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We are a group of environmental advocates united in providing a one-stop source for Virginia's environmental news. We each focus on different issues, but share the vision of a Commonwealth that preserves and protects its natural resources. Please join us!
This week, the National Journal asked public health, climate, and energy experts whether the EPA should delay its air-pollution rules. The Sierra Club has been fighting polluters of our air and water for decades. With apologies to Jonathan Swift, here is my response:
Yes, the EPA should definitely delay its air-pollution rules. Admittedly, the cost of doing so won't make it easy. By the agency's own estimate, we would lose an estimated $59 billion to $140 billion in healthcare cost savings during the next five years. Then again, healthcare is the responsibility of a different government department.
A little tougher will be knowing that not cleaning up mercury, acid gases, and other toxic pollution from power plants means that hundreds of thousands of people will get sick -- and as many as 17,000 of them will die prematurely during each year of delay. Everybody's got to go sometime, though.
Then there are the children. Exposure to mercury, as Administrator Jackson succinctly put it, "destroys our children's brains." That sounds harsh, but at least it makes the thousands of asthma attacks kids suffer as result of unchecked air pollution seem a little less scary by comparison. And although it might seem heartless to sicken countless kids by delaying action, we should remember that most of them will live through it (even if they are permanently handicapped).
Assuming we can handle the sick kids and the premature deaths, we shouldn't have trouble saying goodbye to the thousands of jobs that would be generated by installing clean-air controls in the roughly half of the country's power plants that don't already have them. True, job creation is a political hot potato, but compared to brain-damaged children, it hardly seems like a deal breaker.
Not convinced? Nobody said this would be easy. But if you still think that (after waiting for twenty-one years), we should rashly clean up one of the most harmful sources of pollution in our country, remember the one argument that supersedes all others. In fact, it's the only reason to do nothing: Because that's exactly what Big Oil and Big Coal want.
Do you think the EPA should postpone clean-air rules for power plants? You can comment here!
Michael Brune is the Sierra Club's executive director.
It's a sad irony that a company called Marine Environmental Services , Inc. (MES), with all of its environmentally nurturing connotations, pleaded guilty alongside its owner, Jerry Askew, on Monday to knowingly releasing 500,000 gallons of polluted water into the Elizabeth River.
Askew's company, Marine Environmental Services, Inc., had been cleaning a decommissioned tanker in 2005 which contained 2.1 million gallons of water polluted by bacteria, grease, and oil when the water was finally released.
For this inexcusable crime, MES faces what amounts to a slap on the wrist. MES could be given a maximum penalty of 5 years of probation and $500,000 fine. Its owner, Jerry Askew, is looking at a maximum penalty of 1 year in prison and a fine of $100,000.
With such leniant penalties, its little wonder that MES decided to dump half a million gallons of polluted water into the Elizabeth River.
To make the sentencing even lighter, MES agreed to invest $50,00 in community service projects that "benefit" the Elizabeth River watershed, as if $50,000 were enough to come anywhere near salvaging the damage that has been done by the polluted water.
Putting aside the fact that the owner and the company are being treated as two separate legal entities, it should go without saying that the penalty should fit the crime. But as in so many environmental criminal cases, the penalty rarely does.
At least one entire generation will be affected by the mass dump of polluted water into the Elizabeth. Is the severe degradation of a body of water like the Elizabeth River worth a mere $50,000?
As Congress prepares to debate plans for funding the federal government through a Continuing Resolution, one of Virginia's own Congressman us using the opportunity to score political points at the detriment of Virginia's waterways. Congressman Bob Goodlatte has decided that the health of Virginia's rivers, lakes and streams is of less importance than attacking the Environmental Protection Agency.
We're not surprised to see funding for the EPA come under attack from the Republican caucus in this Continuing Resolution. Many of the people making these decisions campaigned on that very promise. What is surprising is to see one of Virginia's own Congressman Bob Goodlatte introduce an amendment to the Continuing Resolution which would withhold funding from EPA for implementing restoration policies across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
Virginia Beach, VA (July 29, 2009) - As millions of Americans flock to beaches around the country, Environment Virginia reported that beach closings and advisories due to pollution dropped last year in Virginia, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council's 19th annual beachwater quality report. Environment Virginia called for increased federal funding and faster testing for beachwater pollution.
(Thanks, Adam. Hilarious video on the flip! - promoted by Eileen)
A piece of good news ...
Plastic bags are a scourge on the globe. From the plastic ocean in the Pacific, to the stomachs of choked birds, to the fences of highways, the billions of annual bags are infrequently reused or recycled and often don't even make it into the dump.
Facing increasing levels of pollution on the Anacostia River, with a high percentage of collected trash being a rainbow of colors of plastic bags, the Washington, DC, City Council voted earlier today to institute a five-cent fee for bags to help drive reduced use and, as well, to help raise funds for the cleaning of the Anacostia River.
Council member Jack Evans said the bill can be viewed as a "first step" toward the long-term goal of severely limiting plastic bags and bottles nationwide.
"There is not a river I go to, a park I go, a stream I go to, where I don't see plastic bags everywhere," Evans (D-Ward 2) said. "The fact is our country is becoming inundated with plastic bags and plastic bottles. . . . This is the first step to try to address this issue."
The bill, passed unanimously by the 13-member Council, actually has a thoughtfully innovative element: rewarding businesses for giving discounts for those who bring in their own bags.
Under the plastic bag legislation, called the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act, businesses would keep a penny for each bag sold, and the other four cents would go into a fund to clean up the Anacostia. If businesses offer a discount to consumers who bring reusable bags, they would get to keep two cents for each bag sold.
Who stood up to fight this step toward a sustainable DC? (more on the flip... )
Where ever you live in Virginia, you may be able to help us stop the Surry County coal plant.
Whoever pays the electric bill in your house knows the answer to this question. Who is your utility?
Depending on where you live in Virginia you may be a customer of one of the nine Electric Coops in Virginia that collectively want to build a new coal plant in Surry County. Please let us know if you are customer of any of the following Electric Coops. E-mail stopsurrycoalplant@gmail.com, letting us know who you are and which Coop you belong to.
BARC Electric Cooperative:
• Serving Bath, Alleghany and Rockbridge Counties
Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative:
• Serving Augusta, Rockingham, and Shenandoah Counties
Rappahannock Electric Cooperative:
• Serving Albemarle, Caroline, Culpeper, Essex, Fauquier, Goochland, Greene, Hanover, King & Queen, King William, Louisa, Madison, Orange, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Town of Bowling Green
Northern Neck Electric Cooperative:
• Serving King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Stafford, and Westmoreland
Southside Electric Cooperative: **LARGEST CO-OP in VA** • Serving Amelia, Appomattox, Bedford, Brunswick, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Prince George and Sussex counties, and the towns of Altavista, Blackstone, Crewe, Hurt, Kenbridge and South Hill; plus the City of Petersburg
Prince George Electric Cooperative:
• Serving Dinwiddie, Isle of Wight, Prince George, Southampton, Surry, Sussex Counties
Community Electric Cooperative:
• Serving City of Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Southampton Counties, along with portions of Sussex and Surry Counties
ANEC:
• Serving Accomack and Northampton on Virginia's Eastern Shore
Also heads up... MEETING NOTICE: ODEC will be holding a Public Forum meeting on the proposed Surry coal plant (aka "Cypress Creek Power Station") on Thurs., Feb. 26, 6:30-8:30 pm, at the L.P. Jackson Middle School, 4255 New Design Road in Dendron, the soon to be hometown for the coal plant, and one sitting just 18 miles as the crow flies from downtown historic Williamsburg.
In a letter today to the Sierra Club, EPA director Lisa Jackson announced that it would reconsider a Bush-administration 11th hour policy memo prohibiting controls on global warming pollution from coal plants.
In response, David Bookbinder, Chief Climate Counsel for the Sierra Club issued the following statement:
"Today's victory is yet another indication that change really has come to Washington, and to EPA in particular. This decision stops the Bush Administration's final, last-minute effort to saddle President Obama with its do-nothing policy on global warming.
"Not only does today's decision signal a good start for our clean energy future, it also signals a return to policy based on sound science and the rule of law, not deep pocketbooks or politics. Lisa Jackson is making good on her promises to bring science and the rule of law back into the center of the decision making process at EPA.
"With coal-fired power plants emitting more than 30 percent of our global warming pollution, regulating their carbon dioxide is essential to making real progress in the fight against global warming.
"Holding coal-fired power plants accountable for their global warming emissions was one of the top actions the Sierra Club has been encouraging President Obama to take on global warming as soon as possible as part of the "Clean Slate" agenda. Building on the monumental economic recovery package to be signed today and his administration's quick decision to reconsider the California clean cars waiver, this is one more part of President Obama's vision for building a clean energy economy that will create millions of new green jobs while curbing global warming.
"Today's announcement should cast significant further doubt on the approximately 100 coal-fired power plants that the industry is trying to rush through the permitting process without any limits on carbon dioxide. New coal plants were already a bad bet for investors and ratepayers and today's decisions make them an even bigger gamble."
Celebrating Darwin's birthday yesterday just a little bit differently than did Del. Jeff Frederick, Governor Kaine and British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald signed a global warming pact, pledging as the Richmond Times-Dispatch writes, to "work together to reduce greenhouse gases, research low-carbon, renewable energy technologies and raise public awareness on the global issues of climate change".
While similar pacts have been signed with California, Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan, what makes the Virginia partnership different is the fact that the UK is the largest foreign investor to Virginia's economy, providing as many as 10,000 jobs and more than $1 billion in defense industry related goods and services to the UK.
The partnership will also hopefully teach Virginia a thing or two about going greener...
"The island nation produces more energy from offshore wind generation than any other country", writes the RTD. Their leadership in clean energy hasn't always stood true. "Once a mainstay of its energy generation, coal accounts for only 10 percent of its current energy supply."
Kaine admitted that the U.S. and Virginia had a long way to go to be as successful as the UK has been with its clean energy generation. He mentioned again that none of the 10 largest solar energy companies are in the U.S. And as we all know unfortunately all too well, clean energy bills are facing a tough time in the Virginia General Assembly, especially in Del. Jeff "Diss Darwin" Frederick's House of No.
But there is one little glimmer of hope for Virginia. From the RTD...
In response to a question, the governor said yesterday said he had "not seen enough to make me believe" that a proposed new coal-fired plant in Surry County is necessary.
Clean energy is just that, Gov. Kaine. It's the definition of "clean" as embraced by the science now making a come-back. Please don't be afraid of it any longer!
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A piece of good news ...
Where ever you live in Virginia, you may be able to help us stop the Surry County coal plant.
In a letter today to the Sierra Club, EPA director Lisa Jackson announced that it would reconsider a Bush-administration 11th hour policy memo prohibiting controls on global warming pollution from coal plants.
Celebrating Darwin's birthday yesterday just a little bit differently than did 
