See WV Rivers Climate Video Library: “Learn more about climate change and its impacts and solutions by exploring gallery of videos, webinars, forums and press conferences.” Includes links to 2022 Climate Candidate Forums; Webinars; WV Climate Alliance Videos; and WV Rivers Climate & Water Webinar Series.
October 25, 2022 Dunbar: Energy, Jobs, & Justice: Candidate Forum, West Virginia State University
October 2, 2022 Morgantown: Energy, Jobs, & Justice: Candidate Forum, West Virginia University
September 13, 2022 Huntington: Energy, Jobs, & Justice: Candidate Forum, Marshall University
“Exposure to environmental toxins may be root of rise in neurological disorders” Doctors warn exposure to omnipresent yet poorly understood chemicals such as microplastics could play role in dementia.
“US firms exploiting Trump-era loophole over toxic ‘forever chemicals’” Study finds chemical companies dodging federal law designed to track how many PFAS plants are pumping into environment
October 16, 2022 Fossil Fuels Article by Jon Hurdle
“Environmentalists Fear a Massive New Plastics Plant Near Pittsburgh Will Worsen Pollution and Stimulate Fracking” Shell facility opening soon has been granted a permit to emit more volatile organic compounds than the Clairton Cole Works, a notorious polluter.
“Rooftop wind energy innovation claims 505 more energy than solar at same cost” BASF is currently testing Aeromine Technologies’ patented motionless wind-harvesting system.
October 19, 2022 Future of Transportation Article by Eric A. Taub
“E.V.s Start With a Bigger Carbon Footprint. But That Doesn’t Last.” The manufacturing and disposal of electric vehicles result in more greenhouse gasses than nonelectric models, but that difference will eventually disappear altogether.
Available on UPI:
October 26, 2022 Science News Article by Daniel J. Graeber
“NASA satellites identify more than 50 methane ‘super emitters’” NASA found several huge plumes of methane using imagery technology installed on the International Space Station
October 12, 2022 Article by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – media contacts: Andrew Wang and Jane J. Lee
“NASA Dust Detective Delivers First Maps From Space for Climate Science” Measurements from EMIT, the Earth Surface Dust Source Investigation, will improve computer simulations researchers use to understand climate change.
“U.S. coal use is falling, but some communities still bear pollution burden” A recent study of 11 states finds that natural gas plants are disproportionately located in communities of color and low-income areas. Text and 1:30 min. audio
October 28, 2022 Commentary by Kathleen Dean Moore
“Commentary: How a quiz helps people find their preferred role in climate action” Part personality, part decision tree, part choose-your-own-adventure, a new tool aims to help people find the climate action best suited for them.
October 2, 2022 Article by Kathleen Dean Moore and SueEllen Campbell
“What can YOU do about climate change? Take this quiz to find out.“ Everyone has a special role in the struggle for a stable climate. What’s yours? The authors offer some questions to help you find it.
Jeffery Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, was recently a speaker at the Athens Democracy Forum in Athens, Greece. When comparing the primary forms of government among major world superpowers such as China and Russia, Sachs made a point to note that “You can be democratic at home and ruthlessly imperial abroad. The most violent country in the world since 1950 has been the United States.”
Here he was promptly cut off by the moderator, but was nonetheless greeted with applause from the audience.
I first became involved in climate activism for a very simple reason. The climate crisis was, without exaggeration, the single greatest existential threat being faced by humanity. It was the issue upon which all other issues hinged, ranging from racial justice and immigration, to healthcare and class inequality, and so much more. A stable society, essentially, is dependent on a stable environment.
And while I still absolutely believe all of this to be the case, it is now undeniable to me that the imminence of the climate crisis has, at least temporarily, been overshadowed by a danger far more immediate and destructive, which doesn’t seem to be attracting even a sliver of the attention of those professing to be the most dedicated to protecting our biosphere- namely, the threat of nuclear war.
Early this month, President Biden finally admitted (albeit to donors behind closed doors, rather than to the general public), that the world is now at its greatest risk for nuclear armageddon since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
One might hope that, given such a grim assessment, the U.S. might show some glimmer of an interest in seeking a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine, rather than pumping an endless torrent of military aid into what U.S. officials have essentially admitted is a proxy war against Russia. An act which, it’s worth noting, Vladimir Putin has been quite emphatic about considering an act of provocation on our part.
Instead, the U.S. has now deployed the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to Europe for the first time since World War II, and is “fully prepared” to enter Ukraine and attack Russia, should the situation escalate.
A minuscule smattering of Democrats, who would falsely declare themselves to be the more anti-war party of America’s political system (in reality, no actual anti-war movement exists in America), did feebly sign onto a letter urging President Biden to pursue a diplomatic solution to the war.
Said letter was released this week, was met with an avalanche of criticism from the majority of the Democratic Party, and was then promptly retracted when progressives went scurrying back on the issue with their tails between their legs, as is so often their preferred tactic when pretending to take on the corrupt establishment.
It shouldn’t need to be reiterated at this point just how unfathomably, viciously destructive the use of a singular nuclear weapon would be. I shouldn’t have to paint a picture of the thousands upon thousands of instant deaths at the moment of impact, the horrific cancerous after effects, or the lands made uninhabitable by these instruments of sheer destruction. But apparently, those respectable types pursuing “U.S. interests” on our behalf seem to have forgotten these risks- or, more than likely, they simply do not care.
America’s participation in this war has never been about saving the lives of Ukrainians, despite politicians, media outlets, and the military industrial complex manufacturing the public’s consent by exploiting the genuine, humanitarian impulses of everyday people. Our warmongering military officials, all the way up to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have explicitly stated that their intention in being involved in Ukraine is simply to try and weaken Russia. Biden’s comparisons to the Cuban Missile Crisis behind closed doors make it abundantly clear that the risks of further pursuing this goal now vastly outweigh whatever supposed “benefits” our warlords might once have hoped to gain.
No human being who is concerned about the climate crisis should remain silent on this issue. Our unhinged military’s neverending bloodlust and these psychotic games of nuclear chicken are as great, if not greater threats than the heating of our planet due to greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, these hegemonic shows of force are only likely to grow more intense and more dangerous as the planet warms, and geopolitical tensions are amplified. We must rise up against the lifelong conditioning and propaganda of American empire that have left us silent on matters of war and nuclear destruction, much as we’ve done against the onslaught of disinformation from the fossil fuel industry, if we are to leave this planet in a habitable state for future generations.
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Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
“The beaver told the rabbit as they stared at the Hoover Dam: ‘No, I didn’t build it myself, but it’s based on an idea of mine.’” — Charles Hard Townes
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If you know any facts about beavers, it’s probably that the toothy rodents are known for being industrious. Most famously, they build dams. These giant structures made of sticks, stones, and mud can reach heights up to 10 feet and lengths averaging 20 feet. The biggest one ever found was in Alberta, Canada, and could be seen from space. As reported in 2010, it was a half- mile long.
As it turns out, these natural engineers may well be humans’ natural allies in efforts to confront climate change.
Beaver dams completely alter the landscape, flooding the surrounding area, and creating wetlands. It’s one reason beavers have often been considered pests that can cause serious damage when they build dams too close to homes or roads.
Scientists have understood beavers’ importance for decades. Studies are finding that beavers play a vital role in dampening the effects of the worsening climate crisis, especially in areas prone to fire, drought, and heat waves.
These web-footed, fat-tailed, amphibious rodents help countless other critters survive a heat wave. They not only drench certain landscapes in cold water but also help cool the air. They help make forests and grasslands less likely to burn.
It’s increasingly clear that these animals help safeguard ecosystems against the worst of climate change. Beavers are very much wildlife heroes in a warming world. We know that beavers build dams. But these structures are so much more than just a pile of sticks laid across a stream. They’re hydrological wonders.
Dams form ponds, widen rivers, and create wetlands, building all kinds of aquatic habitats that many other animals like birds and frogs rely on. Beavers are the ecosystem engineers of the animal world.
Because every ecosystem is unique, beavers can have different effects on the environment depending on where they are located.
More than just spreading water around, beavers’ dams also help cool it down. Dams can deepen streams, and deeper layers of water tend to be cooler. As streams run into these structures, they can start to carve into the river bed. So, there can be, for example, a six-foot-deep pool behind a three-foot-high beaver dam.
Dams also help force cold groundwater to the surface. Made of sticks, leaves, and mud, dams block water as it rushes downstream, forcing some of it to travel underground, where it mixes with chillier groundwater before resurfacing. Scientists tell us that is really important for a lot of temperature-sensitive species like salmon and trout.
The presence of beaver dams can also help chill the air. As all that water in a beaver habitat starts to evaporate, the adjacent air cools down. Turning water into vapor requires energy, and some of that energy comes from the heat in the air. It essentially functions like an AC system sitting out there in the landscape, keeping the air temperature, 10 or 15 degrees cooler, which, scientists point out, is a sizable difference.
Beaver damming also plays a significant role in protecting surrounding vegetation during wildfires. By helping replenish the groundwater that humans rely on, beavers’ dams also provide insurance against droughts.
We need smart, out-of-the-box ways to defend against the worst effects of climate change. Instead of just relying on human-made technologies and infrastructure, we can also restore species like beavers to the landscape, working with nature, instead of against it. We need to make our cities and towns much more resilient, not unlike a habitat filled with beaver dams.
Enlisting beavers in the effort could be one such way forward. They are, after all, the only other species anywhere nearly as capable as humans at transforming a landscape.
Beavers aren’t like other animals. In captivity they have to be groomed daily and nurtured or they fail to thrive. They have to have a constant person to care for them and lots of time spent with them. Kinda like Earth herself.
Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
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Linda Eve Seth, SLP, M.Ed. is a mother, grandmother, concerned citizen and member of MOVCA.
I am not a regular contributor to this column but found myself needing to express my concerns after a nearby event came to my attention. On Sept. 8 a brine truck carrying what was reported as drilling brine with zinc salts crashed on or near Mountaineer Highway near New Martinsville spilling 1260 gallons into a yard and a creek that leads to Little Fishing Creek which, of course leads to the Ohio River. Given the number of miles these brine trucks seem to travel in our part of the world it seems inevitable that these types of incidents are going to happen periodically. My concerns stem from the nature of the contents of these trucks and seeming lack of concern for this material entering our environment.
You don’t have to look far to find that the average level of radiation in the brine carried by these trucks is about 10 times the environmental discharge limit and 236 times the drinking water limit established by the EPA. Then you consider all the other contaminants like zinc, cadmium, arsenic, lead, benzene, and hundreds of others, it seems to be a witches brew unfit for any level of human or environmental exposure.
If this was an oil spill, measures would have been immediately deployed to contain the spill and clean it up, not so for brine spills. Brine is heavier than water, so the damage that is occurring beneath the surface is not apparent to us. Petrochemical-related facilities are already permitted to discharge over 500,000 pounds of toxic pollutants into the Ohio River Basin within Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia annually, so these spills just add to the already contaminated waters that serve us as a source of recreation and millions as a source of drinking water.
DIVING DEEPER
The reason brine spills are not treated with the same level of concern as oil spills may stem from the fact that brine is not considered a hazardous material even though it easily meets the standards. In 1988, political will urged by the petroleum industry forced the USEPA to exempt many substances used or produced by the petroleum industry from regulatory oversight. Since brine is not considered a hazardous material, haul trucks don’t require placarding and clean-up efforts are of little concern.
I could go into great depths about the impact “brine” will have to bottom dwelling organisms that form the basis for the food web in streams but suffice to say it is devastating.
There is little doubt that spills resulting from transporting brine are not the only source of brine contamination in the Ohio Valley, and frankly these types of spills may pale in comparison to other sources. Fracking waste that finds its way through fissures and comes to the surface or contaminates water supply aquifers, surfaces through old unplugged wells, or spills from pipelines or other sources have been documented.
The Mid-Ohio Valley was blessed with plentiful, clean water and little by little we seem determined to squander this vital resource. Let us not be complacent until it is too late and lament as in the well-known expression “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” – or as my grandfather would say, “nary a drop to drink.”
Thanks to many fact sources especially fractracker.org.
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Vic Elam is an avid outdoorsman and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment and the children who we borrow it from.
“How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew what was happening to the world and did nothing?” This question, posed by Sir David Attenborough, should be one we all ask ourselves every single day. It is certainly a question I would ask local, state and federal politicians. To deny the major role mankind plays in the climate crisis, especially after the massive destruction of two back-to-back hurricanes, seems ridiculous. But I am sure people in our country will do just that; deny.
We now know that a warming planet increases the chances of catastrophic weather events. Wildfires and droughts in the western states are more severe and hurricanes have also intensified as they pass over warmer oceans. The storms that hit Ohio this past June 14t were the worst I have ever seen. Over 480 acres of forests at the Mohican-Memorial State Forest were severely damaged.
Billions of dollars of damage have occurred and many lives have been lost in these storms and wildfires, but still politicians refuse to take aggressive action to address the crisis. People in our country remain apathetic when it comes to taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.
There are many places in our lives where simple changes would make an impact on carbon emissions. People could car pool, purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles or buy electric vehicles, eat less meat, turn down thermostats in the winter and turn them up in the summer. We could recycle, compost food scraps, buy less stuff (especially plastic stuff), garden, support local agriculture, turn off lights, insulate our homes, and donate used clothes and appliances. These are just a few simple, painless steps we all could take to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Yet how many of these changes are people willing to take? We cannot even commit to the very simplest acts to help save the planet.
What if your home were destroyed like so many homes have been destroyed by the recent hurricanes: Fiona and Ian? What if everything you loved and cared about were gone? What if there was no food, no water, no shelter, no job, no future? Sounds pretty drastic but sadly, by ignoring the climate crisis and refusing to do anything to curtail the worst effects, we are creating climate refugees all over the planet. Will our grandchildren become climate refugees?
Scientists are desperately trying to shock the world into action. “As time runs out for the planet to avert a future of climate chaos, scientists around the world are throwing down the gauntlet. Climate change science has been settled for decades, yet policymakers have yet to take sweeping action, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb to record highs.”
As a climate scientist I echo the fears expressed by my colleagues. The fossil fuel industry continues to manipulate laws and policies to continue the destruction of our only home while they increase their profits. We don’t have time to debate; we don’t have time for false solutions like carbon capture, or blue hydrogen; and we don’t have time to slowly transition away from carbon-based fuels. We are out of time.
It is painful for me to admit, as both a scientist and a grandparent, that I am no longer hopeful or optimistic. A recent poll published in Harper’s Magazine October issue stated, “just 1 percent of voters in a New York Times/Siena College poll named climate as the most important issue facing the country.”
Scientists are now putting their lives on the line as they engage in peaceful civil disobedience, hunger strikes, the bodily obstruction of investment banks enabling new fossil fuel exploration, and the pasting of scientific papers to government buildings.
Like the scientists around the world, we too should be throwing down the gauntlet. We should be in the streets demanding action because without a livable planet, nothing else really matters. How can we justify apathy and inaction? What will we tell our grandkids? We watched while their world burned.
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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.
Eric Engle is quoted, “It’s green hydrogen or no hydrogen” . . . “The Ohio River Valley and the states of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania cannot handle another fossil-fuels-driven monstrosity like this hub.”
September 27, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“Manchin pulls plug on plan to include permitting reform proposal in stopgap spending measure”
August 29, 2022 Research Article by Eric de Place (missing from August media report)
“Appalachia is Fueling a Global Petrochemical Buildout” Natural gas liquids from the Ohio Valley are poised for major growth enabled by infrastructures decisions.
“State of West Virginia Brings Together Major Energy Companies and Leading Energy Technology Firms to Develop Clean Hydrogen Hub in the Region”: Hub Brings Together Producers, End-Users, World-Class Technology Experts, and Necessary Infrastructure to Advance the Production, Use and Delivery of Hydrogen in Appalachia
September 29, 2022 Inside Clean Energy Article by Dan Gearino
“Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started”: You can’t completely banish fossil fuels from your home in one fell swoop, but some achievable plays are within reach, About Columbus OH area.
Available from Physicians for Social Responsibility:
September 29, 2022 REPORT by Dusty Horwitt, J.d. and Barbara Gottlieb; Data Analysis by Gary Allison
Fracking with “Forever Chemicals” in Ohio: Evidence Shows Oil and Gas Companies Have Used PFAS in Ohio Wells; ‘Trade Secret’ Laws Limit Public’s Ability to Know Full Extent of Use.
“Huge expansion of oil pipelines endangering climate, says report” More that 24,000km of pipelines planned around the world, showing ‘an almost deliberate failure to meet climate goals’
“ ‘Forever chemicals’ detected in all umbilical cord blood in 40 studies” Studies collectively examined nearly 30,000 samples over the past five years in ‘disturbing’ findings.
September 8, 2022 Environment Article by Damian Carrington
“World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds” Giant ice sheets, ocean currents and permafrost regions may already have passed point of irreversible change’
September 23, 2022 Article by Hannah Story Brown, & Dorothy Slater
“The Problem With Emission Reduction Models” They are partially based on what even some of the modelers acknowledge are faulty data, particularly on methane.
September 2, 2022 Climate Science article by SueEllen Campbell
“These recent pieces take a ‘big picture’ look at the climate challenge” How we as individuals on climate change reflects our broader perspectives on the issue beyond our own first-hand experiences.
Available on repeatproject.org: REPEAT Rapid Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit
August 2022 REPORT by Princeton University’s ZERO Lab, Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Evolved Energy Research, and Carbon Impact Consulting. Authors: Jenkins, J.D., Mayfield, E.N., Farbes, J., Jones, R., Patankar, N., Xu, Q., & Schivley, G.
“Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”
Including “Modeling The Inflation Reduction Act Using The Energy Policy Simulator” and “Updated Inflation Reduction Act Modeling Using Energy Policy Simulator” both posted in August 2022
Available from Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA.org):
August 4, 2022 IEEFA brief by Dennis Wamsted and David Schlissel
“IEEFA U.S.: Mothballing of Petra Nova carbon capture project shows likely fate of other coal-fired CCS initiatives”
The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the transportation sector is the #1 source of carbon pollution in the United States. At 29% in 2021, transportation now generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, every car company has production plans for electric vehicles (EVs). And most are on the path to a fully electric future. Last year, Chair and CEO of General Motors, Mary T. Barra, announced that the company would stop making gas powered vehicles by 2035. Even Exxon Mobile publicly agreed electric vehicles are the future. In June, in an interview with CNBC’s David Farber, the oil giant’s CEO, Darrin Woods, predicted that by 2040 every new passenger car sold in the world will be electric. EV technology has advanced rapidly and an expansion of the market is definitely anticipated, including many more affordable models.
For the first time since 2019, the North American International Auto Show, the largest in North America, was held in September. President Biden attended opening day and used the opportunity to announce the approval of the first $900 million dollars in U.S. funding to build EV charging stations in 35 states, part of the $1 trillion dollar infrastructure law approved last November. Congress and Biden have pledged tens of billions of dollars in loans, manufacturing and consumer tax credits and grants to speed the transition from internal combustion vehicles to cleaner EVs. The Big Three automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler, showed off new EVs while the president highlighted the automakers’ EV push, including billions of dollars in investments.
Individuals interested in EVs have the opportunity to attend a local event being held this weekend. Sunday, Oct. 2, the final day of National Drive Electric Week (NDEW). The “Southeast Ohio NDEW Ride and Drive” will be held that day from 1-4 p.m. at Civitan Park, 1500 Blennerhassett Ave., Belpre. Drive Electric Southeast Ohio and the West Virginia Electric Auto Association, groups made up of EV owners and enthusiasts, will be welcoming attendees to this event. The latest makes and models of several electric vehicles will be on site and attendees will have the chance to take them for a drive as well as talk to EV owners and leaders in the clean transportation industry about driving electric. There will be speakers throughout the day and even a raffle. The event is free and open to the public. Signs and banners will be hung up to help you find them.
This shift to transportation’s electrification is critical to addressing the climate crisis but it should have come much sooner! Investigations done by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), as well as other organizations, have uncovered hundreds of pages of historic documents with striking parallels between the automakers and oil companies. CIEL’s research demonstrates that two of America’s biggest automakers, General Motors and Ford, as well as one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, Exxon Mobil Corp. were aware of climate risks years earlier than suspected. The documents reveal that for decades, these companies failed to act on the knowledge that their products were heating the planet. At the same time, these industries were donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups that created public doubt about the scientific consensus on global warming.
According to Carroll Muffett, CIEL’s president and CEO, “CIEL’s findings add to the growing body of evidence that the oil industry worked to actively undermine public confidence in climate science and in the need for climate action even as its own knowledge of climate risks was growing.” Muffett’s description of automakers is essentially the same. He stated that the industry was “deeply and actively engaged,” since the 1960s, in understanding how their cars affected the climate. “We also know that … the auto industry was involved in efforts to undermine climate science and stop progress to address climate change,” Muffett said.
It’s sad this behavior seems to be standard operating procedure for many international corporations. Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the increasingly understood negative impacts to the planet and human health, thank goodness the future of transportation is FINALLY electric. We can only hope it’s better late than never for the sake of future generations.
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Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
The company Competitive Power Ventures Inc. has announced plans to build a combined-cycle natural gas power plant in West Virginia, an 1,800-megawatt facility representing a $3 billion investment that could potentially be built in Doddridge County (this is not certain). The facility would use carbon capture and storage technology made possible by expansion of what are referred to as 45Q tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. This facility, and carbon capture and storage (or carbon capture, utilization and storage, as it is often referred to) more broadly, are terrible ideas.
Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is dangerous, unproven at anywhere near scale, and massively expensive, even with taxpayer subsidization. The “utilization” part is often deliberately left out when describing these processes because it’s an environmental nonstarter. Captured CO2 has, more often than not, been used to extract more oil through a process called advanced oil recovery. What’s the use of capturing these emissions if you’re just going to turn around and use them to recover more emissions-producing fossil fuels? Profit motive is the only rational driver in that scenario. As far as actual emissions reductions, a mitigation report released in April 2022 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that, by 2030, CCUS could cut only half the CO2 emissions that could be cut by solar, wind, and efficiency, and CCUS is far more expensive.
When I say that CCUS is dangerous, I mean it’s dangerous to public health and safety. The site carboncapturefacts.org, sponsored by the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), breaks down the numerous ways CCUS is a threat to the lives, safety and health of communities in its path. CO2, for example, is an asphyxiant and toxicant. In high quantities (such as what would occur in a leak from a CO2 pipeline or storage site), it depletes oxygen in the surrounding environment. Inhalation of high concentrations causes a lowering of the pH of blood and tissues (acidosis) causing acute effects on the respiratory, cardiovascular, and central nervous systems.
CCUS also requires a tremendous amount of water. To quote from SEHN, “A CO2 capture system requires additional water for cooling and make-up, increasing the water requirements for power plants. Estimates in the technical literature show that, with the addition of a full-scale post-combustion capture system, the increase in water consumption per megawatt-hour (MWh) of electrical output can be as high as 90%.” Quoting from the site carboncapturefacts.org, “In 2021, more than 300 U.S. research scientists, including many of the nation’s top climatologists and public health professionals, submitted a letter to President Biden calling CCS [or CCUS] a ‘delay tactic’ and a ‘dangerous distraction.’”
All this danger, all this inefficacy, and it’s not even a good economic investment! Sean O’Leary, senior researcher for the organization Ohio River Valley Institute, recently told E&E News the following:
“Once it is completed, the proposed plant will inflict higher taxes and higher utility bills while still contributing to pollution and the loss of jobs and population that has accompanied natural gas development in Appalachia. In short, if the objective is to decarbonize our energy sector at the lowest possible cost, with the greatest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and with the greatest amount of job creation, the development of renewable resources would do a much better job of all three.”
O’Leary mentioned in a Twitter post that, “CCS adds $38/MWh to the cost of generating electricity with gas. In 2021, the wholesale price of energy in PJM [PJM is the wholesale electricity market that includes West Virginia] was only $39.86, so electricity from this plant will be at least 2X as costly as the average. Renewable resources would be cheaper and eliminate emissions entirely.”
We are building electric vehicle batteries, electric car chargers, electric school buses, and even electric pontoon boats in West Virginia. Berkshire Hathaway is investing $500 million in Jackson County for a renewable energy microgrid-powered production facility to produce aeronautic titanium. Let’s not lose sight of that progress in favor of combined-cycle gas, which cannot compete with renewables on a levelized-costs basis, especially with added CCUS. Let’s stay focused on a clean, safe, efficient, renewable and sustainable future for West Virginia as an energy state.
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Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
One of the most daunting tasks confronting those areas that comprise the Appalachian region is the repair of damage caused by the unfettered extraction of oil and gas that took place since 1860. Abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells are an environmental and safety hazard that leach pollutants into the air and water including methane, which is many times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. These wells, many of which were drilled before modern regulatory regimens, contaminate ground water, threaten agriculture, reduce property values and can cause dangerous explosions. A stark example of the danger of these wells was the Veto Lake blowout that occurred in western Washington County in August 2021. Although the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has not come up with a final report on this event, many assume that the large effluent of raw petroleum was the result of disturbance of an orphaned oil well by excessive injection of brine waste in western Washington County.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are 746,000 abandoned and orphaned oil & gas wells in the U.S., and that the cost of closing these wells is between $78 billion and $280 billion. The Ohio River Valley Institute (Boettner, 2021) has reviewed the situation of these wells in four states of the Ohio River Valley–Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. These four states account for over one-third of abandoned wells in the U.S. The cost of plugging each well varies considerably–from $6,500 to $87,500. At the rate at which these wells were plugged since 2018 it would take 895 years to complete the job!
But some help is on the way to begin to address this challenging task. An important part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed by Congress last fall is the Federal Orphaned Well Program. This program provides $94.7 billion over nine years, 91% of which goes to the states. Much of these funds, in the form of performance grants, are directed to the four states in the Ohio River Valley and are intended to lower unemployment and improve the economic conditions of distressed areas like West Virginia and Appalachian Ohio. It is estimated that 15,151 jobs could be created over 20 years to carry out this important work of plugging orphaned wells. The ORVI study reports that $216 million from these federal funds will go to West Virginia and $334 million to Ohio. The agencies responsible for these funds are: the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (Division of Oil & Gas Resources Management) and in West Virginia the Department of Environmental Protection (Office of Oil and Gas).
On Sept.9, 2022, the Marietta Times reported that Keith Faber, the State Auditor of Ohio, was in Marietta the day before to describe the state plans for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells. He indicated that state funds are available through ODNR for financial services to local governments and that the goals of the state program for plugging abandoned wells are to: improve the inventory, increase the number of wells put to bid, and explore the use of contractors and public/private partnerships to address the problem. He also made the rather startling admission that ODNR has never met its expenditure requirement for these funds. His statements should be a call to arms for local entrepreneurs and public entities with an interest in addressing this serious environmental problem and in job creation.
President Bill Ruud of Marietta College has mentioned the College’s plans to expand its Department of Petroleum Engineering and Geology into an Energy Center. As he seeks input into the scope this new Center, he is well advised to include projects to address the problem of abandoned oil and gas wells as among the tasks of this program. There are research, pressing environmental and employment issues associated with abandoned oil and gas wells, and grant funds available to carry out these tasks.
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George Banziger, Ph..D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. Now retired, he is a volunteer for the Harvest of Hope. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Citizens Climate Lobby, and of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.
A man opens a newspaper and reads the headline: “Climate endgame: Risk of human extinction ‘dangerously underexplored.’”
He reads a paragraph into the story before folding the paper and skipping to the next article below the fold.
“Scientists Say It’s ‘Fatally Foolish’ To Not Study Catastrophic Climate Outcomes,” it begins.
He unfolds the paper and scans the headlines, before turning each page in disgust.
“Major sea-level rise caused by melting of Greenland ice cap is ‘now inevitable’”
“Revealed: How climate breakdown is supercharging toll of extreme weather”
“Climate impacts have worsened vast range of human diseases”
“The Arctic is heating up nearly four times faster than the whole planet, study finds”
“U.S. Sets Record for High Overnight Temperatures in July, Giving Little Relief to Hot Days”
“Climate Crisis Is Killing Off Key Insects and Spreading Insect-Borne Diseases”
“Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Could be Melting Faster than We Thought”
At last the man can’t stand it. He snaps the paper shut and wads it into a pile in his lap, eventually tossing it into the garbage.
He steps onto his front porch into the dreary grayness of a new day. He reads his front porch thermometer, then straightens up with a triumphant smile on his face. The temperature has gone down nearly 20 degrees overnight, and the day is unseasonably cold.
“Ha!” he exclaims. “Where’s you’re global warming now, liberals?!”
The scenario I’ve described is obviously a composite, but every headline is real, as is the man and his reaction to them.
A study in “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes” has found humans are often more inclined to rely on anecdotal, non-scientific/fact-based evidence, particularly in situations involving stressful and/or highly emotional circumstances.
It makes sense, to a degree, that we might be designed to process information this way. Throughout the majority of our existence, we’ve had no particular reason or incentive to take the entire world or any scientific body of evidence into consideration. Until the last few hundred years or so, we really haven’t had the ability to consider how our actions might impact someone living on the other side of the world, or how events around the globe might have a deep and unexpected impact on our own lives.
We’ve gotten through life by reacting to what was happening in our immediate surroundings, without having to take the abstract behemoth of a wider world into consideration. It isn’t surprising, then, that we in our isolated little pockets of existence should struggle to comprehend the hydra-like tangle of global complexities that is the anthropogenic climate crisis.
A few weeks ago I happened across a letter to the editor in another newspaper, which essentially made the argument: “If sea levels are really rising like the climate people all say, then how come when I watch Wheel of Fortune they give away all these prize getaway packages to beautiful islands, when they should all be under water by now?”
The question is so absurd I’m not going to bother with addressing it, but I feel it perfectly encapsulates the idea I’ve been describing. This person may be completely unaffected by the 99% of scientific papers agreeing about the dangers of the anthropogenic climate crisis, but this small window into the wider world, which has likely been beamed into their home every weekday evening since the 1980s, is enough to nullify the threat of one of the greatest crises ever faced by humanity. They simply trust what they know.
It isn’t hard to understand why an average person might feel an unseasonably cold day in their neighborhood is evidence against global warming. Or why they feel deadly famines in a part of the world they’ve never heard of have nothing to do with them. Or why, as in a case like Kentucky’s deadly summer flooding, even those climate catastrophes which directly harm us and our immediate neighbors don’t necessarily correlate with global warming.
At the end of the day, we’re simply better at understanding things that are close to home. The mind-bending complexity of the climate crisis, coupled with the well documented, decades-long efforts of the fossil fuel industry to obfuscate the truth and spread misinformation, can make it seem easier to shut it out of our minds and deny there’s a threat.
But it IS a threat that grows larger and closer to our doorstep each day. For far too many, the threat has already arrived. And it is critical we begin to challenge how we think about the world around us, and learn how to engage directly with the facts of the climate crisis, however difficult or inconvenient. Only then can we take the steps needed to overcome the many challenges ahead and have some hope of surviving this crisis, together.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Find Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on the following social media:
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Suggested Readings for November 2022
MOVCA October 2022 Selected Media Postings
Compiled by Cindy Taylor
Appearing on-line in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:
October 27, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“Feds take input on $1 billion program for rural energy upgrades, including microgrids eyed for larger populations in WV”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/feds-take-input-on-1-billion-program-for-rural-energy-upgrades-including-microgrids-eyed-for/article_3a43ab3d-15ee-590f-be0d-592b43a65fc6.html
October 20, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“WV environmental groups press case challenging DEP water quality certification for Mountain Valley Pipeline”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/wv-environmental-groups-press-case-challenging-dep-water-quality-certification-for-mountain-valley-pipeline/article_f1b8fec7-914c-5905-847c-bc0fa9ddf7d3.html
October 14, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“West Virginia faces toxic aftermath of industrial water pollution as Clean Water Act turns 50”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/west-virginia-faces-toxic-aftermath-of-industrial-water-pollution-as-clean-water-act-turns-50/article_62939d32-d3ad-5382-95bc-b83ef48c4f45.html
October 13, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“House speaker touts nuclear option for WV amid transition from coal”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/house-speaker-touts-nuclear-option-for-wv-amid-transition-from-coal/article_69051d4e-0bd4-55f3-85a9-5855dc545e36.html
October 8, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“Amid high industry-fueled health risks, WV officials objected to tighter methane regulations with new EPA rule in pipeline”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/amid-high-industry-fueled-health-risks-wv-officials-objected-to-tighter-methane-regulations-with-new/article_ed622cd4-bfc3-586f-8d75-6692647636fe.html
October 7, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“Nation’s largest gas well owner says DEP agreement shields it from plugging responsibility in WV landowner lawsuit”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/nations-largest-gas-well-owner-says-dep-agreement-shields-it-from-plugging-responsibility-in-wv/article_4819c241-562e-5c60-b06f-065aea6a64ff.html
October 3, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“West Virginia eyes electric vehicle infrastructure buildout with $45 million plan”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/west-virginia-eyes-electric-vehicle-infrastructure-buildout-with-45-million-plan/article_08a7f9e3-3998-5cf9-a366-8a0b9bba7ca4.html
Appearing on WTAP:
October 28, 2022 Article by Cathy Bussewitz
“Oil giants rake in record profits amid high energy prices”
https://www.wtap.com/2022/10/28/oil-giant-exxon-rakes-record-1966-billion-profits/#l9t7x2aul6ujv07d0t
Appearing on-line on Ohio River Valley Institute https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org :
October 13, 2022 Research article by Sean O’Leary
“Inflation & Natural Gas: A Disease and its Carrier”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/inflation-natural-gas-a-disease-and-its-carrier/
October 12, 2022 Article by Ben Hunkler
“Industry is Misleading the Public on Carbon Capture, Internal Documents Show”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/industry-is-misleading-the-public-on-carbon-capture-internal-documents-show/
October 4, 2022 Article by Ben Hunkler
“ORVI Makes Waves at the 2022 Global Clean Energy Action Forum”
Appearing on-line on WV Public Broadcasting or WOUB (PBS) or NPR:
October 27, 2022 Climate Article by Lauren Sommer and 3min. audio heard on All things Considered
“Here’s how far behind the world is on reining in climate change”
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/1131687504/heres-how-far-behind-the-world-is-on-reining-in-climate-change
October 26, 2022 Associated Press Climate Article
“Greenhouse gases reach a new record as nations fall behind on climate pledges”
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/26/1131671933/greenhouse-gases-record-climate-pledges-un
October 24, 2022 Investigative Report by Laura Sullivan. Text and 4 min. audio heard on All Things Considered
“Recycling plastic is practically impossible- and the problem is getting worse”
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-is-practically-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse
October 18, 2022 Climate Article by Juanpablo Ramiriz-Franco & Eva Tesfaye
“Mississippi River Basin adapts as climate change brings extreme rain and flooding”
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/18/1127966940/mississippi-river-basin-adapts-as-climate-change-brings-extreme-rain-and-floodin
October 17, 2022 Business article by Dave Mistch Text and 7-Minute Audio (heard on All Things Considered)
“Coal companies use bankruptcy and asset transfers to shed obligations”
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/17/1128354266/coal-companies-use-bankruptcy-and-asset-transfers-to-shed-obligations
October 14, 2022 News article by Alexa Beyer/Ohio Valley ReSource
“The Biden administration has yet to finish a key review of mountaintop removal’s health impacts”
Available from West Virginia Rivers:
October 19, 2022 Article by Morgan King, climate campaign coordinator
“Climate is on the ballot this November”
October 12, 2022 Article with link to take Action: Send Comments to the EPA on Toxic PFAS by November 7, 2022
“EPA: Designate Toxic PFAS as Hazardous Substances”
See WV Rivers Climate Video Library: “Learn more about climate change and its impacts and solutions by exploring gallery of videos, webinars, forums and press conferences.” Includes links to 2022 Climate Candidate Forums; Webinars; WV Climate Alliance Videos; and WV Rivers Climate & Water Webinar Series.
October 25, 2022 Dunbar: Energy, Jobs, & Justice: Candidate Forum, West Virginia State University
October 2, 2022 Morgantown: Energy, Jobs, & Justice: Candidate Forum, West Virginia University
September 13, 2022 Huntington: Energy, Jobs, & Justice: Candidate Forum, Marshall University
Available on West Virginia Center on Climate Change (WV3C):
News: Webinar Programs are Successful! Links provided to webinars.
October 3, 2022 Hybrid program at U. of Charleston, WV
“2022 and the Climate Crisis – What Happened , and What’s Ahead?”
NATIONAL ATTENTION & Relevant to our region:
Available from FrackCheckWV:
October 12, 2022 Article by Randi Pokladnik
“Plastics Industry is Promoting Bogus Recycling Schemes: Another False Solution for Plastic Pollution”
https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2022/10/12/plastics-industry-is-promoting-bogus-chemical-recycling-schemes/
Available online from The Guardian:
October 23, 2022 Article by Nina Lakhani
“Exposure to environmental toxins may be root of rise in neurological disorders” Doctors warn exposure to omnipresent yet poorly understood chemicals such as microplastics could play role in dementia.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/23/environmental-toxins-neurological-disorders-parkinsons-alzheimers
October 12, 2022 Article by Tom Perkins
“US firms exploiting Trump-era loophole over toxic ‘forever chemicals’” Study finds chemical companies dodging federal law designed to track how many PFAS plants are pumping into environment
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/12/pfas-toxic-forever-chemicals-trump-era-loophole
Available on Inside Climate News:
October 16, 2022 Fossil Fuels Article by Jon Hurdle
“Environmentalists Fear a Massive New Plastics Plant Near Pittsburgh Will Worsen Pollution and Stimulate Fracking” Shell facility opening soon has been granted a permit to emit more volatile organic compounds than the Clairton Cole Works, a notorious polluter.
RESOURCES, RESEARCH, and SOLUTIONS:
Available from CIEL (Center for International Environmental Law):
October 2022: Article about CIEL’s new REPORT with links to the report, executive summary and explanatory video
Fossils, Fertilizers, and False Solutions: How Laundering Fossil Fuels in Agrochemicals Puts the Climate and the Planet at Risk
Available on The WashingtonPost.com:
October 31, 2022 Analysis by Vanessa Montalbano
“For Gen Z voters, combating climate change is top of mind”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/31/gen-z-voters-combating-climate-change-is-top-mind/
October 10, 2022 Analysis by Maxine Joselow with research by Vanessa Montalbano
“Half of voters say climate change is important in midterms, poll finds”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/10/half-voters-say-climate-change-is-important-midterms-poll-finds/
Available on Climate Central:
October 11, 2022 Climate Matters summary of REPORT
“Billion-Dollar Disasters in 2022”
https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/billion-dollar-disasters-in-2022
Available from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information):
October 11, 2022 Overview of REPORT from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters”
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/overview
Available from WATERKEEPER Alliance:
October 18, 2022 Waterkeeper Alliance Press Release about PFAS STUDY
“Unprecedented Analysis Reveals PFAS Contamination in U.S. Waterways Shows Shocking Levels of Contamination”
Available on PV magazine:
October 27, 2022 Article by Beatriz Santos
“New solar capacity 10 times cheaper than gas, says Rystad”
October 17, 2022 Article by Ryan Kennedy
“Rooftop wind energy innovation claims 505 more energy than solar at same cost” BASF is currently testing Aeromine Technologies’ patented motionless wind-harvesting system.
Available on The New York Times:
October 19, 2022 Future of Transportation Article by Eric A. Taub
“E.V.s Start With a Bigger Carbon Footprint. But That Doesn’t Last.” The manufacturing and disposal of electric vehicles result in more greenhouse gasses than nonelectric models, but that difference will eventually disappear altogether.
Available on UPI:
October 26, 2022 Science News Article by Daniel J. Graeber
“NASA satellites identify more than 50 methane ‘super emitters’” NASA found several huge plumes of methane using imagery technology installed on the International Space Station
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2022/10/26/nasa-methane-iss-emit/7261666792546/
Available on NASA’s Global Climate Change:
October 25, 2022 Article by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – media contacts: Andrew Wang and Jane J. Lee
“Methane ‘Super-Emitters’ Mapped by NASA’s New Earth Space Mission”
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3228/methane-super-emitters-mapped-by-nasas-new-earth-space-mission/
October 12, 2022 Article by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – media contacts: Andrew Wang and Jane J. Lee
“NASA Dust Detective Delivers First Maps From Space for Climate Science” Measurements from EMIT, the Earth Surface Dust Source Investigation, will improve computer simulations researchers use to understand climate change.
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3223/nasa-dust-detective-delivers-first-maps-from-space-for-climate-science/
Available on Common Dreams:
October 23, 2022 Article by Andy Rowell
“Ahead of COP27, Big Oil Climate Denial More Potent Than Ever”
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/10/23/ahead-cop27-big-oil-climate-denial-more-potent-ever
Available online from The Guardian:
October 30, 2022 Science Article in The Observer by Robin McKie
“Cop27 climate summit: window for avoiding catastrophe is closing fast”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/30/cop27-climate-summit-window-for-avoiding-catastrophe-is-closing-fast
Available on Yale Climate Connections:
October 28, 2022 by YCC Team
“U.S. coal use is falling, but some communities still bear pollution burden” A recent study of 11 states finds that natural gas plants are disproportionately located in communities of color and low-income areas. Text and 1:30 min. audio
October 28, 2022 Commentary by Kathleen Dean Moore
“Commentary: How a quiz helps people find their preferred role in climate action” Part personality, part decision tree, part choose-your-own-adventure, a new tool aims to help people find the climate action best suited for them.
October 2, 2022 Article by Kathleen Dean Moore and SueEllen Campbell
“What can YOU do about climate change? Take this quiz to find out.“ Everyone has a special role in the struggle for a stable climate. What’s yours? The authors offer some questions to help you find it.
A NEW BOOK TO READ TO/WITH KIDS:
Announced on Yale Climate Connections (YCC):
October 24, 2022 Article and 1:30 audio by YCC Team. Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media
“New Book helps parents have ‘the climate talk’ with kids” It stars a squirrel named Coco.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Climate, war and existential threats
Oct 29, 2022
Aaron Dunbar
Jeffery Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, was recently a speaker at the Athens Democracy Forum in Athens, Greece. When comparing the primary forms of government among major world superpowers such as China and Russia, Sachs made a point to note that “You can be democratic at home and ruthlessly imperial abroad. The most violent country in the world since 1950 has been the United States.”
Here he was promptly cut off by the moderator, but was nonetheless greeted with applause from the audience.
I first became involved in climate activism for a very simple reason. The climate crisis was, without exaggeration, the single greatest existential threat being faced by humanity. It was the issue upon which all other issues hinged, ranging from racial justice and immigration, to healthcare and class inequality, and so much more. A stable society, essentially, is dependent on a stable environment.
And while I still absolutely believe all of this to be the case, it is now undeniable to me that the imminence of the climate crisis has, at least temporarily, been overshadowed by a danger far more immediate and destructive, which doesn’t seem to be attracting even a sliver of the attention of those professing to be the most dedicated to protecting our biosphere- namely, the threat of nuclear war.
Early this month, President Biden finally admitted (albeit to donors behind closed doors, rather than to the general public), that the world is now at its greatest risk for nuclear armageddon since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
One might hope that, given such a grim assessment, the U.S. might show some glimmer of an interest in seeking a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine, rather than pumping an endless torrent of military aid into what U.S. officials have essentially admitted is a proxy war against Russia. An act which, it’s worth noting, Vladimir Putin has been quite emphatic about considering an act of provocation on our part.
Instead, the U.S. has now deployed the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to Europe for the first time since World War II, and is “fully prepared” to enter Ukraine and attack Russia, should the situation escalate.
A minuscule smattering of Democrats, who would falsely declare themselves to be the more anti-war party of America’s political system (in reality, no actual anti-war movement exists in America), did feebly sign onto a letter urging President Biden to pursue a diplomatic solution to the war.
Said letter was released this week, was met with an avalanche of criticism from the majority of the Democratic Party, and was then promptly retracted when progressives went scurrying back on the issue with their tails between their legs, as is so often their preferred tactic when pretending to take on the corrupt establishment.
It shouldn’t need to be reiterated at this point just how unfathomably, viciously destructive the use of a singular nuclear weapon would be. I shouldn’t have to paint a picture of the thousands upon thousands of instant deaths at the moment of impact, the horrific cancerous after effects, or the lands made uninhabitable by these instruments of sheer destruction. But apparently, those respectable types pursuing “U.S. interests” on our behalf seem to have forgotten these risks- or, more than likely, they simply do not care.
America’s participation in this war has never been about saving the lives of Ukrainians, despite politicians, media outlets, and the military industrial complex manufacturing the public’s consent by exploiting the genuine, humanitarian impulses of everyday people. Our warmongering military officials, all the way up to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have explicitly stated that their intention in being involved in Ukraine is simply to try and weaken Russia. Biden’s comparisons to the Cuban Missile Crisis behind closed doors make it abundantly clear that the risks of further pursuing this goal now vastly outweigh whatever supposed “benefits” our warlords might once have hoped to gain.
No human being who is concerned about the climate crisis should remain silent on this issue. Our unhinged military’s neverending bloodlust and these psychotic games of nuclear chicken are as great, if not greater threats than the heating of our planet due to greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, these hegemonic shows of force are only likely to grow more intense and more dangerous as the planet warms, and geopolitical tensions are amplified. We must rise up against the lifelong conditioning and propaganda of American empire that have left us silent on matters of war and nuclear destruction, much as we’ve done against the onslaught of disinformation from the fossil fuel industry, if we are to leave this planet in a habitable state for future generations.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Leave it to beavers
Oct 22, 2022
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“The beaver told the rabbit as they stared at the Hoover Dam: ‘No, I didn’t build it myself, but it’s based on an idea of mine.’” — Charles Hard Townes
***
If you know any facts about beavers, it’s probably that the toothy rodents are known for being industrious. Most famously, they build dams. These giant structures made of sticks, stones, and mud can reach heights up to 10 feet and lengths averaging 20 feet. The biggest one ever found was in Alberta, Canada, and could be seen from space. As reported in 2010, it was a half- mile long.
As it turns out, these natural engineers may well be humans’ natural allies in efforts to confront climate change.
Beaver dams completely alter the landscape, flooding the surrounding area, and creating wetlands. It’s one reason beavers have often been considered pests that can cause serious damage when they build dams too close to homes or roads.
Scientists have understood beavers’ importance for decades. Studies are finding that beavers play a vital role in dampening the effects of the worsening climate crisis, especially in areas prone to fire, drought, and heat waves.
These web-footed, fat-tailed, amphibious rodents help countless other critters survive a heat wave. They not only drench certain landscapes in cold water but also help cool the air. They help make forests and grasslands less likely to burn.
It’s increasingly clear that these animals help safeguard ecosystems against the worst of climate change. Beavers are very much wildlife heroes in a warming world. We know that beavers build dams. But these structures are so much more than just a pile of sticks laid across a stream. They’re hydrological wonders.
Dams form ponds, widen rivers, and create wetlands, building all kinds of aquatic habitats that many other animals like birds and frogs rely on. Beavers are the ecosystem engineers of the animal world.
Because every ecosystem is unique, beavers can have different effects on the environment depending on where they are located.
More than just spreading water around, beavers’ dams also help cool it down. Dams can deepen streams, and deeper layers of water tend to be cooler. As streams run into these structures, they can start to carve into the river bed. So, there can be, for example, a six-foot-deep pool behind a three-foot-high beaver dam.
Dams also help force cold groundwater to the surface. Made of sticks, leaves, and mud, dams block water as it rushes downstream, forcing some of it to travel underground, where it mixes with chillier groundwater before resurfacing. Scientists tell us that is really important for a lot of temperature-sensitive species like salmon and trout.
The presence of beaver dams can also help chill the air. As all that water in a beaver habitat starts to evaporate, the adjacent air cools down. Turning water into vapor requires energy, and some of that energy comes from the heat in the air. It essentially functions like an AC system sitting out there in the landscape, keeping the air temperature, 10 or 15 degrees cooler, which, scientists point out, is a sizable difference.
Beaver damming also plays a significant role in protecting surrounding vegetation during wildfires. By helping replenish the groundwater that humans rely on, beavers’ dams also provide insurance against droughts.
We need smart, out-of-the-box ways to defend against the worst effects of climate change. Instead of just relying on human-made technologies and infrastructure, we can also restore species like beavers to the landscape, working with nature, instead of against it. We need to make our cities and towns much more resilient, not unlike a habitat filled with beaver dams.
Enlisting beavers in the effort could be one such way forward. They are, after all, the only other species anywhere nearly as capable as humans at transforming a landscape.
Beavers aren’t like other animals. In captivity they have to be groomed daily and nurtured or they fail to thrive. They have to have a constant person to care for them and lots of time spent with them. Kinda like Earth herself.
Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
***
Linda Eve Seth, SLP, M.Ed. is a mother, grandmother, concerned citizen and member of MOVCA.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: How much are you willing to tolerate?
Oct 15, 2022
Vic Elam
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
I am not a regular contributor to this column but found myself needing to express my concerns after a nearby event came to my attention. On Sept. 8 a brine truck carrying what was reported as drilling brine with zinc salts crashed on or near Mountaineer Highway near New Martinsville spilling 1260 gallons into a yard and a creek that leads to Little Fishing Creek which, of course leads to the Ohio River. Given the number of miles these brine trucks seem to travel in our part of the world it seems inevitable that these types of incidents are going to happen periodically. My concerns stem from the nature of the contents of these trucks and seeming lack of concern for this material entering our environment.
You don’t have to look far to find that the average level of radiation in the brine carried by these trucks is about 10 times the environmental discharge limit and 236 times the drinking water limit established by the EPA. Then you consider all the other contaminants like zinc, cadmium, arsenic, lead, benzene, and hundreds of others, it seems to be a witches brew unfit for any level of human or environmental exposure.
If this was an oil spill, measures would have been immediately deployed to contain the spill and clean it up, not so for brine spills. Brine is heavier than water, so the damage that is occurring beneath the surface is not apparent to us. Petrochemical-related facilities are already permitted to discharge over 500,000 pounds of toxic pollutants into the Ohio River Basin within Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia annually, so these spills just add to the already contaminated waters that serve us as a source of recreation and millions as a source of drinking water.
DIVING DEEPER
The reason brine spills are not treated with the same level of concern as oil spills may stem from the fact that brine is not considered a hazardous material even though it easily meets the standards. In 1988, political will urged by the petroleum industry forced the USEPA to exempt many substances used or produced by the petroleum industry from regulatory oversight. Since brine is not considered a hazardous material, haul trucks don’t require placarding and clean-up efforts are of little concern.
I could go into great depths about the impact “brine” will have to bottom dwelling organisms that form the basis for the food web in streams but suffice to say it is devastating.
There is little doubt that spills resulting from transporting brine are not the only source of brine contamination in the Ohio Valley, and frankly these types of spills may pale in comparison to other sources. Fracking waste that finds its way through fissures and comes to the surface or contaminates water supply aquifers, surfaces through old unplugged wells, or spills from pipelines or other sources have been documented.
The Mid-Ohio Valley was blessed with plentiful, clean water and little by little we seem determined to squander this vital resource. Let us not be complacent until it is too late and lament as in the well-known expression “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” – or as my grandfather would say, “nary a drop to drink.”
Thanks to many fact sources especially fractracker.org.
***
Vic Elam is an avid outdoorsman and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment and the children who we borrow it from.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: We are burning our grandkids’ future
Oct 8, 2022
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew what was happening to the world and did nothing?” This question, posed by Sir David Attenborough, should be one we all ask ourselves every single day. It is certainly a question I would ask local, state and federal politicians. To deny the major role mankind plays in the climate crisis, especially after the massive destruction of two back-to-back hurricanes, seems ridiculous. But I am sure people in our country will do just that; deny.
We now know that a warming planet increases the chances of catastrophic weather events. Wildfires and droughts in the western states are more severe and hurricanes have also intensified as they pass over warmer oceans. The storms that hit Ohio this past June 14t were the worst I have ever seen. Over 480 acres of forests at the Mohican-Memorial State Forest were severely damaged.
Billions of dollars of damage have occurred and many lives have been lost in these storms and wildfires, but still politicians refuse to take aggressive action to address the crisis. People in our country remain apathetic when it comes to taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.
There are many places in our lives where simple changes would make an impact on carbon emissions. People could car pool, purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles or buy electric vehicles, eat less meat, turn down thermostats in the winter and turn them up in the summer. We could recycle, compost food scraps, buy less stuff (especially plastic stuff), garden, support local agriculture, turn off lights, insulate our homes, and donate used clothes and appliances. These are just a few simple, painless steps we all could take to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Yet how many of these changes are people willing to take? We cannot even commit to the very simplest acts to help save the planet.
What if your home were destroyed like so many homes have been destroyed by the recent hurricanes: Fiona and Ian? What if everything you loved and cared about were gone? What if there was no food, no water, no shelter, no job, no future? Sounds pretty drastic but sadly, by ignoring the climate crisis and refusing to do anything to curtail the worst effects, we are creating climate refugees all over the planet. Will our grandchildren become climate refugees?
Scientists are desperately trying to shock the world into action. “As time runs out for the planet to avert a future of climate chaos, scientists around the world are throwing down the gauntlet. Climate change science has been settled for decades, yet policymakers have yet to take sweeping action, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb to record highs.”
As a climate scientist I echo the fears expressed by my colleagues. The fossil fuel industry continues to manipulate laws and policies to continue the destruction of our only home while they increase their profits. We don’t have time to debate; we don’t have time for false solutions like carbon capture, or blue hydrogen; and we don’t have time to slowly transition away from carbon-based fuels. We are out of time.
It is painful for me to admit, as both a scientist and a grandparent, that I am no longer hopeful or optimistic. A recent poll published in Harper’s Magazine October issue stated, “just 1 percent of voters in a New York Times/Siena College poll named climate as the most important issue facing the country.”
Scientists are now putting their lives on the line as they engage in peaceful civil disobedience, hunger strikes, the bodily obstruction of investment banks enabling new fossil fuel exploration, and the pasting of scientific papers to government buildings.
Like the scientists around the world, we too should be throwing down the gauntlet. We should be in the streets demanding action because without a livable planet, nothing else really matters. How can we justify apathy and inaction? What will we tell our grandkids? We watched while their world burned.
***
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.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Suggested Readings for October 2022
MOVCA September 2022 Selected Media Postings
Compiled by Cindy Taylor
Appearing online in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel:
September 29, 2022 Business article by Steven Allen Adams
“Plugging In: Feds approve West Virginia electric vehicle charging station plans”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/business/2022/09/plugging-in-feds-approve-west-virginia-electric-vehicle-charging-station-plans/
September 17, 2022 Local News by Steven Allen Adams
“Natural gas-fired power carbon capture plant coming to W.Va.: Manchin touts Inflation Reduction Act
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2022/09/natural-gas-fired-power-carbon-capture-plant-coming-to-w-va-2/
Appearing on-line in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:
September 29, 2022 Op-Ed by Eric Engle
“Don’t be fossil fooled”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/eric-engle-dont-be-fossil-fooled-opinion/article_493ce7a0-e39a-5e0e-bcfa-259b00fced4e.html
September 28, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“WV to head energy leader-laden hydrogen hub bid that critics see as boondoggle”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/wv-to-head-energy-leader-laden-hydrogen-hub-bid-that-critics-see-as-boondoggle/article_0d128ff3-0de1-5454-a2d2-1e9600877415.html
Eric Engle is quoted, “It’s green hydrogen or no hydrogen” . . . “The Ohio River Valley and the states of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania cannot handle another fossil-fuels-driven monstrosity like this hub.”
September 27, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“Manchin pulls plug on plan to include permitting reform proposal in stopgap spending measure”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/politics/manchin-pulls-plug-on-plan-to-include-permitting-reform-proposal-in-stopgap-spending-measure/article_8e9c5c6d-b163-5390-a429-4ac5d2e6a52a.html
September 26, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“Environmentalists say public input, community protection on the line amid Manchin’s bid to slash NEPA timelines”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/environmentalists-say-public-input-community-protection-on-the-line-amid-manchins-bid-to-slash-nepa/article_35a500ee-557c-5f39-8bb0-215aa2eb0f67.html
September 9, 2022 Op-Ed by Eric Engle
“Eric Engle: Manchin’s pipeline deal will devastate Appalachia”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/eric-engle-manchins-pipeline-deal-will-devastate-appalachia-opinion/article_0e5c0006-333d-528d-9628-8cfc21f400b1.html
September 3, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“Found in dozens of WV public water systems, PFAS provoking more aggressive action in other states and at federal level”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/found-in-dozens-of-wv-public-water-systems-pfas-provoking-more-aggressive-action-in-other/article_0d7d0f8c-05d5-5d2c-bed9-88b78fe3c0d4.html
Appearing on 12 WBOY:
September 1, 2022 News Article by Alexandra Weaver
“Here’s how to register to vote in West Virginia” (You have until Oct. 18th to register to participate in Nov. 8 election)
https://www.wboy.com/news/your-local-election-hq/heres-how-to-register-to-vote-in-west-virginia/
Appearing on-line on Ohio River Valley Institute https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org :
September 26, 2022 Staff Article about new REPORT with link to download
“A Clean Energy Pathway for Western Pennsylvania”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/a-clean-energy-pathway-for-western-pennsylvania/
September 11, 2022 Research Article by Ted Boettner
“First Tranche of Federal Orphan Wells Funds Out the Door”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/first-tranche-of-federal-orphan-well-funds-out-the-door/
September 8, 2022 Article by ORVI Staff announcing Global Clean Energy Action Forum (Sept. 22) in Pittsburgh
“ORVI at the Clean Energy Ministerial” with link to receive copy of ORVI’s decarbonization study
September 7, 2022 Research Article by Ben Hunkler with link the recording of the Webinar on same topic.
“Race to the Bottom: Carbon Injection Wells & Hydrogen Development in the Ohio River Valley and Gulf Coast”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/race-to-the-bottom-carbon-injection-wells-hydrogen-development-in-the-ohio-river-valley-and-the-gulf-coast/
August 30, 2022 Article and REPORT by Joe Cullen (missing from August media report)
Coal Plant Community Playbook: An Overview of Federal, State, and Local Resources & Best Practice Examples for Coal Communities
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/coal-plant-community-playbook/
August 29, 2022 Research Article by Eric de Place (missing from August media report)
“Appalachia is Fueling a Global Petrochemical Buildout” Natural gas liquids from the Ohio Valley are poised for major growth enabled by infrastructures decisions.
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/appalachia-is-fueling-a-global-petrochemical-buildout/
Appearing on-line on WV Public Broadcasting or WOUB (PBS) or NPR:
September 29, 2022 Article by Curtis Tate Text and 0:48 audio
“EPA Doubles Clean School Bus Rebate Program To Near $1Billion”
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2022-09-29/epa-doubles-clean-school-bus-rebate-program-to-near-1-billion
September 28, 2022 Article by Curtis Tate
“Manchin Bid On Energy Permitting Fails; Capito Sees A Path Forward” Text and 0:47 audio
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2022-09-28/manchin-bid-on-energy-permitting-fails-capito-sees-a-path-forward
September 15, 2022 Article by Randy Yohe
“W.Va. Company Brings Green Power Industry To the Nation”
https://www.wvpublic.org/economy/2022-09-15/w-va-company-brings-green-power-industry-to-the-nation
September 2, 2022 Economy Article by Randy Yohe Text and 1:01 audio
“Nearly $100 Million Coming to Develop Renewable Energy W. Va. Coalfield Industry, Jobs”
https://www.wvpublic.org/economy/2022-09-02/nearly-100-million-coming-to-develop-renewable-energy-w-va-coalfield-industry-jobs
August 31, 2022 Energy and Environment Article by Curtis Tate (missing from August media report)
“Justice, State and Local Leaders Dedicate Green Power Bus Factory”
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2022-08-30/justice-state-and-local-leaders-dedicate-green-power-bus-factory
August 31, 2022 Economy Article and report by Randy Yohe Text and 1:02 audio (missing from August media report)
“Electric Pontoon Boat Manufacturing Coming to W.Va.”
https://www.wvpublic.org/economy/2022-08-31/electric-pontoon-boat-manufacturer-coming-to-w-va
NATIONAL ATTENTION & Relevant to our region:
Available on The Hill:
September 20, 2022 Opinion column by Shanti Gamper-Rabindran
“Should taxpayers gamble on blue hydrogen and carbon capture?
Available on Route Fifty (Connecting state and local government leaders):
September 20, 2022 Commentary by Tom Croft, Heartland Capital Strategies
“Capitalizing Change: Appalachia’s Sustainable Finance Hub”
https://www.route-fifty.com/finance/2022/09/capitalizing-change-appalachias-sustainable-finance-hub/377422/
Available on Businesswire:
September 28, 2022 News Article
“State of West Virginia Brings Together Major Energy Companies and Leading Energy Technology Firms to Develop Clean Hydrogen Hub in the Region”: Hub Brings Together Producers, End-Users, World-Class Technology Experts, and Necessary Infrastructure to Advance the Production, Use and Delivery of Hydrogen in Appalachia
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220928005758/en/State-of-West-Virginia-Brings-Together-Major-Energy-Companies-and-Leading-Energy-Technology-Firms-to-Develop-a-Clean-Hydrogen-Hub-in-the-Region
Available on E & E NEWS:
September 19, 2022 Article by Carlos Anchondo
“Climate law spurs CCS at new West Virginia gas plant”
Available on DeSmog:
August 31, 2022 Article by Justin Nobel (missing from August report)
“Radioactive Waste ‘Everywhere’ at Ohio Oilfield Facility, Says Former Worker”
Available on Indigenous Environmental Network:
Posted 2022 People vs Fossil Fuels coalition and Stop MVP coalition rally in DC explained with link to registration
“Sept. 8: Mass Resistance To Manchin’s Dirty Pipeline Deal”
Available on CBS NEWS:
September 9, 2022 Article by Aimee Picchi
Biden’s inflation law offers up to $14,000 for home upgrades. Here’s how to qualify.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inflation-reduction-act-joe-biden-climate-energy-home-upgrades/#l7ytczam1xwxjgsuco8
Available on AP NEWS:
August 30, 2022 Article by John Raby
“Electric battery maker to locate factory in northern WVa”
https://apnews.com/article/technology-west-virginia-climate-and-environment-a8a5ae2cc374e87771664a95397ddc91
Available online on ELECTREK:
August 30, 2022 Article by Michelle Lewis (missing from August media report)
“The largest American solar panel maker pledges to build $1B factory in US Southeast” (OH investments mentioned)
Available on CANARY Media:
August 30, 2022 Article by Julian Spector (missing from August media report)
“Climate law incentives prompt First Solar to build another US factory”
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/climate-law-incentives-prompt-first-solar-factory-expansion
RESOURCES, RESEARCH, and SOLUTIONS:
Available on Inside Climate News:
September 29, 2022 Inside Clean Energy Article by Dan Gearino
“Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started”: You can’t completely banish fossil fuels from your home in one fell swoop, but some achievable plays are within reach, About Columbus OH area.
Available from Physicians for Social Responsibility:
September 29, 2022 REPORT by Dusty Horwitt, J.d. and Barbara Gottlieb; Data Analysis by Gary Allison
Fracking with “Forever Chemicals” in Ohio: Evidence Shows Oil and Gas Companies Have Used PFAS in Ohio Wells; ‘Trade Secret’ Laws Limit Public’s Ability to Know Full Extent of Use.
Click to access fracking-with-forever-chemicals-in-ohio.pdf
Available online from BBC:
September 13, 2022 Article by Jonah Fisher, Environment Correspondent
“Switching to renewable energy could save trillions – study”
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62892013
Available online from The Guardian:
September 30, 2021 Article by Michael E. Mann and Susan Joy Hassol
“Hurricane Ian is no anomaly. The climate crisis is making storms more powerful”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/30/hurricane-ian-climate-crisis-no-anomaly-storms-more-powerful
September 27, 2021 Article by Damian Carrington
“Huge expansion of oil pipelines endangering climate, says report” More that 24,000km of pipelines planned around the world, showing ‘an almost deliberate failure to meet climate goals’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/27/huge-expansion-oil-pipelines-endangering-climate-says-report
September 23, 2022 Article by Tom Perkins
“ ‘Forever chemicals’ detected in all umbilical cord blood in 40 studies” Studies collectively examined nearly 30,000 samples over the past five years in ‘disturbing’ findings.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/23/forever-chemicals-found-umbilical-cord-blood-samples-studies
September 11, 2022 Article by Joan E. Greve
“ ‘Transformational’: could America’s new green bank be a climate gamechanger?”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/11/green-bank-clean-energy-climate-change
September 8, 2022 Environment Article by Damian Carrington
“World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds” Giant ice sheets, ocean currents and permafrost regions may already have passed point of irreversible change’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/08/world-on-brink-five-climate-tipping-points-study-finds
included is this link to the RESEARCH article published September 9, 2022 in Science:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7950
September 1, 2022 Opinion sharing new STUDY by Adrienne Matei
“Polling shows that US voters favor climate bills – yet assume fellow Americans don’t”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/01/us-voters-assume-fellow-americans-dont-favor-climate-bills
Available from The American Prospect:
September 23, 2022 Article by Hannah Story Brown, & Dorothy Slater
“The Problem With Emission Reduction Models” They are partially based on what even some of the modelers acknowledge are faulty data, particularly on methane.
https://prospect.org/environment/problem-with-emission-reduction-models/
September 1, 2022 Article by Jasmina Burek, Assistant Professor of Engineering. UMass Lowell
“The most cost-effective energy efficiency investments you can make – and how the new Inflation Reduction Act could help”
https://theconversation.com/the-most-cost-effective-energy-efficiency-investments-you-can-make-and-how-the-new-inflation-reduction-act-could-help-188506
Available from Yale Climate Connections:
September 2, 2022 Climate Science article by SueEllen Campbell
“These recent pieces take a ‘big picture’ look at the climate challenge” How we as individuals on climate change reflects our broader perspectives on the issue beyond our own first-hand experiences.
Available on repeatproject.org: REPEAT Rapid Policy Evaluation and Analysis Toolkit
August 2022 REPORT by Princeton University’s ZERO Lab, Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Evolved Energy Research, and Carbon Impact Consulting. Authors: Jenkins, J.D., Mayfield, E.N., Farbes, J., Jones, R., Patankar, N., Xu, Q., & Schivley, G.
“Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”
Click to access REPEAT_IRA_Prelminary_Report_2022-08-12.pdf
Resources available from Energy Innovation Policy & Technology LLC:
Including “Modeling The Inflation Reduction Act Using The Energy Policy Simulator” and “Updated Inflation Reduction Act Modeling Using Energy Policy Simulator” both posted in August 2022
Available from Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA.org):
August 4, 2022 IEEFA brief by Dennis Wamsted and David Schlissel
“IEEFA U.S.: Mothballing of Petra Nova carbon capture project shows likely fate of other coal-fired CCS initiatives”
https://ieefa.org/articles/ieefa-us-mothballing-petra-nova-carbon-capture-project-shows-likely-fate-other-coal-fired
RECCOMENDED BOOK TO READ:
Suggested by Eric Engle
The Coal Trap: How West Virginia Was Left Behind in the Clean Energy Revolution
By James M. Van Nostrand
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Plug in, Mid-Ohio Valley
Oct 1, 2022
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the transportation sector is the #1 source of carbon pollution in the United States. At 29% in 2021, transportation now generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, every car company has production plans for electric vehicles (EVs). And most are on the path to a fully electric future. Last year, Chair and CEO of General Motors, Mary T. Barra, announced that the company would stop making gas powered vehicles by 2035. Even Exxon Mobile publicly agreed electric vehicles are the future. In June, in an interview with CNBC’s David Farber, the oil giant’s CEO, Darrin Woods, predicted that by 2040 every new passenger car sold in the world will be electric. EV technology has advanced rapidly and an expansion of the market is definitely anticipated, including many more affordable models.
For the first time since 2019, the North American International Auto Show, the largest in North America, was held in September. President Biden attended opening day and used the opportunity to announce the approval of the first $900 million dollars in U.S. funding to build EV charging stations in 35 states, part of the $1 trillion dollar infrastructure law approved last November. Congress and Biden have pledged tens of billions of dollars in loans, manufacturing and consumer tax credits and grants to speed the transition from internal combustion vehicles to cleaner EVs. The Big Three automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler, showed off new EVs while the president highlighted the automakers’ EV push, including billions of dollars in investments.
Individuals interested in EVs have the opportunity to attend a local event being held this weekend. Sunday, Oct. 2, the final day of National Drive Electric Week (NDEW). The “Southeast Ohio NDEW Ride and Drive” will be held that day from 1-4 p.m. at Civitan Park, 1500 Blennerhassett Ave., Belpre. Drive Electric Southeast Ohio and the West Virginia Electric Auto Association, groups made up of EV owners and enthusiasts, will be welcoming attendees to this event. The latest makes and models of several electric vehicles will be on site and attendees will have the chance to take them for a drive as well as talk to EV owners and leaders in the clean transportation industry about driving electric. There will be speakers throughout the day and even a raffle. The event is free and open to the public. Signs and banners will be hung up to help you find them.
This shift to transportation’s electrification is critical to addressing the climate crisis but it should have come much sooner! Investigations done by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), as well as other organizations, have uncovered hundreds of pages of historic documents with striking parallels between the automakers and oil companies. CIEL’s research demonstrates that two of America’s biggest automakers, General Motors and Ford, as well as one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, Exxon Mobil Corp. were aware of climate risks years earlier than suspected. The documents reveal that for decades, these companies failed to act on the knowledge that their products were heating the planet. At the same time, these industries were donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups that created public doubt about the scientific consensus on global warming.
According to Carroll Muffett, CIEL’s president and CEO, “CIEL’s findings add to the growing body of evidence that the oil industry worked to actively undermine public confidence in climate science and in the need for climate action even as its own knowledge of climate risks was growing.” Muffett’s description of automakers is essentially the same. He stated that the industry was “deeply and actively engaged,” since the 1960s, in understanding how their cars affected the climate. “We also know that … the auto industry was involved in efforts to undermine climate science and stop progress to address climate change,” Muffett said.
It’s sad this behavior seems to be standard operating procedure for many international corporations. Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the increasingly understood negative impacts to the planet and human health, thank goodness the future of transportation is FINALLY electric. We can only hope it’s better late than never for the sake of future generations.
***
Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Proposed plant a dangerous distraction
Sep 24, 2022
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The company Competitive Power Ventures Inc. has announced plans to build a combined-cycle natural gas power plant in West Virginia, an 1,800-megawatt facility representing a $3 billion investment that could potentially be built in Doddridge County (this is not certain). The facility would use carbon capture and storage technology made possible by expansion of what are referred to as 45Q tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. This facility, and carbon capture and storage (or carbon capture, utilization and storage, as it is often referred to) more broadly, are terrible ideas.
Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is dangerous, unproven at anywhere near scale, and massively expensive, even with taxpayer subsidization. The “utilization” part is often deliberately left out when describing these processes because it’s an environmental nonstarter. Captured CO2 has, more often than not, been used to extract more oil through a process called advanced oil recovery. What’s the use of capturing these emissions if you’re just going to turn around and use them to recover more emissions-producing fossil fuels? Profit motive is the only rational driver in that scenario. As far as actual emissions reductions, a mitigation report released in April 2022 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that, by 2030, CCUS could cut only half the CO2 emissions that could be cut by solar, wind, and efficiency, and CCUS is far more expensive.
When I say that CCUS is dangerous, I mean it’s dangerous to public health and safety. The site carboncapturefacts.org, sponsored by the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), breaks down the numerous ways CCUS is a threat to the lives, safety and health of communities in its path. CO2, for example, is an asphyxiant and toxicant. In high quantities (such as what would occur in a leak from a CO2 pipeline or storage site), it depletes oxygen in the surrounding environment. Inhalation of high concentrations causes a lowering of the pH of blood and tissues (acidosis) causing acute effects on the respiratory, cardiovascular, and central nervous systems.
CCUS also requires a tremendous amount of water. To quote from SEHN, “A CO2 capture system requires additional water for cooling and make-up, increasing the water requirements for power plants. Estimates in the technical literature show that, with the addition of a full-scale post-combustion capture system, the increase in water consumption per megawatt-hour (MWh) of electrical output can be as high as 90%.” Quoting from the site carboncapturefacts.org, “In 2021, more than 300 U.S. research scientists, including many of the nation’s top climatologists and public health professionals, submitted a letter to President Biden calling CCS [or CCUS] a ‘delay tactic’ and a ‘dangerous distraction.’”
All this danger, all this inefficacy, and it’s not even a good economic investment! Sean O’Leary, senior researcher for the organization Ohio River Valley Institute, recently told E&E News the following:
“Once it is completed, the proposed plant will inflict higher taxes and higher utility bills while still contributing to pollution and the loss of jobs and population that has accompanied natural gas development in Appalachia. In short, if the objective is to decarbonize our energy sector at the lowest possible cost, with the greatest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and with the greatest amount of job creation, the development of renewable resources would do a much better job of all three.”
O’Leary mentioned in a Twitter post that, “CCS adds $38/MWh to the cost of generating electricity with gas. In 2021, the wholesale price of energy in PJM [PJM is the wholesale electricity market that includes West Virginia] was only $39.86, so electricity from this plant will be at least 2X as costly as the average. Renewable resources would be cheaper and eliminate emissions entirely.”
We are building electric vehicle batteries, electric car chargers, electric school buses, and even electric pontoon boats in West Virginia. Berkshire Hathaway is investing $500 million in Jackson County for a renewable energy microgrid-powered production facility to produce aeronautic titanium. Let’s not lose sight of that progress in favor of combined-cycle gas, which cannot compete with renewables on a levelized-costs basis, especially with added CCUS. Let’s stay focused on a clean, safe, efficient, renewable and sustainable future for West Virginia as an energy state.
***
Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Cleaning up from the past
Sep 17, 2022
George Banziger
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner
One of the most daunting tasks confronting those areas that comprise the Appalachian region is the repair of damage caused by the unfettered extraction of oil and gas that took place since 1860. Abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells are an environmental and safety hazard that leach pollutants into the air and water including methane, which is many times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. These wells, many of which were drilled before modern regulatory regimens, contaminate ground water, threaten agriculture, reduce property values and can cause dangerous explosions. A stark example of the danger of these wells was the Veto Lake blowout that occurred in western Washington County in August 2021. Although the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has not come up with a final report on this event, many assume that the large effluent of raw petroleum was the result of disturbance of an orphaned oil well by excessive injection of brine waste in western Washington County.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are 746,000 abandoned and orphaned oil & gas wells in the U.S., and that the cost of closing these wells is between $78 billion and $280 billion. The Ohio River Valley Institute (Boettner, 2021) has reviewed the situation of these wells in four states of the Ohio River Valley–Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. These four states account for over one-third of abandoned wells in the U.S. The cost of plugging each well varies considerably–from $6,500 to $87,500. At the rate at which these wells were plugged since 2018 it would take 895 years to complete the job!
But some help is on the way to begin to address this challenging task. An important part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed by Congress last fall is the Federal Orphaned Well Program. This program provides $94.7 billion over nine years, 91% of which goes to the states. Much of these funds, in the form of performance grants, are directed to the four states in the Ohio River Valley and are intended to lower unemployment and improve the economic conditions of distressed areas like West Virginia and Appalachian Ohio. It is estimated that 15,151 jobs could be created over 20 years to carry out this important work of plugging orphaned wells. The ORVI study reports that $216 million from these federal funds will go to West Virginia and $334 million to Ohio. The agencies responsible for these funds are: the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (Division of Oil & Gas Resources Management) and in West Virginia the Department of Environmental Protection (Office of Oil and Gas).
On Sept.9, 2022, the Marietta Times reported that Keith Faber, the State Auditor of Ohio, was in Marietta the day before to describe the state plans for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells. He indicated that state funds are available through ODNR for financial services to local governments and that the goals of the state program for plugging abandoned wells are to: improve the inventory, increase the number of wells put to bid, and explore the use of contractors and public/private partnerships to address the problem. He also made the rather startling admission that ODNR has never met its expenditure requirement for these funds. His statements should be a call to arms for local entrepreneurs and public entities with an interest in addressing this serious environmental problem and in job creation.
President Bill Ruud of Marietta College has mentioned the College’s plans to expand its Department of Petroleum Engineering and Geology into an Energy Center. As he seeks input into the scope this new Center, he is well advised to include projects to address the problem of abandoned oil and gas wells as among the tasks of this program. There are research, pressing environmental and employment issues associated with abandoned oil and gas wells, and grant funds available to carry out these tasks.
***
George Banziger, Ph..D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. Now retired, he is a volunteer for the Harvest of Hope. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Citizens Climate Lobby, and of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Easy to ignore big picture
Sep 10, 2022
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
A man opens a newspaper and reads the headline: “Climate endgame: Risk of human extinction ‘dangerously underexplored.’”
He reads a paragraph into the story before folding the paper and skipping to the next article below the fold.
“Scientists Say It’s ‘Fatally Foolish’ To Not Study Catastrophic Climate Outcomes,” it begins.
He unfolds the paper and scans the headlines, before turning each page in disgust.
“Major sea-level rise caused by melting of Greenland ice cap is ‘now inevitable’”
“Revealed: How climate breakdown is supercharging toll of extreme weather”
“Climate impacts have worsened vast range of human diseases”
“The Arctic is heating up nearly four times faster than the whole planet, study finds”
“U.S. Sets Record for High Overnight Temperatures in July, Giving Little Relief to Hot Days”
“Climate Crisis Is Killing Off Key Insects and Spreading Insect-Borne Diseases”
“Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Could be Melting Faster than We Thought”
At last the man can’t stand it. He snaps the paper shut and wads it into a pile in his lap, eventually tossing it into the garbage.
He steps onto his front porch into the dreary grayness of a new day. He reads his front porch thermometer, then straightens up with a triumphant smile on his face. The temperature has gone down nearly 20 degrees overnight, and the day is unseasonably cold.
“Ha!” he exclaims. “Where’s you’re global warming now, liberals?!”
The scenario I’ve described is obviously a composite, but every headline is real, as is the man and his reaction to them.
A study in “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes” has found humans are often more inclined to rely on anecdotal, non-scientific/fact-based evidence, particularly in situations involving stressful and/or highly emotional circumstances.
It makes sense, to a degree, that we might be designed to process information this way. Throughout the majority of our existence, we’ve had no particular reason or incentive to take the entire world or any scientific body of evidence into consideration. Until the last few hundred years or so, we really haven’t had the ability to consider how our actions might impact someone living on the other side of the world, or how events around the globe might have a deep and unexpected impact on our own lives.
We’ve gotten through life by reacting to what was happening in our immediate surroundings, without having to take the abstract behemoth of a wider world into consideration. It isn’t surprising, then, that we in our isolated little pockets of existence should struggle to comprehend the hydra-like tangle of global complexities that is the anthropogenic climate crisis.
A few weeks ago I happened across a letter to the editor in another newspaper, which essentially made the argument: “If sea levels are really rising like the climate people all say, then how come when I watch Wheel of Fortune they give away all these prize getaway packages to beautiful islands, when they should all be under water by now?”
The question is so absurd I’m not going to bother with addressing it, but I feel it perfectly encapsulates the idea I’ve been describing. This person may be completely unaffected by the 99% of scientific papers agreeing about the dangers of the anthropogenic climate crisis, but this small window into the wider world, which has likely been beamed into their home every weekday evening since the 1980s, is enough to nullify the threat of one of the greatest crises ever faced by humanity. They simply trust what they know.
It isn’t hard to understand why an average person might feel an unseasonably cold day in their neighborhood is evidence against global warming. Or why they feel deadly famines in a part of the world they’ve never heard of have nothing to do with them. Or why, as in a case like Kentucky’s deadly summer flooding, even those climate catastrophes which directly harm us and our immediate neighbors don’t necessarily correlate with global warming.
At the end of the day, we’re simply better at understanding things that are close to home. The mind-bending complexity of the climate crisis, coupled with the well documented, decades-long efforts of the fossil fuel industry to obfuscate the truth and spread misinformation, can make it seem easier to shut it out of our minds and deny there’s a threat.
But it IS a threat that grows larger and closer to our doorstep each day. For far too many, the threat has already arrived. And it is critical we begin to challenge how we think about the world around us, and learn how to engage directly with the facts of the climate crisis, however difficult or inconvenient. Only then can we take the steps needed to overcome the many challenges ahead and have some hope of surviving this crisis, together.
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Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
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