Earthbytes

New Video Details Cap and Trade's "Devils"

If you liked Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff, you're going to love a new video that explains the "devils in the details" of Cap and Trade.

I'm sitting here thinking it was pretty synchronous that I saw a discussion between RFK, Jr and Ralph Nader on the economy and the possibilities of a parliamentary system to bring us back to "we, the people" instead of "we, the corporations." Toward the end of the segment I watched, their conversation turned to the power of corporations and their insidious influence and control in nearly every aspect of our lives.

Leonard explains how cap and trade is yet one more way for corporados to keep skimming big bucks off the top of the world's sorrows without doing much to ease the burden of carbon in the atmosphere or the impacts of carbonic excess on communities of people and nature.

As we head toward Copenhagen Summit and continue to hammer out national energy policies, it's important to understand what different choices -- like cap and trade -- really mean for the planet.

I think Leonard and other folks behind this production do a good job explaining the downsides of cap and trade. It's a useful resource whether or not you support the idea.

Please check out the trailer below this post or see the whole thing here.

Save Coal River Mountain!

National Day of Action to Stop the Blasting on Coal River Mountain

The Brushy Fork impoundment is near the new blasting on Coal River Mountain. Photo by Vivian Stockman, OHVEC, flyover courtesy of Southwings.

All kinds of grassroots groups and national organizations have joined together today in a mass appeal to the Obama Administration to use its power to stop the destruction of Coal River Mountain -- the last mountain in the area to be untouched by mountaintop removal mining.

Blasting at Coal River Mountain is especially dangerous because of its proximity to the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment that keeps 8.2 billion gallons of toxic sludge from flooding over the Marsh Fork community below it. If shock waves being generated were to knock the structure apart, citizens would have very little time to get out of the way, and as many as 1,000 people could lose their lives.

Perhaps the biggest tragedy at Coal River Mountain today is that new mountaintop removal mining will foreclose a community option for clean water, good jobs, clean energy and homeland security. A detailed study has shown that the ridges on the mountain could support a 328 megawatt wind farm, and many residents have energetically put forward such a proposal to anyone who will listen.

Once the ridges are diminished by blasting, their wind-catching capacity would be substantially disabled. The community would continue to live with the threat of killer sludge floods unleashed by new blasting. More headwater streams, springs, seeps and bogs will be ripped apart and buried. Wells and surface waters already impacted by intense surface disturbance and toxic slurry leachate will suffer further assaults. The oppression and poverty of coal-unconsciousness will pollute the possibilities for a socially just economy where risk, burden, benefit and reward are shared equally.

Wars like this against people and nature in the name of resource extraction for financial gain of an elite corporate minority rage daily across the face of the Earth.

We, the people, need to rage back. Daily.

Today lets do it for Coal River Mountain and our sisters and brothers who live there. Click here and go for it!

   

EPA Takes Another Step in Review of 79 Mountaintop Removal Permits

On September 11th I posted an article of EPA's announcement that it would review 79 mountaintop removal mining applications, and summarized the steps in the ongoing review process. Yesterday, EPA notified the Corps of Engineers that -- in light of available project data, existing environmental conditions in the watersheds, and the nature of impacts predicted -- all 79 permit applications continue to raise "potentially significant environmental and water quality issues."

EPA says their concerns fall into 4 key areas having to do with avoidance and minimization of impacts, potential water quality violations, inadequate information regarding cumulative impacts and inadequate evaluation of mitigation plans to compensate loss of headwater streams.

Many of the points made in EPA's September 30th letter to the Corps echo concerns that grassroots and environmental activists have been yelling about for years, hoping somebody was listening.

Now that I see some of those arguments smiling back at me from an real EPA document, I'm sensing some light at the end of the corporate mountaintop mining shaft that Appalachian mountains, watersheds and communities have endured for way too long.

While coalfield activists may pause for a breath, nobody that I know plans to hibernate or hold a victory dance. Yesterdays announcement is still just one more step toward protection of people and nature through adequate assessment of impacts and consistent enforcement of the law.

Lots of folks have been writing about all this since the news broke yesterday. Here are some links to other articles and documents:

Letter from EPA to Corps of Engineers on 9/30/09

EPA finalizes list of 79 permits for further reviews

EPA: All 79 mining permits need further review

The Alliance of Appalachia Praises EPA Decision

EPA Concern Over Mining Permits -- 49 Are in Kentucky

Advocates Fight Mountaintop Removal --IPS

EPA Holds Up Coal-Mining Permits as Firms Fume

Be sure to let EPA and President Obama know what you think. For more information and to take action, go here.

TVA Still Clueless About the White Stuff That Fell on Swan Pond Community

Randy Ellis and other Swan Pond community residents are still waiting to find out what fell from the sky last Friday and coated their neighborhood.

Ellis and others met on Monday with officials from TVA, TDEC and EPA. Ellis, a member of the Roane County Advisory Group, said he asked TVA what the material was and what health effects it might have if people inhaled or ingested it, or got it on their skin. They told him that they did not know, but that it is being tested at a lab.

When Ellis asked why TVA hasn't offered to relocate people until they figure out what it is and what health risk it poses, he was told that none of the residents had asked to be relocated.

"I am so tired of the TVA's attitude when it comes to the health concerns of the Swan Pond Community," said Ellis. "TVA has stuff falling from the sky that they don't know what it is or what it can do to you...why the hell is TVA not looking out for the health of the people?"

Ellis requested that TVA relocate anyone affected by the fallout. He also asked that they offer car washes and power washes for homes and porches.

"As everyone can see from the pictures, whatever this is coated stuff very well," said Ellis, "and the latest rain from yesterday did not even wash it away."

Ellis recommends that everyone affected by the fallout on Friday call Katie Kline at TVA and request temporary relocation until the material is identified and health risks are known.

Residents are still working with Senator Yager's office to revoke the Air Pollution Control Board's variance for TVA test burns.

If you live in Roane County and were affected by the fallout, please protect yourself and your family!

If you have not yet asked Commissioner Fyke or Governor Bredesen to help pull this variance, please call or drop them an email!

Here is the contact information for TVA, TDEC and the Governor's office:

Katie Kline at TVA: 865-717-1668

TDEC Commissioner James Fyke: 615-532-0109; jim.fyke@tn.gov

Governor Bredesen: 615-741-2001; phil.bredesen@tn.gov

Coal Ash Snow Down: Help Roane County Residents Challenge Test Burns

The Swan Pond Road community in Roane County, Tennessee is more than a little bit wary after the coal ash fallout from TVA's test burn of high sulfur coal at the Kingston Fossil plant on Friday.

According to a News-Sentinel report, residents in the area of the Kingston plant first thought that the white stuff falling on their community was coal ash stirred up from waste still on the ground following the impoundment failure last December.

Coal ash particles from TVA test burn coat a vehicle in the Swan Pond community. (Randy Ellis photo.)

But TVA soon confirmed that the white particles were coming from a smokestack:

“TVA was performing a test burn of higher sulfur coals to determine if they can be used at the Kingston Fossil Plant once its new scrubbers are operational,” utility spokeswoman Barbara Martocci said in a statement. “When material was seen coming from the stack at the plant on Friday, TVA began shutting down the one unit that was causing the release, stopping the plume from the stack.”

Coal ash "snow" covers a vehicle in the Swan Pond Community. (Randy Ellis photo.)

As soon as Randy Ellis -- an area resident and member of the Roane County Advisory Group -- heard that white particles were coming down in noticeable amounts, he alerted Harriman and Roane County officials as well as Air Pollution Control personnel at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).

In an email on Saturday to other Tennessee groups that are tracking developments with clean up and recovery from the coal ash disaster, Ellis said that when TDEC officials arrived they didn't know what was going on, but took samples of the particles. Then TDEC went to TVA and returned 45 minutes later with Leslie Nale, the Kingston plant manager.

Ellis found out that TVA has a waiver from TDEC -- good for the next month -- to burn high sulfur coal with the current stacks as a test for burning the coal later on in their new scrubbers.

According to Ellis, neither the EPA, Knoxville TDEC personnel, nor Roane County or Knoxville officials knew about the waiver.

Most importantly, local officials and community residents had not been informed that such tests would take place. When Ellis asked Nale what health effects from exposure to this test ash might be, she said they didn't know.

"I then asked that they make rounds to the 10-12 homes left in the area first thing Saturday morning to give the residents information on the release, which they did," said Ellis. "Mrs. Nale gave me her word that the burners were shut down for the weekend and that there is no plan with in the next 2 weeks to burn this material."

You can imagine that this whole thing has left area residents wondering what more can happen as they attempt to recover from the original intrusion of coal ash into their community.

"The Swan Pond Community and Roane County has been given a black eye and put through the ringer since 12/22/09," said Ellis. "And now they are using the residents of the Swan Pond Community and Roane County as guinea pigs for testing their new type of high sulfur coal!"

Many Tennesseans have stood in support of this community since the December tragedy, and we need a new rally to help them challenge any renewed testing.

Here's what you can do to help them out:

First thing tomorrow morning, please call the offices of state Senator Ken Yager, TDEC Commissioner Jim Fyke and Governor Phil Bredesen.

Ask them to revoke the TDEC waiver for TVA test burns of high-sulfur coal at the Kingston Fossil plant.

The people in Roane County have had more than their share of trauma in the past 9 months, and they sure as heck don't need any more coal ash coating their neighborhoods, with or without warning.

Sen. Ken Yager: 615-741-1449

Commissioner Jim Fyke: 615-532-0109

Gov. Phil Bredesen: 615-741-2001

UPDATE ON 9/21/09: I uploaded a pdf of the variance (waiver) from TDEC to Mediafire. Thanks to Randy Ellis and Kimberly Wilson at Environmental Integrity Project for sharing this file. See the document here.

EPA Marks 79 Surface Coal Mines for Extended Review

It looks like EPA has indeed reclaimed their responsibility to protect waters of the United States!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has identified 79 proposed surface coal-mining projects in Appalachian states for further, detailed permit review.

The enhanced review process will involve coordination between EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers developed under an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on surface coal mining that was facilitated by the Council on Environmental Quality and signed by the EPA, the Corps, and the Department of Interior.

The agencies will work together during this review process to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act in order to protect the nation’s public health and environment.

Back in March, Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that holds had been placed on hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits until it can evaluate the projects' impacts on streams and wetlands. The agency also denied outright two permits the Army Corps of Engineers was planning to issue that would allow companies to fill thousands of feet of streams with mining waste in West Virginia and Kentucky.

In the months that followed, similar recommendations for other mountaintop removal applications that included plans for valley fills were issued. Most recently in the news was EPA’s “bombshell” letter to Arch Coal regarding their mine north of Blair Mountain in Logan County, West Virginia. A permit for that mine covered some 3,100 acres, making it the largest mountaintop removal operation ever permitted in the state.

Following this announcement about the Logan County mine, coalfield residents and activists across Appalachia got the news  that decisions on the remaining permits would come this week.

What’s Next?

In the next 15 days, EPA will further evaluate the preliminary list of projects and transmit a final list to the Corps. Once the Corps informs EPA that a particular permit is ready for discussion, issues of concern regarding particular permit applications will be addressed during a 60-day review process.

“This administration made a commitment to be more collaborative, transparent, and efficient in how it executes its responsibilities. The enhanced coordination procedures in the MOU provide a path forward and certainty regarding how the projects will move through the process,” said Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. “I am confident that this collaborative effort will strengthen our environmental reviews while allowing sustainable economic development to proceed.”

More EPA  information on the list of 79 permits is available here.

I Love Mountains has set up several pages on their website to summarize key elements and timelines for the EPA permit reviews, as well as to facilitate action by concerned citizens. Get more info here.

UPDATE: See press release from Appalachian Voices with reactions from coalfield groups in Appalachian states affected by this decision here.

UPDATE 2: FYI for Tennesseans -- one Tennessee mine made this short list. The Area 19 mine in Anderson County, operated by Premium Coal is listed. Its SMCRA permit number is 3143; it was issued on 7/1/08 and is set to expire (or renew) in 2013.

On the initial list of more than 100 permits, Tennessee had nine. The Area 19 mine is the only one remaining. Detailed information on specific mines on the list is not yet available at the EPA website.

I am reviewing EPA documents available for understanding this process. There is a place in the reviews for public input. I'll do another update soon.

Please explore all of these pages, then take action to end the brutal practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, the destruction of human communities and the aqua-cide of precious headwaters covered by these permits.

Keep Toxic Coal Ash Out of Tennessee Landfill!

Take Action.

Please help Cumberland Stewards in Cumberland County, Tennessee keep toxic coal ash out of their community!

Cumberland County residents Don Clark and Jean Cheley question an engineer about the project at a June 3, 2009 public meeting in Crossville. (Cathie Bird photo.)

Smith Mountain Solutions, LLC wants to bring coal combustion waste to the old Turner mine at Smith Mountain near Crossville under the guise of mine reclamation. This mine is in the Sewanee coal seam, with layers of coal and rock that are so toxic that breaking into them produces acid mine drainage that will need treatment in perpetuity.

Crossville Coal Inc. holds current SMCRA permits at the Turner Surface Mine and Mine No. 1, and they have submitted an application for revisions of these permits to change the post-mining land use. If the revisions are approved, it would pave the way for use of the site as an experimental solid waste mono-fill for coal combustion waste (CCW).

Mono-fil cross-section drawing presented at public meeting in Crossville on June 3rd, 2009. (Cathie Bird photo.)

This project to dispose of CCW at this mine site would be the first of its kind in Tennessee. EPA and state standards and guidelines are sadly lacking for such a project at this point, and the programmatic EIS for projects requiring SMCRA permits is sadly out of date. CCW landfills in other states have already proven to be disastrous.

The Cumberland Stewards need people to write or email the Office of Surface Mining's Knoxville Field Office to register their concerns about this ill-conceived proposal.

The deadline for comments is September 20th, 2009.

Click the Take Action link above for talking points and addresses for comments or go here.

HuffPost: Glenn Beck Gets First Scalp: Van Jones Resigns

Jones was Special Adviser for Green Jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality - the so-called 'Green Jobs' Czar. Jones' 2008 book, The Green Collar Economy, was a New York Times best-seller. Beck is a talk show host for Fox News.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Hawk's Notes:

For me, Van Jones' book The Green Collar Economy inspired a whole new level of thinking about social and environmental justice. His outline of social-uplift environmentalism and his historical insights on the evolution of humankind's relationship to the planet and to one another reveals a man whose head and heart are aligned toward a compassionate and just society that respects all living beings.

Who would not or could not want that? And why not?

UPDATE: Some links...

Van Jones Seeks A ‘Healing For Our Politics’: ‘Let’s Be One Country’

NAACP Continues its Support of Van Jones and White House Green Jobs Initiative

Stand With Van website

Joseph Pizarchik: The Wrong Choice

via www.youtube.com

Hawk's Notes: This great video from Environmental Integrity Project not only outs Mr. Pizarchik but outs the insanity of reclaiming mines with coal combustion waste like Smith Mountain Solutions, LLC wants to do at the Turner mine in Cumberland County, TN. Please share this link!!!

Tell the EPA to Stop Mountaintop Removal

Tell the EPA to Stop Mountaintop Removal

Started by Alan Haggard

I've been truly inspired by what thousands are doing around the country to stop mountaintop removal and Big Coal, especially by asking Lisa Jackson of the EPA to stop extending permits that would destroy more mountains. Last Monday, it was announced that after a grassroots pressure campaign state-owned utility Santee Cooper is canceling its plans to build a $1.25 billion coal plant on the banks of the Great Pee Dee River in South Carolina. On Tuesday, two activists courageously climbed 80 foot trees to prevent mining company Massey Energy's mountaintop removal operations from raining debris and destruction on the Coal River Valley in southern West Virginia. Truly effective grassroots action has proven that Big Coal can be stopped in its tracks if we put our minds to it.

But we're still on the precipice of disaster. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will review 86 new mountaintop removal permits. If approved, these 86 new permits could mean 86 less mountains in Appalachia. That spells disaster as mountaintop removal coal mining has already destroyed 500 mountains, buried 2,000 miles of rivers and streams under rubble and greatly harmed Appalachian communities and culture. If approved, these permits will be devastating for the people and ecosystems of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and other parts of Appalachia and authorize a new round of blasting, flooding, and water contamination.

Now is the time to build our collective power to act. Over the past month more than 10,000 of you have joined me in asking EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to go to Appalachia and see Big Coal's swath of destruction for herself. Our goal is 12,000 signatures, and with your help we can quickly achieve this goal. If you haven't yet done so, add your name to the petition. And ask five of your friends to join us and sign the petition as well. The more signatures we get, the stronger the message we can send to the EPA, now and in the year ahead. Let's end this environmental disaster. The future of 86 Appalachian mountains hang in the balance.

For the mountains, 
Scott Parkin
Global Finance Campaign
Rainforest Action Network

via www.change.org

Hawk says: In an interview yesterday on NPR, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson indicated that decisions on the rest of these permits will come within the next few weeks. Please write, email, call or use this quick online petition to let the EPA know that you oppose destructive mountaintop removal coal mining practices.

You can see the transcript and related links here.