Rockefeller: Coal must ‘boldly embrace’ the future

Rockefeller: Coal must ‘boldly embrace’ the future – Coal Tattoo:

Without good health it’s difficult to hold down a job or live the American dream. Chronic illness is debilitating and impacts a family’s income, prosperity and ultimately its happiness.

The annual health benefits of the rule are enormous. EPA has relied on thousands of studies that established the serious and long term impact of these pollutants on premature deaths, heart attacks, hospitalizations, pregnant women, babies and children.

Moreover, it significantly reduces the largest remaining human-caused emissions of mercury–a potent neurotoxin with fetal impacts.

Maybe some can shrug off the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics and others but I cannot.

Amen and Amen.

Thank you, Sen. Rockefeller!

I am so happy to see this from the Senior United States Senator from West Virginia!

Maybe this will make a difference for West Virginians and also here in Hampton Roads, Virginia with the proposed 1500 MW Cypress Creek Power Station (ODEC’s proposed coal plant in Dendron, Surry County, VA).

Just one from the very interesting comment section:

Howard Swint says:
June 20, 2012 at 1:18 pm

I support Sen. Rockefeller for his bold leadership in this speech. It’s been a long time coming…

EDIT: Here is the link for the poll:

http://wvgazette.com/polls/201206230087

Apparently any readers of the paper can vote, no matter where you live as purported by FriendsOfCoal.org. So please go vote your mind.

AN ILL WIND – The Secret Threat of Coal Ash

First, I would like to thank those who got our grid power back on here in Virginia after Hurricane Irene knocked it out about 24 hrs before Irene made landfall in the Outerbanks of NC.

One thing that being out of power for more than a couple days does do is make you realize how dependent we all have become on ‘the grid’ and how we really need to change that at some point, don’t you think? Between dangers of outages like this, and potential threats from terrorists on our infrastructure, it just seems to make sense that we figure out a way to get the power we need but by decentralizing from The Grid.

Over the last month, since August 4th, we have intermittently had to deal with the smoke and ill air quality of the wildfire in the dismal swamp. There were times when here in our little town there was smoke hanging in the air, and in our very homes when we woke up in the morning and were having trouble breathing. It was particularly bad for my Jim who is on an oxygen concentrator. Thankfully, Hurricane Irene, actually did one thing that was good, it almost (but not quite) put out that wildfire. I hope they can get the 30 or so hot spots put out before it dries out again.

Because I have a problem with the whole issue of dangerous coal ash, and huge coal plants close to people’s homes and spewing dangerous arsenic, and so much more into our air, does not mean I don’t appreciate The Grid or those who work to provide and maintain, and restore that power after natural disasters like this. My only complaint is the dangerous ways in which they often do that; meaning coal – from the cradle to the grave and the health and environmental dangers it poses.

Coal from Mountain Top Removal to this ILL WIND of coal ash that sends ‘sandstorms’ of coal ash directly over the reservation when the winds blow wrong, and other coal plant travesties around the country and around the world, to ODEC trying to get a 1500 MW coal fired power plant in Dendron, VA and Surry County rolling over to get the money they are promised and the empty purse of promised jobs (yeah, how many and for how long, and what of those who live here?) To the whole of a region like Hampton Roads that will be adversely affected by a 1500 MW coal plant with a prevailing wind that will draw that smoke/vapor over other areas in Hampton Roads.

From the text at Youtube:

See the whole project at http://www.earthjustice.org/illwind

The Moapa River Indian Reservation, tribal home of the Moapa Band of Paiutes, sits about 30 miles north of Las Vegas and about 300 yards from the coal ash ponds and landfills of the Reid Gardner Power Station. Coal ash is the toxic ash and sludge left at the end of the coal burning process. It’s laced with arsenic, mercury, lead and other heavy metals. It’s the second largest waste stream in America and it’s currently unregulated.

If the conditions are just wrong, coal ash picks up from Reid Gardner and moves across the desert like a toxic sandstorm sending the local residents running for their homes. The reservation has lung, heart and thyroid disease rates that are abnormally high and the power plant is currently seeking to expand its coal ash storage capability.

The film An Ill Wind tells the Paiute Indians’ story.

View and interactive presentation of the story at:

http://www.earthjustice.org/illwind

Watch the complete film at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL49Ibc0L88

And learn more about coal ash at:

http://www.earthjustice.org/coalash

Many thanks to the Moapa Band of Paiutes for allowing us to tell this story and to Vinny Spotleson of the Sierra Club and Dan Galpern of the Western Environmental Law Center for helping with the project.

I guess we as individuals and families really do need to start thinking about how we can get ourselves off the grid … if more homes are off the grid, these big coal plants wouldn’t even be considered necessary…

Breaking News – Smith Coal Plant Cancelled and a new collaboration planned between activists and the utility!

Breaking News – Smith Coal Plant Cancelled and a new collaboration planned between activists and the utility!

BREAKING: Kentucky Cancels Coal Plant, New Power Movement Electrifies Grassroot Alliance (Huffington Post):

Thanks to a powerful and growing New Power grassroots movement, a broad alliance of Kentucky activists sent an electrifying message across the nation today: A just transition to a clean energy future, even in the heartland of coal country Kentucky, is possible.

Breaking News: SMITH PLANT CANCELLED! Clean energy collaboration planned. (Kentuckians For The Commonwealth):

We have some great news to announce: The coal-burning power plant proposed by the East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) has been canceled by the utility.

EKPC has entered into an agreement with Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Kentucky Environmental Foundation, the Sierra Club, three individual co-op members, the Kentucky attorney general, and Gallatin Steel (EKPC’s biggest industrial customer). Under the agreement, EKPC will halt its plans for the proposed coal-burning power plant in Clark County by abandoning the permits it needed to proceed with construction. The cooperative also committed $125,000 toward a collaborative effort in which the public interest groups, EKPC and its member co-ops, and other parties will work together to evaluate and recommend new energy efficiency programs and renewable energy options.

This is awesome news!!! And in the heart of Coal Country! Utilities and Clean Energy Activism working together to the common good! What an exciting prospect!

It can be done and it looks like there might still be hope for the folks in Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed regarding ODEC’s Cedar 1500MW Creek Power Station proposed within Dendron, VA (in Surry County, VA).

$6 Billion Dollar Coal-fired Power Plant

$6 Billion Dollar Coal-fired Power Plant (ClarkeDailyNews.com):

Clarke Daily News – Opinion & Editorial

The July 15 article “New Electric Provider Promises Better Service and Lower Rates” brings up a very good point. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) members are part owners of their utility. As part owners, they have the right to know what REC is doing, to have a voice in the decision making process, and to hold the board of directors accountable for its decisions.

So why was Rob Marmet, a candidate for the board of directors, the only one to mention the $6 billion coal plant being proposed by REC’s parent cooperative? It is the most expensive plant ever proposed in the U.S., yet it was barely touched upon by the board. Instead, they promised lower rates. Where is this $6 billion going to come from, if not the electricity bills of the members?

If 15,000 new members did not receive their membership packets, as stated by REC, how many of them did not receive their Cooperative Living magazine that contains their proxy ballot? This is the only way in which members are able to vote for the board of directors and express their views about REC’s already apparent lack of transparency and accountability. REC is clearly not providing its members with vital information about decisions within the co-op, nor are they making the decision-making process easily accessible to new members. I urge REC members to make their voices heard on these matters before it’s $6 billion too late.

Justin Klecha

Fredericksburg, Virginia

The article Justin Klecha is referring to is here: New Electric Provider Promises Better Service and Lower Rates – worth a read.

And there is more information on REC’s Board of Directors Candidate Rob Marmet here: Rob4Rec.com where he asks some pointed questions regarding the costs involved for the new proposed ODEC plant in Dendron, Surry County, Virginia. The REC is a member of the Cooperative for which ODEC provides power. (From the Get The Facts tab) where Rob Marmet says:

The Proposed Surry Coal Plant

In December 2008, REC’s parent cooperative, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC), announced plans to construct a 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant just 32 miles from the Chesapeake Bay in Hampton Roads. It would be the largest coal plant in Virginia and the most expensive plant ever constructed in the U.S.

This coal-fired plant’s daily environmental impact would be the equivalent of putting three million more cars on our roads. Requiring at least 26 million gallons of water daily from the James River, the plant would spew more than 110,000 pounds of toxic emissions daily into our air and water. Pollutants including lead, mercury, and nitrogen could devastate sensitive oyster and crab spawning grounds and undermine renewed efforts to restore the Bay.

The plant would be in danger of stifling other economic development in the area as a result of poor air quality and non-attainment designations. More than 100 coal plants have been canceled, delayed, or rejected in the United States since 2001 due to similar concerns.

If built, the project will cost upwards of $4-6 billion. Cooperative members will be locked into a 40 to 50 year obligation, ultimately paying $8,989-$13,483 per household for the cost of the plant. REC board members have been making these decisions behind closed doors and providing little information about the project and its potential effects on members’ rates.
Money Spent to Date
Disclosed Costs

Land purchased for coal plant: $14.3 million

Land purchased for water intake facility: $1.1 million

Clean Air Act application: $1.1 million

Rezoning fee: $10,000

Money promised to the town of Dendron, proposed site for the plant:
Playground: $100,000
Water repairs: $600,000
New sidewalks: $65,000
Undisclosed Costs

Designing plant, attorney fees, modeling and analysis for permitting applications

Total Spent: About $16 million dollars

Projected additional costs: More than $5 billion

How much does REC owe? Rob Marmet wants answers!

Yeah, the proposed plant is very close to the James River which feeds the Chesapeake Bay and all of Hampton Roads which is bad, but it’s also within 1 mile (stack shadow) of our little rural town of Dendron, Surry County where, if built, there will be 2 huge stacks spewing all this crap that Rob Marmet talks about right outside our little town’s home’s windows….and so much more….

It is sad to see that ODEC appears to have won in Dendron and Surry County where all they can see are the dollar signs in a very down economy … instead of the long term health red flag signs that everyone will have to live with for a very long time ….

Check out other articles I have posted here on my blog about this proposed coal fired power plant since this all started here in Dendron, Surry County, Virginia here.

A Tale of Two Cities and The Broken Promise of Coal

A Tale of Two Cities and The Broken Promise of Coal

The article and photos by Tom Pelton on the the Chesapeake Bay Foundation blog.

I recently drove down to the blackwater swamps of southern Virginia to witness a tale of two cities. Many residents of tiny, rural Dendron (population, 300) see their community’s economic salvation in the construction of a coal-fired power plant. But others are deeply worried about the health impacts of toxic mercury pollution and microscopic soot particles. Down the road from Dendron, the town of Clover, Virginia, tried a similar path to renaissance 17 years ago — and learned a sobering lesson.

There are several interviews from both Dendron/Surry County residents and Clover/Halifax County residents, as well as the following:

Harvard School of Public Health Associate Professor Dr. Jonathan Levy, an expert on power plant pollution, said that particulates from the Dendron plant’s smokestacks would likely increase the number of asthma and heart attacks in people living across a wide region. “We’ve done a series of studies over the years looking at power plants in specific geographic areas and across the country. And in general we’ve found that the public health burdens are quite large – on the order of tens of thousands of premature deaths per year. When placed in monetary terms, the damages can be quite large, in relation to the cost of electricity.”

ODEC has been trying to say all is safe for residents of Dendron. However, you have to wonder about that. They can’t place the power plant ‘too close’ to the wetlands, but they can place it closer to the Town of Dendron? Yes, they had to move it closer to the Town and it’s residents because of the dangers to the wetlands, believe it or not!

Oh, and do you see how well the Clover plant in the picture above from the CBF article is hidden from view? ODEC also says that the plant will not be an eyesore or all that visible to the Town that it backs up to?! Yeah right…I buy that.

And as discovered by Tom Pelton, the town of Clover didn’t get the economic benefits either. So are we in the Town of Dendron supposed to believe that that will happen here?

I talked to several residents of Clover. They told me that they, just like the people of Dendron, really hoped the construction of a coal plant would spark a rebirth of their long-shrinking town. But after the Clover Power Station opened in 1995, the community’s only restaurant closed, followed by its grocery store and school.

By 1998, Clover had so few residents and so little money, officials took the rare step of dissolving the town.

It no longer exists.

Is that what ODEC hopes will happen to our little town too?

And what if they build this on the smaller property in Sussex County instead of the Town of Dendron? Will Dendron be in the clear? Not likely. I recently heard that the Surry Board of Supervisors got a big surprise on that score too. Even if they build the power plant in Sussex County, they will still likely be shipping the Coal Ash to a new Fly Ash landfill with all it’s hazardous dangers … to DENDRON! And will they still do the railroad to ship it to Dendron? Or bring it by truck? Either way will be disasterous for the Town of Dendron.

We can’t win for losing!

AND they will still be needing water from the James River and still within the same area that they had originally noted if the plant were in Dendron. So the James River will still have environmentally detrimental affects from the ODEC plant.

Oh, and if they still do either or both of these things; eminent domain will still be a threat to property owners in both Surry and Sussex Counties.

As I say, we can’t win for losing…

And what of the state of attainment for Hampton Roads and Virginia because of this plant?

I think that some may now be thinking that as unwanted as the OLF was/is — that it would have been/would be better than this disaster!

VA DEQ, EPA, and USACE … last hope to block largest coal plant in Virginia?

Well, after February 1st Dendron Town Council (DTC) Meeting where they approved everything that ODEC Old Dominion Electric Cooperative) wanted, and February 4th Surry Board of Supervisor (BoS) Meeting where they approved everything ODEC wanted, and the Sussex Meeting the same night where they approved everything ODEC wanted … see a trend here? … It looks like the VA DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality), the EPA, and the USACE (US Army Corp of Engineers) may be the last best hope for the folks who are concerned about ODEC’s plans to build Virginia’s largest coal fired baseload 24/7 power plant in the tiny town of Dendron in Surry County, Virginia.

I sometimes wonder at any kind of logic being used in rural counties that are experiencing revenue challenges in the economic turn down we have been experiencing.

I see totally unbelievable decisions being made by our local governments with no thought to how it will affect the Hampton Roads area, the Chesapeake Bay and James River, or the farms that naively think that they will be able to continue farming safely after this plant is operational, or even our little town. Or their thinking that somehow the blood money they have taken and will continue to take from ODEC will protect them against the economic bad times and keep the county going forward, or give them any kind of good sleep at night. Yeah, maybe in the short term, but what about the long term?

What about the downwind and downline affects to people, including children at the Surry County School system? What about the affects upon those who are ill from the particulate matter, mercury, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and more that will be spewed by such a huge plant that makes our town look like it’s a dwarf by comparison? There are so many issues that are not addressed, and all I heard from the proponents of the Cypress Creek Power Plant is that they trust our government and ODEC to do the right thing?!?!

Well, the floodgates are open now. All that stands in their way now is the VA DEQ, the EPA and the USACE.

I have always believed that even in the face of terrible things — because life is full of all kinds of things; good, bad and indifferent — that God is able to take the worst lemons that are dealt to us, and somehow make the best lemonade out of them. I pray that somehow, in some way, that will happen with this situation. I can’t see it now, but I sure hope so.

But I did learn something important about this situation. You can’t fight dollar signs. Logic and facts mean nothing when huge amounts of money are thrown at local governments, churches and people who are suffering from economic turn down.

I will be hoping and praying for that lemonade … because these are the bitterest and most rotten lemons I have every seen.

ODEC, Surry BOS, Dendron Town Council

Here is a Cree Prophesy that I thought would be appropriate for contemplation with the upcoming public meeting about ODEC’s proposed coal fired 24/7 baseload power plant (Cypress Creek Power Station) in the Town of Dendron, Surry County, Virginia, which will affect all of Hampton Roads:

When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

And here is an article that speaks volumes on this topic:

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative turns green, but keeps coal with Dendron plant proposal (DailyPress):

The announcement mentions other contracts to buy power from a landfill gas-to-energy project, a hydroelectric project and another wind power project yet to be built.

Bravo.

It’s heartening to see a commitment to clean power, and any efforts — however small-scale — to purchase and transmit electricity generated by renewable sources.

That only leaves one big, dirty elephant in the room: ODEC’s proposed coal plant in Dendron. This is the $4 billion coal-fired facility planned for a 1,600-acre site in this tiny town in Surry County. If built, it could generate up to 1,500 megawatts, enough to supply power to 375,000 customers.

By comparison, the 101 megawatts from the Pennsylvania wind farm is a puff of air.

How true! The Cypress Creek Power Station would be (if approved) Virginia’s largest coal fired power plant. And although ODEC likes to tout it as being like the Clover, VA plant which is 3 miles from the tiny town of Clover, the Cypress Creek coal plant (if approved) will be twice the size of the Clover Plant and well within a mile of our homes in Dendron, VA.

So it bears repeating:

When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

Virginia waterways ranks second-dirtiest in country

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

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

County asks state to block fly ash dump

County asks state to block fly ash dump (Maryland Gazette):

County Executive John R. Leopold asked Gov. Martin O’Malley yesterday to halt plans for a fly ash dump along the Anne Arundel County-Baltimore city border.

“Although the landfill itself is located in Baltimore city, the site is less than 1,000 feet from its border with Anne Arundel County and in close proximity to the surface waters of Swan Creek,” Leopold wrote in the letter to O’Malley.

John R. Leopold along with “Del. Steve Schuh, R-Gibson Island, and Sen. Bryan Simonaire, R-Pasaden”, and some residents were at a meeting in Brooklyn on the ‘storm water discharge permit’ that would be needed for the landfill. (EEEK!)

Mr. Leopold rightly has asked that determination of this fly ash/coal ash dump be postponed until the EPA, which is ‘on track’ to make a determination by the end of the year in regard to whether “fly ash is a hazardous material and should be disposed as such.”

Constellation Energy is the company that is requesting the fly ash dump site and Mr. Leopold reminded “of the situation in Gambrills, where hazardous substances in private wells were found to be linked to a Constellation fly ash dump.” (OUCH! and well done Mr. Leopold!)

From the Washington Post article entiled “Energy Firm’s Dumping Sows Anxiety in Gambrills” in 2007 on this issue of Gambrills when fly ash was found in dust in homes and on dishes of residents:

Constellation, which has delivered bottled water to Greenleaf and neighbors for 11 months, acknowledges the contamination but disputes the severity of the problem. Last week, the company halted the dumping temporarily and is in talks with the state about how to clean it up.

Putting off the decision to build yet another power plant (and one of the largest in Virginia) — until the EPA makes its determination later this year on fly ash — would be the wise and prudent course of action that should be made by the Town Council of Dendron, VA and the Board of Supervisors of Surry County on behalf of the whole of Hampton Roads in Virginia regarding the ODEC proposed 1500MW Cypress Creek Power Plant (and it’s corresponding fly ash/coal ash dump/landfill) that they want to put right in our tiny town’s “backyard” particularly considering the closeness to the homes and water supply in Dendron, as well as the wetlands of the Blackwater River system and Cypress Swamp.