August 13, 2008-By Patrick Barry in Science News. A new study shows that burying carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants could increase other pollutants. Politicians, utilities and coal companies do not want to address this profound issue since they know it will be a deal killer for future coal.
As pollution bad guys go, carbon dioxide may be the media darling, but trying to capture it and lock it away could allow other repeat offenders to go free.
Power plant emissions that cause acid rain, water pollution and destruction of the ozone layer may actually be made worse by capturing the CO2 and pumping it deep underground, a new study reported online and in an upcoming International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control suggests.
This increase of other emissions is largely because collecting and burying CO2 — a process called carbon sequestration — requires additional energy, new equipment and new chemical reactions at the plants. And using current technology, meeting all of these requirements releases extra pollutants.
“Other studies mostly just look at one aspect, the carbon capture,” says study coauthor Joris Koornneef, an environmental scientist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “This is a first step in trying to quantify the [environmental] trade-offs.”
Captured CO2 must be compressed to about 100 times atmospheric pressure (which takes energy), transported to a suitable underground reservoir (which takes energy) and pumped into the ground (which takes energy). A coal-fired power plant that sequesters its CO2 must burn about 30 percent more coal than conventional plants to cover these energy needs. And that extra coal must first be mined (which has environmental effects) and transported to the plant (which takes fuel) — the list goes on and on. (MORE) Go to Original
McCain too busy touting nukes to support solar and wind power
August 13, 2008-by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. Congress is eager to lavish subsidies on their friends in the coal and nuclear energy fields to the tune of billions but Congress diddles and frets on expanding minor assistance through production tax credits on emerging solar and wind investment.
John McCain recently tried to underscore his seriousness about pushing through a new energy policy, with a strong focus on more drilling for oil, by telling a motorcycle convention that Congress needed to come back from vacation immediately and do something about America’s energy crisis. “Tell them to come back and get to work!” McCain bellowed.
Sorry, but I can’t let that one go by. McCain knows why.
It was only five days earlier, on July 30, that the Senate was voting for the eighth time in the past year on a broad, vitally important bill — S. 3335 — that would have extended the investment tax credits for installing solar energy and the production tax credits for building wind turbines and other energy-efficiency systems.
Both the wind and solar industries depend on these credits — which expire in December — to scale their businesses and become competitive with coal, oil and natural gas. Unlike offshore drilling, these credits could have an immediate impact on America’s energy profile.
Senator McCain did not show up for the crucial vote on July 30, and the renewable energy bill was defeated for the eighth time. In fact, John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year — which effectively counts as a no vote each time. Once, he was even in the Senate and wouldn’t leave his office to vote.
“McCain did not show up on any votes,” said Scott Sklar, president of The Stella Group, which tracks clean-technology legislation. Despite that, McCain’s campaign commercial running during the Olympics shows a bunch of spinning wind turbines — the very wind turbines that he would not cast a vote to subsidize, even though he supports big subsidies for nuclear power.
Barack Obama did not vote on July 30 either — which is equally inexcusable in my book — but he did vote on three previous occasions in favor of the solar and wind credits. (MORE) Go to Original
Hog manure spill kills "all the fish" in section of Little Mississinewa River
August 8, 2008-by Joy Leiker, The Muncie Star Press. Ed. Note. When Valley Watch president john Blair sat down with IDEM Commissioner, Tom Easterly and his deputy, Scot Nally shortly after they took office, Blair asked them, "What is it you see in the future?" Nally quipped, CAFOs and power plants." They have been true to their words as both industrial farming and industrial power are now Hoosier legacies.
UNION CITY -- A minimum of 10,000 fish have died, and that number could quadruple in the coming days as the Indiana Department of Natural Resources counts dead fish in the Little Mississinewa River after a hog manure spill.
As of Thursday afternoon, Rick Garringer, the DNR Conservation Officer for Randolph County, estimated 10,000-20,000 fish had died, and the total "could easily be twice that."
"It's killing all the fish," Garringer said, noting the number would be higher if the river's water was deeper and more heavily populated.
The dead fish span about seven miles, while the pollutants in the river extend up to nine miles, and include areas both north and south of Union City, as well as through Harter Park, the city's largest park.
Garringer said most of the dead fish are small, like minnows, but conservation officers also have counted catfish, bluegill and bass.
Rita Mangas estimates there are thousands of dead fish along the banks and in the river that crosses her family's property on Randolph County Road 500-N. Unaware that the DNR and Indiana Department of Environmental Management had been called to a hog manure spill several miles south of their home, Leon Mangas on Wednesday noticed fish trying to stand in the river's water and gasp for air. Hours later, the Mangas' son Rod noticed all the fish were dead.
"There's a pile and it stinks," Rita Mangas said. "If it's in our streams, what about our wells?"
Last weekend, Stateline Agri Inc. (also known as Stateline Farms and Kremer Family Farms) applied 27,000 gallons of hog manure to a field about a mile south of Ind. 32. Heavy rains Monday washed that manure off the field and into a drainage tile into the river, said IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock. (MORE) Go to Original
Is Your Organic Food Really Organic?
August 7, 2008- By Jill Richardson in Alternet. Imported foods found with unacceptable pesticide levels have drawn attention to the USDA's shoddy certification process. For an American looking for high-quality organics, the number one way to ensure that's what you're getting is to buy directly from the farmer.
When you buy food with a "USDA organic" label, do you know what you're getting? Now is a good time to ask such a question, as the USDA just announced Monday it was putting 15 out of 30 federally accredited organic certifiers they audited on probation, allowing them 12 months to make corrections or lose their accreditation. At the heart of the audit for several certifiers were imported foods and ingredients from other countries, including China.
Chinese imports have had a bad year in the news, making headlines for contaminated pet food, toxic toys, and recently, certified organic ginger contaminated with levels of a pesticide called aldicarb that can cause nausea, headaches and blurred vision even at low levels. The ginger, sold under the 365 label at Whole Foods Market, contained a level of aldicarb not even permissible for conventional ginger, let alone organics. Whole Foods immediately pulled the product from its shelves.
Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association, emphasizes that most organic farmers "play by the rules." They believe in organic principles and thereby comply with organic standards. Unfortunately, Congress' pitifully inadequate funding for enforcement, including for organic imports from countries like China, "guarantees it'll be easy for unscrupulous players to cheat, and that's obviously what's going on here."
Farms that produce USDA-certified organic food are not personally inspected by anyone from the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). As a small and underfunded agency within the USDA (it has fewer than a dozen employees), NOP relies on what it calls Accredited Certifying Agencies -- ACAs -- to do the legwork. The ACAs take responsibility for ensuring that any farm or processor bearing the organic label meets the strict requirements for certification. (MORE)
Hiroshima marks bomb anniversary with hope for US change
August 6, 2008. They stood up and offered silent prayers at 8:15 am, the exact moment in 1945 when a single US bomb instantly killed more than 140,000 people and fatally injured tens of thousands of others with radiation or horrific burns. Photo of doves released during the ceremony in Hiroshima earlier today - AFP
The mayor of Hiroshima on Wednesday urged the next US president to work to abolish atomic weapons as the city marked the 63rd anniversary of the world's first nuclear attack. Some 45,000 people, including Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, gathered at a memorial to the dead within sight of the A-bomb dome, a former exhibition hall burned to a skeleton by the bomb's incinerating heat.
Delivering a speech at the memorial, Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba noted the United States was one of only three countries which oppose a UN resolution submitted by Japan calling for the abolition of nuclear arms. "We can only hope that the president of the United States elected this November will listen conscientiously to the majority, for whom the top priority is human survival," he said. Akiba said the effects of the atomic bombing on the minds of survivors had been underestimated for decades, adding that "the voices, faces and forms that vanished in the hell" had never left the hearts of survivors. (MORE)
August 4, 2008-Advice from University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Based on Advice from an International Expert Panel on the use of cell phones yielded ten infromed suggestions cell phone users should heed. Illustration UP Cancer Institute.
Electromagnetic fields generated by cell phones should be considered a potential human health risk. Sufficient time has not elapsed in order for us to have conclusive data on the biological effects of cell phones and other cordless phones — a technology that is now universal.
Studies in humans do not indicate that cell phones are safe, nor do they yet clearly show that they are dangerous. But, growing evidence indicates that we should reduce exposures, while research continues on this important question.
Manufacturers report that cell and wireless phones emit electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic fields are likely to penetrate the brain more deeply for children than for adults. Modeling in the diagram below estimates that young children are more susceptible to electromagnetic fields due to smaller sized brains and softer brain tissue.
1) Electromagnetic fields from cell phones are estimated to penetrate the brain especially in children. (Figure 1.)
2) Living tissue is vulnerable to electromagnetic fields within the frequency bands used by cell phones (from 800 to 2200 MHz) even below the threshold of power imposed by most safety standards ( 1.6 W/Kg for 1g of tissue), notably an increase in the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and an increased synthesis of stress proteins.
TEN PRECAUTIONS
Given the absence of definitive proof in humans of the carcinogenic effects of electromagnetic fields of cell phones, we cannot speak about the necessity of preventative measures (as for tobacco or asbestos). In anticipation of more definitive data covering prolonged periods of observation, the existing data press us to share important prudent and simple measures of precaution for cell phone users, as have been variously suggested by several national and international reports.
These measures are also likely to be important for people who are already suffering from cancer and who must avoid any external influence that may contribute to disease progression.
1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields. 2. While communicating using your cell phone, try to keep the cell phone away from the body as much as possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic field is one fourth the strength at a distance of two inches and fifty times lower at three feet. Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a wireless Bluetooth headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal cell phone. Use of a headset attachment may also reduce exposure. 3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields. 4. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put it on “flight” or “off-line” mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions. 5. If you must carry your cell phone on you, it is preferable that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside of your body. Depending on the thickness of the phone this may provide a minimal reduction of exposure. 6. Only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes as the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure. For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones. 7. Switch sides regularly while communicating on your cell phone to spread out your exposure. Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait until your correspondent has picked up. This limits the power of the electromagnetic field emitted near your ear and the duration of your exposure. 8. Avoid using your cell phone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, as this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna. 9. When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the proximity to the body. 10. Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for “sar ratings cell phones” on the internet. (MORE)
'Major Discovery' Primed To Unleash Solar Revolution
August 1, 2008-Science Daily. Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world's energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year.
In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.
Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today's announcement, MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.
Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. "This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon."
Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night. (MORE) Go to Original
Can this Planet Be Saved? - Paul Krugman
August 1, 2008-by Paul Krugman in the New York Times. A McCain campaign ad says that gas prices are high right now because “some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America.” That’s just plain dishonest.
Recently the Web site The Politico asked Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, why she was blocking attempts to tack offshore drilling amendments onto appropriations bills. “I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” she replied.
I’m glad to hear it. But I’m still worried about the planet’s prospects.
True, Ms. Pelosi’s remark was a happy reminder that environmental policy is no longer in the hands of crazy people. Remember, less than two years ago Senator James Inhofe — a conspiracy theorist who insists that global warming is a “gigantic hoax” perpetrated by the scientific community — was the chairman of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee.
Beyond that, Ms. Pelosi’s response shows that she understands the deeper issues behind the current energy debate.
Most criticism of John McCain’s decision to follow the Bush administration’s lead and embrace offshore drilling as the answer to high gas prices has focused on the accusation that it’s junk economics — which it is.
A McCain campaign ad says that gas prices are high right now because “some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America.” That’s just plain dishonest: the U.S. government’s own Energy Information Administration says that removing restrictions on offshore drilling wouldn’t lead to any additional domestic oil production until 2017, and that even at its peak the extra production would have an “insignificant” impact on oil prices.
What’s even more important than Mr. McCain’s bad economics, however, is what his reversal on this issue — he was against offshore drilling before he was for it — says about his priorities.
Back when he was cultivating a maverick image, Mr. McCain portrayed himself as more environmentally aware than the rest of his party. He even co-sponsored a bill calling for a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions (although his remarks on several recent occasions suggest that he doesn’t understand his own proposal). But the lure of a bit of political gain, it turns out, was all it took to transform him back into a standard drill-and-burn Republican.
And the planet can’t afford that kind of cynicism.
In themselves, limits on offshore drilling are only a modest-sized issue. But the skirmish over drilling is the opening stage of a much bigger fight over environmental policy. What’s at stake in that fight, above all, is the question of whether we’ll take action against climate change before it’s utterly too late.
It’s true that scientists don’t know exactly how much world temperatures will rise if we persist with business as usual. But that uncertainty is actually what makes action so urgent. While there’s a chance that we’ll act against global warming only to find that the danger was overstated, there’s also a chance that we’ll fail to act only to find that the results of inaction were catastrophic. Which risk would you rather run?
Martin Weitzman, a Harvard economist who has been driving much of the recent high-level debate, offers some sobering numbers. Surveying a wide range of climate models, he argues that, over all, they suggest about a 5 percent chance that world temperatures will eventually rise by more than 10 degrees Celsius (that is, world temperatures will rise by 18 degrees Fahrenheit). As Mr. Weitzman points out, that’s enough to “effectively destroy planet Earth as we know it.” It’s sheer irresponsibility not to do whatever we can to eliminate that threat.
Now for the bad news: sheer irresponsibility may be a winning political strategy.
Mr. McCain’s claim that opponents of offshore drilling are responsible for high gas prices is ridiculous — and to their credit, major news organizations have pointed this out. Yet Mr. McCain’s gambit seems nonetheless to be working: public support for ending restrictions on drilling has risen sharply, with roughly half of voters saying that increased offshore drilling would reduce gas prices within a year.
Hence my concern: if a completely bogus claim that environmental protection is raising energy prices can get this much political traction, what are the chances of getting serious action against global warming? After all, a cap-and-trade system would in effect be a tax on carbon (though Mr. McCain apparently doesn’t know that), and really would raise energy prices.
The only way we’re going to get action, I’d suggest, is if those who stand in the way of action come to be perceived as not just wrong but immoral. Incidentally, that’s why I was disappointed with Barack Obama’s response to Mr. McCain’s energy posturing — that it was “the same old politics.” Mr. Obama was dismissive when he should have been outraged.
So as I said, I’m very glad to know that Nancy Pelosi is trying to save the planet. I just wish I had more confidence that she’s going to succeed.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company Go to Original
The fight over the climate bill underscores the biggest obstacle to ending America's self-destructive addiction to fossil fuels. Despite record profits, the oil industry knows the end is near and is madly diversifying into wind, solar and other energy sources. The auto industry, which has long opposed solutions to global warming, is so weakened by sinking profits and its shortsighted bet on SUVs that it's hardly a factor in the debate anymore. But coal knows that global warming represents the end of an era: There is simply no cost-effective way to burn coal without cooking the planet. The industry is currently blanketing the nation with ads for "clean coal," hoping to dupe consumers into thinking that coal is a 21st-century fuel, but it's all PR bullshit. At the moment, there is only one carbon-containment strategy that works for Big Coal: delay, delay, delay.
No one has been clearer about the urgency of getting the country off coal than James Hansen, the NASA climatologist widely respected as the godfather of modern climate science. At a recent briefing on Capitol Hill, Hansen touched off a political firestorm by arguing that the CEOs of leading coal companies like Peabody Energy are knowingly trashing the atmosphere to fatten the bottom line. "In my opinion," Hansen declared, "these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature." (MORE) Go to Original
KY Appeals Court hears Thoroughbred Appeal
July 30, 2008-y Andy Mead in the Lexington Herald Leader. Ed. Note: Valley Watch has been a leader and litigant in the fight against this power plant for more than seven years. On Tuesday, Peabody Energy appealed to a three judge panel to overturn a Circuit Court decision to send the permit back to Kentucky's Division of Air for updating and further review.
CYNTHIANA — After years of legal arguments, the cases for and against a huge proposed coal-burning power plant near Mammoth Cave was boiled down into an hour Tuesday.
The issue before the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which met in Cynthiana, was this: Did Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate make the right decision last year when he threw out a state air permit for the plant, saying it didn't do enough to protect the environment?
No matter what the three-judge panel decides, one of the state's longest-running environmental fights is not likely to end soon.
“This has become a career,” joked Diana Andrews, the assistant director of the state Division for Air Quality.
Peabody Energy's $2.5 billion, 1,500 kilowatt Thoroughbred plant in Muhlenberg County was proposed in 2001, but had been hung up by legal challenges.
The National Park Service initially said the plant would increase pollution at Mammoth Cave National Park, harming plants and animals there. The agency reversed itself after Bush administration officials got involved.
The state granted an air permit in 2002.
The Sierra Club (and Valley Watch and several individuals) objected. In 2005, after months of testimony, a hearing officer said the permit needed more review of pollution-control technology and a better analysis of environmental impacts.
In 2006, then-Natural Resources Secretary Lajuana Wilcher made a few changes to the permit and reapproved it.
But Wingate agreed with the Sierra Club that the permit still allowed the plant to use outdated technology.
“Rather than follow the law, the Franklin Circuit Court substituted its own judgment,” said Robin Thomerson, who represented the state, told the appeals court Tuesday.
Sanjay Narayan, an attorney for the Sierra Club, argued that less-polluting technologies were commercially available, but ignored by Peabody and the state regulators.
Appeals Court Judge Denise Clayton of Louisville said the three judges hearing the case probably had not read all 34 boxes of evidence, but they peppered the attorneys with questions. A decision should come in about a month, Clayton said.
Peabody spokesman Vic Svec said after the hearing that his company still wants to build the plant.
“We think the need for new generation in the U.S. is becoming more clear every day The cupboard is almost bare,” he said.
If Peabody prevails in court, it will be able to use the permit granted six years ago, said John Lyons, the director of the Division for Air Quality.
The pollution controls called for in the permit still are the best available technology for the kind of pulverized coal boiler Peabody wants to build, he said. Andrews, his assistant, characterized a newer, cleaner technology called integrated gasification combined cycle, as “hugely expensive.”
But Hank Graddy, a Midway lawyer who represents the Sierra Club, said the state is required to consider such new technologies before granting a permit.
Even if Peabody wins in court, its permit will still face other legal challenges, he said.
“I don't believe they will be able to build with the permit they currently have,” he said. Go to Original
RFK, Jr. talks about coal on the Ohio River
July 28, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Robert F. Kennedy (R) speaks with Valley Watch president John Blair (L) at the Forecastle Festival last weekend in Louisville, KY. Kennedy, author of "Crimes Against Nature," a book indicting the Bush Administration for its anti-health and environmental attitude spoke out about numerous issues.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the founder of Riverkeeper,org a group that has fought for years to clean up the Hudson River in New York. Riverkeeper has also spawned operatives across the US to monitor and report on threats to rivers throughout the nation.
He came to the Forecastle Festival in Louisville this weekend to deliver an inspirational speech that included a ten minute section on coal fired power plants in the lower Ohio Valley.
Mr. Kennedy acts as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for Riverkeeper. He also serves as Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and as President of the Waterkeeper Alliance. At Pace University School of Law, he is a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic in White Plains, New York. Earlier in his career Mr. Kennedy served as Assistant District Attorney in New York City.
Forecastle Festival is a three day festival in Louisville that is billed as a convergence of Music, Art and Activism. Valley Watch has participated in the festival the last two years. Learn More about Riverkeeper
Barge collision results in 80 mile oil slick on lower Mississippi River
July 24, 2008-by Chris Kirkham and Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Times-Picayune. Coast Guard spokesman Stephen Lehmann in New Orleans said the tugboat operator had only an apprentice mate's license, and no one else on the vessel had a license to operate the boat on the river. To pilot a tugboat, the operator should have had a master's license, Lehmann said.
Crews continued to work overnight Wednesday to corral a huge oil spill on the Mississippi River that now stretches more than 80 miles below New Orleans and threatens the fragile delta ecosystem. Government officials, meanwhile, are scrambling to bolster water supplies downriver from the spill and some anticipate possibly having to truck in water.
More than 400,000 gallons of thick industrial fuel oil spilled just upriver from the Crescent City Connection in the collision early Wednesday morning between a tanker and a barge being pulled by a tugboat. The oil spill, the largest on the Mississippi River in the New Orleans area in nearly a decade, halted shipping traffic on one of the nation's busiest waterways.
Coast Guard video: Oil Spill along the Mississippi river
The Coast Guard, which is investigating the incident, has released few details, but confirmed that none of the tugboat's crew had the proper licenses to operate on the river. Neither the tug operator's name nor the name of the river pilot aboard the tanker has been released.
In addition to the Coast Guard, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark V. Rosenker and a six-person team of safety investigators arrived in New Orleans late Wednesday to investigate the collision.
Ships barred from river
A wide swath of the river, stretching from Uptown New Orleans to Tiger Pass in Plaquemines Parish, is off limits and likely to remain so for days. Ships are being told not enter the mouth of the river at Southwest Pass unless they have business south of closed area, the Coast Guard said, and dozens of ships have been stalled upriver.
"I would think in terms of days as far as opening the river, and weeks as far as cleanup, " said Coast Guard Capt. Lincoln Stroh of the Port of New Orleans.
As of late Wednesday, barrels inside the barge were still leaking the thick No. 6 fuel into the river. (MORE) Go To Original
Double the number of farmers instead of doubling the number of pigs
July 24, 2008-by Thomas P. Healy in NUVO. “We like to brag about our free enterprise market economy in this country, but we’re moving toward a situation where we basically have no markets left in agriculture until you get to the supermarket for food...”
Gov. Mitch Daniels took office with a plan to spur economic development for rural Hoosiers by doubling pork production in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). John Ikerd, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources respectfully disagrees.
“You’d have a far greater economic impact on the state by doubling the number of farmers than doubling the number of pigs,” he said recently by phone from his Missouri home.
“From a purely economic standpoint, you have a lot more economic benefit when you can provide an opportunity for people to make a living rather than simply producing more of a product,” he said. “Doubling the number of pigs will have very little positive impact because you’ll degrade the rural environment and destroy rural communities.” (MORE) Go To Original
Indiana has wind but too much hot air in the legislature
July 23, 2008-by Gitte Laasby in the Post Tribune. "The big distinction between Indiana and other states is who gets covered and how much gets qualified. If you're a school, you could put up a 10-kilowatt-hour unit and get net metering incentives. In Illinois, it's 2,000 kilowatts," said Jesse Kharbanda, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. Photo of Benton County Wind Farm by Alice Wernicki.
e other states approved renewable energy standards to spur investment and minimize greenhouse gas emissions, Indiana legislators and stakeholders quarreled over a 10-percent standard this session. The proposal died in the Commerce, Energy and Utilities committee.
Indiana provides a property tax advantage for investors in renewable energy, but renewable energy supporters say a bigger push would come from implementing a renewable energy standard, which requires a state's utility companies to get a certain proportion of their energy from renewable sources. About 25 states have already passed such standards, including Wisconsin (10 percent by 2015), Illinois and Minnesota (25 percent by 2025).
Little incentive for wind power initiatives
If Indiana had more wind power, more workers would have jobs, Northwest Indiana would have cleaner air and customers would pay lower utility bills. But Indiana’s laws and regulations are a hurdle for investment in wind energy in the state, according to renewable energy backers.
They say the state’s lack of a renewable energy standard and the lack of opportunities to profit by selling back power to utility companies provides very little incentive for investment.
Utility companies and lawmakers are skeptical. They worry customers will see higher bills and less reliable electricity if utility companies were required to get a certain portion of their energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind power. They also want gasified coal to be considered a renewable source.
“I think part of (the problem) is, we don’t have as favorable a legislative policy as other states do,” said Jesse Kharbanda, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. “Indiana is the only Midwest state that doesn’t have a strong policy to push renewable energy development.”
Indiana provides a property tax advantage for investors in renewable energy, but Kharbanda said a bigger push would come from implementing a renewable energy standard, which requires a state’s utility companies to get a certain proportion of their energy from renewable sources. About 25 states have already passed such standards, including Wisconsin (10 percent by 2015), Illinois and Minnesota (25 percent by 2025). (MORE)
July 21, 2008-By Amory Lovins, Chairman, Rocky Mountain Institute. Energy efficiency can save trillions in national costs, but its side benefits are often even more valuable: 6% to 16% higher labor productivity in efficient offices, 20% to 26% faster learning in well-day-lit schools, 40% higher sales in well-day-lit shops, faster healing in efficient hospitals.
Using smarter technologies, more brains and less money to wring more work from less delivered energy--what energy experts call "end-use efficiency"--is the largest, cheapest, safest, cleanest, fastest, most diverse, least visible, least understood and most neglected way to provide energy services.
How big is it? The 46% drop in U.S. energy intensity, a measure of energy consumption per dollar of real gross domestic product, during 1975-2005 represented, by 2005, the equivalent of a new energy "source." This source was slightly larger than annual total European energy use, 2.1 times the size of U.S. oil consumption, 3.4 times bigger than U.S. net oil imports, six times domestic oil output or net oil imports from OPEC countries and 13 times net imports from Persian Gulf countries.
But because these savings came not from giant plants but in zillions of tiny pieces imperceptible to the untrained eye, energy efficiency gets little respect. It's ironic, given that rising energy prices automatically make efficiency gains more valuable, and cheaper to attain. And we've barely scratched the surface. Fully exploiting wherever practical the best available efficiency techniques throughout the U.S. economy could save half our oil and gas use, and three-fourths of our electricity, at about an eighth of their current price. Innovative designs, technologies, policies and marketing methods are increasing that potential faster than we are using it up.
The three big efficiency stories--oil, gas and electricity--are all remarkable. As detailed in a Pentagon-co-sponsored 2004 study titled "Winning the Oil Endgame," half of U.S. oil can be saved for the equivalent of $12 a barrel, mainly by tripling the efficiency of cars, trucks and planes--without sacrificing consumer-pleasing design.
Fantasy? Not really. Already, Boeing is beating Airbus with the 787 Dreamliner--a plane that's 20% more efficient than rivals but costs about the same. Wal-Mart, nearly done boosting its trucks' efficiency by 25%, is set to make billions more by doubling their efficiency by 2015. And the hottest strategic trend in automaking--led by Ford Motor, Nissan and China--is making lighter, safer and more fuel-efficient cars.
Another example: natural gas. Half its use can be saved at an eighth of its price, two-thirds indirectly. At times of peak demand, electricity is made largely from natural gas in turbines so inefficient that saving 1% of U.S. electricity, including peak hours, saves 2% of total natural gas use and cuts its price 3% to 4%. This saving is more than paid for by the value of the saved generating capacity, so the net cost of saving the gas itself is less than zero...
Energy efficiency can save trillions in national costs, but its side benefits are often even more valuable: 6% to 16% higher labor productivity in efficient offices, 20% to 26% faster learning in well-day-lit schools, 40% higher sales in well-day-lit shops, faster healing in efficient hospitals. When you count these kinds of side benefits, you double the cost-effective energy savings in a typical steel mill.
Yet the efficiency cornucopia is the manual model: You have to turn the crank. Like any worthy management goal, saving energy requires leadership, learning, metrics, alignment, relentless patience and meticulous attention to detail. There are scores of real obstacles to be overcome. But in any business struggling for energy and capital, energy efficiency is often the highest-return, lowest-risk investment available, limited less by technology or economics than by culture and imagination. (MORE) Go To Original
“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 his remarks at 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. (MORE)
Evansville recorded highest ozone levels in the state on Wednesday
July 17, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch,net editor. Both the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the Evansville Environmental Protection Agency have claimed that the Evansville metro area no longer has an ozone problem and have offered statistical modeling to "prove" it.
Yesterday, though, the Evansville ozone monitor recorded the highest levels in the entire state, peaking at an very unsafe level of 97 parts per billion at 4 PM.
The eight hour reading peaked at 5 PM at a level of 84 ppb, well above the national health based standard of 75 ppb.
High levels of ozone in the air sometimes result in serious health conditions like heart attacks and asthma while making breathing more difficult for most people.
levels of fine particles were also high for periods in Evansville yesterday, although the average over twenty four hours remained beneath the health standard.
High levels of ozone are also expected today.
Valley Watch, whose purpose is, "to protect the public health and environment," will track levels of pollution that impacts health in the region. Near Real Time Ozone Data
Eastern Kentucky joins Western Kentucky in quest for liquid coal.
July 15, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Once the kentucky legislature passed a bill providing huge incentives for companies wanting to exploit Kentucky's legendary coal reserves, proposals to turn coal into liquids and gas have flourished. Concerns about health and the environment be damned.
In a situation eerily similar to the late 1970s, Kentucky has again embraced turning coal into anything it can to exploit the massive coal reserves that lie beneath the state's surface.
Yesterday, officials in Pike County joined their counterparts in McCracken County on the other end of the state in saying they would build a coal to liquids facility in the coming years, claiming such a move will be their economic salvation.
In the late 1970s, as oil prices rose to record levels, there were serious proposals that had received actual federal funding for similar facilities from the federal sponsored US Synthetic Fuels Corporation. All those facilities went belly up when it was discovered finally that foreign suppliers of oil would always keep their prices lower than the cost to build and operate comparable synfuel plants in the US.
Most middle eastern and Russian oil can be produced for a few dollars or less per barrel. The cost of production of a barrel of coal derived oil is as much as ten times as much.
That means that synfuel has to have price and loan guarantees in order to compete since OPEC will always be able to sell oil to customers at a lesser price than it can be produced from coal.
Those basic economic facts seem to escape the debate over the veracity of such facilities in coal country which is eager to mine and consume as much coal as possible before the world demands that coal use be quelled due to extreme climate change concerns.
Converting coal into liquid fuels actually increases the amount of CO2 the coal will emit since it releases the gas to the atmosphere both during processing and when it is consumed as a fuel in cars and trucks.
The massive cost to build a coal to liquid facility keeps rising and the projected cost of the proposed $ 4 Billion, 50,000 barrel per day plant announced yesterday for Pikeville, KY is likely to be considerably more than that if and when the plant is ever constructed.
Add to that, the cost of carbon controls which Congress may impose due to world demands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the cost and price of such a facility's output becomes really uncertain.
Cost uncertainty has forced proponents of CTL plants to look to the federal and state governments for loan and price guarantees since the the private sector lenders are squeamish toward such risky ventures.
Today, there is no program available to them similar to the $88 billion US Synthetic Fuels Corporation which passed out direct subsidies to synfuel plants in the early 1980s. Even with those massive subsidies, the industry failed when OPEC nations decided to lower oil prices sufficiently to keep synfuels out of the market.
With big bank failures already occurring in the US due to bad loans for housing across the country, large commercial banks are simply unwilling to invest in schemes that are wrought with great risk and uncertainty.
Of course, time will tell if "peak oil" and its various implications will cause the price of oil to rise to a level that will make synfuels competitive. But already, renewable energy sources are becoming competitive with coal and the beginnings of a paradigm shift away from fossil fuels has begun. Download Sierra Club Liquid Coal Fact Sheet
N.C. v. TVA: epic pollution court battle begins today
At issue are airborne pollutants from the agency's 11 coal-fired plants, most of which dot the Tennessee landscape. Several more are sprinkled just outside the state's borders.
North Carolina, which is largely downwind from the pollutants, says that the TVA plants are a public nuisance, causing deaths, triggering asthma attacks, and damaging waterways and lands.
Further, the state argues that smog from the plants is affecting tourism because it obscures scenic vistas in the Great Smoky Mountains, which North Carolina and Tennessee share.
TVA's reply has been that its coal-burning plants "compare favorably" with others, including those in North Carolina, where it says air quality is "good" but more sullied by the plants inside its own borders.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper maintains that TVA's contribution to pollution is significant and that the agency should be on the same timetable for improvements that North Carolina is requiring its own plants to meet.
"We've been asking TVA for a number of years to make improvements to their coal-fired plants to clean up pollution coming into North Carolina, but we have not gotten any agreement," Cooper said in an interview last week. "The lawsuit is a last resort."
If North Carolina prevails, the court win would almost certainly lead to new regulations that would cut down on the amount of lung-irritating ozone and other particulates being released into the air by the plants, with Tennessee being a major health beneficiary as well, according to North Carolina's expert witness reports. (MORE) Go to Original
"Any public official who shows up (for I-69 groundbreaking) is an idiot." former Bloomington Mayor, John Fernandez
July 13, 2008-by Mike Leonard in the Bloomington Herald Times. 69 construction off to a rocky start. This week’s mystery I-69 groundbreaking promises protest along with celebration.
When former Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez heard last week that supporters of I-69 planned to stage an “invitation only” groundbreaking ceremony on private property this week, he was stunned.
It’s a public project to be financed with taxpayers’ money — but the groundbreaking is closed to the public?
“I think it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. It’s just stupid,” said Fernandez, himself a supporter of the project to extend the interstate from Indianapolis to Evansville on to the Mexican border. “If you’re proud of the project, celebrate it and deal with the fact that some people are going to show up who are opposed to it. Basically, you are throwing down the gauntlet to the people who are opposed to the project and saying, find it and oppose it. Which they will.”
By Friday, it appeared that sentiments such as those expressed by Fernandez had reached the ears of the sponsoring organization, Hoosier Voices for I-69. Voices spokesman Steve Schaefer said that his group had changed its plans and will announce the time and location of the event on Monday. An area for protesters to assemble will be provided. But the event itself will remain private and open only to invited guests.
“We’re a private organization. No public money is being used. What we’re doing is holding a celebration to recognize all our volunteers and all of the citizens who have supported the project,” said Schaefer, who also serves as a lobbyist and vice president for public policy at the Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana in Evansville...
“Governor (Mitch) Daniels will attend the event and make comments about breaking ground and getting the project under way,” the governor’s spokeswoman, Jane Jankowski, wrote in an e-mail exchange. “There’s nothing that the organization, and the governor, would like more than to have an event at the site of the highway construction to celebrate this moment, but the actions of a few make alternate plans necessary...”
State officials say it will take an estimated $1.73-$1.83 billion to complete the entire stretch of interstate from Evansville north through Bloomington to Indianapolis. Detractors say that rising fuel and construction costs have made those estimates obsolete over just the past six months...
Former Mayor Fernandez, despite his continued support for I-69, said the private celebration planned this week “is just bad government. It gives people every reason to question the process. I’d say that if there was a Democratic administration in place, too. Any public official who shows up for this thing is an idiot.”(MORE-subscription required)
100% of speakers ask Kentucky to reject Henderson mine permit
July 11, 2008, by Chuck Stinnett, The Henderson Gleaner. Not a single person spoke in favor of a new mine in Henderson County (KY). Instead, speaker after speaker told of strip mine horrors like blasting, dust and safety from coal trucks too large for the roads they will run on.
Residents of the Zion area -- some of whom said they have suffered at the hands of surface mines in the past and no longer trust coal companies -- urged state mine regulators Thursday night to reject an application for a new 537-acre mine near their homes.
"We have been totally lied to and deceived," insisted Eileen Timberlake, a resident of Hatchett Mill Road near the mine site.
Residents opposed to the mine spoke for about 90 minutes at a state Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement public permit conference at the Henderson Fine Arts Center...
Evansville environmentalist John Blair questioned "the honesty of coal companies," which he said "tell you what you want to hear when they come in" but are "loaded with empty promises."
"If they have a problem, they take bankruptcy," Blair said. That indeed is what happened with two companies -- Green Coal and CR Mining -- that left the abandoned strip pits along Chaney Road... (MORE)
July 9, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch,net editor. Carrying a sign that said McCain=Bush to a McCain town hall meeting ended up in trespass charges being filed against a sixty-one year old woman in Denver on Monday.
Reminiscent of the winter day in February 2002 when I was arrested for carrying a sign that said, "Cheney-19th Century Energy Man" across the street from a congressional fund raiser featuring the current VP, Carol Kreck was charged with trespass even though she was on public property at the Denver Center Center of Performing Arts.
In today's Evansville Courier Press, there is s story about a man arrested for questioning a New Harmony, IN town councilman after a meeting of the council. Although the County Prosecutor dropped the charges, the arrest was clearly illegal and served the convenience of a public official who did not want to answer or even be asked a question.
Two weeks ago, a representative of the Citizen's Action Coalition, was told to sit or be escorted out of a public hearing in Rockport, IN becuase he had views that were contrary to those of the president of that town's council and mayor regarding a major polluter that is seeking to build a new plant.
America, land of the free is apparently a mere relic of a slogan, something that used to be but no longer exists.
Free speech is now antiquated and quaint. Speech is no only free if it is agreeable with those in charge.
In my case, I sued and won on both First and Fourth Amendment grounds and won. Lots of people, essentially ignorant of their rights as citizens, simply capitulate, allowing themselves to be bullied by cops and public officials who dislike being held accountable for their words and actions.
Seven and a half years under GW Bush and the principles on which this country was founded have slowing disappeared as we seem to have made an accelerated slide toward fascism in America.
The only thing that will stop this progressive loss of freedom is for each of us to commit to standing up for the rights of all, questioning abusive authority and recording in whatever way we can, those abuses so that our day in court will have real evidence instead of the lies and mistruths that often show up on the "probable cause" affidavits signed by police who seem to hold the Constitution and Bill of Rights in disdain.
Perhaps the commercial nature of the corner made it an attractive site for a neighborhood display since most of the businesses were closed for the holiday. But whatever the reason, my corner, where I do business was turned into something resembling a war zone before it was finished around 1:30 AM.
It seemed to start innocently enough but as the night wore on it became nothing more than a senseless exhibition of disrespect for everything,
As acrid smoke filled the air forcing curious neighbors to retreat inside their homes, hoping their homes would not catch fire or their gardens trampled as frightened youth and adults ran wherever they could to avoid the bursting shells.
At one point, a string of fire crackers at least thirty feet long was lit, setting off what must have been more than 1000 loud reports. For what seemed like ten minutes, small kids took turns jumping over the burning shells in a defiant gesture of false immortality.
But that was prelude for what was to come.
Before long the big shells came out. BOOM! The entire neighborhood lit up. There were no cheers of joy or patriotism just a continual shroud of smoke and deafening exhibition.
One particular weapon of choice looked like a huge brown circular bomb. A three inch orb with a fifteen-second fuse that could be slung after ignition. When it burst usually on the street, it would shower fiery sparks on homes on both sides of the street, probably scaring residents, who by this time did not know where to look since shells were being tossed indiscriminately in every direction.
At one point, several would be bombers tried to blow the lids off of sewer pipes placing several of the mortars inside the storm water grate. A couple fell to the bottom prior to exploding. Who knows what kind of damage was done to the sewers?
Later, one kid hid behind my car where over several minutes he acted out what appeared to be a commando style attack on his friends down the street. His mantra was strictly sneak attack. He waited until they were not looking and tossed one of the big bombs their way, finally eliciting an angry response from one of the young men who apparently understood the treat he was facing.
I retreated to my brick and concrete block office, fingers crossed that I would make it through the evening without the need for emergency services.
Then, it came, the big burst of light and noise.
A few minutes later I heard a fire truck pull up on the street outside. Curious, I went outside where I first saw the assembled crowd cowering is disbelief at what they had seen and done. It looked like something I'd seen on the news from Baghdad or the West Bank.
My neighbor's pickup truck had been blown up, windows shattered and inside gutted with fire.
Putting it out was easy for the firemen. A little water on the charred remains and presto the big explosion was over. Luckily, there was no one in the old model pickup which required lots of TLC just to get it going in the morning. (MORE BELOW)
Photo shows debris from last night's spent arsenal left on the streets this morning.
The neighbors are new to the block, having lived there less than three weeks. I do not even know their names. But they seem to be decent people who have not been a hassle to anyone since they moved in. Now, they had no transportation. That simply went up in smoke.
When the police and fire inspector arrived, they told them all they knew but that revealed little for the gendarmes to act on. How do you pick out a single perpetrator in the dark of night out of a crowd of more than one hundred?
I asked both the firemen and the police about the illegality of what had taken place. Of course the willful destruction of property was a criminal act but it seems nothing else was out of line. The fire inspector said that in Indiana it is acceptable to discharge “any device that can be sold in the state as long as you are eighteen or being supervised by someone over eighteen.” Apparently if it is labeled a firework, anything can be sold here even if it is blindingly bright or deafeningly loud.
What was most troubling was what he said next. “The state loves it, every one of the fireworks merchants pay a fee to the state to sell their shells. It is a huge revenue stream.” With literally thousands of tents and shops set up all over the state to sell these devices, he seemed quite resigned that the legislature had too much stake in the revenue stream to be concerned with public safety.
The explosive nature of such display is not the only risk to people though. There is also the smoke. Last night we had a fairly strong breeze blowing from the north which meant that all the smoke from both the large display downtown and all the neighborhood burns was fast removed from the community. More importantly, it tended to blow away from the fine particle monitor located at the Mill Road Fire Station.
Even so, the monitor registered well above the level considered safe for human health at 10 PM at 43.1 µg/m3. Last year when the winds were more calm and blowing from the south, the same monitor registered a whopping 99 µg/m3, a level that is downright dangerous.
It is certain that air pollution issues never made it into the debate about fireworks at the state legislature. And, if it had, it is more certain that the legislature would have mocked anyone concerned with the issue of health.
That is how Indiana got to be one of the most polluted states in the nation. Our state government embraces pollution for economic gain at every turn. Why would fireworks be any different?
What they fail to recognize is that whether it is the destruction of property or the destruction of our health, the economic impact on innocent people can be devastating. Health insurance rates are high around here because we are sicker than other regions already. Add to that the inevitable increase in casualty insurance due to the numerous fires resulting from indiscriminate use of explosive devices everywhere in the community. Insurance actuaries will have a field day.
Then there is another cost that cannot be ignored. The mess left behind from one of these legal displays is enormous. Rocket tubes, broken glass, millions of tiny shreds of paper and bottle rocket sticks left on the street reduces pride in neighborhoods, which is already in short supply. If it reaches the sewers, all that mess will cost ratepayers a huge sum to filter and dispose, adding even more burden to already strapped local residents.
While I love celebrations of freedom as much as anyone and find the brilliance and color of fireworks compelling to watch, I do not understand why public safety must be thrown out. July 4 is a day to declare our independence but not our independence from common sense.
Indiana fireworks laws are insane. Whatever happened to sparklers?
August 13, 2008-By Patrick Barry in Science News. A new study shows that burying carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants could increase other pollutants. Politicians, utilities and coal companies do not want to address this profound issue since they know it will be a deal killer for future coal.
August 13, 2008-by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. Congress is eager to lavish subsidies on their friends in the coal and nuclear energy fields to the tune of billions but Congress diddles and frets on expanding minor assistance through production tax credits on emerging solar and wind investment.
August 8, 2008-by Joy Leiker, The Muncie Star Press. Ed. Note. When Valley Watch president john Blair sat down with IDEM Commissioner, Tom Easterly and his deputy, Scot Nally shortly after they took office, Blair asked them, "What is it you see in the future?" Nally quipped, CAFOs and power plants." They have been true to their words as both industrial farming and industrial power are now Hoosier legacies.
August 7, 2008- By Jill Richardson in Alternet. Imported foods found with unacceptable pesticide levels have drawn attention to the USDA's shoddy certification process. For an American looking for high-quality organics, the number one way to ensure that's what you're getting is to buy directly from the farmer.
August 6, 2008. They stood up and offered silent prayers at 8:15 am, the exact moment in 1945 when a single US bomb instantly killed more than 140,000 people and fatally injured tens of thousands of others with radiation or horrific burns. Photo of doves released during the ceremony in Hiroshima earlier today - AFP
August 4, 2008-Advice from University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Based on Advice from an International Expert Panel on the use of cell phones yielded ten infromed suggestions cell phone users should heed. Illustration UP Cancer Institute.
August 1, 2008-Science Daily. Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world's energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year.
August 1, 2008-by Paul Krugman in the New York Times. A McCain campaign ad says that gas prices are high right now because “some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America.” That’s just plain dishonest.
July 31, 2008-by Jeff Goddell in The Rolling Stone. While its fuel cooks the planet, the coal industry uses its clout to dupe consumers and delay change. Photo © 7/30/08 by John Blair shows Vectren's ABBrown power plant in SW Indiana. 
July 30, 2008-y Andy Mead in the Lexington Herald Leader. Ed. Note: Valley Watch has been a leader and litigant in the fight against this power plant for more than seven years. On Tuesday, Peabody Energy appealed to a three judge panel to overturn a Circuit Court decision to send the permit back to Kentucky's Division of Air for updating and further review.
July 28, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Robert F. Kennedy (R) speaks with Valley Watch president John Blair (L) at the Forecastle Festival last weekend in Louisville, KY. Kennedy, author of "Crimes Against Nature," a book indicting the Bush Administration for its anti-health and environmental attitude spoke out about numerous issues.
July 24, 2008-by Chris Kirkham and Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Times-Picayune. Coast Guard spokesman Stephen Lehmann in New Orleans said the tugboat operator had only an apprentice mate's license, and no one else on the vessel had a license to operate the boat on the river. To pilot a tugboat, the operator should have had a master's license, Lehmann said.
July 24, 2008-by Thomas P. Healy in NUVO. “We like to brag about our free enterprise market economy in this country, but we’re moving toward a situation where we basically have no markets left in agriculture until you get to the supermarket for food...”
July 23, 2008-by Gitte Laasby in the Post Tribune. "The big distinction between Indiana and other states is who gets covered and how much gets qualified. If you're a school, you could put up a 10-kilowatt-hour unit and get net metering incentives. In Illinois, it's 2,000 kilowatts," said Jesse Kharbanda, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. Photo of Benton County Wind Farm by Alice Wernicki.
July 21, 2008-By Amory Lovins, Chairman, Rocky Mountain Institute. Energy efficiency can save trillions in national costs, but its side benefits are often even more valuable: 6% to 16% higher labor productivity in efficient offices, 20% to 26% faster learning in well-day-lit schools, 40% higher sales in well-day-lit shops, faster healing in efficient hospitals. 
July 17, 2008-by David Stout in the New York Times. "...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..." Photo © 2008 John Blair
July 17, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch,net editor. Both the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the Evansville Environmental Protection Agency have claimed that the Evansville metro area no longer has an ozone problem and have offered statistical modeling to "prove" it.
July 15, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Once the kentucky legislature passed a bill providing huge incentives for companies wanting to exploit Kentucky's legendary coal reserves, proposals to turn coal into liquids and gas have flourished. Concerns about health and the environment be damned.
July 14, 2008-by Anne Paine, WBIR.com. The Tennessee Valley Authority, establised by the federal government in the 1930s to electrify rural areas of the south is one of the nation's largest polluters. Photo © 2008 John Blair shows TVA's Paradise Power Plant located in Muhlenberg County.
July 13, 2008-by Mike Leonard in the Bloomington Herald Times. 69 construction off to a rocky start. This week’s mystery I-69 groundbreaking promises protest along with celebration.
July 5, 2008-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. Indiana is the laughing stock of the rest of the nation when it comes to public health issues. The state's absurd fireworks law which allows anything labeled as a firework to be exploded by anyone over 18 years old simply proves it once again. Photo © 2008 John Blair shows a truck firebombed by fireworks last night.
Photo shows debris from last night's spent arsenal left on the streets this morning.
