Carbon Caps Task Force – Agenda 2008 09 07 – 1:15pm @ Omni
Brief – Approve Minutes of the last meeting
Establish Committees – the attendants of this meeting constitute a temporary voting committee
Voting Committee (2 youth, 2 out-of-town citizens-at-large, 1 member of the omni steering committee, 2 members-at-large of Omni)
Fundraising Committee (3-4 members)
Strategic Planning Committee (3-4 members)
Direct Action Committee (3-4 members)
Planetwork Toolkit – state coordinator outreach
Brief PSA Report
Authorize $100 for printing to Clean Air Arkansas
Discuss September/October Actions
Ads – rules for purchasing ads
Only purchase dual-purpose ads (such as to advertise an action)
State Lobby Day – Sept 9
vans? RSVP to gladystiffany@yahoo.com
Omni Book Forum – Sept 12
National Park(ing) Day – Sept 19
Green Jobs Now – Sept 27
Twist of Green – Oct 3-5
Friday, September 5, 2008
EPA stops the destruction of wetland in the Yazoo River watershed of Mississippi
September 5, 2008
Outdoorsmen and environmentalists win a major battle. Now, how about some help with the equally bad project in Arkansas that would pump water from the lower White River basin to farms on the Grand Prairie. The late Wayne Hampton of Stuttgart, a former legislator, highway commissioner and Game and Fish Commissoner and a farmer who protected the environment by "keeping the water where it fell" and storing it for irrigation and to flood the hardwoods for waterfowl in tanks or ponds on his own 4,000-acre farm near Lodge Corner. He fought hard all the way to congress to stop that project and another environmentally destructive navigation lock and dam where the White River enters the Mississippi on the north side of Big Island.
For more on the Yazoo drainage project, please see http://www.americanrivers.org
Wayne would have applauded this victory for the wild things and I hope it is now dropped from all planning.
Dear Aubrey,
I am thrilled to report that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Clean Water Act veto for the Yazoo Pumps, putting an end to this outrageously destructive project once and for all. This historic victory would not have been possible without your help in speaking out against this project.
I hope you will help us again and thank the EPA for its historic and environmentally responsible decision.
The EPA’s decision is a victory for clean water, natural flood protection and taxpayers and it proves that the actions of individuals like you make a difference. The EPA received more than 47,600 emails and comments and more than 99.9 percent urged the EPA to stop the Yazoo Pumps. This outpouring of public support was critical in the face of the tremendous pressure placed on the EPA to approve this wasteful project.
The Yazoo Pumps would have used $220 million of your federal tax dollars to drain and damage up to 200,000 acres of some of the richest wetlands in the nation, an area larger than all 5 boroughs of New York City, that have the capacity to store roughly 200 billion gallons of floodwaters.
Eliminating this free natural flood protection would have been unconscionable, especially when we know that climate change is causing more frequent and intense storms and floods.
Please let the EPA know that you support their decision and appreciate their leadership in protecting these wetlands.
Sincerely,
Rebecca R. Wodder
President
To contact American Rivers, email us at outreach@AmericanRivers.org.
To update your profile or change your preferences click here.
To unsubscribe click here.
American Rivers ©2008
Outdoorsmen and environmentalists win a major battle. Now, how about some help with the equally bad project in Arkansas that would pump water from the lower White River basin to farms on the Grand Prairie. The late Wayne Hampton of Stuttgart, a former legislator, highway commissioner and Game and Fish Commissoner and a farmer who protected the environment by "keeping the water where it fell" and storing it for irrigation and to flood the hardwoods for waterfowl in tanks or ponds on his own 4,000-acre farm near Lodge Corner. He fought hard all the way to congress to stop that project and another environmentally destructive navigation lock and dam where the White River enters the Mississippi on the north side of Big Island.
For more on the Yazoo drainage project, please see http://www.americanrivers.org
Wayne would have applauded this victory for the wild things and I hope it is now dropped from all planning.
Dear Aubrey,
I am thrilled to report that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Clean Water Act veto for the Yazoo Pumps, putting an end to this outrageously destructive project once and for all. This historic victory would not have been possible without your help in speaking out against this project.
I hope you will help us again and thank the EPA for its historic and environmentally responsible decision.
The EPA’s decision is a victory for clean water, natural flood protection and taxpayers and it proves that the actions of individuals like you make a difference. The EPA received more than 47,600 emails and comments and more than 99.9 percent urged the EPA to stop the Yazoo Pumps. This outpouring of public support was critical in the face of the tremendous pressure placed on the EPA to approve this wasteful project.
The Yazoo Pumps would have used $220 million of your federal tax dollars to drain and damage up to 200,000 acres of some of the richest wetlands in the nation, an area larger than all 5 boroughs of New York City, that have the capacity to store roughly 200 billion gallons of floodwaters.
Eliminating this free natural flood protection would have been unconscionable, especially when we know that climate change is causing more frequent and intense storms and floods.
Please let the EPA know that you support their decision and appreciate their leadership in protecting these wetlands.
Sincerely,
Rebecca R. Wodder
President
To contact American Rivers, email us at outreach@AmericanRivers.org.
To update your profile or change your preferences click here.
To unsubscribe click here.
American Rivers ©2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Wind power coming to Benton County, Arkansas
The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Wind Energy To Be Studied In Benton County
By Scarlet Sims
THE MORNING NEWS
BENTONVILLE -- A proposed tower that measures the temperature and speed of wind in Sulfur Springs could bring new economic opportunities to Benton County, said Aaron Weigel, development manager of Tradewind Energy.
The Benton County Planning Board's Technical Advisory Committee reviewed plans Wednesday to put a 195-foot-tall meteorological tower on 80 acres off Sibley Road. The Planning Board will decide whether to approve the tower's construction during its regular board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The tower is not a cell tower, but fell under the county's tower regulations, said planing director Ashley Pope. Weigel requested a variance because the tower does not withstand as much high wind as a cell tower must.
Nothing is located within 600 feet of the proposed tower site.
"It's really out in the middle of the pasture," Planning Director Ashley Pope said.
The NRG Systems tower is the strongest model available, Weigel said. Some towers have withstood tornadoes, he said. About 1,500 towers have been installed nationwide, and Tradewind has about 50 towers.
Models show Northwest Arkansas should have around 14 miles per hour wind, which will make wind power energy profitable, Weigel said. The proposed tower will help Tradewind prove turbines are viable, he said.
One tower is already monitoring wind in Oklahoma, a state listed as one of the top 10 states with wind-energy potential. Arkansas may have wind potential, according to a 1991 study. Weigel said wind is affected by trees and elevation and may be different than Oklahoma. He said he hopes to lease another site for another tower to study wind in northwest Benton County soon.
Tradewind plans to lease the property for the tower for five years, Weigel said. If the project is viable, turbines could begin being built in three years, Weigel said. He estimated the cost of the total project to be $300 million to $500 million. That means more tax money for the county and more work for subcontractors, Weigel said.
"It's a large economic boon for the area," he said.
Fast Fact
Oklahoma is listed as No. 8 of the top 20 states that have wind energy potential, according to the American Wind Energy Association Web site. Arkansas has moderate to good wind energy potential, meaning the state has winds above 6 meters per second.
Source: American Wind Energy Association.
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Wind Energy To Be Studied In Benton County
By Scarlet Sims
THE MORNING NEWS
BENTONVILLE -- A proposed tower that measures the temperature and speed of wind in Sulfur Springs could bring new economic opportunities to Benton County, said Aaron Weigel, development manager of Tradewind Energy.
The Benton County Planning Board's Technical Advisory Committee reviewed plans Wednesday to put a 195-foot-tall meteorological tower on 80 acres off Sibley Road. The Planning Board will decide whether to approve the tower's construction during its regular board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The tower is not a cell tower, but fell under the county's tower regulations, said planing director Ashley Pope. Weigel requested a variance because the tower does not withstand as much high wind as a cell tower must.
Nothing is located within 600 feet of the proposed tower site.
"It's really out in the middle of the pasture," Planning Director Ashley Pope said.
The NRG Systems tower is the strongest model available, Weigel said. Some towers have withstood tornadoes, he said. About 1,500 towers have been installed nationwide, and Tradewind has about 50 towers.
Models show Northwest Arkansas should have around 14 miles per hour wind, which will make wind power energy profitable, Weigel said. The proposed tower will help Tradewind prove turbines are viable, he said.
One tower is already monitoring wind in Oklahoma, a state listed as one of the top 10 states with wind-energy potential. Arkansas may have wind potential, according to a 1991 study. Weigel said wind is affected by trees and elevation and may be different than Oklahoma. He said he hopes to lease another site for another tower to study wind in northwest Benton County soon.
Tradewind plans to lease the property for the tower for five years, Weigel said. If the project is viable, turbines could begin being built in three years, Weigel said. He estimated the cost of the total project to be $300 million to $500 million. That means more tax money for the county and more work for subcontractors, Weigel said.
"It's a large economic boon for the area," he said.
Fast Fact
Oklahoma is listed as No. 8 of the top 20 states that have wind energy potential, according to the American Wind Energy Association Web site. Arkansas has moderate to good wind energy potential, meaning the state has winds above 6 meters per second.
Source: American Wind Energy Association.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
A new proposal by the Bush/Cheney Administration would gut the law that protects polar bears, wolves and other endangered species
CREDO Action from Working Assets is proud to bring you an urgent alert from our friends at Defenders of Wildlife.
The Bush administration has announced a new proposal that would gut the Endangered Species Act — one of America's most important environmental laws. Now Defenders of Wildlife needs our help to preserve the vital checks and balances that protect our polar bears, wolves and other imperiled animals.
I urge you to read the message below from Defenders of Wildlife's president, Rodger Schlickeisen, and take action today to save our endangered species.
Michael Kieschnick
President, CREDO Mobile
Emergency Action
A new proposal by the Bush/Cheney Administration would gut the law that protects polar bears, wolves and other endangered species.
Urge your Representative and Senators to help stop the Bush/Cheney plan to gut the Endangered Species Act.
Dear Wildlife Supporter,
With less than 160 days left in power, the Bush/Cheney Administration has launched an unprecedented backdoor assault on America's endangered species!
Don't let them get away with it. Urge your Representative and Senators to do everything in their power to stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's eleventh-hour assault on America's wildlife.
For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has protected wildlife at risk of extinction. Now the Bush/Cheney Administration wants to eliminate vital checks and balances that are crucial to protect our polar bears, wolves and other imperiled wildlife.
Please help protect endangered animals from the Bush/Cheney Administration's attack. Take action now.
Announced earlier this week, the Bush/Cheney proposal would severely limit scientific review by the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service of projects that could harm imperiled wildlife. And it would explicitly limit the ability of these expert agencies to consider how greenhouse gas emissions from such projects could impact polar bears, wolverines and other wildlife that may go extinct due to global warming.
Instead, agencies proposing projects such as highways, dams, mines, oil or gas drilling and virtually any other activity would be allowed to decide for themselves whether a project is likely to impact any of the nearly 1,400 species currently protected by the Endangered Species Act — without the crucial independent review now provided by scientific experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Many of these agencies do not even have biologists or other qualified staff to make such a determination.
Even worse, the new regulations would impose a brief 60-day review period for agencies, making it even less likely that anyone involved in the process will have the time or expertise to fully evaluate the potential harmful effects of a given project on sensitive wildlife or the habitat it needs to survive.
Help stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's assault on protections for our endangered species. Please take action now.
There are less than 160 days left in the Bush/Cheney Administration — and even less time for your Members of Congress to act. Please take action now to help stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's last-minute attempt to eliminate effective protections for the wildlife that you and I love.
Sincerely,
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife
P.S. Two years ago, Defenders of Wildlife led the fight that stopped Congressional legislation that would have gutted the Endangered Species Act. Now we need your help to stop the Bush Administration from trying to do the same thing. Please take action now!
The Bush administration has announced a new proposal that would gut the Endangered Species Act — one of America's most important environmental laws. Now Defenders of Wildlife needs our help to preserve the vital checks and balances that protect our polar bears, wolves and other imperiled animals.
I urge you to read the message below from Defenders of Wildlife's president, Rodger Schlickeisen, and take action today to save our endangered species.
Michael Kieschnick
President, CREDO Mobile
Emergency Action
A new proposal by the Bush/Cheney Administration would gut the law that protects polar bears, wolves and other endangered species.
Urge your Representative and Senators to help stop the Bush/Cheney plan to gut the Endangered Species Act.
Dear Wildlife Supporter,
With less than 160 days left in power, the Bush/Cheney Administration has launched an unprecedented backdoor assault on America's endangered species!
Don't let them get away with it. Urge your Representative and Senators to do everything in their power to stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's eleventh-hour assault on America's wildlife.
For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has protected wildlife at risk of extinction. Now the Bush/Cheney Administration wants to eliminate vital checks and balances that are crucial to protect our polar bears, wolves and other imperiled wildlife.
Please help protect endangered animals from the Bush/Cheney Administration's attack. Take action now.
Announced earlier this week, the Bush/Cheney proposal would severely limit scientific review by the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service of projects that could harm imperiled wildlife. And it would explicitly limit the ability of these expert agencies to consider how greenhouse gas emissions from such projects could impact polar bears, wolverines and other wildlife that may go extinct due to global warming.
Instead, agencies proposing projects such as highways, dams, mines, oil or gas drilling and virtually any other activity would be allowed to decide for themselves whether a project is likely to impact any of the nearly 1,400 species currently protected by the Endangered Species Act — without the crucial independent review now provided by scientific experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Many of these agencies do not even have biologists or other qualified staff to make such a determination.
Even worse, the new regulations would impose a brief 60-day review period for agencies, making it even less likely that anyone involved in the process will have the time or expertise to fully evaluate the potential harmful effects of a given project on sensitive wildlife or the habitat it needs to survive.
Help stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's assault on protections for our endangered species. Please take action now.
There are less than 160 days left in the Bush/Cheney Administration — and even less time for your Members of Congress to act. Please take action now to help stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's last-minute attempt to eliminate effective protections for the wildlife that you and I love.
Sincerely,
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife
P.S. Two years ago, Defenders of Wildlife led the fight that stopped Congressional legislation that would have gutted the Endangered Species Act. Now we need your help to stop the Bush Administration from trying to do the same thing. Please take action now!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Clean Air Arkansas meets Wednesdays to protect state from coal-fired plants
CROSS CURRENTS : All fired up
Fran Alexander frana@nwarktimes.com
Posted on Monday, August 25, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68471
There’s a hard race being run here in Arkansas — and it will take Olympian skill for the environment to win this one. A documentary film narrated by Robert Redford, “ Fighting Goliath, ” was shown at the library earlier this month. It chronicled how citizens, mayors, ranchers, environmental groups, CEOs, lawyers, etc. came together in Texas to oppose the construction of 18 coal-burning utility plants planned for their state.
Some of the organizers of Public Citizen, the activist group in Texas heading up this fight, were here to share their insight and materials as well as participate on a panel with a couple of Arkansawyers, Art Hobson and Robert McAfee, who serve on Gov. Beebe’s Commission on Global Warming. Every panelist made it clear that, like Texas, Arkansas is also in a race for its air, that substance we can live without for about three to six minutes. Most of us seem to think we can survive dirty air, betting our luck against our age, health and the duration of the worst pollution to which we are exposed. However, our bodies are taking notes and tabulating the bill with every breath we take.
The American Lung Association — with their mission of preventing lung disease and promoting lung health — reports in its “ State of the Air 2008 ” that 42 percent of U. S. citizens live in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution. That’s 125 million of us. They cite that, “ Approximately 2. 2 million children and over 5. 5 million adults with asthma live in parts of the United States with very high levels of ozone” and “ over 10. 2 million adults age 65 and over and nearly 24 million children age 18 and under live in counties with unhealthful ozone levels. ” The organization’s numbers include those suffering from chronic bronchitis and emphysema as well as millions of people with diabetes or some type of cardiovascular disease. These health costs are what environmentalists are talking about when we say that our health subsidizes dirty business. Our health is not included in business expenditure calculations. We pay that bottom line, and sometimes it costs us our lives.
The lung association’s report stresses that the Clean Air Act is suffering from continued weakening of protections and that, “ Old, coal-fired power plants are among the biggest industrial contributors to unhealthful air, especially particle pollution in the eastern United States. The toll of death, disease and environmental destruction caused by coal-fired power plant pollution continues to mount. ”
One would think politicians would listen to these strong words from the oldest volunteer health organization in the country (founded in 1904 ) that has fought the causes and helped find the cures for tuberculosis and other lung diseases. Ah yes, one would think.
One would also think that carbon dioxide, the planet’s overabundance of which is believed by hundreds of scientists to be one of the causes of global warming, would be classified as an air contaminant. But alas, that would mean it would have to be regulated and limits set, and nosy inspectors would be measuring smokestack emissions. This thought is very disturbing to coal burning utility companies, because they see such scrutiny and control as a cost that might make them less competitive to energy producers using wind or sun, for example.
Right now in Arkansas, the proposed Turk plant in Hempstead County, near Texarkana and Hope, has been passed by our Public Service Commission, but the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has not issued an air permit yet. That permit seems to be teetering on the brink of a decision by Gov. Mike Beebe, a decision as serious as an execution. Some of us have been told that he is waiting for his Global Warming Commission (www. arclimatechange. us ) report. Our job as citizens is to tell the governor and his commission, which is made up of a diverse group of represented interests, that we do not need nor want another coal-burning plant in our state. Beebe’s address is: State Capital, Room 250, Little Rock, AR 72201. Or you can e-mail him.
Our job is also to support each other in finding ways to bridge the energy chasm between now and tomorrow. Because alternative energy research, development and incentives have been and continue to be suppressed by President Bush, by Congress and by the strong-armed oil and coal rulers of energy markets, we are easily sold a bill of goods that we have no energy choices but their dinosaurs. Old technologies want us to keep on burning their dirty old fuels for a long, long time.
Michael Dworkin in the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility report “ Don’t Get Burned” writes, “ For large central-station coal-fired power plants, financing depends on long-term yields; thus they depend on net positive cash flow, not for years, but for decades. Operating costs and capital costs can destroy projected margins if the future differs from the past. ”
Ironically, therefore, burning coal will obliterate being able to bridge to future technologies as long as utilities have to pay off their billion-dollar power plants, like Hempstead. These industries’ job is to sell us on the idea that without them our economies will collapse when the opposite might be more the reality. They hold us hostage with the fear that if we try to leap the chasm to a clean future, we will find no alternate side to land on. Some of us do not buy their story, especially keeping in mind that there is another huge plant planned just down the road from us near Poteau, Okla., another battle in our face.
Since the film was shown (google “ Fighting Goliath ” for a preview ), some of us have formed “ Clean Air Arkansas” and hope to be one of several chapters across the state to confront the permitting of these coal-burning plants. In Fayetteville, we are meeting at 7 p. m. Wednesday nights on the lower floor of the United Campus Ministry building at 902 W. Maple St. (corners with Storer Street ), and we need you.
On Sept. 9, the Commission on Global Warming will meet again in Little Rock at the Capitol, and every Arkie that can drive, walk or crawl needs to go tell them you want to breathe clean air. Speaking there is your right as a citizen of this state, or just filling a chair with your body carries weight !
Coal is called the cheap energy fuel because our land, our plants, our animals, our water, our air and our lungs pay the overhead. To paraphrase dear old Smokey the Bear, “ Only YOU can stop coal fires. ” Please take a deep breath and come help.
Fran Alexander is a local resident and an active environmentalist.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Oil-drilling madness continues to dominate political thinking
The Drill of It All
Did you know that oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of leases that they aren't even drilling? Which kind of makes you wonder: Why are Big Oil and its allies suddenly desperate to get their hands on the last few places that are still protected -- our natural treasures, wildlife refuges, and pristine coastlines? They wouldn't use the concerns caused by high gas prices as an excuse to grab it ALL, would they?
Check out our map showing how much of our country Big Oil has already got and spread the word by forwarding it to friends who agree: Enough is enough.
So far, one woman has stood up to Big Oil. Let's thank Speaker Pelosi for keeping a cool head and holding out for real solutions.
| Discuss |
Make Your Travel Matter
Sierra Club founder John Muir believed deeply that conservation begins with experiencing nature's grandeur firsthand, and that's still the guiding principle of Sierra Club Outings. Sure, you could spend another vacation in a high-rise at an overcrowded beach. Or, you could study retreating glaciers from your kayak in remote eastern Greenland, maintain hiking trails in Puerto Rico, or support grassroots environmental efforts in Costa Rica.
Travel with us, and you'll have much more than a vacation. We've just launched our 2009 lineup of international trips, plus a few select domestic itineraries.
Our most popular trips fill up quickly, so have a look now and discover your next life-changing experience.
| Discuss |
The Thirty Percent Solution
Homes and other buildings are America's largest consumers of energy and a major contributor to global warming. That's why the Sierra Club's Cool Cities Campaign is joining with local governments, businesses, and energy-efficiency advocates to support a bold new proposal to adopt "green" building codes for new homes: the Thirty Percent Solution.
Next month, building-code officials from around the country will meet in Minneapolis to vote on whether to strengthen building-code energy-efficiency standards in new homes by 30 percent. By 2030, that would save an estimated 8 quadrillion BTUs of energy and $88 billion in energy costs; reduce CO2 by 464 million metric tons; and create new clean-energy construction and service jobs in the building trades and energy-efficiency product industries.
Make sure your community will be represented at the meeting -- contact your mayor or county leader today.
| Discuss |
Winds of Change in West Virginia
The residents of the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, with the support of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, are proposing the development of a 440-megawatt wind farm as an economically viable alternative to a planned mountaintop-removal coal-mining operation. If the mountaintop-removal coal-mining proceeds as planned, it will destroy ten square miles of the mountain, pollute waterways, devastate the surrounding communities, and eliminate the vast wind potential the mountain now holds.
Add your signature to the petition asking West Virginia Governor Manchin to protect Coal River Mountain and bring clean energy and green jobs to West Virginia!
EXPLORE
Stand Up to Skeptics
The Sierra Club has joined forces with the Natural Resources Defense Council in smacking down global-warming skeptics at a new website called OpposingViews.com.
Take a look at all sides of the argument, recommend your favorite ones, and post comments.
"Staring Down Doomsday"
From Sierra Magazine: High school students from the Bronx hit the Appalachian Trail and face their fears.
PROTECT
Support the No Child Left Inside Act
Tell your Representative to support the No Child Left Inside Act to provide students with quality environmental education.
If we act now, we can ensure more American children become adults ready to face the environmental challenges that lie ahead.
Sierra Club
85 Second St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
insider@sierraclub.org
http://www.sierraclub.org/
Did you know that oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of leases that they aren't even drilling? Which kind of makes you wonder: Why are Big Oil and its allies suddenly desperate to get their hands on the last few places that are still protected -- our natural treasures, wildlife refuges, and pristine coastlines? They wouldn't use the concerns caused by high gas prices as an excuse to grab it ALL, would they?
Check out our map showing how much of our country Big Oil has already got and spread the word by forwarding it to friends who agree: Enough is enough.
So far, one woman has stood up to Big Oil. Let's thank Speaker Pelosi for keeping a cool head and holding out for real solutions.
| Discuss |
Make Your Travel Matter
Sierra Club founder John Muir believed deeply that conservation begins with experiencing nature's grandeur firsthand, and that's still the guiding principle of Sierra Club Outings. Sure, you could spend another vacation in a high-rise at an overcrowded beach. Or, you could study retreating glaciers from your kayak in remote eastern Greenland, maintain hiking trails in Puerto Rico, or support grassroots environmental efforts in Costa Rica.
Travel with us, and you'll have much more than a vacation. We've just launched our 2009 lineup of international trips, plus a few select domestic itineraries.
Our most popular trips fill up quickly, so have a look now and discover your next life-changing experience.
| Discuss |
The Thirty Percent Solution
Homes and other buildings are America's largest consumers of energy and a major contributor to global warming. That's why the Sierra Club's Cool Cities Campaign is joining with local governments, businesses, and energy-efficiency advocates to support a bold new proposal to adopt "green" building codes for new homes: the Thirty Percent Solution.
Next month, building-code officials from around the country will meet in Minneapolis to vote on whether to strengthen building-code energy-efficiency standards in new homes by 30 percent. By 2030, that would save an estimated 8 quadrillion BTUs of energy and $88 billion in energy costs; reduce CO2 by 464 million metric tons; and create new clean-energy construction and service jobs in the building trades and energy-efficiency product industries.
Make sure your community will be represented at the meeting -- contact your mayor or county leader today.
| Discuss |
Winds of Change in West Virginia
The residents of the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, with the support of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, are proposing the development of a 440-megawatt wind farm as an economically viable alternative to a planned mountaintop-removal coal-mining operation. If the mountaintop-removal coal-mining proceeds as planned, it will destroy ten square miles of the mountain, pollute waterways, devastate the surrounding communities, and eliminate the vast wind potential the mountain now holds.
Add your signature to the petition asking West Virginia Governor Manchin to protect Coal River Mountain and bring clean energy and green jobs to West Virginia!
EXPLORE
Stand Up to Skeptics
The Sierra Club has joined forces with the Natural Resources Defense Council in smacking down global-warming skeptics at a new website called OpposingViews.com.
Take a look at all sides of the argument, recommend your favorite ones, and post comments.
"Staring Down Doomsday"
From Sierra Magazine: High school students from the Bronx hit the Appalachian Trail and face their fears.
PROTECT
Support the No Child Left Inside Act
Tell your Representative to support the No Child Left Inside Act to provide students with quality environmental education.
If we act now, we can ensure more American children become adults ready to face the environmental challenges that lie ahead.
Sierra Club
85 Second St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
insider@sierraclub.org
http://www.sierraclub.org/
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Stupidity of calls for more drilling for oil explained by guest commentator in Northwest Arkansas Times
Guest Commentary : More drilling is just a scare
BY CARL POPE Minuteman Media
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68179
As Americans continue struggling with high gas prices and our country’s energy crisis, “ to drill or not to drill ” is the wrong argument to be having. It’s perfectly understandable that when folks are hurting from high prices, they want solutions and they want them now. The key is to have solutions that will actually work.
When you dig past the rhetoric, you see that opening our protected coasts and wildlife refuges would do nothing to lower prices or solve our energy crisis.
Bottom line: the United States holds less than 3 percent of the world’s oil, but we use 25 percent of it. Drilling in new areas would simply not produce enough oil to impact prices on the world market. The government’s own Energy Information Administration tells us that oil from new coastal drilling would not be available for nearly a decade, and that it would not reach peak production for roughly 20 years. The oil would amount to a drop in the bucket.
And why should we be drilling more if the oil continues to be sent beyond our borders ? Just this week, numbers from the U. S. Department of Energy showed that American oil companies continue to ship huge amounts of oil to other countries.
In the first four months of 2008, American oil companies exported a record 1. 6 million barrels per day — compared to the 1. 2 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2007. The Department of Energy also reported that a record 1. 8 million barrels per day were exported during February 2008.
According to the Bush administration, more drilling could produce 200, 000 barrels per day — yet right now, we’re exporting more than 1. 6 million barrels per day.
More drilling hasn’t lowered gasoline prices. According to the U. S. Bureau of Land Management, the number of U. S. oil wells increased each year between 2002 and 2006, but so has the price of gasoline.
The United States has more oil and gas rigs operating today than the entire rest of the world combined, with hundreds of millions of acres of onshore and offshore federal lands available for leasing. Our country has more than 800, 000 producing oil and natural gas wells, and oil companies already own rights to 68 million acres of federal land and coastline that they aren’t even drilling.
Some politicians are also spreading rumors. Vice President Dick Cheney and others have claimed that countries like China are already drilling off our coasts. But Cheney was forced to retract this statement after the Congressional Research Service proved there was absolutely no truth to the claim.
Meanwhile, as Americans have to figure out how they will pay to fill up their cars, the biggest oil companies just reported record quarterly profits in excess of $ 40 billion.
Big Oil has had us in a chokehold for too long. Americans need and deserve more energy choices.
Instead of continuing to provide billions of dollars of subsidies to Big Oil, we should be investing in energy sources like wind, solar and biomass — renewable sources that will create jobs.
By making big oil companies pay their fair share, we can fund tax credits and refund checks to regular Americans for immediate, short-term relief from gasoline prices — something drilling wouldn’t do.
Why hold up good proposals, such as more renewable energy that everyone agrees on, to benefit oil companies that are happy with high prices ? There are better solutions to our energy crisis.
Carl Pope is executive director of the Sierra Club.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com
BY CARL POPE Minuteman Media
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68179
As Americans continue struggling with high gas prices and our country’s energy crisis, “ to drill or not to drill ” is the wrong argument to be having. It’s perfectly understandable that when folks are hurting from high prices, they want solutions and they want them now. The key is to have solutions that will actually work.
When you dig past the rhetoric, you see that opening our protected coasts and wildlife refuges would do nothing to lower prices or solve our energy crisis.
Bottom line: the United States holds less than 3 percent of the world’s oil, but we use 25 percent of it. Drilling in new areas would simply not produce enough oil to impact prices on the world market. The government’s own Energy Information Administration tells us that oil from new coastal drilling would not be available for nearly a decade, and that it would not reach peak production for roughly 20 years. The oil would amount to a drop in the bucket.
And why should we be drilling more if the oil continues to be sent beyond our borders ? Just this week, numbers from the U. S. Department of Energy showed that American oil companies continue to ship huge amounts of oil to other countries.
In the first four months of 2008, American oil companies exported a record 1. 6 million barrels per day — compared to the 1. 2 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2007. The Department of Energy also reported that a record 1. 8 million barrels per day were exported during February 2008.
According to the Bush administration, more drilling could produce 200, 000 barrels per day — yet right now, we’re exporting more than 1. 6 million barrels per day.
More drilling hasn’t lowered gasoline prices. According to the U. S. Bureau of Land Management, the number of U. S. oil wells increased each year between 2002 and 2006, but so has the price of gasoline.
The United States has more oil and gas rigs operating today than the entire rest of the world combined, with hundreds of millions of acres of onshore and offshore federal lands available for leasing. Our country has more than 800, 000 producing oil and natural gas wells, and oil companies already own rights to 68 million acres of federal land and coastline that they aren’t even drilling.
Some politicians are also spreading rumors. Vice President Dick Cheney and others have claimed that countries like China are already drilling off our coasts. But Cheney was forced to retract this statement after the Congressional Research Service proved there was absolutely no truth to the claim.
Meanwhile, as Americans have to figure out how they will pay to fill up their cars, the biggest oil companies just reported record quarterly profits in excess of $ 40 billion.
Big Oil has had us in a chokehold for too long. Americans need and deserve more energy choices.
Instead of continuing to provide billions of dollars of subsidies to Big Oil, we should be investing in energy sources like wind, solar and biomass — renewable sources that will create jobs.
By making big oil companies pay their fair share, we can fund tax credits and refund checks to regular Americans for immediate, short-term relief from gasoline prices — something drilling wouldn’t do.
Why hold up good proposals, such as more renewable energy that everyone agrees on, to benefit oil companies that are happy with high prices ? There are better solutions to our energy crisis.
Carl Pope is executive director of the Sierra Club.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
NO COAL meeting Wednesday August 13th 7pm
Molly Rawn
OHG Sierra Club, Chair
(479) 879-1620
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Burke
Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 6:05 PM
Subject: Important NO COAL meeting Wednesday August 13th 7pm
To: burke@ecoconservation.org
Hi everyone,
We had a successful tour traveling the state last week showing the documentary "Fighting Goliath" and talking with community groups about forming a no new coal coalition. Check out these links for an update:
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/news/?cid=96901
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/08/04/news/080508fzlibmov.txt
So far we have set up 'Clean Air Arkansas' groups in Fayetteville, Little Rock, Conway, and Hope to oppose the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
This Wednesday August 13th at 7pm we will meet in Fayetteville to discuss in more detail our campaign and delegate roles to people who are committed to this effort. Please join us and invite your friends and family. Time is running out and we need to come together to stop these coal plants
Here is the address for the meeting this Wednesday:
United Campus Ministry
Omni Center
902 W Maple St
Fayetteville, AR
Also, Maggie Bailey, a volunteer in Fayetteville has asked to coordinate events while I am in Little Rock so you can email either her or me for more questions about our campaign. Here is Maggie's email: mtucker22@yahoo.com
Hope to see you at the meeting. Thanks for your support.
James
burke@ecoconservation.org
www.ecoconservation.org
336-455-1065
OHG Sierra Club, Chair
(479) 879-1620
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Burke
Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 6:05 PM
Subject: Important NO COAL meeting Wednesday August 13th 7pm
To: burke@ecoconservation.org
Hi everyone,
We had a successful tour traveling the state last week showing the documentary "Fighting Goliath" and talking with community groups about forming a no new coal coalition. Check out these links for an update:
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/news/?cid=96901
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/08/04/news/080508fzlibmov.txt
So far we have set up 'Clean Air Arkansas' groups in Fayetteville, Little Rock, Conway, and Hope to oppose the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
This Wednesday August 13th at 7pm we will meet in Fayetteville to discuss in more detail our campaign and delegate roles to people who are committed to this effort. Please join us and invite your friends and family. Time is running out and we need to come together to stop these coal plants
Here is the address for the meeting this Wednesday:
United Campus Ministry
Omni Center
902 W Maple St
Fayetteville, AR
Also, Maggie Bailey, a volunteer in Fayetteville has asked to coordinate events while I am in Little Rock so you can email either her or me for more questions about our campaign. Here is Maggie's email: mtucker22@yahoo.com
Hope to see you at the meeting. Thanks for your support.
James
burke@ecoconservation.org
www.ecoconservation.org
336-455-1065
Monday, August 11, 2008
Fran Alexander's Northwest Arkansas Times column urges governor to persuade commission to use gas money for habitat preservation, restoration
CROSS CURRENTS : Frack II
Fran Alexander frana@nwarktimes.com
Posted on Monday, August 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68004
“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes — one for peace and one for science.” — John F. Kennedy If you read my July 28 article “Frack, rattle, and roll,” about the Fayetteville Shale gas drilling, you know that all that glitters is not necessarily pure gold. In the case of natural gas being released from “fracked” shale strata under several counties in central Arkansas, the big money being made there is awash with serious costs as well. Politicians blinded by the prospect of billions glutting the state economy have generally ignored these costs. So far, none of the money to be garnered from a severance tax on the gas bonanza or from leases has been specifically earmarked for environmental protection costs.
We often read about green issues with a lulled feeling of security that the network of laws and regulations in our country will protect us individually and collectively from dire ecological and financial consequences. It’s time to burst that bubble. Federal oil and gas production exemptions abound to the point that one is left feeling we are living on a wild, lawless frontier where random bullets of enviro horrors whiz by our heads daily. (See: www. earthworksaction. org / pubs / PetroleumExemptions 1 c. pdf ) Most citizens are also on their own financially when dealing with leases, taxes and the complicated jungle of resource prospectors. It seems even the state is not too sure what is in its best interests in regard to resources like oil, gas, bromide, coal or money, and is being especially slow in comprehending what is happening to its water, truly our most valuable resource.
Since my last article, a whole new wrinkle about gas drilling has slithered into the news. Neither the general public nor most of the state’s major environmental organizations (Audubon, Arkansas Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club ) were asked for any input before the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission signed two gas leases. One lease covers 7, 579 mineral acres and 15, 500 surface acres in the Petit Jean River Wildlife Management Area near Ola, in Yell County; the other for 3, 949 mineral acres and 11, 683 surface acres in the Gulf Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Van Buren County. Chesapeake Energy Corp. is parting with $ 29. 5 million and a 20 percent royalty interest to get to drill in these public lands.
Keep in mind that land surface (and therefore, habitat) is severely affected where cleared drilling pads, which range from one to five acres in size, are located, and by many miles of roads needing to be improved, expanded, or built for the hundreds of truck trips servicing drilling sites. Compressors hum loudly day and night, so noise can be a problem for humans and animals. And major impacts from pipeline rights of way, which can vary from 20 to 50 feet in width, occur because their pathways denude vast swaths of land. Many people do not realize that mineral leasing confers dominant use of the surface for extraction of underground minerals, no matter who owns the surface or whether they want drilling on their land or not. But on public lands the public should at least have been asked.
“What are we thinking?” is pretty much the question that environmentalists, snugly wrapped in our straitjackets, mutter to ourselves as we rock back and forth banging our heads into walls. I ended my last article asking, “Will we do anything about this situation?” meaning will we find a way to get at least some of the tax revenue from this gas production directed into preventing and repairing the environmental harm that will affect Arkansas’ land, air, water and human health? The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s leasing has provided a whole new pot o’ gold for grasping, and the commission and the governor are having somewhat of a standoff over who gets to decide how this wealth will be spent.
The commission says the money is theirs to direct to wildlife. Sounds good unless that “wildlife” includes trucks, salaries, buildings, game wardens, hunting programs, equipment, etc. for humans. It needs to be directed to habitat protection and repair, the essence of what could be harmed by drilling activities. The money could also go a long way in establishing methods to protect watersheds with conservation easements, thereby expanding preservation all over the state, not just within boundaries of management areas. Obviously, those borders have just been proven not to be sacrosanct when money rides into town.
The League of Women Voters has done extensive study on the Fayetteville Shale Play, taken tours to the drilling sites and in January co-hosted a forum on the issue with the Sierra Club. Mary Alice Serafini, state president of the League, said they have developed Consensus Positions, which they hope the state Legislature will adopt.
Position 1 is the recommendation that a single water authority be established to coordinate the use and regulation of the state’s public waters.
Position 2 recommends funding for oversight and inspection so that problems can be addressed before damage occurs instead of being only complaint driven.
Position 3 provides greater protection of landowners’ surface rights and of waterways.
Position 4 provides full disclosure of chemical additives being used in drilling and production activities that might infiltrate groundwater or pollute the air. (This is a “right-to-know” issue for anyone who otherwise might be exposed to harmful contaminants.)
Position 5 promotes the establishment of a fund for infrastructure changes and damages in areas affected by gas drilling.
So the League has been willing to do something. I hope you will too by contacting our legislators to tell them to support environmental protection and positions such as the League has taken. Immediately, however, we need to contact Gov. Mike Beebe and let him know we consider resource revenue the property of the citizens of Arkansas, and that the public’s money should go toward protecting our state for all of us, not just those with gas.
Fran Alexander is a local resident and an active environmentalist.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com
Waste Management to Dedicate Arkansasʼ First Landfill-Gas-to-Energy Plant
WASTE MANAGEMENT NEWS RELEASE
Waste Management to Dedicate Arkansasʼ First Landfill-Gas-to-Energy Plant and
Announce New Partnership with Audubon Arkansas
Senator Blanche Lincoln, Governor Mike Beebe and Congressman Vic Snyder Scheduled to Attend Event
State and local leaders will join Waste Management executives on Tuesday, August 12, 9:30 am at the Two Pine Landfill to officially dedicate Arkansasʼ first and only landfill gas-to-energy plant. This plant is part of Waste Managementʼs sustainable commitment to Arkansas as well as North America, unveiled this past October as part of Waste Managementʼs 2020 plan.
Additionally, Waste Management officials will announce a new first-of-its-kind partnership with Audubon Arkansas.
What: Landfill Gas to Energy Plant Dedication and Announcement of New Partnership with Audubon Arkansas
When: Tuesday, August 12 at 9:30 am
Where: Two Pine Landfill
100 Two Pine Drive
North Little Rock, AR 72117
Who: Senator Blanche Lincoln
Governor Mike Beebe
Congressman Vic Snyder
Waste Management Executives
Arkansas Audubon Director Ken Smith
The Two Pine Landfill gas-to-energy plant is a 4.8 megawatt facility, providing power for approximately 4,500 homes in North Little Rock. Consisting of six large engines, it was constructed in 2006 and recently achieved full generation. The engines are powered by methane gas, which forms in the landfill as a result of the decomposition of waste.
Approximately two years ago, Waste Management and Audubon Arkansas began discussions regarding the development of a wildlife management plan for the Two Pine Landfill. This first-of-its-kind program between Waste Management and Audubon Arkansas has the potential to expand to other Waste Management landfills. At Tuesdayʼs event, Waste Management officials and leaders from Audubon Arkansas will unveil the vision for Two Pine Landfill.
This past April, Waste Management received the stateʼs approval to expand the Two Pine Landfill. In the coming years, Waste Management plans to build an additional landfill gas-to-energy plant in the expanded landfill area.
These two projects are part of the companyʼs environmental sustainability initiative. Waste Management has committed to the following actions by 2020: doubling its waste based energy generation from the equivalent of generating enough energy for one million to two million homes, quadrupling the number of its sites certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council to 100 as well as set aside 25,000 acres for conservation, nearly tripling the amount of recyclables it manages to 20 million tons; and reducing its vehicle fleet emissions by 15 percent and increasing fuel efficiency by 15 percent.
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.
For more information, visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com
Waste Management to Dedicate Arkansasʼ First Landfill-Gas-to-Energy Plant and
Announce New Partnership with Audubon Arkansas
Senator Blanche Lincoln, Governor Mike Beebe and Congressman Vic Snyder Scheduled to Attend Event
State and local leaders will join Waste Management executives on Tuesday, August 12, 9:30 am at the Two Pine Landfill to officially dedicate Arkansasʼ first and only landfill gas-to-energy plant. This plant is part of Waste Managementʼs sustainable commitment to Arkansas as well as North America, unveiled this past October as part of Waste Managementʼs 2020 plan.
Additionally, Waste Management officials will announce a new first-of-its-kind partnership with Audubon Arkansas.
What: Landfill Gas to Energy Plant Dedication and Announcement of New Partnership with Audubon Arkansas
When: Tuesday, August 12 at 9:30 am
Where: Two Pine Landfill
100 Two Pine Drive
North Little Rock, AR 72117
Who: Senator Blanche Lincoln
Governor Mike Beebe
Congressman Vic Snyder
Waste Management Executives
Arkansas Audubon Director Ken Smith
The Two Pine Landfill gas-to-energy plant is a 4.8 megawatt facility, providing power for approximately 4,500 homes in North Little Rock. Consisting of six large engines, it was constructed in 2006 and recently achieved full generation. The engines are powered by methane gas, which forms in the landfill as a result of the decomposition of waste.
Approximately two years ago, Waste Management and Audubon Arkansas began discussions regarding the development of a wildlife management plan for the Two Pine Landfill. This first-of-its-kind program between Waste Management and Audubon Arkansas has the potential to expand to other Waste Management landfills. At Tuesdayʼs event, Waste Management officials and leaders from Audubon Arkansas will unveil the vision for Two Pine Landfill.
This past April, Waste Management received the stateʼs approval to expand the Two Pine Landfill. In the coming years, Waste Management plans to build an additional landfill gas-to-energy plant in the expanded landfill area.
These two projects are part of the companyʼs environmental sustainability initiative. Waste Management has committed to the following actions by 2020: doubling its waste based energy generation from the equivalent of generating enough energy for one million to two million homes, quadrupling the number of its sites certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council to 100 as well as set aside 25,000 acres for conservation, nearly tripling the amount of recyclables it manages to 20 million tons; and reducing its vehicle fleet emissions by 15 percent and increasing fuel efficiency by 15 percent.
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.
For more information, visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Monarch butterflies visit World Peace Wetland Prairie to lay eggs on milkweed so that caterpillars can eat and grow
Please click on image to ENLARGE photo of monarch butterfly August 10, 2008, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.
Please click on link to ENLARGE tall-green milkweed, Asclepias hirtella, at World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 10, 2008.
Please click on link to ENLARGE tall-green milkweed, Asclepias hirtella, at World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 10, 2008.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Art Hobson leading the charge against global warming
I got up and got coffee Friday morning and then discovered a relatively youthful Art Hobson lecturing on global warming at the Fayetteville library through the magic of Fayetteville's government channel.
Art's message was on target and very much today's message on global warming. Only when the credits ran at the end did I see that it was a show recorded in 2000!
Things are worse now. Our climate has gone crazy.
But Art would only have a few things different to say today if he were to lecture a crowd at the library.
Later in the day, Art emailed an item of current concern. Some things have happened as a result of Art's sermons back in 2000 and before. One occurred with the help of Dick Bennett, Kelly Mulhollan and a bunch of members of the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology.
The most important may be that Arkansas' governor finally created a Commission on Global Warming and that body has been meeting for many months and is being battered by corporate propagandists who don't want Arkansas' legislature to enact any legislation in 2009 that might actually help slow global climate change. Art Hobson is a member of that commission and probably the top scientist in the group.
Let's share Art's August 8, 2008, message to OMNI's Carbon Caps Task Force and those who have signed up for the Planet Works list to lobby the legislature on behalf of the Global Warming Commission's efforts:
"The messages that I was hoping for haven't been getting out to the GW Commission. The Comm needs to hear from others than Swepco--although many of Sammy Cox's (Swepco lobbyist) messages are fairly interesting. I had sent several such needed items, from the internet and other places, to you earlier, but most of them haven't actually reached the Commission. I can't do this myself. ... the Comm need other perspectives. I suggest the somebody at Omni send to the Commission this excellent statement from the LWV: http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11812. I suggest that it not be accompanied by further comments, except to note that it is sent out by Omni. The note might also mention the interesting "fact sheet" and the 8 pages of "frequently asked questions" that accompany the statement--these are pdfs that readers can click on within the statement.
Cheers - Art
Art's message was on target and very much today's message on global warming. Only when the credits ran at the end did I see that it was a show recorded in 2000!
Things are worse now. Our climate has gone crazy.
But Art would only have a few things different to say today if he were to lecture a crowd at the library.
Later in the day, Art emailed an item of current concern. Some things have happened as a result of Art's sermons back in 2000 and before. One occurred with the help of Dick Bennett, Kelly Mulhollan and a bunch of members of the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology.
The most important may be that Arkansas' governor finally created a Commission on Global Warming and that body has been meeting for many months and is being battered by corporate propagandists who don't want Arkansas' legislature to enact any legislation in 2009 that might actually help slow global climate change. Art Hobson is a member of that commission and probably the top scientist in the group.
Let's share Art's August 8, 2008, message to OMNI's Carbon Caps Task Force and those who have signed up for the Planet Works list to lobby the legislature on behalf of the Global Warming Commission's efforts:
"The messages that I was hoping for haven't been getting out to the GW Commission. The Comm needs to hear from others than Swepco--although many of Sammy Cox's (Swepco lobbyist) messages are fairly interesting. I had sent several such needed items, from the internet and other places, to you earlier, but most of them haven't actually reached the Commission. I can't do this myself. ... the Comm need other perspectives. I suggest the somebody at Omni send to the Commission this excellent statement from the LWV: http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11812. I suggest that it not be accompanied by further comments, except to note that it is sent out by Omni. The note might also mention the interesting "fact sheet" and the 8 pages of "frequently asked questions" that accompany the statement--these are pdfs that readers can click on within the statement.
Cheers - Art
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Comment from Stephens media blog on unfairness of coal conference in Hope
Different panel: Same dirty coal
Relying on information in the Hope newspaper yesterday, I mentioned that PSC Chairman Colette Honorable would be moderating a panel at a coming conference in Hope on "Making Clean Coal Technology a Reality." I commented that that seemed sort of a political statement by a member of a state panel that is hearing objections to coal-fired power generation by "clean coal" -- a public relations term -- or any other coal.
She asks a correction. She says, despite what a Hope newspaper account erroneously said, she's actually moderating a panel "What to do about Greenhouse Gases."
Noted. Answer to her panel's question: Don't burn coal in power plants.
Honorable is honorable, I hasten to add. I've known her several years and think a great deal of her. But I'll repeat what I told her. I'm not sure it's a good idea for PSC commissioners to lend their high status and neutral position to elevate a public relations stunt put on by the electric power industry and the coal lobby, as this one is. If you need any more information about how balanced this session will be, see Stephens Media today for its story about how the Sierra Club was barred from participation.
Torture the timber, strip the land, dig the coal. Just don't expect me to call it perfume.
I also meant to say initially that this "conference" is a byproduct of SWEPCO's recent purchase of the UA community college branch at Hope for $1 million. No reason the Hope branch shouldn't have a corporate owner, like the UA's Walton-Tyson branch.
PS -- I'm told Ken Smith of Audubon Arkansas will be on hand to be available to anyone who might appreciate a fuller picture of coal's impact on the environment. I hope the power company lobby, which is putting on this dog-and-pony show, doesn't arrest him or move him, a la the Bush jackboots, to a Free Speech Zone over around Lake Greeson.
Relying on information in the Hope newspaper yesterday, I mentioned that PSC Chairman Colette Honorable would be moderating a panel at a coming conference in Hope on "Making Clean Coal Technology a Reality." I commented that that seemed sort of a political statement by a member of a state panel that is hearing objections to coal-fired power generation by "clean coal" -- a public relations term -- or any other coal.
She asks a correction. She says, despite what a Hope newspaper account erroneously said, she's actually moderating a panel "What to do about Greenhouse Gases."
Noted. Answer to her panel's question: Don't burn coal in power plants.
Honorable is honorable, I hasten to add. I've known her several years and think a great deal of her. But I'll repeat what I told her. I'm not sure it's a good idea for PSC commissioners to lend their high status and neutral position to elevate a public relations stunt put on by the electric power industry and the coal lobby, as this one is. If you need any more information about how balanced this session will be, see Stephens Media today for its story about how the Sierra Club was barred from participation.
Torture the timber, strip the land, dig the coal. Just don't expect me to call it perfume.
I also meant to say initially that this "conference" is a byproduct of SWEPCO's recent purchase of the UA community college branch at Hope for $1 million. No reason the Hope branch shouldn't have a corporate owner, like the UA's Walton-Tyson branch.
PS -- I'm told Ken Smith of Audubon Arkansas will be on hand to be available to anyone who might appreciate a fuller picture of coal's impact on the environment. I hope the power company lobby, which is putting on this dog-and-pony show, doesn't arrest him or move him, a la the Bush jackboots, to a Free Speech Zone over around Lake Greeson.
Environmentalists not allowed to participate in coal conference in Hope, Arkansas
Environmentalists excluded from conference on coal power
Thursday, Jul 17, 2008
By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - Environmentalists have been barred from participating in an industry-sponsored conference that will examine Arkansas' role in the development and use of clean coal technologies, a spokesman for the Sierra Club said Wednesday.
Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and U.S. Rep Mike Ross, D-Prescott, are the scheduled keynote speakers for the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference, set for today and Friday at the University of Arkansas Community College in Hope.
A news release from one of the conference's sponsors, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, says the conference will focus on "Arkansas' role in the development and deployment of advanced clean coal technologies as well as the associated environmental, economic and public policy concerns."
Glen Hooks, regional representative of the Sierra Club, said the Sierra Club and Audubon Arkansas asked to participate in the conference and provide alternative viewpoints but were told they could not.
"They said that's not what this is about, they've already got the panel set up," Hooks said. "So we were invited to attend but not necessarily to participate in the official part of the program."
There is "not really any environmental representative on the panels at all," Hooks said.
Ken Smith, executive director of Audubon Arkansas, did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.
Leah Arnold, spokeswoman for American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, said she was not aware that the Sierra Club or Audubon Arkansas had asked to participate, but she said the conference is not a forum on whether coal power should be abandoned.
"We don't think that coal should be taken out. We believe that coal is going to continue - it's going to have to continue - to be a part of Arkansas' energy mix. You can't just do away with 47 percent of (the state's) electricity like that," she said.
The conference will be held about 12 miles from the site of a planned $1.52 billion, 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant Southwestern Electric Power Co. hopes to build near Fulton. The state Public Service Commission has approved SWEPCO's plans, but the state Department of Environmental Quality is still considering whether to grant an air permit for the proposed plant.
Arnold said the conference will include discussion of technology that would allow carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants to be stored permanently underground. The technology is 10 to 15 years away from being a reality, she said.
"Clean coal" technology would not be available when the SWEPCO plant near Fulton goes into operation, but the technology could be added to it and all other power plants when it does become available, Arnold said.
Hooks said America cannot afford to produce additional millions of tons of carbon dioxide every year while waiting for clean coal technology to be developed.
"By all accounts, we're at or near the tipping point when it comes to global warming," he said.
The conference also is sponsored by the Center for Legislative Energy and Environmental Research and the Southern States Energy Board.
www.americaspower.org
www.sierraclub.org
Find this article at:
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2008/07/17/News/347061.html
\
Thursday, Jul 17, 2008
By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - Environmentalists have been barred from participating in an industry-sponsored conference that will examine Arkansas' role in the development and use of clean coal technologies, a spokesman for the Sierra Club said Wednesday.
Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and U.S. Rep Mike Ross, D-Prescott, are the scheduled keynote speakers for the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference, set for today and Friday at the University of Arkansas Community College in Hope.
A news release from one of the conference's sponsors, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, says the conference will focus on "Arkansas' role in the development and deployment of advanced clean coal technologies as well as the associated environmental, economic and public policy concerns."
Glen Hooks, regional representative of the Sierra Club, said the Sierra Club and Audubon Arkansas asked to participate in the conference and provide alternative viewpoints but were told they could not.
"They said that's not what this is about, they've already got the panel set up," Hooks said. "So we were invited to attend but not necessarily to participate in the official part of the program."
There is "not really any environmental representative on the panels at all," Hooks said.
Ken Smith, executive director of Audubon Arkansas, did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.
Leah Arnold, spokeswoman for American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, said she was not aware that the Sierra Club or Audubon Arkansas had asked to participate, but she said the conference is not a forum on whether coal power should be abandoned.
"We don't think that coal should be taken out. We believe that coal is going to continue - it's going to have to continue - to be a part of Arkansas' energy mix. You can't just do away with 47 percent of (the state's) electricity like that," she said.
The conference will be held about 12 miles from the site of a planned $1.52 billion, 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant Southwestern Electric Power Co. hopes to build near Fulton. The state Public Service Commission has approved SWEPCO's plans, but the state Department of Environmental Quality is still considering whether to grant an air permit for the proposed plant.
Arnold said the conference will include discussion of technology that would allow carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants to be stored permanently underground. The technology is 10 to 15 years away from being a reality, she said.
"Clean coal" technology would not be available when the SWEPCO plant near Fulton goes into operation, but the technology could be added to it and all other power plants when it does become available, Arnold said.
Hooks said America cannot afford to produce additional millions of tons of carbon dioxide every year while waiting for clean coal technology to be developed.
"By all accounts, we're at or near the tipping point when it comes to global warming," he said.
The conference also is sponsored by the Center for Legislative Energy and Environmental Research and the Southern States Energy Board.
www.americaspower.org
www.sierraclub.org
Find this article at:
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2008/07/17/News/347061.html
\
Sunday, July 27, 2008
EPA denying California waiver for air pollution standards tougher than federal rules
EPA denying CA waiver for air pol tougher standards
From: Frances Alexander (fran@deane-alexander.com)
Bush's Puppets
Friday 25 July 2008
by: Bill Becker, Climate Progress
EPA administrator Stephen Johnson neglects his federal oath.
Some of us had high hopes for Stephen Johnson when President Bush appointed him in March 2005 as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Johnson was not a former oil-industry lobbyist or Halliburton executive. He was a career civil servant who had been with the federal government for 24 years. He was a scientist, not a political hack, and he had served under both Democrat and Republican presidents.
I could relate, although my federal career was the reverse of Johnson's.
I started as a political appointee under President George H.W. Bush, then served the next 15 years as a careerist at the Department of Energy. During that time, I learned that there are a lot of good feds out there - people who work hard and take risks for what they believe is in the public's best interest. It requires backbone at times to resist improper political pressures and to carry out the oath of office that federal employees take, promising to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
It now appears that Johnson is not fulfilling that oath. There's new evidence that he has allowed the White House to usurp his duty to enforce one of the nation's most important environmental laws, the Clean Air Act. Under the Act, it is the Administrator of EPA, not the president, who is the decider on enforcement issues. The president does not have the legal authority to dictate what those decisions will be.
But that's not the way the game is played in this Administration. From time to time, we get a glimpse back stage to see that President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their deputies are pulling the strings in a show of raw petro-politics, the law and the contrary advice of experts notwithstanding.
One such glimpse came this week from former EPA official Jason Burnett -- an admitted and unrepentant Democrat. Burnett told Congress that Johnson allowed the White House to overrule him on California's request for a waiver under the Clean Air Act. The waiver would have allowed the state to implement its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, in excess of those set by the federal government.
The Clean Air Act specifically allows California to be more aggressive than the federal government on matters like this, so long as the Administrator grants a waiver. Once California is given the go-ahead, other states are allowed to adopt its standards. Seventeen states indicated they would adopt the California standard for vehicle emissions once Johnson signed the waiver.
Instead, Johnson denied the request in February 2008 after sitting on it for nearly three years, an unusual outcome given that EPA had approved all 50 of California's previous waiver applications over the last 40 years.
The denial was Johnson's right under the law, assuming it was his decision and was based soundly on the criteria established by the Act. But Burnett says that Johnson originally intended to grant the waiver, believing it was justified until he was overruled by the White House.
As Robert Sussman of the Center for American Progress has pointed out, this is not the first time that Johnson has pushed key environmental decisions into EPA's black hole or has overruled the recommendations of his former colleagues among the agency's scientists and professional staff. Sussman documents other decisions by Johnson that raise "disturbing questions about his ability to carry out the spirit and letter of the nation's environmental laws and his acquiescence in a White House political agenda seemingly bent on blocking the agency from taking action compelled by court decisions and long-standing Clean Air Act precedents."
The most significant of these has been EPA and White House stalling tactics on climate action since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year that the agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. To trigger the regulatory process, all Johnson has to do is to declare that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare - an obvious conclusion based both on the Court's decision and on an overwhelming body of scientific evidence.
Nevertheless, 16 months after the Supreme Court ruling, EPA announced earlier this month that it would not proceed with regulation while Bush is still in office.
But back to the California waiver: Last January, Johnson told a congressional committee under oath that "I made the decision" to deny California's request. Burnett's latest testimony indicates otherwise. When a House subcommittee asked Johnson for the real story last May, he refused to talk about his conversations with the White House, claiming executive privilege.
In case there has been any doubt, Burnett's testimony supports the case that public officials such as Johnson (along with the parade of other Administration officials who have recently declared executive privilege or acute amnesia) are merely puppets of the West Wing, even when Congress has delegated them direct responsibility to administer the law.
And in case there has been any doubt, the plot of the puppet-show was made transparent by other Administration decisions in recent days. One lifted the ban imposed by Bush's father on offshore oil production. In another, just announced, the Department of Interior released draft rules to pave the way for oil shale production on public lands in the West. Congress has placed a moratorium on final oil-shale rules, but the moratorium is scheduled to expire on Oct. 1. Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne is quoted as saying he'll move swiftly to make the rules final when the moratorium expires.
Oil shale production would be a disaster of several dimensions. It is extremely energy and water intensive, and its use would be another major setback to the goal of reducing the nation's carbon emissions. Oil shale production would divert precious water from Western cities and farms, creating another fuel-or-food problem, and sink more money and time into another questionable carbon-intensive resource that will make meaningful climate action more difficult and expensive, if not impossible.
There's no mystery here. The White House is blocking action on climate change while setting the stage for the oil industry to feed America's addiction to that carbon-intensive fuel for many years to come.
With only six months left on stage, the puppet masters are hard at work. It's a disappointment that someone like Johnson, who has made public service his career, is allowing his integrity to be destroyed by a president who shows little regard for him, the nation's long-term welfare, or the law.
--------
Bill Becker is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project, an initiative to help the next President of the United States take decisive action on global warming and energy security in his or her first 100 days in office.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THIS MATERIAL IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. TRUTHOUT HAS NO AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER WITH THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS ARTICLE NOR IS TRUTHOUT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY THE ORIGINATOR.
"VIEW SOURCE ARTICLE" LINKS ARE PROVIDED AS A CONVENIENCE TO OUR READERS AND ALLOW FOR VERIFICATION OF AUTHENTICITY. HOWEVER, AS ORIGINATING PAGES ARE OFTEN UPDATED BY THEIR ORIGINATING HOST SITES, THE VERSIONS POSTED ON TO MAY NOT MATCH THE VERSIONS OUR READERS VIEW WHEN CLICKING THE "VIEW SOURCE ARTICLE" LINKS.
\
From: Frances Alexander (fran@deane-alexander.com)
Bush's Puppets
Friday 25 July 2008
by: Bill Becker, Climate Progress
EPA administrator Stephen Johnson neglects his federal oath.
Some of us had high hopes for Stephen Johnson when President Bush appointed him in March 2005 as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Johnson was not a former oil-industry lobbyist or Halliburton executive. He was a career civil servant who had been with the federal government for 24 years. He was a scientist, not a political hack, and he had served under both Democrat and Republican presidents.
I could relate, although my federal career was the reverse of Johnson's.
I started as a political appointee under President George H.W. Bush, then served the next 15 years as a careerist at the Department of Energy. During that time, I learned that there are a lot of good feds out there - people who work hard and take risks for what they believe is in the public's best interest. It requires backbone at times to resist improper political pressures and to carry out the oath of office that federal employees take, promising to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
It now appears that Johnson is not fulfilling that oath. There's new evidence that he has allowed the White House to usurp his duty to enforce one of the nation's most important environmental laws, the Clean Air Act. Under the Act, it is the Administrator of EPA, not the president, who is the decider on enforcement issues. The president does not have the legal authority to dictate what those decisions will be.
But that's not the way the game is played in this Administration. From time to time, we get a glimpse back stage to see that President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their deputies are pulling the strings in a show of raw petro-politics, the law and the contrary advice of experts notwithstanding.
One such glimpse came this week from former EPA official Jason Burnett -- an admitted and unrepentant Democrat. Burnett told Congress that Johnson allowed the White House to overrule him on California's request for a waiver under the Clean Air Act. The waiver would have allowed the state to implement its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, in excess of those set by the federal government.
The Clean Air Act specifically allows California to be more aggressive than the federal government on matters like this, so long as the Administrator grants a waiver. Once California is given the go-ahead, other states are allowed to adopt its standards. Seventeen states indicated they would adopt the California standard for vehicle emissions once Johnson signed the waiver.
Instead, Johnson denied the request in February 2008 after sitting on it for nearly three years, an unusual outcome given that EPA had approved all 50 of California's previous waiver applications over the last 40 years.
The denial was Johnson's right under the law, assuming it was his decision and was based soundly on the criteria established by the Act. But Burnett says that Johnson originally intended to grant the waiver, believing it was justified until he was overruled by the White House.
As Robert Sussman of the Center for American Progress has pointed out, this is not the first time that Johnson has pushed key environmental decisions into EPA's black hole or has overruled the recommendations of his former colleagues among the agency's scientists and professional staff. Sussman documents other decisions by Johnson that raise "disturbing questions about his ability to carry out the spirit and letter of the nation's environmental laws and his acquiescence in a White House political agenda seemingly bent on blocking the agency from taking action compelled by court decisions and long-standing Clean Air Act precedents."
The most significant of these has been EPA and White House stalling tactics on climate action since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year that the agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. To trigger the regulatory process, all Johnson has to do is to declare that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare - an obvious conclusion based both on the Court's decision and on an overwhelming body of scientific evidence.
Nevertheless, 16 months after the Supreme Court ruling, EPA announced earlier this month that it would not proceed with regulation while Bush is still in office.
But back to the California waiver: Last January, Johnson told a congressional committee under oath that "I made the decision" to deny California's request. Burnett's latest testimony indicates otherwise. When a House subcommittee asked Johnson for the real story last May, he refused to talk about his conversations with the White House, claiming executive privilege.
In case there has been any doubt, Burnett's testimony supports the case that public officials such as Johnson (along with the parade of other Administration officials who have recently declared executive privilege or acute amnesia) are merely puppets of the West Wing, even when Congress has delegated them direct responsibility to administer the law.
And in case there has been any doubt, the plot of the puppet-show was made transparent by other Administration decisions in recent days. One lifted the ban imposed by Bush's father on offshore oil production. In another, just announced, the Department of Interior released draft rules to pave the way for oil shale production on public lands in the West. Congress has placed a moratorium on final oil-shale rules, but the moratorium is scheduled to expire on Oct. 1. Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne is quoted as saying he'll move swiftly to make the rules final when the moratorium expires.
Oil shale production would be a disaster of several dimensions. It is extremely energy and water intensive, and its use would be another major setback to the goal of reducing the nation's carbon emissions. Oil shale production would divert precious water from Western cities and farms, creating another fuel-or-food problem, and sink more money and time into another questionable carbon-intensive resource that will make meaningful climate action more difficult and expensive, if not impossible.
There's no mystery here. The White House is blocking action on climate change while setting the stage for the oil industry to feed America's addiction to that carbon-intensive fuel for many years to come.
With only six months left on stage, the puppet masters are hard at work. It's a disappointment that someone like Johnson, who has made public service his career, is allowing his integrity to be destroyed by a president who shows little regard for him, the nation's long-term welfare, or the law.
--------
Bill Becker is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project, an initiative to help the next President of the United States take decisive action on global warming and energy security in his or her first 100 days in office.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THIS MATERIAL IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. TRUTHOUT HAS NO AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER WITH THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS ARTICLE NOR IS TRUTHOUT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY THE ORIGINATOR.
"VIEW SOURCE ARTICLE" LINKS ARE PROVIDED AS A CONVENIENCE TO OUR READERS AND ALLOW FOR VERIFICATION OF AUTHENTICITY. HOWEVER, AS ORIGINATING PAGES ARE OFTEN UPDATED BY THEIR ORIGINATING HOST SITES, THE VERSIONS POSTED ON TO MAY NOT MATCH THE VERSIONS OUR READERS VIEW WHEN CLICKING THE "VIEW SOURCE ARTICLE" LINKS.
\
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Audubon Arkansas recounts coal-fired plant's history
Defend the Little River Bottoms
Charles Mills
One of Arkansas’s most Important Bird Areas, the Little River Bottoms in Hempstead County, is under fire from the proposed construction of a coal-burning power plant. An18,000 acre tract of contiguous, relatively undisturbed bottomland hardwood forest, the Little River Bottoms IBA is one of the most biologically diverse ecologically sensitive areas in Arkansas. . Containing dozens of plant and animal species of conservation concern, the Little River Bottoms IBA provides habitat for thousands of wading birds who breed there. It also shelters the state’s largest breeding populations of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Anhingas, White Ibis, Common Moorhens, and Purple Gallinules. Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) wants to build a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant literally across the street. The plant will produce 6 million tons of carbon dioxide, and also emit sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury – all of which threaten the health of both birds and humans.
In October 2007, the Arkansas Public Service Commission , after more than two weeks of hearings and expert testimony on the plant’s construction, voted 2-1 to grant a certificate of need to SWEPCO. The go ahead was given despite deficiencies in the environmental review process and the multi-state movement away from new coal-fired plants.
In early January 2008, an appeal for a rehearing by the Intervenors was denied, again by a vote of 2-1. On January 29, the Intervenors, who include members of nearby hunting clubs, filed before the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Read this article for more details. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality(ADEQ) is still considering whether to grant an air permit to SWEPCO.
On February 8 the DC Court of Appeals ruled that new coal-fired power plants are subject to Maximum Achievable Control Technology ("MACT") regulations for hazardous air pollutant emissions under section 112 of the Clean Air Act. This decision over-turns the Bush Administration's exemption for coal plants. In response, on April 9 SWEPCO submitted an application to ADEQ for a case-by-case analysis of emissions of hazardous air pollutants including, but not limited to, arsenic, benzene, cyanide, dioxins, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, mercury, phosphorous, selenium, and sulfuric acid. Unfortunately, their analysis is deficient in several ways and does not meet the standards of a MACT analysis. In addition, Audubon and Sierra Club believe the MACT analysis requires public notice and a public comment period on the draft permit. Read our letter to Teresa Marks, Director of ADEQ, explaining our concerns.
Audubon Arkansas is working on several fronts to protect the Little River Bottoms and its birds. We are conducting bird surveys to document species of conservation concern. Our bird data were incorporated into expert testimony (11.3 MB PDF) submitted to the PSC. We’ve also submitted comments to ADEQ and Governor Beebe. Working with the Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas is spearheading a grassroots movement against coal-generated electricity and greenhouse gas production in Arkansas.
On February 6, the Arkansas Coalition for Clean Energy (which includes Audubon and Sierra Club), delivered a letter and petition signed by 1,054 people asking Beebe to halt any permits for coal plants while the Global Warming Commission he appointed completes its work. The petition was the first batch and we hope to add many more signatures.
On February 8, Audubon Arkansas and Sierra Club filed two Petitions to Intervene before the Arkansas Public Service Commission. These petitions challenge the environmental compatibility and public need for the construction of two transmission lines needed to distribute power from the proposed coal-fired plant. Read the two petitions online - Petition to Intervene 1 (pdf) and, Petition to Intervene 2 (pdf).
In May, 2008, Audubon Arkansas, Sierra Club, and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a Third Party Rulemaking Petition before the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APC&E). The APC&E will hear the petition request on Friday, June 27th at 8:30 a.m. The petition requests the Commission to delete carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from a list of exempt elements and compounds not subject to regulation. The reason for this request is that we have learned in the last few years that carbon dioxide is a significant greenhouse gas and is primarily responsible for rising global temperatures. The Audubon petition does not propose limits or standards for regulating carbon dioxide. The petition merely says that carbon dioxide should be removed from the list. In a recent US Supreme Court decision, Mass vs. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant and should be subject to regulation as other known pollutants. Our filings to the Commission can be found here.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Contribute to Audubon Arkansas’ Little River Bottoms Defense Fund using a credit card, or by mailing a check payable to: Audubon Arkansas, in care of Audubon, 1423B South Main St., Little Rock, AR 72201.
Write a letter to Governor Mike Beebe asking him to make good on his promise to err on the side of the environment. You can e-mail him here or write to Governor's Office, State Capitol Rm 250, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
Sign up with AudubonAction and receive e-mailed Action Alerts and Advisories regarding environmental policy issues that directly affect you.
Visit Sierra Club's web site to learn of upcoming events and volunteer activities regarding this issue.
Reduce your personal energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more.
LEARN MORE
Read Ted Williams’s Incite article in Audubon magazine
See a list of species of conservation concern that live in the Little River Bottoms
Browse expert testimony submitted to the PSC here by entering docket number: 06-154-U
Read Audubon Arkansas’ letter to the PSC
Read Audubon Arkansas’ letter to ADEQ
Read a letter by Ken Smith, State Director, to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Now in its second century, Audubon is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in conservation.
Audubon Arkansas was founded as the 25th state office of the National Audubon Society in 2001 through a seed grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust. Audubon’s vision is a state where the love and respect for nature is a cultural legacy. Our vision is a state where communities are engaged in responsible stewardship, protecting and conserving our native environment for future generations. This leads naturally to our mission to inspire and lead Arkansans in environmental education, resource management, habitat restoration, bird conservation and enlightened advocacy.
Charles Mills
One of Arkansas’s most Important Bird Areas, the Little River Bottoms in Hempstead County, is under fire from the proposed construction of a coal-burning power plant. An18,000 acre tract of contiguous, relatively undisturbed bottomland hardwood forest, the Little River Bottoms IBA is one of the most biologically diverse ecologically sensitive areas in Arkansas. . Containing dozens of plant and animal species of conservation concern, the Little River Bottoms IBA provides habitat for thousands of wading birds who breed there. It also shelters the state’s largest breeding populations of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Anhingas, White Ibis, Common Moorhens, and Purple Gallinules. Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) wants to build a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant literally across the street. The plant will produce 6 million tons of carbon dioxide, and also emit sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury – all of which threaten the health of both birds and humans.
In October 2007, the Arkansas Public Service Commission , after more than two weeks of hearings and expert testimony on the plant’s construction, voted 2-1 to grant a certificate of need to SWEPCO. The go ahead was given despite deficiencies in the environmental review process and the multi-state movement away from new coal-fired plants.
In early January 2008, an appeal for a rehearing by the Intervenors was denied, again by a vote of 2-1. On January 29, the Intervenors, who include members of nearby hunting clubs, filed before the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Read this article for more details. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality(ADEQ) is still considering whether to grant an air permit to SWEPCO.
On February 8 the DC Court of Appeals ruled that new coal-fired power plants are subject to Maximum Achievable Control Technology ("MACT") regulations for hazardous air pollutant emissions under section 112 of the Clean Air Act. This decision over-turns the Bush Administration's exemption for coal plants. In response, on April 9 SWEPCO submitted an application to ADEQ for a case-by-case analysis of emissions of hazardous air pollutants including, but not limited to, arsenic, benzene, cyanide, dioxins, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, mercury, phosphorous, selenium, and sulfuric acid. Unfortunately, their analysis is deficient in several ways and does not meet the standards of a MACT analysis. In addition, Audubon and Sierra Club believe the MACT analysis requires public notice and a public comment period on the draft permit. Read our letter to Teresa Marks, Director of ADEQ, explaining our concerns.
Audubon Arkansas is working on several fronts to protect the Little River Bottoms and its birds. We are conducting bird surveys to document species of conservation concern. Our bird data were incorporated into expert testimony (11.3 MB PDF) submitted to the PSC. We’ve also submitted comments to ADEQ and Governor Beebe. Working with the Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas is spearheading a grassroots movement against coal-generated electricity and greenhouse gas production in Arkansas.
On February 6, the Arkansas Coalition for Clean Energy (which includes Audubon and Sierra Club), delivered a letter and petition signed by 1,054 people asking Beebe to halt any permits for coal plants while the Global Warming Commission he appointed completes its work. The petition was the first batch and we hope to add many more signatures.
On February 8, Audubon Arkansas and Sierra Club filed two Petitions to Intervene before the Arkansas Public Service Commission. These petitions challenge the environmental compatibility and public need for the construction of two transmission lines needed to distribute power from the proposed coal-fired plant. Read the two petitions online - Petition to Intervene 1 (pdf) and, Petition to Intervene 2 (pdf).
In May, 2008, Audubon Arkansas, Sierra Club, and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a Third Party Rulemaking Petition before the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APC&E). The APC&E will hear the petition request on Friday, June 27th at 8:30 a.m. The petition requests the Commission to delete carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from a list of exempt elements and compounds not subject to regulation. The reason for this request is that we have learned in the last few years that carbon dioxide is a significant greenhouse gas and is primarily responsible for rising global temperatures. The Audubon petition does not propose limits or standards for regulating carbon dioxide. The petition merely says that carbon dioxide should be removed from the list. In a recent US Supreme Court decision, Mass vs. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant and should be subject to regulation as other known pollutants. Our filings to the Commission can be found here.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Contribute to Audubon Arkansas’ Little River Bottoms Defense Fund using a credit card, or by mailing a check payable to: Audubon Arkansas, in care of Audubon, 1423B South Main St., Little Rock, AR 72201.
Write a letter to Governor Mike Beebe asking him to make good on his promise to err on the side of the environment. You can e-mail him here or write to Governor's Office, State Capitol Rm 250, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
Sign up with AudubonAction and receive e-mailed Action Alerts and Advisories regarding environmental policy issues that directly affect you.
Visit Sierra Club's web site to learn of upcoming events and volunteer activities regarding this issue.
Reduce your personal energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more.
LEARN MORE
Read Ted Williams’s Incite article in Audubon magazine
See a list of species of conservation concern that live in the Little River Bottoms
Browse expert testimony submitted to the PSC here by entering docket number: 06-154-U
Read Audubon Arkansas’ letter to the PSC
Read Audubon Arkansas’ letter to ADEQ
Read a letter by Ken Smith, State Director, to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Now in its second century, Audubon is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in conservation.
Audubon Arkansas was founded as the 25th state office of the National Audubon Society in 2001 through a seed grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust. Audubon’s vision is a state where the love and respect for nature is a cultural legacy. Our vision is a state where communities are engaged in responsible stewardship, protecting and conserving our native environment for future generations. This leads naturally to our mission to inspire and lead Arkansans in environmental education, resource management, habitat restoration, bird conservation and enlightened advocacy.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Gore lays facts of climate change on the table
Gore Calls for US to Use Renewable Energy by 2018
Friday 18 July 2008
»
by: David Stout, The New York Times
Former Vice President Al Gore introduced an ambitious plan to rely completely on clean, renewable energy within the next decade.
(Photo: Breakthrough)
Washington - Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of electric power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.
"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. "The future of human civilization is at stake."
Mr. Gore called for the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon 39 years ago this month, just eight years after President John F. Kennedy famously embraced that goal. He said the goal of producing all of the nation's electricity from "renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources" within 10 years is not some farfetched vision, although he said it would require fundamental changes in political thinking and personal expectations.
"This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative," Mr. Gore said in remarks prepared for the conference. "It represents a challenge to all Americans, in every walk of life - to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen."
Although Mr. Gore has made global warming and energy conservation his signature issues, winning a Nobel Prize for his efforts, his speech on Thursday argued that the reasons for renouncing fossil fuels go far beyond concern for the climate.
In it, he cited military-intelligence studies warning of "dangerous national security implications" tied to climate change, including the possibility of "hundreds of millions of climate refugees" causing instability around the world, and said the United States is dangerously vulnerable because of its reliance on foreign oil.
Doubtless aware that his remarks would be met with skepticism, or even ridicule, in some quarters, Mr. Gore insisted in his speech that the goal of carbon-free power is not only achievable but practical, and that businesses would embrace it once they saw that it made fundamental economic sense.
Mr. Gore said the most important policy change in the transformation would be taxes on carbon dioxide production, with an accompanying reduction in payroll taxes. "We should tax what we burn, not what we earn," his prepared remarks said.
The former vice president said in his speech that he could not recall a worse confluence of problems facing the country: higher gasoline prices, jobs being "outsourced," the home mortgage industry in turmoil. "Meanwhile, the war in Iraq continues, and now the war in Afghanistan appears to be getting worse," he said.
By calling for new political leadership and speaking disdainfully of "defenders of the status quo," Mr. Gore was hurling a dart at the man who defeated him for the presidency in 2000, George W. Bush. Critics of Mr. Bush say that his policies are too often colored by his background in the oil business.
A crucial shortcoming in the country's political leadership is a failure to view interlocking problems as basically one problem that is "deeply ironic in its simplicity," Mr. Gore said, namely "our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels."
"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet," Mr. Gore said. "Every bit of that's got to change."
And it can change, he said, citing some scientists' estimates that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth in 40 minutes to meet the world's energy needs for a year, and that the winds that blow across the Midwest every day could meet the country's daily electricity needs.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, immediately praised Mr. Gore's speech. "For decades, Al Gore has challenged the skeptics in Washington on climate change and awakened the conscience of a nation to the urgency of this threat," Mr. Obama said.
A shift away from fossil fuels would make the United States a leader instead of a sometime rebel on energy and conservation issues worldwide, Mr. Gore said. Nor, he said, would the hard work of people who toil on oil rigs and deep in the earth be for naught. "We should guarantee good jobs in the fresh air and sunshine for any coal miner displaced by impacts on the coal industry," he said by way of example. "Every single one of them."
"Of course, there are those who will tell us that this can't be done," he conceded. "But even those who reap the profits of the carbon age have to recognize the inevitability of its demise. As one OPEC oil minister observed, 'The Stone Age didn't end because of a shortage of stones.'"
Friday 18 July 2008
»
by: David Stout, The New York Times
Former Vice President Al Gore introduced an ambitious plan to rely completely on clean, renewable energy within the next decade.
(Photo: Breakthrough)
Washington - Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of electric power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.
"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. "The future of human civilization is at stake."
Mr. Gore called for the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon 39 years ago this month, just eight years after President John F. Kennedy famously embraced that goal. He said the goal of producing all of the nation's electricity from "renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources" within 10 years is not some farfetched vision, although he said it would require fundamental changes in political thinking and personal expectations.
"This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative," Mr. Gore said in remarks prepared for the conference. "It represents a challenge to all Americans, in every walk of life - to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen."
Although Mr. Gore has made global warming and energy conservation his signature issues, winning a Nobel Prize for his efforts, his speech on Thursday argued that the reasons for renouncing fossil fuels go far beyond concern for the climate.
In it, he cited military-intelligence studies warning of "dangerous national security implications" tied to climate change, including the possibility of "hundreds of millions of climate refugees" causing instability around the world, and said the United States is dangerously vulnerable because of its reliance on foreign oil.
Doubtless aware that his remarks would be met with skepticism, or even ridicule, in some quarters, Mr. Gore insisted in his speech that the goal of carbon-free power is not only achievable but practical, and that businesses would embrace it once they saw that it made fundamental economic sense.
Mr. Gore said the most important policy change in the transformation would be taxes on carbon dioxide production, with an accompanying reduction in payroll taxes. "We should tax what we burn, not what we earn," his prepared remarks said.
The former vice president said in his speech that he could not recall a worse confluence of problems facing the country: higher gasoline prices, jobs being "outsourced," the home mortgage industry in turmoil. "Meanwhile, the war in Iraq continues, and now the war in Afghanistan appears to be getting worse," he said.
By calling for new political leadership and speaking disdainfully of "defenders of the status quo," Mr. Gore was hurling a dart at the man who defeated him for the presidency in 2000, George W. Bush. Critics of Mr. Bush say that his policies are too often colored by his background in the oil business.
A crucial shortcoming in the country's political leadership is a failure to view interlocking problems as basically one problem that is "deeply ironic in its simplicity," Mr. Gore said, namely "our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels."
"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet," Mr. Gore said. "Every bit of that's got to change."
And it can change, he said, citing some scientists' estimates that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth in 40 minutes to meet the world's energy needs for a year, and that the winds that blow across the Midwest every day could meet the country's daily electricity needs.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, immediately praised Mr. Gore's speech. "For decades, Al Gore has challenged the skeptics in Washington on climate change and awakened the conscience of a nation to the urgency of this threat," Mr. Obama said.
A shift away from fossil fuels would make the United States a leader instead of a sometime rebel on energy and conservation issues worldwide, Mr. Gore said. Nor, he said, would the hard work of people who toil on oil rigs and deep in the earth be for naught. "We should guarantee good jobs in the fresh air and sunshine for any coal miner displaced by impacts on the coal industry," he said by way of example. "Every single one of them."
"Of course, there are those who will tell us that this can't be done," he conceded. "But even those who reap the profits of the carbon age have to recognize the inevitability of its demise. As one OPEC oil minister observed, 'The Stone Age didn't end because of a shortage of stones.'"
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Carbon caps newsletter by Robert McAfee of the Governor's Commission on Global Warming
Please click on image to Enlarge. To receive e-mail with complete newsletters each month, please e-mail Robert McAfee at robertmca1@aol.com.
Conference in Hope to tout virtues of clean coal for generating electric power
Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Day
Finding Clean and Innovative Solutions to Arkansas’ Energy Needs
July 17-18, 2008
University of Arkansas Community College at Hope
Hope, Arkansas:
Conference Update: Keynote Speakers Announced
Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Congressman Mike Ross have signed on to present keynotes at the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference.
Conference Update: New panel announced
Interim Arkansas Public Service Commission Chairman Colette Honorable will moderate the “What to do about Greenhouse Gasses” panel on Thursday, July 17. Panelists include Nancy Mohn from ALSTROM Power and Bekki White, Arkansas’ state geologist.
Meeting Overview:
We invite you to join ACCCE and the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope for a special conference dedicated to clean coal technologies and their potential for the state of Arkansas.
The Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference will feature keynote addresses by Congressman Mike Ross and former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, and bring together state elected officials, regulatory agencies and industry experts to discuss the latest technologies to meet Arkansas’ growing energy needs and environmental future.
Topics at the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Day include:
Greenhouse gas reduction technology development
Demonstration of clean coal technologies
Electricity costs and economic development
State “smart energy” incentives
Carbon capture and safe storage
For a complete list of topics and speakers, please see the complete agenda.
Conference Date/Time:
The conference will run Thursday, July 17 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Friday, July 18 from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A dinner program will be held Thursday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Hope Coliseum.
Location:
Conference:
The University of Arkansas Community College at Hope
Johnny Rapert Library Complex
2500 S Main
Hope, Arkansas 71801
Dinner:
Hope Coliseum
Hope, AR 71801
Attendee Registration:
Admission to the conference is free, but a limited number of seats are available. Please download the registration form and fax or email it to Jay Dauenhauer at 512-708-8699 or jay@cctft.org.
Press:
Credential media are invited to attend the conference and the reception/dinner program. An on-site press/interview room will be provided as well as access to audio/video/Internet feeds. To register, please contact Leah Arnold at 703-302-1222 or larnold@cleancoalusa.org.
Hotels:
For those attendees needing overnight accommodations, we have reserved room blocks at both the Hope Best Western and Holiday Inn Express. To receive special rates, please ask for the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference rate.
© 2008 American Coalition for Clean Coal ElectricityPrivacy Policy
News RSSBlog RSS
Finding Clean and Innovative Solutions to Arkansas’ Energy Needs
July 17-18, 2008
University of Arkansas Community College at Hope
Hope, Arkansas:
Conference Update: Keynote Speakers Announced
Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Congressman Mike Ross have signed on to present keynotes at the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference.
Conference Update: New panel announced
Interim Arkansas Public Service Commission Chairman Colette Honorable will moderate the “What to do about Greenhouse Gasses” panel on Thursday, July 17. Panelists include Nancy Mohn from ALSTROM Power and Bekki White, Arkansas’ state geologist.
Meeting Overview:
We invite you to join ACCCE and the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope for a special conference dedicated to clean coal technologies and their potential for the state of Arkansas.
The Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference will feature keynote addresses by Congressman Mike Ross and former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, and bring together state elected officials, regulatory agencies and industry experts to discuss the latest technologies to meet Arkansas’ growing energy needs and environmental future.
Topics at the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Day include:
Greenhouse gas reduction technology development
Demonstration of clean coal technologies
Electricity costs and economic development
State “smart energy” incentives
Carbon capture and safe storage
For a complete list of topics and speakers, please see the complete agenda.
Conference Date/Time:
The conference will run Thursday, July 17 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Friday, July 18 from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A dinner program will be held Thursday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Hope Coliseum.
Location:
Conference:
The University of Arkansas Community College at Hope
Johnny Rapert Library Complex
2500 S Main
Hope, Arkansas 71801
Dinner:
Hope Coliseum
Hope, AR 71801
Attendee Registration:
Admission to the conference is free, but a limited number of seats are available. Please download the registration form and fax or email it to Jay Dauenhauer at 512-708-8699 or jay@cctft.org.
Press:
Credential media are invited to attend the conference and the reception/dinner program. An on-site press/interview room will be provided as well as access to audio/video/Internet feeds. To register, please contact Leah Arnold at 703-302-1222 or larnold@cleancoalusa.org.
Hotels:
For those attendees needing overnight accommodations, we have reserved room blocks at both the Hope Best Western and Holiday Inn Express. To receive special rates, please ask for the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference rate.
© 2008 American Coalition for Clean Coal ElectricityPrivacy Policy
News RSSBlog RSS
Clean Coal a joke and not even being considered for proposed plant in Arkansas
Monday, July 07, 2008
Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference Touts Experts in Energy, Economics and Government
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Comtex
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ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Conference Programming Includes Keynotes and Presentations focused on Clean Coal Technologies, Energy Cost Concerns, Energy Security and the Environment
A full slate of expert speakers highlights the agenda of the upcoming Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference in Hope, Arkansas. The conference details Arkansas' role in the development and deployment of advanced clean coal technologies as well as the associated environmental, economic and public policy concerns. The event runs July 17 -18, 2008.
The Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference features two high-profile keynoters, Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR). Gephardt takes the stage on Thursday evening, July 17, to discuss national energy security issues. Rep. Ross leads off Friday morning with a presentation on federal initiatives in support of clean coal technology and the opportunities available for Arkansas.
Day one of the conference revolves around coal as a fuel for the future with emphasis on advanced coal generation, technology development, emissions reductions, carbon capture and storage and Arkansas energy resources. Thursday presenters include Stu Dalton from the Electric Power Research Institute; Monty Jasper from American Electric Power; Dr. Claude Baker from Southern Arkansas University's Lignite Research Institute; Nick Harbilas from Siemens Power Generation Inc.; and Frank McMullen from Union Pacific Railroad.
Thursday's program also features a panel titled "What to do about Greenhouse Gasses" moderated by Colette Honorable, interim chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Panelists are Nancy Mohn from Alstom Power and Bekki White, Arkansas' state geologist.
On Friday morning, following the keynote by Rep. Ross and his introduction by State Senator Barbara Horn, the program takes aim at the economics of coal-based electricity generation and new energy opportunities in the south. Friday speakers include Morry Davis from Peabody Energy and the American Association of Blacks in Energy; Jeff Sanford from the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce; Nick Brown from the Southwest Power Pool; Ken Nemeth from the Southern States Energy Board; Mike Smith from the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission; and Arkansas State Rep. Bubba Powers.
Two panels on Friday focus on the public policy efforts elements essential to preserving the reliability, affordability and security of Arkansas' energy future. First, Sandy Hochstetter from the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. leads a discussion with Commissioner David Ziegner from the Indiana Utility Regulatory on making clean coal technology a reality. Immediately following, Arkansas State Rep. Nathan George moderates a panel on the challenges of clean coal policy featuring fellow state legislators Rep. Carl Holmes from Kansas; Sen. David Myers from Oklahoma; and Rep. Rick Hardcastle from Texas.
Sponsored by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), the Center for Legislative Energy and Environmental Research (CLEER) and the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference will take place on the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope in the Johnny Rapert Library Conference.
For more details, including registration information and a full agenda, please visit www.ArkansasPower.org.
About ACCCE
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is a non-profit, non-partisan partnership of companies involved in producing electricity from coal. Because coal is America's most abundant energy resource, ACCCE supports energy policies that balance coal's vital role in meeting our country's growing need for affordable and reliable electricity with the need to protect the environment. ACCCE also advocates for the development and deployment of advanced clean coal technologies that will produce electricity with near-zero emissions. Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, ACCCE can be found on the Web at www.cleancoalusa.org or www.americaspower.org.
SOURCE American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
http://www.americaspower.org
Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference Touts Experts in Energy, Economics and Government
Rated by 1 person
Rate This
Recommend
Email this Story | Respond to Editor | Print
Comtex
Digg It StumbleUpon Newsvine Reddit
ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Conference Programming Includes Keynotes and Presentations focused on Clean Coal Technologies, Energy Cost Concerns, Energy Security and the Environment
A full slate of expert speakers highlights the agenda of the upcoming Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference in Hope, Arkansas. The conference details Arkansas' role in the development and deployment of advanced clean coal technologies as well as the associated environmental, economic and public policy concerns. The event runs July 17 -18, 2008.
The Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference features two high-profile keynoters, Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR). Gephardt takes the stage on Thursday evening, July 17, to discuss national energy security issues. Rep. Ross leads off Friday morning with a presentation on federal initiatives in support of clean coal technology and the opportunities available for Arkansas.
Day one of the conference revolves around coal as a fuel for the future with emphasis on advanced coal generation, technology development, emissions reductions, carbon capture and storage and Arkansas energy resources. Thursday presenters include Stu Dalton from the Electric Power Research Institute; Monty Jasper from American Electric Power; Dr. Claude Baker from Southern Arkansas University's Lignite Research Institute; Nick Harbilas from Siemens Power Generation Inc.; and Frank McMullen from Union Pacific Railroad.
Thursday's program also features a panel titled "What to do about Greenhouse Gasses" moderated by Colette Honorable, interim chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Panelists are Nancy Mohn from Alstom Power and Bekki White, Arkansas' state geologist.
On Friday morning, following the keynote by Rep. Ross and his introduction by State Senator Barbara Horn, the program takes aim at the economics of coal-based electricity generation and new energy opportunities in the south. Friday speakers include Morry Davis from Peabody Energy and the American Association of Blacks in Energy; Jeff Sanford from the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce; Nick Brown from the Southwest Power Pool; Ken Nemeth from the Southern States Energy Board; Mike Smith from the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission; and Arkansas State Rep. Bubba Powers.
Two panels on Friday focus on the public policy efforts elements essential to preserving the reliability, affordability and security of Arkansas' energy future. First, Sandy Hochstetter from the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. leads a discussion with Commissioner David Ziegner from the Indiana Utility Regulatory on making clean coal technology a reality. Immediately following, Arkansas State Rep. Nathan George moderates a panel on the challenges of clean coal policy featuring fellow state legislators Rep. Carl Holmes from Kansas; Sen. David Myers from Oklahoma; and Rep. Rick Hardcastle from Texas.
Sponsored by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), the Center for Legislative Energy and Environmental Research (CLEER) and the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), the Arkansas Clean Coal Technology Conference will take place on the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope in the Johnny Rapert Library Conference.
For more details, including registration information and a full agenda, please visit www.ArkansasPower.org.
About ACCCE
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is a non-profit, non-partisan partnership of companies involved in producing electricity from coal. Because coal is America's most abundant energy resource, ACCCE supports energy policies that balance coal's vital role in meeting our country's growing need for affordable and reliable electricity with the need to protect the environment. ACCCE also advocates for the development and deployment of advanced clean coal technologies that will produce electricity with near-zero emissions. Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, ACCCE can be found on the Web at www.cleancoalusa.org or www.americaspower.org.
SOURCE American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
http://www.americaspower.org
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