The Head-On Radio Network America&#8217;s Liberal Voice!

Stripping Mountains to Power D.C.

Published by

April 21, 2008 in Business/Finance, Energy, Environmental Disaster, Government, MountainTopRemoval, Newz and Resources. 0 Comments

By David A. Fahrenthold

Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, April 20, 2008; Page A01

MUD, W.Va. — This is a place where “moving mountains” is no longer a figure of speech. Here, among the steep green Appalachians, mining companies are moving mountains off their pedestals to get the kind of coal that Washington needs.

It happened here, on a ridgeline called Sugar Tree Mountain, where locals once hunted for squirrels and puckery-sour grapes. Then the top was scraped off to expose the black seams in its innards, leaving a rock-strewn plateau.

“It used to be West Virginia,” said Vivian Stockman, an environmental activist. “And now it’s Mars.”

Though this isolated mine is more than 400 miles from Washington, the two places share a powerful connection: coal. The D.C. region, with its need for electricity skyrocketing, has been burning steadily more coal, buying almost a third of its supply from this part of Appalachia.

And that, analysts and environmentalists said, means that Washington’s air conditioners and iPods have helped drive the region’s “mountaintop” mining.

The coal industry and the Bush administration say the benefits of these mines, measured in jobs and energy, outweigh the damage.

But in West Virginia, where mining opponents can face back-roads intimidation, some neighbors say that Washington area residents might not know the true cost of their power.

“We have to go through a lot for them to get their electric,” said Lucille Miller, who picked grapes on the vanished mountain.

The links that bind the cathedral-ceiling suburbs of Washington to the blasted-out mines of West Virginia can be traced through federal energy records. The Washington Post analyzed almost four years of data, showing where the six coal-fired power plants across the D.C. region bought their supply.

The records make one thing clear: The plants have been buying a lot more coal. Total purchases were more than 40 percent higher in 2006 than in 2004. The increase came as the Washington region’s demand for electricity grew 18 percent since 2001, driven by population growth and an increasingly wired culture. D.C. area plants do not send their electricity straight to local homes but feed it into the multi-state regional power grid.

Records also show that about 32 percent of the coal the plants bought came from one kind of mine in this corner of Appalachia — a “surface” operation, where miners do not have to tunnel.

The region, where southern West Virginia meets western Virginia and eastern Kentucky, is home to the vast majority of mountaintop mines in the United States.

Article with Photo Gallery Continues @ Sourced Site.

Up to $16 billion fine against Chevron advised

Published by

April 3, 2008 in Business/Finance, Environmental Disaster and Newz. 0 Comments

QUITO, Ecuador - A court-appointed expert said Wednesday that Chevron Corp. should pay up to $16 billion for allegedly polluting an Amazon area that is home to 30,000 natives and settlers.

The San Ramon, California-based company is being sued over billions of gallons of toxic wastewater left as muck over three decades.

The damage total was added up geological engineer Richard Cabrera. The court confirmed to The Associated Press that he turned in his report, which has not yet been approved by a judge.

Plaintiffs lawyer Pablo Fajardo said Cabrera recommends that Chevron pay at least $8 billion in damages, and possibly another $8 billion representing company savings by operating recklessly.

The oil was extracted by Texaco, which ended its operations there in 1992, and merged with Chevron in 2001.

“This trial is a farce,” said Ricardo Reis Veiga, Chevron’s vice president for Latin America.

He said Chevron will ask the court to throw out the case on the basis that Chevron was not informed of when the report would be presented.

Farmers say the oily muck keeps them from cultivating their land and has caused stomach and skin ailments among the area’s residents.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers have presented studies showing elevated cancer rates in the area.

Chevron says there is no proof oil contamination caused the cancers and that Texaco met Ecuadorean environmental laws in a $40 million cleanup that began in 1995.

“There was no cleanup here,” Correa countered, alleging that the damage was simply covered up with dirt dumped over contaminated soil and wastewater ponds. More…

Katrina victims may have to repay money

Published by

March 30, 2008 in Environmental Disaster, Housing, Insult and Injury, Newz and Policies and Procedures. 0 Comments

Via YahooNews:

By JOHN MORENO GONZALES, Associated Press Writer
Sat Mar 29, 7:23 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS - Imagine that your home was reduced to mold-covered wood framing by Hurricane Katrina.

Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months of living in a government-provided trailer that gives off formaldehyde fumes you finally win a federal grant.

Then a collector announces that you have to pay back thousands of dollars.

Thousands of Katrina victims may be in that situation.

A private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.

The contractor, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., revealed the extent of the overpayments when it issued a March 11 request for bids from companies willing to handle “approximately 1,000 to 5,000 cases that will necessitate collection effort.”

The bid invitation said: “The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000.”

The biggest grant amount allowed by the Road Home program is $150,000, so ICF believes it paid some recipients the maximum when they should not have received a penny. If ICF’s highest estimate of 5,000 collection cases — overpaid by an average of $35,000 — proves to be true, that means applicants will have to pay back a total of $175 million.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

Gore invited to smog event

Published by

susan

March 22, 2008 in Environmental Disaster, Newz and The Environment. 0 Comments

By Chris Buckley
VALLEY INDEPENDENT
Saturday, March 22, 2008

Twenty people died from Oct. 26 to 31, 1948, and more than 7,000 were hospitalized or became ill as the result of severe air pollution over Donora.The investigation of this incident by state and federal health officials resulted in the first meaningful federal and state laws air pollution control laws.

Now the borough is planning to commemorate the 60th anniversary of that tragic event which played a part in improving air quality and led to the formation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The Charter for the Donora Smog Commemorative Committee was recently signed. The directors of the organization for the articles of incorporation are Don Pavelko, Anthony Massafra, Casey Perrotta, Diane Martin and DeAnne Pavelko. MORE

Mining company to pay record Superfund fine

Published by

March 12, 2008 in Environmental Disaster, Labor, Law and Justice and Newz. 0 Comments

By ANDREW SCHNEIDER, P-I SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

The government says it finally has persuaded W.R. Grace & Co. to pick up some of the cleanup bill for what the Environmental Protection Agency has called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

The Justice Department on Tuesday announced that Grace had agreed to pay a record-setting $250 million to reimburse the federal government for the costs of the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana.

Officials at Justice and EPA said the payout will be the largest in the history of the Superfund program.

People from both agencies involved with Libby and Grace told the Seattle P-I that the money may not come close to paying to remove the lethal fibers from the homes, businesses, ballfields and schoolyards of the community. Earlier estimates neared $500 million. This, health experts say, is because much is still unknown about the toxicity of the tremolite asbestos contaminating the vermiculite ore, beyond the fact that it is far more dangerous than other asbestos material.

The EPA has been on the scene in the tiny northwestern Montana community since November 1999, arriving three days after the P-I first reported that hundreds of miners and their family members had died or were sickened by exposure to asbestos fibers released from Grace mine on Zonolite Mountain. The newspaper reported on hundreds of Grace documents that showed the company knew its ore was dangerous and that miners, who were being sickened and killed by it, were never warned of the hazard.

A research arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that conducted the nation’s largest environmental health study found that close to 20 percent of the 5,500 residents tested had lung abnormalities. All of them had lived, worked or played in Libby before Grace closed the mine in 1990.

Grace’s problems are far from over. On Feb. 7, 2006, on the steps of the county courthouse in Missoula, Mont., U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer announced a 10-count criminal indictment against seven senior current and former Grace officials. He alleged conspiracy, knowing endangerment, obstruction of justice and wire fraud for endangering the people of Libby by concealing well-documented hazards of the tremolite asbestos.

The trial has been postponed three times as Grace challenges a variety of issues. The Justice Department said it has yet to be rescheduled. Grace has been given until April 14 to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court if it wants to challenge an appellate court’s decision restoring key charges against the worldwide chemical company, its executives and former mine managers.

Tuesday’s court decree would settle a bankruptcy claim brought by the federal government to recover money for past and future costs of cleanup of contaminated schools, homes and businesses in Libby. In December, the Justice Department reported that Grace agreed to pay $34 million to clean up 32 of the scores of contaminated sites in North America where the company processed its vermiculite. It was sold for attic and wall insulation and lawn products.

Asbestos, a recognized human carcinogen, is known to cause lung cancer and mesothelioma, a lethal tumor of the lining of the chest and abdominal cavities. Exposure can also cause asbestosis, a disease characterized by scarring of the lung.

The settlement requires Grace to pay the $250 million within 30 days of bankruptcy court approval. More…

California seeks inquiry after 2nd sewage spill

Published by

February 6, 2008 in Environmental Disaster, Health and Newz. 0 Comments

MILL VALLEY, Calif. — The head of the state Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday called for independent review of the regional water board after an investigation revealed a second major sewage spill into the San Francisco Bay.

State water officials said their investigation had revealed that last week’s spill of 2.7-million gallons of partially treated sewage into the Bay was preceded by the release of about 2.5 million gallons of virtually raw sewage during a storm on Jan. 25.

The Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin reported the first spill to the state Regional Water Quality Control board, which oversees the water treatment plant in Mill Valley. But the Marin agency did not report to state officials how much sewage was released and used an incorrect date.

The regional water board was investigating both spills, but the Board’s own actions may also be investigated.

Linda Adams, who heads the state Environmental Protection Agency, wants an independent review of the regional water board because it failed to immediately investigate the first sewage spill.

Altogether, more than five million gallons of sewage was released into a creek that flows into Richardson Bay, an arm of San Francisco Bay between Sausalito and Tiburon.

The earlier release occurred during a storm that filled up a holding pond of sewage. Plant operators feared flooding of the Mill Valley plant and they released the sewage from the pond into adjacent Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio Creek, said Lila Tang, chief of the wastewater division for the regional water board.

The Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin didn’t notify the state Office of Emergency Services — as required by law if a spill exceeds 1,000 gallons, Tang said. More…

San Francisco residents not told of sewage spill until next day

Published by

February 2, 2008 in Environmental Disaster, Newz and State/Local Government. 0 Comments

By Peter Fimrite, Marisa Lagos, Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writers

Residents and officials throughout Marin County were upset Friday that they were not notified for almost a day that 2.7 million gallons of treated and raw sewage had spilled into Richardson Bay.

The stinking flow of effluent poured out of the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin plant in Mill Valley between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday and eventually flowed into the eastern arm of Richardson Bay, a sensitive tidal marsh with currents that can carry pollutants past Sausalito and Tiburon into San Francisco Bay.

The amount of spilled sewage would cover a football field - including the end zones - 6.3 feet deep, enough to endanger wildlife, dogs and any people who entered the water.

Signs were posted along Marin County shoreline and at San Francisco beaches - including Crissy Field, Baker Beach, China Beach and Aquatic Park - to discourage people from entering the water.

State regulators were notified about the spill before midnight Thursday, but local officials, environmentalists and regular users of the bay were not told in some cases until 20 hours later.

“We’re asking why there was such a delay,” said Marin County sheriff’s Lt. Doug Pittman, the spokesman for the county Office of Emergency Services, who said the county wasn’t notified until around 9:30 a.m. Friday.

“Coming on the coattails of the Cosco Busan (oil spill) response, any delay is something we are concerned about,” he said. “In the next few days, we will be trying to find out why there was such an untimely delay.”

The warning signs at local beaches were put up as a precaution, although not until Friday afternoon - long after many residents had finished their morning swim in the chilly bay. Water quality experts won’t know until tests come back Saturday how much pollution is still swirling around.

Stephen Danehy, the general manager of the sewerage agency, said the spill occurred because a worker failed to set up enough pumps to handle all the water in the Mill Valley plant.

Typically, sewage plants pump effluent into holding tanks during heavy rains to prevent the system from being overwhelmed by water, but that apparently never occurred, causing a backup.

A blend of treated and untreated sewage overflowed after all the plant workers had left. It poured into Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio creek and flowed into Bothin Marsh, a tidal wetland of Richardson Bay.

An alert system notified an off-site, private dispatch service, which should have let an on-call operator know, Danehy said. But the operator didn’t answer and instead of calling Danehy, as per procedure, the dispatcher left a message.

A plant worker monitoring operations on his computer was the first to notice the problem around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Danehy said.

The state Office of Emergency Services was notified of the incident at 11:16 p.m. Thursday and was told the spill occurred sometime between 5:50 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., said agency spokesman Kelly Huston, who expressed concern about the delay in reporting the incident.

“They’re supposed to notify us as soon as they’ve discovered there was an incident,” Huston said.

But several county and local officials complained that they didn’t learn about the spill from state officials until Friday afternoon.

Tiburon Town Manager Margaret Curran said she was notified shortly before a 2 p.m. teleconference with state emergency officials.

Many bay swimmers were furious.

“I believe it unconscionable that … officials felt there was no need to report this spill for nearly 20 hours,” said Gary Emich, a member of a San Francisco Bay swimming club. “I was in for 45 minutes this morning - hope I don’t contract anything.”

Although state emergency officials said they told San Francisco of the spill late Thursday night, Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the city’s Public Utilities Commission, said officials weren’t told about it until late Friday morning.

In November, the container ship Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge and spilled 53,000 gallons of fuel oil into the bay. The full extent of that spill wasn’t announced until several hours later, causing a delay in the cleanup. Thousands of birds died in the spill, and beaches were covered in sticky blobs of oil for days. More…

Video:No More Coal or Welcome to Zebulon 5*

Published by

December 2, 2007 in Energy, Environmental Disaster and Newz. 0 Comments

*Advisory: Use of Direct Language in Video.

From Celsias :

By Peter Montague of Rachel’s Democracy & Health NewsThis week Google — the innovative internet giant — announced it will invest several hundred million dollars in research to produce electricity from solar powercheaper than from coal. And they intend to do it in the next few years, not the next few decades. And a new study this week showed that windmills wired together in a large grid could provide power as reliably as — and cheaper than — coal plants.Coal technology has remained essentially unchanged since the dawn of the industrial revolution in the early 19th century — so to have a young, savvy adversary like Google enter the electricity business means that coal and electric utility executives suddenly have reason to fear for their retirement benefits. They must be feeling like a slow-moving leaf-eating dinosaur that suddenly finds itself staring into the eyes of a large pack of hungry leopards.Coal-fired electric power plants produce 40% of all CO2 emissions in the U.S. (and even more, worldwide). By itself, phasing out coal would go a long way toward fixing the global warming problem.That point was made last April in an advertisement (PDF) in the New Yorker magazine. The ad asserts,“There is a ’silver bullet’ for global warming: NO MORE COAL.”The ad, placed by Architecture 2030, a design firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, threw down the gauntlet to the coal industry — but more importantly to all the designers of the built environment, the people who design and build our cities and towns. They are calling it the “2030 Challenge.”The “2030 Challenge” points out that there are 151 coal-fired power plants currently on the drawing boards and 76% of their energy would go into buildings. So, to solve the global warming problem, let’s just modify our buildings so we don’t need any more coal plants.Here’s the text of the ad: -More>

Global Warming Could Wipe Out Decades of Progress, Groups Say

Published by

November 21, 2007 in Agriculture, Economy, Environmental Disaster, Foreign, Human Rights and Newz. 0 Comments

From Bloomberg:

By En-Lai Yeoh

Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) — Climate change may cut rice and wheat yields in Asia and wipe out decades of social and economic progress, a report on the environment said.

“An increase of just 1 degree Celsius in night-time temperatures during the growing season will reduce Asian rice yields by 10 percent,” according to environmental group Greenpeace, one of the contributors to the “Up in Smoke” report. “Wheat production could by fall 32 percent by 2050.”

The report comes just before the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand will pledge to reduce the impact on global warming at their summit meeting in Singapore Nov. 21.

“Slowing and reversing these threats is the defining challenge of our age,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Nov. 17 at the release of the world body’s panel report on the climate and emissions, ahead of a conference in Bali on global warming.

The U.S. is the world’s biggest producer of man-made carbon dioxide, followed by China, with India ranked fourth, according to the UN. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

The “Up in Smoke” report said China’s wheat, rice and corn yields could fall by as much as 37 percent at the end of the century from drought. WWF, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, the World Council of Churches, Indiadisasters.org and Down to Earth Indonesia were also among the report’s 35 contributors.

“In India, there have been some recent floods affecting 28 million people and also widespread drought in some Indian states,” Greenpeace said. “If no action is taken, 30 percent of India’s food production could be lost.”

Warmer Weather -More>