August 11, 2022 Research Article by Wendy Patton & Roger Wilkens
“Building on What We Have” Strengthening community resilience and mitigating climate change by nurturing the time-honored Appalachian tradition of the backyard auto mechanic. (Converting gas-powered cars to electric vehicles)
August 24, 2022 Press Release contacts: Dan Radmacher or Denali Nalamalapu
“FERC grants Mountain Valley Pipeline four more years to complete project.” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the requested extension for the troubled project despite thousands of comments in opposition.
“Children born near fracking wells more at risk for leukemia – study” Report looked at over 400 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia out of a sample of 2,500 Pennsylvania children ages two to seven.
August 22, 2022 “BlueGreen Alliance Responds to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s Request for Comment on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program”
August 22, 2022 “BlueGreen Alliance Responds to the Department of Energy’s RFI on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Clean Energy Demonstration Program on Current and Former Mind Land”
The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has been both applauded and looked upon with disappointment by many in the environmental movement, but one important aspect of the law has mostly been overlooked. The law directly addresses the ruling the U.S. Supreme Court made this past term in the case West Virginia v. EPA.
To quote from a piece in the New York Times, “Throughout the landmark climate law, passed this month, is language written specifically to address the Supreme Court’s justification for reining in the EPA, a ruling that was one of the court’s most consequential of the term. The new law amends the Clean Air Act, the country’s bedrock air-quality legislation, to define the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels as an “air pollutant.” That language, according to legal experts as well as the Democrats who worked it into the legislation, explicitly gives the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and to use its power to push the adoption of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources.”
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., was quoted in the Times piece as saying, “The language, we think, makes pretty clear that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act.” Carper added that there are “no ifs, ands or buts” that Congress has now explicitly told federal agencies that they must tackle carbon dioxide, methane, and other heat-trapping emissions from industrial and other sources.
This is very important because the Inflation Reduction Act itself must not be the final word from this or any future congress and presidential administration on addressing the global climate crisis. It was one important step in the right direction, with numerous drawbacks and flaws that can be laid at the feet of Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va. Senate Republicans tried numerous times in multiple way to exclude this language from the bill, but the Senate Parliamentarian allowed the language in this budget reconciliation legislation and there was nothing else they could do to remove it.
The Republican Party is well-known for its attempts to dismantle the administrative state and eliminate the federal government’s ability to oversee and regulate the activities of industries, corporations, and private entities of all kinds. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey was continuing that ideological crusade when he drove the West Virginia v. EPA suit through to victory at the nation’s highest court. But this legislation answered back in the affirmative that administrative bodies like EPA can and must be able to protect the citizenry from things like harmful air pollutants, including excess greenhouse gases.
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action has joined with hundreds of other groups and organizations across the country to demand that President Biden declare a climate emergency, therein unlocking powerful tools needed to further combat the global climate crisis. And make no mistake, “crisis” is precisely the right word to use. We are witnessing firsthand the dire consequences of approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius warming over a preindustrial baseline.
These include massive precipitation and flooding events becoming more frequent and severe; loss of Arctic, Antarctic and other glacial land ice, as well as sea ice; sea-level rise; record-setting droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires; stronger and more destructive hurricanes and other storms that move more slowly and hover over particular areas for longer due to warming impacts on the jet streams; increased geographic area of disease vectors like mosquitoes and ticks and zoonotic viruses like SARS-CoV-2; crop failures and loss of potable water; and massive biodiversity loss. This is not an exhaustive list.
The Inflation Reduction Act largely continues a legacy in the United States, prevalent since the 1980s, of the federal government subsidizing the private sector and trying to use a lot more carrot than stick to motivate, rather than force. Robert Reich recently wrote on this trend stating that, “In truth, the three decades-long shift in power to big corporations has transformed industrial policy into a system for bribing them to do the sorts of things government once demanded they do as the price for being part of the American system.” But hidden in this 725-page bill is hope that the federal government can once again take its regulatory authority seriously in an era of existential threats.
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Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., shocked us all recently when he agreed to support, and then voted to actually pass, climate and energy legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. As expected, though, the legislation is a mixed bag at best.
An analysis by Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy firm, finds that the legislation, if enacted, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 870-1,150 million metric tons in 2030, dropping U.S. emissions to 37% – 41% below 2005 levels by that year. The analysis also concludes that the legislation will add 1.4 million -1.5 million new jobs and reduce premature deaths by 3,700-3,900 per year in the U.S. by 2030.
Rewiring America, a nonprofit group, estimates that energy efficiency (i.e. heat pumps and insulation) and solar + battery tax incentives in the legislation could save households $1,800 a year on energy costs, and analysts with the Political Economy Research Institute, according to a BlueGreen Alliance fact sheet, estimate the creation of more like 9 million good jobs over the next decade. Coupled with environmental justice initiatives for socioeconomically disadvantaged and systemically oppressed communities, there’s a lot to be happy about in the bill.
Now for the major downsides, aka the Manchin concessions. Manchin secured promises from congressional leaders and the President to pass legislation by the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30 that will almost certainly guarantee completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline project in West Virginia and Virginia and ease permitting requirements for other fossil fuels energy projects like Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals.
He also secured provisions that will open up 620 million acres of land and water over the next decade to oil and gas exploitation, especially in already overexploited areas like the Gulf Coast.
Why? Manchin says we’ve got to counter Russia and continue our reliance on fossil fuels indefinitely for reasons of energy security and reliability. This makes for great PR, but always follow the money. According to reporting in The New York Times, “Natural gas pipeline companies have dramatically increased their contributions to Mr. Manchin, from just $20,000 in 2020 to more than $331,000 so far this election cycle, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission and tallied by the Center for Responsive Politics. Mr. Manchin has been by far Congress’s largest recipient of money from natural gas pipeline companies this cycle, raising three times as much from the industry than any other lawmaker.”
The International Energy Agency, an entity that is anything but a bastion of environmentalist sentiment, has said that we cannot develop any new fossil fuels resources and still meet the Paris Climate Accords goals of limiting global warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or ideally 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, over a preindustrial baseline. Manchin may not care, but posterity certainly will.
We can do better. A recent piece in PV-Magazine covered how “New research from Stanford University researcher Mark Jacobson outlines how 145 countries could meet 100% of their business-as-usual energy needs with wind, water, solar and energy storage. The study finds that in all the countries considered, lower-cost energy and other benefits mean the required investment for transition is paid off within six years. The study also estimates that worldwide, such a transition would create 28 million more jobs than it lost.”
The Build Back Better Act that the U.S. House passed in 2021 was far superior to this legislation and Manchin is the reason it died. Now we get a sorely watered-down and, in many ways, dangerous bill because of Manchin’s inordinate power in the anti-democratic U.S. Senate. With nearly $369 billion in desperately-needed investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency, we can’t really afford to say no to the Inflation Reduction Act. I don’t blame House and Senate Democrats for passing it. But is it a Pyrrhic victory? I guess time will tell.
To quote climate and energy writer Kate Aronoff, writing for The Guardian, “This bill is woefully inadequate, featuring a cruel, casual disregard for those at home and abroad who will live with the consequences of boosting fossil fuel production as a bargaining chip for boosting clean energy. And it’s almost certainly better than nothing.”
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Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last summer, more than a thousand people participated in the Treaty People Gathering (TPG), a protest against the Line 3 pipeline being constructed by Enbridge, a Canadian energy transportation company. This pipeline crosses the treaty lands and treaty protected wild rice fields of the Anisihinaabe in northern Minnesota. During the nine months of construction, over 1,000 arrests were made. The decision to engage in civil disobedience is a personal one that is made for a variety of reasons. At the TPG, these may have included the following: treaty rights are the supreme law of the land and this pipeline violates treaties made by endangering the water and wild rice; this pipeline will result in carbon emissions equivalent to building 50 new coal fired power plants, ignoring the fact that climate change is real and urgent; Enbridge has had many spills, leaks and violations over the years including the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history; and, of course, the future of the planet and the grandchildren should come before corporate profit.
For some individuals, arrest was a planned decision and for others, a more impromptu one. The people arrested were a variety of ages, races and income levels and included well known senior citizen climate activists, Bill McKibben and Jane Fonda as well as Harvard educated attorney Winona LaDuke, a member of the White Earth band of Anisihinaabe.
During the pipeline construction, Enbridge collaborated with and funded local police forces throughout northern Minnesota. It is a well known fact that the company, based on the need for “public safety,” donated $8.6 million to state and county police forces for costs associated with surveillance and arrest of water protectors. And although some brutal arrests were made at the TPG, the new riot gear worn by the police was unnecessary, as the protest remained peaceful. Protesters were arrested in different locations at various times and dates; however, a majority of the arrests were made in Hubbard County on June 7, 2021.
Since that time, these 441 cases have been making their way through the Hubbard County Court process. Many of the defendants arrested at the TPG were represented by a very capable, kind and young Attorney-Fellow employed by the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) located in Park Rapids, Minn. The same CLDC attorney also represented some of the indigenous defendants in cases that had been transferred to the tribal court system. These tribal court cases were recently dismissed in a major legal victory for indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights.
In late June, of this year, the Hubbard County Prosecutor offered the colonial (non-indigenous) Hubbard County defendants, being represented by CLDC, a Continuance For Dismissal (CFD). The CFD is an agreement between both parties to not continue the court process. It was acceptable to many defendants because it does not require a guilty plea and the probation is waived once the court fee is paid. In many cases, these court fees are being paid by donations made to the Line 3 Legal Defense Fund, which was established in 2019.
These CFDs were partly the result of Enbridge’s denial of Hubbard County’s recent request for thousands of dollars to pay court staff overtime/new hires to handle the additional court work load. Enbridge wasted no time in informing the Prosecutor that his request did not fall under the definition of “public safety” as outlined in their original contract. In any case, the negotiating and legal skills of the CLDC lawyer was also a major factor in the positive outcome of dismissal.
Unfortunately, for our planet and our grandchildren, Enbridge’s controversial Line 3 pipeline expansion project was recently completed. The “black snake” is now running Canadian tar sands oil, among the world’s dirtiest extreme fossil fuels, from Alberta, Canada, through hundreds of previously untouched wetlands, the Mississippi River headwaters and over 200 water bodies, to the shore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin for refining. In an address given on April 4, 2022, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated: “Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But, the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.”
The campaign against Line 3 is not over. The “dangerous radicals” have now shifted gears to focus on shutting it down.
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Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
This year Californians had to do something that many of us would have a hard time doing … they had to let their lawns die. The drought in that state became so dire that many communities were on water rationing. There were fines levied against those who were caught giving their lawns a drink. Some folks were optimistic and said the lawns were turning golden in the Golden State.
What would happen if that scenario ever occurred in our area? I know many people in Ohio have huge lawns, in some cases over five acres. I often wonder why they do this. Do they play football in that area? Do they have a solar array? Do they have a reason for mowing, watering, and in some cases fertilizing and spreading herbicides on acres of turf grasses?
I have on occasion asked this question and the only answer I get is this: It looks nice.
Some researchers have investigated this paradigm and believe the longing for wide expansive lawns dates back to the time when man roamed the savannas. In an effort to mimic this style of ecosystem, we plant and care for enormous lawns.
Michael Pollan, the author of the “Botany of Desire” wrote that our zeal for the perfect lawn is a throwback to19th Century England when only the very rich had luxurious lawns surrounding their magnificent estate.
I think some of our love of lawns has to do with the introduction of the motorized lawn mower. My dad had the old fashion reel mower when we were kids. Of course, we didn’t have a huge lawn; only about one eighth of an acre. Dad could get those blades spinning quick enough to finish mowing in under an hour. He never liked mowing and he didn’t agonize over uneven blades of grass.
With a riding mower, cutting the grass becomes a sporting event with riding mowers blazing paths across the terrain. People (mainly men) discuss models and makes and mowers can price out in the small car range. It takes much less labor and is usually quicker. However, I’d like to see the statistics on how many old fashioned mowers were involved in deadly accidents or maimed their user.
There are other disadvantages to cultivating that huge lawn. Estimates say that in the United States, we spend $40 billion a year taking care of 21 million acres of grass. Americans spend “more than three billion hours a year mowing lawns.”
The carbon footprint of a lawn mower is pretty significant and some can emit as much pollution as eleven cars. Another major issue with a nonnative lawn is the use of pesticides and herbicides used to cultivate that green carpet. Years ago, one of my college professors shocked the class when he asked us; which crop in the USA uses the most water, fertilizer and pesticides? We all said corn but the answer was grass.
Maybe we should investigate other less expensive and more ecological uses for that land. Native grasses and wildflowers are increasingly gaining in popularity. We can plant ground cover or shrubs that provide habitat for birds and other animals. We can simply leave the space grow in its own way and let nature take over.
If you opt to divorce your huge lawn, you might not have that manicured golf course setting but the advantages are many. You’ll save money, you don’t have to spend hours each weekend stuck on that mower, you will not release as much carbon dioxide, you won’t have to buy as much gas, you might reduce mower injuries, and if you stop using lawn chemicals you’ll be contributing to a healthier environment. All those fertilizers and pesticides people use to get that lush green lawn are in part contributing to carbon emissions, water pollution or eutrophication (nutrient enrichment) and the increase of algae blooms in bodies of water.
So, maybe this fall, you and the lawn can have a discussion. Isn’t it time to move on? Serve the divorce papers and start a new relationship with a better, more eco, and smaller lawn next spring.
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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.
Unfettered climate chaos has ravaged the globe throughout July, as it is almost certainly guaranteed to do with increasing magnitude for the remainder of our days.
Heatwaves across the U.S. have placed over 100,000,000 under extreme heat warnings, with over a dozen raging wildfires resulting in potential blackouts. The U.K. recently hit its highest recorded temperature, with over 40 homes in London being destroyed by fires. Roads in China are buckling, droughts rage across Somalia, Malawi, Mexico, and Italy, and the Rio Grande ran dry for the first time in 40 years. Intensive flooding has led to the tragic loss of 37 lives in Kentucky.
Some scientists believe we’re facing down a “climate endgame,” in which human extinction may become inevitable.
It is against that backdrop U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently made the statement humanity faces the risk of “collective suicide.”
I am not comfortably familiar with Guterres to comment on his actions as they relate to climate change. I have found he often speaks powerful and uncomfortable truths about the crisis at hand — though strong words are only that, and actions and policies are other things entirely. I wish neither to holistically endorse nor condemn him.
However, I do believe there is much to be discussed regarding the commonly held, though deeply flawed notion of the climate crisis as any kind of “collective suicide.”
A “suicide,” entails the taking of one’s own life by one’s own hand. “Genocide” might be a more apt term for the mass destruction of human life at the hands of the elite.
The likely swallowing of the island nation of Tuvalu by rising seas, for instance, can hardly be said to be the handiwork of its inhabitants. The tiny Pacific island was responsible for about 0.86 tons of CO2 emissions per capita in 2019, or a total of around 30 kt in greenhouse gas emissions. Contrast this with, say, the United States, whose per capita CO2 emissions sit around 13.68 tons, or around 6,001,209.96 kt in greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. is far and away the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, contributing around 20% of such emissions since 1850. We are inarguably and disproportionately responsible for the crisis at hand; while in far too many cases, the nations most at risk from the threat of a desecrated planet are also least culpable.
Which is not to say every person living within our country contributes equally to this global suffering. According to Oxfam, the richest 1% of humanity that infests this world today emits more than double the poorest half of our entire species.
Taylor Swift recently made headlines when it was reported her private jet was responsible for more than 8,293 metric tons of CO2 emissions since January of this year. To put this into perspective, the Swiss company building the world’s largest carbon direct air capture facility, Climeworks, is equipped to capture around two years’ worth of Swift’s annual emissions within about a year’s time. The world’s best climate capture technology is capable of reducing the emissions of around two ultra-wealthy American celebrities in one year.
It’s fashionable among the elite psychopaths who run the world to bandy about the term “trickle-down economics,” to bamboozle their slave laborers and indentured servants into believing the gold with which they line their owners’ pockets might slowly come falling back down to enrich them.
I would suggest just as the poor of this world remain sheltered from the fruits of their labors by the grotesque excesses of the elites, these same elites now shelter themselves from the literal storm of the climate crisis using the shattered bodies of the masses as a shield.
As the biosphere collapses around us, smarmy tech billionaires are launching themselves into space to avoid facing the hell on Earth they’ve created. A growing number of deranged companies are manufacturing “luxury doomsday shelters” underground for the ultrawealthy who’ve spent decades fighting against action on climate, and being lucratively rewarded for their heinous deceptions. And Faustian Senators, bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry, are puttering off in their yachts, assured in the knowledge they’ll never face a day of reckoning.
We are truly living in the age of the trickle-up apocalypse. Only by rising up, and uniting against those who would use and abuse us as their human shield, can we have a hope of maintaining this crumbling ball of dust and fire we once assuredly called our home.
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Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
July 20, 2022 News Article by Oliver Milman in NY and David Smith in Washington
“Biden unveils extreme heat plan – but doesn’t declare climate emergency” Initiatives are aimed at helping salvage president’s tattered climate agenda after Joe Manchin delivered a major blow last week
July 29, 2022 Clean Transport Article by Tina Casey
“More Electric Vehicles, No More Excuses For US Postal Service” The US Postal Service finally commits to more electric vehicles, and a $3 billion carve-out in the new climate bill should help grease the skids.
“First climate agreement to center Indigenous voices gains international support” The Escazu Agreement establishes the relationship between human rights and environmental protections. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues urged its member states to adopt it.
July 7, 2022 7:00 pm EVENT online (registration required)
“Understanding the Impacts of the Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Hub Proposed for the Ohio River Valley” Blue hydrogen and carbon capture technologies are false climate solutions.
Speakers: John Detwiler and Sean O’Leary from ORVI
Residents of the Mid-Ohio Valley have been presented with several myths about the benefits of the natural gas industry. These myths have resulted in unfulfilled promises that have left the Valley and greater Appalachia in a chronic state of economic stagnation and population decline. First there was the promise of a natural gas boom in 2008. Then there was the idea of the hydrogen storage hub, followed by the “petrochemical renaissance,” with the promise of a major cracker plant (to convert natural gas to raw material of plastics), and finally the plan for hydrogen-based energy and carbon capture and sequestration.
The false promise of a boom in the Ohio River Valley was brought to light in a February 2021 report by the Ohio River Valley Institute. The authors examined 22 counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (dubbed “Frackalachia” in this report) that produce natural gas. The myth propagated by advocates for the natural gas industry promised unprecedented growth from 2008 to 2019. While gross domestic product in the U.S. grew substantially during this period, in Frackalachia the local economy declined or stagnated–there was a 6% decline in jobs and an 8% decline in population.
The idea of a storage hub has similarly gone unrealized, and the plan for a major cracker plant in the region is still pinned on the false hopes that a government-owned company in Thailand would fund this operation.
More recently, we have heard about plans to develop hydrogen as a “clean” source of energy along with the idea of carbon capture and sequestration. The major means of production for this energy source is blue hydrogen, which is made from methane or natural gas. That means there will be no reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. A more promising source of hydrogen is green hydrogen, made from water using electrolysis, but at this point only about 2% of hydrogen is made from water.
Another myth promulgated by supporters of fossil fuels is that carbon capture and sequestration will significantly reduce carbon in the environment. The plan is to compress carbon from all major sources and ship this compressed carbon through a massive system of pipelines. This system of pipelines and the infrastructure to capture and compress carbon are tremendously expensive, adding billions of dollars, which could be saved merely by transitioning directly to renewable sources of energy.
While natural gas production grew from 4% in 2008 to 35% from 2008 to 2019, job growth in the region was 8% below the national average, according to a 2021 study (“Destined to Fail”) by the Ohio River Valley Institute. Dollars associated with this growth of production did not enter the local economy. This is confirmed anecdotally by the observation of out-of-state license plates at natural gas sites. Furthermore, residents of the region have to cope with emissions from the natural gas industry that have spoiled air and water and accounted for increased risks of health problems like cancer and respiratory illnesses.
Residents of Washington County are well aware of the costs of the natural gas industry as they have experienced the huge growth of injection wells (for brine waste from the fracking of natural gas)–8 million barrels in 2019 — with the attendant risks of air and water pollution and health problems.
In an online publication, “Route Fifty” (2022), Amanda Woodrum of the ReImagine Appalachia movement has written that fossil fuels have increased the nation’s prosperity while absentee corporations have extracted profits and exploited resources of the region, leaving the region in poverty, lands damaged, and workers and neighbors with chronic illnesses.
What is needed for the Ohio Valley to prosper in the 21st Century, Woodrum goes on to explain, is a plan to: modernize the electrical grid, expand universal high-quality broadband, grow clean and efficient manufacturing, build a sustainable transportation system, repair lands damaged by the exploitative fossil-fuel industries, restore wetlands, and promote regenerative agricultural practices. These kinds of investments are based on labor-intensive practices not the capital-intensive methods of the past.
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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 Mid-Ohio Valley Interfaith, and 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.
The world is being scorched. Europe is suffering under massive heatwaves, as is the U.S, and China. Wildfires, droughts, collapsing glaciers and devastating floods are becoming ubiquitous globally. The U.S’s fastest growing cities like Scottsdale, Arizona and Fort Worth,Texas, are on a fast track to becoming
uninhabitable, with more and more days of unbearable temperatures and shrinking water supplies.The urban heat island effect, where sprawling concrete urban centers with very little tree cover heat up to deadly temperatures much faster than surrounding areas, is exacerbating this.
In places like the British Isles, where temperatures have soared earlier this month to all-time, triple-digit records, homes are built to retain heat, not block or vent it. Air-conditioning is almost unheard of. In the history of human habitation of such places there’s been no need for synthetic cooling.We’re seeing more of this in recent years, with places like the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and parts of Canada, as well as Siberia, subject to the same heatwaves and wildfires of the American South and Southwest.
These recent summers aren’t the hottest summers of our lives; they’re the coolest summers of the rest of our lives. As heat indexes (the combination of heat and humidity) rise, humans cannot withstand exposure to them. There is a measure called the WetBulb Globe Temperature that gauges heat stress in direct sunlight. It takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed,sun angle and cloud cover (solar radiation).WetBulb temperatures are on the rise globally and are already frequently deadly in places like India and Pakistan.
Hurricane season is right around the corner.Warmer ocean surface temperatures fuel hurricanes, and warmer air holds more moisture, which is fuel for massive precipitation events. The U.S. Atlantic and Gulf states have been battered in recent years by some of the worst hurricanes, tropical storms and precipitation events in recorded history and this trend is not letting up. The worst impact of climate change, other than extreme
heat, here in West Virginia will be precipitation and flooding. We’ve already seen how ill-equipped we are to face this.
Meanwhile, Congress is failing to act. Why? Unanimous opposition from Republicans on the one hand and enabling of their obstruction and delay on the other. The chief enabler, of course, is Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Stellar reporting recently by the Gazette-Mail’s Mike Tony detailed exactly why Manchin has been a
roadblock to climate action, but the reasons for Manchin’s obstinance can be summed up quickly: he’s the Senate’s leading recipient of oil and gas industry largesse and he’s a coal baron who makes over $500,000 a year through his coal brokerage, Enersystems, selling waste coal to the Grant Town Power Plant.
Members of Congress can get away with this kind of conflict of interest through slight of hand. Manchin has put his Enersystems holdings in a blind trust and says that is sufficient, which at this point it legally is, but his son runs the brokerage. How “blind’ can the goings-on really be? Please. Laws need changed to forbid this kind of thing but good luck finding a Congress to change them. Manchin has no business being chairman of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, but it seems that all Senate Democrat leadership and the president know how to do is kiss up to him. Congressional Democrats by and large have no idea how to play hardball, even in the midst of a climate crisis.
Electoral politics is more often than not a fairly ineffective way of solving problems. Elections only matter if there are mass movements to demand that these people, once elected, actually try to solve any real problems and improve lives using public policy. But those movements exist. The movement to address the climate crisis, part of a larger web of movements that cannot be siloed, is stronger than ever. My fervent hope is that enough Democrats like Tim Ryan of Ohio, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Charles Booker of Kentucky can be elected to make Manchin irrelevant in the next Congress, while maintaining climate-friendly majorities in the House. It’s the only way we’re going to get the federal policy solutions we need to mitigate the damage, avert worse catastrophe, and help salvage a habitable planet.
“Late at night while you’re sleeping, poison ivy comes a-creeping…” — Lieber and Stoller 1959
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Unless you are as old as I am, you might not recognize the song remnant sung by “The Coasters;” but you will recognize that few things can spoil a day outdoors faster than poison ivy. The plant, which presents as a three-leafed vine, can prompt a rash as a reaction to urushiol, an irritating oil in its leaves.
It turns out climate change may not just be making the planet hotter: it seems to be worsening poison ivy, too. Current research suggests that poison ivy may be growing faster and larger due to rising heat and elevated carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, and the situation is likely to get worse.
Studies done over the past 15+ years suggest that rising CO2 levels are helping every hiker’s least favorite plant grow faster, bigger, and itchier. As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continue to increase, so does more irritating and pervasive poison ivy (and poison oak). Increasing temperatures, along with rising CO2 levels, are causing poison ivy plants to grow larger and stronger. This results in the plants growing bigger leaves; pie-plate sized leaves are now common
The plant is also benefiting from warmer soils. One experiment from Harvard University demonstrated an increase of 9∂F in soil temperature resulted in poison ivy growing 149% faster. The growth rate of the poison ivy plant has doubled in the last 50 years.
“The chances of encountering poison ivy and coming down with a rash are greater than they used to be,” according to the online site, WebMD.
Additionally, the oil itself that causes poison ivy rash is getting more powerful, according to scientists. Plants raised in a high-CO2 environment produced a more allergenic form of urushiol, the substance that causes rashes in most people exposed to the plant. A generation of supercharged poison ivy should be concerning for humans who react to the plant, which is most (85%) of us. But it’s also likely to impact nearby flora and fauna. Since not all plants respond to CO2 like poison ivy does, it’s possible that growing vines could cause an imbalance in natural ecosystems, choking out more benign plants. Poison ivy is choking trees and filling the border edges of woodlands.
Next to crop failure, deadly heat waves, sea level rise … more poison ivy may seem like a relatively trivial effect of climate change. But for those of us who love to hike, the future may involve a lot more anti-itch lotion than we’d prefer.
What you need to know before you head out to the woods, or the backyard:
It’s been a hot summer locally in the Mid-Ohio Valley. It’s hard to imagine wanting to hike in long pants. But if you live somewhere poison ivy is rampant, you might not have a choice. If you’re into hiking, try to wear long pants and long sleeves rather than shorts and t-shirts and definitely wear socks.
Be sure to learn to identify poison ivy. In addition to having three leaves, it can also appear as a scruffy vine on trees. If a plant you think might be poison ivy has thorns or clusters of five leaves, it’s probably something else.
The offending substance, urushiol, is found in the sap. Burning poison ivy plants can release urushiol particles into the air. The urushiol found in the sap of the poison ivy plant binds to skin cells when it comes into contact. Touching the sap of the plant as well as touching something on which urushiol is present, such as garden tools or a pet who has run through the leaves, can cause the allergic reaction. Shower within a half-hour of contact and you’ll be generally OK. But once it is absorbed, there is not much you can do.
If you normally pack one bottle of anti-itch cream for a camping trip, from now on, consider taking two.
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.
Find Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on the following social media:
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Suggested Readings for September 2022
MOVCA August 2022 Selected Media Postings
Compiled by Cindy Taylor
Appearing in The Marietta Times:
August 27, 2022 Local News article by Evan Bevins Article also appeared in the News & Sentinel. Both links below
“Local entities react to EPA announcement”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/local-news/2022/08/local-entities-react-to-epa-announcement/
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/business/2022/08/mid-ohio-valley-entities-react-to-epa-announcement/
August 13, 2022 Editorial
“Wind-powered energy needed in Ohio”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/opinion/editorials/2022/08/wind-powered-energy-needed-in-ohio/
August 6, 2022 Editorial
“Hypocrisy in climate change efforts”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/opinion/editorials/2022/08/hypocrisy-in-climate-change-efforts/
August 6, 2022 Editorial
“From acid to art turning: Pollution into paint”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/opinion/editorials/2022/08/from-acid-to-art-turning-polluation-into-paint/
August 20, 2022 Business article by Steven Allen Adams
“Manchin pushes back at Inflation Reduction Act’s critics”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/business/2022/08/manchin-pushes-back-at-inflation-reduction-acts-critics/
August 18, 2022 Staff Report
“Injection wells public meeting to be held in Marietta Monday”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/business/2022/08/injection-wells-public-meeting-to-be-held-in-marietta-monday/
August 13, 2022 News article
“Judge revives Obama-era ban on coal leases from U.S. lands”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/uncategorized/2022/08/judge-revives-obama-era-ban-on-coal-leases-from-u-s-lands/
Appearing on-line in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:
August 29, 2022 Energy and Environment article by Mike Tony
“EPA proposes designating PFAS found in dozens of WV public water systems as hazardous”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/epa-proposes-designating-pfas-found-in-dozens-of-wv-public-water-systems-as-hazardous/article_8426d997-3419-5d7c-864b-8e1fcb05a9b0.html
August 16, 2022 Column by Eric Engle
“Eric Engle: Why we need to break the hold of fossilflation”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/eric-engle-why-we-need-to-break-the-hold-of-fossilflation-opinion/article_270bb78a-e722-5cb1-a55a-af5ebe71f70a.html
August 13, 2022 Article by Mike Tony
“ ‘A chance to stay in the game’: Cheaper energy, greener economy expected from Inflation Reduction Act for low-income West Virginians”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/a-chance-to-stay-in-the-game-cheaper-energy-greener-economy-expected-from-inflation-reduction/article_bea0806e-270f-5ed6-be1f-b33e4a3119b9.html
August 8, 2022 Op-Ed by Eric Engle
“Eric Engle: The motivation behind bills ignoring climate”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/eric-engle-the-motivation-behind-bills-ignoring-climate-opinion/article_11b0f4d7-7bb3-5900-bab2-b3ea85238b05.html
August 6, 2022 Op-Ed by James Koton
“James Koton: The last desperate gasp of climate change denial”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/james-kotcon-the-last-desperate-gasp-of-climate-change-denial-opinion/article_ee26ca49-85f9-5408-9945-ba0a649b9242.html
Available on The Center Square ( Pennsylvania):
August 10, 2022 Article by Anthony Hennen
“Advocates warn Pennsylvania hydrogen hub expensive, inefficient”
https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/advocates-warn-pennsylvania-hydrogen-hub-expensive-inefficient/article_e9942bda-18ec-11ed-b295-ef4ed77683e8.html
Joanne Kilgour, ex. Director at Ohio River Valley Institute, is quoted
Appearing on WTAP:
August 18, 2022 News by Laura Bowen Text and video
“Concerned Locals will host meeting about proposed well”
https://www.wtap.com/2022/08/18/concerned-locals-will-hold-public-meeting-over-proposed-injection-well/
Appearing on WOWKTV.com (13News):
August 1, 2022 Local News by Isaac Taylor
“Manchin secures commitment to complete Mountain Valley Pipeline”
https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/manchin-secures-commitment-to-complete-mountain-valley-pipeline/
Appearing on WCHSTV (Charleston, WV):
August 21, 2022 Article by Kristopfer Plona
“Weekend showers make summer 2022 the wettest on record for W.Va.”
https://wchstv.com/news/local/weekend-showers-make-summer-2022-the-wettest-on-record
Appearing on-line on WV Public Broadcasting or WOUB (PBS) or NPR:
August 29, 2022 Article by Curtis Tate text and 0.52 audio with link to the US Geological Survey
“ ‘Forever Chemicals’ Found In 67 of State’s Drinking Water”
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2022-08-29/forever-chemicals-found-in-67-of-states-drinking-water-systems
August 3, 2022 Government article by Randy Yohe text and 0.53 audio
“W. Va. Electric Vehicle Charging Station Plan Revealed”
https://www.wvpublic.org/government/2022-08-03/w-va-electric-vehicle-charging-station-plan-revealed
Appearing on-line on Ohio River Valley Institute https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org :
August 25, 2022 REPORT summary by Ben Hunkler
“Here’s How Appalachian States Can Create “Good-Paying, Union Jobs” Cleaning Up Mines.”
August 18, 2022 Research REPORT Article by Eric Dixon
“Here’s How Appalachian States Can Create “Good-Paying, Union Jobs” Cleaning Up Mines.”
August 18, 2022 Research Article by Eric Dixon
“Can the Infrastructure Law Create “Good-Paying, Union Jobs” Cleaning Up Coal Mines? Not Without Policy Action”
August 11, 2022 Research Article by Wendy Patton & Roger Wilkens
“Building on What We Have” Strengthening community resilience and mitigating climate change by nurturing the time-honored Appalachian tradition of the backyard auto mechanic. (Converting gas-powered cars to electric vehicles)
August 8, 2022 REPORT link and Article with report summary by Sean O’Leary
“Misplaced Faith: How Policymakers’ Belief in Natural Gas is Driving Rural Pennsylvania Into an Economic Dead End”
August 8, 2022 Article by Sean O’Leary and Webinar Link
“Policymakers’ Pursuit of Natural Gas is Failing Rural Pennsylvania. Investments in Quality of Life May Be More Effective”
August 4, 2022 Article by Joan Kilgour, summary of August 3rd webinar with link to the recording.
“Breaking Down West Virginia v. EPA”
Available from ReImagine Appalachia:
August 8, 2022 ReImagine Appalachia Press statement
“Press Statement: Appalachians Celebrate Passage of Inflation Reduction Act, Call Congress to See it Through”
August 4, 2022 Article by Dana Kuhnline
“How you can support Kentucky Flood Relief Efforts”
August 2, 2022 Article by Dana Kuhnline
“What’s in the Inflation Reduction Act for Appalachia?”
Available on Appalachian Voices:
August 24, 2022 Press Release contacts: Dan Radmacher or Denali Nalamalapu
“FERC grants Mountain Valley Pipeline four more years to complete project.” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the requested extension for the troubled project despite thousands of comments in opposition.
August 19, 2021 Article by Regan Russell
“How places of worship can benefit from switching to solar with the help of the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund”
Includes link to July 28, 2022 Webinar, “Solar for Faith Communities”
See also : Appalachian Solar Finance Fund: https://solarfinancefund.org/index.php/how-it-works/
NATIONAL ATTENTION & Relevant to our region:
Available on the New York Times:
August 22, 2022 Article by Lisa Friedman
“Democrats Designed the Climate Law to Be a Game Changer. Here’s How”
August 16, 2022 Opinion Column by Charles Harvey and Kurt House
“Every Dollar Spent on This Climate Technology Is a Waste”
August 7, 2022 Article by Lisa Friedman
“Consumers will benefit from lower utilities and cheaper home upgrades, energy experts say”
August 7, 2022 Article by Hiroko Tabuchi
“Manchin’s Donors Include Pipeline Giants That Win in His Climate Deal”
Available on The Washington Post:
August 26, 2022 Article by Dino Grandoni
“The EPA finally moves to label some ‘forever chemicals’ as hazardous”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/26/forever-chemicals-epa-cleanup-rule/
Available on The Guardian.com:
August 26, 2022 Article by Nina Lakhani in Monroe Co. WV and Oliver Milman in NY
“ ‘It’s a deal with the devil’: outrage in Appalachia over Manchin’s ‘vile’ pipeline plan”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/26/joe-manchin-west-virginia-mountain-valley-pipeline
August 17, 2022 Article by Tom Perkins
“Children born near fracking wells more at risk for leukemia – study” Report looked at over 400 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia out of a sample of 2,500 Pennsylvania children ages two to seven.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/17/young-children-fracking-wells-leukemia-study
August 8, 2022 Article by Kim Heacox
“Plastic can take hundreds of years to break down – and we keep making more”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/08/plastics-climate-crisis-environment-pollution-kim-heacox
August 7, 2022 Article by Joan E Greve
“Senate passes $739bn healthcare and climate bill after months of wrangling”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/07/inflation-reduction-act-senate-democrats-pass
Available on Environmental Health Project:
August 16, 2022 Article by Environmental Health Project
“Blue Hydrogen: A Threat to Public Health?”
https://www.environmentalhealthproject.org/post/blue-hydrogen-a-threat-to-public-health
Available on CNBC:
August 1, 2022 Energy Article by Su-Lin Tan
“ ‘Dirty ol’ coal’ is making a comeback and consumption is expected to return”
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/02/coal-consumption-is-expected-to-return-to-2013s-record-levels-iea.html
Available on NEWSBREAK:
August 2, 2022 Article by Jake Johnson (article originally appeared on Common Dreams)
“Manchin’s secret climate “side deal” revealed: “It’s not a climate solution, it’s a climate bomb” “
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2690333589805/manchin-s-secret-climate-side-deal-revealed-it-s-not-a-climate-solution-it-s-a-climate-bomb
Available on Indigenous Environmental Network:
August 22, 2022 IEN Statement and Key Points on the “Permitting Reform Bill”
“Manchin-Shumer backdoor deal fast-tracts gutting of environmental policies and protections”
RESOURCES, RESEARCH, and SOLUTIONS:
Available on JDSUPRA:
August 26, 2022 Article by Charles Cardall, Scott Cockerman, Brandon Dias, Richard Moore, Wolfram Pohl, John Staley Orick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
“Inflation Reduction Act Levels Renewable Energy Playing Field for Tax-Exempt Entities”
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/inflation-reduction-act-levels-2695137/
Available on Bluegreen Alliance (BGA):
August 24, 2022 “FACT SHEET: Clean Energy Tax Credits in the Inflation Reduction Act”
August 23, 2022 “FACT SHEET: Clean Manufacturing Investments in the Inflation Reduction Act”
August 23, 2022 “FACT SHEET: Clean Vehicle Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act”
August 22, 2022 “BlueGreen Alliance Responds to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s Request for Comment on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program”
August 22, 2022 “BlueGreen Alliance Responds to the Department of Energy’s RFI on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Clean Energy Demonstration Program on Current and Former Mind Land”
August 4, 2022 “New Data Confirms Job Creation Potential of Inflation Reduction Act”
August 3, 2022 “Top 8 BGA Priorities in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”
Available on PV-MAGAZINE.com :
August 6, 2022 Article by March Hutchins
“Study finds 100% renewables would pay off within 6 years”
Available on Scientific American:
August 1, 2022 Climate Change Article by Naomi Oreskes for August 2022 Scientific American Issue
“Carbon-Reduction Plans Rely on Tech That Doesn’t Exist”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-reduction-plans-rely-on-tech-that-doesnt-exist/
Available on EcoWatch:
August 1, 2022 Article by Paige Bennett
“Scientists Develop New Material to Clean Up Forever Chemicals”
Available on Resilience:
July 26, 2022 Environment Article by Stella Nyambura Mbau (missed in previous media listing)
“Misplaced positivity on climate is harmful. Preparing for breakdown could help.”
Available on Indigenous Environmental Network:
August 4, 2022 posting by Indigenous Environmental Network
“The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is NOT a climate bill”
Available on Caltech:
August 12, 2022 Article by Lori Dajose about new RESEARCH
“Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Could be Melting Faster than We Thought” How coastal ocean currents increase Antarctic ice shelf melt.
https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/antarctic-ice-shelf-climate-model
ANOTHER INTERESTING READ:
This historical article gives excellent history of petrochemical industry of our region:
Available on Orion:
Summer 2021 June 2, 2021 Article by Rebecca Altman includes photos by Ansel Adams
“Upriver: A researcher traces the legacy of plastics”
4th in series on the effects of the petrochemical industry on life, economics, and democracy.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Inflation Reduction Act offers hope
Aug 27, 2022
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has been both applauded and looked upon with disappointment by many in the environmental movement, but one important aspect of the law has mostly been overlooked. The law directly addresses the ruling the U.S. Supreme Court made this past term in the case West Virginia v. EPA.
To quote from a piece in the New York Times, “Throughout the landmark climate law, passed this month, is language written specifically to address the Supreme Court’s justification for reining in the EPA, a ruling that was one of the court’s most consequential of the term. The new law amends the Clean Air Act, the country’s bedrock air-quality legislation, to define the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels as an “air pollutant.” That language, according to legal experts as well as the Democrats who worked it into the legislation, explicitly gives the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and to use its power to push the adoption of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources.”
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., was quoted in the Times piece as saying, “The language, we think, makes pretty clear that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act.” Carper added that there are “no ifs, ands or buts” that Congress has now explicitly told federal agencies that they must tackle carbon dioxide, methane, and other heat-trapping emissions from industrial and other sources.
This is very important because the Inflation Reduction Act itself must not be the final word from this or any future congress and presidential administration on addressing the global climate crisis. It was one important step in the right direction, with numerous drawbacks and flaws that can be laid at the feet of Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va. Senate Republicans tried numerous times in multiple way to exclude this language from the bill, but the Senate Parliamentarian allowed the language in this budget reconciliation legislation and there was nothing else they could do to remove it.
The Republican Party is well-known for its attempts to dismantle the administrative state and eliminate the federal government’s ability to oversee and regulate the activities of industries, corporations, and private entities of all kinds. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey was continuing that ideological crusade when he drove the West Virginia v. EPA suit through to victory at the nation’s highest court. But this legislation answered back in the affirmative that administrative bodies like EPA can and must be able to protect the citizenry from things like harmful air pollutants, including excess greenhouse gases.
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action has joined with hundreds of other groups and organizations across the country to demand that President Biden declare a climate emergency, therein unlocking powerful tools needed to further combat the global climate crisis. And make no mistake, “crisis” is precisely the right word to use. We are witnessing firsthand the dire consequences of approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius warming over a preindustrial baseline.
These include massive precipitation and flooding events becoming more frequent and severe; loss of Arctic, Antarctic and other glacial land ice, as well as sea ice; sea-level rise; record-setting droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires; stronger and more destructive hurricanes and other storms that move more slowly and hover over particular areas for longer due to warming impacts on the jet streams; increased geographic area of disease vectors like mosquitoes and ticks and zoonotic viruses like SARS-CoV-2; crop failures and loss of potable water; and massive biodiversity loss. This is not an exhaustive list.
The Inflation Reduction Act largely continues a legacy in the United States, prevalent since the 1980s, of the federal government subsidizing the private sector and trying to use a lot more carrot than stick to motivate, rather than force. Robert Reich recently wrote on this trend stating that, “In truth, the three decades-long shift in power to big corporations has transformed industrial policy into a system for bribing them to do the sorts of things government once demanded they do as the price for being part of the American system.” But hidden in this 725-page bill is hope that the federal government can once again take its regulatory authority seriously in an era of existential threats.
***
Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Op-ed: Plenty of drawbacks in Inflation Reduction Act
Aug 20, 2022
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., shocked us all recently when he agreed to support, and then voted to actually pass, climate and energy legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. As expected, though, the legislation is a mixed bag at best.
An analysis by Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy firm, finds that the legislation, if enacted, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 870-1,150 million metric tons in 2030, dropping U.S. emissions to 37% – 41% below 2005 levels by that year. The analysis also concludes that the legislation will add 1.4 million -1.5 million new jobs and reduce premature deaths by 3,700-3,900 per year in the U.S. by 2030.
Rewiring America, a nonprofit group, estimates that energy efficiency (i.e. heat pumps and insulation) and solar + battery tax incentives in the legislation could save households $1,800 a year on energy costs, and analysts with the Political Economy Research Institute, according to a BlueGreen Alliance fact sheet, estimate the creation of more like 9 million good jobs over the next decade. Coupled with environmental justice initiatives for socioeconomically disadvantaged and systemically oppressed communities, there’s a lot to be happy about in the bill.
Now for the major downsides, aka the Manchin concessions. Manchin secured promises from congressional leaders and the President to pass legislation by the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30 that will almost certainly guarantee completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline project in West Virginia and Virginia and ease permitting requirements for other fossil fuels energy projects like Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals.
He also secured provisions that will open up 620 million acres of land and water over the next decade to oil and gas exploitation, especially in already overexploited areas like the Gulf Coast.
Why? Manchin says we’ve got to counter Russia and continue our reliance on fossil fuels indefinitely for reasons of energy security and reliability. This makes for great PR, but always follow the money. According to reporting in The New York Times, “Natural gas pipeline companies have dramatically increased their contributions to Mr. Manchin, from just $20,000 in 2020 to more than $331,000 so far this election cycle, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission and tallied by the Center for Responsive Politics. Mr. Manchin has been by far Congress’s largest recipient of money from natural gas pipeline companies this cycle, raising three times as much from the industry than any other lawmaker.”
The International Energy Agency, an entity that is anything but a bastion of environmentalist sentiment, has said that we cannot develop any new fossil fuels resources and still meet the Paris Climate Accords goals of limiting global warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or ideally 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, over a preindustrial baseline. Manchin may not care, but posterity certainly will.
We can do better. A recent piece in PV-Magazine covered how “New research from Stanford University researcher Mark Jacobson outlines how 145 countries could meet 100% of their business-as-usual energy needs with wind, water, solar and energy storage. The study finds that in all the countries considered, lower-cost energy and other benefits mean the required investment for transition is paid off within six years. The study also estimates that worldwide, such a transition would create 28 million more jobs than it lost.”
The Build Back Better Act that the U.S. House passed in 2021 was far superior to this legislation and Manchin is the reason it died. Now we get a sorely watered-down and, in many ways, dangerous bill because of Manchin’s inordinate power in the anti-democratic U.S. Senate. With nearly $369 billion in desperately-needed investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency, we can’t really afford to say no to the Inflation Reduction Act. I don’t blame House and Senate Democrats for passing it. But is it a Pyrrhic victory? I guess time will tell.
To quote climate and energy writer Kate Aronoff, writing for The Guardian, “This bill is woefully inadequate, featuring a cruel, casual disregard for those at home and abroad who will live with the consequences of boosting fossil fuel production as a bargaining chip for boosting clean energy. And it’s almost certainly better than nothing.”
***
Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Water Protectors update
Aug 20, 2022
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Last summer, more than a thousand people participated in the Treaty People Gathering (TPG), a protest against the Line 3 pipeline being constructed by Enbridge, a Canadian energy transportation company. This pipeline crosses the treaty lands and treaty protected wild rice fields of the Anisihinaabe in northern Minnesota. During the nine months of construction, over 1,000 arrests were made. The decision to engage in civil disobedience is a personal one that is made for a variety of reasons. At the TPG, these may have included the following: treaty rights are the supreme law of the land and this pipeline violates treaties made by endangering the water and wild rice; this pipeline will result in carbon emissions equivalent to building 50 new coal fired power plants, ignoring the fact that climate change is real and urgent; Enbridge has had many spills, leaks and violations over the years including the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history; and, of course, the future of the planet and the grandchildren should come before corporate profit.
For some individuals, arrest was a planned decision and for others, a more impromptu one. The people arrested were a variety of ages, races and income levels and included well known senior citizen climate activists, Bill McKibben and Jane Fonda as well as Harvard educated attorney Winona LaDuke, a member of the White Earth band of Anisihinaabe.
During the pipeline construction, Enbridge collaborated with and funded local police forces throughout northern Minnesota. It is a well known fact that the company, based on the need for “public safety,” donated $8.6 million to state and county police forces for costs associated with surveillance and arrest of water protectors. And although some brutal arrests were made at the TPG, the new riot gear worn by the police was unnecessary, as the protest remained peaceful. Protesters were arrested in different locations at various times and dates; however, a majority of the arrests were made in Hubbard County on June 7, 2021.
Since that time, these 441 cases have been making their way through the Hubbard County Court process. Many of the defendants arrested at the TPG were represented by a very capable, kind and young Attorney-Fellow employed by the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) located in Park Rapids, Minn. The same CLDC attorney also represented some of the indigenous defendants in cases that had been transferred to the tribal court system. These tribal court cases were recently dismissed in a major legal victory for indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights.
In late June, of this year, the Hubbard County Prosecutor offered the colonial (non-indigenous) Hubbard County defendants, being represented by CLDC, a Continuance For Dismissal (CFD). The CFD is an agreement between both parties to not continue the court process. It was acceptable to many defendants because it does not require a guilty plea and the probation is waived once the court fee is paid. In many cases, these court fees are being paid by donations made to the Line 3 Legal Defense Fund, which was established in 2019.
These CFDs were partly the result of Enbridge’s denial of Hubbard County’s recent request for thousands of dollars to pay court staff overtime/new hires to handle the additional court work load. Enbridge wasted no time in informing the Prosecutor that his request did not fall under the definition of “public safety” as outlined in their original contract. In any case, the negotiating and legal skills of the CLDC lawyer was also a major factor in the positive outcome of dismissal.
Unfortunately, for our planet and our grandchildren, Enbridge’s controversial Line 3 pipeline expansion project was recently completed. The “black snake” is now running Canadian tar sands oil, among the world’s dirtiest extreme fossil fuels, from Alberta, Canada, through hundreds of previously untouched wetlands, the Mississippi River headwaters and over 200 water bodies, to the shore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin for refining. In an address given on April 4, 2022, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated: “Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But, the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.”
The campaign against Line 3 is not over. The “dangerous radicals” have now shifted gears to focus on shutting it down.
***
Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Divorce your lawn
Aug 13, 2022
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
This year Californians had to do something that many of us would have a hard time doing … they had to let their lawns die. The drought in that state became so dire that many communities were on water rationing. There were fines levied against those who were caught giving their lawns a drink. Some folks were optimistic and said the lawns were turning golden in the Golden State.
What would happen if that scenario ever occurred in our area? I know many people in Ohio have huge lawns, in some cases over five acres. I often wonder why they do this. Do they play football in that area? Do they have a solar array? Do they have a reason for mowing, watering, and in some cases fertilizing and spreading herbicides on acres of turf grasses?
I have on occasion asked this question and the only answer I get is this: It looks nice.
Some researchers have investigated this paradigm and believe the longing for wide expansive lawns dates back to the time when man roamed the savannas. In an effort to mimic this style of ecosystem, we plant and care for enormous lawns.
Michael Pollan, the author of the “Botany of Desire” wrote that our zeal for the perfect lawn is a throwback to19th Century England when only the very rich had luxurious lawns surrounding their magnificent estate.
I think some of our love of lawns has to do with the introduction of the motorized lawn mower. My dad had the old fashion reel mower when we were kids. Of course, we didn’t have a huge lawn; only about one eighth of an acre. Dad could get those blades spinning quick enough to finish mowing in under an hour. He never liked mowing and he didn’t agonize over uneven blades of grass.
With a riding mower, cutting the grass becomes a sporting event with riding mowers blazing paths across the terrain. People (mainly men) discuss models and makes and mowers can price out in the small car range. It takes much less labor and is usually quicker. However, I’d like to see the statistics on how many old fashioned mowers were involved in deadly accidents or maimed their user.
There are other disadvantages to cultivating that huge lawn. Estimates say that in the United States, we spend $40 billion a year taking care of 21 million acres of grass. Americans spend “more than three billion hours a year mowing lawns.”
The carbon footprint of a lawn mower is pretty significant and some can emit as much pollution as eleven cars. Another major issue with a nonnative lawn is the use of pesticides and herbicides used to cultivate that green carpet. Years ago, one of my college professors shocked the class when he asked us; which crop in the USA uses the most water, fertilizer and pesticides? We all said corn but the answer was grass.
Maybe we should investigate other less expensive and more ecological uses for that land. Native grasses and wildflowers are increasingly gaining in popularity. We can plant ground cover or shrubs that provide habitat for birds and other animals. We can simply leave the space grow in its own way and let nature take over.
If you opt to divorce your huge lawn, you might not have that manicured golf course setting but the advantages are many. You’ll save money, you don’t have to spend hours each weekend stuck on that mower, you will not release as much carbon dioxide, you won’t have to buy as much gas, you might reduce mower injuries, and if you stop using lawn chemicals you’ll be contributing to a healthier environment. All those fertilizers and pesticides people use to get that lush green lawn are in part contributing to carbon emissions, water pollution or eutrophication (nutrient enrichment) and the increase of algae blooms in bodies of water.
So, maybe this fall, you and the lawn can have a discussion. Isn’t it time to move on? Serve the divorce papers and start a new relationship with a better, more eco, and smaller lawn next spring.
***
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
Climate Corner: Trickle-up apocalypse
Aug 6, 2022
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Unfettered climate chaos has ravaged the globe throughout July, as it is almost certainly guaranteed to do with increasing magnitude for the remainder of our days.
Heatwaves across the U.S. have placed over 100,000,000 under extreme heat warnings, with over a dozen raging wildfires resulting in potential blackouts. The U.K. recently hit its highest recorded temperature, with over 40 homes in London being destroyed by fires. Roads in China are buckling, droughts rage across Somalia, Malawi, Mexico, and Italy, and the Rio Grande ran dry for the first time in 40 years. Intensive flooding has led to the tragic loss of 37 lives in Kentucky.
Some scientists believe we’re facing down a “climate endgame,” in which human extinction may become inevitable.
It is against that backdrop U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently made the statement humanity faces the risk of “collective suicide.”
I am not comfortably familiar with Guterres to comment on his actions as they relate to climate change. I have found he often speaks powerful and uncomfortable truths about the crisis at hand — though strong words are only that, and actions and policies are other things entirely. I wish neither to holistically endorse nor condemn him.
However, I do believe there is much to be discussed regarding the commonly held, though deeply flawed notion of the climate crisis as any kind of “collective suicide.”
A “suicide,” entails the taking of one’s own life by one’s own hand. “Genocide” might be a more apt term for the mass destruction of human life at the hands of the elite.
The likely swallowing of the island nation of Tuvalu by rising seas, for instance, can hardly be said to be the handiwork of its inhabitants. The tiny Pacific island was responsible for about 0.86 tons of CO2 emissions per capita in 2019, or a total of around 30 kt in greenhouse gas emissions. Contrast this with, say, the United States, whose per capita CO2 emissions sit around 13.68 tons, or around 6,001,209.96 kt in greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. is far and away the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, contributing around 20% of such emissions since 1850. We are inarguably and disproportionately responsible for the crisis at hand; while in far too many cases, the nations most at risk from the threat of a desecrated planet are also least culpable.
Which is not to say every person living within our country contributes equally to this global suffering. According to Oxfam, the richest 1% of humanity that infests this world today emits more than double the poorest half of our entire species.
Taylor Swift recently made headlines when it was reported her private jet was responsible for more than 8,293 metric tons of CO2 emissions since January of this year. To put this into perspective, the Swiss company building the world’s largest carbon direct air capture facility, Climeworks, is equipped to capture around two years’ worth of Swift’s annual emissions within about a year’s time. The world’s best climate capture technology is capable of reducing the emissions of around two ultra-wealthy American celebrities in one year.
It’s fashionable among the elite psychopaths who run the world to bandy about the term “trickle-down economics,” to bamboozle their slave laborers and indentured servants into believing the gold with which they line their owners’ pockets might slowly come falling back down to enrich them.
I would suggest just as the poor of this world remain sheltered from the fruits of their labors by the grotesque excesses of the elites, these same elites now shelter themselves from the literal storm of the climate crisis using the shattered bodies of the masses as a shield.
As the biosphere collapses around us, smarmy tech billionaires are launching themselves into space to avoid facing the hell on Earth they’ve created. A growing number of deranged companies are manufacturing “luxury doomsday shelters” underground for the ultrawealthy who’ve spent decades fighting against action on climate, and being lucratively rewarded for their heinous deceptions. And Faustian Senators, bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry, are puttering off in their yachts, assured in the knowledge they’ll never face a day of reckoning.
We are truly living in the age of the trickle-up apocalypse. Only by rising up, and uniting against those who would use and abuse us as their human shield, can we have a hope of maintaining this crumbling ball of dust and fire we once assuredly called our home.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Suggested Readings for August 2022
MOVCA July 2022 Selected Media Postings
Compiled by Cindy Taylor
Appearing in The Marietta Times:
July 15, 2022 Local News Article
“Facility faces explosion”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/local-news/2022/07/facility-faces-explosion/
July 14, 2022 Local News Article
“Chemours to Challenge EPA’s GenX guideline”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/local-news/2022/07/chemours-to-challenge-epas-genx-guideline/
July 14, 2022 Neighborhood News Article
“Lombard receives two sustainable agriculture grants”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/2022/07/lombard-receives-two-sustainable-agriculture-grants/
July 13, 2022 Local News article
“Chemours seeks court review of GenX health advisory”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/2022/07/chemours-seeks-court-review-of-genx-health-advisory/
July 11, 2022 Neighborhood News
“Ohio River Basin restoration plan meeting”
https://www.mariettatimes.com/news/2022/07/ohio-river-basin-restoration-plan-meeting/
Appearing online in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel:
July 23, 2022 Local Column by Isaac Brown, Executive Director of the Center for Methane Emissions Solutions
“Op-ed: Make the most of methane”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/opinion/local-columns/2022/07/op-ed-make-the-most-of-methane/
July 15, 2022 Local News article by Evan Bevins
“Explosion at Parkersburg recycling plant accidental” Silicone recycling facility site of early morning blast.
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2022/07/explosion-at-parkersburg-recycling-plant-accidental/
July 2, 2022 Article from WVU Today
“West Virginia University training next generation of toxicologists to analyze air from mining, fracking sites”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/business/2022/07/west-virginia-university-training-next-generation-of-toxicologists-to-analyze-air-from-mining-fracking-sites/
See also original article: Appearing on WVUTODAY:
Tuesday, June 21, 2022 News release by Cassie Thomas, Director, Communications and Marketing WVU School of Medicine
New WVU program trains next generation of toxicologists to collect, analyze air samples from mining, fracking sites”
https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/2022/06/21/new-wvu-program-trains-next-generation-of-toxicologists-to-collect-analyze-air-samples-from-mining-fracking-sites
Appearing on-line in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:
July 30, 2022 Energy and Environment Article by Mike Tony
“Manchin-backed budget bill prompts concern with climate compromises but gives hope for clean energy breakthroughs”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/manchin-backed-budget-bill-prompts-concern-with-climate-compromises-but-gives-hope-for-clean-energy/article_c2a31de5-74e6-5d86-9652-cb984cdcfeb3.html
July 23, 2022 Energy and Environment Article by Mike Tony
“Budget hawks, energy experts challenge Manchin’s claims that climate spending would worsen inflation”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/budget-hawks-energy-experts-challenge-manchins-claims-that-climate-spending-would-worsen-inflation/article_45724a44-efef-5eed-8034-d3d294d07518.html
July 21, 2022 Energy and Environment Article by Mike Tony
“DEP indicates it won’t reassess PFAS discharge limits until permit reissuances despite sharply lower new EPA advisory levels”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/dep-indicates-it-wont-reassess-pfas-discharge-limits-until-permit-reissuances-despite-sharply-lower-new/article_0ecc5f44-04f5-5069-ae79-781c103cfd36.html
July 15, 2022 Energy and Environment Article by Mike Tony
“Manchin’s latest pushback leaves climate action in peril”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/politics/manchins-latest-pushback-leaves-climate-action-in-peril/article_e881c3bf-092e-5c7f-a487-a27e80b8a719.html
Eric Engle as MOVCA board president is quoted
See also same article which appeared in Herald-Dispatch.
https://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/manchin-s-latest-pushback-leaves-climate-action-in-peril/article_38e3d477-a338-500f-a0d1-ce365baad68e.html
Available on WTAP:
July 27, 2022 News feature by Laura Bowen Text and video
“ODOT considers bringing electric vehicle infrastructure to Marietta”
https://www.wtap.com/2022/07/28/odot-considers-bringing-electric-vehicle-infrastructure-marietta/
July 21, 2022 CNN feature appeared on WTAP
“US Postal Service to make 40% of its delivery trucks electric”
https://www.wtap.com/2022/07/21/us-postal-service-make-40-its-delivery-trucks-electric/#l5wkovl80rivyc6i3osi
Available on WCHSTV.com Eyewitness News:
July 13, 2022 Article by Hannah Cline Text and Video
“South Charleston receives first electric school busses from GreenPower”
https://wchstv.com/news/local/greenpower-delivers-very-first-electric-school-busses-to-south-charleston
Appearing on-line on WV Public Broadcasting or WOUB (PBS) or NPR:
July 28, 2022 Political Article by Deepa Shivaram
“Inflation and climate change tackled in new Senate deal that Biden calls ‘historic’”
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/28/1114242765/inflation-climate-change-senate-bill-manchin-biden
July 28, 2022 Climate Article by Scott Neuman
“With Manchin deal, talk of Biden’s climate emergency declaration may be dead”
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/28/1114236764/manchin-climate-bill-biden-climate-emergency
July 20, 2022 Short Wave podcast hosted by Emily Kwong with Rebecca Hersher, Margaret Cirino, Gabriel Spitzer
“Keeping Score On Climate: How We Measure Greenhouse Gases” 14 minute listen
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/18/1112126907/keeping-score-on-climate-how-we-measure-greenhouse-gases
July 7, 2022 Climate article by Rebecca Hersher text and 4 minute audio
“Researchers can now explain how climate change is affecting your weather”
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/07/1107814440/researchers-can-now-explain-how-climate-change-is-affecting-your-weather
July 1, 2022 Environment Article by Juana Summers, Kat Lonsdorf, Mallory Yu Text & 6-min audio
“The EPA prepares for its ‘counterpunch’ after the Supreme Court ruling”
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/01/1109486052/epa-supreme-court-emissions-target-ruling
Appearing on-line on Ohio River Valley Institute https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org :
June 24, 2022 Article by Ted Boettner, Stephen Herzenberg (missing from June media report)
“RECOMPETE Act Offers Support for Realizing ReImagined Appalachian Communities”
June 22, 2022 Article by Sean O’Leary (missing from June media report)
“What A Pennsylvania Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Hub Would Cost”
Available from Sierra Club, Ohio Chapter
Plastic Free July: https://www.sierraclub.org/ohio/plastic-free-july
NATIONAL ATTENTION & Relevant to our region:
Available on Route Fifty (Connecting state and local government leaders):
July 20, 2022 Article by Amanda Woodrum, Co-Director, Campaign to ReImagine Appalachia
“It’s Time for a New Development Strategy in Coal Country”
https://www.route-fifty.com/finance/2022/07/new-development-strategy-coal-country/374706/
Available on US Postal Service:
July 20, 2022 Press release
“Postal Service Modernization Enables Expande3d Electric Vehicle Opportunity”
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2022/0720-postal-service-modernization-enables-expanded-electric-vehicle-opportunity.htm
Available on The Center for Biological Diversity:
July 29, 2022 Press release by Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, and Fossil Free Media
“Hundreds of Climate, Community Groups Tell Biden, Congress: No Fossil Fuel Expansion in Reconciliation Bill”
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/hundreds-of-climate-community-groups-tell-biden-congress-no-fossil-fuel-expansion-in-reconciliation-bill-2022-07-29/
MOVCA signed on
Available on Politico:
July 14, 2022 updated July 15, 2022 Article by Burgess Everett
“Manchin’s Offer to Dems: Take a health care deal or try again”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/14/manchin-rejects-climate-tax-elements-of-party-line-dem-bill-00046018
Available on Inside Climate News:
July 29, 2022 Clean Energy article by Dan Gearino
“The Energy Transition Runs Into a Ditch in Rural Ohio”
This story is the first in a series about the conflict over solar power in Williamsport, Ohio, reported in partnership with ABC News
July 19, 2022 Article by Kristoffer Tique
“Extreme Weather Grips the Globe as Nations Struggle to Take Climate Action”
WV Senator Joe Manchin’s actions killing climate legislation are cited
July 4, 2022 Justice Article by Samantha Hurley
“With Build Back Better Stalled, Expanded Funding for a Civilian Climate Corps Hangs in the Balance”
Available on Common Dreams:
July 29, 2022 Article by Kenny Stancil
“Climate Coalition to Biden and Schumer: Reject ‘Fossil Fuel Expansion’ in Manchin Deal”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/07/29/climate-coalition-biden-and-schumer-reject-fossil-fuel-expansion-manchin-deal
July 29, 2022 Article by Jake Johnson
“Major Handouts in Manchin Deal “Delighting’ Oil and Gas Industry”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/07/29/major-handouts-manchin-deal-delighting-oil-and-gas-industry
July 15, 2022 Article by Jake Johnson
“Biden Urged to Respond to Manchin by Killing West Virginia Fracked Gas Pipeline”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/07/15/biden-urged-respond-manchin-killing-west-virginia-fracked-gas-pipeline
July 2, 2022 Article by Andy Rowell
“Research Shows Burning More Gas Not the Answer to Energy Crisis”
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/07/02/research-shows-burning-more-gas-not-answer-energy-crisis
Available on The Guardian:
July 20, 2022 News Article by Oliver Milman in NY and David Smith in Washington
“Biden unveils extreme heat plan – but doesn’t declare climate emergency” Initiatives are aimed at helping salvage president’s tattered climate agenda after Joe Manchin delivered a major blow last week
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/20/joe-biden-extreme-heat-plan-climate-speech
Available on the New York Times:
July 28, 2022 Article by Elena Shao
“Seven Key Provisions in the Climate Deal”
July 28, 2022 Article by Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer
“Surprise Deal Would Be Most Ambitious Climate Action Undertaken by U.S.”
July 23 2022 Opinion by NYT Editorial Board
“Climate Change is Not Negotiable”
July 22, 2022 Opinion by Fahad Manjoo
“Joe Manchin Squanders an Opportunity and Ushers in Despair”
July 7, 2022 Article by Lisa Friedman
“E.P.A. Describes How It will Regulate Power Plants After Supreme Court Setback”
July 1, 2022 Article by Maggie Astor
“As Federal Climate-Fighting Tools Are Taken Away, Cities and States Step Up”
Athens, OH mentioned.
RESOURCES, RESEARCH, and SOLUTIONS:
Available on Scientific American:
August 1, 2022 Climate Change Article by Naomi Oreskes for August 2022 Scientific American Issue
“Carbon-Reduction Plans Rely on Tech That Doesn’t Exist”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-reduction-plans-rely-on-tech-that-doesnt-exist/
Available on The Hill:
July 21, 2022 Energy and Article by Rachel Frazin
“What would declaring a national climate emergency do?”
Available on The Intercept:
July 30, 2022 Article by Justin Mikulka
“Oil and Gas’s Pivot to Blue Hydrogen Is Falling Through” And that’s a really, really good thing.
https://theintercept.com/2022/07/30/blue-hydrogen-climate-oil-and-gas/
Available on CleanTechnica:
July 29, 2022 Clean Transport Article by Tina Casey
“More Electric Vehicles, No More Excuses For US Postal Service” The US Postal Service finally commits to more electric vehicles, and a $3 billion carve-out in the new climate bill should help grease the skids.
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/07/29/more-electric-vehicles-no-more-excuses-for-us-postal-service/
July 15, 2022 Article by Zachary Shahan
“25.5% Of US Electricity Coming From Renewable Energy” Renewable Energy Keeps Growing in USA
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/07/15/25-5-of-us-electricity-coming-from-renewable-energy/
Available on PHYS.org:
July 28, 2022 Boston University article about new research
“Inefficient building electrification risks prolonging fossil fuel use”
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-inefficient-electrification-prolonging-fossil-fuel.html
July 1, 2022 Article by Bob Yirka
“Decrease in CO2 emissions during pandemic shutdown shows it is possible to reach Paris Agreement goals”
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-decrease-co2-emissions-pandemic-shutdown.html
Available on Indiancountrytoday.com:
July 8, 2022 Article by Carina Dominguez
“First climate agreement to center Indigenous voices gains international support” The Escazu Agreement establishes the relationship between human rights and environmental protections. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues urged its member states to adopt it.
https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/first-climate-agreement-to-center-indigenous-voices-gains-international-support
Available on Oil & Gas Threat Map2.0: https://oilandgasthreatmap.com
Created by Earthworks; Clean Air Task Force & FracTracker Alliance
Available from Beyond Plastics:
See Links for Actions you can take: https://www.beyondplastics.org/act
Available on Environmental Health Project.Org:
Health Impacts & Reporting: https://www.environmentalhealthproject.org/health-impacts
Resources for Parents: https://www.environmentalhealthproject.org/parents
REGIONAL EVENTS:
July 27, 2022 7 – 8:00 pm Zoom webinar hosted by West Virginia Center on Climate Change
“Blue is the New Green – Labor Unions Tackle the Climate Crisis” Panelists: Steve Crum & Marc Boom
See https://wvclimate.org to link to recording.
July 26, 2022 2-4PM Event Promoted by Sierra Club:
“Army Corps Listening Session on Environmental Justice” Registration required.
See talking points concerning Nationwide Permit 12 and environmental review at link below
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QSe54-JXPUqv2Zsg9MsR2RGxGGtZFE048yPtrxXlNMg/edit
Available from West Virginians For Energy Freedom:
July 19, 4 pm Event by MOVCA, Solar United Neighbors and Energy Efficient WV
“Energy Freedom: How to lower your electric bills”
Free On-line training
July 13, 2022 6:30- 8:00 pm Pubic EVENT held at Broughton Nature and Wildlife Education Center, Marietta, OH
Hosted by The National Wildlife Federation, Ohio River Basin Alliance, WV Rivers Coalition and Friends of the Cheat, and MOVCA
“Ohio River Listening Session: Share Your Vision for a Healthy Ohio River”
Attendees will help set priorities for getting the Ohio River and tributaries back on a path to recovery
See also available on ORSANCO: (Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission): https://www.orsanco.org
ORSANCO adopted its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for the Ohio River Basin on June 16, 2022
Available from A-Z Tackling Impacts of Plastic:
July 7, 2022 7:00 pm EVENT online (registration required)
“Understanding the Impacts of the Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Hub Proposed for the Ohio River Valley” Blue hydrogen and carbon capture technologies are false climate solutions.
Speakers: John Detwiler and Sean O’Leary from ORVI
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Failed promises of the natural gas industry
Jul 30, 2022
George Banziger
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Residents of the Mid-Ohio Valley have been presented with several myths about the benefits of the natural gas industry. These myths have resulted in unfulfilled promises that have left the Valley and greater Appalachia in a chronic state of economic stagnation and population decline. First there was the promise of a natural gas boom in 2008. Then there was the idea of the hydrogen storage hub, followed by the “petrochemical renaissance,” with the promise of a major cracker plant (to convert natural gas to raw material of plastics), and finally the plan for hydrogen-based energy and carbon capture and sequestration.
The false promise of a boom in the Ohio River Valley was brought to light in a February 2021 report by the Ohio River Valley Institute. The authors examined 22 counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (dubbed “Frackalachia” in this report) that produce natural gas. The myth propagated by advocates for the natural gas industry promised unprecedented growth from 2008 to 2019. While gross domestic product in the U.S. grew substantially during this period, in Frackalachia the local economy declined or stagnated–there was a 6% decline in jobs and an 8% decline in population.
The idea of a storage hub has similarly gone unrealized, and the plan for a major cracker plant in the region is still pinned on the false hopes that a government-owned company in Thailand would fund this operation.
More recently, we have heard about plans to develop hydrogen as a “clean” source of energy along with the idea of carbon capture and sequestration. The major means of production for this energy source is blue hydrogen, which is made from methane or natural gas. That means there will be no reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. A more promising source of hydrogen is green hydrogen, made from water using electrolysis, but at this point only about 2% of hydrogen is made from water.
Another myth promulgated by supporters of fossil fuels is that carbon capture and sequestration will significantly reduce carbon in the environment. The plan is to compress carbon from all major sources and ship this compressed carbon through a massive system of pipelines. This system of pipelines and the infrastructure to capture and compress carbon are tremendously expensive, adding billions of dollars, which could be saved merely by transitioning directly to renewable sources of energy.
While natural gas production grew from 4% in 2008 to 35% from 2008 to 2019, job growth in the region was 8% below the national average, according to a 2021 study (“Destined to Fail”) by the Ohio River Valley Institute. Dollars associated with this growth of production did not enter the local economy. This is confirmed anecdotally by the observation of out-of-state license plates at natural gas sites. Furthermore, residents of the region have to cope with emissions from the natural gas industry that have spoiled air and water and accounted for increased risks of health problems like cancer and respiratory illnesses.
Residents of Washington County are well aware of the costs of the natural gas industry as they have experienced the huge growth of injection wells (for brine waste from the fracking of natural gas)–8 million barrels in 2019 — with the attendant risks of air and water pollution and health problems.
In an online publication, “Route Fifty” (2022), Amanda Woodrum of the ReImagine Appalachia movement has written that fossil fuels have increased the nation’s prosperity while absentee corporations have extracted profits and exploited resources of the region, leaving the region in poverty, lands damaged, and workers and neighbors with chronic illnesses.
What is needed for the Ohio Valley to prosper in the 21st Century, Woodrum goes on to explain, is a plan to: modernize the electrical grid, expand universal high-quality broadband, grow clean and efficient manufacturing, build a sustainable transportation system, repair lands damaged by the exploitative fossil-fuel industries, restore wetlands, and promote regenerative agricultural practices. These kinds of investments are based on labor-intensive practices not the capital-intensive methods of the past.
***
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 Mid-Ohio Valley Interfaith, and 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
On climate, making Manchin irrelevant is the only path
WVGazettemail
July 26, 2022
Eric Engle
The world is being scorched. Europe is suffering under massive heatwaves, as is the U.S, and China. Wildfires, droughts, collapsing glaciers and devastating floods are becoming ubiquitous globally. The U.S’s fastest growing cities like Scottsdale, Arizona and Fort Worth,Texas, are on a fast track to becoming
uninhabitable, with more and more days of unbearable temperatures and shrinking water supplies.The urban heat island effect, where sprawling concrete urban centers with very little tree cover heat up to deadly temperatures much faster than surrounding areas, is exacerbating this.
In places like the British Isles, where temperatures have soared earlier this month to all-time, triple-digit records, homes are built to retain heat, not block or vent it. Air-conditioning is almost unheard of. In the history of human habitation of such places there’s been no need for synthetic cooling.We’re seeing more of this in recent years, with places like the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and parts of Canada, as well as Siberia, subject to the same heatwaves and wildfires of the American South and Southwest.
These recent summers aren’t the hottest summers of our lives; they’re the coolest summers of the rest of our lives. As heat indexes (the combination of heat and humidity) rise, humans cannot withstand exposure to them. There is a measure called the WetBulb Globe Temperature that gauges heat stress in direct sunlight. It takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed,sun angle and cloud cover (solar radiation).WetBulb temperatures are on the rise globally and are already frequently deadly in places like India and Pakistan.
Hurricane season is right around the corner.Warmer ocean surface temperatures fuel hurricanes, and warmer air holds more moisture, which is fuel for massive precipitation events. The U.S. Atlantic and Gulf states have been battered in recent years by some of the worst hurricanes, tropical storms and precipitation events in recorded history and this trend is not letting up. The worst impact of climate change, other than extreme
heat, here in West Virginia will be precipitation and flooding. We’ve already seen how ill-equipped we are to face this.
Meanwhile, Congress is failing to act. Why? Unanimous opposition from Republicans on the one hand and enabling of their obstruction and delay on the other. The chief enabler, of course, is Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Stellar reporting recently by the Gazette-Mail’s Mike Tony detailed exactly why Manchin has been a
roadblock to climate action, but the reasons for Manchin’s obstinance can be summed up quickly: he’s the Senate’s leading recipient of oil and gas industry largesse and he’s a coal baron who makes over $500,000 a year through his coal brokerage, Enersystems, selling waste coal to the Grant Town Power Plant.
Members of Congress can get away with this kind of conflict of interest through slight of hand. Manchin has put his Enersystems holdings in a blind trust and says that is sufficient, which at this point it legally is, but his son runs the brokerage. How “blind’ can the goings-on really be? Please. Laws need changed to forbid this kind of thing but good luck finding a Congress to change them. Manchin has no business being chairman of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, but it seems that all Senate Democrat leadership and the president know how to do is kiss up to him. Congressional Democrats by and large have no idea how to play hardball, even in the midst of a climate crisis.
Electoral politics is more often than not a fairly ineffective way of solving problems. Elections only matter if there are mass movements to demand that these people, once elected, actually try to solve any real problems and improve lives using public policy. But those movements exist. The movement to address the climate crisis, part of a larger web of movements that cannot be siloed, is stronger than ever. My fervent hope is that enough Democrats like Tim Ryan of Ohio, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Charles Booker of Kentucky can be elected to make Manchin irrelevant in the next Congress, while maintaining climate-friendly majorities in the House. It’s the only way we’re going to get the federal policy solutions we need to mitigate the damage, avert worse catastrophe, and help salvage a habitable planet.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Just itching to address climate change
Jul 16, 2022
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“Late at night while you’re sleeping, poison ivy comes a-creeping…” — Lieber and Stoller 1959
***
Unless you are as old as I am, you might not recognize the song remnant sung by “The Coasters;” but you will recognize that few things can spoil a day outdoors faster than poison ivy. The plant, which presents as a three-leafed vine, can prompt a rash as a reaction to urushiol, an irritating oil in its leaves.
It turns out climate change may not just be making the planet hotter: it seems to be worsening poison ivy, too. Current research suggests that poison ivy may be growing faster and larger due to rising heat and elevated carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, and the situation is likely to get worse.
Studies done over the past 15+ years suggest that rising CO2 levels are helping every hiker’s least favorite plant grow faster, bigger, and itchier. As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continue to increase, so does more irritating and pervasive poison ivy (and poison oak). Increasing temperatures, along with rising CO2 levels, are causing poison ivy plants to grow larger and stronger. This results in the plants growing bigger leaves; pie-plate sized leaves are now common
The plant is also benefiting from warmer soils. One experiment from Harvard University demonstrated an increase of 9∂F in soil temperature resulted in poison ivy growing 149% faster. The growth rate of the poison ivy plant has doubled in the last 50 years.
“The chances of encountering poison ivy and coming down with a rash are greater than they used to be,” according to the online site, WebMD.
Additionally, the oil itself that causes poison ivy rash is getting more powerful, according to scientists. Plants raised in a high-CO2 environment produced a more allergenic form of urushiol, the substance that causes rashes in most people exposed to the plant. A generation of supercharged poison ivy should be concerning for humans who react to the plant, which is most (85%) of us. But it’s also likely to impact nearby flora and fauna. Since not all plants respond to CO2 like poison ivy does, it’s possible that growing vines could cause an imbalance in natural ecosystems, choking out more benign plants. Poison ivy is choking trees and filling the border edges of woodlands.
Next to crop failure, deadly heat waves, sea level rise … more poison ivy may seem like a relatively trivial effect of climate change. But for those of us who love to hike, the future may involve a lot more anti-itch lotion than we’d prefer.
What you need to know before you head out to the woods, or the backyard:
It’s been a hot summer locally in the Mid-Ohio Valley. It’s hard to imagine wanting to hike in long pants. But if you live somewhere poison ivy is rampant, you might not have a choice. If you’re into hiking, try to wear long pants and long sleeves rather than shorts and t-shirts and definitely wear socks.
Be sure to learn to identify poison ivy. In addition to having three leaves, it can also appear as a scruffy vine on trees. If a plant you think might be poison ivy has thorns or clusters of five leaves, it’s probably something else.
The offending substance, urushiol, is found in the sap. Burning poison ivy plants can release urushiol particles into the air. The urushiol found in the sap of the poison ivy plant binds to skin cells when it comes into contact. Touching the sap of the plant as well as touching something on which urushiol is present, such as garden tools or a pet who has run through the leaves, can cause the allergic reaction. Shower within a half-hour of contact and you’ll be generally OK. But once it is absorbed, there is not much you can do.
If you normally pack one bottle of anti-itch cream for a camping trip, from now on, consider taking two.
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.
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