Nov 8, 2025
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
For two months now, the Trump Administration has been rounding out its formidable resume of crimes against humanity by carrying out a series of extrajudicial killings against what it claims to be Venezuelan drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea. For all the scant evidence it’s provided as to the veracity of these claims, it appears every bit as likely that at least some of those vessels targeted have in fact been civilian fishing boats – though to be clear, this would still be a series of brazen war crimes in either case.
Whatever the thinly veiled pretense for our saber-rattling with Venezuela, the true cause of our longstanding hostilities couldn’t be more obvious. America’s ruling class would love nothing more than to get its cloven hooves on Venezuela’s 300 billion barrels of oil, the largest proven oil reserves in the world, with an estimated value well into the tens of trillions of dollars.
The deranged and deliberately obfuscated confluence of American militarism, capital, and environmental annihilation of the sort fully on display in these attacks is precisely the subject of the latest feature length documentary from journalist Abby Martin, “Earth’s Greatest Enemy.”
Martin, working alongside her husband and producer Mike Prysner, an Iraq War veteran turned critic of the U.S. military, hosts the independent web series The Empire Files, which sets out to expose the destructive machinations of American imperialism. It was the birth of their two children that compelled Martin and Prysner to begin interrogating the military’s outsized role in fueling the destruction of our planet – our military is the single largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases in the world – and it’s through this lens that the film sets out to explore the tentacular reach of American empire and its global destruction of the biosphere.
I want to be upfront about the fact that I am in no way qualified to offer an impartial review of this film. From its first trailer, expressing the intent to expose the “monster” at the “center of the struggle to save the planet,” I knew that this was a project I wanted to support. After reaching out to Abby and Mike about making a donation to the film’s crowdfunding campaign, I was brought onboard to create an animated segment that plays during the film’s closing credits, depicting the tentacled beast of the American military machine as it ravages the planet.
Having played this small role in the film’s production, I had the wonderful privilege of attending the Los Angeles premiere of “Earth’s Greatest Enemy” back in October. My obvious biases notwithstanding, I cannot recommend this documentary highly enough to anyone who cares about the future of life on our planet – which should, of course, include everyone.
This sprawling film covers a broad range of topics, from the environmental devastation of our more than 750 military bases worldwide, to the toxic health effects of our reckless foreign invasions in places like Iraq and Vietnam. But among the film’s most shocking achievements is revealing the seemingly utter obliviousness of those most responsible for the desecration of our planet.
There’s one scene from the film in which Martin confronts former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the COP26 climate conference in 2021.
“Speaker Pelosi, you just presided over a large increase in the Pentagon budget- this Pentagon budget is already massive. The Pentagon is a larger polluter than 140 countries combined. How can we seriously talk about net zero, if there is this bipartisan consensus to constantly expand this large contributor to climate change, which is exempt from these conferences?”
“National security advisors all tell us that the climate crisis is a national security matter,” Pelosi weakly responds. “It is a national security issue because of all of the conditions that the climate crisis produces… They are cause for migration, conflict over habitat and resources, and again a security challenge globally…”
The circuitous logic on display here is insane. The Pentagon openly admits that climate change is a national security threat, yet despite being the number one contributor to that very problem, it somehow justifies its neverending, cancerous expansion by presenting itself as a necessary key to solving it. This is akin to a firefighter attempting to hose down a burning building from a hydrant filled with gasoline, and offers a chilling glimpse at how our ruling class intends to address the mass displacement and human suffering of the impending crisis almost exclusively through the use of force.
On the afternoon of the film’s L.A. premiere, I decided to embark on a three hour whale watching tour I’d discovered in Long Beach the previous day. This proved to be one of the most unforgettable experiences of my trip, as while I unfortunately didn’t catch a glimpse of any whales, what I did get to see in spades were dolphins– hundreds and hundreds of them.
I found myself moved to tears by these swarms of gorgeous creatures as they leapt playfully through the water, some of them nursing mothers with calves by their sides, their high pitched vocalizations clearly audible as they swam around on all sides of our boat. The indescribable experience of finding myself at the center of this beautiful natural wonder filled me with an intense clarity of purpose, reminding me that this is what we’re fighting for when we’re fighting for the Earth.
Later that evening, I would watch in horrified awe from the front of the Beverly Hills Fine Arts Theater as Abby Martin discussed incidental marine mammal takes on the big screen- these being the permissible number of marine mammals that are allowed to be injured or killed through military activities, especially the lethal sonar and training exercises of the U.S. Navy. The numbers shown onscreen for this struck me as astronomical, and when I briefly spoke with Abby after the film about how this specific segment had impacted me given my experience earlier that day, she revealed that they’d actually cut an even more shocking piece of information from this part of the film, believing it was too mind-boggling to be explained concisely to audiences.
Essentially, (assuming my interpretation of her words was accurate,) because the Navy’s dolphin takes are calculated by the number of permissibly impacted animals per pod, the total number of dolphins they’re allowed to kill technically exceeds the entire global dolphin population.
Just as the fossil fuel industry calculates its future profits based on reserves that it fully knows it cannot possibly harness without pushing Earth beyond its climatic breaking point, and just as our military possesses enough nuclear bombs to proverbially destroy the world a hundred times over, there is no way that these systems of mass death can continue operating unchecked, gorging themselves on hypothetical excesses of destruction that will prove lethal to all living beings should they ever have the chance to be fully realized.
The ultimate goal of Earth’s Greatest Enemy is to unify and galvanize the climate and antiwar movements against the relentless forward march of this omnicidal machinery. It should be our greatest moral imperative to ensure that this goal is met.
The film will be having its Ohio premiere at Cincinnati World Cinema on December 4th, with additional Midwest dates being added early next year. More information can be found at earthsgreatestenemy.com. Please do not miss this absolute must-see of a film!
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: January 3, 2026 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Data centers taking pages from coal baron playbook
Jan 3, 2026
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“Data Centers and bitcoin mines are remaking rural America the same way coal once did. They move into weak regulatory terrain, rewrite the rules in their favor, drain the resources that communities rely on and send the value somewhere else.”
This quote is from a piece in Salon titled “Data centers are West Virginia’s new strip mines: The Mountain State is experiencing a data center boom–and using the old coal playbook” by Sean Carlton. I read the piece recently on Facebook, where it was shared by Tucker United – a group of Tucker County residents and their supporters opposing data center buildout in their breathtaking home. Tucker United describes themselves as “a coalition of Tucker County residents and allies that demand the power to shape our future and protect our community, families, natural resources, and economy.”
“Data centers are the same kind of extraction,” says Carlton, “only this time the corporations are hiding them behind fences, nondisclosure agreements and a lot of glossy PR about ‘upcycling’ coal mines and powering the future.” “Strip mining used to at least throw a few hundred jobs at a county while it hollowed everything else out,” Carlton continues. “Now, West Virginia is trading away water, land, noise and grid capacity for a workforce small enough to fit inside a school bus.”
According to Noman Bashir, Computing and Climate Impact Fellow at MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) and a postdoc in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), “The demand for new data centers cannot be met in a sustainable way. The pace at which companies are building new data centers means the bulk of the electricity to power them must come from fossil fuel-based power plants.”
Power consumption by U.S. data centers is expected to more than double by 2030, according to projections by the Pew Research Center using data from the International Energy Agency’s base case scenario, to 426 terawatt-hours per year. A report earlier this year by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen found that “Residents’ electricity costs in some data center-dense areas have surged over 250% in just five years. At PJM — the world’s largest power market [West Virginia is in PJM] — capacity auction prices spiked 800% in 2024, in part due to data center growth. That same year, consumers across seven PJM states paid $4.3 billion more in electricity costs to cover data centers’ new transmission infrastructure.”A report by CNBC earlier this month shared findings from a separate watchdog report showing that “PJM’s 65 million consumers will pay a total of $16.6 billion to secure future power supplies needed to meet demand from AI data centers from now until 2027, approximately $255 per person on average.” That’s just from AI-related data centers, not separate data centers for cryptocurrency or cloud computing.
Data centers use massive amounts of water for cooling and create high demand for fracked gas (fracking being a process that causes permanent loss of enormous quantities of water from the water table that can never be made potable again, at least on human timescales). With passage of House Bill 2014 earlier this year in the WV Legislature, municipalities and counties will be deprived of the vast majority of tax revenue data centers in West Virginia generate in their backyards.
Data centers are a driving force behind Governor Patrick Morrisey’s “50 by 50” energy initiative, whereby Morrisey wants West Virginia to produce 50 gigawatts of electricity by 2050, 35 gigawatts more than the 15 gigawatts the state produces today, driven almost exclusively by coal and gas. This initiative is ludicrous on its face regardless of what sources the electricity would come from–which I made clear in comments I offered to the state’s Office of Energy recently–but to focus almost entirely on coal and gas, with a bone thrown to extremely expensive nuclear, is completely asinine.
The focus of energy policy in West Virginia should be twofold: 1) Generation by cleaner, safer, healthier and far cheaper renewables–especially solar, wind and hydro–with multiple storage operations to solve for intermittency; and 2) maximization of energy efficiencies across our built environments (residential, commercial and industrial) and deployment of smart grid technologies and other demand management systems. We need community solar solutions and assistance for households and rental property owners who have suitable properties to help them with the upfront costs of going solar and relying less on the grid or even going off grid with home energy storage options.
Generations of West Virginians sacrificed everything to power civilization and build the modern world. Our people have given enough. We shouldn’t have to continue being the same extraction colony and sacrifice zone we’ve been since June 20, 1863, so delusional bitcoin investors can feel like they’re doing something futuristic and special and so AI can continue becoming the next technological Frankenstein’s monster. Mountaineers deserve better.
***
Eric Engle is board president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: December 27, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner Reimagining economic development in the Mid-Ohio Valley
Dec 27, 2025
George Banziger
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
t a recent meeting of the Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce, I posed the following question to Brian Chavez, who represents the 30th Ohio Senate District and is chairman of the Ohio Senate Energy Committee: “What economic benefit does the injection-well industry (which pumps millions of barrels of production waste from hydraulic fracturing) present to Washington County, and how would you assess the economic cost/benefit ratio of this industry for our region?”
Since Mr. Chavez did not really answer my question, I attempted to answer it at the Dec.18 meeting of the Washington County Commissioners. The costs of this industry are huge: risks to the water aquifers, increased seismic activity, air and water pollution, and trucks labeled “brine,” plying our state and county roads bearing their toxic and radioactive brew. The benefits — a few jobs for brine haulers who are taking great risks to their own health in dealing with the dangerous material. If there are any benefits of the larger industry of high-pressure hydraulic fracturing, i.e., fracking, very little of it comes to Washington County and the Mid-Ohio Valley.
But what actually are the benefits of the fracking industry to the larger area of northern Appalachia (West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western Pennsylvania and the 32 counties of Ohio within the Appalachian region)?
Although fossil-fuel interests have promised economic growth, and jobs in the region as a result of the fracking boom, the strategic economic triad of natural gas, petrochemicals and hydrogen, are actually dragging down northern Appalachia, according to a recent study by the Ohio River Valley Institute (2025). The expansion of natural gas extraction has not delivered on its promise of jobs and economic development.
The growth in production of natural gas in northern Appalachia has not translated into job growth; income growth in this region lags the U.S. by over 30%. The gas-producing areas of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania are getting poorer, older and less populated relative to the rest of the U.S., according to this ORVI report. In the 30 counties of this tri-state region that produce natural gas, jobs declined by 1%, while nationally they grew by14%, and population declined by 3% (it grew by 10% nationally). Meanwhile, the ARCH2 hydrogen hub, the Appalachian manifestation of a national initiative to produce hydrogen mainly from methane (i.e., natural gas), is moribund. A third of ARCH2’s projects and developers have dropped out, ARCH2’s effort to replace them failed, the only ARCH2 project to advance to the construction phase recently declared bankruptcy and laid off its workers, and ARCH2’s managers have not updated its website or responded to inquiries since last spring.
The group ReImagine Appalachia, which focuses on sustainable economic development and good-paying jobs, has offered an alternative to the extractive fossil-fuel industries, which have exploited Appalachia for decades — first with timber and coal and then with oil and gas. RA has provided a document called “Appalachian Manufacturing Action Plan,” which provides compelling models for economic development rooted in the manufacturing infrastructure of the region and our highly capable, hard-working labor force. Among these ideas are: repurposing retired coal-fired power plants (an approach already being pursued by the Southeast Ohio Port Authority), the manufacture of wind-turbine parts, investing in applied research to derive rare-earth metals from coal ash, producing wood-binding layers and “ecobricks” for construction materials, growing hemp (absent the THC) as an alternative to plastics, producing bioplastics from algae and mushroom roots, researching and improving battery technology (as is being done in Ravenswood). The traditional model of manufacturing — that is, the linear model, where a raw material is extracted, shipped to a manufacturer and the waste discarded — should be replaced by a circular model, where raw materials are recycled, reclaimed, repurposed and reused. The latter model is actually being realized in western Pennsylvania and in Morganton, North Carolina, where an “industrial commons” has been established.
The proliferation of data centers in Ohio and throughout the country requires a tremendous amount of energy. Natural gas will not be sufficient to provide this voracious appetite for electricity. Renewable sources like wind and solar will be needed to complement this energy need — an all-of-the above approach to energy. And manufacturing will be needed to provide the supplies and equipment in the form of wind turbines, solar panels and attendant items. Appalachian industries can help to provide these important resources for the economic development of the 21st century.
***
George Banziger, Ph.D. was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, of Citizens Climate Lobby, and a contributor to Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.
Posted: December 20, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Make energy policy boring again
Dec 20, 2025
Griffin Bradley
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Over the last decade, I would venture to guess that Americans have heard more about energy policy than ever before. One party’s moonshot solution to climate contrasted with the other party’s appeal to traditional energy systems. The outcome is always the same: division, vitriol, and ultimately a tit-for-tat repeal of existing policy every few years that puts America back at square one.
Here’s the deal: policy has become more of a cultural flashpoint than an actual solution to a problem. In the not-too-distant past, politics and policy making were boring. It was a necessary task for civil society that didn’t receive much fanfare. Now, it seems that everyone has a pet issue, ideology, or, God forbid, a “favorite politician”who they are willing to go to the mat for.
But on the policy front, these ways of thinking do no good. The best policy is a boring one. One that is built on proven technology, implements steady regulation, and supports infrastructure that makes little to no headlines. And this is especially true for the energy industry who relies on policy and regulatory consistency more than most.
To be clear, “boring” in this sense doesn’t mean slow or unambitious. A boring policy can still build a strong industry and support reliability. But incrementalism, redundancies, and repetition are what make it happen. Many strong examples of this exist in the energy space, especially in Appalachia. Rural electrification, infrastructure build out, and the development of new industries top the list.
Here’s where America has gone wrong on energy policy in recent years. Both parties — yes, both of them — have pushed a narrative of constant shaming of one another and instituted bans on proposed solutions they deem irresponsible or unworkable. Meanwhile, the public has grown skeptical, not just of the ideas but also the process. Delays in policy implementation stall progress, causing projects to never materialize. By the time solutions pass the administrative and regulatory smell test, a newly elected political majority repeals the original policy. Sound familiar? Example: the Inflation Reduction Act.
So, what’s the solution? If every policy is a potential political football, is there a way to actually move forward? Enter: the boring policy framework. For energy policy, this might mean focusing less on discovering new silver bullets and more on effective and efficient deployment of proven technologies. Grid modernization, building electrification, increased energy efficiency, and demand-response — all policy solutions that are proven to lower emissions, improve reliability, and save ratepayers money.
The best part? Debates around these issues are a snoozefest for everyday Americans — and that’s the point. Boring policies attract little attention and bluster, making them durable and, when the results are displayed in plain English, hard to demonize.
The goal of policymaking should not be to get some political “win,” but to create lasting policy that benefits as many stakeholders as possible without creating a shift in everyday practices. For energy policy, that means a transition to cleaner solutions that are barely noticeable. And the outcome? Steadier energy bills, cleaner, quieter power plants, and, maybe the best part, less talk about politics.
If you want strong policy that lasts, stop trying to make it exciting and start making it inevitable.
***
Griffin Bradley is a lifelong Wood County resident, a graduate of West Virginia University, and a contributing author for Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: December 13, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: COP 30 – not all the news was bad
Dec 13, 2025
Rebecca Phillips
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
If you paid any attention at all to COP 30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference held last month in Belem, Brazil, you probably know about what didn’t happen: the United States refused to send an official delegation, petro-states led by Saudi Arabia and Russia fought to protect their fossil fuel interests, and the final set of recommendations issued by the conference failed to include a roadmap for the elimination of fossil fuels.
But COP 30 was not the total failure some in the media have claimed. True, we are not where we need to be, and the government and business interests of countries like the U.S., Russia, and Saudi Arabia are largely to blame. Yes, our country has renounced the scientific consensus and allied itself with authoritarian petro-states rather than the world’s democracies. We are in danger of overshooting 1.5 degrees of warming. The world is still in deep trouble.
And yet, the news is not all dire. In our absence, 195 countries negotiated an agreement that, if fully implemented, will go a long way toward easing the climate crisis and helping communities cope.
The final agreement opens with a recognition that a “clean, healthy, and sustainable environment” is a human right. It further recognizes the land rights of Indigenous people and calls for intergenerational equity in the development of climate policy. In other words, the signatories recognize that the people most affected by climate change — the young and those who live close to the land — should have a say.
Acknowledging that some degree of climate change is inescapable and that nations and communities will have to adapt, a major focus of the conference was on building resilience. One outcome was the Global Goal on Adaptation, which lists a set of 59 indicators of community resilience. These indicators include water security, food systems, infrastructure resilience, and the reach of early warning systems, all essential for human thriving in our world of extreme weather.
Perhaps most important, the conference approved a framework for a just transition mechanism and a plant on funding that transition. This means that those communities and individuals whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuels or carbon-intensive industries will have both financial and technical assistance for developing a clean energy economy.
Another initiative with great potential is the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a financing mechanism that would turn forest conservation into an investment. The idea behind it is that more is to be gained by helping countries maintain their standing forests than by replanting after deforestation. The process is complicated, but the World Resources Institute offers a good explanation on its website (https://www.wri.org/insights/financing-nature-conservation-tropical-forest-forever-facility). Protecting these carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots is one of the most effective methods of carbon sequestration.
In addition to the final agreement, there were other positive outcomes. The COP 30 Action Agenda is a framework that unites and organizes actions taken by a range of national and local governments, businesses, and civil society organizations, recognizing that all levels and sectors need to work together. At the Local Leaders Forum, 14,000 cities, states, and regions formally committed to climate action. In addition, 77 countries and the European Union have committed to local/national collaboration on climate issues.
Essentially, COP 30 focused on the “people” aspects of the fight against climate change. While the scientific facts and technical possibilities must underlie all climate action, this year’s COP centered people, especially those who are most affected by climate change because of their age, income, location, or occupation. While it is disappointing (and for me as a U.S. citizen, frankly embarrassing) that our government has chosen to deny the existence of climate change and instead continues to exacerbate the problem, it is heartening to know that at least most other countries are willing to work together to create a better future for all of us.
**
Rebecca Phillips is an emeritus professor at WVU Parkersburg and a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: December 6, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Time to pass Ohio River Basin Restoration Act
Dec 6, 2025
Charlise Robinson
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
For generations, the Ohio River has been the pulse of our region. It powers our economy, supplies drinking water to millions, supports thriving communities, and defines who we are. Yet despite its immense, the Ohio River Basin has long lacked dedicated federal investment these great American waters deserve. Congress now has a historic opportunity to change that by passing the Ohio River Basin Restoration Act (H.R. 5966).
This bill takes the right approach. It creates a dedicated, EPA-led Ohio River Restoration Program, modeled after successful initiatives like those in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. A coordinated federal program can provide the scale, funding, and long-term commitment that protect communities while strengthening ecosystems. The need for restoration in the Ohio River basin is not just an environmental issue; it’s an economic one. Healthier waterways attract businesses, boost outdoor recreation, expand tourism, and support good jobs.
We must contact our state representatives today to ask them to support H.R. 5966. The Ohio River has carried out the weight of our region’s history; it should not have to shoulder the burden of neglect any longer. More than 25 million people depend on the waters of the Ohio River Basin. This is a call to action, asking Congress to pass H.R.5966 without delay. Our communities deserve a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient Ohio River Basin, and this bill is our best chance to make it happen.
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Charlise Robinson is Ohio River Coordinator, WV Rivers.
Posted: November 29, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: West Virginia residents deserve answers
Nov 29, 2025
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Residents of West Virginia are seeking answers to their questions about proposed data centers/ power plants in their communities. These include a 500-acre data center in Tucker County, the 150-acre ammonia plant and 200,000-square-foot data center which are part of the Adams Fork Energy project on the Logan-Mingo county line, and the Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) project in Mason County. The center proposed in Mason County will “include a power plant, hydrogen production facility, carbon dioxide storage facility, and data center complex.”
There are no federal regulations concerning data centers. However, “in April, Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed House Bill 2014, a law designed to ease in-state data center development in part by prohibiting counties and municipalities from enforcing or adopting regulations that limit creation, development, or operation of any certified microgrid district or high-impact data center project.” Morrisey hailed HB 2014 as the economic development highlight of the West Virginia Legislature’s 2025 regular legislative session.
Unlike politicians, citizens in the state are not convinced that these centers will bring significant economic prosperity to the region. There has been a sharp increase nationally in communities’ resistance to host a data center. Data Center Watch, a company that tracks data center opposition, found from May 2024 to March 2025, local opposition had blocked or delayed a total of $64 billion in data center projects, with six blocked entirely and 10 delayed. From March to June of 2025, $98 billion worth of projects were blocked or delayed. There were over 1,600 citizen comments and most were against the gas turbine-powered data center operation in Tucker County.
Citizens are worried about several issues when it comes to data centers: increases in energy costs, increases in water usage, exposure to toxic substances, and loss of jobs due to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some projections show that data center energy consumption could double or triple by 2028, accounting for up to 12% of U.S. electricity use. About 56 percent of the electricity used to power data centers is sourced from fossil fuels, and for our region, that will mean more fracking for methane gas. Significant amounts of water are needed for cooling purposes. “A study by the International Energy Agency estimates for illustration that a 100-megawatt U.S. data center would consume roughly the same amount of water as 2,600 households.” Additionally, these data centers also use large quantities of PFAS-gas or f-gas chemicals in the cooling phase and in manufacturing some semiconductors. These compounds have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease, and a range of other serious health problems. Finally, citizens fear job losses as AI takes over many entry level positions. “Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a May Axios interview that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level, white-collar jobs within the next five years.”
President Trump is considering an executive order directing the Justice Department to override local regulations and state control of data centers and AI.
The project in Mason County is a “Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage,” and will span 2300 acres when completed and will be powered by burning wood chips. The air permit states 106 tons of wood chips per hour will be combusted. The first question that might come to mind is what trees will be cleared to supply 106 tons per hour? Possibly from the Wayne National Forest which is located just across the river in Ohio.
The air permit for Mason County, which has already been submitted to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, shows the levels of hazardous air pollutants will be 24 tons per year. This plant, as well as the Mingo County facility, will be employing carbon dioxide capturing technology. According to a review of the permit for the Mason County plant, “The carbon capture unit has the potential to emit VOC and volatile organic hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) from the carbon capture unit. These HAPs emissions are in the form of nitrosamines, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde.” These compounds are classified as probable human carcinogens.
Carbon capture and sequestration is a relatively new technology used to sequester carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon dioxide will be collected via an absorption process, compressed, and then injected into Class VI injection wells. Since these wells will be off-site, pipelines will be used to transport the supercritical fluid from the Mason site to the wells.
Currently, the United State Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting Class VI wells. However, West Virginia is one of a few states that has applied for and received primacy to regulate Class VI wells at the state level. Part of the application process requires documented proof that public participation activities were solicited prior to submission of the permit application.
Carbon dioxide, a known asphyxiant, is a dense gas and considered to be hazardous by the OSHA Hazard Communications Standard (29 CFR). It is physiologically active, and affects circulation and breathing. It can accumulate in topographically low areas under conditions of low wind and can travel large distances when released from a ruptured pipeline. It is injected at 1000 psi and can expand to 500 times its volume when exposed to atmospheric pressures. This was evidenced in the pipeline rupture in Satartia, Miss., which sent 45 people to the hospital. How will the mostly volunteer fire departments in West Virginia be able to handle a pipeline break or a leaking Class VI well?
Once again, the communities of West Virginia are being targeted by big out-of-state industries that will make money at the expense of the environment and citizens’ health. Sadly, as usual, the state politicians are welcoming data centers and new power plants which means more extraction and water usage with a promise of questionable local jobs.
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Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.
Posted: November 22, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Bird migration about more than just the seasons
Nov 22, 2025
Dawn Hewitt
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Just about every morning, I walk my dogs past Oak Grove Cemetery in Marietta. By far the most numerous birds I encounter are vultures, both turkey and black. It is not unusual for me to see more than 100 vultures warming themselves in the morning sun on their favorite trees. I appreciate these neighbors of mine, and am grateful for the important work they do cleaning up wildlife fatalities. Turkey vultures, the adults of which have featherless red heads, are more numerous by far. They have been residents of this region for as long as bird record-keeping has existed. Black vultures, with featherless black heads, are relative newcomers. That species is most abundant in Central and South America, but they historically have been denizens of southern states, from eastern Texas through Florida.
Since 1990 or so, however, black vultures have been undergoing a northward range expansion. I’ve witnessed this. Thirty years ago, black vultures were a rare and exciting find anywhere in the Midwest. Each year, they inched northward. I’ve been birding the vicinity of Marietta’s Oak Grove Cemetery for more than a decade, and I’ve seen the number of black vultures increase each year, from an occasional few to a reliable dozen or more. In 2002, they were found to be nesting in Connecticut for the first time; by 2020, they began nesting in Vermont. Black vultures weren’t found on the Parkersburg Christmas Bird Count until 2017, when two were reported, but since 2020, they’ve been found every year. Last year Parkersburg CBC birders found 35. I counted 40 in Oak Grove Cemetery a few weeks ago, and 20 on Nov. 13, just after the wintry spell.
Birds are incredibly adaptable. It is normal for birds to change their breeding and wintering locales as population numbers expand and contract, habitat changes (both favorably and unfavorably), disease spreads, etc. In recent decades, however, range expansion for many bird species has trended northward. Researchers say climate change is a factor, and not just for black vultures. Carolina chickadees–the species resident in the Mid-Ohio Valley–are expanding their range northward, too, at a rate of 0.7 miles per year, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Black-bellied whistling ducks are year-round residents of the coastal Southeast and in the summer, historically found only as far north as the Lower Mississippi Valley. They were a rarity in Ohio, but since 2020 have been reported with increasing frequency here. Four were spotted in Wood County, West Virginia, in June 2024, a first for the Mid-Ohio Valley.
Why are historically southern bird species moving north? Because warmer temperatures mean that regions farther north are now suitable habitat. In the case of black vultures recently showing up on the Parkersburg Christmas Bird Count, later winters encourage them to stay close to their breeding range, delaying their winter vacation.
Similarly, ruby-throated hummingbirds historically winter in southern Mexico and Central America, with a few holdovers in southern and central Florida. But for the past two decades, ruby-throats have overwintered in Georgia, the Carolinas, and even Virginia. Even more startling, Anna’s hummingbird, which historically was a year-round resident of Southern California and northwestern Mexico, now nests and overwinters in southern Alaska!
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used Christmas Bird Count data to study winter distribution changes of 305 widespread North American bird species, and found that the average mid-December to early January center of abundance moved northward by more than 40 miles between 1966 and 2013. Of the 305 species studied, 48 moved northward by more than 200 miles.
Such bird-nerdy information is exciting to serious birders like me, but it’s not good news. Warmer, earlier springs — which most of us hope for — pose problems for insect-dependent birds that winter in Central and South America but breed in North America, such as warblers and vireos. In response to early warm weather, trees leaf out earlier, so insects emerge earlier, but many northbound species time their journey based on increasing day length. They have no way of knowing that the insect emergence that fuels their journeys has peaked earlier than it has historically. Still, since 1990, migratory bird species have been arriving in North America each spring about two days earlier per decade, researchers have determined.
According to bird guru Kenn Kaufman, “Climate change is already underway, and speeding up. It will shake up bird distributions in major ways. … [C]onservationists will have to pay even more attention to all birds across all landscapes, to be alert to what we can do to help species survive.”
It’s an exciting time to be a birder. Unfortunately, excitement is not always a good thing. By the way, Mountwood Bird Club’s Christmas Bird Count, in and around Parkersburg, will be on Dec. 20. To participate, contact Jason White at whitej4427@yahoo.com.
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Dawn Hewitt, of Marietta, is managing editor for BWD Magazine, and a co-author of Bird Watching for Dummies, second edition.
Last Updated: November 22, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Gratitude, truth and a warming world Reclaiming the real story of Thanksgiving – and what it teaches us about living in balance with the Earth
Nov 15, 2025
Jean Ambrose
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
This time of year brings with it one of America’s most enduring stories — one we tell ourselves to feel better. The story of the “First Thanksgiving,” as many of us learned in school, is false in nearly every detail. The myth tells of colonists and Native Americans meeting peacefully to share a meal. The truth is far more complex — and far more painful.
Oral histories place the Wampanoag and other Native nations of the northeastern coast in their homelands for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence confirms that the Wampanoag have lived in the region for at least 12,000 years. Imagine belonging to a place so deeply that the land, the water, and the air are part of who you are. Native peoples have long understood themselves not as conquerors of nature but as part of it, living in balance with the world around them.
Giving thanks has always been a central practice among Indigenous peoples. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) open gatherings with the Thanksgiving Address — Greetings to the Natural World, a message of gratitude that honors all parts of life. It begins, “Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.”
For thousands of years before the English arrived, the Wampanoag held harvest ceremonies expressing gratitude to the Creator and the land. Their thanksgivings were daily, seasonal, and deeply tied to the rhythms of the earth. Indigenous agricultural practices — such as planting corn, beans, and squash together, known as “the Three Sisters” — reflected a philosophy of interdependence among all living things.
European exploration began as early as 1000 AD but intensified in the 1500s and 1600s with explorers like Verrazzano, Champlain, and John Smith. Traders, fishermen, and slavers soon followed. Native people were kidnapped and taken to Europe — sometimes as curiosities, sometimes as slaves. Some who returned warned their communities of European intentions. In 1607, the Abenaki tribe successfully boycotted the short-lived English colony at Popham, Maine, leading to its collapse.
By 1616, epidemics brought by traders had swept through Native communities along the coast. Nearly three-quarters of the Wampanoag population perished. When English settlers landed on Wampanoag territory in 1620, they established Plymouth Colony on the empty village of Patuxet — a place abandoned after disease had killed nearly everyone. The Wampanoag leader Ousamequin (known to the English as Massasoit), facing enormous loss, sought an alliance with the newcomers. A treaty of mutual protection was signed. The Wampanoag shared their planting, hunting and fishing knowledge.
The following year, the colonists held a three-day first harvest celebration. Part of the festivities included shooting guns into the air. When the Wampanoag heard the gunfire, they thought their allies might be under attack. Ousamequin led ninety men to Plymouth to investigate — not because they had been invited, as the national myth suggests. Once there, the Wampanoag gifted five deer to the colonists and joined in the feasting.
In the years that followed, thousands of settlers arrived. English colonies expanded rapidly, using deeds and legal documents to claim land that Indigenous peoples had inhabited and stewarded for millennia. Settlements destroyed forests, blocked access to hunting and fishing grounds, and disrupted traditional food gathering. Within fifty years, the fragile peace was gone, and the Wampanoag — once the region’s powerful protectors — were no longer a free people.
Without the help of the Native nations they encountered, the Pilgrims would not have survived their first years. Yet the alliance soon gave way to centuries of violence, displacement, and genocide. For many Native Americans today, Thanksgiving is not a celebration — it is a National Day of Mourning.
One Wampanoag descendant reflected: “Even before the Pilgrims landed, explorers captured Indians and sold them as slaves for 220 shillings apiece. The Pilgrims had hardly explored Cape Cod before they robbed the graves of my ancestors and stole their corn and beans.
Massasoit, our great sachem, knew these facts, yet he and his people welcomed and befriended the settlers. Perhaps he did this because his tribe had been depleted by disease, or perhaps he knew the harsh winter ahead. But that act of friendship was our biggest mistake. We, the Wampanoag, welcomed you — not knowing it was the beginning of the end.”
The true story of Thanksgiving reminds us how much we have to learn from Indigenous values of reciprocity, gratitude, and care for the Earth. Those teachings are more urgent now than ever.
We are living through another kind of crisis — not of colonization alone, but of domination over the natural world. Climate change, driven by centuries of extraction and exploitation, now threatens the same balance Indigenous peoples have long sought to preserve. Rising seas, droughts, storms, and wildfires are reshaping the Earth. The climate crisis continues the same worldview that saw the Earth as something to own rather than something to belong to.
Indigenous wisdom offers a different path — one rooted in respect, humility, and reciprocity. The lessons that sustained the Wampanoag for millennia — gratitude for what the Earth provides, and the understanding that every gift demands responsibility — are precisely the values we need to heal our relationship with the planet.
As we gather around our tables this Thanksgiving, perhaps we can tell a truer story — one that honors both gratitude and grief, and our shared duty to live, as the Thanksgiving Address reminds us, “in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.”
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Jean Ambrose is grateful to be able to share her voice.
Posted: November 8, 2025 by main_y0ke11
MOVCA To Present Wendell Berry Documentary November 17
AWTT Portrait Exhibition at South Library Closes
PARKERSBURG, West Virginia – Marking the November 17th closing of the Americans Who Tell the Truth exhibition at South Parkersburg Library, Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action will present a program centered on the work of esteemed American poet, writer and environmental activist Wendell Berry. Berry’s portrait, painted by artist Robert Shetterly, is one of the ten “truth tellers” portraits displayed in the exhibit.
The closing event, scheduled for 5:00 – 7:30pm on Monday, November 17 will feature a screening of “Look and See,” a documentary looking at life in America through Wendell Berry’s mind’s eye. The program and film are open to the public free of charge.
Made possible through a generous grant from the Direct Support Fund, the AWTT exhibition at the South Parkersburg Library continues through closing events on November 17th.
“We have been so moved by these stunning portraits,” said Adeline Bailey, MOVCA member. “They invite you to learn more about the work and activism of these people who have acted to confront injustice and advocate for change. They welcome you into a conversation, across time and space, about what it means to be an American.”
The exhibit is open to to all during the library’s regular hours of operation: Monday 10am-8pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am-6pm, Friday10am-5pm, Saturday10am-3pm. The South Parkersburg Library is located at 1807 Blizzard Drive.
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Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action focuses on raising awareness of the solid science establishing
the danger of the climate crisis and the urgency of dealing with it. Now a 501(c)(3) organization,
the not-for-profit volunteer group also collaborates with other environmental groups on
campaigns and events in the Mid-Ohio Valley. For more information, visit the organization’s web page (http://main.movclimateaction.org).
The Direct Support Fund is made possible by Cloud Mountain Foundation, The Plastic Solutions Fund, The Heinz Endowments and the 11th Hour project and is a project of the Mountain Watershed Association. For more information or to apply please visit
www.mtwatershed.com.
For more information about Americans Who Tell the Truth, visit their website:
americanswhotellthetruth.org
Posted: November 8, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Earth’s Greatest Enemy
Nov 8, 2025
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
For two months now, the Trump Administration has been rounding out its formidable resume of crimes against humanity by carrying out a series of extrajudicial killings against what it claims to be Venezuelan drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea. For all the scant evidence it’s provided as to the veracity of these claims, it appears every bit as likely that at least some of those vessels targeted have in fact been civilian fishing boats – though to be clear, this would still be a series of brazen war crimes in either case.
Whatever the thinly veiled pretense for our saber-rattling with Venezuela, the true cause of our longstanding hostilities couldn’t be more obvious. America’s ruling class would love nothing more than to get its cloven hooves on Venezuela’s 300 billion barrels of oil, the largest proven oil reserves in the world, with an estimated value well into the tens of trillions of dollars.
The deranged and deliberately obfuscated confluence of American militarism, capital, and environmental annihilation of the sort fully on display in these attacks is precisely the subject of the latest feature length documentary from journalist Abby Martin, “Earth’s Greatest Enemy.”
Martin, working alongside her husband and producer Mike Prysner, an Iraq War veteran turned critic of the U.S. military, hosts the independent web series The Empire Files, which sets out to expose the destructive machinations of American imperialism. It was the birth of their two children that compelled Martin and Prysner to begin interrogating the military’s outsized role in fueling the destruction of our planet – our military is the single largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases in the world – and it’s through this lens that the film sets out to explore the tentacular reach of American empire and its global destruction of the biosphere.
I want to be upfront about the fact that I am in no way qualified to offer an impartial review of this film. From its first trailer, expressing the intent to expose the “monster” at the “center of the struggle to save the planet,” I knew that this was a project I wanted to support. After reaching out to Abby and Mike about making a donation to the film’s crowdfunding campaign, I was brought onboard to create an animated segment that plays during the film’s closing credits, depicting the tentacled beast of the American military machine as it ravages the planet.
Having played this small role in the film’s production, I had the wonderful privilege of attending the Los Angeles premiere of “Earth’s Greatest Enemy” back in October. My obvious biases notwithstanding, I cannot recommend this documentary highly enough to anyone who cares about the future of life on our planet – which should, of course, include everyone.
This sprawling film covers a broad range of topics, from the environmental devastation of our more than 750 military bases worldwide, to the toxic health effects of our reckless foreign invasions in places like Iraq and Vietnam. But among the film’s most shocking achievements is revealing the seemingly utter obliviousness of those most responsible for the desecration of our planet.
There’s one scene from the film in which Martin confronts former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the COP26 climate conference in 2021.
“Speaker Pelosi, you just presided over a large increase in the Pentagon budget- this Pentagon budget is already massive. The Pentagon is a larger polluter than 140 countries combined. How can we seriously talk about net zero, if there is this bipartisan consensus to constantly expand this large contributor to climate change, which is exempt from these conferences?”
“National security advisors all tell us that the climate crisis is a national security matter,” Pelosi weakly responds. “It is a national security issue because of all of the conditions that the climate crisis produces… They are cause for migration, conflict over habitat and resources, and again a security challenge globally…”
The circuitous logic on display here is insane. The Pentagon openly admits that climate change is a national security threat, yet despite being the number one contributor to that very problem, it somehow justifies its neverending, cancerous expansion by presenting itself as a necessary key to solving it. This is akin to a firefighter attempting to hose down a burning building from a hydrant filled with gasoline, and offers a chilling glimpse at how our ruling class intends to address the mass displacement and human suffering of the impending crisis almost exclusively through the use of force.
On the afternoon of the film’s L.A. premiere, I decided to embark on a three hour whale watching tour I’d discovered in Long Beach the previous day. This proved to be one of the most unforgettable experiences of my trip, as while I unfortunately didn’t catch a glimpse of any whales, what I did get to see in spades were dolphins– hundreds and hundreds of them.
I found myself moved to tears by these swarms of gorgeous creatures as they leapt playfully through the water, some of them nursing mothers with calves by their sides, their high pitched vocalizations clearly audible as they swam around on all sides of our boat. The indescribable experience of finding myself at the center of this beautiful natural wonder filled me with an intense clarity of purpose, reminding me that this is what we’re fighting for when we’re fighting for the Earth.
Later that evening, I would watch in horrified awe from the front of the Beverly Hills Fine Arts Theater as Abby Martin discussed incidental marine mammal takes on the big screen- these being the permissible number of marine mammals that are allowed to be injured or killed through military activities, especially the lethal sonar and training exercises of the U.S. Navy. The numbers shown onscreen for this struck me as astronomical, and when I briefly spoke with Abby after the film about how this specific segment had impacted me given my experience earlier that day, she revealed that they’d actually cut an even more shocking piece of information from this part of the film, believing it was too mind-boggling to be explained concisely to audiences.
Essentially, (assuming my interpretation of her words was accurate,) because the Navy’s dolphin takes are calculated by the number of permissibly impacted animals per pod, the total number of dolphins they’re allowed to kill technically exceeds the entire global dolphin population.
Just as the fossil fuel industry calculates its future profits based on reserves that it fully knows it cannot possibly harness without pushing Earth beyond its climatic breaking point, and just as our military possesses enough nuclear bombs to proverbially destroy the world a hundred times over, there is no way that these systems of mass death can continue operating unchecked, gorging themselves on hypothetical excesses of destruction that will prove lethal to all living beings should they ever have the chance to be fully realized.
The ultimate goal of Earth’s Greatest Enemy is to unify and galvanize the climate and antiwar movements against the relentless forward march of this omnicidal machinery. It should be our greatest moral imperative to ensure that this goal is met.
The film will be having its Ohio premiere at Cincinnati World Cinema on December 4th, with additional Midwest dates being added early next year. More information can be found at earthsgreatestenemy.com. Please do not miss this absolute must-see of a film!
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Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
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