Dawn Weidner and Jean Ambrose of “Reimagine Appalachia” spoke before the Wood County Commission on Thursday to discuss support for efforts to have more federal money invested in this region for renewable energy development. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission will sign a resolution next week in support of efforts by a regional organization to have more federal dollars invested in energy development in West Virginia and surrounding states.
Jean Ambrose and Dawn Weidner, representing New Jobs Appalachia, appeared before the commision Thursday to talk about a new initiative, called “Reimagine Appalachia,” which is looking at changes in the energy economy. A number of those changes are happening in the coming years on the federal level, with financial support.
“A concern is that Appalachia is not getting its fair share,” Ambrose said. “In the energy economy, (West Virginia) has powered the nation, and we have not really reaped the benefits of being a resource extraction state.”
The Ohio River Valley, as important a watershed as it is, has not received the attention others have like the Colorado River or the Tennessee Valley.
“The idea here is we deserve that same level of attention,” Ambrose said. “If the current administration is making this a priority, then we have a number of years to argue for additional resources that frankly our region deserves for its many years of service to the nation.”
“Reimagine Appalachia” is a consortium of organizations across four states — West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky — which was formed to bring attention to a historically impoverished area.
Coal’s influence has been declining in recent years as natural gas and other means of generating power have taken the forefront, including renewable sources of energy like solar.
Ambrose said she has solar panels on her home and has seen a big difference in her energy bills.
The potential to utilize the sun’s energy is great and seeing more interest as the economics are steering to more investment in renewables, Ambrose said.
“It doesn’t mean we stop doing other things that we are doing,” she said. “We want to capture those jobs of the future.
“They are going to be good jobs with a full range of technical needs that are required. They would create a ladder of opportunity for our young people to raise families and be able to stay here.”
An economic study the group did with the University of Massachusetts shows 41,000 jobs could come to or be created in West Virginia over the next 10 years in modernizing West Virginia’s electrical grid and other innovations in transportation and manufacturing,
Commission President Blair Couch said areas have been underfunded in reclaiming former coal-mining operations in parts of the state, which could help with what is being proposed by “Reimagine Appalachia.” Efforts by federal officials are looking into doing things like that, he said.
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said the Ohio River has been engineered to cut down on flooding and more could be done in terms of generating hydroelectric power. He said some windmill operations in West Virginia supply energy to Virginia but this state sees no benefit from them.
Ambrose believes there could be more opportunities for investment in that and other ways of generating energy that were not traditionally considered in this region.
“It is hard to imagine something new when we have been doing the same thing for so long,” she said.
Ambrose said the resolution will not obligate the commission to providing any money directly, just support efforts to create new jobs here.
The commission will take it up Thursday, July 22.
(Follow up);
July 23, 2021
In other business:
The commission unanimously approved a resolution supporting the goals of “Reimagine Appalachia” to rebuild Appalachia for the 21st Century through new infrastructure utilizing hydroelectric and other renewable sources like solar power which in turn would help create new technical jobs to install and maintain these systems.
Officials said Wood County does not have the coal and gas resources other parts of the state have and should look at ways to be able to enhance the local economy.
“The economy should celebrate our culture our heritage, invest in our communities, generate good stable meaningful jobs…,” the resolution said.
Turn on the news any day, and you’ll likely see stories about the increasing effects of climate change. Unprecedented wildfires in California, sea level rise in Florida, even the subway flooding in New York. While the severity and timing of its effects remain debated, the national conversation around climate change has morphed over the past decade. It’s no longer a question of if we can stop it, but of how we’re going to cope with it.
As with many national conversations, Appalachia may end up central to the American strategy to cope with climate change, and not necessarily for the usual reasons. With the ongoing decline of Appalachian coal, old debates about balancing the region’s carbon-based economy with environmental concerns have become less prominent.
Instead, Appalachia’s importance in the coming decades may be based on another of the region’s valuable resources—habitable land—and its ability to serve as a refuge to those displaced by climate change. Navigating the possibilities and pitfalls of this growing importance will be key in ensuring a just future in the region.
According to most experts, climate change’s effects will be increasingly felt throughout the United States over the next century, although as Eric Engle, chairman of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action group explains it, different regions of the country will face different challenges.
“The Western United States, the Southwest are seeing huge problems with record-breaking heat, drought, and wildfires. You’re seeing the threat of hurricanes and extreme weather events [along the Gulf, Southeast, and Northeast coasts]. In the Midwest and Mid-Atlantics states… you’re seeing intervals of drought and extreme precipitation events that destroy crops,” Engle said. “We’re already seeing these things…but by mid-to-late century, they’re going to get worse.”
Like most everywhere, Appalachia will not be spared the effects of climate change. Cities in southern Appalachia are some of the most drought-vulnerable in the country, while the region’s Ohio River Valley is particularly vulnerable to increased flooding, a fact underlined by the deadly 2016 floods in West Virginia.
However, as a whole, the Appalachian Mountains appear better positioned than most areas to weather climate change, with the environmentalist group Nature Conservancy predicting Appalachia’s hardy ecosystem could help preserve plant and animal species displaced by changing climatic conditions, a role it played during the last Ice Age. And although it’s important not to get complacent, the region comes out relatively well in projections of climate change’s effects on temperatures, crop yields, and even GDP growth.
“I would caution this being a region that would be mostly exempted from climatic changes. Now, by comparison…relative to other places in the United States and on the North American continent, we may do well here. We may be more habitable than other areas of the country or the continent,” Engle said.
While the popular image of the ocean rising to the Appalachian foothills is fortunately not predicted, experts predict Appalachia will be a relatively hospitable place to live in the coming century. This of course raises the question: What does that mean for Appalachia and the people who live there now?
Although the thought of Appalachia serving as a redoubt against climate instability may provide a measure of comfort, some Appalachians have already raised concerns about how coming changes may marginalize the region’s already-vulnerable population.
“In the coming decades…we may see people saying we want to get back to states [like West Virginia] because there are future prospects. Maybe employment isn’t the best, but the housing is cheap. The land is comparatively cheap,” Engle said. “I worry about that because I don’t think it’s fair to current central Appalachians. Those of us who are here and suffering…I worry that we’re failing to take care of people who were born and raised here.”
The concern over ‘“outsiders” coming in to gentrify Appalachia and displace local inhabitants has a long history, which in turn draws on an even deeper history of the region being exploited by out-of-state interests.
And these concerns are valid. Local governments in Appalachia have recently launched several initiatives to entice out-of-state professionals to settle in the region, even as local media has reported on how out-of-state buyers interested in living in a climate change resilient location have helped put a squeeze on the West Virginia housing market.
My dad always told me the mountains would protects us from climate disasters, but the yuppies are gonna price us out in the next ten years
However, if Appalachia’s losing battle against coal’s decline has taught us anything, it should be that swimming against the currents of the world economy is often a losing proposition. Rather than reactively trying to prevent any newcomers, regional activists and policymakers should actively promote an inclusive economic vision harnessing the opportunity more people may bring to the region.
What that vision should include, exactly, is up for debate.
For Engle, a major part of it must focus on reversing the long-term exploitation of Appalachia and its most vulnerable. “West Virginia’s history in particular has been a history of exploitation by out-of-state interests and people. That has to stop. What we create here…a large portion of that needs to stay and what does not stay here still needs to reward people here,” Engle said. “We deserve the wealth of our labor…If we want to make this equitable, to encourage people to stay and come here. We have got to be willing to take care of our most vulnerable populations.”
If Appalachia’s long-term trajectory is to be changed, any inclusive vision for the region’s potential future as a climate change haven must also include a fundamental reckoning with its deeply unequal land ownership. Although not talked about as much as the dependence on coal, land inequality has been central to Appalachia’s poverty for over a century, with large out-of-state companies buying and holding land as an investment.
Betsy Taylor, a cultural anthropologist and founder of the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN), explained how land ownership was crucial to Appalachia’s economic trajectory in a 2019 interview with expatalachians. “A lot of the coal and timber companies leased their land from these companies. Harvard University actually still has a chunk of land…It’s the connection between this land grab and local gatekeepers that’s important [in explaining Appalachia’s poverty],” Taylor said.
This inequality is still very much present in the region.
In a 2013 study, the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy found the top 25 landowners in West Virginia—most of which were out-of-state energy, landholding, and timber interests—owned over 17 percent of the state’s 13 million privately-held acres. In six counties in the state’s southern coalfields, the top ten landowners held over 50 percent of the land.
If there ever is a climate change land rush in Appalachia, those interests will be the primary beneficiaries. They will profit from rising land prices while ordinary Appalachians are priced out of the market. They will benefit by catering to the affluent while threatening to destroy the very ecosystems that make Appalachia resilient to climate change. The story of exploitation with which the region is so familiar will be repeated.
“I’m afraid we’re going to get back into old ways of thinking,” Engle said. “Places like West Virginia are going to be exploited from the outside…and we’re gonna continue on the same long-term trajectory we’ve been on since we were created as a state during the Civil War where certain people eat all the pie and everybody else gets crumbs if they’re lucky.”
As frightening as a climate changed future may be, one can imagine a scenario where it is able to provide the much-needed ingredients of people and capital to finally change Appalachia’s century-long trajectory, to create a more prosperous society. However, if ordinary Appalachians are to have any chance of getting more than crumbs in this new society, they must force a reevaluation of the fundamental ways wealth is distributed in the mountains.
My journey to climate activism began when my husband and I became fossil fuel refugees. We affectionately called our small farm, located in Greene County, Pa., just a mile from the West Virginia state line, “Almost West Virginia.” We lived there for decades, raising our children and their myriad pets as well as sheep, goats, fruits and vegetables. Then we watched in horror as the fossil fuel industry began to frack the Marcellus. We witnessed the destruction of our self-sufficient lifestyle, our community, and our planet as our rural area transformed into a fossil fuel industrial zone. We moved to Wood County.
A Minnesota chapter of Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), sent me an e-mail inviting me to attend the Treaty People Gathering (TPG), an event to be held in early June to protest a pipeline that continues the environmental racism waged against Indigenous people to benefit multi-billion dollar oil and gas companies. All meals would be provided and camping facilities were available. I jumped at the invitation because I love to eat, I enjoy camping and I was fully vaccinated. The more essential reasons were: I love water more than oil and I am deeply concerned about what Earth’s climate will be like when my grandchildren are my age if the production of fossil fuels is not reined in. The climate crisis is not just a tragedy, it is a crime. Big Oil is the most corrupt and dangerous industry on the planet. This industry has known for decades what it would do to our planet and their response has been public disinformation campaigns and lobbying to block climate action. I tried to think of a reason to miss this event but I couldn’t. All of the required elements were available: interest, time, health and money. It seemed important to be among those attending.
Ojibwe/Cherokee is the colonial term for the indigenous people known as Anishanaabe who occupy northern areas of so-called Minnesota. Several treaties were signed with the Ojibwe. In this situation, the Treaty of 1855 is most often mentioned. Pipelines already criss-cross Anishanaabe territory. This particular fight is against Line 3, a pipeline owned by Enbridge, a Canadian company. Enbridge claims that because this project is a “replacement” pipeline, an environmental review is not warranted and Minnesota agrees.
In fact, the leaky section of the pipeline is not being removed at all and will be kept in the ground. The replacement pipeline, which incidentally would expand tar sands oil production by 20 percent, is taking a completely different route through the (one wonders if it is intentional!) pristine Minnesota lakes of the White Earth Reservation, where wild rice grows and has been harvested by the indigenous residents for generations. The legacy of the Anishanaabe involves the prophecy that their people would settle where “food grows on the water.” They see themselves and all who support their movement as “water protectors.” In addition to the continued destruction climate change is causing to the planet, their argument against pipelines is one of treaty rights and the fact that our Constitution recognizes treaties as “the supreme law of the land.”
The TPG included a ride share network and I opt to join a group of ten who will be departing from Philadelphia in a rental van and are willing to stop in Pittsburgh to pick me up. After 2.5 days of travel, we arrive in time to set up camp before the opening ceremony/orientation and the first group meal where attendees line up in categories which include vegan, vegetarian and omnivore. The next day is a “training” day. It starts with speeches (i.e. treaty rights) then activities dependent on the involvement chosen; “red” willing arrest, “yellow” might be arrested and “green” no arrest. All participation was equally important to the three separate events planned for three separate locations the following day. Groups for each of the sites practiced various strategic crowd movements and chants. Our final instructions are to board vehicles at 7:45 a.m. the following morning, Monday, June 7, the Day of Action.
Early the next morning, Enbridge employees voluntarily leave when small groups of protesters peacefully overtake each location. By the time vans later drop off additional protesters, the serious folks had chained themselves to various pieces of equipment. Long-time leader of an indigenous-led anti-pipeline group, Winona LaDuke, a Harvard educated Environmental Attorney and founder of Honor The Earth, gave an inspiring speech at the pumping station as did her good friend Jane Fonda and then both were off to march at the mouth of the Mississippi with Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org.
A few protesters tore down posters proclaiming Enbridges’ concern for the environment, but no one damaged any equipment. The intention was to disrupt the daily operations and bring attention to the general public across the USA and the globe that not only are Treaties being ignored but the climate crisis is urgent and real. Many media outlets were present to cover the events. Throughout the day the protesters chanted, erected barricades, ate snacks and stayed hydrated.
In the evening, three busloads of police, in full riot gear, from both the County Sheriff’s Department and State Police arrive at the pumping station. The remaining protesters, those who planned to be arrested, linking arms and chanting, faced the line of police. A couple of brutal arrests were made. Crews for the police arrived to unchain the 20 or so individuals from the equipment. By the time these individuals had been unlocked, handcuffed and placed in police vans amid the supportive cheers of the crowd, it was twilight and darkness descended quickly. Police cars with lights glaring surrounded the final crowd of about 200 who had linked arms and sat down awaiting arrest. Because County jails quickly filled to capacity, the final group of arrested protesters were handcuffed, received a citation and immediately released.
Please contact President Biden and let him know the people protecting the water are not the criminals in this situation; the real criminals are the government and pipeline company harming the planet.
The typically white snow that covers the French Alps has been observed darkening to a blood red hue, producing a phenomenon known as “glacier blood.” This disturbing trend is triggered by the green microalgae that live in the snow turning red as a response to rising temperatures. What’s more, as the Alps darken they absorb even more sunlight, creating a feedback loop that’s likely to destabilize the entire ecosystem as global warming spirals out of control.
I have to admit I’m a bit of a sucker for these near-biblical portents of climate doom. Another favorite of mine came in the form of a magpie filmed during the 2019/2020 Australia wildfires. The black and white bird can be observed vocally mimicking the sound of the New South Wales fire sirens, so constant and ubiquitous they’d become as flames ravaged the nation.
The warning signs we’re being given are anything but subtle. The natural world is going completely haywire, and it takes a deliberate, concerted effort not to notice that something is very, very wrong.
As I write this, the Pacific Northwest finds itself in the grip of a record-breaking, once-in-a-millennium “heat dome.” The typically moderate climate in Portland has been replaced by 112-degree temperatures, while the state of Washington has surpassed its all-time high record for the month of June, with ground temperatures in Wenatchee reaching a mind-boggling 145 degrees. Such intense, unprecedented heat is actively destroying infrastructure throughout the region, melting electric cables and threatening to disrupt power grids.
If you pay any attention at all to stories about climate change, you’ll quickly notice that such “once-in-a-millennium,” “once-in-a-century,” and “once-in-a-lifetime” weather events, from freak heat waves to monster hurricanes, are taking place more and more frequently with each passing year. Keeping in mind that we’re still in the relatively embryonic stages of the climate crisis, you can expect such disasters to become increasingly common and more deadly with time.
In Florida, meanwhile, a 12-story condominium recently collapsed in Surfside, Miami, causing at least twelve deaths at the time of this writing, with 149 people still missing. Although far from the sole cause, it’s currently being speculated that elevated sea levels played a significant role in the tragedy, prompting further concerns about the inability of coastal infrastructure to handle our rising seas.
One might hope that such concerns over infrastructure in the face of climate catastrophe were being taken seriously. But recent days have also seen our milquetoast corporatist president (who took over $1.5 million in oil and gas money during the 2020 election) reaching an infrastructure “compromise” with Republicans, few of whom even believe that climate change exists, or that Biden himself is even the actual president, for that matter.
Not only did this brilliant negotiating needlessly slash proposed infrastructure spending by more than half, it also scrapped major climate change measures, while simultaneously positioning public infrastructure to be sold to the private sector in order to pay for new infrastructure. This is likely to come at a significant cost to every day citizens, in addition to making it far more difficult to adapt our society to the challenges of climate change.
West Virginia golden boy and hostage taker of the already-toothless Democratic Party Joe Manchin (who’s received a career total of $493,995 in oil and gas contributions) has complained that Biden’s climate goals are too “aggressive,” even as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change steps up its warnings on climate tipping points, beyond which global heating and its myriad of repercussions are likely to become irreversible.
In my own state, corrupt Ohio lawmakers are busy actively working to prevent the expansion of wind and solar projects, essentially destroying the renewable energy sector, as well as badly needed economic growth, in the process.
If all of this seems like a lot of doom and gloom, that’s because quite frankly it is. There is no easy way to put a positive spin on what’s happening at the moment. We are absolutely failing to respond to the climate crisis, and we need to acknowledge that fact.
Our leaders are failing us. We are failing our children, and their children, and their children’s children’s children.
I cannot stress enough the urgency of the situation we’re in, and the scale of the action necessary for us to have even a hope of combating the climate crisis at this stage. Now is the time to act, in whatever capacity you possibly can.
It is absolutely critical that we force our leaders to rise to this threat before it’s too late. It’s clear by now that they will not do so on their own, and it’s up to all of us to hold them accountable.
We no longer have any choice but to radically transform our broken politics, our destructive energy systems, and our fractured society.
We are all firsthand witnesses to the dawn of the climate emergency. We live in it now, and we will live to see our world burn to the ground around us if we fail to take bold and immediate action.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Appearing on-line in The Bargain Hunter(Weekly news magazine serving Ohio Counties: Holmes, Tuscarawas, Wayne, and the surrounding area. Stark, Medina, Summit and Cuyahoga):
“AppalachAmerica” New Podcast (began March 26, 2021) Hosted by Jeff Young and reporters at the Ohio Valley ReSource . See episode description and links:
100+ organizations signed Letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling on end to the filibuster. MOVCA signed as a member of The Declaration for American Democracy Coalition (DFAD).
My awareness of human impact on the environment began during a conversation with my grandpa when I was a child. At dinner he was discussing the banning of DDT pesticides and how it was going to have a negative effect on garden production. He understood that the banning of DDT was because it was harming birds. It wasn’t until high school that I understood the greater impact, after reading “Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carsen.
In her book, she writes about DDT … “important studies established the fact that the insecticidal poison affects a generation once removed from the initial contact. Storage of the poison in the egg, in the yolk material that nourishes the developing embryo, is a virtual death warrant and explains why DeWitt’s birds died in the egg or a few days after hatching.” “Silent Spring” was published in 1962, and here we are 59 years later still using insecticides … albeit not DDT. As you likely know, insecticides are not only killing the detrimental insects, but our pollinators, too.
In addition to the loss of our pollinators the use of insecticides is having a deleterious effect on our environment as they contribute to climate change. In an intergovernmental study it was found that 30 percent of emissions that are attributed to climate change can be directly linked to agricultural activities, which includes the use of insecticides. How do they contribute to climate change, you may ask? They contribute to the nitrous oxide in our atmosphere, which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
A study completed in 2017, by Jamieson, Burkle, Manson, Runyan, Trowbridge, and Zientek and referenced on the U.S. Department of Forest Service website, discusses the negative effects climate change has on plants, specifically the phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are compounds that are produced by plants to help them fight off bacteria, fungi and some viral infections and can be found in fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, etc. These phytochemical changes are believed to be having a negative impact on plant-insect interactions, as well.
So, as an incidental gardener, I am experiencing the negative impact of two variables on my garden as my harvest decreases each year. I have been looking for differing ways of controlling for pests, weeds, and plant diseases that do not have a negative impact.
To solve the problem of insect damage in my garden, I am using an integrated pest management system. There are several components to this system but have chosen the cultural controls and the mechanical controls. Cultural control is the use of crop rotation, tilling, pruning/thinning and using timed planting. My grandpa would tell me that this was important so you wouldn’t “wear out” the soil. The mechanical controls I use are things such as traps, netting, and in some cases hand destruction (picking the naughty culprit off the leaf by hand). Another example for me, is the use of Beetle Bags in June.
To assist with my veggie/fruit pollination, I plant oodles of flowers around and in my garden. I surround my garden with zinnias, butterfly weed, cleome, marigolds and various other flowers. Not only do these plants attract pollinators, provide food and refuge for insects, but they provide a barrier to rabbits and deer who like to munch on my garden for their early morning or late evening meals.
As for my impact on climate change: My goal is to be mindful of my own choices. I was taught at an early age to leave things the way I find them, including to leave the land as I found it or even better.
As the White House and Congress discuss infrastructural investments, including green energy and sustainability, and ideas like tax code changes to pay for them, the time to act on the global climate crisis is running shorter than many of us may think.
A draft of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report due out in its entirety by February 2022 recently was leaked to French news outlet Agence France-Presse and came with dire warnings.
“Species extinction, more widespread disease, unlivable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas — these and other devastating climate impacts are accelerating and bound to become painfully obvious before a child born today turns 30. The choices societies make now will determine whether our species thrives or simply survives as the 21st Century unfolds,” said the IPCC.
The draft report’s authors continue, “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems … humans cannot.”
The draft report also mentions 12 “tipping points,” or points at which irreversible climactic changes set in that have a negative domino effect on global life-support systems and inhabitants. A couple of examples include the drying out of parts of the Amazon rainforest, causing the forest (often referred to as “Earth’s lungs”) to become a grassy savannah, and the melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, a phenomenon already underway, which causes dramatic long-term rises in sea levels and affects ocean currents, circulations and chemistry.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way, or at least not as dire. According to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency, reported on in The Guardian newspaper, “Almost two-thirds of wind and solar projects built globally last year will be able to generate cheaper electricity than even the world’s cheapest new coal plants.”
The Guardian reported that, “In less than a decade, the cost of large-scale solar power has fallen by more than 85%, while onshore wind has fallen almost 56% and offshore wind has declined by almost 48%.”
The report summary states that, “The trend confirms that low-cost renewables are not only the backbone of the electricity system, but that they will also enable electrification in end uses like transport, buildings and industry and unlock competitive indirect electrification with renewable hydrogen.”
Despite these energy trends, however, our federal government is still subsidizing fossil fuels to an enormous degree. A new analysis from the Stockholm Environment Institute finds that, “The U.S. government added as much as $20 billion a year to the value of new oil and gas projects over the last two decades, amplifying companies’ expected profits during the shale booms in the Bakken, Appalachian, Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Permian basins.” The report also states that, “Subsidies likely played a substantial role in making new gas projects in Appalachia viable, beginning in 2010, when more than 30% of new gas projects may have been subsidy-dependent.”
This is planned obsolescence. How myopic can our elected officials be? We have got to end these dirty energy and product subsidies in the tax code. We also need a price on carbon, to do what economists would refer to as internalizing the externalities (aka making the fossil fuels industries and others pay for the damage their products cause to our bodies and our planet) and to help fund a transition for fossil fuel industry families and communities, as my friend Jim Probst wrote about in this paper recently.
It’s time for all hands on deck. Time is running out. Republicans obviously aren’t interested in addressing any of these issues, so let’s eliminate the filibuster in the U.S. Senate and pass strong legislation that meets the urgency of the moment. And let’s make sure that even Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin understand one thing: No climate, no deal.
Eric Engle, of Parkersburg, is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, a board member for the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and co-chairman of Sierra Club of West Virginia’s executive committee.
PARKERSBURG — Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action’s usual Third Thursday programs will resume when protocols for safe, in-person, indoor public programs are clearly established. Until then, MOVCA is pleased to attend and promote the Summer 2021 Fair Transition Webinar Series, “Putting Together the Pieces of a Fair Energy Transition – Leaving No One Behind,” as programming for MOVCA this July and August.
Sponsored by the West Virginia Center on Climate Change (“WV3C”), the WVU College of Law Center on Energy and Sustainable Development, and the WV Climate Alliance, (and supported by the Dunn Foundation and by Rafe and Lenore Pomerance), the series of free, expert-led, live/interactive online hour-long webinars – each with different speakers and panelists – will be offered from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 13; and Tuesday, Aug. 10. For more information, or to register, go to wvclimate.org/summer-2021-fair-transition-webinars. Post-event recordings will be available to registrants who are unable to attend at the scheduled time.
“The theme of these webinars ties in well with our support for the THRIVE Act and agenda, as well as relating to the goals of our new subcommittee, New Jobs Appalachia.,” said Jean Ambrose, who leads the NJA committee.
Information for webinar on Tuesday, July 13:
Speaker – Chris Hansen, PhD, Co-Founder and Director at the Colorado Energy & Water Institute. He represents District 31 in the Colorado State Senate, where he chairs the Appropriations Committee. He will discuss the “Colorado Just Transition Action Plan” to assist fossil fuel communities in the transition to a clean energy economy
Panelists – Angie Rosser, Executive Director, WV Rivers; Ann Eisenberg, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law; Evan Hansen, represents District 51 in the West Virginia House of Delegates and is President of Downstream Strategies.
Information for webinar scheduled for Tuesday, August 10: TBA
Leadership team member Adeline Bailey said, “We are also hoping to schedule some additional programming of our own – either in-person or on Zoom – as well as tabling at events this summer, to be announced.”
At this time, MOVCA’s regular business meetings held on the first Thursday of each month will continue on the Zoom platform. Members and guests are welcome to attend these meetings and get involved in the many activities and projects of the group.
Contact Eric Engle (ericengle85@yahoo.com) to receive the link to access the group’s Zoom meetings.
Charleston Gazette Mail By Jim Probst Jun 21, 2021 “Change is coming whether we seek it or not. Too many inside and outside the coalfields have looked the other way when it comes to recognizing and addressing specifically what that change must be, but we can look away no longer. We must act, while acting in a way that has real, positive impact on the people who are most affected by this change.”
The above quote is from a document released in April by the United Mine Workers of America, titled “Preserving Coal Country.” On June 16 there was a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate that addresses the changes occurring in coal country in a real, positive and substantial manner.
Introduced by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, the Save Our Futures Act proposes a comprehensive list of support for coal miners and coal-fired power plant workers affected by the transitions occurring in the ways that we produce energy.
For workers and their families, the bill includes:
n Five years of full wage replacement.
n Continuation of health care for five years based on previous employment.
n Continuation of pension contributions for five years also based on level from previous employer.
n Establishment of a G.I. Bill type program to provide educational benefits to affected workers and their children.
The bill also makes sure that the communities that have contributed so much are not left behind in this transition. Proposed support for communities would include:
n Replacement of lost tax revenue, for local governments, on a sliding scale, over a 10-year time period.
n Increased investment in abandoned mine reclamation, coal ash pond remediation and orphan oil well recovery.
n Increased investment in agencies important to community economic development such as the Appalachian Regional Commission.
n Investment of $30 million per year for 10 years in rural broadband development.
Quoting the President of the Utility Workers of America, who have endorsed this legislation, “The five years of full wage replacement, health insurance coverage, pension and educational benefits in this legislation together represent a baseline of support we must offer individuals and communities that have powered American innovation for generations.”
All told, this legislation would offer approximately $120 billion over 10 years to fossil fuel workers and their communities as part of its Energy Veterans Package.
Of course, the driver of this need for action is our changing climate. The Save Our Futures Act will take a robust approach to addressing climate change by placing a substantial fee on greenhouse gas emissions and rebating 70% of the fees collected to low- and middle-income households on a semi-annual basis.
This approach will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% after 10 years and help to ensure that global temperature change is kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The reality is that we can no longer say that change is coming. Change to our climate is happening now as are the ways that we produce our energy. In the past 10 years employment in the U.S. coal industry has declined by over 50%.
To quote the UMWA, “The devastating impact on families and communities cannot be overstated. Divorce, drug addiction, imprisonment and suicide rates are all on the rise. Poverty levels are creeping back up in Northern and Central Appalachia, the heart of coal country. For every one direct coal job that has been lost, four other jobs have disappeared in these communities, meaning a quarter of a million jobs have already been lost.”
The need for urgent action is now. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., have both acknowledged the need to take steps to address climate change as well as the downturn our coal communities are dealing with. The problem is that their approaches to date just haven’t risen to the level of urgency required.
We are in need of a bold, dynamic, far-reaching and comprehensive pathway to addressing what are certainly the most important issues of our time. The Save Our Futures Act provides that pathway and I strongly urge our two senators to support this legislation.
Jim Probst, of Hamlin, is co-state coordinator of the West Virginia Citizens Climate Lobby.
Fine particulate matter produced from fossil fuel combustion is known to cause numerous health issues, and a recent study finds that this pollution is responsible for one in five early deaths worldwide, hitting people of color especially hard. Pediatrician Aaron Bernstein, who is the interim director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard, joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss the implications of the research.
CURWOOD: Black and brown communities are bearing a disproportionate burden of air pollution. In fact a study in the proceedings in the National American Academy of Sciences found that minority groups are disproportionately exposed to more air pollution than they produce, about 66% more for black people and 63% for Latin X.
Meanwhile whites are exposed to about 17% less pollution than they are responsible for creating. This disparity is deadly due to the tiny particles from the burning of fossil fuels from coal, diesel and gas. Some 300,000 or more Americans suffer premature deaths directly from fossil fuel combustion according to a study in the journal Environmental Research and demographics would suggest these deaths are disproportionately amongst people of color. Fine particles can invade lungs and lead to health problems such as strokes, heart attacks, asthma and higher death rates from Covid-19. For more I’m joined now by Harvard Public Health expert and pediatrician Aaron Bernstein.
CURWOOD: So this study measured the impact of particulate matter small ones, two and a half microns from only from fossil fuel combustion. Describe to me exactly what this study looked at.
BERNSTEIN: Yeah. So these authors wanted to understand not what air pollution outside in total does to health. They wanted, as you pointed out, wanted to understand what the proportion of that pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels does to human health.
CURWOOD: The numbers that they have here of 350,000 premature deaths every year in the United States. That is an astonishing number. What about around the rest of the world?
BERNSTEIN: Yeah, so globally, they estimate that somewhere around eight plus million people are dying every year from air pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels, which is roughly one in five deaths worldwide, which is just stunning.
CURWOOD: Now, who do these fossil fuel particulates affect the most? What kinds of populations or groups of people are most at risk?
BERNSTEIN: Yeah, it’s, it’s unfortunately, everybody who can least afford it. So research has shown quite clearly that anyone with a chronic medical condition, particularly people with heart disease, lung disease are at risk. People who are pregnant, or their pregnancies are at risk from this air pollution. There’s lots of evidence that children with asthma will get sicker. And there’s even some evidence that this air pollution may be causing asthma. We know this air pollution causes lung cancer.
And there’s a whole host of other nasty stuff that’s coming into clear focus around the effects of air pollution on brain health, including on dementia, potentially contributing to diabetes. I should mention important to your question of who’s affected most is that it turns out that pollution and poverty are really close bedfellows. And so regardless of where the air pollution happens, it’s pretty much universally the case that people who are less well off are breathing more. In the United States, we have definitive evidence that people of color, particularly Black Americans, and Latinx Americans breathe more air pollution than the rest of us. And they are also least responsible for its production, meaning that they consume less goods that, you know, in their production result in the production of these air pollutants.
CURWOOD: Dr. Bernstein, what parts of the United States and the world are most at risk from these premature deaths from fossil fuel particulates?
BERNSTEIN: Yeah. So this study, and others have shown that the places that are really suffering most from this air pollution are in Asia. Particularly in China and India and Southeast Asia, where the lion’s share of the mortality from air outdoor air pollution is happening. Now, interestingly, Steve, you know, we’ve cleaned up the air in the United States, dramatically, everyone’s air quality has gotten better. The latest research shows, unfortunately, that the gains have not been equally shared. That in fact, white Americans have benefited most, whereas Black Americans and Latinx Americans have certainly benefited but not as much in the past several decades.
But one of the consequences of us cleaning up our air is that we’ve exported the pollution. So there’s been research now looking at how as manufacturing bases have moved, you know, from richer countries to low and middle income countries, that the pollution controls in those places are often less good. And the pollution that’s being generated there is substantial. And in some research, for instance, China is certainly the place where the most deaths are occurring for goods that are serving people not in China, and the EU and in the US are the largest purchasers of those goods.
CURWOOD: How fair Dr. Bernstein is it to say nevermind, climate change, global warming from fossil fuels. Just look at the health effects of burning fossil fuels?
BERNSTEIN: Well, I think, you know, there’s an interesting history here, Steve. So in the realm of climate change, the kind of health wins we get when we come off fossil fuels that this study shows are what are called the co-benefits, right? That’s, that’s the term that people use. These benefits aren’t really the co-benefits. They are the health benefits of climate action. And I think it’s critical that we start talking about them that way. Because to your point, you know, if 300,000 people roughly are dying every year in the United States from fossil fuel air pollution, and you know, 8 million people are dying globally, can you imagine what we would be doing if we treated this like we have Covid? I mean, the world is spending trillions upon trillions of dollars to deal with this pandemic. We’re not spending a fraction of that to deal with the air pollution mortality from fossil fuel use. You know, this is a global problem. And there’s a real need to look at how we are valuing energy and goods when it comes to health. And if we in fact, included the health effects of our production system and the reliance on fossil fuels, we would be off fossil fuels tomorrow, because no one could afford using them.
Find Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on the following social media:
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Wood County officials offer moral support to ‘Reimagine Appalachia’
Local News
Jul 16, 2021
Brett Dunlap
Reporter
bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
Dawn Weidner and Jean Ambrose of “Reimagine Appalachia” spoke before the Wood County Commission on Thursday to discuss support for efforts to have more federal money invested in this region for renewable energy development. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission will sign a resolution next week in support of efforts by a regional organization to have more federal dollars invested in energy development in West Virginia and surrounding states.
Jean Ambrose and Dawn Weidner, representing New Jobs Appalachia, appeared before the commision Thursday to talk about a new initiative, called “Reimagine Appalachia,” which is looking at changes in the energy economy. A number of those changes are happening in the coming years on the federal level, with financial support.
“A concern is that Appalachia is not getting its fair share,” Ambrose said. “In the energy economy, (West Virginia) has powered the nation, and we have not really reaped the benefits of being a resource extraction state.”
The Ohio River Valley, as important a watershed as it is, has not received the attention others have like the Colorado River or the Tennessee Valley.
“The idea here is we deserve that same level of attention,” Ambrose said. “If the current administration is making this a priority, then we have a number of years to argue for additional resources that frankly our region deserves for its many years of service to the nation.”
“Reimagine Appalachia” is a consortium of organizations across four states — West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky — which was formed to bring attention to a historically impoverished area.
Coal’s influence has been declining in recent years as natural gas and other means of generating power have taken the forefront, including renewable sources of energy like solar.
Ambrose said she has solar panels on her home and has seen a big difference in her energy bills.
The potential to utilize the sun’s energy is great and seeing more interest as the economics are steering to more investment in renewables, Ambrose said.
“It doesn’t mean we stop doing other things that we are doing,” she said. “We want to capture those jobs of the future.
“They are going to be good jobs with a full range of technical needs that are required. They would create a ladder of opportunity for our young people to raise families and be able to stay here.”
An economic study the group did with the University of Massachusetts shows 41,000 jobs could come to or be created in West Virginia over the next 10 years in modernizing West Virginia’s electrical grid and other innovations in transportation and manufacturing,
Commission President Blair Couch said areas have been underfunded in reclaiming former coal-mining operations in parts of the state, which could help with what is being proposed by “Reimagine Appalachia.” Efforts by federal officials are looking into doing things like that, he said.
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said the Ohio River has been engineered to cut down on flooding and more could be done in terms of generating hydroelectric power. He said some windmill operations in West Virginia supply energy to Virginia but this state sees no benefit from them.
Ambrose believes there could be more opportunities for investment in that and other ways of generating energy that were not traditionally considered in this region.
“It is hard to imagine something new when we have been doing the same thing for so long,” she said.
Ambrose said the resolution will not obligate the commission to providing any money directly, just support efforts to create new jobs here.
The commission will take it up Thursday, July 22.
(Follow up);
July 23, 2021
In other business:
The commission unanimously approved a resolution supporting the goals of “Reimagine Appalachia” to rebuild Appalachia for the 21st Century through new infrastructure utilizing hydroelectric and other renewable sources like solar power which in turn would help create new technical jobs to install and maintain these systems.
Officials said Wood County does not have the coal and gas resources other parts of the state have and should look at ways to be able to enhance the local economy.
“The economy should celebrate our culture our heritage, invest in our communities, generate good stable meaningful jobs…,” the resolution said.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Change and the Coming Appalachia Land Rush
By Nick Brumfield on July 13, 2021 / 0 Comments
Turn on the news any day, and you’ll likely see stories about the increasing effects of climate change. Unprecedented wildfires in California, sea level rise in Florida, even the subway flooding in New York. While the severity and timing of its effects remain debated, the national conversation around climate change has morphed over the past decade. It’s no longer a question of if we can stop it, but of how we’re going to cope with it.
As with many national conversations, Appalachia may end up central to the American strategy to cope with climate change, and not necessarily for the usual reasons. With the ongoing decline of Appalachian coal, old debates about balancing the region’s carbon-based economy with environmental concerns have become less prominent.
Instead, Appalachia’s importance in the coming decades may be based on another of the region’s valuable resources—habitable land—and its ability to serve as a refuge to those displaced by climate change. Navigating the possibilities and pitfalls of this growing importance will be key in ensuring a just future in the region.
According to most experts, climate change’s effects will be increasingly felt throughout the United States over the next century, although as Eric Engle, chairman of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action group explains it, different regions of the country will face different challenges.
“The Western United States, the Southwest are seeing huge problems with record-breaking heat, drought, and wildfires. You’re seeing the threat of hurricanes and extreme weather events [along the Gulf, Southeast, and Northeast coasts]. In the Midwest and Mid-Atlantics states… you’re seeing intervals of drought and extreme precipitation events that destroy crops,” Engle said. “We’re already seeing these things…but by mid-to-late century, they’re going to get worse.”
Like most everywhere, Appalachia will not be spared the effects of climate change. Cities in southern Appalachia are some of the most drought-vulnerable in the country, while the region’s Ohio River Valley is particularly vulnerable to increased flooding, a fact underlined by the deadly 2016 floods in West Virginia.
However, as a whole, the Appalachian Mountains appear better positioned than most areas to weather climate change, with the environmentalist group Nature Conservancy predicting Appalachia’s hardy ecosystem could help preserve plant and animal species displaced by changing climatic conditions, a role it played during the last Ice Age. And although it’s important not to get complacent, the region comes out relatively well in projections of climate change’s effects on temperatures, crop yields, and even GDP growth.
“I would caution this being a region that would be mostly exempted from climatic changes. Now, by comparison…relative to other places in the United States and on the North American continent, we may do well here. We may be more habitable than other areas of the country or the continent,” Engle said.
While the popular image of the ocean rising to the Appalachian foothills is fortunately not predicted, experts predict Appalachia will be a relatively hospitable place to live in the coming century. This of course raises the question: What does that mean for Appalachia and the people who live there now?
Although the thought of Appalachia serving as a redoubt against climate instability may provide a measure of comfort, some Appalachians have already raised concerns about how coming changes may marginalize the region’s already-vulnerable population.
“In the coming decades…we may see people saying we want to get back to states [like West Virginia] because there are future prospects. Maybe employment isn’t the best, but the housing is cheap. The land is comparatively cheap,” Engle said. “I worry about that because I don’t think it’s fair to current central Appalachians. Those of us who are here and suffering…I worry that we’re failing to take care of people who were born and raised here.”
The concern over ‘“outsiders” coming in to gentrify Appalachia and displace local inhabitants has a long history, which in turn draws on an even deeper history of the region being exploited by out-of-state interests.
And these concerns are valid. Local governments in Appalachia have recently launched several initiatives to entice out-of-state professionals to settle in the region, even as local media has reported on how out-of-state buyers interested in living in a climate change resilient location have helped put a squeeze on the West Virginia housing market.
My dad always told me the mountains would protects us from climate disasters, but the yuppies are gonna price us out in the next ten years
— June 27, 2021
However, if Appalachia’s losing battle against coal’s decline has taught us anything, it should be that swimming against the currents of the world economy is often a losing proposition. Rather than reactively trying to prevent any newcomers, regional activists and policymakers should actively promote an inclusive economic vision harnessing the opportunity more people may bring to the region.
What that vision should include, exactly, is up for debate.
For Engle, a major part of it must focus on reversing the long-term exploitation of Appalachia and its most vulnerable. “West Virginia’s history in particular has been a history of exploitation by out-of-state interests and people. That has to stop. What we create here…a large portion of that needs to stay and what does not stay here still needs to reward people here,” Engle said. “We deserve the wealth of our labor…If we want to make this equitable, to encourage people to stay and come here. We have got to be willing to take care of our most vulnerable populations.”
If Appalachia’s long-term trajectory is to be changed, any inclusive vision for the region’s potential future as a climate change haven must also include a fundamental reckoning with its deeply unequal land ownership. Although not talked about as much as the dependence on coal, land inequality has been central to Appalachia’s poverty for over a century, with large out-of-state companies buying and holding land as an investment.
Betsy Taylor, a cultural anthropologist and founder of the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN), explained how land ownership was crucial to Appalachia’s economic trajectory in a 2019 interview with expatalachians. “A lot of the coal and timber companies leased their land from these companies. Harvard University actually still has a chunk of land…It’s the connection between this land grab and local gatekeepers that’s important [in explaining Appalachia’s poverty],” Taylor said.
This inequality is still very much present in the region.
In a 2013 study, the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy found the top 25 landowners in West Virginia—most of which were out-of-state energy, landholding, and timber interests—owned over 17 percent of the state’s 13 million privately-held acres. In six counties in the state’s southern coalfields, the top ten landowners held over 50 percent of the land.
If there ever is a climate change land rush in Appalachia, those interests will be the primary beneficiaries. They will profit from rising land prices while ordinary Appalachians are priced out of the market. They will benefit by catering to the affluent while threatening to destroy the very ecosystems that make Appalachia resilient to climate change. The story of exploitation with which the region is so familiar will be repeated.
“I’m afraid we’re going to get back into old ways of thinking,” Engle said. “Places like West Virginia are going to be exploited from the outside…and we’re gonna continue on the same long-term trajectory we’ve been on since we were created as a state during the Civil War where certain people eat all the pie and everybody else gets crumbs if they’re lucky.”
As frightening as a climate changed future may be, one can imagine a scenario where it is able to provide the much-needed ingredients of people and capital to finally change Appalachia’s century-long trajectory, to create a more prosperous society. However, if ordinary Appalachians are to have any chance of getting more than crumbs in this new society, they must force a reevaluation of the fundamental ways wealth is distributed in the mountains.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Water protectors
Jul 10, 2021
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
My journey to climate activism began when my husband and I became fossil fuel refugees. We affectionately called our small farm, located in Greene County, Pa., just a mile from the West Virginia state line, “Almost West Virginia.” We lived there for decades, raising our children and their myriad pets as well as sheep, goats, fruits and vegetables. Then we watched in horror as the fossil fuel industry began to frack the Marcellus. We witnessed the destruction of our self-sufficient lifestyle, our community, and our planet as our rural area transformed into a fossil fuel industrial zone. We moved to Wood County.
A Minnesota chapter of Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), sent me an e-mail inviting me to attend the Treaty People Gathering (TPG), an event to be held in early June to protest a pipeline that continues the environmental racism waged against Indigenous people to benefit multi-billion dollar oil and gas companies. All meals would be provided and camping facilities were available. I jumped at the invitation because I love to eat, I enjoy camping and I was fully vaccinated. The more essential reasons were: I love water more than oil and I am deeply concerned about what Earth’s climate will be like when my grandchildren are my age if the production of fossil fuels is not reined in. The climate crisis is not just a tragedy, it is a crime. Big Oil is the most corrupt and dangerous industry on the planet. This industry has known for decades what it would do to our planet and their response has been public disinformation campaigns and lobbying to block climate action. I tried to think of a reason to miss this event but I couldn’t. All of the required elements were available: interest, time, health and money. It seemed important to be among those attending.
Ojibwe/Cherokee is the colonial term for the indigenous people known as Anishanaabe who occupy northern areas of so-called Minnesota. Several treaties were signed with the Ojibwe. In this situation, the Treaty of 1855 is most often mentioned. Pipelines already criss-cross Anishanaabe territory. This particular fight is against Line 3, a pipeline owned by Enbridge, a Canadian company. Enbridge claims that because this project is a “replacement” pipeline, an environmental review is not warranted and Minnesota agrees.
In fact, the leaky section of the pipeline is not being removed at all and will be kept in the ground. The replacement pipeline, which incidentally would expand tar sands oil production by 20 percent, is taking a completely different route through the (one wonders if it is intentional!) pristine Minnesota lakes of the White Earth Reservation, where wild rice grows and has been harvested by the indigenous residents for generations. The legacy of the Anishanaabe involves the prophecy that their people would settle where “food grows on the water.” They see themselves and all who support their movement as “water protectors.” In addition to the continued destruction climate change is causing to the planet, their argument against pipelines is one of treaty rights and the fact that our Constitution recognizes treaties as “the supreme law of the land.”
The TPG included a ride share network and I opt to join a group of ten who will be departing from Philadelphia in a rental van and are willing to stop in Pittsburgh to pick me up. After 2.5 days of travel, we arrive in time to set up camp before the opening ceremony/orientation and the first group meal where attendees line up in categories which include vegan, vegetarian and omnivore. The next day is a “training” day. It starts with speeches (i.e. treaty rights) then activities dependent on the involvement chosen; “red” willing arrest, “yellow” might be arrested and “green” no arrest. All participation was equally important to the three separate events planned for three separate locations the following day. Groups for each of the sites practiced various strategic crowd movements and chants. Our final instructions are to board vehicles at 7:45 a.m. the following morning, Monday, June 7, the Day of Action.
Early the next morning, Enbridge employees voluntarily leave when small groups of protesters peacefully overtake each location. By the time vans later drop off additional protesters, the serious folks had chained themselves to various pieces of equipment. Long-time leader of an indigenous-led anti-pipeline group, Winona LaDuke, a Harvard educated Environmental Attorney and founder of Honor The Earth, gave an inspiring speech at the pumping station as did her good friend Jane Fonda and then both were off to march at the mouth of the Mississippi with Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org.
A few protesters tore down posters proclaiming Enbridges’ concern for the environment, but no one damaged any equipment. The intention was to disrupt the daily operations and bring attention to the general public across the USA and the globe that not only are Treaties being ignored but the climate crisis is urgent and real. Many media outlets were present to cover the events. Throughout the day the protesters chanted, erected barricades, ate snacks and stayed hydrated.
In the evening, three busloads of police, in full riot gear, from both the County Sheriff’s Department and State Police arrive at the pumping station. The remaining protesters, those who planned to be arrested, linking arms and chanting, faced the line of police. A couple of brutal arrests were made. Crews for the police arrived to unchain the 20 or so individuals from the equipment. By the time these individuals had been unlocked, handcuffed and placed in police vans amid the supportive cheers of the crowd, it was twilight and darkness descended quickly. Police cars with lights glaring surrounded the final crowd of about 200 who had linked arms and sat down awaiting arrest. Because County jails quickly filled to capacity, the final group of arrested protesters were handcuffed, received a citation and immediately released.
Please contact President Biden and let him know the people protecting the water are not the criminals in this situation; the real criminals are the government and pipeline company harming the planet.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Warning signs
Jul 3, 2021
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The snow is bleeding.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The typically white snow that covers the French Alps has been observed darkening to a blood red hue, producing a phenomenon known as “glacier blood.” This disturbing trend is triggered by the green microalgae that live in the snow turning red as a response to rising temperatures. What’s more, as the Alps darken they absorb even more sunlight, creating a feedback loop that’s likely to destabilize the entire ecosystem as global warming spirals out of control.
I have to admit I’m a bit of a sucker for these near-biblical portents of climate doom. Another favorite of mine came in the form of a magpie filmed during the 2019/2020 Australia wildfires. The black and white bird can be observed vocally mimicking the sound of the New South Wales fire sirens, so constant and ubiquitous they’d become as flames ravaged the nation.
The warning signs we’re being given are anything but subtle. The natural world is going completely haywire, and it takes a deliberate, concerted effort not to notice that something is very, very wrong.
As I write this, the Pacific Northwest finds itself in the grip of a record-breaking, once-in-a-millennium “heat dome.” The typically moderate climate in Portland has been replaced by 112-degree temperatures, while the state of Washington has surpassed its all-time high record for the month of June, with ground temperatures in Wenatchee reaching a mind-boggling 145 degrees. Such intense, unprecedented heat is actively destroying infrastructure throughout the region, melting electric cables and threatening to disrupt power grids.
If you pay any attention at all to stories about climate change, you’ll quickly notice that such “once-in-a-millennium,” “once-in-a-century,” and “once-in-a-lifetime” weather events, from freak heat waves to monster hurricanes, are taking place more and more frequently with each passing year. Keeping in mind that we’re still in the relatively embryonic stages of the climate crisis, you can expect such disasters to become increasingly common and more deadly with time.
In Florida, meanwhile, a 12-story condominium recently collapsed in Surfside, Miami, causing at least twelve deaths at the time of this writing, with 149 people still missing. Although far from the sole cause, it’s currently being speculated that elevated sea levels played a significant role in the tragedy, prompting further concerns about the inability of coastal infrastructure to handle our rising seas.
One might hope that such concerns over infrastructure in the face of climate catastrophe were being taken seriously. But recent days have also seen our milquetoast corporatist president (who took over $1.5 million in oil and gas money during the 2020 election) reaching an infrastructure “compromise” with Republicans, few of whom even believe that climate change exists, or that Biden himself is even the actual president, for that matter.
Not only did this brilliant negotiating needlessly slash proposed infrastructure spending by more than half, it also scrapped major climate change measures, while simultaneously positioning public infrastructure to be sold to the private sector in order to pay for new infrastructure. This is likely to come at a significant cost to every day citizens, in addition to making it far more difficult to adapt our society to the challenges of climate change.
West Virginia golden boy and hostage taker of the already-toothless Democratic Party Joe Manchin (who’s received a career total of $493,995 in oil and gas contributions) has complained that Biden’s climate goals are too “aggressive,” even as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change steps up its warnings on climate tipping points, beyond which global heating and its myriad of repercussions are likely to become irreversible.
In my own state, corrupt Ohio lawmakers are busy actively working to prevent the expansion of wind and solar projects, essentially destroying the renewable energy sector, as well as badly needed economic growth, in the process.
If all of this seems like a lot of doom and gloom, that’s because quite frankly it is. There is no easy way to put a positive spin on what’s happening at the moment. We are absolutely failing to respond to the climate crisis, and we need to acknowledge that fact.
Our leaders are failing us. We are failing our children, and their children, and their children’s children’s children.
I cannot stress enough the urgency of the situation we’re in, and the scale of the action necessary for us to have even a hope of combating the climate crisis at this stage. Now is the time to act, in whatever capacity you possibly can.
It is absolutely critical that we force our leaders to rise to this threat before it’s too late. It’s clear by now that they will not do so on their own, and it’s up to all of us to hold them accountable.
We no longer have any choice but to radically transform our broken politics, our destructive energy systems, and our fractured society.
We are all firsthand witnesses to the dawn of the climate emergency. We live in it now, and we will live to see our world burn to the ground around us if we fail to take bold and immediate action.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Suggested Readings for July 2021
June 2021 MOVCA Selected Media Postings
Compiled by Cindy Taylor
Appearing online in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel:
June 21, 2021 Community News, staff report
“Out MOV invites community to Parkersburg celebration”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/community-news/2021/06/out-mov-invites-community-to-parkersburg-celebration/
June 15, 2021 Local News Article by Brett Dunlap, reporter
“Mountwood Park sees flooding after heavy rainfall”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2021/06/mountwood-park-sees-flooding-after-heavy-rainfall/
Appearing on-line in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:
June 23, 2021 Op-Ed by Cindy Rank, Rock Cave, chair the Extractive Industries Cmte of WV Highlands Conservancy
“Cindy Rank: Pipeline needs more inspectors”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/cindy-rank-pipeline-needs-more-inspectors-opinion/article_576e8bc4-811e-51e9-8418-d0b6f1a99d95.html
June 18, 2021 News article by Mike Tony, Staff writer
“Manchin’s influence in infrastructure package talks looms over hopes for sweeping investments in energy transition”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/manchins-influence-in-infrastructure-package-talks-looms-over-hopes-for-sweeping-investment-in-energy-transition/article_6f61d29a-159d-5449-829b-16d765302f14.html
Tuesday June 8, 2021 Op-Ed by Eric Engle
“Eric Engle: Manchin’s stance on For the People Act nonsensical”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/eric-engle-manchins-stance-on-for-the-people-act-nonsensical-opinion/article_913da379-c9ed-5b53-92f0-9ad1896e4868.html
Appearing on-line in The Bargain Hunter (Weekly news magazine serving Ohio Counties: Holmes, Tuscarawas, Wayne, and the surrounding area. Stark, Medina, Summit and Cuyahoga):
June 4, 2021 Column by Dr. Randi Pokladnik
“Spills are threat to surface water in Ohio”
https://thebargainhunter.com/news/columnists/ills-are-big-threats-to-our-surface-water-in-ohio
Appearing on-line on Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) or Hoots and Hollers(blog)
June 14 , 2021 blog Article
“Talking to EPA on Chemical Plant Safety and Your Community”
June 9, 2021 Blog Article
“Chemical Plants and Protecting Your Community: Speak Up to EPA”
Appearing on-line on Ohio River Valley Institute https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org :
June 24, 2021 Article by Sean O’Leary
“FIDdlesticks: Why PTTGC can’t make up its mind”
June 15, 2021 Article by Eric de Place
Fact-Checking Fitzgerald on Fracking
June 14, 2021 Article by Eric de Place
“The Future of the Ohio River Is in Sri Lanka”
June 14, 2021 Article by Ted Boettner
“REGROW Act Could Provide $1.7 Billion to Clean Up Hazardous Wells in Appalachia”
June 7, 2021 Article by Eric Dixon
“Appalachia Could Address Poverty and Build Worker Power by Reforesting Mine-scarred Land”
Appearing on-line in WV Public Broadcasting and WOUB (PBS):
June 24, 2021 Energy & Environment News Article by Shepherd Snyder (text & audio)
“Water Protection Project in Jefferson County Aimed At Environment, Safety, Green Jobs”
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2021-06-24/water-protection-project-in-jefferson-county-aimed-at-environment-safety-green-jobs
June 15, 2021 Energy & Environment Article by Eric Douglas. Text and audio
“Rising CO2 Levels Could Change W.Va.” Interview w. Professor Cartwright, Science & Meteorology at Marshall U.
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2021-06-15/rising-co2-levels-could-change-w-va
Friday, June 11, 2021 News Article by Curtis Tate / Ohio Valley ReSource
“West Virginia Coal Plants Need Upgrades. Three States Will Decide Their Fate”
Thursday, June 3, 2021 Energy & Environment News Article by Eric Douglas (text & audio)
“Book: ‘Holding Back The River’ Looks At American Waterways”
Tyler Kelley interviews Eric Douglas, author of Holding Back The River
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2021-06-03/book-holding-back-the-river-looks-at-american-waterways
Wednesday, June 2, 2021 News Article by Liam Niemeyer / Ohio Valley ReSource
“The ‘Beef’ With Beef: Cattle, Climate Change, And Alternative Meat”
Available on-line at West Virginia Rivers:
June 24, 2021 Article and links to WV Stream Watch Training video and other resources
“New WV Stream Watch App Helps Citizen Scientists Document Water Pollution”
June 23, 2021 documentary video by WV Rivers
“Mountain Valley Pipeline: 50 Violations to Water Quality Standards”
June 15, 2021 Article and links for Action to submit comments to WVDEP
“Your comments Needed on Mountain Valley Pipeline – Act by June 22”
Available on-line on ReImagine Appalachia https://reimagineappalachia.org:
Check out resources available under Local Grassroots at https://reimagineappalachia.org/local/grassroots/
And resources under Local Officials at https://reimagineappalachia.org/local/officials/
Find the Blue Print and Jobs Studies Policy Briefs for WV, PA, and OH (by the PERI Institute) for Reimagine Appalachia at https://reimagineappalachia.org/resources/
Available on-line on West Virginia New Jobs Coalition https://www.newjobswv.org
Link for THRIVE Jobs Report for WV
Appearing on-line Ohio Valley ReSource:
“AppalachAmerica” New Podcast (began March 26, 2021) Hosted by Jeff Young and reporters at the Ohio Valley ReSource . See episode description and links:
June 14, 2021 “Episode Eight: Imaging A New Appalachia”
May 27, 2021 “Episode Seven: Gas Pains”
May 20, 2021 “Episode Six: The Long Arc of the ARC”
May 6, 2021 “Episode Five: Buried History”
April 29, 2021 “ Episode Four: The Energy Switch”
April 22, 2021 “Episode Three: Major Change for Miners”
April 15, 2021 “Episode Two: ‘Power and Powerlessness’”
April 6, 2021 “Episode One: Climate Change in Coal Country”
March 26, 2021 “Introducing: Welcome to AppalachAmerica
Omitted from May media report:
May 28, 2021 Energy and Environment article by Curtis Tate
“Appalachian Coal Is A Major Source Of Methane, A Potent Greenhouse Gas”
Appearing on National Public Radio (NPR):
June 24, 2021 Feature by Dan Charles (text and 4-minute audio) Heard on All Things Considered
“For The Climate And Fairness, Take Buses And Sidewalks Before Electric Cars”
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1006225485/for-the-climate-and-fairness-take-buses-and-sidewalks-before-electric-cars
June 23, 2021 Environment Feature by Dan Charles (text and 4-minute audio) Heard on All Things Considered
“Bringing Back Trees To ‘Forest City’s’ Redlined Areas Helps Residents And The Climate”
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1006223328/bringing-back-trees-to-forest-citys-redlined-areas-helps-residents-and-the-clima
June 22, 2021 Environment Feature by Dan Charles (text and 4-minute audio) Heard on Morning Edition
“What’s The Best Way To Help The Climate And People, Too? Home Improvement
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/22/1003382636/home-improvement-could-be-a-1st-step-toward-climate-justice
June 21, 2021 Environment Feature by Dan Charles (text and 5-minute audio) Heard on Morning Edition
“The White House Wants To Fight Climate Change And Help People, Cleveland Led The Way”
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/21/1003227623/cleveland-wants-climate-justice-can-the-biden-administration-help
June 15, 2021 Energy News Article (Associated Press)
“Biden’s Ban On New Oil & Gas Leases is Blocked By A Federal Judge”
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/15/1006948814/bidens-ban-on-new-oil-and-gas-leases-is-blocked-by-a-federal-judge
June 13, 2021 Special Series: Environment and Energy Collaborative. Article by Jeff Brady
“Tackling ‘Energy Justice’ Requires Better Data. These Researchers Are On It”
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/13/1004873139/tackling-energy-justice-requires-better-data-these-researchers-are-on-it
June 8, 2021 Special Series: Environment and Energy Collaborative. Article by Jeff Brady. Audio Morning Edition.
“ ‘Energy Justice’ Nominee Brings Activist Voice To Biden’s Climate Plans”
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/08/1004059950/energy-justice-nominee-brings-activist-voice-to-bidens-climate-plans
Appearing online on Battery Storage News:
June 15, 2021 Solar Article by BATTNEW
“Bill Gates farm in Ohio could become giant Savion solar farm”
National Attention:
Online on NBC News:
June 3, 2021 Article by Sahil Kapur with video link
“’Five-alarm fire’: Liberals use Jan.6 panel blockade as rallying cry to abolish filibuster”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/five-alarm-fire-liberals-use-jan-6-panel-blockade-rallying-n1269448
100+ organizations signed Letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling on end to the filibuster. MOVCA signed as a member of The Declaration for American Democracy Coalition (DFAD).
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Making better choices
Jun 26, 2021
Nenna Davis
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
My awareness of human impact on the environment began during a conversation with my grandpa when I was a child. At dinner he was discussing the banning of DDT pesticides and how it was going to have a negative effect on garden production. He understood that the banning of DDT was because it was harming birds. It wasn’t until high school that I understood the greater impact, after reading “Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carsen.
In her book, she writes about DDT … “important studies established the fact that the insecticidal poison affects a generation once removed from the initial contact. Storage of the poison in the egg, in the yolk material that nourishes the developing embryo, is a virtual death warrant and explains why DeWitt’s birds died in the egg or a few days after hatching.” “Silent Spring” was published in 1962, and here we are 59 years later still using insecticides … albeit not DDT. As you likely know, insecticides are not only killing the detrimental insects, but our pollinators, too.
In addition to the loss of our pollinators the use of insecticides is having a deleterious effect on our environment as they contribute to climate change. In an intergovernmental study it was found that 30 percent of emissions that are attributed to climate change can be directly linked to agricultural activities, which includes the use of insecticides. How do they contribute to climate change, you may ask? They contribute to the nitrous oxide in our atmosphere, which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
A study completed in 2017, by Jamieson, Burkle, Manson, Runyan, Trowbridge, and Zientek and referenced on the U.S. Department of Forest Service website, discusses the negative effects climate change has on plants, specifically the phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are compounds that are produced by plants to help them fight off bacteria, fungi and some viral infections and can be found in fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, etc. These phytochemical changes are believed to be having a negative impact on plant-insect interactions, as well.
So, as an incidental gardener, I am experiencing the negative impact of two variables on my garden as my harvest decreases each year. I have been looking for differing ways of controlling for pests, weeds, and plant diseases that do not have a negative impact.
To solve the problem of insect damage in my garden, I am using an integrated pest management system. There are several components to this system but have chosen the cultural controls and the mechanical controls. Cultural control is the use of crop rotation, tilling, pruning/thinning and using timed planting. My grandpa would tell me that this was important so you wouldn’t “wear out” the soil. The mechanical controls I use are things such as traps, netting, and in some cases hand destruction (picking the naughty culprit off the leaf by hand). Another example for me, is the use of Beetle Bags in June.
To assist with my veggie/fruit pollination, I plant oodles of flowers around and in my garden. I surround my garden with zinnias, butterfly weed, cleome, marigolds and various other flowers. Not only do these plants attract pollinators, provide food and refuge for insects, but they provide a barrier to rabbits and deer who like to munch on my garden for their early morning or late evening meals.
As for my impact on climate change: My goal is to be mindful of my own choices. I was taught at an early age to leave things the way I find them, including to leave the land as I found it or even better.
***
Nenna Davis, B.S Zoology/Botany; MA, Organizational Communication; Master Gardener.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Engle: The house is on fire; will we stop lighting matches? (Opinion)
WV Gazette Mail
6/24/2021
As the White House and Congress discuss infrastructural investments, including green energy and sustainability, and ideas like tax code changes to pay for them, the time to act on the global climate crisis is running shorter than many of us may think.
A draft of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report due out in its entirety by February 2022 recently was leaked to French news outlet Agence France-Presse and came with dire warnings.
“Species extinction, more widespread disease, unlivable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas — these and other devastating climate impacts are accelerating and bound to become painfully obvious before a child born today turns 30. The choices societies make now will determine whether our species thrives or simply survives as the 21st Century unfolds,” said the IPCC.
The draft report’s authors continue, “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems … humans cannot.”
The draft report also mentions 12 “tipping points,” or points at which irreversible climactic changes set in that have a negative domino effect on global life-support systems and inhabitants. A couple of examples include the drying out of parts of the Amazon rainforest, causing the forest (often referred to as “Earth’s lungs”) to become a grassy savannah, and the melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, a phenomenon already underway, which causes dramatic long-term rises in sea levels and affects ocean currents, circulations and chemistry.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way, or at least not as dire. According to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency, reported on in The Guardian newspaper, “Almost two-thirds of wind and solar projects built globally last year will be able to generate cheaper electricity than even the world’s cheapest new coal plants.”
The Guardian reported that, “In less than a decade, the cost of large-scale solar power has fallen by more than 85%, while onshore wind has fallen almost 56% and offshore wind has declined by almost 48%.”
The report summary states that, “The trend confirms that low-cost renewables are not only the backbone of the electricity system, but that they will also enable electrification in end uses like transport, buildings and industry and unlock competitive indirect electrification with renewable hydrogen.”
Despite these energy trends, however, our federal government is still subsidizing fossil fuels to an enormous degree. A new analysis from the Stockholm Environment Institute finds that, “The U.S. government added as much as $20 billion a year to the value of new oil and gas projects over the last two decades, amplifying companies’ expected profits during the shale booms in the Bakken, Appalachian, Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Permian basins.” The report also states that, “Subsidies likely played a substantial role in making new gas projects in Appalachia viable, beginning in 2010, when more than 30% of new gas projects may have been subsidy-dependent.”
This is planned obsolescence. How myopic can our elected officials be? We have got to end these dirty energy and product subsidies in the tax code. We also need a price on carbon, to do what economists would refer to as internalizing the externalities (aka making the fossil fuels industries and others pay for the damage their products cause to our bodies and our planet) and to help fund a transition for fossil fuel industry families and communities, as my friend Jim Probst wrote about in this paper recently.
It’s time for all hands on deck. Time is running out. Republicans obviously aren’t interested in addressing any of these issues, so let’s eliminate the filibuster in the U.S. Senate and pass strong legislation that meets the urgency of the moment. And let’s make sure that even Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin understand one thing: No climate, no deal.
Eric Engle, of Parkersburg, is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, a board member for the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and co-chairman of Sierra Club of West Virginia’s executive committee.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
MOVCA promotes ‘WV3C’ webinars during transition
Jun 24, 2021 Marietta Times
PARKERSBURG — Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action’s usual Third Thursday programs will resume when protocols for safe, in-person, indoor public programs are clearly established. Until then, MOVCA is pleased to attend and promote the Summer 2021 Fair Transition Webinar Series, “Putting Together the Pieces of a Fair Energy Transition – Leaving No One Behind,” as programming for MOVCA this July and August.
Sponsored by the West Virginia Center on Climate Change (“WV3C”), the WVU College of Law Center on Energy and Sustainable Development, and the WV Climate Alliance, (and supported by the Dunn Foundation and by Rafe and Lenore Pomerance), the series of free, expert-led, live/interactive online hour-long webinars – each with different speakers and panelists – will be offered from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 13; and Tuesday, Aug. 10. For more information, or to register, go to wvclimate.org/summer-2021-fair-transition-webinars. Post-event recordings will be available to registrants who are unable to attend at the scheduled time.
“The theme of these webinars ties in well with our support for the THRIVE Act and agenda, as well as relating to the goals of our new subcommittee, New Jobs Appalachia.,” said Jean Ambrose, who leads the NJA committee.
Information for webinar on Tuesday, July 13:
Speaker – Chris Hansen, PhD, Co-Founder and Director at the Colorado Energy & Water Institute. He represents District 31 in the Colorado State Senate, where he chairs the Appropriations Committee. He will discuss the “Colorado Just Transition Action Plan” to assist fossil fuel communities in the transition to a clean energy economy
Panelists – Angie Rosser, Executive Director, WV Rivers; Ann Eisenberg, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law; Evan Hansen, represents District 51 in the West Virginia House of Delegates and is President of Downstream Strategies.
Information for webinar scheduled for Tuesday, August 10: TBA
Leadership team member Adeline Bailey said, “We are also hoping to schedule some additional programming of our own – either in-person or on Zoom – as well as tabling at events this summer, to be announced.”
At this time, MOVCA’s regular business meetings held on the first Thursday of each month will continue on the Zoom platform. Members and guests are welcome to attend these meetings and get involved in the many activities and projects of the group.
Contact Eric Engle (ericengle85@yahoo.com) to receive the link to access the group’s Zoom meetings.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Moving on from coal without abandoning miners
Charleston Gazette Mail
By Jim Probst Jun 21, 2021
“Change is coming whether we seek it or not. Too many inside and outside the coalfields have looked the other way when it comes to recognizing and addressing specifically what that change must be, but we can look away no longer. We must act, while acting in a way that has real, positive impact on the people who are most affected by this change.”
The above quote is from a document released in April by the United Mine Workers of America, titled “Preserving Coal Country.” On June 16 there was a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate that addresses the changes occurring in coal country in a real, positive and substantial manner.
Introduced by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, the Save Our Futures Act proposes a comprehensive list of support for coal miners and coal-fired power plant workers affected by the transitions occurring in the ways that we produce energy.
For workers and their families, the bill includes:
n Five years of full wage replacement.
n Continuation of health care for five years based on previous employment.
n Continuation of pension contributions for five years also based on level from previous employer.
n Establishment of a G.I. Bill type program to provide educational benefits to affected workers and their children.
The bill also makes sure that the communities that have contributed so much are not left behind in this transition. Proposed support for communities would include:
n Replacement of lost tax revenue, for local governments, on a sliding scale, over a 10-year time period.
n Increased investment in abandoned mine reclamation, coal ash pond remediation and orphan oil well recovery.
n Increased investment in agencies important to community economic development such as the Appalachian Regional Commission.
n Investment of $30 million per year for 10 years in rural broadband development.
Quoting the President of the Utility Workers of America, who have endorsed this legislation, “The five years of full wage replacement, health insurance coverage, pension and educational benefits in this legislation together represent a baseline of support we must offer individuals and communities that have powered American innovation for generations.”
All told, this legislation would offer approximately $120 billion over 10 years to fossil fuel workers and their communities as part of its Energy Veterans Package.
Of course, the driver of this need for action is our changing climate. The Save Our Futures Act will take a robust approach to addressing climate change by placing a substantial fee on greenhouse gas emissions and rebating 70% of the fees collected to low- and middle-income households on a semi-annual basis.
This approach will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% after 10 years and help to ensure that global temperature change is kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The reality is that we can no longer say that change is coming. Change to our climate is happening now as are the ways that we produce our energy. In the past 10 years employment in the U.S. coal industry has declined by over 50%.
To quote the UMWA, “The devastating impact on families and communities cannot be overstated. Divorce, drug addiction, imprisonment and suicide rates are all on the rise. Poverty levels are creeping back up in Northern and Central Appalachia, the heart of coal country. For every one direct coal job that has been lost, four other jobs have disappeared in these communities, meaning a quarter of a million jobs have already been lost.”
The need for urgent action is now. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., have both acknowledged the need to take steps to address climate change as well as the downturn our coal communities are dealing with. The problem is that their approaches to date just haven’t risen to the level of urgency required.
We are in need of a bold, dynamic, far-reaching and comprehensive pathway to addressing what are certainly the most important issues of our time. The Save Our Futures Act provides that pathway and I strongly urge our two senators to support this legislation.
Jim Probst, of Hamlin, is co-state coordinator of the West Virginia Citizens Climate Lobby.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Health Effects from Fossil Fuel Combustion
by Duane Nichols on June 19, 2021
Fossil Fuels are Causing Public Health Effects
One in Five Premature Deaths Result from Fossil Fuels
From Living On Earth, PRX, Air Date: Week of June 18, 2021
Fine particulate matter produced from fossil fuel combustion is known to cause numerous health issues, and a recent study finds that this pollution is responsible for one in five early deaths worldwide, hitting people of color especially hard. Pediatrician Aaron Bernstein, who is the interim director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard, joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss the implications of the research.
CURWOOD: Black and brown communities are bearing a disproportionate burden of air pollution. In fact a study in the proceedings in the National American Academy of Sciences found that minority groups are disproportionately exposed to more air pollution than they produce, about 66% more for black people and 63% for Latin X.
Meanwhile whites are exposed to about 17% less pollution than they are responsible for creating. This disparity is deadly due to the tiny particles from the burning of fossil fuels from coal, diesel and gas. Some 300,000 or more Americans suffer premature deaths directly from fossil fuel combustion according to a study in the journal Environmental Research and demographics would suggest these deaths are disproportionately amongst people of color. Fine particles can invade lungs and lead to health problems such as strokes, heart attacks, asthma and higher death rates from Covid-19. For more I’m joined now by Harvard Public Health expert and pediatrician Aaron Bernstein.
CURWOOD: So this study measured the impact of particulate matter small ones, two and a half microns from only from fossil fuel combustion. Describe to me exactly what this study looked at.
BERNSTEIN: Yeah. So these authors wanted to understand not what air pollution outside in total does to health. They wanted, as you pointed out, wanted to understand what the proportion of that pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels does to human health.
CURWOOD: The numbers that they have here of 350,000 premature deaths every year in the United States. That is an astonishing number. What about around the rest of the world?
BERNSTEIN: Yeah, so globally, they estimate that somewhere around eight plus million people are dying every year from air pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels, which is roughly one in five deaths worldwide, which is just stunning.
CURWOOD: Now, who do these fossil fuel particulates affect the most? What kinds of populations or groups of people are most at risk?
BERNSTEIN: Yeah, it’s, it’s unfortunately, everybody who can least afford it. So research has shown quite clearly that anyone with a chronic medical condition, particularly people with heart disease, lung disease are at risk. People who are pregnant, or their pregnancies are at risk from this air pollution. There’s lots of evidence that children with asthma will get sicker. And there’s even some evidence that this air pollution may be causing asthma. We know this air pollution causes lung cancer.
And there’s a whole host of other nasty stuff that’s coming into clear focus around the effects of air pollution on brain health, including on dementia, potentially contributing to diabetes. I should mention important to your question of who’s affected most is that it turns out that pollution and poverty are really close bedfellows. And so regardless of where the air pollution happens, it’s pretty much universally the case that people who are less well off are breathing more. In the United States, we have definitive evidence that people of color, particularly Black Americans, and Latinx Americans breathe more air pollution than the rest of us. And they are also least responsible for its production, meaning that they consume less goods that, you know, in their production result in the production of these air pollutants.
CURWOOD: Dr. Bernstein, what parts of the United States and the world are most at risk from these premature deaths from fossil fuel particulates?
BERNSTEIN: Yeah. So this study, and others have shown that the places that are really suffering most from this air pollution are in Asia. Particularly in China and India and Southeast Asia, where the lion’s share of the mortality from air outdoor air pollution is happening. Now, interestingly, Steve, you know, we’ve cleaned up the air in the United States, dramatically, everyone’s air quality has gotten better. The latest research shows, unfortunately, that the gains have not been equally shared. That in fact, white Americans have benefited most, whereas Black Americans and Latinx Americans have certainly benefited but not as much in the past several decades.
But one of the consequences of us cleaning up our air is that we’ve exported the pollution. So there’s been research now looking at how as manufacturing bases have moved, you know, from richer countries to low and middle income countries, that the pollution controls in those places are often less good. And the pollution that’s being generated there is substantial. And in some research, for instance, China is certainly the place where the most deaths are occurring for goods that are serving people not in China, and the EU and in the US are the largest purchasers of those goods.
CURWOOD: How fair Dr. Bernstein is it to say nevermind, climate change, global warming from fossil fuels. Just look at the health effects of burning fossil fuels?
BERNSTEIN: Well, I think, you know, there’s an interesting history here, Steve. So in the realm of climate change, the kind of health wins we get when we come off fossil fuels that this study shows are what are called the co-benefits, right? That’s, that’s the term that people use. These benefits aren’t really the co-benefits. They are the health benefits of climate action. And I think it’s critical that we start talking about them that way. Because to your point, you know, if 300,000 people roughly are dying every year in the United States from fossil fuel air pollution, and you know, 8 million people are dying globally, can you imagine what we would be doing if we treated this like we have Covid? I mean, the world is spending trillions upon trillions of dollars to deal with this pandemic. We’re not spending a fraction of that to deal with the air pollution mortality from fossil fuel use. You know, this is a global problem. And there’s a real need to look at how we are valuing energy and goods when it comes to health. And if we in fact, included the health effects of our production system and the reliance on fossil fuels, we would be off fossil fuels tomorrow, because no one could afford using them.
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