letter of protest. See below: > Zach Fowler, Director of the Arboretum, sent the following information. > > Overview: > > The WVU Core Arboretum is potentially threatened by plans to build a bridge over the Monongahela River. The Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization (MMMPO) is asking for feedback, we need to give them feedback. This is happening very fast, and acting urgently is necessary. The deadline for comments is December 24. > > The MMMPO held a meeting for the I-79 Access Study on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. This was the first of three public meetings that will be held for the project. There was no formal presentation at the meeting, but there was a handout (attached) containing the relevant information. Officials from MMMPO were also on hand to answer questions. There is now a website for the project (i79accessstudywv.com), and all of the documents referred to here are available on this site. > > The first meeting was to present the Existing and Future Conditions (E&FC) Report. The takeaway message of the E&FC Report was that the MMMPO did find the need to improve traffic conditions between Morgantown's urban core and WVU and I-79, and that they are considering building a bridge across the Monongahela River as part of the solution to the traffic problem. The next step in the project is reviewing public comments, identifying alternatives, and evaluating the operations and impacts of the alternatives. There is reason to believe (outlined below) that the MMMPO is considering building a bridge connecting the new I-79 interchange to the Monongahela Blvd. and Patteson Dr. intersection, directly through/over the WVU Core Arboretum as one of the options. > > This is a critical time to respond to the MMMPO with concerns about the impact of the project on the Arboretum. They are entering into the "alternatives development process." Once they have received the public comments, they will begin evaluating "preliminary alternatives" and developing a list of alternatives to present at the next public meeting. Keep in mind that one of these preliminary alternatives is likely a bridge over the Arboretum. The official presentation of a bridge over the Arboretum as an option could come in March. They have officially, albeit quietly, solicited input from citizens and stakeholders. They have officially, albeit quietly, asked us to come forward with our concerns. > > It is deeply concerning that the MMMPO would even consider a project that would impact the Arboretum as an option. It is also deeply concerning how quickly and quietly this is happening. The MMMPO plans to announce a recommended project in June! > > It is likely that it will be said that a bridge over the Arboretum will not ruin the Arboretum. In reality, it is not possible to build the "Direct Roadway Connection from New I-79 Interchange to Monongahela Boulevard" without having an irreversible negative impact on the Arboretum. A bridge over the Arboretum would certainly ruin the Arboretum as we know and love it. > Necessary Action: > > It is important that all who are concerned about the future of the WVU Core Arboretum write a letter to Bill Austin, Executive Director of MMMPO (address below), before December 24 and express the opinion that "Direct Roadway Connection from New I-79 Interchange to Monongahela Boulevard" (Project 6, Option B in the LRTP) is not an option that should even be considered as a preliminary alternative, much less a preferred alternative, due to its necessary and unavoidable impact on the WVU Core Arboretum. Even a bridge OVER the Arboretum will cause irreversible and unacceptable damage to the Arboretum. It is also important to stress the importance of the Arboretum to the community and the University, and to emphasize the value that it holds. > > Mr. Bill Austin, AICP > Executive Director > Morgantown Monongalia MPO > 82 Hart Field Road Suite 105 > Morgantown, WV 26505 > > > Comments are due by December 24, 2015 > > The next public meeting for the I-79 Access Study will be in April, and the MMMPO will present a slate of "alternatives" at this time. Let's hope that the direct roadway connection option is already off the table at that point, but let's also be prepared for it to be presented as an alternative, possibly even the preferred alternative. > > The official comment period for evaluation of alternatives is now. > > Letters of concern would be good at any time, but now is a very critical time. It would also be helpful to send letters to the editor of local papers. >

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Climate Action March, Pittsburgh, December 12th
by Duane 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

Climate Action March, Oakland. December 12th December 12, 2015 10:00 am to 11:00 am On the final day of the UN COP21 Climate Change Conference, December 12, the climate action movement will hold hundreds of events around the world. Here in Pittsburgh there will be a rally and march: “The Building Blocks for Climate Change Action” Assemble at 9:45 am, finish at 11:00 am, Saturday, December 12 -- The March starts at 10 am at steps to the Cathedral of Learning near the Stephen Foster Memorial on Forbes Avenue, at the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. A diversity of groups and individuals are invited to each create their part of an interlinking network of protests — by building boxes with the name of their movement or struggle (i.e. black lives matter, immigration, youth, LGBQT) or just the name of their group (i.e. high school club, church, union, community association, student organization, gardening club, environmental organization) to symbolize their vested interest in helping to halt climate change and hold our leaders accountable! After a brief address at the start we will follow the May Day Marching Band in a procession through Oakland and return to the strat where we will erect a powerful pyramid with our building blocks. There will be a “block-creating” party at 7 pm on Friday, December 11 at the Thomas Merton Center, 519 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15224. BANKERS’ BOXES MAKE GREAT BUILDING BLOCKS Sponsors of this event include Clean Air Council, PennEnvironment, Pittsburgh350, and the Sierra Club. NOTE: After the march join us at 11:30 am at the First Unitarian Church, Ellsworth and Morewood, for a panel discussion on how climate change is impacting Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Reminder: TOMORROW in Pittsburgh, "Climate Change Beyond Paris"
by Duane Nichols 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

> From: Clean Air Council <members(a)cleanair.org> > Date: December 11, 2015 at 9:53:28 AM EST > Subject: Reminder: TOMORROW in Pittsburgh, "Climate Change Beyond Paris" > Reply-To: eroben(a)cleanair.org > > > > Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > This week, world leaders are convening in Paris to decide how the international community will address climate change - a meeting some are calling our last best chance to avoid catastrophic warming. But here in Pennsylvania, where our economy rivals that of major nations and where our methane pollution problem grows more urgent with each new natural gas well, we know we can't leave it to international negotiators to address climate change alone. > > Join us on December 12th in Pittsburgh for two events to show support for climate action in Pennsylvania and to learn more about climate change and the climate justice movement in our state. > > Building Blocks for Climate Action Rally and March > When: Saturday, December 12th, 10am > Where: Cathedral of Learning Steps, Forbes Ave. > What: On the final day of the Paris Climate Talks, join with community groups and residents from across Pittsburgh for a rally and march as part of a global day of climate action. > Click here for more information and to RSVP. > > Climate Change Beyond Paris > When: December 12th, 11:30am following the rally and march > Where: First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, Schweitzer Room, 605 Moorewood Avenue > What: After the march join us for a panel discussion about how climate change is impacting Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, and what we can do to build the climate movement. > Click here for more information and to RSVP. > > Questions? Contact Eva at eroben(a)cleanair.org > > Hope you can make it! > > > Sincerely, > Matt Walker > Community Outreach Director > > > PHILADELPHIA > > 135 S. 19th Street > Suite 300 > Philadelphia, PA 19103 > P: (215) 567-4004 > F: (215) 567-5791 > HARRISBURG > > 107 N. Front Street > Suite 113 > Harrisburg, PA 17101 > P: (717) 230-8806 > F: (717) 230-8808 > WILMINGTON > > 100 W. 10th Street > Suite 607 > Wilmington, DE 19801 > P: (302) 691-0112 > Unsubscribe > >

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Carbon Tax, or Carbon Fee, or Price on Carbon (What's in a name?)
by Duane330＠aol.com 09 Dec '15

09 Dec '15

Believe It Or Not: Exxon Mobil Now Favors a Tax on Carbon http://www.bloomberg.com/ Tax Me, Says Exxon Mobil, in Declaring Support for Climate Talks >From an Article by Alex Nussbaum, Bloomberg Business News, December 2, 2015 Exxon Mobil Corp., a _favorite target _ (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-02/turning-exxon-s-tiger-int… an) of global warming activists, said (last week) that it’s hopeful for a deal out of the climate-change talks in Paris and still thinks the best solution is a tax on carbon pollution. As the United Nations negotiations moved into a third day, the world’s biggest oil explorer said in an _blog post_ (http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/?p=15102?utm_source=subscription&utm_… cle:+ExxonMobil+on+the+U.N.+climate+talks) that it supports “meaningful action to address the risks of climate change” as long as it preserved access to the reliable and affordable energy. “The long-term objective of climate-change policy should be to reduce the risks of serious harm to humanity and ecosystems at minimum societal cost, while recognizing shared humanitarian necessities,” Exxon Mobil General Counsel Ken Cohen wrote in the post. In the run-up to the Paris talks that began November 30th, Exxon has been under heavy assault by environmentalists and politicians who say it misled the public by promoting uncertainties about climate science. New York State’s attorney general has _subpoenaed_ (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-10/everything-you-need-to-kn… te-change-probe) company records about its research going back decades, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a Rolling Stone _interview_ (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/john-kerry-on-climate-change-the-… f-our-time-20151201) published Tuesday, said Exxon’s actions would amount to “a betrayal” of humanity if it’s found to have suppressed knowledge about climate risks. Revenue-Neutral Tax Exxon has said it made its research public and did nothing wrong. The Irving, Texas-based explorer takes climate change seriously and has taken steps to reduce its own emissions, Cohen said in today’s post. The most effective solution would be a revenue-neutral tax on greenhouse gas emissions, Cohen wrote, reiterating a position Exxon has held for years. “Instead of subsidies and mandates that distort markets, stifle innovation, and needlessly raise energy costs, a carbon tax could help create the conditions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a way that spurs new efficiencies and technologies,” he said. “The revenue-neutral carbon tax could be a workable policy framework for countries around the world.” Long a hard-line opponent to climate-friendly carbon limits, Exxon began to soften its outlook and embrace the need to curb greenhouse gases in 2006 when Rex Tillerson succeeded Lee Raymond as chairman and CEO. The company’s $35 billion takeover of XTO Energy in 2010 was inspired in part by expectations that stricter climate rules would spur natural gas demand as a replacement for dirtier coal. # # # # # # # # # # NOTE: Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is an international _grassroots_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots) environmental group that trains and supports volunteers to build relationships with their elected representatives in order to influence _climate policy_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_policy) . Operating since 2007, the goal of CCL is to build bipartisan support to put a _price on carbon_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_price) , specifically a revenue neutral _carbon fee and dividend_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_fee_and_dividend) at the national level. CCL is supported by notable climate scientists _James Hansen_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen) , _Katharine Hayhoe_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hayhoe) , and _Daniel Kammen_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kammen) . CCL's advisory board also include _George Shultz_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shultz) , former Secretary of State, former US Representative _Bob Inglis_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Inglis) of South Carolina and many others. Membership is now over 20,000. The WV State chapter of CCL is headed by Jim Probst (_probstfurnituremakers(a)gmail.com_ (mailto:probstfurnituremakers@gmail.com) ) . The recently formed chapter in Morgantown is being coordinated by Kayde Cappellari (_k.cappellari(a)gmail.com_ (mailto:k.cappellari@gmail.com) ) and her son Torrence. Every Wednesday at 8 pm Eastern time, an introductory CCL conference call-in is held. You can join in here: _http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org_ (http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org/) https://citizensclimatelobby.org/join-weekly-intro-call/

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REPLY REQUESTED: Questioning the authority of the WV attorney general
by Duane 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

To Participants and Friends of Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition (MVCAC): The MVCAC has joined in with a number of other conservation and non-profit groups to challenge the authority of the WV attorney general to oppose the US EPA "clean power plan" in the federal courts. The WV attorney general instituted this action without any explicit rationale or request from a state agency or official. The WV attorney general has gone farther and implied to the courts and to various federal agencies that he represents the people of WV in this matter. Yet, there are thousands of WV citizens that are not represented or believe otherwise. Three documents below include the Washington Post article this week on human health effects of coal fired power plants, then an article on the actions of US attorneys general, and then the press release on our action in the US Court of Appeals, DC Circuit. ACTION ITEM # 1. It is essential that you reply and send $20 to maintain participation in the MVCAC, otherwise we will have inadequate numbers to maintain our non-profit status with the IRS. Please send a check to: MVCAC Treasurer, 659 Hoard Road, Morgantown, WV, 26508 ACTION ITEM # 2. Our current bank balance is $991.95. If you are in favor of a contribution of $500 from MVCAC to this legal action, please indicate this in an email reply to this message. >>>>>>>>>>>>> https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/coal-is-king-among-p… >>>>>>>>>>>>> Some 44 states take sides in Clean Power Plan legal melee Summary: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is leading a coalition of 18 states and some cities and counties in defense of the Clean Power Plan. The group has filed a motion to intervene to defend the federal greenhouse gas plan, Greenwire reports. They are squared off against 26 states who have filed a variety of legal challenges. Only six states have so far remained neutral: Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. It's not often a regulatory package divides the nation so starkly, but the EPA's carbon regulations have done just that. Nearly every state has jumped into the legal battle over the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, an unprecedented level of interest in federal climate rules. "I can't recall a Clean Air Act rule, or other EPA rule, that had 44 states in the mix," Joe Stanko, an attorney at Hunton & Williams, told Greenwire, with the news outlet describing the expanding legal fight a "brawl." The more than two dozen states challenging the rule "are the most ever to challenge an EPA rule and, as far as I know, any federal action," said Bracewell & Giuliani attorney Jeff Holmstead. Through a variety of legal challenges – the largest includes 24 states led by West Virginia – some 26 states have filed lawsuits to block the Clean Power Plan. In total, states opposed to the rule include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The 18 states filing to defend the plan include: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. The District of Columbia, Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia have also signed on. “Climate change represents an unprecedented threat to the environment, public health, and our economy. We no longer can afford to respond to this threat with denials or obstruction,” New York AG Schneiderman said in a statement. "We are committed to aggressively defending the Clean Power Plan to ensure progress is made in confronting climate change.” And on the other side: "The Clean Power Plan is one of the most far-reaching energy regulations in this nation’s history," said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. "West Virginia is proud to be leading the charge against this Administration’s blatant and unprecedented attack on coal.” Beyond rhetoric, Greenwire points out the reason for the divide: The 18 states supporting the rule make up only about 12% of the emissions reductions required by the CPP, and include a couple of states not covered by the rule (Vermont and Hawaii; Alaska has remained neutral). States challenging the plan make up about 80% of the required reductions. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> West Virginia Groups Oppose Morrisey’s Attack on the Clean Power Plan Citing numerous health studies plaintiffs insist the need for CPP is now. CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch, Kanawha Forest Coalition, the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition and Keepers of the Mountains Foundation have moved to intervene in an action previously filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Attorney Generals from 23 other states which seeks to delay and ultimately invalidate the Clean Power Plan adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Clean Power Plan is designed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Under the Plan, each state is required to develop a plan on how it is intends to achieve the emission reductions. Under West Virginia law, the Governor, with the help of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, will develop this “State Implementation Plan” and it will be reviewed by the West Virginia Legislature before it is submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In the long run, Mr. Morrisey seeks to invalidate the regulations that carry out the Clean Power Plan. In the short run, he seeks to prevent the regulations from going into effect while the case is pending in court. Mr. Morrisey claims to speak for all West Virginians. “We feel compelled to intervene so that the Court will have the benefit of viewpoints other than that of Mr. Morrisey, a viewpoint not shared by all West Virginians,” said Cynthia D. Ellis, president of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. “This case is about whether we want to live in the present and prepare for the future or cling to the past. Coal has been our main source of electricity for a century. Mr. Morrisey wants to go back to that past, a past that has made West Virginians sick and contributed to climate change. We want to move forward to a future where there is more balance in meeting our energy needs.” The Motion to Intervene points out that in “literally dozens of recent peer-reviewed studies, diligent medical researchers have documented the fact that particulate matter — whether emitted from electric utility plants directly, or indirectly from the mountaintop removal mining projects from which those utilities obtain their fuel supply — results in statistically significant increases of birth defects, decreased birth weights, diminished educational attainment, increased cancer, pulmonary and cardiac disease, and very substantially decreased life expectancy.” “This is about who speaks for West Virginia and for West Virginians,” said Janet Keating, executive director of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. “Mr. Morrisey presumes to speak for the State and for all of us. His opinion may be that there is a war on coal and that all West Virginians should resist. This is not true. Climate change is a serious problem and we all have to do our part in addressing it.” “The Clean Power Plan is far from perfect, and we may disagree with what West Virginia ultimately proposes as a plan to reduce emissions,” said Vernon Haltom, executive director of Coal River Mountain Watch. “But scrapping the Clean Power Plan entirely and betting West Virginia’s health and economic future on the miraculous resurgence of a polluting finite resource is not a solution.” The case is filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. West Virginia groups are being represented by William DePaulo, an attorney based in Lewisburg, W.Va. >. >. >. >. >. Best wishes, Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535.

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See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net
by Duane 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/aggi/aggi.fig5.png Please comment on the US EPA plan to control methane emissions, as referenced today on www.FrackCheckWV.net. Comment period expires at midnight on 12/4/15.

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Coal is king among pollution that causes heart disease, study says - The Washington Post
by Duane 02 Dec '15

02 Dec '15

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/coal-is-king-among-p… Coal is king among pollution that causes heart disease, study says - The Washington Post By Darryl Fears, Washington Post, December 2, 2015 Exposure to emissions from coal-fired power plants over a long period of time is significantly more harmful to the heart than other forms of carbon pollution, a new study says. The risk of death from heart disease, including heart attacks, was five times higher for people who breathed pollution from coal emissions over 20 years than for those who were exposed to other types of air pollution, according to the study’s findings. The burning of coal releases fine particles with a potent mix of toxins, including arsenic and selenium. “Our results indicate that, pound for pound, coal-burning particles contribute roughly five times as much to heart disease mortality risk as the average air pollution particle in the United States,” said George D. Thurston, a professor of population health and environmental medicine at New York University and lead author of the study. [EPA rule on greenhouse gases latest blow to King Coal] Thurston and the study’s 10 other authors said that their findings should end assumptions in previous studies that carbon “particles have the same toxicity, irrespective of their source.” And they said the findings show the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to strengthen regulation of power plant emissions standards — as part of the White House’s Clean Power Plan — does not go far enough. The EPA’s calculations for lowering air pollution with stricter coal emission standards nationwide are wrong, the research shows, because the estimates are based on the assumption that particles from all sources of carbon pollutions are equally toxic and carry the same risks. Windblown particles from dust in Phoenix is far less toxic than emissions from coal-burning power plants in Pittsburgh. And urban motor traffic in Los Angeles produces emissions that are about half as toxic as coal, Thurston said. “You have to look at the various sources,” he said. “If we want to clean particles, where should we start? We should start with the particles that are most toxic.” Thurston said governments across the world have taken clean air models from the United States and applied them without considering that the level of danger is higher or lower depending on the pollution source. “In the Arab world, there are high levels of particle pollution, but they’re from windblown soil,” Thurston said. “You think those are the same as coal? They’re not.” The study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, released early Wednesday to coincide with the world climate talks in Paris. The EPA said in August that its plan would lower power plant carbon pollution that causes “the soot and smog that harm health, while advancing clean energy innovation,” according to its Web site. The agency estimated that it would help Americans avoid 1,700 heart attacks and 3,600 premature deaths. Nearly half of the nation’s state attorneys general filed lawsuits seeking to block the new regulations when they were finalized in September. Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia’s attorney general, called the plan “one of the most far-reaching energy regulations in this nation’s history.” Air pollution has been identified by the World Health Organization as a major health threat linked to heart disease across the globe. In the United States, it causes 1 in every 5 heart disease-related deaths, according to the American Heart Association. The study relied on a trove of data collected between 1982 and 2004 by the American Cancer Society, which sent hundreds of volunteers to question about 1 million people about their health. The coal study examined information collected from about 450,000 people who lived in areas where pollution exposure data was available. To reduce the number of people dying from air pollution worldwide, Thurston and his colleagues said, there must be a stronger emphasis on reducing coal emissions. [States sue to block EPA emissions rule — even as some try to comply] Aruni Bhatnagar, a University of Louisville professor of cardiovascular medicine and a volunteer with American Heart Association, called the study’s finding’s surprising because of the long-held assumption in previous studies: All sources of pollution “have the same lethality,” he said. Before now, there had only been talk, based on expert guesses, that coal emissions could be “more toxic than other particles,” Bhatnagar said. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Unearthing The Fossil Fuels In Mutual Funds
by Duane 09 Nov '15

09 Nov '15

http://www.fa-mag.com/news/unearthing-the-fossil-fuels-in-mutual-funds-2368… Unearthing The Fossil Fuels In Mutual Funds NOVEMBER 2, 2015 • CAROL J. CLOUSE, Financial Advisor Magazine If you’re into green investing, do you really know what’s in your portfolio? Andrew Behar, the CEO of As You Sow, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit that works with shareholders to promote corporate responsibility, discovered he didn’t when he began digging around in the mutual funds of his employer-sponsored 401(k). “I realized, and it took me hours to find out, that I owned all of the companies we’re engaged with: Exxon, Chevron, Halliburton,” Behar says. “In four of the seven funds that I owned, I was up to my neck in fossil fuels.” That was a problem for an organization that rallies investors to hold companies accountable on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, with climate change being one of the biggies. So in the name of practicing what they preach, As You Sow switched to a green retirement plan and developed a tool that allows investors to unearth the fossil-fuel company stocks (coal companies, oil/gas producers and fossil-fired utilities) in their own mutual funds, without spending hours doing so. The organization then partnered with investment research firm Morningstar—which provides the equity and mutual fund data—to launch Fossil Free Funds in September. Free and easily searchable, the Fossil Free Funds database currently holds information on 1,500 mutual funds, chosen largely based on net assets and the number of retirement plans using them. Some smaller socially responsible funds were also included to provide options for investors who want to switch. Typing in a fund’s name or ticker lets you see the percentage of its assets, if any, that are invested in companies linked to fossil fuels. For now, the data represents only open-end funds or exchange-traded funds with at least 50% in equities, though As You Sow plans to add fixed-income products. Behar says he hopes the transparency created by Fossil Free Funds will put pressure on companies to offer more fossil-free options in the retirement plans of their employees. Putting Fossil Free Funds to the test, I typed in the ticker symbols of the two Fidelity mutual funds my husband and I own. The first, which invests in information technology, came up clean. The second, a global stock fund, turned out to be slightly dirty with 3.45% invested in companies such as Cabot Oil & Gas, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron. However, I ran into a roadblock when I tried to look into my 401(k), a plan sponsored by a former employer and run by Charles Schwab, which I’ve lazily held on to as a freelancer. Nearly 70% of my 401(k) assets are invested in a collective trust fund, a fund type exclusive to institutional investors and therefore exempt from disclosure requirements. In other words, to the extent that a retirement plan doesn’t use retail products, it becomes less penetrable. Of course, that doesn’t mean an employee can’t simply request socially responsible options, even if the particulars of their plan remain murky. This is something retirement plan administrators and financial advisors will likely see more of. Driven by a growing consensus that investing responsibly doesn’t mean sacrificing returns, demand for ESG products has risen considerably among both institutions and individuals and shows no signs of slowing. Between 2012 and 2014, ESG assets under management in the U.S. grew 76%, to $6.57 trillion from $3.74 trillion, according to a report from the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. Morningstar has taken note and is developing ESG scores for global mutual funds and ETFs it aims to roll out by year’s end. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: November calendar for Mon Group of Sierra Club
by Duane Nichols 01 Nov '15

01 Nov '15

> From: Sierra Club - West Virginia Chapter <jimscon(a)gmail.com> > Date: November 1, 2015 > Greetings ! > > We still need candidates to run in the Mon Group election for next year. Please let me know by November 7 if you know of anyone who might be interested in serving. sallywilts(a)yahoo.com > > Sierra Calendars are available for purchase and make great Christmas gifts. Wilderness calendars are $12 and desk calendars are $13. Contact Candice Elliott at celliot2(a)comcast.net > > ***Monday November 9, 6-8 PM, Gaston Caperton Center, 501 West Main St., Clarksburg > JOBS IN THE NEW ENERGY ECONOMY - Forum co-sponsored by the WV Sierra Club Energy Efficiency Campaign and the North Central WV Democracy for America. This forum will emphasize the economic benefits of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. > For information, contact Laura Yokochi (304) 695-1523, lyokochi(a)aol.com OR Autumn Long (304) 796-4677, autumnlong11(a)gmail.com. > > ***Saturday November 14 > Chapter Executive Committee Meeting in Doddridge County. Members welcome. Contact Liz Wiles for more information. Liz_wiles(a)comcast.net > > ***Saturday, November 14 > Autumn Adopt-a-Trail Service Outing: Coopers Rock SF > rated easy hiking; easy to moderate work intensity -- Join the fun with the fall trail maintenance for Sierra Club's adopted Intermediate Cross Country Ski Trail at Cooper's Rock South. Fall clean-up emphasizes clearing fallen leaves, drainage restoration and trail clearing along a 1.25-mile loop. Volunteers should wear sturdy boots, and carry work gloves, water, snacks. Useful tools to bring are long handled pruners, rakes, and pointed shovels. Adults and adolescents are invited to help and those under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or a legal guardian. Volunteers will be required to sign a standard Sierra Club Liability Waiver and a DNR Volunteer Work Program Agreement. Please pre-register with the leader. > Leader: Ann Devine-King, 304-594-2636, atdking(a)gmail.com > Nearest town: Morgantown, WV > Web info: http://www. coopersrockstateforest.com > > >> Activities with other groups: > > ***Wednesday November 4 from 6 to 9pm at Friends Meetinghouse, 648 Brockway, Morgantown (across from Superior Photo, just before you enter Marilla Park) > We are meeting to form a local chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. > > Citizens' Climate Lobby is a non-profit, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. We train and support volunteers to reclaim their democracy and engage elected officials and the media to generate the political will for solutions that will stabilize the Earth's climate. > http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org > > Contact Kitty Lozier at clozier(a)gmail.com for more information >>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > Morgantown Municipal Green Team Sponsors final community forum in the series: Air, Water and Waste: Where is Morgantown heading? Each session will be held 6-7:30 PM at the Morgantown Public Library, 373 Spruce Street > > ***Tuesday November 10 "Is Recycling Working in Morgantown and What Can We Do About It? "Sponsored by the Morgantown Green Team with speakers from City of Morgantown, Monongalia County, Republic Services and WVU. For more information call 703-463-7643 >>>>>>>>>>>>> > > ***November 11, 7PM : Science on Tap Presentation by Friends of Deckers Creek Project Manager, Nick Revetta. Morgantown Brewing Company. Come out and have a drink while learning more about the Deckers Creek Watershed! > Visit http://www. deckerscreek.org for more information on upcoming events > > >>>>>>>>>>>> > ***November 18, 2015 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. > Straight Scoop on Shale Conference > University of Pittsburgh University Club, > 123 University Place > Presented by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania's "Straight Scoop on Shale" initiative and hosted by the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health. > As in previous years, this year's conference will feature important new research on shale and public health impacts. Bruce Pitt PhD will present new research regarding birth impacts. Nationally known speaker and MacArthur Fellow Wilma Subra, who has served on EPA committees and currently chairs STRONGER's Air Quality policy and regulatory review committee, will discuss environmental health issues, air modeling, and ethane crackers based on her experiences in Louisiana. Brian Schwartz MD of Johns Hopkins, who is a Senior Investigator in the Geisinger Center for Health Research, will present research from the Geisinger data. See the website for other topics and presenters. > This year's conference includes a round-table brainstorming session where the public can interact with experts and civic leaders. > There is also a special breakout session on addressing shale issues in practice for those seeking professional credit hours. > More Information and Registration: 1-800-61-SHALE > Visit our website: http://shale.palwv.org > > Sierra Club 85 Second St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105

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: [Morgantown LWV] Wednesday - Citizens Climate Lobby Meeting
by Duane 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Begin forwarded message: > From: Judith Smith Wilkinson <jsw1403(a)hotmail.com> > Date: October 20, 2015 6:42:49 AM EDT > To: Judith Smith Wilkinson <JSW1403(a)HOTMAIL.COM> > Subject: Fwd: [Morgantown LWV] Wednesday - Citizens Climate Lobby Meeting > > > Please forward to other > concerned citizens. Hope to see you at this meeting. > >> From: Jonathan Rosenbaum <jr(a)wvcompletestreets.org> >> Date: October 20, 2015 at 2:38:06 AM EDT >> To: LWV Morgantown-Monongalia <morgantown(a)lwvwv.org> >> Subject: [Morgantown LWV] Wednesday - Citizens Climate Lobby Meeting >> >> The Natural Resources committee of LWVMM encourages you to attend a meeting of the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) this Wednesday, October 21, 6pm at the Morgantown Public Library. CCL is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. >> Learn about CCL's Carbon Fee and Dividend policy proposal. CCL hopes to establish a chapter in Morgantown. Currently, they have a chapters in Charleston and Huntington. >> >> The NR Committee has a strong interest in exploring ways to address climate change. For additional information, please contact Kitty Lozier <clozier(a)gmail.com> . >> >> -Jonathan Rosenbaum, League of Women Voters, et al. >> _______________________________________________ >> Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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First Green Team-sponsored forum on air quality a success!
by Duane330＠aol.com 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

____________________________________ From: pamela(a)cubberly.net To: morgantowngreenteam(a)googlegroups.com Sent: 10/12/2015 10:03:13 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time Subj: First Green Team-sponsored forum on air quality a success! Dear all, Our first community forum in our fall series "Air, Water, and Waste: Where Is Morgantown Heading?" attracted 21 folks in addition to Green Team members and speakers. Nearly all who signed our sign up sheet, also checked boxes for more information on participating in follow-up on this forum! Thanks to Duane Nichols of the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition for organizing the speakers and facilitating the event! Our next forum on water quality is scheduled for Thursday, October 29 sponsored by Downstream Strategies and MUB and including their speakers as well as Rick Landerberger of WV Land Trust on green space and water quality. More details to come. Hope you will join us! Cheers, Pamela S. Cubberly, Cubberly & Associates 703-218-5417 (tel), 703-463-7643 (cell) Pamela(a)Cubberly.net >>>>>>>>>>>>> Subject: DEP Public Notice - County - Monongalia - Notice of Intent to Approve Permit R13-2068R for Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s Chestnut Ridge Facility =========================================================== Thursday, October 1, 2015 @ 2:58 PM =========================================================== Notice of Intent to Approve On July 13, 2015, Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. applied to the WV Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality (DAQ) for a permit to modify the Chestnut Ridge Facility located 781 Chestnut Ridge Road, Morgantown, Monongalia County, WV at latitude 39.65923 and longitude -79.95824. A preliminary evaluation has determined that all State and Federal air quality requirements will be met by the proposed facility. The DAQ is providing notice to the public of its preliminary determination to issue the permit as R13-2068R. No changes in potential annual emissions will be authorized by this permit action. Written comments or requests for a public meeting must be received by the DAQ before 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2015. A public meeting may be held if the Director of the DAQ determines that significant public interest has been expressed, in writing, or when the Director deems it appropriate. The purpose of the DAQ's permitting process is to make a preliminary determination if the proposed Modification will meet all State and Federal air quality requirements. The purpose of the public review process is to accept public comments on air quality issues relevant to this determination. Only written comments received at the address noted below within the specified time frame, or comments presented orally at a scheduled public meeting, will be considered prior to final action on the permit. All such comments will become part of the public record. Joe Kessler, PE, WV Department of Environmental Protection Division of Air Quality, 601 57th Street, SE, Charleston, WV 25304 Telephone: 304/926-0499, ext. 1219, FAX: 304/926-0478 Additional information, including copies of the draft permit, application and all other supporting materials relevant to the permit decision may be obtained by contacting the engineer listed above. The draft permit and engineering evaluation can be downloaded at: _www.dep.wv.gov/daq/Pages/NSRPermitsforReview.aspx_ (http://www.dep.wv.gov/daq/Pages/NSRPermitsforReview.aspx)

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How Clean is our Air --- Tonight at 6 pm, Morgantown Public Library
by Duane 08 Oct '15

08 Oct '15

Date: October 1, 2015 To: Community and Local Calendar Editor From: Pamela S. Cubberly, Morgantown Municipal Green Team (703-463-7643) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Green Team Holds First of Three Community Forums on Thursday, October 8: “How Clean Is Morgantown’s Air and What Can We Do About It?” Next Thursday, October 8, Morgantown area residents are invited to participate in a community forum on “How Clean Is Morgantown’s Air and What Can We Do About It?” The forum takes place at the Morgantown Public Library, 6:00pm–7:30pm (373 Spruce Street). Parking is available across the street. Organized by the Morgantown Green Team as part of its Green Nights at the Library, the forum is the first in a three-part series called “Air, Water, and Waste: Where Is Morgantown Heading?” The October 8th forum will be facilitated by Duane Nichols of the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition, who will open the evening by addressing local concerns about air quality. Presenting the latest assessments of air quality in our area will be Tim Carroll, Assistant Director of Air Monitoring for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality in Charleston, WV. Then Professor Michael McCawley, WVU Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, will present evidence on levels of ultra-fine particulate matter in our area as well as the rest of West Virginia. Air quality in the Morgantown area has long been of concern to many residents. The city’s record, although relatively good overall, has had certain worrying and seasonal exceptions, for example, ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter. In the summer, ozone measurements have sometimes reached EPA non-attainment levels along major traffic thoroughfares. Second in this series of community forums, “How Clean Is Morgantown’s Water and How Can We Keep It That Way?” takes place on Thursday, October 29. The third, “Is Recycling Working in Morgantown and What Can We Do About It?” takes place on Tuesday, November 10. Each event runs from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at the Morgantown Public Library (373 Spruce Street). The Morgantown Municipal Green Team is a group of citizens that advises the City of Morgantown on matters relating to sustainability in public policy, planning, education, departmental management, development, and evaluation of environmental and energy-related issues. For more information, please visit www.morgantownwv.gov/green/green-team. For more information on this and other Green Nights, please contact Pamela Cubberly, Morgantown Municipal Green Team at 703-463-7643 or Pamela(a)Cubberly.net. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: Methane pollution stops here!
by Duane Nichols 17 Sep '15

17 Sep '15

> From: Clean Air Council <members(a)cleanair.org> > Date: September 17, 2015 at 1:40:27 PM EDT > To: duane330(a)aol.com > Subject: Methane pollution stops here! > Reply-To: eroben(a)cleanair.org > > > > Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > 7.3 million metric tons. > > That's how much methane the gas industry spills into our nation's air every year. Considering that methane is 86 times worse for climate change than carbon dioxide and is emitted alongside air toxics and other unhealthy pollutants, that spells bad news for our future. > > This August, the EPA proposed the first ever rules to cut methane pollution. It's a good first step, but the rules don't go nearly far enough if we're serious about mitigating climate change and protecting public health. That's why we need you out there with us, telling the federal government and Pennsylvania that we're fed up with unchecked pollution from the gas industry and we expect the toughest rules possible. > > Will you join us to rally for clean air in Pittsburgh? > > > > We're organizing buses from several locations across the state, so RSVP below if you need transportation! > > State College, Altoona, Blairsville: http://bit.ly/1P3oTmu > > Harrisburg, Somerset, New Stanton: http://bit.ly/1KTCn6k > > Washington, Waynesburg: http://bit.ly/1KszK9J > > Let's make sure the EPA can't ignore our message that we deserve clean air and a stable climate. > > > See you in Pittsburgh, > > Joseph Otis Minott, Esq. > Executive Director > > PHILADELPHIA > > 135 S. 19th Street > Suite 300 > Philadelphia, PA 19103 > P: (215) 567-4004 > F: (215) 567-5791 > HARRISBURG > > 107 N. Front Street > Suite 113 > Harrisburg, PA 17101 > P: (717) 230-8806 > F: (717) 230-8808 > WILMINGTON > > 100 W. 10th Street > Suite 607 > Wilmington, DE 19801 > P: (302) 691-0112 > Unsubscribe > >

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Re: [MVCAC] Optimized Citizen Air Sensors
by Duane 06 Sep '15

06 Sep '15

On Sep 6, 2015, at 2:44 PM, Jim Rosenberg <jr(a)amanue.com> wrote: > Duane, thanks! *Link please*?? << JIM, SEE BELOW >> > > I'm familiar with both Speck and Air Quality Egg, and have built my own from off-the-shelf parts using the same particulate sensor as is in the Egg and a similar one to the one in the Speck. But I don't know anything about Air Beam. > > The VOC sensor in the Air Quality Egg is really awful, BTW, pretty much worthless for what we need. The dust sensor is quite good, however. > > -Thanks, Jim >>>>>>>>>>>>> OBSERVER REPORTER, Washington, PA, September 5, 2015 Are cheap sensors and concerned citizens leading to a shift in air monitoring? By Natasha Khan, PublicSource, newsroom(a)observer-reporter.com It wouldn’t have happened five or 10 years ago. That’s what one expert said about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency helping regular citizens – or “citizen scientists” – collect their own air quality data. “The idea that the EPA would take the lead, seemingly to promote community-collected data, would have been unthinkable,” said Gwen Ottinger, an assistant professor at the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Philadelphia’s Drexel University who studies how communities use developing technologies to measure air pollution near oil refineries. Some officials within the EPA have traditionally been skeptical of community-collected data, but the agency seems to be moving toward empowering communities to create their own studies, she said. Responding to an explosion of low-cost, easy-to-use sensors to monitor air quality in recent years, EPA scientists are studying the accuracy of these “next-generation air monitors,” and how the data collected might be used to improve communities and, eventually, affect how air quality is monitored and regulated. Right now, these sensors can cost as little as a few hundred dollars and have hip names, like Air Beam and Speck. They’re marketed as tools to empower citizens to learn about the air they breathe and to use their findings to take action – by, for instance, purchasing an air filtering system or choosing a less-polluted bike route. Air quality can be different from neighborhood to neighborhood. Or gas well to gas well. And environmental groups and citizens living around pollution sources have pushed governments – local, state and federal – for years to do more hyperlocal air monitoring, primarily to protect the health of people living close to these sites. That actually might be happening soon, but in a form that some wouldn’t have predicted. The development of low-cost air quality sensors, an increasingly aware and engaged public, and a government more willing to accept and help citizens collect data could mark a turning point in how air pollution is monitored and addressed in the country, experts told PublicSource. With scores of these air monitoring devices now available, citizens and the federal government want to know how well they work and how they can benefit from using them. Traditional air quality monitoring by regulators is done using expensive stationary equipment that takes averages of pollutants, like ozone and particulate matter, across a broad region. With citizen involvement, “can we go out there and obtain more data that we previously had not had the capabilities to obtain?” asked Ron Williams, a research chemist who is part of the effort to evaluate air quality sensors for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. The answer may be ‘yes.’ In fact, citizen science projects contributed to policy changes and political action. For example, in a community-led study, trained volunteers took air samples near oil and gas sites in five states. They found eight volatile chemicals that exceeded federal health guidelines. It was one of the studies included in the New York health commissioner’s review of public health studies that led to the state’s fracking ban. EPA efforts New sensor technologies could supplement existing government air quality networks; make sure companies are complying with air quality regulations; and monitor people’s personal exposure to pollutants, Williams wrote in a 2013 paper he authored with other EPA researchers. “We have a vested interest in understanding this technology and trying to apply it for our own benefit,” he said. The EPA has been at this research effort for about three years. Right now, Williams said his team is comparing how well the new sensors perform against federal-grade monitors. “We consider that a major effort, because some of these sensors do not perform that well,” he said, but added they’re working with manufacturers to inform them of ways to improve sensor performance. But, when it comes to accuracy, not every sensor has to be as precise as government monitors, Williams said. For instance, if someone wants to figure out whether a pollutant is present in any concentration, he said “one doesn’t necessarily need to be able to measure to the ‘nth’ degree.” “Sensors have a wide range of applicability,” he said. The agency also offers resources for structuring citizen science projects, including a guidebook on how to develop an air monitoring project with a major emphasis on how to collect quality data. So just how interested are people in using EPA’s tools for air monitoring? That’s hard to measure, but Williams said the guidebook has been downloaded more than 100,000 times worldwide in the past six to seven months. Also, in early July, the EPA hosted a training event and webinar that drew more than 800 participants. Citizens as cheap labor Scientists realized citizens present a cheap labor pool in a world where funding for research is drying up, said experts who study and coordinate citizen science projects. “There just isn’t a lot of money for ‘big science’ at the EPA” anymore, said Mathew Lippincott, director of production at Public Lab, a nonprofit that develops open-source tools to investigate environmental concerns. “The EPA has begun to reconsider their role, moving away from ‘big science’ and professional judgments toward considering more public data in (the) form of citizen science.” Federal agencies recognized citizen science can help fill important data gaps, said Darlene Cavalier, the founder of SciStarter, a Philadelphia-based group that promotes citizen science and serves as a clearinghouse to connect the general public to more than 600 citizen science projects. For example, Cavalier’s group is working on a soil moisture project with NASA scientists who will use data gathered by citizen scientists on the ground to “complement and validate what is seen from space.” “NASA was clear with us” she said. They said, “‘This is where we have gaps in information’ … so we definitely see where there are clear cut cases where there is a need for the data.” But Ottinger, the Drexel professor, said the EPA’s efforts to help citizens monitor the air may be about “reasserting control” during this rapid proliferation of low-cost air sensors. “I think part of it is, sort of, a deep suspicion and mistrust that anything a community could be producing could be good,” she said. Along similar lines, a law passed in Wyoming in March effectively bans citizen science throughout the state. The law strengthens state trespass laws and makes it illegal to “collect resource data” on any private, public or federal land outside city boundaries. The law was passed after an environmental group took water samples they said proved cattle ranchers (a major industry there) were allowing their cows to graze too close to waterways, which caused high levels of E. coli bacteria in streams. Ottinger said she suspects people are gathering data using these new sensors the EPA doesn’t think is good data, but their projects still get a lot of traction in the media. “It must be driving those scientists nuts,” Ottinger said. Nadia Steinzor, a coordinator with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project at Earthworks, a national environmental advocacy group, said the EPA’s efforts are more likely a response to persistence by environmental groups. “I think that the EPA likely began the citizen air monitoring work because they recognized something that advocates and gas patch residents have said for years: Industry and state regulators aren’t monitoring air quality at [oil and gas] wells and facilities,” she said. If the EPA’s goal really is community-based monitoring, Steinzor said, they need to go further and actually equip communities with air monitors. “They will need to train the residents, distribute tools across a wide area, and conduct plenty of follow-up,” she said. “They will need to help communities interpret the data and figure out how to use it to fight for better protections from air pollution.” Reach Natasha Khan at 412-315-0261 or nkhan(a)publicsource.org. Follow her on Twitter @khantasha. >>>>>>>>> URL for above article, so you see sensors better: http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20150905/NEWS01/150909635

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Optimized Citizen Air Sensors
by Duane330＠aol.com 06 Sep '15

06 Sep '15

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Audubon Society: North American Birds Are Threatened by Climate Change
by Duane 05 Sep '15

05 Sep '15

http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/05/changing-climate-birds/ Audubon Society: North American Birds Are Threatened by Climate Change From Tim Radford, Climate Change Network, September 5, 2015 Some of North America’s birds may no longer be at home on the range. More than half of 588 studied species could lose more than 50 percent of their flying, breeding and feeding space before the end of the century—because of climate change. The bald eagle, iconic bird of the U.S. is among the North American species threatened by climate change. The researchers who discovered the precarious future facing so many species say they were shocked to find that rising temperatures could have such widespread effects on the continent’s birds. The finding comes from one of the world’s most distinguished ornithological bodies, the U.S. National Audubon Society. Gary Langham, Audubon’s chief scientist, and colleagues report in the Public Library of Science journal PLOS One that they used mathematical models and results from two long-established annual surveys in the breeding season and in winter to estimate future geographic range shifts. Systematic Study The research was based on huge amounts of data. The society’s Christmas Bird Count has been continuous since 1900, and provides a good estimate of numbers in those species that overwinter. And the North American Breeding Bird Survey, a systematic study conducted between mid-May and July in the U.S. and Canada, involves tens of thousands of three-minute counts of every bird seen or heard at 50 stops along a 39-kilometer route. The scientists also used three different climate change scenarios—as carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere because of fossil fuel combustion, so the planet’s average temperature rises and climate changes—to explore the possible futures for bird species in a vast landscape that is home to everything from eagles to hummingbirds. They found that 314 species would lose half or more of their traditional range. Of this total, around 180 species would find that although they would lose the range they had, they would probably be able to acquire new feeding or breeding habitat, as conditions changed. But for 120, the habitat would shrink altogether—that is, there would be nowhere else for them to go. The world’s birds are in trouble—and not just on land or on one continent. Conservation Measures One in eight species is threatened with extinction, although in the better-developed nations, there have been systematic attempts to establish conservation measures. The Audubon study, however, found that the strategies devised and supported now to extend conservation might not be of much use in a world in which climates changed and habitat that had endured for 10,000 years was destroyed, degraded or exploited. “We were shocked to find that half of the bird species in North America are threatened with climate disruption,” Dr Langham says. “Knowing which species are most vulnerable allows us to monitor them carefully, ask new questions, and take action to help avert the worst impacts for birds and people.” See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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More evidence that the key to allergy-free kids is giving them plenty of dirt — and cows - The Washington Post
by Duane 03 Sep '15

03 Sep '15

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/09/03/more-e… More evidence that the key to allergy-free kids is giving them plenty of dirt — and cows By Rachel Feltman, Washington Post, September 3, 2015 I'm not saying you should let this cow lick your baby, but ... (Boris Roessler/DPA via AFP) People who grow up on farms -- especially dairy farms -- have way fewer allergy and asthma problems than the rest of us. Now one research team thinks they've brought science closer to understanding why. In a study published Thursday in Science, researchers report that they were able to pinpoint one possible mechanism for the allergy protection in mice they studied. Surprisingly, the protein that they fingered as the likely allergy-preventer doesn't actually affect the immune system -- it affects the structural cells that make up the lining of the lung. [Hotel rooms aren’t yucky – you colonize them with your own personal bacteria within hours] The research is related to something called the hygiene hypothesis, where a lack of exposure to microbes as a tyke leads to more allergy and asthma. It's what leads microbiologists to say that the best thing you can do for your kid is roll them around on the floor of the subway. That may indeed be true (as long as you roll very, very carefully!) but there's increasing evidence that farms have the best germs for preventing respiratory problems and allergic reactions later in life. One study found that just 25 percent of children living on Swiss farms reacted to common allergens like dust mites, pollen, animals and mold, while 45 percent of children in the general population reacted. An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies. Here's what happens when things like grass, pollen, trees and molds affect your body. (Jhaan Elker, Osman Malik and Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post) And among Amish children -- who obviously have some of the farmiest of farm lives, though other factors may also be at play -- reactions fall to a shocking 8 percent or less. It's still not totally clear what's behind this amazing allergy protection, but many scientists believe that the bacteria native to farms, especially ones that house livestock, may trigger something in children who live nearby. The researchers behind the latest study had previously found that the epithelial cells of the lungs are important in the development of allergy responses. "How does your body react the first time you inhale an allergen? The first cells that recognize the allergen are not so much the cells of the immune system, but the structural cells that make up the inside of the lungs," Bart Lambrecht of Ghent University, who co-led the study with Hamida Hammad, told The Post. So they wanted to see how this farm effect might be visible in the lungs themselves. In their experiment, Lambrecht and Hammad induced dust mite allergies in mice, then showed that exposure to dust from a dairy farm made early in life made them immune. [In space, astronauts’ immune systems get totally confused] Then, they studied the mechanism that was protecting the mice, making their mucous membranes less likely to react to the allergens. They found a protein called A20, which the mice were producing when exposed to the farm dust. When the researchers knocked out the A20 in their subjects' lungs, the farm dust stopped protecting them from allergic reactions. Roll that baby in the dirt, lady. (iStock) A test in mice can't definitively provide answers on human health. But the research team did go one step further -- they tested 2,000 children who lived on farms, and they found that those who suffered from allergies in spite of their upbringing had a mutation on the gene related to A20, causing the protein to malfunction. "A20 was not a coincidence, it was really necessary," Lambrecht said. "This is linking, showing a cause and effect link, between exposure to farm dust and fewer allergies. I think our study is a big step forward." While there are almost certainly other factors at play in allergy development and prevention, Lambrecht and his colleagues hope that the cells of the lung itself will get more attention in research. This could be a sign, he said, that allergy and asthma vaccines need to be administered by aerosol instead of injection in order to truly be effective. And it may mean that epidemiologists need to think twice before focusing on blood samples alone in their allergy studies. [Exposing infants to peanuts causes big reduction in peanut allergy, study shows] "The study opens an new area of investigation in our long quest to understand the hygiene hypothesis, which is the complex interaction of farm exposures and their impact on the function of structural cells of the airway," said Mark Holbreich, a physician who studies the hygiene hypothesis but was not involved in the new research. But while A20 is a fascinating new piece of the puzzle, it's unlikely to put an end to allergies as we know them. "We know from many studies that there appear to be multiple factors that contribute to protection," Holbreich said. "This article adds to our expanding knowledge yet we are still far from developing a means for the primary prevention of allergies and asthma."

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City grime 'breathes back out' polluting nitrogen gases - BBC News
by Duane 18 Aug '15

18 Aug '15

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33970233 City grime 'breathes back out' polluting nitrogen gases From Jonathan Webb, BBC News, August 18, 2015 Field experiments were done in the German city of Leipzig Scientists say the grime which clings to urban surfaces "breathes out" nitrogen gases when hit by sunlight. The dark muck was known to absorb such gases from the air, but it appears the nitrogen does not stay locked away. In rooftop experiments in Germany, the researchers tracked the content of grime in both sunshine and shade. They say sunlit grime releases nitrogen in two forms: the toxic pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2), plus nitrous acid - a key driver of smog formation. The findings, presented at a conference of the American Chemical Society in Boston, were welcomed by pollution experts - and may explain a "missing" source of smog-producing gas in the skies of London. Grime and the city "Rather than being a permanent sink for nitrogen oxide gases... grime exposed to sunlight can re-release some of these gases back into the urban atmosphere," said James Donaldson, a chemistry professor at the University of Toroto in Canada who led the research. Some of Prof Donaldson's previous work had already shown that in a laboratory, artificial sunlight can strip the nitrogen component from grime - which is essentially a cocktail of chemicals belched into city air by exhaust pipes and chimneys. In the latest experiments he worked with colleagues in Leipzig, Germany, to shift the work outside. Two large trays of glass beads - one shaded, one sunny - were exposed to city air for six weeks On a tower above the city they set up two large shelves filled with beads of window glass. Both sets of beads received the same air flow - and got thoroughly grimy - but only one was in the sun. "The ones which were exposed to sunlight showed 10% less nitrate than the ones which were shaded, suggesting that there is a photochemical loss [of nitrogen] consistent with what we saw in the lab," Prof Donaldson told journalists at the conference. That 10% drop may seem like a small effect, but it reflects a "steady state" difference: as the sunshine eats away at the grime's nitrogen content, fresh nitrogen-rich grime is constantly being deposited. "In our lab experiments, what we did was take a full bathtub and pull out the plug," Prof Donaldson explained. "In the field experiment, we opened the plug but left the water running." Back in Toronto, he and his team measured exactly where the nitrogen goes when grime is exposed to sunlight. Two gases emerged, and neither of them were good news. Urban grime is "not a permanent sink" for nitrogen oxides "What we have seen in the lab is that [what comes out] is likely a combination of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrous acid (HONO or HNO2)," Prof Donaldson told the BBC. This is important because while NO2 is toxic, HONO can drive the production of ozone - the gas which causes photochemical smog in cities. Smog accounting Dr James Lee, from the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory at the University of York, said this production of HONO was the most significant aspect of the findings. "The amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx) given off by exhausts in the centre of a city will probably be much higher than what grime can take up and then give back off again," he explained. "But if some of it is transformed into HONO, then that really is important." Why? In part, because it might explain a puzzling gap in Dr Lee's own observations of polluted London air. "If you put into a model all the known sources of HONO, from my work in London there's about 30% missing compared to the quantity of HONO that you can measure directly," he explained, adding that this missing source is "very significant" for predicting ozone quantities - which the Met Office does as part of air quality forecasts. Some parts of London have levels of NO2 that are well above safety limits Simon Birkett, of the campaign group Clean Air in London, described the study as "a really worthwhile piece of research", noting that the sheer quantity of grime in London could make it "a big potential source of pollution". Mr Birkett pointed out that NO2 and ozone are the two gases that are currently regulated for health purposes. "If grime is contributing, then we need scientists to tell us how much [gas] is coming off and what health effects it has." See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Open Letter to FERC from MVCAC
by Duane330＠aol.com 18 Aug '15

18 Aug '15

Open Letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) TO: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20426 RE: Interstate Pipelines for Natural Gas & NGL from Fracked Horizontal Gas Wells We assert to you a responsibility to apply the following principles to your consideration of the PIPELINES now being planned in the United States: >> Natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) are hydrocarbons and fossil fuels, as such they are greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of the EARTH; and, when they are consumed will ultimately become carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas already above 400 ppm in the atmosphere, an unsafe level which promotes Global Warming and other problems. >> The President of the US has mandated that greenhouse gases are to be controlled and limited to reduce Global Warming and Climate Change, which has already reached extremes as demonstrated by global temperature measures and weather conditions. >> The US EPA seeks to control and limit greenhouse gases from all sources, particularly the fossil fuels that are the major contributors of methane and carbon dioxide. >> The US Department of the Interior seeks to limit damages to our public lands, and this example should carryover to State properties of Schools, Parks, Forests, and others. >> The US Forest Service has expressed substantial concerns for certain damages to our National Parks, National Forests and other forested lands due to pipeline construction, compressor stations, and extensive land and forest damages including fires and explosions that are not uncommon. >> The right of “eminent domain” which grants permission to private companies for the taking of personal property has been grossly abused by FERC; therefore, only in the most urgent and essential cases should such authority be granted, the instances should be very few and the land taken should be a very small amount and of marginal value. >> The “Halliburton loopholes” should be set aside as not appropriate in the regulation of the environmental damages of fracking and pipelines to water supplies, air quality and other protections. These considerations should apply to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline across WV, VA, and NC; to the Mountain Valley Pipeline across WV and VA, to the Nexus Pipeline across Ohio, Michigan and Canada; to the ET Rover Pipeline across WV, OH, Michigan and Canada; to the Sunoco Mariner East 2 Pipeline across Ohio, WV and PA, and to the many other large diameter and long distance pipelines that are being developed. This should also apply to the thousands of miles of smaller and shorter pipelines within the individual States, as we are particularly concerned about Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Virginia where extensive pipeline develop is underway. Access road construction and pipeline/compressor station installation and operation are destructive of the land, result in subsidence, sedimentation, fragmentation and other damages. Air pollution results from gas well development and from vents, leaks, flares, fires and explosions. The fracking silica sand and diesel trucks and other equipment have been shown to create dangerous health conditions due to ultra-fine particulates and other pollutants. Duane G. Nichols, Board Member, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition 330 Dream Catcher Circle, Morgantown, WV 26508 cc: President Obama, Governors of PA, OH, VA and WV

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"Hands Across Our Land" Gathering at Pt. Marion, PA, Tuesday, August 18th
by Duane 15 Aug '15

15 Aug '15

>>> Hands Across Our Land rally meeting on the Monongahela River Bridge in Pt. Marion, PA at 12:30 PM (during the noon hour) and again at 6:30 PM. Private citizens and members of other organizations from northern West Virginia will join those from Greene, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania. We will walk across the Bridge, thus connecting “Hands Across Our Land.” Come on out if you can or send a representative. >>> Tuesday, August 18th. NOTE: This is a peaceful event to involve walking across the Bridge in the designated walkway and back. Signs are welcome but certainly not necessary. We are showing our concerns about "hydraulic fracking" and large diameter pipeline construction thru our National Forests and over private land taken without owner approval. There will be an opportunity to sign a Petition for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as well as information on the protection of our region. Please come out for a few minutes at 12:30 pm or 6:30 pm. We will meet in the Post Office parking lot and adjacent spaces. Duane Nichols, duane330(a)aol.com, MonValley Clean Air Coalition, www.FrackCheckWV.net For more detail, see the following: http://www.FrackCheckWV.net/2015/08/06/hands-across-our-land-is-reaching-ou… >>>>>>>>>>>>> https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2015/08/12/sunoco-launches-eminent… Sunoco launches eminent domain proceedings against residents The planned Mariner East 2 trans-Pennsylvania pipeline is running into resistance from landowners. As Sunoco Logistics steps up efforts to create a pathway for its Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline across southern Pennsylvania, some landowners are resisting the company’s moves to build the pipeline across their properties. Residents in at least eight counties are rejecting the company’s offers of cash compensation as too low or unacceptable at any level, and say they will go to court to challenge any assertion of eminent domain that the company makes in an attempt to force its way across private land. Landowners contacted by StateImpact Pennsylvania accuse Sunoco of making low-ball compensation offers; proposing to locate the $2.5 billion pipeline in places where it could endanger water sources or buildings in the event of a leak or explosion, and of failing to state its plans clearly. Some who have rejected cash compensation have been served with documents that initiate an eminent domain action in court. The confrontations may represent just the beginning of a process that will pit local communities against energy companies that are sharply expanding Pennsylvania’s pipeline infrastructure in order to ship the abundant resources of the Marcellus Shale to domestic and international markets. The state could see as many as 30,000 additional miles of new pipeline built in the next 20 years, PA Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley said at the first meeting of a statewide task force on pipelines in July. >>>>>>>>>>>>> See the following for a listing of "Hands Across Our Land" rallies in West Union, WV, in the Greenbrier River valley and many other locations ..... > Subject: Hands Across Our Land | Friends of Nelson County, VA > > http://friendsofnelson.com/hands-across-our-land/ > > Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net >

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“Hands Across Our Land” is Reaching Out for You
by Duane 06 Aug '15

06 Aug '15

==================== >>> Duane Nichols is Hands Across Our Land coordinator for the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition meeting on theMonongahela River Bridge in Pt. Marion, PA at 12:30 PM (during the noon hour) and again at 6:30 PM. Private citizens and members of other organizations from northern West Virginia will join those from Greene, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania. We will form a chain across the Bridge, thus joining “Hands Across Our Land.” Come on out if you can or send a representative. >>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.frackcheckwv.net/2015/08/06/hands-across-our-land-is-reaching-ou… “Hands Across Our Land” is Reaching Out for You People Who Care Are Reaching Out To Protect Our Land Friends of VA, WV, PA, MD — Hands Across Our Land Join us on August 18, 2015, as we take a stand to protect our land and communities from the unnecessary and unwanted onslaught of new natural gas infrastructure. The Hands Across Our Land activities in Augusta, Nelson, and Buckingham Counties in VA are timed so that participants can move from west to east and be at each action: Hands Across Our Land – Augusta County, VA — Tuesday, August 18; 3:00 p.m. Braley Pond, 3:30 p.m. at the George Washington National Forest sign on 250 For directions to Braley Pond, click here. The group will meet at Braley Pond and then shuttle to the next stop at the George Washington National Forest sign on 250 (there is very little parking at this site, so please plan to take the shuttle with the group). Contact Deirdre Skogen (deirdre.skogen(a)gmail.com) or Ernie Reed (lec(a)wildvirginia.org) for more information. Coordinator: Misty Boos Hands Across Our Land – Nelson/Augusta Counties — Tuesday, August 18 at 5:15 p.m. Where: Rock bridge which connects the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive at Rt. 250 on Afton Mountain. We will meet at the top of Afton Mountain at 5:15 p.m., with photos at 5:30 p.m. on the rock bridge that joins the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive. This bridge has great history and certainly holds a special place in the hearts of Augusta/Nelson residents. It sits on the county line and has lots of available parking with an easy walk to the bridge. Nelson/Augusta coordinators are Marilyn Shifflett (Free Nelson) and Jennifer Lewis (Friends of Augusta). Contact freenelson3(a)gmail.com Hands Across Our Land – Nelson/Buckingham Counties — Tuesday, August 18 at 6:30 p.m. Where: James River Bridge, Rt. 56, Wingina. It will be held at the bridge across the James River on Route 56 at 6:30 p.m., with photos at 6:45 p.m. Nelson’s Matt Dwyer and Buckingham’s Chad Oba are coordinating the event. Contact freenelson3(a)gmail.com See entries below for “Hands Across Our Land” actions in other locations – Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and elsewhere! We are citizens, small business owners, and farmers from every walk of life standing up for our heritage and culture in rural West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania and beyond. We are united in our goal to stop the industrialization of our properties and communities by energy companies who seek to profit by stealing our land through the misuse of eminent domain! Dominion, Duke, Piedmont Natural Gas, AGL Resources, NextEra, EQT, Williams, Transco, Kinder Morgan and others would build their pipelines, well pads, compressor stations, and export facilities within feet of our homes, destroy thousands of acres of forested land, pollute our water supply, degrade our national treasures by crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Appalachian Trail, and pristine national forests, all in the name of profit for the few on the backs of thousands of private property owners. Stand with us as we hold Hands Across Our Land to protect our way of life! Each community participating plans a local event in their community to be held on August 18, 2015 at a location and time of your choosing! This is a solidarity action to let the fossil fuel industry and government officials know that while we are separate grassroots groups we stand with each other across our country in opposition to the build out of new fossil fuel infrastructure. Here is how it works: Local group/community plans an event in their local community at a location and time of their choice on August 18, 2015. Make signs! For example: “No Eminent Domain for Private Gain” “We’re Rural, Not Stupid” “Ban Fracking” “No Fracked Gas Pipelines” “We stand with Nelson County, VA” Or “We stand with Lancaster, PA” et cetera – you get the idea! Use “Hands Across Our Land” in the Name your Action. Example: Hands Across Our Land – Nelson County, VA Use the hashtag #HandsAcrossOurLand when using social media. Use the HAOL FaceBook page to share the time and place of your event, and photos of the event as it occurs. Send us your email addresses, and if you use twitter, your handle, so we can coordinate social media coverage on August 18. Promote your action on your Facebook pages and with the press. We have sample press releases for you to use. Give us local media information and we will send a press release to your local press about your participation in this action of solidarity! If your newspaper has a calendar section, list your event there. Hold your event and make sure to have participants hold hands to promote solidarity and symbolically create a blockade to the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure. Standing together, united in our cause, we will make a difference!! You may contact us at freenelson3(a)gmail.com Contact Free Nelson with questions or to plan an event in your community at freenelson3(a)gmail.com Here are some other “Hands Across Our Land” activities you may be close to (and, of course, there may be other events elsewhere): Charlottesville: Hands Across Our Lands event at 4:30 pm at the Free Speech Wall on the Downtown Mall. Front Royal: Protest Against Pipelines in Our National Forests and Parks. Gather at 4 pm at the Gazebo on Main Street. Brief speech by local anti-fracking activist, Tes Vogel. 4:30 begin marching up Main to N. Royal, then down to South Street Intersection, banner, drumming, chanting, holding hands across intersections with the signal permits. Should be over at 6 when a contingent will drive up to the Skyline pkwy for a photo with banner and mountains in background. Contact: Maya White Sparks, spiralgr(a)shentel.net >>> Mark Laity-Snyder is coordinating in Franklin County VA (Mountain Valley Pipeline) Here’s a link to their event. >>> Debra Carter is coordinating in Roanoke (Mountain Valley Pipeline). Here’s a link to their event. >>> Michael James-Deramo is coordinating with the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition. >>> Ann Marie Nau is coordinating Meyersville MD and Loudoun County, VA as they work together. >>> Tina Badger and Ann Osimani are coordinators in Montgomery County, VA >>> Deirdre Skogen (deirdre.skogen(a)gmail.com) has graciously volunteered to coordinate an HAOL action in the George Washington National Forest. >>> Leslee McCarty is Greenbrier County, WV‘s coordinator. Hands Across Our Land action will take place at Ronceverte City Park. Bring your boat and meet at the boat ramp at 6 pm or walk up on the bridge over the river. >>> Jessica Abramson is the Monroe County, WV coordinator. Monroe County is fighting the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. >>> Leslie Garcia is Hands Across Our Land coordinator for Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community. CCHC is fighting Dominion’s liquefaction plant to export LNG at Cove Point in Lusby, MD. ==================== >>> Duane Nichols is Hands Across Our Land coordinator for the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition meeting on the Monongahela River Bridge in Pt. Marion, PA at 12:30 PM (during the noon hour) and again at 6:30 PM. Private citizens and members of other organizations from northern West Virginia will join those from Greene, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania. We will form a chain across the Bridge, thus joining “Hands Across Our Land.” Come on out if you can or send a representative. Tagged as: compressor stations, drilling, explosions, fires, flares, fracking, gas well pads, leaks, marcellus shale, natural gas, noise, pipelines, public health issues, road damages Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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The Case for Divestment
by Duane Nichols 22 Jul '15

22 Jul '15

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7842740?ir=Politics Sent from my iPhone

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WV MetroNews – The EPA’s fish story
by Duane 22 Jul '15

22 Jul '15

http://wvmetronews.com/2015/03/25/the-epas-fish-story/ The EPA’s fish story Commentary by Hoppy Kercheval, MetroNews Talkline, March 25, 2015 Fifteen percent of all babies in utero in West Virginia have mothers who are subsistence fisherwomen — each of whom eats up to 300 pounds of fish every year that they or their family caught themselves from lakes. Well, at least that is the contention of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Today the U.S. Supreme court takes up challenges to the EPA’s proposed new standards for emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants from power plants. The agency proposes that those emissions be cut by between 75 and 90 percent starting next year. That would seem to be a good thing. As the New York Times opined this week, “One of the most toxic of these pollutants is mercury, a heavy metal that accumulates in waterways and the fish American’s eat.” It can be dangerous for young children and fetuses. The EPA argues that the potential health benefits justify the new rules, which will be yet another blow to the coal industry and coal-fired power plants. But the EPA has strained mightily to try to explain how domestic power plant emissions, which account for about one-half of one percent of all mercury in the atmosphere, are so dangerous that they justify spending almost $10 billion per year to reduce them. And that brings us back to the fisherwomen. The EPA has created a hypothetical population of women of child-bearing age who catch and ingest huge amounts of lake fish that contain high levels of mercury to try to demonstrate the risk. According to the agency’s calculations, there are about 240,000 pregnant women per year in America who supposedly live off of fish caught by themselves or their families in lakes. The agency then further calculates that the IQ of children born to these fisherwomen would be lowered by an average of 0.009 of a point because of neurotoxins in mercury, an utterly insignificant number when you consider the error range for IQ tests is between five and ten points. The EPA model contends the diminished IQ will result in an annual loss of future earnings of about $6 million per year for all individuals. The EPA even breaks out the alleged impact by state. According to the agency’s numbers, about 15 percent of all births in West Virginia in 2005 (3,042 babies) were to subsistence fisherwomen who caught and ate up to six pounds of lake fish a week. As one person tweeted to me yesterday, “It’s no wonder I can’t catch any fish lately; all the pregnant women are catching/eating them.” But there’s more. The EPA says when power plants are forced to install equipment to reduce mercury there will be “co-benefits” from the removal of other pollutants that will generate up to $90 billion annually in additional health benefits. However, as attorney Brian Potts pointed out in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, “The EPA has acknowledged that more than 90 percent of the mercury rule’s ‘co-benefits’ occur at air-quality levels the EPA itself says are already safe.” The EPA’s numbers sound official enough, but they’re clearly absurd to everyone… except the EPA and its acolytes who keep searching for ways to expand the agency’s authority to shut down coal-fired power plants. That’s something to contemplate the next time you are wetting a line and chatting with the pregnant woman next to you. Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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GASP Alerts Have a New Look!
by Duane 16 Jul '15

16 Jul '15

Rachel Carson Clean Power Hike The Sierra Club invites you to "explore, enjoy, and protect the planet" with them this Saturday morning along the Rachel Carson Trail. Hear from them and others about large pollution sources, such as the coal-fired power plant in Rachel Carson's hometown--and how the Clean Power Plan can help protect us from the dangerous emissions these sources create. Learn more and RSVP here. Begin forwarded message: > From: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > Date: July 14, 2015 4:31:14 PM EDT > To: <duane330(a)aol.com> > Subject: GASP Alerts Have a New Look! > Reply-To: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > > Rachel Carson Clean Power Hike > > The Sierra Club invites you to "explore, enjoy, and protect the planet" with them this Saturday morning along the Rachel Carson Trail. Hear from them and others about large pollution sources, such as the coal-fired power plant in Rachel Carson's hometown--and how the Clean Power Plan can help protect us from the dangerous emissions these sources create. Learn more and RSVP here.

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Why Parts of the World Are Experiencing Record-Breaking Rainfall
by Duane 14 Jul '15

14 Jul '15

http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/13/record-breaking-rainfall/ Why Parts of the World Are Experiencing Record-Breaking Rainfall By Alex Kirby, Climate Network, News, July 13, 2015 If you think you’re getting an unusually hard soaking more often when you go out in the rain, you’re probably right. A team of scientists in Germany says record-breaking heavy rainfall has been increasing strikingly in the last 30 years as global temperatures increase. Before 1980, they say, the explanation was fluctuations in natural variability. But since then they have detected a clear upward trend in downpours that is consistent with a warming world. The scientists, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), report in the journal Climatic Change that this increase is to be expected with rising global temperatures, caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. High-impact flooding Short-term torrential rains can lead to what the team calls “high-impact” flooding. For example,extreme rainfall in Pakistan in 2010 brought devastation that killed hundreds of people and led to a cholera outbreak. In the same year, rainstorms in Texas caused dozens of flash floods. And no fewer than three “once-in-a-century” floods in Germany all happened in just a couple of years from 1997. “In all of these places, the amount of rain pouring down in one day broke local records—and while each of these individual events has been caused by a number of different factors, we find a clear overall upward trend for these unprecedented hazards,” says the lead author, Jascha Lehmann, a PIK researcher into climate impacts and vulnerabilities. Statistical analysis of rainfall data from 1901 to 2010, derived from thousands of weather stations around the globe, shows that from 1980 to 2010 there were 12 percent more of these intense events than would be expected in a climate without global warming. In the last year of the period the team studied, there were 26 percent more record-breaking daily rainfall events globally. Not all parts of the world are experiencing a similar pattern of soaking. The PIK scientists found that—possibly not surprisingly—wet regions generally saw a bigger increase in deluges and drier regions a smaller one. In southeast Asia, the observed increase in record-breaking rainfall events is as high as 56 percent, in Europe 31 percent, and in the central U.S. it is a more modest, but still worrying, 24 percent. In marked contrast, some regions have experienced significantly fewer record-breaking daily rainfall events. In the Mediterranean, the reduction is 27 percent, and in the western U.S. it is 21 percent. Both regions are at risk from severe droughts. The team says there is a simple scientific explanation for what they report. They compared their findings with existing knowledge about how much more water the atmosphere can store when temperatures rise, described by what they call the well-known Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Put simply, warmer air holds more moisture, which can be released during short-term heavy rainfall. The scientists show that the observed increase in unprecedented heavy rainfall generally fits with this thermodynamically expected increase under global warming. Upward trend “One out of 10 record-breaking rainfall events observed globally in the past 30 years can only be explained if the long-term warming is taken into account,” says co-author Dim Coumou, a PIK researcher into the links between atmospheric circulation and extreme weather events. “For the last year studied, 2010, it is even one event out of four, as the trend is upward.” There are, of course, qualifications to the broad picture. For instance, the scientists allowed for the fact that the quality of historic weather data differs from one place to another. Unsurprisingly, rainfall measurements from the Sahara desert are scarce, so the team avoids drawing conclusions for the region. But rainfall in regions such as Europe and the U.S. has been carefully monitored for over a century, allowing the authors to draw conclusions with high levels of confidence “The pronounced recent increase in record-breaking rainfall events is, of course, worrying,” Coumou says. “Yet since it is consistent with human-caused global warming, it can also be curbed if greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are substantially reduced.” 5 Extreme Weather Events Impacting the Planet June 2015 Smashes Heat and Rainfall Records in U.S. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Science Magazine: Our oceans are being impacted, more and more
by Duane 02 Jul '15

02 Jul '15

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6243/aac4722.full?utm_campaign=email-… CONTRASTING FUTURES FOR OCEAN AND SOCIETY FROM DIFFERENT ANTHROPOGENIC CO2 EMISSIONS SCENARIOS The ocean moderates anthropogenic climate change at the cost of profound alterations of its physics, chemistry, ecology, and services. Here, we evaluate and compare the risks of impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems—and the goods and services they provide—for growing cumulative carbon emissions under two contrasting emissions scenarios. The current emissions trajectory would rapidly and significantly alter many ecosystems and the associated services on which humans heavily depend. A reduced emissions scenario—consistent with the Copenhagen Accord’s goal of a global temperature increase of less than 2°C—is much more favorable to the ocean but still substantially alters important marine ecosystems and associated goods and services. The management options to address ocean impacts narrow as the ocean warms and acidifies. Consequently, any new climate regime that fails to minimize ocean impacts would be incomplete and inadequate. Science -- July 3, 2015: Vol. 349 no. 6243 See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Is Pittsburgh's Bad Air Putting Cyclists at Risk? | The Allegheny Front
by Duane 07 Jun '15

07 Jun '15

http://www.alleghenyfront.org/story/pittsburghs-bad-air-putting-cyclists-ri… Is Pittsburgh's Bad Air Putting Cyclists at Risk? From the Allegheny Front, Pittsburgh, June 5, 2015 It’s pretty much taken for granted that riding a bike is good for you. Studies have shown that biking not only benefits your physical health, it’s good for your mental health too. But cycling also carries some potential health risks—and not just the ones that come from a car door opening into your bike lane or riding without a helmet. Air pollution can also be a big problem for cyclists when they share the road with motorists. “I’ve had to get off my bike because I’ve been coughing so hard, either getting behind a big truck or something like that,” says Adam Haller, a bike commuter who also works at Thick Bikes on Pittsburgh’s South Side. “Sometimes I’ll notice, if I’ve been in a really heavy traffic ride, I can almost feel a film on my skin. And the smog doesn’t feel good at all.” Pittsburgh cyclists may have it especially bad. Air pollution in Pittsburgh is a serious public health issue. In fact, the city still consistently ranks among the 10 worst cities in America when it comes to air quality. A lot of that pollution, just like in other metro areas, comes from cars and trucks. And when cyclists share the road, they’re also sharing in all that car exhaust, which contains all kind of things that can be harmful to your heart and lungs. Carnegie Mellon's Albert Presto has produced the most detailed maps of Pittsburgh's air pollution to date. Photo: Lou Blouin Researchers are now starting to get a better idea of just how all that stuff moves around—or doesn't—in the city. For the last couple of years, Dr. Albert Presto, a mechanical engineer with Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, has tracked air pollution in the Pittsburgh area using a tricked-out cargo van that functions as a mobile lab. “Inside of it, we have different monitors for every pollutant that we’re interested in,” Presto says. “And to get our sample to each of those instruments, we have a tube that sticks out of the roof, and we suck air in through that tube to all of the different instruments.” Presto and his grad students drove this cargo van all over the city for a couple of years. And now, they’ve put all the data they’ve collected into a big color-coded map that gives a more detailed look at the Pittsburgh area’s air pollution. It’s sort of like a weather radar map but for air quality. Red spots on the map indicate bad air; blue is better air quality. This map showing black carbon particulate pollution in Pittsburgh shows hotspots along major roadways, industrial sites and in the river valleys. Most of the city's major bike trails right along the rivers. Map: Courtesy Albert Presto Some of what you see is what you’d expect. Industrial plants and major roadways are big red splotches on the map. But there’s also a lot of red along the rivers—partly because the river valleys tend to trap pollution. And this has huge implications for cyclists in Pittsburgh—because most of the city’s major bike trails run right along the rivers. “A lot of people cycle along the trail network near the rivers. So there’s definitely opportunity that maybe you are increasing your exposure to, especially, traffic-related pollution,” Presto says. Even so, you’re probably still better off biking than not. Most of the research out there shows that exercise, even in polluted areas like cities, is still a net benefit to your health. And one of the big payoffs of Presto’s maps is that you can actually use them to plan bikes routes with better air quality.

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Drexel Researchers First to Detect Air Quality Effects of Natural Gas Extraction in Marcellus Shale Region | Lab Manager
by Duane 22 May '15

22 May '15

http://www.labmanager.com/news/2015/05/drexel-researchers-first-to-detect-a… Drexel Researchers First to Detect Air Quality Effects of Natural Gas Extraction in Marcellus Shale Region An Overview Article from Drexel University, May 22, 2015 Using an Aerodyne Research, Inc. Mobile Laboratory and fence line tracer-release protocol, the team was able to measure emissions without having direct access to the sites. Photo courtesy of Drexel University While there have been a number of studies focusing on water quality impacts related to natural gas extraction in shale regions across the country, few have looked at the effect on air quality. In a paper recently published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, Peter DeCarlo, PhD, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences, and J. Douglas Goetz, a doctoral researcher in the Drexel Air Resources Research Laboratory, present the findings of a two-month mobile air monitoring campaign in several counties in the northeastern and southwestern Pennsylvania. The team looked specifically at gaseous chemicals and particulate matter released into the air from natural gas extraction. They compared levels of carbon monoxide, methane, ethane, nitrogen oxides and other volatile organic compounds to those found in other shale formations across the country where natural gas was being extracted. According to DeCarlo, air emission studies of shale gas extraction facilities in this region have thus far focused solely on the release of methane due to its impact on the climate system. DeCarlo’s research has a broader scope and is the first to also test for air pollutants that could pose a more immediate and local health hazard. The most significant findings of the research include: Relatively small increases in chemicals that affect air quality, such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic chemicals compared to other monitored regions. This indicates that these types of emissions cannot be generalized for all oil and natural gas extraction regions. The number of ultrafine particles originating from compressor stations was elevated, although the total particulate mass was not significantly increased. Ultrafine particles, though not regulated in the U.S., are thought to have health impacts. Methane emissions observed were generally higher than those reported in previous studies. DeCarlo’s team collected the data in collaboration with Aerodyne Research, Inc., using its Mobile Laboratory vehicle that looks something like a moving van with several sampling inlets affixed to the roof and instruments and computers for data processing inside. The Electric Power Research Institute funded the study and its air quality scientists helped guide the research concept and design plan. The team took air quality measurements using Aerodyne Research, Inc.'s Mobile Laboratory. Photo courtesy of Drexel University The research focused on two distinct regions of the Marcellus Shale formation where hydraulic fracturing is being used to extract natural gas. Bradford and Susquehanna are two counties in Northeast Pennsylvania that are part of the region known for producing “dry gas”—gas that is predominantly methane. The team spent two weeks in the summer of 2012 in the region before performing similar sampling in the southwestern part of the state, which is known to produce “wet gas.” Wet gas contains higher levels of hydrocarbons including ethane, propane and butane, which can be separated and sold or used in other chemical processes. Despite not having direct access to the sites, the group was able to use a fence line tracer-release sampling protocol. This allowed them to make downwind measurements with the mobile laboratory and provide an accurate assessment of site emissions and potential air quality impact. The team collected air quality data from four types of sites associated with the extraction and processing of natural gas: drilling sites—where the wells are being created; completion sites—the end of the drilling and hydraulic fracturing process when wells are prepared for continuous natural gas extraction; production sites—where natural gas is actively being extracted; and compressor stations—where the natural gas is pressurized for transport. The research included emissions samples from a variety of sites involved with natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Drexel University "In looking at a cross section of sites, we identified compressor stations as one of the larger long-term emission sources,” DeCarlo said. Completion sites were another large source of pollutants, although these emissions are transient. “In terms of persistent impacts to local air quality, compressor stations and other post-extraction processing are major sources of pollutants that have the potential to affect downwind air quality.” DeCarlo sees these findings as the first step toward a better understanding of the impact of natural gas extraction on the environment, which will allow leaders and citizens to make more informed choices and policies regarding the practice and energy policy as a whole. “It’s important not only to understand the impact of natural gas extraction on local and regional environments,” DeCarlo said. “But this information also fills in part of a bigger picture of the overall air quality and climate-relevant emissions from the entire life cycle of shale gas compared to other sources of electrical power including nuclear, renewables and other fossil fuels like coal.” Sent by Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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MUB and energy company settle most of their disputes
by Duane 13 May '15

13 May '15

Morgantown Utility Board Agrees to Disagree with Northeast Natural Energy over New Gas Wells MUB and energy company settle most of their disputes From an Article by David Beard, Morgantown Dominion Post, TheDPost.com, May12, 2015 Morgantown, WV -- Morgantown Utility Board (MUB) and Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) have largely resolved their differences over water safety issues related to three planned horizontal gas wells at the Morgantown Industrial Park. MUB General Manager Tim Ball said in an email Monday, May 11, “MUB and NNE have discussed the planned drilling at MIP, and have resolved all the technical details.” Two matters remain unresolved. MUB had wanted Northeast to provide a $1 million bond payable to MUB to cover potential disruptions of the water supply, and wanted Northeast to list MUB as an additional insured on its insurance coverages. Those issues were unresolved and have been left at an “agree to disagree” status, Ball said. Northeast President Mike John and Northeast’s Vice President for Regulatory Affairs Brett Loflin echoed that. “We’re confident we have everything in place” to protect the water and the environment, John said. Because the well pad is immediately upstream of MUB’s Monongahela River water intake, MUB began discussions with Northeast back in October over several safety concerns, primarily well casings, berms and liners, water testing and the composition of the drilling fluid. “Subsequent discussions,” Ball said, “have clarified that secondary containment and impervious liners will be provided to the same standard as was used in 2011. Those discussions also persuaded us that the details proposed by NNE regarding casing pipes and grouting thereof were appropriate.” On Monday, John said, “We feel pretty good about the project. There will be a lot of opportunities for folks to get a good look” at the operations. Ball had been concerned that synthetic drilling fluid might pose more harm than water-based, in case of a spill. But email exchanges with WVU’s professor Tim Carr, Marshall Miller professor of energy, assured him that the synthetic fluids are biodegradable and eco-friendly. NOTE: The schools near the well pad(s) as well as the businesses in the Morgantown Industrial Park are still at substantive risk from air pollution excursions from these extra high pressure drilling and fracking operations. Leaks, fires or explosions are not uncommon with such operations. Duane Nichols, Mon-Valley Clean Air Coalition. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Wells Are Increasing & Traveling Far Downwind
by Duane 03 May '15

03 May '15

http://www.itbusinessnet.com/article/Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-from-Natural-… Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Wells Are Increasing & Traveling Far Downwind College Park, MD (PRWEB) May 01, 2015 Emissions linked to hydraulic fracturing, the method of drilling for natural gas commonly known as fracking, can be detected hundreds of miles away in states that that forbid or strictly control the practice, according to a new paper published in the journal Atmospheric Environment. The study, conducted at the University of Maryland (UMD), is among the latest data presented in the ongoing debate over frackings long-term effects on the environment. The team used years worth of hourly measurements from photochemical assessment monitoring stations (PAMS) in the Baltimore, Md., and Washington, D.C., areas to identify the sources of organic carbons in the regions air. Starting in 2010, the data didnt seem to make sense. While theres been an overall decline in non-methane organic carbons and improvement in air quality since 1996, the atmospheric concentration of ethane, one of the components of natural gas, rose 30 percent between 2010 and 2013, says Sheryl Ehrman, professor and chair of UMDs Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the papers corresponding author. Methane accounts for 80-95 percent of the makeup of natural gas, and it is thought to have a global warming potential roughly 30 times greater than that of carbon dioxide. However, until recently, monitoring it has not been a priority. Ehrman and her team could not acquire enough long-term methane data for the study, so they instead tracked other tracer species (molecules) such as ethane, the second most abundant compound in natural gas, and indicative of emissions associated with natural gas drilling, production, and transport. Preliminary research revealed that there was nothing happening in Maryland that could account for the steep increase. Maryland does not currently permit fracking, but when Ehrmans team compared the rise in ethane to the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus shale play in neighboring states, they found a month-to-month correlation. After running a wind rose analysis a tool used by meteorologists to track the wind direction, distribution and speed in a specified area they felt even more confident that Maryland was receiving the tail end of emissions originating from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Two thirds of the time the Baltimore region was downwind of the Marcellus shale play, Ehrman says. The question you start to ask yourself is, if ethane levels are going up this much, and its only a small percentage of all natural gas, how much methane and other, more reactive emissions are escaping from these wells? says Ph.D. student Tim Vinciguerra, the papers lead author. Following the fracturing process, the well undergoes completion venting to clear out fluid and debris before production. A substantial amount of hydrocarbons are emitted as a result of this flowback procedure. And harmful emissions dont necessarily have to come from the well to be a byproduct of fracking, he adds. The diesel engines running the trucks and drilling equipment over long periods of time emit additional pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and larger hydrocarbons that also affect air quality. Over the course of the project, Ehrmans group ruled out other possible sources of ethane that did not produce enough of the gas to explain the change. These included vehicles, natural gas pipeline losses, and natural gas storage fields in Garrett County, Md., located 155 miles away from the area covered by the study. When the team performed the same ethane analysis for Atlanta, Ga., which is located in a region without new and widespread natural gas operations, they did not see the same spike in ethane concentrations. This study shows the potential contribution of shale gas extraction in Pennsylvania to air quality in downwind states, and the need to consider interstate transport when formulating environmental regulations for particulate matter and ozone control, says R. Subramanian, a research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, whose own research has shown that ethane is a unique marker for methane emissions from the natural gas system. The strong correlation between Marcellus shale gas production and ethane concentrations in Maryland in particular is a very intriguing result. Weve seen a statistically significant difference in the air quality on the days the wind passed over areas heavy in natural gas production versus the wind coming from areas with no known production, says Ehrman Group member Alexa Chittams, a Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering sophomore currently performing detailed wind trajectory analyses that could provide quantitative evidence that the ethane in Maryland came from neighboring states. This suggests that areas of natural gas production contributed to the ethane increase trends. What these results mean to me is that weve got strong indications that its a regional issue, says Ehrman. What we want to do is bring this to peoples attention, advocate for long-term methane monitoring, and promote regional cooperation in monitoring and reducing emissions from natural gas production. These new findings on natural gas emissions also are consistent with established findings by University of Maryland scientists showing westerly winds can carry power plant emissions and other pollution from states like Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to the Washington, D.C., region and elsewhere on the East Coast of the U.S. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Maryland Department of the Environment, and NASA. For More Information on the study: Timothy Vinciguerra, Simon Yao, Joseph Dadzie, Alexa Chittams, Thomas Deskins, Sheryl Ehrman, and Russell R. Dickerson. 2015. Regional Air Quality Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing and Shale Natural Gas Activity: Evidence from Ambient VOC Observations. Atmospheric Environment 110 (April): 144-150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.03.056 See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Plant flares emit more pollutants than previously thought, the EPA reports
by Duane 01 May '15

01 May '15

http://powersource.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2015/04/27/Flares-emit… Plant flares emit more pollutants than previously thought, the EPA reports From an Article by Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, April 27, 2015 A new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formula for calculating the amount of pollutants released by flares at refineries and chemical plants nationwide shows that those emissions are four times higher than previously thought. The EPA said last week that the court-ordered update of a decades-old method used by the government and individual industrial facilities to calculate pollution releases will provide more accurate estimates of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds released by the flaring or burning of waste gases at those facilities. The change was triggered by a 2013 lawsuit against the EPA by Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington, D.C., environmental enforcement advocacy organization. The EPA said the new formula does not apply to, and should not be used by, the expanding oil and gas development sector, a grouping that encompasses thousands of wells and compressor stations that occasionally flare gases, or gas processing facilities that regularly flare. An example of the latter is an ethane “cracker” that Shell Chemical Appalachia, a division of Royal Dutch Shell, is considering building along the Ohio River in Monaca, Beaver County. The Environmental Integrity Project said it was disappointed by the exclusion of the oil and gas sector and is considering further legal action. According to the lawsuit, EPA studies show that flaring releases pollutants at much higher levels than those used in an outdated guideline, which was based on 30-year-old data and hadn’t been updated every three years as the Clean Air Act requires. Calculations based on the new formula, according to Environment Integrity Project, indicate that an estimated 500 flares at approximately 100 refineries nationwide could be releasing up to 52,800 tons of volatile organic compounds annually instead of the 13,200 tons estimated by the EPA under the old formula. It also means that the public health toll from smog producing VOCs, which can cause respiratory problems and include carcinogens, is likely more than $120 million a year instead of the $30 million estimated under the old formula. “The VOC air pollution plume from flares is four times larger than we thought, and that’s too big to ignore. It multiplies their contribution to health problems,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project. Two industry trade groups, the American Chemical Council and the American Petroleum Institute, declined to comment on the new guideline, but during the public comment period on the new formula they expressed concerns it could produce emissions estimates that exceeded facility permit limits and could result in requirements to control emissions under federal and state operating permits. Mr. Schaeffer, a former head of the EPA’s enforcement division, said the new emissions estimates likely will mean that more refineries and chemical plants will be required to obtain air pollution control permits and limit emissions. He also said oil and gas facility flares could emit even more pollutants because of combustion inconsistencies. “If the pollution released by petrochemical plants is four times higher, the flaring pollution from oil and gas operations is not going to be lower,” he said. “They’re going to be higher because they don’t get a clean burn.” The EPA declined to say when it would establish a new emissions factor for the oil and gas industry. Bob Schell, who heads the EPA group that developed the refinery flare emissions factor based on field tests in Texas and Arkansas, said he is not aware of any oil and gas facility test data under consideration by the EPA. Susan Rickens, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman, said the new emissions factor will provide the state regulator with better estimates of chemical plant and refinery pollutant releases from flaring, and the state will begin using the new formula in its emissions inventories and permitting process. “Changing the emission factors will have an impact on the calculation of actual emissions from these units that have not had [individual] emission testing done on them,” Ms. Rickens said. “The owners and operators of the affected units must demonstrate compliance with the existing regulatory standards.” According to the DEP, there are 182 industrial facilities in Pennsylvania classified as either chemical plants or refineries, and 68 industrial flares. Some of those facilities operate multiple flares. Sixteen chemical or refinery operations are in Allegheny County, but none regularly flare waste gases. According to the EPA, its emissions factors are used by industrial facilities to estimate and report their emissions, but facilities can also use actual emissions stack testing to report their emissions. The EPA, in turn, uses those industry emissions reports to calculate local, regional and national emission inventories that identify and quantify individual pollution sources and establish emissions control targets. Emissions from flaring can contain carbon particles, also known as soot, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sometimes sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds. How much of those pollutants are emitted depends on the degree of combustion efficiency. Properly operated flares achieve at least 98 percent combustion efficiency, but Mr. Schaeffer said petrochemical facility flares have an average combustion efficiency of 92 percent. Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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National Air Quality Awareness Week ......
by Duane 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

======================================== Message from the WV-DEP: Monday, April 27, 2015 ======================================== CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Pretty much everyone will occasionally use a drive-through to pick up food or prescriptions. Many of us also idle our car longer than necessary on cold mornings to warm it up. When we do these things, we’re contributing to air pollution. Everyone does in some way, most of the time not even realizing it. In recognition of National Air Quality Awareness Week this week, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) is joining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Centers for Disease Control in a national effort to make citizens aware of simple daily choices which can affect their air quality. “Small changes can make a big impact if everyone does their part,” said DAQ Director Fred Durham. “We all benefit from good air quality and therefore we all should work to keep it clean.” Transportation choices can play a significant role in air quality improvement. Choose alternatives to driving – take the bus, carpool, bike or walk to your destination. If alternatives are not an option, try these tips: turn off your engine instead of idling; keep your tires properly inflated for better fuel usage; combine trips; and, refuel in the evening hours when fumes from refueling won’t combine with the sun’s heat to increase ozone levels. Any time you use energy, you contribute to air pollution. Using energy-efficient lighting and appliances not only reduce air pollution, they help save you money. Also consider buying electric or battery-powered lawn care equipment. If using gasoline-fueled devices, prevent spills and overfills. Even small gasoline spills evaporate and pollute the air and groundwater. Visitors to DEP’s headquarters in the Kanawha City area of Charleston this week can learn about ways to reduce their contribution to air pollution at a display set up in the lobby. The agency also encourages residents to check out videos on the topic on our YouTube page at this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/WVEnvironment. DAQ is involved in outreach throughout the year aimed at helping young people learn more about how personal decisions affect air quality. A video of some of the agency's outreach displays can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0Th72F5YA. For more information on Air Quality Awareness Week, visit www.epa.gov/airnow/airaware/. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Proposed ATLANTIC COAST PIPELINE of Dominion Transmission, Richmond, VA
by Duane 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

To learn more visit www.mareproject.org Please comment on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline! The deadline for submitting scoping comments to FERC for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is: Tuesday, April 28. Most, if not all, of the issues are being addressed by the groups organized in opposition, so a comment doesn't need to be more than a sentence or two; but it is important to make a comment for two reasons: The number of comments matters! Making a comment during the scoping period entitles you to comment during the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) and it entitles you to become an "intervener." Instructions for submitting comments can be found at www.mareproject.org. Click on 'Submit Comment' and follow the directions. Here is a list of possible topics: Contribution to climate change. Disturbance of springs and wells, especially in karst areas, due to excavation and blasting. Sediment in streams and rivers, particularly trout streams. Negative impact on wildlife, especially threatened, endangered and sensitive species. Lack of adequate enforcement of regulations supposed to protect the environment. Negative impact on property values. Problems with insurance, mortgages and opportunity to sell and move for landowners. Negative impact on scenic beauty. Negative impact on tourism income. Emotional distress cause by negative impacts. Lack of benefits to local communities compared to costs. Truck traffic and resulting delays and accidents. Cost to local law enforcement and emergency services. The last day that FERC will receive comments for the MVP is June 16, 2015. The last day that FERC will receive comments for the ACP is April 28, 2015. Please call Elise at 304-207-1150 for more information. Upcoming Community Meetings Tuesday, April 28 (6-8 pm) - Preserve Monroe has their bi-monthly meeting every other Tuesday at the Union Senior Center in Union (Monroe County). Thursday, April 30 (7-8:30 pm) -Preserve Greenbrier County will hold a community meeting in the Board Room at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg (Greenbrier County). Wednesday, May 20 (5:30 pm) - Summers County Residents Against the Pipeline (SCRAP) will hold their regular meeting at the corner Episcopal Church in Hinton (Summers County). Sunday, June 14 (9am-10pm) - Preserve Monroe Fundraising Concert at Salt Sulphur Springs, WV (Monroe County). Please call Elise at 304-207-1150 for more information about these community meetings. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Making the Connection: Air Pollution & Heart Health
by Duane Nichols 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

> From: Group Against Smog and Pollution <jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org> > Date: April 27, 2015 > Subject: Making the Connection: Air Pollution & Heart Health > Reply-To: jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org > > > > > > > > > > > > GASP Alert Action and News from > Group Against Smog and Pollution > > > > > April 27, 2015 > > Making the Connection: Air Pollution and Heart Health > Air pollution can affect heart health and trigger heart attacks and strokes that cause disability and death. One in three Americans has heart or blood vessel disease and is at higher risk from air pollution. Not only does air pollution exacerbate existing heart problems, but it may also play a role in the development of heart disease in otherwise healthy people. On April 30, join GASP and leading medical professionals as we explore this connection further. > > Keynote speaker Wayne Cascio, MD and Director of EPA's Environmental Public Health Division, has spent more than 25 years as a cardiologist helping people take care of their hearts. Now he is bringing a broader view of public health to EPA by leading research on the links between exposures to air pollution and maintaining a healthy heart. > > James Fabisiak, PhD, Associate Professor in Environmental & Occupational Health and is part of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. Dr. Fabisiak is one of the authors of the Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis Report and will discuss the air pollution challenges our region faces. > > April 30, 2015 > 5-8 p.m. > Networking, food, and drinks start at 5 p.m.; program begins promptly at 6 p.m. > Allegheny General Hospital Magovern Conference Center 320 East North Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212 > > This event is free and open to the public. Please register here. Continuing Medical Education Credits are available. > This event is jointly provided by the Group Against Smog and Pollution and Allegheny General Hospital. > > We appreciate your participation on the GASP Alert email list. Together, we can make a difference in our region's environment. We won't trade or sell your email address with other organizations or inundate you with messages. Visit our website at gasp-pgh.org or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information. Thank you! > > > > > > Group Against Smog and Pollution | 5135 Penn Avenue | Pittsburgh | PA | 15224

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Brain structure relationship to air pollution
by Jonathan Rosenbaum 26 Apr '15

26 Apr '15

Another interesting study: Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution May Pose Risk to Brain Structure, Cognitive Functions - http://www.bidmc.org/News/In-Medicine/2015/April/WilkerStroke.aspx -Jonathan

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Air pollution in Morgantown is reaching dangerous levels - Mountaineer News Service-West Virginia News
by Duane Nichols 12 Apr '15

12 Apr '15

http://mountaineernewsservice.com/air-pollution-in-morgantown-is-reaching-d… Sent from my iPhone

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Making the Connection: Air Pollution and Heart Health
by Duane330＠aol.com 01 Apr '15

01 Apr '15

Making the Connection: Air Pollution and Heart Health Air pollution can affect heart health and trigger heart attacks and strokes that cause disability and death. One in three Americans has heart or blood vessel disease and is at higher risk from air pollution. Not only does air pollution exacerbate existing heart problems, but it may also play a role in the development of heart disease in otherwise healthy people. On April 30, _join GASP_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017LC7W6jo0vm_QxLlM6qvDCXQ35kOq-tDDgaMhSbSSJid… U7eYPzMvo1_rx29pZRgKciNPCFs5nkwjbkfr0Y8q-r2-g9YLXbI6hdyqvhrxdBlgNU0f9Wttc0Xl YWhcaM0JkK_sQLJf7D4303j66ornk8KwVqXrC20uIUqFnWuGEEEBz9hGxhpjCALga2_OkW4yrIkk eftNChnu54=&c=A1dr01rWxZn8E_MUJGk6h3c3vf2b6KZOdL15V6YgD9pn0DfDbJPO0Q==&ch=P- q93sL_-Z-_dDg3F4eiTh50P9ZG7mBBS520wmHkmzKEg_XCpLix2Q==) and leading medical professionals as we explore this connection further. Keynote speaker: Wayne Cascio, MD and Director of EPA's Environmental Public Health Division, has spent more than 25 years as a cardiologist helping people take care of their hearts. Now he is bringing a broader view of public health to EPA by leading research on the links between exposures to air pollution and maintaining a healthy heart. James Fabisiak, PhD, Associate Professor in Environmental & Occupational Health and is part of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. Dr. Fabisiak is one of the authors of the Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis Report and will discuss the air pollution challenges our region faces. April 30, 2015, 5-8 p.m. Networking, food, and drinks start at 5 p.m.-program begins promptly at 6 p.m. Allegheny General Hospital Magovern Conference Center 320 E. North Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212 This event is free and open to the public. Please _register here_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017LC7W6jo0vm_QxLlM6qvDCXQ35kOq-tDDgaMhSbSSJid… FXmEorbM7UeapGoIZF5zExKx8DGByVi_-XqfIzDNj39AwC2u17WdU7eYPzMvo1_rx29pZRgKciNP CFs5nkwjbkfr0Y8q-r2-g9YLXbI6hdyqvhrxdBlgNU0f9Wttc0XlYWhcaM0JkK_sQLJf7D4303j6 6or nk8KwVqXrC20uIUqFnWuGEEEBz9hGxhpjCALga2_OkW4yrIkkeftNChnu54=&c=A1dr01rWxZn8E_MUJGk6h3c3vf2b6KZOdL15V6YgD9pn0DfDbJPO0Q==&ch=P-q93sL_-Z-_dDg3F4eiTh50P9 ZG7mBBS520wmHkmzKEg_XCpLix2Q==) . Continuing Medical Education Credits are available. This event is jointly provided by the Group Against Smog and Pollution and Allegheny General Hospital.

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Emailing G80-A_comments_GASP_et_al.pdf
by Duane 30 Mar '15

30 Mar '15

For your information, the attached document was submitted to the West Virginia DEP today on behalf of the MVCAC and seven other organizations. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: Time to honor shalefield voices, not oil and gas industries!
by Duane Nichols 30 Mar '15

30 Mar '15

> From: Clean Air Council <skl(a)cleanair.org> > Date: March 30, 2015 at 11:09:11 AM EDT > > Subject: Time to honor shalefield voices, not oil and gas industries! > Reply-To: skl(a)cleanair.org > > > March 30th, 2015 > Dear MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > Have you seen the news from last week? The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association stated that shalefield residents and public interest groups should "have no place" on oil and gas oversight bodies. > > > Take action now to tell PA Governor Tom Wolf and DEP Secretary John Quigley that shalefield residents and public interest groups should be front and center in overseeing oil and gas operations! > Interested in doing more to make some noise around this issue? Jump on facebook and twitter and use the hashtag #peskypublic to tweet @GovernorTomWolf and @JohnHQuigley. > > Here is a sample tweet for you to use: > > Hey @GovernorTomWolf and @JohnHQuigley! Thanks for adding important public voices to O&G oversight. Stand up to @PIOGA4PA! #peskypublic > > Thanks for taking action on this important issue. Residents in the shalefields deserve to be heard on how fracking is impacting their lives every day! > Sincerely, > > Sam Koplinka-Loehr > > Shale Gas Organizer, Clean Air Council > > skl(a)cleanair.org > > 215.567.4004 x115 > PHILADELPHIA > > 135 S. 19th Street > Suite 300 > Philadelphia, PA 19103 > P: (215) 567-4004 > F: (215) 567-5791 > HARRISBURG > > 107 N. Front Street > Suite 113 > Harrisburg, PA 17101 > P: (717) 230-8806 > F: (717) 230-8808 > WILMINGTON > > 100 W. 10th Street > Suite 607 > Wilmington, DE 19801 > P: (302) 691-0112 >

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Not So Healthy Counties in Pennsylvania
by Duane 29 Mar '15

29 Mar '15

Fayette, Greene least healthy counties in Pennsylvania By Tom Fontaine Saturday, March 28, 2015 Greene and Fayette counties have Pennsylvania's worst health habits, a new report shows. “I'm not surprised. I see the same bad numbers year after year after year,” said Karen Bennett, administrator of Greene County Human Services. “We try to do our best without having an organized health department.” The report from the New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranks the health of every American county based on more than 30 factors, including length and quality of life, health behaviors, clinical care, socioeconomics and physical environment. Greene County's health behavior ranks last among Pennsylvania's 67 counties, while Fayette County's is second-to-last. The Western Pennsylvania county with the best health behavior is Butler, which ranked seventh, followed by Washington (11th), Westmoreland (12th), Allegheny (18th), Beaver (30th) and Armstrong (45th). Among behaviors, 35 percent of Greene County's adults smoke (above the state average of 20 percent), 32 percent are obese (above the 29 percent state average), 31 percent are physically inactive (above the 24 percent state average) and 20 percent drink alcohol excessively (above the 17 percent state average). “I think it's all tied to poverty,” Bennett said. Twenty-three percent of Greene County's children live in poverty, and 30 percent of Fayette County's do, the report says. By comparison, 10 percent of Butler County's children live in poverty. The state average is 19 percent. The report says child poverty rates are more than twice as high in the country's unhealthiest counties as the average. “The poorer the county and the lower the education rates, the worse the health,” said Steven M. Albert, professor and chair of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Science at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. Albert said because many Pennsylvania counties lack their own health departments it's harder to address the broad range of public health concerns. Restoring at least some of the departments could help, he said. Albert said he thinks hospitals are going to assume bigger roles in promoting healthy living in their communities. Changes made three years ago in Internal Revenue Service regulations require hospitals to do more public health work in order to maintain their tax-exempt status. “Health is not just what happens inside their four walls,” Albert said. Butler County also had the region's highest ranking in a category called health outcomes, coming in ninth for residents' length and quality of life. It was followed by Westmoreland (25th), Washington (33rd), Allegheny (34th), Armstrong (36th), Beaver (43rd), Greene (63rd) and Fayette (64th). Tom Fontaine is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7847 or tfontaine(a)tribweb.com. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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"Climate Change" is not a "hoax"
by Duane330＠aol.com 21 Jan '15

21 Jan '15

OMG. Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma co-sponsored an amendment to the Keystone XL bill today, the Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) amendment, which declares that "climate change" is not a hoax. The vote was 98 in favor and 1 against. And, this in face of the fact that Inhofe wrote a book two years ago that "climate change" is a hoax. This is a "Sense of the Senate" amendment, that has no action content; it just gets the Senators on record regarding "the truth of the matter." Surprises are rare in this Senate; and, progress is more rare! The news media will be full of this tomorrow. DN

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LNG Fire at Longview Power Plant Results in Evacuation & Confusion
by Duane330＠aol.com 07 Jan '15

07 Jan '15

Emergency evacuation for area near coal-fired power plant in Maidsville (Monongalia County) facility >From an Article by Alex Lang, Morgantown Dominion Post, January 6, 2015 Several people had to be evacuated from their homes as crews tended to a natural gas fire at Longview Power Plant on Monday (January 5th). Shortly after 2 p.m., emergency crews were called to a reported fire at the power plant, located off Fort Martin Road in Maidsville. According to Longview Power LLC, the fire occurred at a recently installed, temporary liquefied natural gas storage system. The fire occurred during testing of the system and was located several hundred yards from the power plant. The system is used during plant startups, when pipeline gas in unavailable, Longview said.No injuries, environmental or property damage occurred, according to Longview. As a result of the fire, responders shut down Fort Martin Road from the intersection with WV Route 100 to the state line, as they tended to the scene. Residents who lived within a mile of the plant were evacuated and told they could go to the Granville Fire Hall. Mon County Office of Emergency Management Director Mike Wolfe said less than a dozen people were evacuated. The agency sent a phone alert that mostly went unanswered or to answering machines in the one-mile radius, which led them to believe that many people were not home at the time of the fire. Ralph Hicks lives along Fort Martin Road and was forced to leave his home near the Fort Martin Business Park. He said that he received a call and was told to evacuate because of an emergency at the power plant. Hicks said he wasn’t bothered by the evacuation because the smoke from the plant goes toward the state line and not toward his home. The fire was extinguished at 3:25 p.m. and by about 4 p.m., emergency responders cleared the scene, reopened the roadway and ended the evacuation. Another alert went out at 5:55 p.m. Wolfe said that was because of a problem with the system. The alerts end with the name Jimmy Giana. That is an abbreviated version of the name of the State Director of Emergency Management, James Gianato. The alerts only allow for a set number of characters to appear (on cell phones). The Granville, Star City and Westover volunteer fire departments responded to the fire. Mon EMS, the West Virginia State Police and the Monongalia County Sheriff Department also assisted. >>>>>>>>>>>> Emergency alert glitch corrected, being called a learning lesson >From an _Article of WAJR_ (http://wajr.com/common/more.php?m=15&r=1&item_id=33441) 1440 AM, _www.wajr.com_ (http://www.wajr.com/) , January 7, 2015 When a methane tank caught fire at Longview Power Plant in Maidsville, emergency management workers had two priorities - get the fire out and warn the region of a potential emergency. The fire was contained and fortunately did not spread within the plant. Firefighters going door to door to advise residents of the issue and calls to landlines with the same message were successfully delivered. But, a text message sent through the Emergency Alert System has come under criticism. "I certainly wasn't prepared, wasn't educated and didn't know what in the world was going on," said a caller to WAJR's Morgantown AM. Cell phone users received a message advising them to "evacuate now". The message was incomplete, lacking a specific location and details on what sparked the evacuation order. The same, vague message was received multiple times by some residents, hours after the fire was extinguished and there was no longer a risk of danger. A federal provision requires the Emergency Alert System to utilize text alerts to warn residents of a crisis or dangerous situation. That's in addition to the alerts many are accustomed to seeing on television and hearing on the radio. According to Mike Wolfe, the director of the Monongalia County Office of Emergency Management and Mecca 911, this particular text alert system had never before been used in the state. "Because of FCC rules, they're not allowed to test that program like they do the regular tests on the radio or on the television. So, that was one of the first few times that it was ever tested or ever used here in West Virginia. And, obviously it did not work," explained Wolfe. Wolfe said the Mecca 911 office was immediately aware of the inaccurate, repeated text messages but was at the mercy of the state agencies that issued the messages. "I was on the phone with the state homeland security director and receiving some emails from FEMA, that they were able to figure out what it was that went wrong and that's the positive," said Wolfe. The emergency at the Monongalia County power plant occurred at approximately 2:30 pm. Seven hours later, some were still receiving the texts. "That night, when I got ready to go to bed, I thought, am I going to have this signal all night long," said the WAJR listener. The issue, said Wolfe, has been addressed and the result is to use it as a learning lesson. "Luckily this wasn't an incident that caused any death or injuries and we were able to find that glitch and hopefully that saved someone else." >>>>>>>>>>>>> An investigation is called for regarding this LNG fire By Duane Nichols, _www.FrackCheckWV.net_ (http://www.frackcheckwv.net/) , January 7, 2015 There are a number of questions for which the public does not have a full and adequate explanation: 1. Why is there LNG being stored at the Longview power plant, a very dangerous material as it can leak, catch fire, and/or explode! (Longview has a pipeline connection for conventional natural gas supply.) 2. Why was there an evacuation call for the general public but not the Longview plant personnel who continued to operate the power plant through-out the fire event? 3. What is the radius of danger for this event? Was the evacuation announced to all residents within this radius? What was the information provided to those affected? 4. Why was an emergency announced to the entire Morgantown area, about 4 hours after the event’s occurrence? Suppose this was a real announcement, where were all of the residents of Morgantown expected to go? 5. How much liquefied natural gas (LNG) was lost to the environment, and became methane and incomplete combustion products to the atmosphere? See also: _www.FrackCheckWV.net_ (http://www.frackcheckwv.net/)

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Evacuation Order Lifted Following Longview Power Plant Fire - WBOY.com: Clarksburg, Morgantown:
by Duane 05 Jan '15

05 Jan '15

http://www.wboy.com/story/27763643/precautionary-evacuation-underway-near-l… Evacuation Order Lifted Following Longview Power Plant Fire Posted: Jan 05, 2015 2:39 PM EST Monday, January 5, 2015 2:39 PM EST. Updated: Jan 05, 2015 4:26 PM EST Monday, January 5, 2015 4:26 PM EST Monongalia County Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency has cancelled an evacuation order for a one mile radius area of Longview Power Plant on Fort Martin Road. Emergency responders were at the power plant Monday afternoon with an active methane gas fire within the power plant. Anyone in the one mile area of the power plant was urged to evacuate toward Route 100. The fire was extinguished and safety checks were completed to ensure safety of residents in the area, said MECCA 911. There were no reported injuries and all employees were safely evacuated, according to MECCA 911 director Mike Wolfe. Numerous cell phone users in the area received an evacuation alert shortly after the fire . The Emergency Alert System, which is activated by the state, sent a message to phones within Monongalia County as a precaution, said MECCA 911. The message, which said "Emergency Alert in this area until 3:01 PM EST Evacuate Now Jimmy Gian" confused many cell phone users. MECCA 911 said the state has been contacted about the message.

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AIR POLLUTION: Court rejects EPA's deadline extension for ozone compliance -- 12/23/14
by Duane 25 Dec '14

25 Dec '14

http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060011013 Court rejects EPA's deadline extension for ozone compliance Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter, Greenwire, December 23, 2014 A federal appeals court today threw out U.S. EPA's decision to extend a compliance deadline for its ozone air standard, as well as the agency's revoking a stringency requirement for transportation projects. In both instances, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that EPA's actions exceeded its authority under the Clean Air Act. The case brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council concerned what amounted to a compliance extension built into EPA's 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standard for smog-causing ozone. EPA finalized implementation regulations for the 75-parts-per-billion standard May 21, 2012. In doing so, the agency started the clock for compliance for some areas at the end of that year. So an area deemed to be in "marginal" nonattainment -- which is granted three years for compliance -- would have until Dec. 31, 2015, rather than May 21, 2015, to meet the standard. Judge Srikanth Srinivasan, writing for the majority of the three-judge panel, said the law doesn't allow such an extension. "We conclude that both challenged aspects of EPA's regulations implementing the 2008 ozone standards exceed the agency's authority under the Clean Air Act," Srinivasan wrote. The law explicitly prescribes "against allowing the agency's lengthening of the periods for achieving compliance with revised air quality standards. ... [W]e conclude that the rule's deadlines cannot be squared with the statute." Srinivasan also sided with the environmental group's argument that the plain text of the Clean Air Act prohibits EPA from revoking a requirement that transportation projects comply with regional implementation plans for areas failing to meet attainment for the 1997 ozone NAAQS. NRDC had argued that such a move would allow unlimited ozone emissions for new transportation projects in those areas. "[W]ith regard to the revocation of transportation conformity requirements, the terms of the statute straightforwardly require maintaining those requirements for affected areas," Srinivasan wrote. The impact of the ruling will likely be limited because EPA is currently revising its ozone standard and has proposed lowering it to between 65 ppb and 70 ppb. Srinivasan was joined in the majority by Judge David Tatel. They are both Democratic appointees. Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph, a Republican appointee, dissented and said he would have deferred to EPA's reasoning. The court held arguments in the case more than a year ago, suggesting some difficulty in coming to a conclusion in the case (E&ENews PM, Nov. 22, 2013). Click here for the opinion. Submitted by: Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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EPA punts decision on methane regs | TheHill
by Duane 23 Dec '14

23 Dec '14

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/227489-epa-punts-decision-on-m… EPA punts decision on methane regs By Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, 12/17/14 The Environmental Protection Agency is punting a decision on whether to pursue regulations on methane emissions from industrial sources until after the holidays. An EPA official told The Hill on Wednesday that the agency is holding off on its decision until after the holidays despite consistent statements by Administrator Gina McCarthy that the EPA would make a call this fall. As the clock wound down, however, advocates and critics of possible regulations alike began to question if the EPA would move to target methane emissions. The move to hold off on regulations, or more voluntary actions to tackle methane from the oil and gas sector appears to push any decision back until January. In recent months Democratic lawmakers have pressed the EPA to take action, arguing regulations would help strengthen the president’s climate agenda. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is roughly 80 times more damaging than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe. Submitted by: Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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WH: Agencies should factor for climate change in project reviews | TheHill
by Duane 23 Dec '14

23 Dec '14

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/227589-wh-advises-agencies-to-… WH: Agencies should factor for climate change in project reviews By Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, 12/18/14 The White House is floating new guidelines for federal agencies on how to weigh climate change impacts when reviewing energy and infrastructure projects. The proposed guidelines from the White House Council on Environmental Quality specifically address National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews by agencies, which require an analysis of the environmental impact by projects that need a federal greenlight. NEPA reviews are used when the federal agencies consider offshore drilling leases, construction projects, pipelines, mining and more. <A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=2007082…">Amazon.com Widgets</A> In a fact sheet, released by the White House on Thursday, the administration said the new blueprint urges agencies to consider how greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impact projects undergoing NEPA reviews. “Climate change is a fundamental environmental issue, and the relation of federal actions to it falls squarely within NEPA’s focus,” the draft blueprint states. When weighing a project, the administration says agencies should look at measures that will reduce the impact of extreme weather events on federal investments. If a project has the ability to emit 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide on an annual basis, its contributions to global warming must be considered in NEPA reviews. "Federal agencies, to remain consistent with NEPA, should consider the extent to which a proposed action and its reasonable alternatives contribute to climate change through [greenhouse gas] emissions and take into account the ways in which a changing climate over the life of the proposed project may alter the overall environmental implications of such actions," the plan states. The new guidelines expand on a 2010 proposal to include climate change considerations during certain federal reviews. The updated guidance is part of the administration’s effort to include climate change in agencies’ decision-making process. But the move will draw the ire of industry and Republicans, who argue the administration is regulating with a heavy hand. In a summary, the administration takes care to address such concerns, stressing that “NEPA ensures information on the potential environmental impacts of agency decisions and projects is transparently available to the public; however it does not dictate decisions or project choices.” The proposed guidelines are now open to a 60-day public comment period. Submitted by: Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: TRIAD HUNTER GAS LEAK: DAY TEN – Update on "Randy C. Huffman: NO DRILLING UNDER THE OHIO RIVER!"
by Duane Nichols 23 Dec '14

23 Dec '14

Date: December 23, 2014 RE: Regional Air Pollution > To: duane330(a)aol.com > Subject: TRIAD HUNTER GAS LEAK: DAY TEN – Update on "Randy C. Huffman: NO DRILLING UNDER THE OHIO RIVER!" > > > > Petition update > > > Robin Mahonen just posted an update on the petition you signed, Randy C. Huffman: NO DRILLING UNDER THE OHIO RIVER!. > > TRIAD HUNTER GAS LEAK: DAY TEN > > Dec 23, 2014 — This link contains a video to the TRIAD HUNTER gas leak, now in Day Ten, in Sardis, Monroe County, OH. Over thirty families have been evacuated. Triad Hunter is one of three... Read more > > > > > Read more > > > > > >

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GASP is the Group Against Smog and Pollution
by Duane330＠aol.com 19 Dec '14

19 Dec '14

Dear Fellow Breathers, Meet Ted Popovich. For 40 years he worked around the globe in India, Brazil, and beyond. He was the China Operations Manager for Corning and an instructor at a Rochester Institute of Technology school in Kosovo. These days, he’s a clean air warrior in Pittsburgh—and a heart bypass survivor. He often developed bronchitis and other ailments in his travels due to pollution-generated inflammation. When he came to Pittsburgh, he never imagined the air here would harm him as well. However, he moved to a house overlooking the Ohio River and soon discovered Pittsburgh’s pollution problem. “In my neighborhood, people can’t open their windows without fear of letting in pollutants that smell nasty and damage our health.” Emissions from the industrialized end of Neville Island regularly saturate Ted’s community. “I began to realize the scope of the problem when I volunteered to become an opacity evaluator, or Smoke Reader.” Through GASP, Ted learned how to observe smoke stack emissions and note violations. He made readings of the Shenango Coke works, a source of many of the foul odors he and his neighbors suffer through. He took photographs and called complaints in to the county Health Department. “I mastered a whole new vocabulary, with phrases like ‘continuous opacity monitor’ and ‘inhalation cancer risk.’ I learned about the complex relationship between the polluters, the regulators, the legal system, and the political system.” As Ted’s knowledge of air pollution grew, so did his clean air activism. He joined GASP’s board in 2009 and worked with many other local environmental groups. He instructed T’ai Chi and Group Exercise at the YMCA. And then in May his efforts screeched to a halt after his doctor handed him worrying test results. In June, Ted had quintuple bypass surgery. “My cardiovascular system has been compromised, in part, by the pollution from industrial sources near my home. Our region has some of the worst air in the nation. We need clean air now!” Thankfully, Ted is solidly on the road to recovery and more active than ever. He co-founded Allegheny County Clean Air Now, which brought 150 citizens last month to meet with county Health Department officials about continuing problems at Shenango Coke. He works daily to improve air quality for the community. “GASP was a catalyst for me. They know our health is jeopardized by dirty air, and they’re fighting to clean it up. Will you support them today as I do?” On behalf of residents like Ted, GASP recently sued Shenango for hundreds of violations over the last few years. The case awaits a judge’s decision. But Ted is right—you don’t have to wait to support GASP today! Your gift will fund our future work to reduce industrial pollution; increase compliance with PA’s idling law by bus drivers and Pittsburgh Public Schools; and teach hundreds of school children about air quality and how they can help, even at their young age. We will review permit applications of new sources of pollution, train more Smoke Readers, and continue to loan air monitors to concerned citizens so they can understand conditions in their neighborhoods. Without the support of our members, our work wouldn’t be possible. Please join or renew your membership in GASP or make an additional gift today by visiting gasp-pgh.org. Thank you! For clean air, Jonathan Nadle, President, and Rachel Filippini, Executive Director All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Group Against Smog & Pollution, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working for a healthy environment. No goods or services were provided in exchange for your contribution. Visit our website at www._gasp-pgh.org_ (http://www.gasp-pgh.org/) or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information. Thank you!

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Successful tree planting
by Duane 09 Dec '14

09 Dec '14

STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL TREE PLANTING BY DAN MAGILL Well it is the Autumn Season again with winter just around the corner and now is a good time to start planning woodland improvement activities such as planting trees in the upcoming Spring Season. Although this may seem too far ahead of time to get things rolling for Spring-time tree planting, there are several steps to accomplish successful tree planting, growth, and survival. Choosing the right site in woodlands or fields is important because different tree species require distinct site conditions like aspect, soil type and moisture, shade and sunlight conditions, terrain (bottom land, ridge-top, stream-sides) etc. Conducting a soil test for type, pH, moisture and nutrient levels is also one of the most crucial activities that should be conducted to insure successful tree planting, growth, and survival. Additionally, newly planted trees will need to be protected from damage from deer and rabbit browsing, and even bears that will often break off the trees either from curiosity or the bears are trying to get food such as nuts or fruits, or trying to get insects from the tree roots. It is likewise a good idea to order trees well ahead of time such as in autumn to insure the desired tree species to plant can be obtained for the Spring-time planting season. In WV, the Clements State Tree Nursery is currently taking tree orders for the autumn 2014 or spring-time 2015 planting season and the online store-front at:http://www.wvcommerce.org/ClementsNursery, allows customers to shop 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Deliveries start the week of Thanksgiving. The Clements State Tree Nursery can also be reached at 304-675-1820. Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Statins: Widely used drugs may protect people from air pollution — Environmental Health News
by Duane 24 Nov '14

24 Nov '14

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/nov/statins-and-air-po… Statins: Widely used drugs may protect people from air pollution By Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News, Nov. 24, 2014 One of the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States may have an extra benefit: protecting people from air pollution. Statins, prescribed to lower cholesterol and reduce risks of heart attacks and strokes, seem to diminish inflammation that occurs after people breathe airborne particles. “Health impacts from spikes in particulates in the air are substantial. Statins seem to protect not only lungs from these impacts but the heart, too,” said Dr. Norman Edelman, the American Lung Association's senior medical advisor. About one in four Americans over the age of 45 takes statins, including Lipitor, Zocor and other brand names. Although drugs cannot be prescribed to protect people from air pollution, several studies show that people who take statins have fewer proteins in their blood that indicate inflammation of tissues, said Dr. Stephan van Eeden, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia who specializes in lung health. This inflammation may aggravate respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Most recently, a study of 1,923 U.S. women found that those taking statins are less likely to have signs of inflammation, said Bart Ostro, an epidemiologist with California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment who led the study. “There are some specific groups [such as diabetics] that seem to have higher levels of inflammation after long-term exposure,” Ostro said. “On the converse side, we found that people on statins seem to be protected from the inflammatory effects of PM2.5.” In the women taking statins, there was no association between PM2.5 – the tiny particles emitted mostly by burning diesel and other fossil fuels – and the proteins indicating inflammation, while for most of the other groups the links were quite strong. It’s not the first time researchers have noticed this link: University of Michigan researchers found decreased blood indicators of inflammation in people who took statins in a study of 92 people in Boston. A national study of 5,778 people also reported that statins canceled out the presence of signs of inflammation from PM2.5, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. “Health impacts from spikes in particulates in the air are substantial. Statins seem to protect not only lungs from these impacts but the heart, too.” –Dr. Norman Edelman, American Lung AssociationScientists believe that inflammation is a key factor in heart disease. “The older thinking was that plaque in coronary arteries caused heart attacks,” Edelman said. “Now the thinking is that it’s also due to some living tissue under plague that gets inflamed and that disrupts the plaque. We already knew statins ameliorate heart disease, and always thought it was through lipids, but here’s a new pathway.” Around the world, studies have shown that whenever particulates increase, deaths from heart attacks and respiratory disease rise, too. Experts estimate that fine particles are linked to about 800,000 deaths annually worldwide. Particulate pollution has been on a steady decline in the United States: The national average for PM2.5 decreased 34 percent from 2000 to 2013, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, high concentrations of the pollution still persist in some cities with heavy traffic and industry, such as Los Angeles and Chicago. When van Eeden and colleagues gave statins to rabbits before exposing them to particulate matter they had decreased lung inflammation. In a second study of rabbits, statins seemed to help clear large particles from the lungs by promoting the movement of white blood cells to nearby lymph nodes, which protects the lungs against pending inflammation. “It’s clear that if the animals are treated for about a month with statins before they’re exposed to particles, you can significantly lower the amount of particles generated in the lungs and decrease the blood vessel inflammatory process,” van Eeden said. It’s not clear how statins may cause fewer particles in the lungs, but van Eeden said statin-treated rabbits have more particles in lymph nodes, suggesting the drugs stimulate particles to move to the nodes. In another animal test mice given Zocor prior to oil fly ash or particulate exposure did not experience lung injuries and inflammation like their non-treated counterparts did, according to a 2011 study in Argentina. “It's clear that if the animals are treated for about a month with statins before they're exposed to particles, you can significantly lower the amount of particles generated in the lungs and decrease the blood vessel inflammatory process.” –Dr. Stephan van Eeden, University of British ColumbiaVan Eeden and colleagues are now trying to figure out if the animal findings hold true for human lungs. So far, their work looks “very promising,” he said. His lab is examining lung tissue from people who had part of a lung removed. Many were smokers and had a lot of particles in their lungs. They haven’t finished the study but so far they’re seeing that “it’s quite clear that people who used statins had less particles in their lungs,” van Eeden said. “Once again it suggests anti-inflammatory properties and seems to clear the particles,” van Eeden said. “And these were people chronically exposed to air pollution or cigarette smoke.” However, it’s too early for doctors to prescribe statins for people exposed to air pollution, said Dr. Martha Daviglus, a cardiovascular epidemiologist at Northwestern University and University of Illinois. “We need more evidence. We already have a lot of people taking statins for cholesterol, and we don’t fully know the effect of taking the drugs for years and years, and decades yet,” Daviglus said. The number of people taking the drugs is already expected to rise as the American Heart Association last year advocated for increased statin use to combat high cholesterol. It remains unclear if people would have to take statins immediately prior to breathing air pollution, and, if so, for how long, in order for the drugs to help. “It seems they have some good effects with regards to air pollution, but we need to conduct clinical trials with people living near roads or high-emitting facilities,” Daviglus said. Ostro said it would be “somewhat of a leap” to prescribe statins to mitigate air pollution impacts, given some of their known side effects, such as liver problems. Food and Drug Administration spokesman Kristofer Baumgartner said that any new claims about additional benefits for a drug have to be reviewed by a team of scientists, and the benefit would have to outweigh any risks. Two pharmaceutical giants who sell statins, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, would not comment on the air pollution studies. There is no research on whether other anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, would also protect people from air pollution. Van Eeden sees potential for statins to play a role in reducing effects of air pollution, possibly in the near future. One possible group could be those suffering from asthma, which causes inflamed and constricted air passages. “If this human study confirms what we found in rabbits, then if there is an episode of air pollution, maybe people at high risk can get a short course of statins for that period until the air pollution clears,” he said. He is currently seeking funding to test statins on firefighters to see if they reduce lung inflammation caused by smoke. Edelman said the answer to protecting people is still cleaning the air. “We don’t want people to start thinking now we have a drug to control effects of air pollution so we don’t have to worry about air pollution,” he said. “It’s still a large threat.”

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Open Burning Win at County Council; Now on to Coke & Indoor Air
by Duane330＠aol.com 20 Nov '14

20 Nov '14

Sent: 11/19/2014 Subj: Open Burning Win at County Council; Now on to Coke & Indoor Air GASP AlertAction and News from Group Against Smog and Pollution JOIN OUR LIST (http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1102402694952) November 19, 2014 Community Meeting With Health Department About Shenango Coke This evening, please join Allegheny County Clean Air Now (ACCAN) as they meet with the Health Department about the Shenango Coke Works. ACCAN formed from a core group of residents that live near the coke works who have been working to reduce emissions at the facility for years. The group includes many GASP members, Smoke Readers, and supporters. The meeting is Wednesday, November 19 at 6 p.m. Learn more about how you can have your voice heard _here_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MVoFHayfD4rNdjd76u-0gwNpmxonkQvDt3iY4QPC_xjf… my-JLqdAf-wsg6oNR8WI-clr6nKIPgubLbdXB2grIboBOPxyD5MJdnK3ZqDHC9OkPo0fs77JRhDs Kxmr2krb75yhMVWeTeWSCCWZb4LcVUUDqJR6wdy5YvkbGu1_NhZ_wWTIbmnbEV-JO5fOWJrakpU8 xvA=&c=lmHKwRk3WF6Vh6f4I0E2e8P9zQfWJd2Nwuuyww0FJJBgHan703MJzw==&ch=5Jxz99YXM xIZTYg2Z_BIcg52amju6yBy39TCGhuNIvk2nE1wJ3AQJQ==) . Open Burning Victory! Thanks to your support, Allegheny County Council voted 9-4 on November 5 to approve the changes to the county's regulations on open burning. Thank you to all who appeared at the hearing and to those who called or emailed your Council member to show support for the updates. If you'd like to _email your representative_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MVoFHayfD4rNdjd76u-0gwNpmxonkQvDt3iY4QPC_xjf… nS3keWfShLHYv4Kx6Uwce0qRDXG4GAueb3qCdhNf5tisR2dPaGJjVQ6ewUvUarxjOa4dNqzlJWun xVaV8CxmIO35no6nKKZLSaMBjkoprPW_zyB4ltA==&c=lmHKwRk3WF6Vh6f4I0E2e8P9zQfWJd2N wuuyww0FJJBgHan703MJzw==&ch=5Jxz99YXMxIZTYg2Z_BIcg52amju6yBy39TCGhuNIvk2nE1w J3AQJQ==) , here's the tally: For: Baker, Danko, DeFazio, Ellenbogen, Finnerty, Kress, Macey, Martoni, Palmiere Against: Heidelbaugh, Futules, Means, Rea Absent: Hawkins, Robinson The changes will require a set back of 15' from neighboring property lines, roads, etc. for the open burning of wood, providing a minimum of fire safety and air pollution protection. The changes state only clean wood or other cleaner fuels like propane, charcoal, or natural gas can be burned. These changes also give more power to an inspector to reduce or prohibit burning activities that are nuisances to neighbors. You can see the current rules and the proposed changes _here_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MVoFHayfD4rNdjd76u-0gwNpmxonkQvDt3iY4QPC_xjf… yA0AR2QbMlxpjtGiwnLm6XdmyyAwUqVBmJaIEjaFuhk97O-UoRIcqH46DQLUa-LsCt4G-r2ubfNW 4BHMrXknRMQ8BOh5isihF69vXndjmuaY_5sIT8w_Vnttnj3Qd5A8dcYafxi&c=lmHKwRk3WF6Vh6 f4I0E2e8P9zQfWJd2Nwuuyww0FJJBgHan703MJzw==&ch=5Jxz99YXMxIZTYg2Z_BIcg52amju6y By39TCGhuNIvk2nE1wJ3AQJQ==) . (Look in the boxes on the right and scroll down to "Open Burning.") Please contact _jamin(a)gasp-pgh.org_ (mailto:jamin@gasp-pgh.org) to learn more or to discuss how your municipality can go beyond these updates to create even stronger regulations. Burning, Part Two: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words The changes mentioned in the section above only apply to Allegheny County's regulations, but wood smoke affects citizens state-wide. The Clean Air Council's "_I See Smoke_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MVoFHayfD4rNdjd76u-0gwNpmxonkQvDt3iY4QPC_xjf… mtb-1qPvXBP488RWv8Y8lNHd5PnmEEh8wm7FvYz-Wo7hhRbuMoxYwjPZLyOSL-VCDgkEk9BVN3ng PcgRr2Y4ujwOih0H8Egye8PhF9vT9A=&c=lmHKwRk3WF6Vh6f4I0E2e8P9zQfWJd2Nwuuyww0FJJ BgHan703MJzw==&ch=5Jxz99YXMxIZTYg2Z_BIcg52amju6yBy39TCGhuNIvk2nE1wJ3AQJQ==) " program has rolled out a new tool that makes reporting violations and taking action easy. A new app allows users to share information and photos of the smoke pollution in their neighborhood. By using the app, community members fill out information about the pollution they see. That information gets passed on to the Clean Air Council, the PA Department of Environmental Protection, and all appropriate county health agencies. This streamlines the reporting process and makes sure that all violations are being reported to the agencies that oversee air quality enforcement. _Try it today!_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MVoFHayfD4rNdjd76u-0gwNpmxonkQvDt3iY4QPC_xjf… YN7vdFfqRP75HIQm-6UczDGNhFBL4yWnQoxwloyIEtqXwGsitOOU41QOMHx_Rj2RwbhMwTqG_a00 5rpawMmy4mPRnK-01VgrNMa5EpZcnt2C42jJrBZ9GgBvUjPKLDeWVsU9NLBZeKLgFUQd349geTfA 6-SmkGVzyAvI8_CIXlWdgj0g3Gv3g0PTU710i-urRGUX&c=lmHKwRk3WF6Vh6f4I0E2e8P9zQfWJ d2Nwuuyww0FJJBgHan703MJzw==&ch=5Jxz99YXMxIZTYg2Z_BIcg52amju6yBy39TCGhuNIvk2n E1wJ3AQJQ==) Outdoor Particles--How Many Enter Your Home? How much of the particulate matter in outdoor air gets inside? Are there inexpensive ways to predict indoor concentrations of outdoor particle pollution based on simple house characteristics and building operation? Brent Stephens, Director of The Built Environment Research Group at Illinois Institute of Technology, will discuss his work on pathways that allow outdoor particulate matter to infiltrate into living spaces in a webinar this Friday at 2 p.m. He has investigated the link between building envelope airtightness and outdoor particle penetration. Participants will gain a better understanding of variables and the magnitude of their impact. Learn more and register _here_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MVoFHayfD4rNdjd76u-0gwNpmxonkQvDt3iY4QPC_xjf… nXqLR0CLH2fTRccn0gx6FeO7vftUjsCUb7m1YzMEIhZh2A3hdqJw_VF6e2_0xkYFqngl9x0ug_3F jVDS7ozmTXKaLrAo0RatLmwe-dq_u8zr-ZgS3efwoAZwVmDb3PVkKC8gJgvI&c=lmHKwRk3WF6Vh 6f4I0E2e8P9zQfWJd2Nwuuyww0FJJBgHan703MJzw==&ch=5Jxz99YXMxIZTYg2Z_BIcg52amju6 yBy39TCGhuNIvk2nE1wJ3AQJQ==) . We appreciate your participation on the GASP Alert email list. Together, we can make a difference in our region's environment. We won't trade or sell your email address with other organizations or inundate you with messages. Visit our website at _gasp-pgh.org_ (http://www.gasp-pgh.org/) or call us at (412) 924-0604 for more information. Thank you! Group Against Smog and Pollution | 5135 Penn Avenue | Pittsburgh | PA | 15224

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Is our WV PSC serving me & you, or is it tied to the political interest of the Governor's office!
by Duane 17 Sep '14

17 Sep '14

Bill Howley: Independence is key to new PSC appointment By Bill Howley West Virginia PSC Commissioner Ryan Palmer is leaving the PSC in mid-September. At the same time Palmer’s decision was released to the press, Chairman Mike Albert announced that he was removing himself from the PSC’s general investigation of West Virginia American Water Co.’s response to contamination of its water supply by Freedom Industries. The combination of Palmer’s leaving and Albert’s recusal will not affect other cases before the PSC, but Palmer’s departure is significant for another reason. Commissioner Palmer was the only one of the three commissioners without any ties to large out-of-state corporations doing business in West Virginia. These corporations, such as Akron-based FirstEnergy, St. Louis-based Monsanto Corp. and New Jersey-based American Water Works (owner of West Virginia American Water) have significant impacts on our PSC’s decisions. Albert, as he described in a recent PSC order, was an attorney at the Jackson Kelly law firm. He personally represented West Virginia American Water Co. for three decades in front of the same PSC he now chairs. In 2007, shortly after he was appointed to his first term as chairman by former Gov. Manchin, Albert also had to recuse himself from the TrAIL transmission line case, because he had personally worked on Allegheny Energy’s application to the PSC for approval of that line. In 2012, Allegheny Energy was swallowed by FirstEnergy in a merger. Jackson Kelly continues to represent FirstEnergy before the West Virginia PSC. Commissioner Jon McKinney, the only commissioner left to conduct the PSC’s water company investigation, was for many years an executive of Monsanto Corp. at its South Charleston plant. Monsanto, which recently settled a case concerning chemical contamination of the neighborhood around that plant, is a significant player in water quality issues on the Kanawha River. Many of those water issues may have some bearing on West Virginia American Water’s lack of a secondary intake on the Kanawha River. Back in 2011, when McKinney’s six-year term expired, Gov. Tomblin failed to act to either reappoint him to a new six-year term or to appoint a replacement to a new term. Citizens sent large numbers of letters to Gov. Tomblin in 2011 encouraging him to appoint former PSC general counsel and experienced utility attorney Robert Rodecker to replace Jon McKinney, but Gov. Tomblin ignored those requests. Instead, McKinney has continued on the PSC, and his position has effectively been turned into an at-will seat. Gov. Tomblin now has complete control over whether Commissioner McKinney stays or goes, because Mr. McKinney is now serving on a day-to-day basis. McKinney’s situation violates the Legislature’s intent in setting six-year terms for PSC commissioners. Once an appointment is made, the six-year term is designed to provide a measure of independence to PSC commissioners, who effectively act as judges in ruling on utility rates and practices. McKinney has lost that independence as a result of Gov. Tomblin’s failure to act as the Legislature requires. Commissioner Palmer’s term would have ended in June 2015. If Gov. Tomblin acts quickly to appoint a replacement, there is a possibility that the new commissioner would be able to become an effective participant in the water company investigation, which is still in its early stages. Few candidates are as qualified to serve out the remainder of Palmer’s term as Robert Rodecker. There are other qualified candidates who are not tied in some way to the corporate interests regulated by the PSC. The independence and expertise that Palmer brought to the position should be the governor’s main criteria for the appointment of a new commissioner. In the past, governors made PSC appointments without public involvement or explanation. Now, and in the future, we need to have open, public discussion of candidates and their qualifications. West Virginia deserves better than back-room deals for a regulatory commission that reaches so deeply into the lives (and pockets) of the people of our state. Howley is a small business owner in Chloe, West Virginia, and writes The Power Line, the View from Calhoun County about electric system issues in West Virginia. - See more at:http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140917/ARTICLE/140919409#sthash.ZAMZQ… -- Thanks to Danny Chiotos of the Sierra Club.

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Tune In: 24 Hours Of Reality: 24 Reasons For Hope
by Duane 15 Sep '14

15 Sep '14

Join The Climate Reality Project September 16-17 as they share 24 reasons to be hopeful about solving the climate crisis. http://24hoursofreality.org?utm_source=shareemail&utm_medium=email&utm_camp… Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Flaring+Issues+Workshop+Announcement+9-16-14
by Duane 10 Sep '14

10 Sep '14

Deadline today for registration. WORKSHOP at WVU. $55. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: [EC] Op-Ed in today's Gazette
by Duane 10 Sep '14

10 Sep '14

> From: James Kotcon <jkotcon(a)wvu.edu> > Date: September 10, 2014 12:12:48 PM EDT > To: Allan Tweddle <allantweddle(a)msn.com>, "cclwv(a)googlegroups.com" <cclwv(a)googlegroups.com> > Cc: Don GARVIN <dsgjr(a)aol.com>, Vivian Stockman <vivian(a)ohvec.org>, WVEC Email List <paradox(a)spectrumz.com>, John Barry <John.Barry(a)sierraclub.org>, Gary Zuckett CAG <garyz(a)wvcag.org>, Janet Keating <janet.ovec(a)gmail.com>, "Sierra Club Environmental Comm." <ec(a)osenergy.org> > Subject: Re: [EC] Op-Ed in today's Gazette > > Allan, et al. > > We are planning a forum on this topic at the WVEC Fall Convention (Oct. 17-19 at Cedar Lakes in Ripley). This will likely be on Saturday, Oct. 18. The meeting is joint with the WV Highlands Conservancy Fall review, and legislative strategies are the primary topic. I also hope to emphasize some state agency actions, as WV-DEP will need to propose a state implementation Plan to EPA under the proposed greenhouse gas standards for power plants in the Clean Power Plan. > > EPA is urging states to "think beyond the fence" to include energy efficiency, renewables, and fuel switching , something that DEP may not be inclined to do. I think that will mean a significant effort to get DEP (which regulates "inside the fence" pollution controls) to work with the WV-PSC (which would over see energy efficiency and other "outside the fence" activities). > > A key step may be to amend the horrible HB 4346 which limits DEP's authority to implement greenhouse gas standards. > > There may be other, more holistic approaches, but a lot of that may depend on whether the Democrats keep control of the WV House of Delegates, and whether we can defeat some of the most extreme climate deniers. > > Who will be joining us? > > Jim Kotcon > >

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Re: [MVCAC] Op-Ed in today's Gazette
by Duane 10 Sep '14

10 Sep '14

> From: Allan Tweddle <allantweddle(a)msn.com> > Date: September 10, 2014 10:22:28 AM EDT > To: "cclwv(a)googlegroups.com" <cclwv(a)googlegroups.com> > Cc: "cclwv(a)googlegroups.com" <cclwv(a)googlegroups.com>, Don GARVIN <dsgjr(a)aol.com>, Vivian Stockman <vivian(a)ohvec.org>, WVEC Email List <paradox(a)spectrumz.com>, John Barry <John.Barry(a)sierraclub.org>, Gary Zuckett CAG <garyz(a)wvcag.org>, Janet Keating <janet.ovec(a)gmail.com>, "Sierra Club Environmental Comm." <ec(a)osenergy.org> > Subject: Re: [EC] Op-Ed in today's Gazette > > Colleagues > > First, thank you Paul and Regan for your kind words. I'm better, but not 100% yet. > > I believe part of my condition is caused by the air quality of the area. As and engineer who is dealt with air quality issues for 50 years, including air sampling for pollution conditions around manufacturing operations all the way through to design and clean rooms, I am very familiar with the process and the technical details of air-quality. > > But I do not have the instruments or the support staff to evaluate air-quality here as I used to have and my career days in California and Ontario. > > I do know however that I have often driven near the railway tracks that charge through Charleston and seen, in the proper sunlight conditions, the fine particulate dust blowing off the railcars as they passed through town. I've inquired, but that's never been analyzed, never been measured and is an unknown. > > But one doesn't need sophisticated instruments to see that that dust is being dispersed all on the communities through which these trains, sometimes it very high speeds, traverse. > > That brings me to a point I want to make. Air-quality is definitely a local issue. The EPA can establish national standards, and the local agencies can then implement a plan to measure against those standards. But in my opinion the evaluation of very close proximity conditions in West Virginia are never taken into account unless the public rises up and demands them. > > That also applies to climate change. There is yet another article in the Charleston Gazette today describing how carbon dioxide levels in the upper atmosphere Have already passed 350 ppm last year and are approaching the 400 ppm. Scientists consider the 400 parts, if achieved on a consistent basis to be very seriously detrimental to life as we know it all over the planet including in West Virginia. > > Addressing the issue and pressing for action requires a strong voice here in West Virginia. And I personally believe the economic opportunities that exist for addressing climate change are out there and need to be described to our policy makers repeatedly. > > While CCL is working diligently at the national level to seek logical and incremental steps towards controlling climate change, given the political barriers, we must be doing more at the state level in my opinion. > > That is why I have proposed to WVEC, CAG, OVEC, and others that we come together and join forces to mount a single voice to address climate change in West Virginia. > > It is an issue that is complex and crosses all of the constituencies of the entire environmental movement in West Virginia. To be successful, the legislatures got to know that there is a large constituency, a coming together of all of the organizations, to force them to pay attention to not just the dangers of doing nothing, but of the economic opportunities that are out there for addressing climate change. > > if we can come together somewhere in sometime in October, and begin to develop a comprehensive plan, then we will be ready to present our thoughts to the legislature in January. > > But I must look to each of the leadership of the various organizations to talk to one another and decide where they would like to do this. > > However, I need to hear from the leadership of each of the organizations. Is there interest in coming together in the manner I am suggesting? Or is there an alternative concepts? > > I'd like to hear from the leadership to know if this is making sense, and if so let's plan a specific time and meet, probably here in Charleston, To begin thinking about how to plan and implement a new voice of reason for addressing climate change here in West Virginia. > > I can offer a venue for such a meeting that is easy and convenient to reach. I must ask for permission from Temple Israel for such a meeting, but I believe Rabbi would approve such a gathering as long as it's not on the Sabbath. > > Please, let me hear from you > > Allan Tweddle > >> On Sep 9, 2014, at 7:38 AM, Paul Epstein wrote: >> >>> Good work both of you! Hope you're feeling much better, Allan. >>> >>> >>> www.awarewv.org >>> Paul Epstein >>> 304.343.5074 >>> www.paulepstein.net >>> >>> On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 7:29 AM, Jim Probst <probstfurnituremakers(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> It's been a good couple of days for Charleston CCL with Alan's excellent op-ed on Sunday and I got one published in today's paper. >>> http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140909/ARTICLE/140909344/1134 >>> >>> >>> >>

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100 years of poor health in West Virginia ......Sept 5th.
by Duane 29 Aug '14

29 Aug '14

PUBLIC HEALTH DIALOGUES Remember the first in this Speaker Series: A panel discussion on “Black Lung and Chemical Spills: 100 Years of Poor Health in West Virginia” Friday noon, September 5 in Room1905 Health Sciences Center North.The presentations are free and open to the public. To RSVP for a complimentary lunch, please e-mailsph-dialogues(a)hsc.wvu.edu. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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16 Of The Most Magnificent Trees In The World | Bored Panda
by Duane 01 Aug '14

01 Aug '14

http://www.boredpanda.com/most-beautiful-trees/ 16 Of The Most Magnificent Trees In The World How do I love thee, tree? Let me count the ways; you change carbon dioxide into the oxygen we breathe, you sequester carbon, and you provide shelter for countless critters. There are many reasons for which we should all be tree-hugging hippies, but within the scope of this article, all we’ll focus on is how amazing some of them look. Granted, not all of these amazing beautiful trees are trees (the Wisteria is a vine, Rhododendrons are shrubs, and bamboo technically belongs to the grass family), but we’ll give them a pass because they are amazing, huge and beautiful. So once you step outside and take a breath of fresh air, hug the nearest tree and say thank you! If you know of an amazing tree not on this list, you can submit it at the bottom of this post. 125+ Year Old Rhododendron “Tree” In Canada This huge 125-year-oldold rhododendron is technically not a tree – most are considered to be shrubs. You can find out more about it here. (Image credits: reddit) 144-Year-Old Wisteria In Japan Image credits: tungnam.com.hk At 1,990 square meters (about half an acre), this huge wisteria is the largest of its kind in Japan. Read more about it here. (Image credits: y-fu) Wind-Swept Trees In New Zealand These trees on Slope Point, the southern tip of New Zealand, grow at an angle because they’re constantly buffeted by extreme antarctic winds. Find out more here. (Image credits: Seabird Nz) Beautiful Japanese Maple In Portland, Oregon Image credits: falcor88 Image credits: Tom Schwabel Antarctic Beech Draped In Hanging Moss In Oregon The antarctic beech is native to Chile and Argentina, though this specimen is from the U.S.’ North Pacific region. (Image credits: Drew Hopper) Blooming Cherry Trees in Bonn, Germany This beautiful tunnel of cherry blossoms blooms in Bonn, Germany in April. To see more tunnels like this one, click here. (Image credits: Adas Meliauskas) Angel Oak In John’s Island In South Carolina The Angel Oak in South Carolina stands 66.5 ft (20 m) tall and is estimated to be more than 400 or 500 years old. (Image credits: Daniela Duncan) Flamboyant Tree, Brazil The flamboyant tree is endemic to Madagascar, but it grows in tropical areas around the world. (Image credits: Salete T Silva) Dragonblood Trees, Yemen The dragonblood tree earned its fearsome name due to its crimson red sap, which is used as a dye and was used as a violin varnish, an alchemical ignredient, and a folk remedy for various ailments. (Image credits: Csilla Zelko) The President, Third-Largest Giant Sequoia Tree In The World, California President, located in Sequoia National Park in California, stands 241 ft (73m) tall and has a ground circumference of 93 ft (28m). It is the third largest giant sequoia in the world (second if you count its branches in addition to its trunk). (Image credits: Michael Nichols) Maple Tree Tunnel in Oregon Image credits: Ian Sane Rainbow Eucalyptus In Kauai, Hawaii Image credits: jwilsonnorton The rainbow eucalyptus, which grows throughout the South Pacific, is both useful and beautiful. It is prized for both the colorful patches left by its shedding bark and for its pulpwood, which is used to make paper. (Image credits: Christopher Martin) Jacarandas in Cullinan, South Africa These beautiful Jacarandas, with their violet flowers, grow in South Africa. (Image credits: Elizabeth Kendall) Avenue Of Oaks At Dixie Plantation In South Carolina This avenue of oak trees was planted some time in the 1790s on Dixie Plantation in South Carolina. (Image credits: Lee Sosby) Baobab Trees In Madagascar These baobabs in Madagascar are excellent at storing water in their thick trunks to use during droughts. (Image credits: confitalsurf) The Dark Hedges In Northern Ireland Image credits: Stephen Emerson Ireland’s Dark Hedges were planted in the 18th century. This stunning beech tree tunnel was featured on Game of Thrones as well. Read more about it here. (Image credits: Christopher Tait) Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Hop On The Bus to Pittsburgh This Thursday, July 31 EPA Hearing, Rally, Comments
by Duane 29 Jul '14

29 Jul '14

> From: "Chuck Wyrostok" <wyro(a)appalight.com> > Date: July 29, 2014 > Subject: Hop On The Bus to Pittsburgh This Thursday, July 31 EPA Hearing, Rally, Comments > > The U.S. EPA needs to hear from you > > They recently proposed a "Clean Power Plan," that goes a long way to cleaning up the nasty emissions from coal-fired power plants. The fossil fools in the coal industry are freaked out and fighting back. Let’s show our elected officials that people in the Appalachian region are serious about moving to cleaner energy sources that will revitalize communities and protect our waters from the devastating impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining and dangerous fossil fuels. > > Every single one of us deserves to have our voices heard on this issue. We are impacted whether we live near a mountaintop removal site or a coal-fired power plant or a Marcellus fracking site. > > While the rules will greatly reduce CO2 emissions, they encourage other dirty energy sources such as fracked gas and nuclear. They don’t address coal exports or the health impacts of mountaintop removal. And, get this… the plan leaves the specifics of compliance up to the individual states, such as West Virginia, where most leaders are stuck in a 20th century mindset. > > EPA is having hearings around the country, including this Thursday in Pittsburgh > Show the EPA you want Climate Action Now! The Sierra Club has Climate Action Buses leaving from towns in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania early on the morning of July 31, this Thursday. The buses will arrive in Pittsburgh while one of the hearings is going on there, delivering you to a noon Climate Action Now rally right near the hearing location. The hearing is at the William S. Moorhead Federal Building, Room #1310, 1000 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh (map) > > Unless you have already registered to testify, all the spots are taken. However, you do not have to speak at the hearing to take the bus. Sierra Club will be taking video testimony outside the hearing in order to submit that to the EPA. > > Buses depart from Cleveland OH (stopping in Akron), Columbus OH (the Wheeling, WV stop has been cancelled), WV Bus (Leaving Charleston 6AM stopping in Weston, Clarksburg, and Morgantown WV), Harrisburg PA, State College PA > > If you plan to ride the West Virginia bus originating in Charleston, please call Sierra Club’s Bill Price at 304 389 8822 to reserve your seat. Spots are filling up quickly. > > Here’s the Charleston-Pittsburgh schedule: > > Charleston: 5:15 AM Departure from Kanawha Mall, McCorkle Ave., Kanawha City; please arrive by 5 AM > > Weston: 7 AM Departure from the Market Place Mall/Shopping Center; get there by 6:45 AM > > Clarksburg: 8 AM Departure from the Meadowbrook Mall; get there by 7:45 AM > > Morgantown: 9 AM Departure from the Morgantown Mall; get there by 8:45 AM > > Bus will depart Pittsburgh at approximately 6 PM for return trip. > > Whether you’re going to Pittsburgh or not, please tell the EPA to retain the good parts of the proposal, such as promoting efficiency and renewable energy, drop the dirty fuels support, and put some real teeth in the rules. EPA has already heard from nearly 300,000 people. Please comment online. Written comments are due by October 16. > > Come to Pittsburgh. > > It doesn’t matter where you live, global warming impacts you. And it certainly matters what we do about it as a nation. > > Thanks. > > > Chuck Wyrostok > Outreach Organizer > Sierra Club, WV Chapter > T: 877 252 0257 > E. outreach(a)marcellus-wv.com > www.marcellus-wv.com > > Water is Life...Keep It Clean > > Whenever there is a huge spill of solar energy, it's just called a nice day..... >

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Study may explain how pollution causes heart disease, KPCC News
by Duane 23 Jun '14

23 Jun '14

http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/06/20/44852/study-may-explain-how-pollution-c… Study may explain how pollution causes heart disease By Jed Kim, KPCC News, June 20, 2014 LOS ANGELES, CA - Morning traffic fills the SR2 freeway in Los Angeles, California. The nation's second largest city, Los Angeles, has again been ranked the worst in the nation for ozone pollution and fourth for particulates by the American Lung Association in it's annual air quality report card. Ozone is a component of smog that forms when sunlight reacts with hydrocarbon and nitrous oxide emissions. Particulates pollution includes substances like dust and soot. Scientists and clean air advocates are well aware that fine particles in the air, known as PM2.5, are correlated with deaths from cardiovascular disease. “You can see days where we have higher pollution, and they’ve already tracked that to more hospital admissions for heart disease, heart attacks," said Angela Johnson Meszaros, general counsel for Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles. "That kind of thing, we already knew.” A study out this month in the journal "Environmental Research" may shed light on something that wasn't as well known — the mechanism by which particulate matter causes the disease. Fine particles are released by vehicles, wood burning, power plants and other industrial sources and are capable of embedding deep within lungs. Scientists with the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment studied data from 3,000 women over a five-year period and found that long-term exposure to PM2.5 was strongly linked with increased levels of C-reactive proteins (CRP). The proteins are indicators of inflammation, which is tied to heart disease and stroke. The study also identified that smokers and people with diabetes, lower incomes, high blood pressure and those undergoing hormone therapy are more vulnerable to PM2.5. At the same time, the impacts seem to be lessened by certain medications and moderate alcohol consumption. “These are significant findings that might help us develop better approaches to reducing risks associated with PM2.5 exposure,” said Dr. John Balmes, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and member of the California Air Resources Board. Where is the PM2.5? Meszaros said that in general the Southern California's Inland Empire is most inundated with PM2.5, a result of winds pushing the pollution inland from the ocean. “If you look generally at the particulate maps, what you’ll see is the San Bernardino/Riverside areas are going to be red, red, red; and the coastal areas are going to be green, green, green,” Meszaros said. Tina Cox, a spokeswoman with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said that within Los Angeles County last year, the City of Compton had the highest levels of PM2.5, followed by Burbank. Note: Diesel engine exhaust gases are high in PM 2.5 particles. Also, sulfur oxides from coal and oil combustion react with other constituents to generate more PM 2.5 particulate matter. Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Fwd: Tell FERC: No fracked gas exports at Cove Point!
by Duane Nichols 14 Jun '14

14 Jun '14

Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: > From: Clean Air Council <action(a)cleanair.org> > Date: June 12, 2014 at 9:01:03 AM EDT > To: duane330(a)aol.com > Subject: Tell FERC: No fracked gas exports at Cove Point! > > > > Hello MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > This is the last week to respond to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Environmental Assessment of Dominion Resources’ proposed Liquefied Natural Gas Export Facility in Cove Point, Maryland. FERC’s Environmental Assessment (EA) fell short in analyzing the health and environmental impacts to the surrounding community and region. > > Ask FERC to reject Dominion Resources’ application, or at the very least to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). > > Despite the requirements of the National Environmental Protection Act, the EA neglected to assess the impacts of the Atlantic Sunrise project, which would carry fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania to the Cove Point facility. > > This absence silences the voices of communities that are facing eminent domain and pollution at the points of extraction and transportation of gas that is destined for the Cove Point export facility. > > Take action now to urge FERC to reject Dominion Resources’ application for a Liquefied Natural Gas Export Facility at Cove Point! > > Sincerely, > > Sam Koplinka-Loehr, skl(a)cleanair.org, 215.567.4004 x115 > > Advocacy Coordinator > > > Unsubscribe | Universal unsubscribe

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Tell WV legislators to support climate action! - Sierra Club
by Duane 13 Jun '14

13 Jun '14

Tell WV legislators to support climate action! - Sierra Club http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=330400&em_id=366427.0 Dear Friend, The EPA recently took a historic step by issuing new protections to reduce carbon pollution from power plants by 30 percent by 2030! This is the beginning of what could be the biggest climate fight in history and fossil fuel billionaires are mobilizing like never before. It's more important than ever that West Virginia's Congressional representatives hear from you. You can be sure they are hearing from the coal industry! Tell West Virginia's congressional leaders that it's time to address climate change head-on by supporting the EPA's new guidelines for limiting carbon pollution from existing power plants. There is currently no limit to the amount of carbon pollution that power plants are allowed to emit into the air we breathe. Carbon dioxide emissions are the chief cause of climate change; coal-fired power plants account for 40 percent of America's total emissions. Citizens are not permitted to throw garbage into the streets or treat our roadways like open sewers. Power plants shouldn't get a free pass on carbon pollution. The health and environmental hazards from coal—from when it's mined to when it's burned—are estimated to cost the U.S. public about one-third of a trillion dollars annually1. You can help clean the air, transition our coal workforce to sustainable jobs, and make sure we leave our children and grandchildren with a safe, healthy, and livable planet. Tell West Virginia's congressional delegation to support the EPA and that you want limits on carbon pollution. The resulting climate impacts make wildfires and extreme weather events like abnormally high temperatures, flooding, and drought more severe. What's worse is that carbon pollution is linked to life-threatening air pollution that contributes to health problems like heart and lung disease and asthma. Climate change threatens the reliability of our food supply, puts water supplies at risk, contributes to sea level rise, and may impact the spread of infectious diseases. It's time for climate action today! Thanks for all you do to protect the environment, Jim Kotcon WV Sierra Club Climate Action Team P.S. After you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends and colleagues!' 1.) Epstein, Paul R. Full Cost Assounting for the Life Cycle of Coal, Harvard School of Public Health, February 2011 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Key Findings for 2010-2012 - State of the Air 2014 | American Lung Association
by Duane 07 May '14

07 May '14

http://www.stateoftheair.org/2014/key-findings/ Key Findings for 2010-2012, From "State of the Air 2014," American Lung Association, May 6, 2014 Thanks to the Clean Air Act, the United States continues to make progress providing healthier air. The State of the Air 2014 shows that the nation’s air quality worsened in 2010-2012, but remains overall much cleaner than just a decade ago. More than 147.6 million people—47 percent of the nation—live where pollution levels are too often dangerous to breathe, an increase from last year's report. Despite that risk, some seek to weaken the Clean Air Act, the public health law that has driven the cuts in pollution since 1970. The State of the Air 2014 report looks at levels of ozone and particle pollution found in official monitoring sites across the United States in 2010, 2011, and 2012. The report uses the most current quality-assured nationwide data available for these analyses. - Click to Enlarge - The report examines particle pollution (PM2.5) in two different ways: averaged year-round (annual average) and over short-term levels (24-hour). For both ozone and short-term particle pollution, the analysis uses a weighted average number of days that allows recognition of places with higher levels of pollution. For the year-round particle pollution rankings, the report uses averages calculated and reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For comparison, the State of the Air 2013 report covered data from 2009, 2010, and 2011.1 More details about this process is in Methodology. Overall Trends Thanks to stronger standards for pollutants and for the sources of pollution, the United States has continued the long-term trends to lower ozone and particle pollution as well as other pollutants for decades. This figure from the EPA shows that, since 1970, the air has gotten cleaner while the population, the economy, energy use and miles driven increased greatly. Even as the economy continues to recover after the recession, overall air emissions that create the six most widespread pollutants continue to drop. In 2010-2012, many places made strong progress over 2009-2011 particularly in lower year-round levels of particle pollution. Thanks to reductions in emissions from coal-fired power plants and the transition to cleaner diesel fuels and engines, cleaner air shows up repeatedly in the monitoring data. Still, even with the cleaner air, the most-polluted cities failed to meet the official national limits, or standard, for year-round particle pollution. Ozone was much worse in 2010-2012 compared to 2009-2011, likely due to warmer temperatures, especially in 2012. Fortunately, even these higher levels represent much better air quality compared to ten or 15 years ago. However, rising temperatures create conditions favorable to forming ozone. Communities will need more help to reduce ozone pollution in the warmer temperatures expected from the changing climate. Sources of Pollution - Click to Enlarge - Ozone Pollution — More than 4 in 10 people lived in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone in 2010-2012. See which cities with the worst ozone had even more unhealthy air days. Year-round Particle Pollution — More than 46.2 million people live in an area burdened year-round by unhealthful levels of deadly particle pollution. See which cities saw continued progress in cleaning up sources and which suffered even more pollution. Short-term Particle Pollution — Many cities endured more days where particle pollution spiked during this period. Fourteen percent (14%) of people in the United States live where they suffered too many days with unhealthful levels of particle pollution. Cleanest Cities — Only four cities made the cleanest list in all three categories, but several were among the cleanest in two. People at Risk — Nearly half of the people in the U.S. live in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution. Learn more about people who face the greatest risk—probably someone you know is one of them. What Needs to be Done to Get Healthy Air— What do we need to do as a nation? How can you help clean up the air? 1A complete discussion of the sources of data and the methodology is included in Methodology. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Duane Nichols
by Paula Hunt 03 May '14

03 May '14

Congratulations Duane!!! > >---------- >From: MOUNTAINEER ENEWS <enews=mail.wvu.edu(a)mail51.atl71.mcdlv.net> >on behalf of MOUNTAINEER ENEWS <enews(a)mail.wvu.edu> >Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 9:02 AM >To: Timothy Warner >Subject: ENEWS: April 29, 2014 > >Having trouble viewing this email? ><http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=897497f2978168696d30d6890&id=c953cc5aca…>View >it online. > > >Top Story > > > > > >Nichols inducted into Academy of Chemical Engineers > > > >Duane Nichols, a 1959 graduate of West Virginia University, was >recently inducted into the Academy of Chemical Engineers. The >ceremony was held on April 25 in Morgantown. ><http://wvu.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=897497f2978168696d30d6890&id=a…>Read >more ><http://wvu.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=897497f2978168696d30d6890&id=…>Submit >to Mountaineer E-News > >West Virginia University >PO Box 6201 >Morgantown, WV 26506 > ><http://wvu.us8.list-manage1.com/vcard?u=897497f2978168696d30d6890&id=02ac3f…>Add >us to your address book

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Local News
by Duane 28 Apr '14

28 Apr '14

UPDATE: Dominion Post Longview settlement appealed Kvaerner shares $335M lien on Maidsville plant BY ALEX LANG The Dominion Post A company with a mechanic’s lien on Longview Power Plant appealed a settlement agreement between the power company and another firm to make repairs to the plant. Kvaerner North American Construction Inc. officially filed its appeal after a federal bankruptcy judge approved a settlement between Longview LLC and Foster Wheeler North American. In August, Longview filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Longview’s biggest asset is a 700-megawatt plant in Maidsville. Kvaerner, along with Siemens Energy Inc., has a $335 million mechanic’s lien on the plant. Kvaerner objected to the settlement, but Judge Brendan Shannon allowed it to proceed. As part of the proceedings, Longview entered into a settlement to make repairs to the plant’s boilers. The repairs would allow for increased revenues for the plant. The repairs would be at no cost to Longview, however Foster Wheeler could seek reimbursement from Kvaerner and Siemens. As a result of the settlement, Foster Wheeler would release its $16 million m e ch a n i c ’s lien on the plant. Now a federal magistrate will determine the appropriateness of mediation on the appeal. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Editorials: Observer-Reporter Gas well findings spark relief and concern Sunday, April 27,2014 Considering the intensity of the explosion at the Chevron Appalachia well site in Dunkard Township Feb. 11, and the resulting fire that burned for several days, it is remarkable the state Department of Environmental Protection’s air sampling found no pollutants at concentration levels harmful to local residents or emergency responders. The results of the DEP tests released last week indicated the agency took samples at several sites upwind and downwind of the well pad from Feb. 12 for eight days, the day the wells were capped. The samples were analyzed for 57 toxic air pollutants. Previously, the department released a report on radiation studies completed at the site that showed no radiation levels had exceeded normal “background” levels. No testing of groundwater was conducted because DEP didn’t believe that was necessary because the explosion and fire were confined to the well site. While the DEP said none of the levels of pollutants detected during the nine-day period in which the sampling was conducted presented a threat to health, we were, nonetheless, taken aback by the kinds of chemicals DEP tested, none of which sound particularly good for anyone’s health, no matter what the level. How often in our daily lives do we concern ourselves with propene, heptane and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, or 1,2 dichlorotetrafluoroethane? Probably never, unless we happen to live near a well site that explodes or conducts gas flaring. DEP should be commended for its vigilance in conducting air quality testing and we are relieved the levels were not at a harmful level. We now hope the DEP is just as vigilant in finding the cause of the explosion. The life lost there is certainly one life too many, and if another gas well catastrophe would occur, there is that chance the emissions spewed into the air could be significantly more noxious and toxic. Copyright 2014 Observer Publishing Company.All rights reserved. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Observer-Reporter | Shale gas and the environment
by Duane 18 Mar '14

18 Mar '14

http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20140317/NEWS01/140319372 Shale gas and the environment From an Article by Jeffery Fraser, Pittsburgh TODAY, Observer-Reporter, March 17, 2013 For years, the well pads, truck traffic and logos of energy companies large and small multiplied across counties like Washington and Greene as Southwestern Pennsylvania became a poster child for the rush to extract natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale. It was in such a climate the region recently assumed a new identity as a place where efforts to stake a middle ground in the polarized debate over drilling and environmental protection are seen as so advanced that they're drawing interest from regulators and elected officials from countries as far away as Kazakhstan. A group of energy companies, environmental nonprofits and foundations known as the Center for Sustainable Shale Development emerged from two years of closed-door negotiations last March to announce they'd agreed on voluntary standards that raise the bar on protecting the air and water in communities where drillers operate. And unlike industry best practices, they coupled the standards with a certification process that audits a driller's compliance. The idea is to promote state-of-the-art environmental practices throughout the Appalachian Basin shale play with the hope that drillers who earn certification will gain a competitive edge that will provide an incentive for others to follow suit. It's been applauded and criticized. Much of the attention has focused on the fact that a group of unlikely partners bridged the partisan divide to reach a consensus on environmental standards for shale gas drilling, rather than on what those standards specifically require certified drillers to do. CSSD partners have implied that the first set of environmental standards require certified drillers to raise their practices above the floor set by state and federal regulations. A Pittsburgh Today review of those standards and Pennsylvania law finds that to be generally true. Team of rivals The idea of finding a group of companies and environmental nonprofits willing to look for ways to reduce the environmental risks posed by shale drilling had been explored three years ago in Pittsburgh by the Heinz Endowments with little success. John Hanger had better luck. The former state Department of Environmental Protection secretary and one-time director of Pennsylvania's largest environmental nonprofit drew on his sense of who might be willing to take on such a task and recruited four major energy companies with shale gas operations and five local, state and national environmental nonprofits as partners in what is now CSSD. The partners include energy producers CONSOL Energy, EQT, Chevron and Shell. Two national environmental nonprofits, the Environmental Defense Fund and Clean Air Task Force, signed on with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, and the Group Against Smog and Pollution, a Pittsburgh-based grassroots organization. The Heinz Endowments and William Penn Foundation are involved as philanthropic partners. And the advisory board includes former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Alcoa Chairman and CEO Paul O'Neill and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman. Assembling a team hand-picked for their willingness to tolerate divergent points of view and rely on science and facts as guidance rather than dogma and rhetoric proved critical at a time when public debate over fracking was dominated by intransigent voices. “You had two strong polarities and neither were helpful. In fact, they were detrimental to finding the best outcomes for the Commonwealth and region,” says Andrew Place, director of energy and policy at EQT, who is serving as CSSD interim director. “Some on the industry side were the proverbial, 'drill baby drill; stay out of our way, we know what we are doing.' On the other side there was, 'these molecules should stay in the ground, fossil fuel is not the way to go;' 'it can't be done, the risks are too great.' None of us felt that was the way this debate should go.” Negotiations were fragile at times, particularly in the beginning. But with engineers and scientists at the table, the group was able to deal with drilling-related environmental issues as technical problems that needed to be solved. “The right people were in the room,” says Place. “Over time, what occurred was relationships were built and people put ideas forward that they would not have been interested in doing or have been willing to do if it had been a very public debate.” The result was a set of 15 standards for the industry that prescribed practices intended to better protect air and water quality. The partners agreed the standards would be open to improvement and that standards addressing other environmental concerns such as terrestrial issues and community impact would be added in coming years. They also agreed to a certification process requiring drillers who embrace the standards to submit to third-party audits to verify their compliance, not unlike that which the Green Building Council requires developers to pass in order to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for their buildings. For the companies involved, the standards were seen as a way to lower the risk of environmental mishaps, help secure a “social license” to develop the abundant shale gas play and assure an uncertain public, whose mixed views on drilling were documented last year in the Pittsburgh Regional Environment Survey conducted by Pittsburgh Today. The survey found that about 79 percent of residents across the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area believe drilling offers significant or moderate economic opportunities to the region. At the same time, 59 percent see it as a significant or moderate threat to public health and the environment. Few, if any, environmental nonprofits consider current drilling regulations sufficient to protect the environment. And several that agreed to join CSSD reported that the decision was not without internal debate over the pros and cons. For some, reasons for choosing to sit at the table included the hope of avoiding the hard lessons of the past, such as those from coal mining, which left a legacy of tainted streams and other problems. “We want to make sure that this time we have some control of what happens and ride herd on the industry to make sure this is done to the best of everybody's ability,” says Davitt Woodwell, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Environment Council' s Western Region. “Anyone who can't do it to the best of their ability, shouldn't be doing it.” And the reality of what's taking place in the hills and valleys of southwestern Pennsylvania added urgency to the idea of addressing the risks while waiting for slow-moving regulations to catch up. “Whether you support drilling, are absolutely opposed to drilling, or are somewhere in the middle, you have to acknowledge the industry is here, right now,” says Joe Osborne, the Group Against Smog and Pollution's legal director. “You can't ignore the impact it's having, regardless of how you think things ought to be in an ideal world.” Interest, praise and scorn CSSD drew worldwide attention almost immediately. In Paris, announcement of its standards created a buzz at the International Energy Agency meeting on unconventional natural gas last March. And throughout the year, CSSD officials hosted delegations of regulators, elected officials, journalists and others from Austria, Britain, China, Canada, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the European Union who traveled to Pittsburgh to learn about the standards and the process that led to them. Editorial writers from Pittsburgh to Dallas applauded the launch of CSSD. The Washington Post, for instance, described it as a “heartening breakthrough in the war over fracking.” On the other hand, several environmental nonprofits not invited to negotiate the standards criticized those who were, suggesting their involvement amounted to capitulation to an untrustworthy industry. The Sierra Club, the nation's largest grassroots environmental organization, took issue with the fact the standards don't carry the weight of law. “Voluntary certification is akin to slapping a Band-Aid on a gaping wound,” wrote Deb Nardone, director of its Beyond Natural Gas campaign. The nonprofit Public Accountability Initiative was more personal, documenting how several CSSD partners and board members have industry ties ranging from seats on corporate boards to investments in energy companies. In a report, the nonprofit described CSSD as a “greenwashing” campaign, implying that its standards are more of a marketing ploy than an attempt to advance environmental practices in shale gas drilling. The report, however, offered no evidence that the nonprofit had actually evaluated the merit of the CSSD standards. Tougher, for the most part Pittsburgh Today compared the 15 CSSD air and water standards to Pennsylvania and federal regulations that address environmental issues related to unconventional natural gas drilling. Both are rife with complexities. It is not uncommon, for example, for a single CSSD standard to have several parts that prescribe multiple practices, timetables and specifications. Each of the 15 standards was found to require CSSD-certified drillers to take some degree of protective action not prescribed by state or federal law. How significantly those practices rise above an operator's legal obligations varies across standards. Some CSSD standards are similar to existing regulations, save for a measure or two that can have environmental importance. One example is the standard for earthen impoundments that store water discharged during drilling that's fouled by chemical additives, brine and other contaminants. Like CSSD, Pennsylvania has design requirements that include double lining the impoundments. But unlike the state, CSSD also requires operators to remove hydrocarbons from the water before it is stored and to take steps to prevent wildlife from entering the impoundment. CSSD standards also prohibit discharging drilling wastewater into streams and rivers, allowing no exceptions. Zero discharge is generally promoted by Pennsylvania regulations. But under state law, public water treatment plants can, under certain circumstances, accept wastewater, which some have done, raising controversy and concern over public water supplies. Some similarities are also seen in CSSD standards and state regulations related to how drillers deal with the contaminated water discharged when a well is being drilled and afterward. Both call for drillers to identify strategies for reducing wastewater. But CSSD requires a recycling plan, and CSSD requires drillers to recycle at least 90 percent of their wastewater. Such practice reduces the amount of fresh water consumed in the hydrofracturing process, which is measured in the millions of gallons. State regulations don't require drillers to recycle their wastewater. Regulations tend to be moving targets, and recent changes have blunted the impact of one CSSD standard that was written earlier. That standard places limits on emissions from compressor engines used to push gas through pipelines after a well has gone into production. While those limits are more stringent than federal rules, Pennsylvania's revised regulations are, in some instances, more demanding. But several CSSD standards advance environmentally protective practices well beyond what is called for in state and federal regulations. One is the approach taken toward protecting groundwater. Before drilling, the CSSD standards require companies to establish an “area of review” that includes the vertical and horizontal legs of a well and to perform an analysis to characterize the geology below. That includes looking at whether the subsurface confining layers can prevent fracking fluids from migrating in unintended ways. It also includes identifying orphaned wells, faults or other vulnerabilities that might pose a problem. State regulations don't require drillers to perform such geological risk analyses. Operators who are CSSD-certified also must monitor streams, aquifers and other water sources within a 2,500-foot radius of the wellhead for at least one year after the well is drilled and show that the quality and chemistry of the water measured before drilling hasn't been adversely affected. State law doesn't require operators to take such steps to see if their wells impact local water sources. CSSD emissions standards for the diesel engines used in drilling and in the heavy trucks hauling fresh water and contaminated water are more restrictive than those which operators are legally required follow. Diesel engines are prolific sources of fine particles that contribute to smog, which is of growing concern in areas where drilling is concentrated. At least 95 percent of a CSSD-certified driller's truck fleet, for example, must meet the most stringent federal emissions regulations within three years. The standard applies to both new and existing trucks, including those bought before 2007, which could account for a large share of an operator's fleet. Federal law exempts those older trucks. And federal law prohibits Pennsylvania and other states from regulating them on their own. Moving forward Before leaving CSSD to begin his Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign, Hanger expressed hope the standards would encourage more effective environmental practices within the industry, derail the argument that such higher standards cannot be met by the industry, and, through market pressures, require companies to earn certification in order to drill in the Appalachian Basin states. (Hanger has just recently dropped out of the primary race for governor. DGN) Whether that will come to pass remains to be seen. It took the better part of last year for CSSD to piece together its certification process, including protocols for selecting and training the auditors who'll monitor compliance. Their audits are expected to include both documentation review and field inspections. Sometime in 2014, the first companies to seek certification are expected to undergo compliance audits. Those presumably will be the four CSSD corporate partners: CONSOL, EQT, Shell and Chevron Appalachia. How many more will follow is unclear, as is the extent to which CSSD is supported within the shale gas industry. The region's largest shale gas trade group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, hasn't endorsed CSSD, which is not mentioned on the group's website or on its list of the positive industry developments of 2013. And the group did not respond to interview requests to clarify its position on CSSD. But the notion that CSSD standards could create market demand for drillers to adopt its standards got an early and unexpected boost in September when Allegheny County added several of the standards to its request for proposals to extract gas under Deer Lakes Park. “I think it's doing the right thing,” says Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald. “Everything is on a case-by-case basis. But we'd like to set a baseline where, if we can get some of these enhancements, it could be a template for doing it in other areas – not just public land, but private land as well.” Pittsburgh TODAY is an initiative of the Regional Indicator program hosted by the University Center for Social and Urban Research.

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A Chickadee Mating Zone Surges North - NYTimes.com
by Duane 18 Mar '14

18 Mar '14

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/a-chickadee-mating-zone-surges-no… A Chickadee Mating Zone Surges North New York Times, March 18, 2014 In a long, narrow strip of territory from Kansas to New Jersey, two closely related species of chickadees meet, mate and give birth to hybrid birds. Now scientists are reporting that this so-called hybrid zone is moving north at a rate that matches the warming trend in winter temperatures. “It has moved north by about seven miles in the last 10 years,” said Scott Taylor, an evolutionary biologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University. The northward movement of the strip “corresponds so closely to warming global temperatures,” Dr. Taylor said. “The fact that these little birds are experiencing this makes it really relatable.” (The species are the Carolina chickadee, from the South, and the black-capped chickadee, from the North.) The scientists, who reported their findings in the journal Current Biology, relied on blood samples drawn from chickadees in Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2002 and from 2010 to 2012, and on sightings of hybrid chickadees recorded in the citizen science database eBird. They found that hybrids were sighted in areas where the average low temperature in winter was 15 to 19 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-9 to minus-7 Celsius) — the same readings as a decade earlier, but in a zone seven miles north of the 2000-02 sightings. The adaptability of the chickadees is impressive, Dr. Taylor said, but less mobile organisms that cannot move as fast may be suffering. For these organisms — like small mammals, insects and plants — the warming temperatures could have serious implications that are not immediately apparent, he said. SINDYA N. BHANOO

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Climate Denier Steve Milloy Now a Director at Coal Giant Murray Energy, On CPAC Global Warming Panel Today | DeSmogBlog
by Duane 08 Mar '14

08 Mar '14

http://desmogblog.com/2014/03/06/climate-denier-steve-milloy-now-director-c… Note: Murray Energy late last year purchased five of the largest coal mines in WV from CONSOL Energy, namely the Robinson Run mine in Harrison Co., the Loveridge mine in Marion Co., the Blacksville II mine in Monongalia Co., the McElroy mine in Marshall Co., and the Ireland mine in Ohio Co. The primary owner is Robert Murray of the Cleveland area who has a long history of controversy regarding employee relations, unions, government regulations, and public relations. Now look at this: ........... "Climate Denier Steve Milloy Now a Director at Coal Giant Murray Energy, On CPAC Global Warming Panel Today" March 6, 2014 BRENDAN DEMELLE The Junkman has a new job, and yet again it involves defending fossil fuels and attacking science. Steve Milloy, who long ago dubbed himself "The Junkman," is listed as Director of External Policy & Strategy, Murray Energy Corporation, in a description of a global warming panel happening Thursday afternoon at the CPAC convention in Washington. That means he’s now deploying his anti-science, climate denialist PR spin for the largest privately-held coal producer in the U.S., Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp. Milloy apparently hasn’t bothered to update his online biography with this new title, and he didn’t respond to questions from DeSmogBlog about his exact start date. But it appears that he took the job with the coal company led by controversial conservative coal baron Robert Murray at some point last year. *Update: A Murray Energy spokesperson confirmed with DeSmog that Milloy began employment at the company on October 15, 2013.* Milloy appears on the roster of attendees at a White House meeting last Halloween, according to an Office of Management and Budget meeting log from Oct. 31, 2013. Milloy, appearing on behalf of Murray Energy Corp, was part of the coal industry coalition pushing back against efforts to improve mine safety rules protecting workers from respirable coal dust that can cause black lung disease, according to documents supplied at the meeting. Last September, Milloy wrote about Murray Energy briefly on his JunkScience.com blog without mentioning any ties to the company. Perhaps he hadn’t joined Murray yet, or didn’t see reason to declare his position? (*See update above*) The CPAC global warming panel taking place today in Washington features a cast of climate confusionists apparently seeking to permanently sink the GOP’s reputation on scientific matters. Alongside Milloy, the CPAC panel features Heartland Institute’s Joe Bast, CFACT’s Marc Morano, CEI’s Marlo Lewis and Frontiers of Freedom president George Landrith. With one exception — CEO of Abundant Power Group, Shannon Smith, a conservative who acknowledged in a recent tweet that “climate change is a reality” — the rest of the panel is stacked with a denier dream team of veteran apologists for tobacco companies, the Koch brothers, the chemical industry and dirty energy interests. Last year, climate denial was all the rage among most of CPAC’s young conservative attendees. So the right-wing audience will probably continue to buy the snake oil that all but Smith will be selling. AFTER TOBACCO AND TOXIC CHEMICALS, "CLEAN COAL" A NATURAL FIT FOR MILLOY? Steve Milloy’s new employer, Murray Energy, is a company with a clear position on climate change – 100% denial of science and reality. Here is what Murray Energy spokesperson, Gary Broadbent, told the National Journal last summer: "There is no relationship between the utilization of coal and climate change," company spokesman wrote to me in an e-mail. "Our members of Congress, and particularly the Obama administration, confuse scientific facts and evidence with their own beliefs." Robert Murray, the company’s founder and president, is clearly a climate denier who once referred to global warming as “global goofiness.” Bob Murray is also known for repeatedly lashing out with defamation lawsuits against journalists. His company Murray Energy is also a funder of the Heartland Institute, the Chicago-based right wing group known for its attacks on climate science and its outrageous Unabomber billboard. According to Heartland’s 2012 fundraising plan — an internal document published originally on DeSmogBlog in February 2012 —Murray Energy gave $100,000 to Heartland in 2010 and was expected to give $40,000 in 2012. WHO IS STEVE MILLOY? A BRIEF HISTORY Milloy, an infamous tobacco- and chemical industry-funded PR flack, was an author of the 1998 American Petroleum Institute “communications plan” to attack science and undermine international action on climate change. Written in conjunction with many right wing think tanks and fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron and Southern Company, the industry’s goal was to launch "a national media relations program to inform the media about uncertainties in climate science." The 1998 API memo noted the “current reality” the industry faced: "Unless 'climate change' becomes a non-issue, meaning that the Kyoto proposal is defeated and there are no further initiatives to thwart the threat of climate change, there may be no moment when we can declare victory for our efforts." Three of the groups represented on the 2014 CPAC global warming panel were listed on the 1998 plan as possible channels to deploy the industry money to attack climate science, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), Competitive Enterprise Institute and Frontiers of Freedom: Potential funding sources and fund allocators (p. 8) - Potential funding sources were identified as American Petroleum Institute (API) and its members; Business Round Table (BRT) and its members, Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and its members; Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and its members; and the National Mining Association (NMA) and its members. - Potential fund allocators were identified as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), Competitive Enterprise Institute, Frontiers of Freedom and the Marshall Institute. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, AND POLLUTING Milloy has been a loud-mouthed attacker of climate science ever since, and proud of it. He told Popular Science in 2012: "There's really only about 25 of us doing this. A core group of skeptics. It's a ragtag bunch, very Continental Army. … I'm happy to be a denier." Like many other polluter operatives, Milloy has affiliations with a number of fossil-friendly think tanks in addition to his role at Murray Energy. He's listed as an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, senior policy fellow at the Energy and Environmental Law Institute, ‘expert’ at the Heartland Institute, the publisher and editor emeritus of JunkScience.com and president of the consulting firm Steven J. Milloy, Inc. He previously served as an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, director of Science Policy Studies at the National Environmental Policy Institute and more. He also formerly served as a blogger and occasional on-air commentator at FoxNews.com. Milloy has defended everything from cigarettes to Agent Orange to asbestos to PCBs and dioxins to … well, you get the idea. If you produce a deadly and dangerous product that needs defending, then Steve Milloy is your man. His business card might as well read "science denier for hire." Apparently, Murray Energy is the latest polluter to make the call to book the Junkman’s disinformation services.

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2014 NETL Carbon Dioxide Capture Technology Meeting
by Duane 08 Mar '14

08 Mar '14

Dear Colleague: You are cordially invited to attend the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory's 2014 CO2 Capture Technology Meeting on July 29 - August 1, 2014 at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The 2014 CO2 Capture Technology Meeting will provide a public forum to present carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology development status and accomplishments made under NETL's Carbon Capture Program. Accomplishments from NETL's Advanced Combustion Systems Program will also be highlighted. This year's meeting will include projects from three primary technology areas (post-combustion, pre-combustion, and advanced combustion systems) and various stages of development (lab-scale, bench-scale, and small pilot-scale). Presentations of solvent, sorbent, membrane, oxy-combustion, and chemical looping combustion technologies, as well as systems studies and modeling, will be included. The meeting will have open registration so that in addition to researchers, participants may include employees of other government agencies, electric utilities, research organizations, business, and regulatory agencies at the Federal, State and Local levels. The Sheraton Station Square Hotel is currently holding a block of rooms for this meeting until Tuesday, June 24, 2014 at the government rate of $125.00 plus tax. For further information regarding the hotel, transportation/directions, and registration visit our website at: http://netl.doe.gov/events/co2-capture-technology-meeting For further information regarding the program content please contact David A. Lang at: U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory P.O. Box 10940 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236 Phone: (412) 386-4881 E-mail: David.Lang(a)netl.doe.gov For questions regarding conference logistics, please contact Karen Lockhart at: NETL Event Management P.O. Box 10940 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236 Telephone: (412) 386-4763 Fax: (412) 386-6486 E-mail: karen.lockhart(a)contr.netl.doe.gov >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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PA-DEP puts gas drillers under watchful eye | TribLIVE
by Duane 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

http://triblive.com/state/marcellusshale/5133437-74/pollution-drillers-stat… PA-DEP puts gas drillers under watchful eye | TribLIVE Article by Tony LaRussa, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, February 22, 2014 In early August, state environmental regulators ended the long-standing practice of allowing Marcellus shale gas drillers to operate without a plan as to how they would control air pollution at well sites. But rather than just issue rules for how to limit pollution, the state Department of Environmental Protection gave drillers a choice — submit an air-quality plan for approval, or use pollution control systems that keep emissions below standards set by the federal government. Between Aug. 1 and Nov. 30, none of the 979 drilling applications issued across the state — including 355 in the Pittsburgh area — submitted air-quality plans to the PA-DEP, said Amanda Witman, a spokeswoman for the state's environmental agency. “We consider this a win-win because it helps keep the air clean by requiring drillers to keep pollution emissions lower than the federal guidelines while at the same time eliminating some of the time and effort drillers have to spend preparing air-quality plans as well the time it takes for us to review and process them,” Witman said. The change giving drillers the option ends the practice of granting blanket exemptions, which had been done since 1996, according to the PA-DEP. Patrick Creighton, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group, said he is “not surprised” that drillers are opting to follow the Environmental Protection Agency guidelines set in April 2012. “The industry recognizes that the new federal guidelines represent a robust effort to reduce air pollution,” Creighton said. “The folks who work in this industry expect to be around a long time, so there is an incentive for them to get it right the first time when it comes to safeguarding the environment, a spokesman for Range Resources, said the company began capturing emissions at well sites in 2011. “ The materials contained in those emissions are exactly what we are in the business of selling,” he said. “So not only does it make good business sense not to release them, it benefits the environment and safety.” While environmentalists support the state's effort to control air pollution at well sites by enacting rules for issuing drilling permits, they are calling for better monitoring. “We always like to see stronger (air pollution) emission controls put in place, but one of our biggest concerns is the cumulative impact these well-sites can have,” said Lauren Burge, a staff attorney for the Group Against Smog and Pollution, or GASP. “Even though the amount of air pollution released at an individual well might be very small, when you have a lot of them operating in an area, the total amount emitted can be a concern,” she said. “We'd like to see more done to determine what that cumulative impact is, as well as the potential health effects.” GASP and the Environmental Defense Fund are calling on the DEP to make sure drillers verify that the air-pollution controls they use reduce emissions. Lisa Kasianowitz of the state DEP said drillers are in fact required to demonstrate their compliance with EPA standards within 180 days after they start drilling. “We have started both short- and long-term studies in the state, in which air testing devices at well sites regularly take readings that will be analyzed to determine whether additional regulations are needed to limit air pollution,” Kasianowitz said. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Check out “Fracking Our Future” by mediasanctuary on Vimeo
by Duane 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

Check out “Fracking Our Future” by mediasanctuary on Vimeo. The video is available for your viewing pleasure at http://vimeo.com/63270096 Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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Longview Reaches Agreement with Foster Wheeler
by Duane 12 Feb '14

12 Feb '14

Longview Reaches Settlement With Foster Wheeler Over Repairs Peg Brickley February 10, 2014 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Longview Power LLC has struck a deal with one of three contractors that it has been battling over problems at its West Virginia power plant, winning the support of German engineering firm Foster Wheeler AG for its drive to get out of bankruptcy. ... Document DJFDBR0020140210ea2al6s24 See this legal document . .. ... https://dr201.s3.amazonaws.com/li/13-12211/dk000905-0000.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId… Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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3 fire companies at scene of SW Pa. gas well fire - The York Daily Record
by Duane 11 Feb '14

11 Feb '14

http://www.ydr.com/state/ci_25111940/3-fire-companies-at-scene-sw-pa-gas 3 fire companies at scene of SW Pa. gas well fire The Associated Press UPDATED: 02/11/2014 Dillner, Pa.—Emergency dispatchers say at least three fire companies have responded to a report of a natural gas well explosion and fire in southwestern Pennsylvania, within miles of the West Virginia border. A Greene County 911 supervisor says the fire was reported shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday in Dunkard Township, near Bobtown. That's about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh. The 911 supervisor says there have been no immediate reports of injuries, though an ambulance and emergency medical crews have been summoned to stand by at the scene. It was not immediately clear who owns the well or what caused the well to catch fire. Crews at the scene were reporting that intense flames have kept them from getting too close to the well. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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More on Longview / Mepco
by Andrew Liebhold 31 Jan '14

31 Jan '14

Longview Power Reaches $18 Million Settlement with FirstEnergy Daily Bankruptcy Review Brickley, Peg Longview Power LLC's coal-mining affiliate, Mepco Holdings LLC, is lined up to receive $18 million under a settlement involving the closure of a Pennsylvania plant by FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) The deal was announced Monday in a status conference with Judge Brendan Shannon, who is presiding over Longview and Mepco's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The companies filed for protection from creditors last year, weighed down with debt after the flawed launch of the $2 billion Longview electric plant. Kirkland & Ellis LLP's Ray Schrock, attorney for Longview and Mepco, said the agreement was "critical to the future of Mepco," which has two major customers, Longview and FirstEnergy. Last year, FirstEnergy closed its Hatfield's Ferry Power Station in Pennsylvania, a coal-fired facility that was suffering due to low electricity prices. The loss of a customer posed a threat to Mepco and could have translated into higher prices for Longview, Mr. Schrock said. Early cancellation of the contract also raised the possibility of damage claims against FirstEnergy. The settlement allows FirstEnergy a way out of its supply contract with Mepco at the Hatfield's Ferry plant, but assures business through 2018 with FirstEnergy's Fort Martin plant in West Virginia, Mr. Schrock said. Ready cash has been an issue for Longview throughout much of its restructuring effort, which has been marked by a fight with contractors over who's to blame for the operational issues that have plagued Longview's coal-fired electric plant. Some $58 million worth of borrowing power was tied up in the dispute, pushing Longview toward a cash shortage that would have limited its options in bankruptcy. Existing lenders stepped up with a lifeline and an offer to fund Longview's emergence from Chapter 11. Whether that happens, however, may depend on the outcome of a hearing next week where Longview will debate an affiliate of Norwegian construction company Kvaerner ASA (KVAER.OS), Siemens Energy Inc., a unit of Siemens AG (SI, SIE.XE), and German engineering firm Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) over the status of their claims in its bankruptcy case. Longview and the contractors have been pointing fingers at each other since before the plant's 2011 launch over the delays and operational troubles that have kept it from operating at full capacity. The contractors are asserting a combined $360 million worth of claims against Longview, claims which, if recognized by the court, could be enough to trip up the company's bid to exit bankruptcy. Longview has rescheduled its Chapter 11 plan confirmation hearing for March 10 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The month's delay was calculated in part to give Judge Shannon time to sort through the contractor disputes. (Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review covers news about distressed companies and those under bankruptcy protection. Go tohttp://dbr.dowjones.com) Write to Peg Brickley at peg.brickley(a)wsj.com

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LONGVIEW POWER, LLC. bankruptcy update . .. ...
by Duane 31 Jan '14

31 Jan '14

https://www.adr.com/Markets/GlobalNewsStory?docID=1-DN20140113010177-65BP95… LONGVIEW POWER, LLC. bankruptcy update . .. ... By Peg Brickley, Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2014 Longview Power LLC has asked for the help of a mediator to address a long-running dispute with contractors that threatens to hobble its bid to exit bankruptcy. Creditors have already started to vote on the power plant's Chapter 11 emergence plan, which proposes to swap more than $1 billion worth of debt for equity. Longview's lawyers said in court papers that they "cannot overstate the importance of moving towards emergence as quickly as possible" with a balance-sheet cleansing plan that also provides money to fix the troubled plant. Built at a cost of $2 billion, Longview's plant has been unable to operate at full capacity due to significant technical issues. Those issues are at the heart of the fight Longview has been engaged in with its contractors: an affiliate of Norwegian construction company Kvaerner ASA (KVAER.OS), Siemens Energy Inc., a unit of Siemens AG (SI, SIE.XE) and German engineering firm Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT). The company's attorneys said in a letter to the judge on Sunday that Longview is prepared to continue litigation but would like a mediator to facilitate "productive settlement negotiations." The contractor fights are also the subject of an arbitration that began before Longview's bankruptcy filing. With a Feb. 10 hearing on the company's restructuring plan looming, Longview would prefer to have peace with one or more of the contractors, the letter said. Longview's financing calls for the company to get out of Chapter 11 in March. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection Aug. 30, after construction delays and technical trouble rendered it unable to cover its debts. (Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review covers news about distressed companies and those under bankruptcy protection. Go to http://dbr.dowjones.com)

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PUC to update 'external cost' for Minnesota power sources | St. Cloud TIMES | sctimes.com
by Duane 27 Jan '14

27 Jan '14

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20140126/NEWS01/301260004/PUC-update-externa… PUC to update 'external cost' for Minnesota power sources Written by Kirsti Marohn, St. Cloud Times, January 26, 2014 BECKER — A new push to calculate the true cost of the environmental and health effects of producing electricity could have a substantial impact on the future of Minnesota’s largest coal plant, located in Becker. The state Public Utilities Commission agreed last month to update the values it gives to so-called external costs. Those can range from climate change to higher infant mortality to an increased number of emergency room visits due to asthma. The values will help guide future decisions the state will make about aging power plants like Sherco in Becker and cleaner sources of electricity. “What this would do is to cause Minnesota to take a hard look before investments are made in power plants so that ... we have a sense of what those ultimate costs would be, and we’ll make fewer bad decisions,” said J. Drake Hamilton, science policy director with the nonprofit Fresh Energy. Minnesota law Minnesota passed a landmark law in 1993 that requires the PUC to consider external costs when weighing various energy options. The purpose was to create a level playing field between sources of electricity that emit a lot of pollution and those that don’t, said Beth Goodpaster, attorney with the nonprofit Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, which petitioned the PUC to update the values. Lawmakers recognized that there are costs associated with some sources of electricity that aren’t reflected in customers’ bills and aren’t paid for by utilities, Goodpaster said. “That way, a dirty resource would not be able to say, ‘We’re cheap,’ because they would have to actually include all the costs associated with it,” she said. Coal plants, for example, emit pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury that contribute to smog and affect human health. They also release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that are linked to global warming. While Minnesota’s law was groundbreaking, the values didn’t include all pollutants and haven’t been updated since 1996. See link above for the complete article.

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Allegheny County to monitor air in drilling near airport - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Duane 22 Jan '14

22 Jan '14

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/marcellusshale/2014/01/21/County-to-monit… Allegheny County to monitor air in drilling near airport By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 20,2014 The first big Marcellus Shale gas development project in Allegheny County, on county-owned land near Pittsburgh International Airport, will get special air pollution monitoring attention from the Allegheny County Health Department before and after the drilling begins. The county announced Monday that it will soon begin air quality monitoring on more than 9,000 acres in Findlay where Consol Energy Inc. plans to drill 47 shale gas wells and construct 17 miles of gas collection lines and 12 miles of water supply lines. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who has been a shale gas development supporter, requested the pre- and post-drilling monitoring after hearing the concerns of residents of the area and state Sen. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, and state Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Moon. "We are extremely confident that our partner in this project, Consol Energy, will conduct the drilling and extraction in a safe and environmentally responsible manner," Mr. Fitzgerald said in a news release. "That being said, this is also the first project of this size in Allegheny County and we want to ensure that this is done in a health-conscious way." Mr. Fitzgerald said Mr. Smith recommended the monitoring plan and it is "a proactive way to ensure the air quality in the area of the project." Mr. Smith said he and Mr. Mustio want to make sure that the concerns of their constituents are addressed and energy exploration "is done in the most responsible way." The county, which signed a shale gas development lease with Consol a year ago, expects to receive an estimated $500 million over 20 years. Consol expects to extract "dry" natural gas, mostly methane, and so-called "wet" gases, which include butane and ethane compounds that are valuable in the plastics processing industry and bring higher prices. Kate O'Donovan, a spokeswoman for Consol, said the company wasn't aware of the county air monitoring plans. "It's something we'll have to look into," she said. According to the county, Consol will begin development of drilling pads, impoundments and pipelines in the second quarter of 2014, with drilling on the first two wells in July. "This project represents the first large-scale development of a wet gas field in Allegheny County," said Jim Thompson, the Health Department's deputy director of environmental health. "... we will conduct an air monitoring study in a community near to the project to make certain there are no unforeseen problems." Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations and gas compressor stations release tons of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds into the air annually, although NOX emissions have declined in Pennsylvania due to the shutdown of several coal-burning power plants. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, even short-term exposure to nitrogen oxides can impair respiratory health, causing throat and lung inflammation and exacerbating asthma. It can also lead to higher concentrations of airborne particulate matter. Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535. www.FrackCheckWV.net

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