Earthbytes

National Academy of Sciences urges strong action to cut greenhouse gases - Los Angeles Times

In a sharp change from its cautious approach in the past, the National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday called for taxes on carbon emissions, a cap-and-trade program for such emissions or some other strong action to curb runaway global warming.

Such actions, which would increase the cost of using coal and petroleum — at least in the immediate future — are necessary because "climate change is occurring, the Earth is warming ... concentrations of carbon dioxide are increasing, and there are very clear fingerprints that link [those effects] to humans," said Pamela A. Matson of Stanford University, who chaired one of five panels organized by the academy at the request of Congress to look at the science of climate change and how the nation should respond.

via articles.latimes.com

Cathie's notes: The reports can be purchased or you can read them free online. The Executive Summaries of each one are available as free PDFs. See the webpage for the America's Climate Choices series here. See a video on the release of this series here. Or, see the archived webcast of the release here.

Kudos to Rep. Allan Mollohan of West Virginia for initiating the the request from Congress that led to the National Research Council's work on this series of reports.

BTW: I am a huge fan of the National Academy of Sciences library site, and use it often for research. All of the publications can be read free online. Executive summaries can be downloaded free. You can also by chapters individually and download them as PDFs. If you're a science geek, fan or citizen scientist, it's well worth the time to explore the range of their online titles.

Reclamation FAIL » iLoveMountains.org

Many wonder how coal companies justify blowing up the oldest mountains on the continent. It is because it's more profitable for them? Because it employs fewer miners? Nope, according to the coal companies, they are blowing up mountains because the Appalachians need more land for economic development.

We put that theory to the test and found that the promise of "reclaimed" flat land for economic development is a big, flat lie. Two new studies by NRDC and Appalachian Voices reveal that 1.2 million acres, including 500 mountains, have been demolished by coal companies in Kentucky, West Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. Over 89% of sites are not currently being used for economic development.

But don't take our word for it. See for yourself how mountaintop removal sites are being "reclaimed" on our Reclamation Fail Map.

via www.ilovemountains.org

Cathie's notes: Check out this new page at iLoveMountains and play with the map. To the right of this post in the sidebar, click on the "What Big Coal won't tell you" box to read the studies and see related data, or go here. Rob Perk's (NRDC) blog post on these studies is here.

Kudos to NRDC and Appalachian Voices for this project!

Another Gem from Senator Byrd on West Virginia's Greatest Resources

Here's an awesome opinion piece released today by Sen Robert Byrd of West Virginia:

May 5, 2010

"Our Greatest Resource"

Senator Robert C. Byrd
  
The recent explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in my home county of Raleigh, which killed 29 West Virginians and injured 2 others, has brought West Virginia statewide sorrow and worldwide attention.
 
Reflecting on President John F. Kennedy's death, Robert F. Kennedy once said, "Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom."
 
As we seek to understand how and why the Upper Big Branch disaster occurred, we might also re-examine conventional wisdom about the future of the coal industry in our state.
 
Americans depend mightily on our coal to meet their energy needs.  Coal is the major source of electricity in 32 states, and produces roughly half of all the electricity consumed in the United States. 
 
As West Virginians, our birthright is coal. The ancient fossil is abundant here, and is as emblematic of our heritage and cultural identity as the black bear, the cardinal, and the rhododendron.
 
Indeed, the coal severance tax codifies the philosophy that the coal belongs to all West Virginians, and that they deserve meaningful compensation for its extraction.  This philosophy has also been embraced nationwide, through the Black Lung Excise Tax, the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fee, and several other existing and proposed programs that provide additional compensation to the people and places that produce our coal, oil, gas, and other energy resources.
 
Coal brings much needed jobs and revenue to our economy. But the industry has a larger footprint, including inherent responsibilities that must be acknowledged by the industry.
 
First and foremost, the coal industry must respect the miner and his family. A single miner's life is certainly worth the expense and effort required to enhance safety. West Virginia has some of the highest quality coal in the world, and mining it should be considered a privilege, not a right. Any company that establishes a pattern of negligence resulting in injuries and death should be replaced by a company that conducts business more responsibly. No doubt many energy companies are keen for a chance to produce West Virginia coal.
 
The industry of coal must also respect the land that yields the coal, as well as the people who live on the land. If the process of mining destroys nearby wells and foundations, if blasting and digging and relocating streams unearths harmful elements and releases them into the environment causing illness and death, that process should be halted and the resulting hazards to the community abated.
 
The sovereignty of West Virginia must also be respected. The monolithic power of industry should never dominate our politics to the detriment of local communities. Our coal mining communities do not have to be marked by a lack of economic diversity and development that can potentially squelch the voice of the people. People living in coal communities deserve to have a free hand in managing their own local affairs and public policies without undue political pressure to submit to the desires of industry.
 
We have coal companies in West Virginia which go out of their way to operate safely and with minimal impact on our environment. Those companies should be commended and rewarded.
 
But the coal industry has an immensely powerful lobby in Washington and in Charleston. For nearly a hundred years they have come to our presidents, our members of Congress, our legislators, our mayors, and our county commissioners to demand their priorities. It is only right that the people of West Virginia speak up and make the coal industry understand what is expected of it in return.
 
The old chestnut that "coal is West Virginia's greatest natural resource" deserves revision. I believe that our people are West Virginia's most valuable resource. We must demand to be treated as such.

Make the world safer for miners and mountain communities

I didn't know any of the miners killed in the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, but I know people who did. Maybe for this reason, maybe for other reasons, I felt especially saddened and deeply connected to this latest tragedy in West Virginia's mountains.

When I was younger (and skinnier!) I developed an interest in exploring caves. In the late sixties, while working for the National Park Service in South Dakota, I had a chance to do some caving with Herb and Jan Conn who were exploring and mapping Jewel Cave. I clearly remember an experience I had one day that bonded me in mind, body and soul to all people who work inside the Earth.

The Conns were surveying new passageways that day, so it was kind of like stop and go traffic, and I was at the end of the line. On several occasions I had to stop where I was and stay there until measurements were taken and recorded by people in front of me. At one point I found myself on my back, arms stretched backwards beyond my head, inching feet first through a short section so narrow that I had only a few inches clearance top to bottom and side to side. I had been through this section before and was always happy to get through it and into the wider spaces beyond.

But that day, right in the middle of it, I heard the call for everyone to stop so that Herb could take some readings. Lying there waiting, I had time for a moment of awe that could so easily have exploded into raw terror. This would be a very bad time, I thought, for an earthquake!

I quickly put that idea aside and instead forced a more comforting thought: No, Mother Earth would never hurt me.

To reassure myself in this way, of course, required that I barricade my awareness against everything else I ever knew about the hundreds of ways people are killed by the forces and processes at work in nature every day. Now, every time a mine explodes or collapses, no matter where in the world, I feel myself connected to the people inside through my own skin memories of Earth's rocky interior. I remembered it when Upper Big Branch blew, and again yesterday when two men died in a Kentucky mine.

What is so maddening, so sad, and so very, very wrong about "accidents" in mines below, removal of mountaintops above, and disruption of community life all around is this: they are not acts of nature, but of human greed and arrogance. It's about exploitation and oppression of people and nature. Period.

Up in the sidebar of this blog (and as many of my blogs that I can squeeze it into) is a link to an action alert released by I Love Mountains. By using this link you can add your name to a letter that will be hand-delivered to Congressman Nick Rahall of West Virginia.

In a recent statement, Rep. Rahall said that America has an obligation to "ensure that our coal miners have safe, healthy workplaces." By signing on to the letter, you'll be sending your appreciation to Rep. Rahall for his longstanding leadership in protecting the safety of our nation's miners, and offering your support to him as hearings and legislation to strengthen mine safety laws move forward in Congress.

Please -- for the miners, for the mountains, and for the communities that surround them -- take action. Visit I Love Mountains, read the whole letter, then add your name here or use the Support Mine Safety link in the sidebar.

AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Obama Orders Mine Safety Crackdown, Six Massey Mines on Serial Violators List

President Obama today ordered a federal safety blitz on coal mines with a history of safety violations, like Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch where 29 miners were killed April 5. He also called for stronger enforcement of current mine safety laws and closing loopholes “that permit companies to shirk their responsibilities.”

Speaking specifically of the West Virginia mine disaster, Obama says:

The people of West Virginia are in our prayers. But we owe them more than prayers. We owe them action. We owe them accountability. We owe them an assurance that when they go to work every day, when they enter that dark mine, they are not alone.

Owners responsible for conditions in the Upper Big Branch mine should be held accountable for decisions they made and preventive measures they failed to take.

Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts, who yesterday called for the arrest and jailing of Massey CEO Donald Blankenship, says Obama “hit the nail on the head.”

via blog.aflcio.org

Cathie's Notes: Lawrence O'Donnell interviewed Rep. George Miller, (D) California, last night on the Keith Olbermann Show. Rep. Miller is Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Strong language here from Obama and Miller. In the interview Miller speaks to the list of 48 mines being called out on "pattern of violations" of mining safety laws.

It's past time for somebody other than coalfield activists and unions to speak out on the safety conditions in America's coal mines. I think it would help folks on the frontlines if they could see our governmental leaders finally stand with them, and follow through. We need to go beyond the tough talk now to enact tougher mining safety laws, regulations and enforcement.

You can see the interview of Miller at Keith Olbermann's web page. This segment includes clips of President Obama's remarks. View it here.

Related stories:

George Miller Names 48 Mines Avoiding Scrutiny by Contesting Safety Violations

Pattern of Violations at Upper Big Branch

It was a good day for mayflies (and people) in Appalachia

I found so many amazing things growing and flying around yesterday in the holler. I got pictures of many of them, but the bugs and butterflies eluded my lens.

I called out across the holler: "Okay, bugs, doesn't somebody want their picture taken? I promise I won't hurt you, and I'll put your picture on the Internet so everybody can see how amazing you are!"

Nobody showed up right away so I headed back up toward the house. On the way, I decided to lean on a gate and listen to water in Hudson Branch moving over its uneven, stony stream bed. Just as I turned to move on again, I noticed that some kind of flying creature had landed on the branch of a walnut tree just a foot or two from my face.

A mayfly! Steadying my arms on the gate I stretched out as close as I dared and started collecting the images. I got about 6 of them before the mayfly moved on, and 3 were pretty decent. Here she (or he) is:

 

                                                                                                                 [Photo by Cathie Bird]

I have hoped for some time to find some of these species close enough to get a picture. Last year I found a big mayfly on the wall of the Pioneer Post Office, but I didn't have my camera. Catching a mayfly image was definitely a goal for post-winter 2010. And here in the first big burst of plant and critter activity of the year, I found a mayfly! I was so happy!

Today I found out what a good omen this mayfly encounter had been.

Mountaintop removal mining has long been known to be a threat to mayflies and other aquatic insects because it is so destructive to headwater ecosystems in the Appalachians. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency took a huge step toward righting the wrongs imposed on people and nature by this mindless mining practice.

The new guidance document concerns EPA's intention to improve their reviews of Appalachian surface coal mining operations under NEPA, the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Justice Executive Order. The memorandum went into effect immediately but a public comment period will be open until December 1st of this year. Then, by April 1st of 2011, EPA will publish a final memorandum that reflects public comment as well as review by the Science Advisory Board.

According to the EPA,

A growing body of scientific literature, including previous and new studies performed by EPA, show significant damage to local streams that are polluted with the mining runoff from mountaintop removal. To protect water quality, EPA has identified a range of conductivity (a measure of the level of salt in the water) of 300 to 500 microSiemens per centimeter.

The conductivity levels identified in the document are intended to protect 95 percent of aquatic life and fresh water streams in central Appalachia. This is why it was such a good day for the mayflies.

If you are a science geek like me, you can access research and other documents related to this guidance memo here. A notice in the Federal Register of the public comment period is forthcoming, and I'll update this post with links as they become available.

EPA notes that in addition to the memorandum, they are working with federal agency partners to develop and implement an interagency environmental justice strategy that will allow for a fuller evaluation of surface coal mining impacts on Appalachian communities.

People and mayflies, rejoice! It was a good day for all of us and good progress toward healing Appalachia.

Coal's Toxic Sludge : Rolling Stone

For decades, the industry has gotten away with dumping coal ash pretty much wherever it wants. It poured the stuff into vast lagoons, dumped it into mines, used it to pave roads, spread it on crops as fertilizer, even mixed it into everyday items like concrete, wallboard, vinyl flooring, bowling balls, potting soil and toothpaste. There are no federal regulations to speak of. Many states have minimal restrictions on where and how coal ash can be dumped, but the coal industry has a long history of buying off state regulators with a junket to Vegas and a few rounds of golf. In short, the industry had it made. Nearly 300 billion pounds of coal ash simply vanished from view each year, with less oversight than household garbage.

via www.rollingstone.com

Great article by Jeff Goodell. Read the rest of it and find links to related articles here.

Help Turn the Lights Out on Mountaintop Removal in Twilight, WV

Just last week I was kidding with someone that we here in Tennessee ought to buy a potential mine site and mineral rights that's for sale on the Cumberland Plateau just to keep somebody from blowing up the mountains there. Today I learned that the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) has a plan to do just that -- not in Tennessee, but in Twilight, West Virginia.

Frankie Mooney worked for 32 years in underground coal mines and is a 40 year member of the UMAW. Not only has he lost family members to coal mining "accidents" but he is permanently disabled from impacts of coal mining on his health.

When the Patriot Coal Company offered to buy his property, Frankie decided to offer it to OVEC for less. He thinks they stand a better chance of saving the community of Twilight from destruction than he would on his own:

This is such an awesome project. I'm sure it will inspire many people who have lost so much of their homeland to mountaintop removal coal mining. I hope you will visit the website, read all the information and leave a donation if you can.  Just click on the MTRstopshere.org banner in the sidebar or go here.

What's really "out of control" in Tennessee? Hint: It's not TDEC

Last week, Tennessee Senate Speaker and gubernatorial candidate, Ron Ramsey, called the state’s Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) “out of control” with respect to environmental protection regulation in Tennessee. Quite frankly, I wasn’t too surprised. I’ve been hearing that complaint from legislators and disgruntled citizens for the last couple of years.

What’s really out of control in Tennessee is the attack on land, air, and water – and the laws that protect them – by corporate coal and other industries that seem hell bent on exploitation of nature with their cut-and-run economics. Despite claims to the contrary, cleaning up their messes and properly disposing of wastes seems to be based primarily on protecting profits, not people and nature.

Yesterday, the Environmental Integrity Project released a new report, Out of Control: Mounting Damages from Coal Ash Waste Sites. This study adds 31 sites to a list previously published by the Environmental Protection Agency following TVA’s Kingston coal ash disaster in December of 2008.

According to the EIP study:

At 15 of the 31 sites, contamination has already migrated off the power plant property (off-site) at levels that exceed drinking water or surface water quality standards. The remaining 16 show evidence of severe on-site pollution (see Table 1 and Summary). Because off-site monitoring data at 14 of these 16 sites were not available, damage may be more severe and widespread than indicated in this report.

Based on similar criteria, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already identified 71 coal combustion waste damage cases, 23 of which are known to have caused off-site contamination.ii The 31 new damage cases identified in this report bring the total number of damaged sites to more than 100, with still more to be investigated.

Two of the 31 new sites are in Tennessee – TVA’s John Sevier Fossil Plant in Rogersville (Hawkins County), and  Trans-Ash, Inc.’s CCW (coal combustion waste) Landfill in Camden (Benton County). The Trans-Ash Landfill site is an old quarry, and receives CCW from TVA’s Johnsonville Fossil Plant.

At the John Sevier facility, there was evidence that ground water had moved offsite to surface water:

Data from groundwater monitoring wells located between John Sevier Fossil Plant‘s CCW impoundment and the Holston River show that cadmium levels exceed federal MCLs, and that aluminum, manganese and sulfate levels exceed Secondary MCLs for drinking water. In addition, arsenic and manganese exceed EPA National Recommended Water Quality Criteria (WQC) for human health, and cadmium levels exceed both chronic and acute levels for freshwater aquatic life. Boron levels of 18,000 μg/L are far above EPA Superfund Removal Action Levels of 3,000 μg/L and 900 μg/L and exceed both of EPA‘s Drinking Water Health Advisory levels of 3,000 and 6,000 μg/L. In addition, strontium measured at 5,300 μg/L exceeds EPA‘s health advisory level of 4,000 μg/L. [see table on page xx.]

At the Trans-Ash Landfill there was on-site damage, as well as off-site damage to surface water, groundwater, and two private residential drinking water wells:

After complaints by a resident living near the Trans-Ash landfill, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation tested private wells and found mercury concentrations ranging from 0.011 to 0.013 mg/L – 5.5 to 6.5 times higher than the primary MCL. In July 2009, U.S. EPA confirmed mercury levels and initiated Emergency Removal Action to connect the residence to the Camden city water supply. Sampling data shows that the sediment pond has high concentrations of mercury (up to .28 mg/kg) and on-site groundwater has high concentrations of boron (up to 9.39 mg/L) and sulfate (up to 739 mg/L). [see table on page xxi.]

I would recommend that you read the more detailed report sections on these facilities for yourself, because if you bring them up to people who swear coal ash is harmless, they might try to derail your concerns with historical and other data that the EIP study specifically accounts for.

These two damage cases are important to citizens of Tennessee for several reasons.

We’ve already experienced a major contamination disaster with Kingston plant coal ash, and now all that clean-up ash has to go somewhere. A lot of it is already in an Alabama landfill, but there are existing or potential sites in Tennessee where facility operators might want to cash in on ash disposal.

Since the United States generates 140-million tons of combustion wastes every year, we also have to consider where all that will go. In Cumberland County, for example, the Wright Brothers want to use coal ash in a landfill/mine reclamation scheme that scares the heck out of people near Smith Mountain and many other Tennesseans as well. The Cumberland Stewards, a citizens group leading the charge against this proposed nightmare in the toxic Sewanee coal seam, has been assured that this landfill’s design would safely contain all the contaminants. They’re not buying it. And these new damage cases only shore up their legitimate concerns.

Add to all of this the fact that the EPA has not yet released new regulations for disposal of coal ash, nor have they decided whether or not coal ash should be designated as hazardous waste.

And then we have the state’s legislative-industrial complex – recently channeled by Ron Ramsey and Zack Wamp -- that continues to draft bills that threaten to disassemble what rules we do have.

Last year, a more enlightened legislator introduced a bill that would have asked TDEC to draft and potentially strengthen coal ash disposal rules, but that fizzled.

This session, three new bills have been introduced, but none of them call for any substantial review or regulation that will address known risks of coal ash disposal, such as those documented in the EIP study.

I think it’s clear that TDEC is definitely not “out of control.” If anything, Tennessee needs to get a lot more serious about coal ash disposal and recycling.

Natural Gas As A Climate Fix Sparks Friction : NPR

A lot of big energy companies, like ExxonMobil, are betting that natural gas will provide a lot more of the country's electricity in the future. It's become more affordable as more companies extract gas from enormous shale rock formations - from New York to Texas. And electricity from natural gas produces about half the global warming pollution that coal does.

Some national environmental groups have started pushing natural gas as a climate fix. But as NPR's Elizabeth Shogren reports, it's sparking friction with some of their local members.

via www.npr.org

Cathie's notes: This is a really interesting issue, and it is not the first time there's been a difference of opinion between grassroots citizens and national environmental groups. A couple of years ago, coalfield citizens from Appalachia, for example, found themselves at odds with a national environmental group that supported the notion of "clean coal technology."

Whether or not people can go along with the idea of "clean coal" is proportional to how close they live to the front lines, I think. For folks at ground zeros of mountaintop removal mining, power plants or coal ash dumps, the only clean coal is and ever will be the stuff that stays in the ground.

An audio clip and transcript is available here.