LilBambi’s Blog – BambisMusings

Adding insult to injury … Virginia waterways ranks second-dirtiest in country (HamptonRoads.com)

Virginia has the second-dirtiest waterways among the 50 states.

That’s according to a recent study by the Environment America advocacy group tallying the amount of pollutants discharged into bodies of water across the nation.

Based on numbers reported to federal authorities, only Indiana had more toxic chemicals released into its waterways by industry than Virginia’s 18 million-plus pounds in 2007.

Sad. Really sad.

So yeah, I see where they are going … the state’s waterways are already a disaster area, so let’s let ODEC add insult to injury by building the state’s largest coal fired power plant – running 24/7 at 1500 MW in Dendron, (Surry, VA.) Hmmm….

Air Pollution Increases Infants’ Risk Of Bronchiolitis (ScienceDaily.com)

Infants who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are at increased risk for bronchiolitis, according to a new study.

The study appears in the November 15 issue of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“There has been very little study of the consequences of early life exposure to air pollution,” said Catherine Karr, M.D. PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and the paper’s lead author. “This study is unique in that we were able to look at multiple sources including wood smoke in a region with relatively low concentrations of ambient air pollution overall.”

Much more in the article!

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine – part E. Environmental and Occupational Lung Disease of the current November 15, 2009 issue.

Registration is required to read the full article however, the abstract is available here which includes the conclusions below:

Conclusions: Air pollutants from several sources may increase infant bronchiolitis requiring clinical care. Traffic, local point source emissions, and wood smoke may contribute to this disease.

Under measurements and readings above the conclusions states:

An interquartile increase in lifetime exposure to NO2, NO, SO2, CO, wood-smoke exposure days, and point source emissions score was associated with increased risk of bronchiolitis…

What pollutants do coal plants introduce? At least a few of those listed, plus more: Power Plant Emissions Publications

Clash in Alabama Over Tennessee Coal Ash (NYTimes)

Almost every day, a train pulls into a rail yard in rural Alabama, hauling 8,500 tons of a disaster that occurred 350 miles away to a final resting place, the Arrowhead Landfill here in Perry County, which is very poor and almost 70 percent black.

This ‘windfall’ of dumping all this dangerous coal ash in their landfill will “add more than $3 million to their County’s budget of about $4.5 million” the article goes on to say. This little Alabama county has an unemployment rate of 17 percent and only a chosen few really were able to get any work from this so called ‘windfall’ for the County.

Some of us here in Dendron, Virginia, in Surry County, where ODEC proposes to build a 1,500 MW coal fired power plant with a coal ash/fly ash landfill in our little town’s back yard have been wondering the same thing some of Perry County residents have been wondering:

But some residents worry that their leaders are taking a short-term view, and that their community has been too easily persuaded to take on a wealthier, whiter community’s problem. “Money ain’t worth everything,” said Mary Gibson Holley, 74, a black retired teacher in Uniontown. “In the long run, they ain’t looking about what this could do to the community if something goes wrong.”

And in just one of many parallels between the thinking in Perry County Alabama, and here in Surry County:

County leaders, who are mostly black, bristle at accusations of environmental injustice, saying that the ash is perfectly safe and that criticism has been fostered by outsiders, or even competitors who wanted the ash disposal contract for themselves.

And this:

But in Perry County, a lack of trust has permeated the debate. Residents said they feared equipment failure, flooding, tornadoes or lack of oversight at the landfill, where the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, whose notably lax regulation of coal ash permits most landfills to use it as a cover material for other waste, will be responsible for enforcement.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Cownan River Map that includes the Blackwater River system in Virginia that flows to the Arlbemerle Sound, NC.

One of the major differences is the distance to the water table in Perry County and here in Dendron in Surry County. Here in Dendron, that water table is only about 4 feet (and many are still on their own wells in the surrounding area of the County), and wetlands are on at least two sides of the proposed site within contamination distance to the Blackwater River system that flows to the Albemerle Sound, NC:

The Blackwater River was a transportation route in the 17th and 18th centuries, connecting the Chesapeake Bay settlements with the Albemarle Settlements. It was one of the few rivers of colonial Virginia that did not empty into Chesapeake Bay yet lay close to the colony’s oldest settlements on the James River. Settlements in the Blackwater’s drainage basin were founded very early in Virginia’s history. As a result, the Blackwater River became one of the early migration routes southward from the James River into the region then called Southside Virginia, and beyond into the Albemarle District of Carolina (later North Carolina). Today’s usual definition of Southside differs somewhat from that of colonial times.

Of course, ODEC wants to build a 15 mile pipeline directly to the James River for ingress and egress of water for cooling.

One of the other major differences between Perry County and here in Dendron is the railroad cars. The railroad cars here in Dendron will bring in the coal to ‘make’ the coal ash to be stored in the landfill and when that gets full, to find some place to take the coal ash off their hands, like Perry County, or golf greens in other Counties, or maybe put it in concrete to build things all over the place.

Must read article.

gamkqrhtuy

Army Corps of Engineers Solicits Public Comment on Two Proposals Related to Nationwide Permit 21 in the Appalachian Region (Earthtimes.org)

Posted by the USACE:

WASHINGTON, July 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today it is soliciting public comments on two proposals related to the use of Nationwide Permit (NWP) 21 in the nation’s Appalachian region. NWP 21 authorizes discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for surface coal mining activities.

The proposals would affect only the Appalachian region of the following states: Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The use of NWP 21 for surface coal mining activities in other regions of the country would not be affected.

The first proposal is to modify NWP 21 to prohibit its use in the Appalachian region. In the absence of NWP 21, an applicant would be required to obtain an individual permit for surface coal mining projects. An individual permit includes increased public and agency involvement in the permit review process, including an opportunity for public comment on individual projects.

The second proposal is to suspend NWP 21 while the Corps evaluates the comments received during the 30-day comment period, and while the Corps completes the process to modify NWP 21. If NWP 21 is suspended during this interim period, an applicant would be required to obtain an individual permit for surface coal mining projects.

The Corps’ decision to issue these proposals is a result of the interagency action plan agreed to on June 11, 2009, as part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Corps, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agencies agreed to work together to reduce the adverse environmental impacts of surface coal mining activities in the Appalachian region. A copy of the MOU is available at: http://www.usace.army.mil/CECW/Pages/moumoas.aspx.

A public notice on the proposals was published in the July 15, 2009 Federal Register, http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-16803.pdf . Written comments should be submitted at the federal eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov under docket number COE-2009-0032; or mailed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO (Attn: Ms. Desiree Hann), 441 G. Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20314. Comments must be submitted on or before August 14, 2009. Email or faxed comments will not be accepted.

SOURCE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

It would appear to me that the USACE does try to do what they can to protect the communities and nature when they have the support of the government, and the public. But, I would think it would be difficult to do so if their hands are tied by either weak laws, greed, or when those in places of power bend like reeds in the wind.

I am sorry to say that this is too little, too late. The existing laws it seems have not been fully enforced as they should be for a very long time — for 500 mountains are already blown up! And hundreds more are in the pike.

What ever happened to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” — is that too much to ask? Those who think these practices are good, or at least a necessary evil, could they, or more importantly would they, walk in the moccasins, drink the water, live in the homes of those who have suffered due to these destructive or at best polluting practices? Would they want this done to their home? The same holds true for coal plants.

Honestly, it seems to me that even the current laws would be difficult to adhere to when confronted with such a destructive process as Mountain Top Removal. The process itself is the problem.

IMHO, either those who are mining coal should figure out how to get the coal out without impacting the surrounding natural area (the forests, streams, animals, etc.) and the human communities that have put their entire lives and fortunes into their mountain homes, or find a new safer business model that doesn’t hurt people, places or things.

Certainly, renewable energy sources would be much safer for everyone and everything and not be the one shot that Mountain Top Removal is (once you blow up the mountain and take the coal, it’s gone). Not to mention the joke of supposedly trying to put the mountains back to rights after they’ve already been destroyed.

The effects of MTR (Mountain Top Removal) on communities and nature, and the other end of the spectrum, the effects of Coal Fired Power Plants on communities and nature, can be seen through many places including my postings, iLoveMountains.org, Environmental Justice or through searches in search engines. It truly is appalling.

Even if other methods are, or seem like they are more expensive right now, they won’t be for long as they become more ubiquitous. Just as in other areas, once the R&D has been paid for, the prices do come down.

NO ONE SHOULD SUFFER TO PROVIDE ELECTRICITY TO ANYONE.
EVER.

The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights

Hmmm, ODEC has proposed a 1,500 MW baseload coal fired power plant — running 24/7, with two fly ash/coal ash landfills, two turbines, two 600 foot stacks polluting the air, land, water, livestock, humans, and additionally causing sight, noise and light pollution … yeah, I think this scenario certainly fits with the topic of Environmental Justice discussed in this video.

Dendron, Va. chooses its own future. (ChesapeakeClimate.org)

Thank you so much Peebles for a wonderful article about the meeting last night! I am still so excited about the outcome! And so thankful to all the people (and thoughts and prayers) that made this possible!

Below find just a few (5-7 is still a few right? LOL!) paragraphs of the great article written by Peebles on ChesapeakeClimate.org (The whole article is a must read!):

The last time that Dendron came to vote on the ordinance to retain its zoning rights, the atmosphere was quite different from last night’s. ODEC employees filled the June 2 meeting, creating an unbalance that went far from unnoticed. Taking up a large portion of Recreational Center’s front-row seats, ODEC’s presence was pronounced – and unwelcome.

This time, the Coalition to Keep Surry Clean, Wise Energy for Virginia, and students from the nearby College of William and Mary turned out, in force, to ensure that Dendron’s residents were given priority in the meeting hall by “saving spots” outside while locals arrived. Due to the efforts of Surry and Dendron’s concerned and active citizenry, last night’s demographic within the meeting was strikingly different from the month before. With upwards of 25 Dendron residents, supported by more than 50 folks from surrounding Surry County, gone were the suits and ties of ODEC’s Glen Allen headquarters, near Richmond. Gone also, was the attitude that a new coal plant would bring the economic boon of the 1920’s back to the struggling town. As the meeting progressed, the council made two key moves to ensure its independence as a town in determining its future.

In a somewhat surprise move, Councilwoman Misti Furr began by introducing a resolution to establish a planning commission within Dendron, to be charged with evaluating zoning permits for land within the town proper. The vote was a necessity, as the council would be expected to vote on the zoning ordinance later that evening, which would greatly diminish the town’s control over its permitting process by delegating a large portion of it to Surry County. Furr’s resolution passed, giving Dendron its own planning commission, who will have to handle ODEC’s zoning permit, provided that control over permitting stay with the town. That decision remained uncertain, further down the evening’s agenda.

Before the decision over that ordinance came to vote, residents and concerned individuals were permitted to speak before the council and audience, and as the queue began to move along, a fascinating trend began to emerge.

Unlike last month’s meeting, where ODEC garnered support from its own employees and purposefully misled low-income and struggling families, Monday’s atmosphere was one much more aware of the terrible implications for environmental, economic, and human health that a dirty coal plant would bring to their small community. At least, it seemed, some of the untruths, dispelled by ODEC over the past few months, had finally been discredited, much to the benefit of those citizens in opposition to the plant.

This attitude was reflected in the council’s final vote, as the body decided to reject any imposition by the county on the capacity of Dendron to decide its own future. With a wire-thin 3-2 margin, a great sigh of relief gripped the meeting hall as ODEC and its cadre of supporters left the hall, flustered and frustrated. Now, ODEC will be required to submit its zoning permit to the town, where it will decide whether or not the plant will move forward, free from interference by the coal-friendly county, and totally in its own hands.

What will happen now is, for the moment, uncertain. The coal industry has deep pockets, while most folks in Dendron do not. The struggle against this plant is a long way from over, and the rejection of county control over the zoning process marks but a small step in a very, very, large fight.

Thanks again to the many Dendron residents (as well as property owners that hope to be residents in time), Surry residents, Isle of Wight residents, and other surrounding communities (too many to name but you know who you are!!), as well as the Coalition To Keep Surry Clean, Wise County VA Coalition and AppVoices (including the fantastic Kayti and Mike!), Sierra Club (Glen, Tyla, Jim, and so many others!), Chesapeake Bay Foundation, CCAN, and so many others that helped us get where we were last night at the Dendron Town Council meeting, plus the William and Mary students, and residents from Williamsburg and Hampton that came to the meeting in support of Dendron residents during the meeting.

As Betsy from the Coalition To Keep Surry Clean said in an email:

Thanks to the Council members who took a big stand.
Thanks to everyone who came out and made their presence felt.
Thanks to the brave attendees who stood up to speak.
Thanks to those who brought info, fans, petitions, signs to pass along physically and verbally to our neighbors and others.
Thanks to the W&Ms for coming and helping us hold the line and chairs.
Thanks to the Wise Energy Coalition folks for supporting us and picking up the tab for so many of our endeavors and materials.
Thanks to Mike and Kayti for being such total and complete rockstars–personally and professionally.

Amen!!

And thanks to writers like Peebles through his article at ChesapeakeClimate.org and Desiree Parker through her article at Williamsburg Yorktown Daily (wydaily.com) reporting about the meeting on websites today, as well as others at HamptonRoads.com and The Daily Press.

And of course thanks to those who stayed home or at the Bible Study I missed to attend the meeting, and prayed during the meeting as well!

I really think it took all of us to make this happen!

Our little town of Dendron — at least has a fighting chance to do what we Dendron residents (all of us together) can do to forge our own future! Maybe this is what Dendron needed to pull us all together to make this happen.

Things are looking up!

And while we are at it, lets not forget our connection to Mountain Top Removal through use in existing coal plants in Virginia, as well as if we were to allow this coal fired baseload 24/7 plant to be built. We aren’t the only ones we hurt with coal plants…we all share the same planet, the same air, and the same fate.

EDIT: To add two videos pertinent to the Dendron Town Council Meeting:

Woman responds to threats re: Dendron Coal Plant in Virginia

First Victory over Big Coal in Va.

Please come if you can, or keep us in your thoughts and prayers if you can’t because the Dendron Town Council Meeting will be holding their monthly meeting tonight at the Dendron Fire Station building on Rt 31 in Dendron.

The Town Council deferred important action regarding zoning of the property on which ODEC seeks approval and rezoning to industrial status in order to build the 1,500MW coal fired power plant with two turbines and two 600 ft stacks, and 2 flyash/coal ash landfills backing up even closer to Dendron residents than previously thought due to USACE requirements to move it further away to protect the wetlands.

I have no problem with protecting the wetlands, but what about the people that live in Dendron? Now it will be that much closer to the residents of Dendron.

Protect the wetlands but not the people? Hmmmm.

These are great videos on CNN Money with Robert Kennedy, Jr.

“Kennedy’s problem with coal video”

Robert Kennedy Jr. argues that coal’s external costs are enormous and the industry is bad for mining states.

And then this video: “Kennedy on energy alternatives“

Robert Kennedy Jr. cites other countries’ efforts as evidence that renewables are good for the U.S. economy.

Awesome!

While we in our tiny town of Dendron and Surry County, and the whole of Hampton Roads are in a fight to keep yet another coal plant from being built, it’s so encouraging to see videos like these.

Thank you Robert Kennedy Jr. for speaking out where others might be intimidated to do so; or drawn into the so called ‘promise’ of monetary compensation or the so called ‘promise’ of jobs that will be short-lived if at all, to look beyond all that, and truly see the real dangers that are far reaching.

We do need to go to renewable energy regardless if you believe in global warming or not. It just makes sense economically. And we need to take care of our planet; to provide a healthy future for our children and grandchildren.

Thanks Joe for the link!

No to coal in Surry (DailPress.com)

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, which is seeking approval for a massive, coal-burning power plant in Surry County, serves fewer than 300,000 homes in Virginia. Those homes need a reliable source of power, but this plant would exact an environmental cost far out of scale to the number of people who would benefit.

Carbon dioxide: By the company’s public projections, the plant would discharge 14.6 million tons a year into the air. To put that in scale, based on EPA numbers, it’s equivalent to the annual output of 2.5 million average passenger cars.

• Mercury: ODEC’s projections say the plant would discharge at least 100 pounds of mercury. Many lakes, streams and rivers are already contaminated by dissipated mercury, and the more the state tests, the more warnings it issues about eating fish from contaminated waters, because mercury causes neurological damage and retardation. The Blackwater River in Surry and Isle of Wight is already contaminated.

• NOX emissions: Nitrogen oxide emissions are a major source of smog and haze, air pollution and acid rain. The plant would put 3,000 tons into the air yearly.

• Health effects: Human bodies pay the price for “clean coal.” The coal plant would mean more asthma attacks, more chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, more heart attacks, more deaths.

BOLD emphasis mine

So much more in this very well done DailyPress.com OP-Ed article: No to coal in Surry. Must read.

Thanks for the link Betsy.

EDIT: Here’s my comment that I posted on the article:

Excellent article. Thanks so much to whoever wrote it. When I think about living way less than a mile from the proposed Cypress Creek Power Station (“station” don’t you love how they try to get away from using the words coal plant?) it just makes me sick…just to think about it coming here to Dendron. ALL of Dendron will be in the ’stack shadow’ 0.6 to 1 mile from it. This will not only be a health hazard for all in Hampton Roads, but a major stress to the people of Dendron 24/7 – pollution, noise, light! Many are not thinking about all the negative impacts this coal plant will have on the tiny Town of Dendron — all they can see are dollar signs. I can understand that to some extent, I really can, especially in a depressed economy, however, the people of Dendron will have to live with this for a very long time-in their face! Wish those on the Surry Board of Supervisors would think about living less than ONE MILE from this thing. At the last Board of Supervisors meeting, there was mention that if the coal plant moved to Sussex County, then Sussex would get the benefits of having it instead of Surry. Well, having the coal plant in Sussex wouldn’t be a whole lot better (Sussex location no where near as close to a town), but it wouldn’t be 0.6 to 1 mile from their home, like it will be to us here in Dendron. As an old TechTV commercial spot was want to say, “Think about that!”

New Threat to the Chesapeake Bay

It’s interesting but I think many of us on both sides of the James River don’t really think as much as we should about Surry County being a “Hampton Roads Community” – I know I don’t think about it that often.

But, it is on the sign in the median at the top of the hill when you come off the Scotland (Surry side) of the Jamestown/Scotland Ferry and as you enter Surry County on other roads as well — so it’s not like Surry County isn’t trying to help with getting the word out about it. I knew Surry County was technically a Hampton Roads community, but just didn’t realize the potential impact on the rest of Hampton Roads until ODEC proposed a 1,500 MW coal fired power plant in the back yard of Dendron, in Surry County. I knew it would impact Dendron which would be in the ’stack shadow’ and Surry County including the Blackwater River and Cypress Creek Swamp, but it will also impact the whole of Hampton Roads as well, including the James River and the Chesapeake Bay and associated tributaries within Hampton Roads.

On the page for this article at SELC (Southern Environmental Law Center), the caption on the image of smoke stacks said it best. “New Threat to the Bay – Mercury and nitrogen* from the plant would pose a new threat to the Chesapeake Bay.”

*Nitrogen Oxides

From the article,

Late in 2008, Virginia’s Old Dominion Electric Cooperative rolled out plans for a 1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant in eastern Virginia that would be a major new pollution source in the state.

* It would pump out 3,600 tons per year of sulfur dioxide and 2,100 tons per year of soot (particulate matter), known to worsen heart and lung problems and shorten life spans.

* Mercury and nitrogen emissions from the plant would pose a new threat to the struggling ecoystem of the Chesapeake Bay, fewer than 30 miles away.

This pollution would threaten the health of citizens of Surry County, where the plant would be located, also the broader Hampton Roads region of Virginia.

Later in the article,

Given the likelihood of federal regulation of carbon emissions in the near future, the $6 billion project would not only jeopardize our region’s health and environment; it would also expose ODEC and its ratepayers to enormous financial risks. A report by experts at Synapse Energy Economics, released April 27, 2009, documents this huge financial burden, which will only get worse over time.

* Paying for carbon credits under a federal cap-and-trade program could add an annual cost of between $223 million and $670 million by 2016.
* As regulations become more stringent, that could rise to between $587 million and $1.76 billion a year by 2030.

Cale Jaffey, Senior Attorney at SELC recently forwarded the following information:

Mark R Warner cordially invites you to: Virginia Summit on Energy Opportunities - July 10, 2009 - Hampton University - RSVP by July 2, rsvp@warner.senate.gov

More information at Senator Warner’s website here.

I definitely want to attend.