I have a confession to make: I just finished eating a double bacon cheeseburger.
I drive a car. I’m writing this on an iPhone. I’ll later edit and submit it to the Times with one of multiple laptops I use.
I love air conditioning and hot showers. I’m a night owl who keeps the lights on until the wee hours of the morning. If I had the chance, I would love to hop on an airplane and travel to just about anywhere in the world.
I’m also a climate change activist.
Contrary to popular belief, most of us advocating for a habitable planet are not solitary hermits living in zen monasteries who’ve learned to produce our own food through photosynthesis. A few of us are, sure, but those folks are definitely in the minority. And yet somehow there’s this idea among many that being a part of the system we’re trying to change automatically invalidates the work we do.
Earlier this week I was called a “Hypocrite!” (explanation point) by a stranger online for my support of the Green New Deal. The conversation we were engaged in didn’t actually have anything to do with climate change. Rather, I’d made a comment on a wholly unrelated topic, and the apoplectic gentleman in question evidently saw fit to dig through my Facebook profile, where he uncovered my dastardly support for the GND.
And so this lovely individual denounced me as a “communist useful idiot,” and told me to “park my car, turn off my gas and electricity, and smash my phone.”
Let’s set aside the fact that the Green New Deal is specifically designed to help us preserve such comforts of modernity without totally annihilating the biosphere we depend on to live. As far as this gentleman was concerned, the fact that I was using or had ever used a single amp of electricity was enough to totally disqualify me from advocating for solutions to one of the greatest existential threats ever faced by our species.
I’ve frankly just about slashed the word “hypocrite” from my lexicon altogether at this point. It’s become so casually hurled to and from every direction across the political spectrum that it’s become almost meaningless. With the possible exception of a few supernatural religious deities, no one who’s ever subscribed to any philosophy or ideology has ever done so perfectly, or without contradiction. We’re human beings, and we’re flawed. The only people who believe that that’s a valid reason not to try and improve the world we live in, are the ones who have zero actual interest in things getting better.
I’ve met some truly incredible people during my time in the climate movement. A lot of them do far better than I do at walking the talk on sustainable living. But none of them are perfect.
For crying out loud, Greta Thunberg once crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a carbon neutral sailboat in order to attend a climate conference without contributing to air travel emissions. She’s basically a climate saint, and still some merry band of inquisitors managed to track down a photo of this teenage girl eating from single-use plastic food containers once in her life, and acted like it was proof that she was some kind of deceitful charlatan.
There truly is no such thing as a perfect climate activist. Honestly, just about every night I go to bed feeling like I’ve failed at doing what needs to be done, and every morning I wake up, determined to do better.
You can either decide to accept your flaws and realize that the only moral choice is to fight for this planet, however imperfectly, or you can sit on the sidelines, gleefully criticizing those who dare to try and improve things.
I know which of these two paths I need to be on. Do you?
By now I probably don’t have to tell you that a year is a very long time to spend cooped up in the house. For human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, however, that period is now six hundred days and counting, having been placed under house arrest in August 2019.
His crime?
All the way back in 1993, at which point I was a mere bouncing baby two-year-old, Donziger represented over 30,000 farmers in a class action lawsuit against Chevron (or rather Texaco, Inc., now a subsidiary of Chevron), suing over the resulting health and environmental damages of the company’s Amazon drilling operations. Among the areas covered by this lawsuit was the Lago Agrio oil field, a region so viciously ravaged by extraction that it became known as the “Amazon Chernobyl.” Donziger has described visiting the area as akin to witnessing an “apocalyptic disaster,” complete with oil-filled jungle lakes and barefoot children wandering oil-flooded roads. Though far from being as well known as it should be, Lago Agrio could arguably be considered one of the worst oil disasters in history.
In 2013, Chevron was ordered to pay a whopping $9.5 billion in damages for this abomination by Ecuador’s Supreme Court. Considering the fact that the original extraction in Lago Agrio commenced as far back as the 1960s and 70s, one can hardly consider this to be a case of swift or easy justice.
But of course, the Goliath that is Chevron wasn’t about to take such a long-gestating defeat lying down.
Described by twenty-nine Nobel Prize laureates as “judicial harassment,” and by human rights advocates as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (or SLAPP suit), Chevron’s next move was to accuse Donziger and the Ecuadorian judiciary of “shocking levels” of fraud and misconduct, eventually leading to his being stripped of a license to practice law, an absurd order to pay Chevron millions of dollars for their legal costs, as well as an attempt to seize Donziger’s laptop and cell phone.
It was here that Donziger was hit with a contempt of court charge, as he refused to surrender his devices on the grounds that they contained sensitive client information, and has since spent the better part of the past two years under house arrest for what amounts to the charge of a petty misdemeanor.
Now, I know I may be unfairly generalizing here, but when I hear the words “fraud and misconduct” and have to associate them with either a group of poor Indigenous farmers or a multinational oil corporation worth $136 billion, 99 times out of 100 I feel pretty safe in taking a guess as to which party is screwing over the other.
OK honestly, for me it’s more like 100 times out of 100.
I could probably dedicate an entire weekly column to the sprawling, storied history of Indigenous and First Nations groups suffering abuse at the hands of the fossil fuel industry, and likely never run out of topics. From the Osage people whose would-be oil wealth was stolen from them via a racist system of guardianship, to the Lakota Sioux at Standing Rock protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on their land, and the horrifying rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women that skyrocket around pipeline “man camps.” For seemingly as long as there have been extractive industries, the colonized and the disenfranchised have been a preferred target for these companies all over the world. For a company like Chevron, which has the gall to include a “promoting diversity and inclusion” page on their website, this racist, abhorrent behavior is all the more appalling.
Even if the case of Steven Donziger and the people of Ecuador is of no particular interest to you, the fossil fuel industry’s ruthless use of the law as a cudgel, coupled with its widespread buying of political power in this country, should absolutely chill you to the bone.
Time and again these companies use legal and political force to steal from everyday people, poison communities, and silence critics, all virtually without consequence. As I write these words, laws are being introduced throughout the country designed to criminalize protest against fossil fuel infrastructure, resulting in felony charges against those who dare to stand up against the tyranny of their industry. These bills use language crafted specifically by fossil fuel lobbyists to curtail our First Amendment rights, and harshly penalize those who dare to stand for truth and environmental justice.
We have become a nation of Davids, ruled by Goliaths, and it’s of the utmost urgency that we shift this balance of power before it’s too late.
After spending nearly two years as a prisoner in his own home, Steven Donziger has finally entered into the trial phase of his case this week. Several House lawmakers have recently urged the Justice Department to intervene in the case, citing the unprecedented nature of Donziger’s detention, and the gross violation of his rights. With any luck, perhaps this will be the turning point for Donziger and his 30,000 clients, and something at least faintly resembling justice can, at last, be served.
In the meantime, I urge you to learn more about Donziger’s case and to petition the Department of Justice for his release, by visiting www.freedonziger.org.
Making progress in doing what is right for the environment isn’t simple. We have heard for years the critics of a switch to electric vehicles worried about mining the rare earth minerals required to make batteries for those vehicles.
It is, in some ways, trading one kind of destructive extraction industry for another, and it will increase our reliance on China, they claim. Meanwhile, reliable and plentiful sources of electricity are still needed to provide the power that charges those batteries. And right now, the bulk of that electricity comes from traditional fossil fuel sources.
So which parts of that problem can we tackle first? Hey, let’s look for lithium in the U.S. That’s a step in the right direction, isn’t it?
It’s complicated. An Australian company called Ioneer owns the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, in Esmerelda County, Nev. It is facing a federal lawsuit and allegations of criminal activity because of the reported destruction of what one Reno, Nev., news organization calls “a significant amount of a native Nevada plant.”
That would be Tiehm’s Buckwheat, a species “at very high risk of extinction or elimination” which is found only in the Silver Peak Range in Esmerelda County. Some organizations suggest Ioneer’s work could destroy up to 70 percent of what’s left of the plant — and therefore the habitat it provides for other species.
The Center for Biological Diversity has sued to have Tiehm’s Buckwheat listed as an endangered species. CBD’s Nevada Director Patrick Donnelly wrote in October 2019 “(Bureau of Land Management) is allowing ongoing mineral exploration activities which are having immediate and significant impacts on this species.” Then, in September 2020, about 40 percent of the plant’s population was wiped out.
“This appears to have been a premeditated, somewhat organized, large-scale operation aimed at wiping out one of the rarest plants on Earth, one that was already in the pipeline for protection,” Donnelly said, according to the news site This Is Reno. “It’s despicable and heartless.”
But Ioneer is disputing CBD’s claims, and says the damage done to Tiehm’s Buckwheat was not caused by human activity. U.S. Fish and Wildlife appears to agree with them.
Meanwhile we have a battle between environmental activists and industrial barons — not of the coal, oil and natural gas variety, but people like Tesla’s Elon Musk, who has bemoaned the Nevada regulatory hurdles that are preventing the operation of lithium mines.
Tiehm’s Buckwheat is just one example among many in which the push to make changes that appear at first glance to be better for the environment actually come with their own environmental questions and national security/economic drawbacks.
If we can’t agree to talk about making a different for our planet in terms of making sure we aren’t doing more harm than good to the people living on it, maybe we can talk about it in terms of watching out for creating more environmental woes than we had to begin with. Maybe we can all agree there is no clear-cut way to get this done, no easy answers … no way (for now) to avoid some trade-offs.
It’s a more honest discussion, and therefore a more difficult one — but it is necessary if we really are interested in getting this right.
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com
The company West Virginia Methanol, Inc. submitted a permit application in November 2020 to build a facility in Pleasants County on a former carbon black site along the Ohio River. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection accepted public comments and held an online public hearing this week on the facility. This facility is yet another bad industrial idea for the Ohio River Valley.
If built, the permit application for this facility states that it will use 36 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to create 1,000 tons of methanol per day. All of that gas has to come from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of shale deposits. On Dec. 14, 2020, Concerned Health Professionals of New York along with Physicians for Social Responsibility released the 7th Edition of the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking (Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction). This fully referenced compilation breaks down the enormous health and environmental harms of fracking. You can download the entire document at concernedhealthny.org.
One of the authors of the Compendium, Dr. Sandra Steingraber, spoke with Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on Zoom in February. It was an extremely informative meeting co-hosted by West Virginia Citizen Action Group, FACT Ohio, and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. We learned so much from Dr. Steingraber, in conjunction with reviewing the Compendium, and we at Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action want to convey the severity of continuing the incredibly harmful practice of fracking.
Fracking is far from the only harm presented by this facility, though. Methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas. Though it is shorter-lived in the atmosphere, methane has 86-times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide over twenty years. The current administration and Congress are taking methane capture from oil and gas operations much more seriously, but utilizing 36 million cubic feet of natural gas a day to produce 1,000 tons of methanol a day is only going to exacerbate what are referred to as fugitive methane emissions.
The facility will also have a total of 9, 375,000-gallon methanol storage tanks. The company has stated that it will comply with the Aboveground Storage Tank Act and all other applicable regulations in West Virginia, but this past legislative session Del. John Kelly from here in Wood County sponsored legislation to exempt storage tanks storing up to 9,000 gallons of oil and gas waste in zones of critical concern for our drinking water from regulation under the ASTA.
The legislation failed, but who’s to say that Kelly or another delegate or senator won’t try this again next session? These tanks could present a further threat to the Ohio River–a drinking water source for 5 million people.
Methanol is used in the production of various plastics and petrochemicals for various uses. Ours is a world smothering in plastics pollution. Plastics can be found in the most remote regions of the Arctic and the deepest depths of the oceans. It literally rains plastic in some places. A study conducted for the World Wildlife Fund found that humans are ingesting 5 grams of plastics a week, the equivalent of a credit card! We need to be ditching single-use, disposable plastics entirely and engineering biodegradable and safer alternative polymers for the rest, not piling on.
Finally, per reporting on the permit application for this facility by Mike Tony with the Charleston Gazette-Mail, this facility has the potential to cause major air pollution issues:
“The proposed facility has the potential to emit 91 tons of carbon monoxide, 92 tons of nitrogen oxides (poisonous, highly reactive gases), 54 combined tons of three different kinds of particulate matter, and 11 combined tons of the known or probable human carcinogens formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene and 1,3-butadiene … “
All of this will, according to the permit application, create 30 permanent jobs. This is not a good deal for us in the Ohio River Valley or for West Virginia. This is just another way to keep us an extraction colony and sacrifice zone. Regulators need to say no to the building of this facility.
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):
On-line on Concerned Ohio River Residents (CORR) website:
April 22, 2021 Concerned Ohio River Residents (CORR) organizer gives testimony to congressional hearing on the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies. House Subcommittee on the Environment.
“CORR Organizer Jill Hunkler Testifies Before Congress Alongside Greta Thunberg” Text and video
March 31, 2021 Research publication by Alan Krupnik, Joshua Linn, Richard D. Morgenstern, & Dallas Burtraw
Federal Climate Policy 105: The Industrial Sector: An overview of federal policy options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the US industrial sector, from standards to funding for research and development
March 25, 2021 Research publication by Wesley Look, Daniel Raimi, Molly Robertson, Jake Higdon & Daniel Propp
Enabling Fairness for Energy Workers and Communities in Transition: Research from Resources for the Future and Environmental Defense Fund distills insights from over 100 policies that can support fossil fuel workers and communities in the shift to a low-carbon economy
Thursday, April 29, 7-9 p.m. MOVCA Zoom panel discussion after viewing IPL film, Kiss the Ground
“Are Solutions to the Climate Crisis Right Under Our Feet?”
Guest speakers included farmers, ag agents, and other folks who know a great deal about how healthy soil and regenerative agriculture could be the keys to rehabilitating the planet.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 12:00pm by Zoom Ohio River Discussion (part of series) sponsored by ORSANCO (Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission), the Ohio River Recreation Trail, the Foundation for Ohio River Education & the National Park Service
“Understanding Microplastics in the Ohio River Basin” For info and registration:
LOCAL GOVERNMENT OUTREACH: series offered by ReImagine Appalachia:
Wednesday, April 7, 2021, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on-line Workshop hosted by ReImagine Appalachia:
“Starting Local: An Introduction to Local Government and Passing a Community Resolution”
Hear from community advocates and local electeds to get the inside scoop on how concerned citizens can be more engaged in their community governments. We’ll share examples of successful efforts, lessons learned, and release our new toolkit designed to help people engage in local government by passing community resolutions. Our community resolution toolkit will contain information on how to pass a community resolution, and draft language for your community to use to show support for an Appalachian Climate Infrastructure plan. Passing these resolutions can be a powerful tool to show federal and state legislators that we want these investments in our communities.
The scare tactics being deployed by the fossil fuels and derivative industries, their lapdog politicians and their loyal pundits are laser-focused on West Virginia right now because of the newfound prominence of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. We can’t let these false narratives and propagandistic handwringing continue unabated.
There is hope for our Mountain State. There are answers being found to our disheartened questions about our economic future and what can lift us up and stem the exodus from our state, the worst population loss in the country, according to the latest census data.
The Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst released a recent report finding that the Reimagine Appalachia blueprint would create 41,100 good jobs in West Virginia every year for the next 10 years. This initiative requires federal investments and leveraged private investments to build a 21st century economy with renewable energy, maximized energy efficiency and sustainable agriculture and development.
Legislation being proposed to achieve such initiatives at the federal level includes, most notably, the Transform, Heal and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy (THRIVE) Act. Also included is legislation like The BUILD Green Act; National Climate Emergency Act; Emergency Water is a Human Right Act; Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act; Green New Deal for Cities; Climate Smart Ports Act; Energy Resilient Communities Act; End Polluter Welfare Act; Green New Deal for Public Housing; EV Freedom Act; the Agriculture Resilience Act; and the Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act.
We have got to address the global climate crisis by immediately reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body that summarizes the research of over 2,000 global scientists in applicable fields, stated in its 2018 report–detailing what it will take to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 centigrade above pre-industrial levels — that we need to reduce carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, and eliminate these emissions entirely by 2050. If we want to give posterity a stable climate and fully habitable planet, we must do all we can to reach these goals.
This does not mean, however, that it’s game over for West Virginia and the rest of Appalachia simply because we have built our economies up until now on the extraction and use of our natural resources. We have needed labor unions to protect our labor forces from extractive industry abuses, and we will need them going forward into this new economy. Those with capital will exploit labor if laborers cannot organize and collectively bargain — this is true whether you’re talking mountaintop mining and fracking or making solar panels and electric vehicles. It’s crucial that we pass the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. I’m glad to see that Manchin is now a cosponsor for this legislation.
Maybe the most important aspect of the Reimagine Appalachia blueprint is that it doesn’t leave fossil fuel workers and their families and communities behind. The study estimates that about 1,400 workers per year will be displaced in fossil fuel-based industries from now until 2030, while another roughly 650 such workers will voluntarily retire each year in West Virginia. The Economic Research Institute and Reimagine Appalachia call for pension guarantees, re-employment guarantees, wage insurance and retraining support, as needed. They estimate that this will cost about $140 million per year — money very well spent.
All of this can start with the passage of the American Jobs Plan infrastructure package. This doesn’t have to be about partisan politics. West Virginia is suffering from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a drug crisis and we’re hemorrhaging population. I understand that culture is built around customs and what we do for a living and that we have an extractive industry culture in West Virginia, but the only constant in life is change. It’s time to move on. It’s time to reimagine who we are and plan for and invest in a better future.
Recently in the U.S. House of Representatives the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act was re-introduced into the 117th Congress. The EI&CD Act (HR 2307) is not a tax but a fee which to be placed on fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, which account for harmful carbon emissions. The fee starts low and grows over time. As a “dividend” this fee will be allocated in equal shares every month to the American people to spend as they see fit. To protect U.S. manufacturers and jobs, imported fossil-fuel products will pay a border carbon adjustment, and goods exported from the U.S. will receive a refund of the carbon fee.
This policy, if enacted, will reduce America’s carbon pollution by 30% in the first five years alone and is the single most powerful tool we have to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The EI&CD Act will make fossil fuels more expensive with this policy, and businesses will compete to provide clean-energy solutions. The resulting innovation will reduce our pollution quickly and efficiently, leading to abundant and reliable clean energy for the 21st century. It will also improve health and save 4.5 million lives over the next 50 years by reducing pollution in the air we breathe. This policy is also affordable to ordinary Americans because it puts money in their pockets—it does not place this revenue into the federal government’s coffers. The money collected from the fee is given as a monthly dividend of “carbon cash back” payment to every American to spend with no restrictions. Most low- and middle-income Americans will come out financially ahead or break even.
“Why is the EI&CD Act needed?” you might ask. There is consensus among credible scientists throughout the world that human-caused climate change is an urgent crisis. Glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate, oceans are rising, getting warmer, and more acidic. Carbon emissions are rising, the climate is warming, especially in the northern hemisphere, and extreme weather is causing extensive damage, costing human lives, and imposing huge costs of emergency relief on individuals and governments.
A simple analogy might serve to convey an understanding of the rationale for this policy. If I, or any resident of the Mid-Ohio Valley, generates waste or trash, we need to pay a regular fee to a trash-removal service to gather up and take away our waste. The same obligation should apply to those industries that account for carbon emissions as they extract fossil fuels. It’s only fair that they should pay a fee for the waste (carbon emissions) that they produce.
Another question you might ask is what would happen to the industries and jobs in the Mid-Ohio Valley that rely on extraction of fossil fuels if this policy were enacted. Many people in this area are acknowledging that the days of coal as a source of energy are ending. Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers, recently acknowledged his and his organization’s support of President Biden’s jobs plan for clean energy. In their public comment the UMW stated that what is needed is “a true energy transition that will enhance opportunities for miners, their families and their communities.” This means that those workers in the coal industry should be well supported in the transition to renewable energy. This is the right thing to do under these circumstances.
Renewable energy will bring different kinds of jobs, but these will be jobs that pay good wages and are sustainable as well as jobs that support improved health for individuals and the environment throughout the country. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor indicate that jobs in the solar and wind-energy fields are growing at a faster rate than the economy as a whole.
For the past two weeks, people have come together across the community to celebrate Earth Day.
The area has hosted river and street clean ups; enjoyed nature through bird walks, bike rides and an area kayak challenge and come together to discuss how the community could be greener as a whole.
Two events that were held Saturday were a street clean up around Parkersburg High School hosted by the Wood County Democratic Party and an informational set up in Marietta where organizations focused on a greener world could meet with area residents to talk about how they could be greener.
“Every Earth Day, we try to get out and clean up the area,” said Josh Lemley member of Democratic Executive Committee.
Lemley said he was excited to be out in the community doing some good and enjoying the outdoors, especially after being cooped up during the Pandemic last year. The group marked routes around PHS that needed cleaned up and cleaned for two hours.
“Some streets you see a lot of trash and others you only see things like cigarette butts,” said Judy Stephens chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee.
“We are just out doing our part and hope it inspires others to clean up the streets as well,” said Stephens.
Cleaning up the streets has been a major point for many during Earth Day Celebrations.
During the river clean up last week, Michael Schramm with the Ohio River Islands Refugee in Williamstown also urged for people to pick up when it is safe to do so.
“When it rains, that trash goes into our rivers, and can travel from here to the Mississippi River and the Gulf,” Schramm previously said.
Saturday was not the last day of community celebratory events. Sunday there was a free outdoor screening at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church courtyard in Marietta of “Kiss the Ground” according to the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, it is “a new film about how regenerating the world soil has the potential to rapidly stabilise Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems and create an abundant food supply.”
Madeline Scarborough can be reached at mscarborough@newsandsentinel.com
“Better living through chemistry” was a marketing slogan used by the DuPont company in the 1930s. Chemical companies continue to make good use of advertising to convince Americans that we need their products. However, these companies neglect to warn us that there are tradeoffs for these so-called conveniences.
For years DuPont was aware of the health effects of a perfluoroalkyl substance [PFAS] or C8. It was used to make hundreds of products including stain resistant carpets and Teflon pans. The 2019 film “Dark Waters” tells the story of how Parkersburg, W.Va., residents were exposed to C8 through their drinking water. This “forever” compound is so prevalent that, according to a national study, it is in the blood of 99.7 percent of Americans.
Every day we are exposed to thousands of chemicals in our personal care products, foods, cleaning products, clothing, furniture, electronics, and food packaging. Do not assume these chemicals have been tested for safety and health effects. Most chemicals have had little to no testing done before they can be used in commerce. In 2014, when 10,000 gallons of a mixture of methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) was spilled into the Elk River, the drinking water source of 300,000 people, the safety data sheet listed “no data available” 152 times.
The Toxic Substance Control Act, passed in 1976, was a weak attempt by the USA to regulate chemical compounds. It failed to protect consumers as it allowed 62,000 chemicals manufactured pre-1976 to remain in the marketplace without toxic assessment. Even when testing is performed, synergistic effects are not considered and impacts on the endocrine system are rarely investigated.
The USA is one of a few countries that has failed to ratify the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Compounds (POPs). This international treaty, ratified by 184 nations in 2019, “aims to eliminate or restrict” persistent organic compounds such as the pesticides DDT, Dieldrin, and Aldrin. Like the C8 used by DuPont, many of these organic compounds will remain in our environment and our bodies for years.
Between 1970 and 1995, the volume of synthetic organic chemicals produced in the USA increased from 50 million tons to 150 million tons. One of the largest concentrations of petrochemical manufacturing plants can be found in the Mississippi corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The region has been dubbed “Cancer Alley” and has one of the highest rates of cancer in the USA. Some of the toxic compounds emitted from these facilities are carcinogens like chloroprene and benzene, others are endocrine disruptors like bisphenol A, and some, categorized as obesogens, contribute to obesity.
For years, this 85-mile stretch of polluted landscape has also been the location of several plastics-making cracker plants. Formosa Plastics has plans to build a $9.4 billion dollar plastics plant that would triple the level of carcinogens in the region. Citing extreme weather conditions in the gulf, the petrochemical industry has recently targeted the Ohio River Valley as a new location for a petrochemical buildout.
If this happens, the residents of the valley will be exposed to toxins just as hazardous as those being emitted in the communities of Cancer Alley. Additionally, more polluting single-use plastic packaging will be added to the already catastrophic plastic crisis.
Do the residents of the Ohio Valley really want to become the next “Cancer Alley?” How many young families will want to stay or relocate in a region known for health risks? Once again frontline communities will be accepting the risks while the petrochemical companies reap the benefits. “Better living through chemistry” is just a myth perpetrated by a loosely regulated industry that cares only about profits and little about citizens’ lives and the health of the planet.
***
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in Environmental Studies and is certified in Hazardous Materials Regulations.
PARKERSBURG — Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action is celebrating Mother Earth throughout April.
“Our featured events for the month revolve around a great documentary, ‘Kiss the Ground,’” said Adeline Bailey, Climate Action member. “We have joined with Interfaith Power and Light, who have offered a free online viewing period for home viewing from April 10 through April 25 thanks to a special arrangement with ‘Kiss the Ground’ and Roco films. All online viewers must register with IPL.”
According to Interfaith Power and Light, “Kiss the Ground” is a new film how about how regenerating the world’s soils has the potential to rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. The film explains why transitioning to regenerative agriculture could be key in rehabilitating the planet, while simultaneously invigorating a new sense of hope and inspiration in viewers.
Weather permitting, Climate Action and the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta will hold a COVID-safe outdoor screening of the film 7:30 p.m. April 25 in the church courtyard. The number of attendees will be limited to the COVID-safe regulations and masks and social distancing protocols will be observed.
“After you’ve seen the documentary, you’re invited to join MOVCA on Zoom at 7 p.m. Thursday for ‘Are Solutions to the Climate Crisis Right Under Our Feet?,’ a panel discussion about the relationship between healthy soil and the climate crisis and what you can do to be part of the solution to food justice and climate justice in our community,” Bailey said.
Register in advance for the meeting https://tinyurl.com/tf5sxryr. A confirmation email will be sent containing information about joining the meeting.
“People are calling ‘Kiss the Ground’ the most important film you’ll ever watch, which is a really big claim,” Climate Action Chairman Eric Engle said. “But it just may be true.”
Find Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on the following social media:
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Change and the H-Word
Marietta Times
Letters to the Editor
May 19, 2021
Aaron Dunbar
I have a confession to make: I just finished eating a double bacon cheeseburger.
I drive a car. I’m writing this on an iPhone. I’ll later edit and submit it to the Times with one of multiple laptops I use.
I love air conditioning and hot showers. I’m a night owl who keeps the lights on until the wee hours of the morning. If I had the chance, I would love to hop on an airplane and travel to just about anywhere in the world.
I’m also a climate change activist.
Contrary to popular belief, most of us advocating for a habitable planet are not solitary hermits living in zen monasteries who’ve learned to produce our own food through photosynthesis. A few of us are, sure, but those folks are definitely in the minority. And yet somehow there’s this idea among many that being a part of the system we’re trying to change automatically invalidates the work we do.
Earlier this week I was called a “Hypocrite!” (explanation point) by a stranger online for my support of the Green New Deal. The conversation we were engaged in didn’t actually have anything to do with climate change. Rather, I’d made a comment on a wholly unrelated topic, and the apoplectic gentleman in question evidently saw fit to dig through my Facebook profile, where he uncovered my dastardly support for the GND.
And so this lovely individual denounced me as a “communist useful idiot,” and told me to “park my car, turn off my gas and electricity, and smash my phone.”
Let’s set aside the fact that the Green New Deal is specifically designed to help us preserve such comforts of modernity without totally annihilating the biosphere we depend on to live. As far as this gentleman was concerned, the fact that I was using or had ever used a single amp of electricity was enough to totally disqualify me from advocating for solutions to one of the greatest existential threats ever faced by our species.
I’ve frankly just about slashed the word “hypocrite” from my lexicon altogether at this point. It’s become so casually hurled to and from every direction across the political spectrum that it’s become almost meaningless. With the possible exception of a few supernatural religious deities, no one who’s ever subscribed to any philosophy or ideology has ever done so perfectly, or without contradiction. We’re human beings, and we’re flawed. The only people who believe that that’s a valid reason not to try and improve the world we live in, are the ones who have zero actual interest in things getting better.
I’ve met some truly incredible people during my time in the climate movement. A lot of them do far better than I do at walking the talk on sustainable living. But none of them are perfect.
For crying out loud, Greta Thunberg once crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a carbon neutral sailboat in order to attend a climate conference without contributing to air travel emissions. She’s basically a climate saint, and still some merry band of inquisitors managed to track down a photo of this teenage girl eating from single-use plastic food containers once in her life, and acted like it was proof that she was some kind of deceitful charlatan.
There truly is no such thing as a perfect climate activist. Honestly, just about every night I go to bed feeling like I’ve failed at doing what needs to be done, and every morning I wake up, determined to do better.
You can either decide to accept your flaws and realize that the only moral choice is to fight for this planet, however imperfectly, or you can sit on the sidelines, gleefully criticizing those who dare to try and improve things.
I know which of these two paths I need to be on. Do you?
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Companies use law as a weapon
May 15, 2021
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
By now I probably don’t have to tell you that a year is a very long time to spend cooped up in the house. For human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, however, that period is now six hundred days and counting, having been placed under house arrest in August 2019.
His crime?
All the way back in 1993, at which point I was a mere bouncing baby two-year-old, Donziger represented over 30,000 farmers in a class action lawsuit against Chevron (or rather Texaco, Inc., now a subsidiary of Chevron), suing over the resulting health and environmental damages of the company’s Amazon drilling operations. Among the areas covered by this lawsuit was the Lago Agrio oil field, a region so viciously ravaged by extraction that it became known as the “Amazon Chernobyl.” Donziger has described visiting the area as akin to witnessing an “apocalyptic disaster,” complete with oil-filled jungle lakes and barefoot children wandering oil-flooded roads. Though far from being as well known as it should be, Lago Agrio could arguably be considered one of the worst oil disasters in history.
In 2013, Chevron was ordered to pay a whopping $9.5 billion in damages for this abomination by Ecuador’s Supreme Court. Considering the fact that the original extraction in Lago Agrio commenced as far back as the 1960s and 70s, one can hardly consider this to be a case of swift or easy justice.
But of course, the Goliath that is Chevron wasn’t about to take such a long-gestating defeat lying down.
Described by twenty-nine Nobel Prize laureates as “judicial harassment,” and by human rights advocates as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (or SLAPP suit), Chevron’s next move was to accuse Donziger and the Ecuadorian judiciary of “shocking levels” of fraud and misconduct, eventually leading to his being stripped of a license to practice law, an absurd order to pay Chevron millions of dollars for their legal costs, as well as an attempt to seize Donziger’s laptop and cell phone.
It was here that Donziger was hit with a contempt of court charge, as he refused to surrender his devices on the grounds that they contained sensitive client information, and has since spent the better part of the past two years under house arrest for what amounts to the charge of a petty misdemeanor.
Now, I know I may be unfairly generalizing here, but when I hear the words “fraud and misconduct” and have to associate them with either a group of poor Indigenous farmers or a multinational oil corporation worth $136 billion, 99 times out of 100 I feel pretty safe in taking a guess as to which party is screwing over the other.
OK honestly, for me it’s more like 100 times out of 100.
I could probably dedicate an entire weekly column to the sprawling, storied history of Indigenous and First Nations groups suffering abuse at the hands of the fossil fuel industry, and likely never run out of topics. From the Osage people whose would-be oil wealth was stolen from them via a racist system of guardianship, to the Lakota Sioux at Standing Rock protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on their land, and the horrifying rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women that skyrocket around pipeline “man camps.” For seemingly as long as there have been extractive industries, the colonized and the disenfranchised have been a preferred target for these companies all over the world. For a company like Chevron, which has the gall to include a “promoting diversity and inclusion” page on their website, this racist, abhorrent behavior is all the more appalling.
Even if the case of Steven Donziger and the people of Ecuador is of no particular interest to you, the fossil fuel industry’s ruthless use of the law as a cudgel, coupled with its widespread buying of political power in this country, should absolutely chill you to the bone.
Time and again these companies use legal and political force to steal from everyday people, poison communities, and silence critics, all virtually without consequence. As I write these words, laws are being introduced throughout the country designed to criminalize protest against fossil fuel infrastructure, resulting in felony charges against those who dare to stand up against the tyranny of their industry. These bills use language crafted specifically by fossil fuel lobbyists to curtail our First Amendment rights, and harshly penalize those who dare to stand for truth and environmental justice.
We have become a nation of Davids, ruled by Goliaths, and it’s of the utmost urgency that we shift this balance of power before it’s too late.
After spending nearly two years as a prisoner in his own home, Steven Donziger has finally entered into the trial phase of his case this week. Several House lawmakers have recently urged the Justice Department to intervene in the case, citing the unprecedented nature of Donziger’s detention, and the gross violation of his rights. With any luck, perhaps this will be the turning point for Donziger and his 30,000 clients, and something at least faintly resembling justice can, at last, be served.
In the meantime, I urge you to learn more about Donziger’s case and to petition the Department of Justice for his release, by visiting www.freedonziger.org.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Honest environmental talks
May 15, 2021
Christina Myer
Editor
cmyer@newsandsentinel.com
Making progress in doing what is right for the environment isn’t simple. We have heard for years the critics of a switch to electric vehicles worried about mining the rare earth minerals required to make batteries for those vehicles.
It is, in some ways, trading one kind of destructive extraction industry for another, and it will increase our reliance on China, they claim. Meanwhile, reliable and plentiful sources of electricity are still needed to provide the power that charges those batteries. And right now, the bulk of that electricity comes from traditional fossil fuel sources.
So which parts of that problem can we tackle first? Hey, let’s look for lithium in the U.S. That’s a step in the right direction, isn’t it?
It’s complicated. An Australian company called Ioneer owns the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, in Esmerelda County, Nev. It is facing a federal lawsuit and allegations of criminal activity because of the reported destruction of what one Reno, Nev., news organization calls “a significant amount of a native Nevada plant.”
That would be Tiehm’s Buckwheat, a species “at very high risk of extinction or elimination” which is found only in the Silver Peak Range in Esmerelda County. Some organizations suggest Ioneer’s work could destroy up to 70 percent of what’s left of the plant — and therefore the habitat it provides for other species.
The Center for Biological Diversity has sued to have Tiehm’s Buckwheat listed as an endangered species. CBD’s Nevada Director Patrick Donnelly wrote in October 2019 “(Bureau of Land Management) is allowing ongoing mineral exploration activities which are having immediate and significant impacts on this species.” Then, in September 2020, about 40 percent of the plant’s population was wiped out.
“This appears to have been a premeditated, somewhat organized, large-scale operation aimed at wiping out one of the rarest plants on Earth, one that was already in the pipeline for protection,” Donnelly said, according to the news site This Is Reno. “It’s despicable and heartless.”
But Ioneer is disputing CBD’s claims, and says the damage done to Tiehm’s Buckwheat was not caused by human activity. U.S. Fish and Wildlife appears to agree with them.
Meanwhile we have a battle between environmental activists and industrial barons — not of the coal, oil and natural gas variety, but people like Tesla’s Elon Musk, who has bemoaned the Nevada regulatory hurdles that are preventing the operation of lithium mines.
Tiehm’s Buckwheat is just one example among many in which the push to make changes that appear at first glance to be better for the environment actually come with their own environmental questions and national security/economic drawbacks.
If we can’t agree to talk about making a different for our planet in terms of making sure we aren’t doing more harm than good to the people living on it, maybe we can talk about it in terms of watching out for creating more environmental woes than we had to begin with. Maybe we can all agree there is no clear-cut way to get this done, no easy answers … no way (for now) to avoid some trade-offs.
It’s a more honest discussion, and therefore a more difficult one — but it is necessary if we really are interested in getting this right.
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Methanol facility a bad idea for valley
May 8, 2021
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The company West Virginia Methanol, Inc. submitted a permit application in November 2020 to build a facility in Pleasants County on a former carbon black site along the Ohio River. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection accepted public comments and held an online public hearing this week on the facility. This facility is yet another bad industrial idea for the Ohio River Valley.
If built, the permit application for this facility states that it will use 36 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to create 1,000 tons of methanol per day. All of that gas has to come from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of shale deposits. On Dec. 14, 2020, Concerned Health Professionals of New York along with Physicians for Social Responsibility released the 7th Edition of the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking (Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction). This fully referenced compilation breaks down the enormous health and environmental harms of fracking. You can download the entire document at concernedhealthny.org.
One of the authors of the Compendium, Dr. Sandra Steingraber, spoke with Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on Zoom in February. It was an extremely informative meeting co-hosted by West Virginia Citizen Action Group, FACT Ohio, and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. We learned so much from Dr. Steingraber, in conjunction with reviewing the Compendium, and we at Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action want to convey the severity of continuing the incredibly harmful practice of fracking.
Fracking is far from the only harm presented by this facility, though. Methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas. Though it is shorter-lived in the atmosphere, methane has 86-times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide over twenty years. The current administration and Congress are taking methane capture from oil and gas operations much more seriously, but utilizing 36 million cubic feet of natural gas a day to produce 1,000 tons of methanol a day is only going to exacerbate what are referred to as fugitive methane emissions.
The facility will also have a total of 9, 375,000-gallon methanol storage tanks. The company has stated that it will comply with the Aboveground Storage Tank Act and all other applicable regulations in West Virginia, but this past legislative session Del. John Kelly from here in Wood County sponsored legislation to exempt storage tanks storing up to 9,000 gallons of oil and gas waste in zones of critical concern for our drinking water from regulation under the ASTA.
The legislation failed, but who’s to say that Kelly or another delegate or senator won’t try this again next session? These tanks could present a further threat to the Ohio River–a drinking water source for 5 million people.
Methanol is used in the production of various plastics and petrochemicals for various uses. Ours is a world smothering in plastics pollution. Plastics can be found in the most remote regions of the Arctic and the deepest depths of the oceans. It literally rains plastic in some places. A study conducted for the World Wildlife Fund found that humans are ingesting 5 grams of plastics a week, the equivalent of a credit card! We need to be ditching single-use, disposable plastics entirely and engineering biodegradable and safer alternative polymers for the rest, not piling on.
Finally, per reporting on the permit application for this facility by Mike Tony with the Charleston Gazette-Mail, this facility has the potential to cause major air pollution issues:
“The proposed facility has the potential to emit 91 tons of carbon monoxide, 92 tons of nitrogen oxides (poisonous, highly reactive gases), 54 combined tons of three different kinds of particulate matter, and 11 combined tons of the known or probable human carcinogens formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene and 1,3-butadiene … “
All of this will, according to the permit application, create 30 permanent jobs. This is not a good deal for us in the Ohio River Valley or for West Virginia. This is just another way to keep us an extraction colony and sacrifice zone. Regulators need to say no to the building of this facility.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Recommended readings for May 2021
April 2021 – May 2, 2021 MOVCA Selected Media Postings
Compiled by Cindy Taylor
Appearing in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel:
Monday, April 19, 2021 Community News by Madeline Scarborough, Staff Reporter
“Volunteers, wildlife refuge workers take to the Ohio River for Earth Day cleanup”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/community-news/2021/04/volunteers-wildlife-refuge-workers-take-to-the-ohio-river-for-earth-day-cleanup/
Appearing on-line on WTAP (TV)
April 24, 2021 News article with Video by Laura Bowen, WTAP reporter
“Marietta wraps up its Earth Day celebrations”
https://www.wtap.com/2021/04/25/marietta-wraps-up-its-earth-day-celebrations/
Video shows MOVCA banner & booth display and CCL display at Marietta Armory on Front Street
Appearing on-line in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:
April 30, 2021 Energy and Environment News article by Mike Tony, Staff writer
“DEP to hold public meeting taking input on proposed methanol facility in Pleasants County”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/dep-to-hold-public-meeting-taking-input-on-proposed-methanol-facility-in-pleasants-county/article_a5ed307c-5dde-5118-8eab-46fe53905384.html
April 14, 2021 Energy and Environment News article by Mike Tony, Staff writer
“Dual reports see economic opportunity in cleaning up abandoned mine lands and wells in WV”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/dual-reports-see-economic-opportunity-in-cleaning-up-abandoned-mine-lands-and-wells-in-wv/article_26856496-4017-5661-a8bd-00f9ec8af3e2.html
April 8, 2021 Energy and Environment News Article by Mike Tony, Staff writer
“WV Senate approves solar power purchase agreement bill” (House Bill 3310)
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/wv-senate-approves-solar-power-purchase-agreements-bill/article_af6dcf84-a1eb-55f2-9772-5eba126fd11d.html
The following listings were missing from March report:
March 30, 2021 Energy and Environment News Article by Mike Tony, Staff writer
“WV Senate passes state wind and solar reclamation bonding program”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/wv-senate-passes-state-wind-and-solar-reclamation-bonding-program/article_2d284ecc-c65d-5ce0-b61a-6b8d78136859.html
March 26, 2021 Op-Ed by Keena Mullins, co-owner of Revolt Energy and member Moms Clean Air Force in WV
“Keena Mullins: Clean energy could lift WV out of poverty”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/keena-mullins-clean-energy-could-lift-wv-out-of-poverty-opinion/article_74919908-0497-504b-9001-295abeb675fb.html
Appearing in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.com
April 12, 2021 Op-Ed by Erika Strassburger, Pittsburgh City Council
“Other Voices: Biden’s Pittsburgh visit shows the path to shared prosperity in the Ohio River Valley”
https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2021/04/12/Erika-Strassburger-Biden-Pittsburgh-visit-shows-path-shared-prosperity-Ohio-River-Valley/stories/202104110033
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):
April 22, 2021 Column by Dr. Randi Pokladnik
“Marvelous plants of Appalachia’s spring forests”
https://thebargainhunter.com/news/col-randi-pokladnik/marvelous-plants-of-appalachias-spring-forests
Appearing on-line on Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) or Hoots and Hollers(blog)
April 22, 2021 Press Release by Dr. Randi Pokladnik Includes links for action and educational materials
“Regional Campaign Calls on Grocers to Find Alternative to Single-Use Plastic”
https://ohvec.org/grocers-no-single-use-plastic/ MOVCA signed the letter. Individuals may also sign on see:
Grocers: Help Us Help the Planet. Learn About and Move Away from Plastic Packaging
April 11, 2021 Article by Mary Wildfire & OVEC staff with link for action.
“Mr. President: Senator Manchin Does not Speak for Us on Pipelines”
Link provided to sign on to open letter to Biden to say that Senator Manchin does not speak for West Virginia
Note- Same day Eric announces on MOVCA’s Facebook that MOVCA signed on and shared opportunity for others:
See: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjKhAII5rQTldyID2sYCHraJZSrvDwzIrGOmPpHEUWAgePRQ/viewform
Appearing on-line on Ohio Valley Resource:
April 23, 2021 Energy & Environment Article by Curtis Tate
“Manchin Is Key to Biden’s Energy, Climate Goals”
April 23, 2021 Energy & Environment Article by Jeff Young
“Energy Secretary Pushes Regional Job Potential From Climate Action”
April 14, 2021 Energy & Environment Article by Katie Myers
“New Research: Reclamation of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells, Mine Sites Could Create Thousands of Jobs”
April 5, 2021 Energy & Environment Article by Jeff Young
“White House Climate Advisor Sees A Path To A Clean Energy Transition Through Coal Country”
Appearing on-line in WV Public Broadcasting and WOUB (PBS):
May 3, 2021 Energy & Environment News Article by Curtis Tate, Katie Myers
“Power Switch: Solar is Heating Up In The Ohio Valley”
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2021-05-03/power-switch-solar-is-heating-up-in-the-ohio-valley
April 29, 2021 Energy and Environment News Article by Duncan Slade
“Manchin Reintroduces Funding Bills For Abandoned Mine Cleanup, Economic Development”
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2021-04-29/manchin-reintroduces-funding-bills-for-abandoned-mine-cleanup-economic-development
(Angie Rosser is quoted)
April 29, 2021 Government Article by Jeff Brady
“Senate Votes to Restore Regulations On Climate-Warming Methane Emissions” Text and audio
https://www.wvpublic.org/government/2021-04-29/senate-votes-to-restore-regulations-on-climate-warming-methane-emissions
April 23, 2021 Energy & Environment News Article by Jeff Young
“Energy Secretary Pushes Regional Job Potential From Climate Action” Text and audio
https://www.wvpublic.org/energy-environment/2021-04-23/energy-secretary-pushes-regional-job-potential-from-climate-action
NATIONAL Attention:
On-line on Ed Markey, US Senator for Massachusetts website:
April 20, 2021 News Release
“Senator Markey and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez introduce Civilian Climate Corp for Jobs”
https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-and-rep-ocasio-cortez-introduce-civilian-climate-corps-for-jobs-and-justice-to-rebuild-america?fbclid=IwAR32ka6Bhza2RCmdRkpvxaw0gZg3oPA_hgQXkUzWXUN7Bh43gDXKdzIK7oo
Note- Eric Engle as Chairman of MOVCA is quoted
On-line on Concerned Ohio River Residents (CORR) website:
April 22, 2021 Concerned Ohio River Residents (CORR) organizer gives testimony to congressional hearing on the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies. House Subcommittee on the Environment.
“CORR Organizer Jill Hunkler Testifies Before Congress Alongside Greta Thunberg” Text and video
https://www.concernedohioriverresidents.org/post/corr-organizer-jill-hunkler-testifies-before-congress-alongside-greta-thunberg
RESEARCH REPORTS and related articles:
Research reports released by Ohio River Valley Institute/ReImagine Appalachia/ PERI:
April 14, 2021 ORVI Article/Blog Post by Eric Dixon & Ted Boettner
“Repairing the Damage from Orphan Wells and Abandoned Mine Lands”
Released Wednesday April 14, 2021 Research report authored by Eric Dixon, research fellow ORVI
Repairing the Damage: Cleaning up the land, air, and water damage by the coal industry before 1977,Version 1.1
Click to access AML-Report-Dixon-ORVI-V1.1-4.pdf
Released Wednesday April 14, 2021 Research report authored by Ted Boettner, research fellow ORVI
Repairing the Damage from Hazardous Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells: A Federal Plan to Grow Jobs in the Ohio River Valley and Beyond
Click to access Repairing-the-Damage-from-Hazardous-AOG-Wells-Report.pdf
April 9, 2021 ORVI Article/Blog Post by Sean O’Leary
“An Energy State No More: As coal vanishes from the grid, so might West Virginia’s status as an energy state”
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) Report:
February 24, 2021 Research Report by Robert Pollin, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Shouvik Chakraborty, & Gregor Semieniuk
“Impacts of the Reimagine Appalachia & Clean Energy Transition Programs for West Virginia”
https://www.peri.umass.edu/component/k2/item/1404-impacts-of-the-reimagine-appalachia-clean-energy-transition-programs-for-west-virginia
Includes summary and links to pdf of the report, articles, launch webinar, infographics & press release & PERI state reports
Infographic: Building A Clean Energy Economy and Investing in Infrastructure can create 41,100 Jobs in West Virginia
Click to access WVJobsInfographic.pdf
Appearing on-line on RESOURCES for the FUTURE:
March 31, 2021 Research publication by Alan Krupnik, Joshua Linn, Richard D. Morgenstern, & Dallas Burtraw
Federal Climate Policy 105: The Industrial Sector: An overview of federal policy options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the US industrial sector, from standards to funding for research and development
https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/federal-climate-policy-105-the-industrial-sector/
March 25, 2021 Research publication by Wesley Look, Daniel Raimi, Molly Robertson, Jake Higdon & Daniel Propp
Enabling Fairness for Energy Workers and Communities in Transition: Research from Resources for the Future and Environmental Defense Fund distills insights from over 100 policies that can support fossil fuel workers and communities in the shift to a low-carbon economy
https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/enabling-fairness-for-energy-workers-and-communities-in-transition/
Selected APRIL on-line EVENTS:
Thursday, April 29, 7-9 p.m. MOVCA Zoom panel discussion after viewing IPL film, Kiss the Ground
“Are Solutions to the Climate Crisis Right Under Our Feet?”
Guest speakers included farmers, ag agents, and other folks who know a great deal about how healthy soil and regenerative agriculture could be the keys to rehabilitating the planet.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 12:00pm by Zoom Ohio River Discussion (part of series) sponsored by ORSANCO (Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission), the Ohio River Recreation Trail, the Foundation for Ohio River Education & the National Park Service
“Understanding Microplastics in the Ohio River Basin” For info and registration:
http://www.orsanco.org/education/ohio-river-discussion-series/
April 14 & 15, 2021, 1pm Zoom webinars by ReImagine Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley Institute
“Repairing the Damage: Orphan Wells and Abandoned Mine Lands”
https://reimagineappalachia.org/repairing-the-damage-webinar-series/
LOCAL GOVERNMENT OUTREACH: series offered by ReImagine Appalachia:
Wednesday, April 7, 2021, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on-line Workshop hosted by ReImagine Appalachia:
“Starting Local: An Introduction to Local Government and Passing a Community Resolution”
Hear from community advocates and local electeds to get the inside scoop on how concerned citizens can be more engaged in their community governments. We’ll share examples of successful efforts, lessons learned, and release our new toolkit designed to help people engage in local government by passing community resolutions. Our community resolution toolkit will contain information on how to pass a community resolution, and draft language for your community to use to show support for an Appalachian Climate Infrastructure plan. Passing these resolutions can be a powerful tool to show federal and state legislators that we want these investments in our communities.
To see the recording of first, April 7th workshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlUhg9rRLtg&t=2s
More Resources and Toolkits : https://reimagineappalachia.org/local/
Local Government Officials Outreach: Calling for a federally-funded Appalachian Climate Infrastructure Program
Grassroots Outreach – Lots of resources and examples! Regarding how to write and create support for resolution. See:
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Solutions exist outside of fear mongering
By Eric Engle
May 1, 2021
The Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The scare tactics being deployed by the fossil fuels and derivative industries, their lapdog politicians and their loyal pundits are laser-focused on West Virginia right now because of the newfound prominence of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. We can’t let these false narratives and propagandistic handwringing continue unabated.
There is hope for our Mountain State. There are answers being found to our disheartened questions about our economic future and what can lift us up and stem the exodus from our state, the worst population loss in the country, according to the latest census data.
The Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst released a recent report finding that the Reimagine Appalachia blueprint would create 41,100 good jobs in West Virginia every year for the next 10 years. This initiative requires federal investments and leveraged private investments to build a 21st century economy with renewable energy, maximized energy efficiency and sustainable agriculture and development.
Legislation being proposed to achieve such initiatives at the federal level includes, most notably, the Transform, Heal and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy (THRIVE) Act. Also included is legislation like The BUILD Green Act; National Climate Emergency Act; Emergency Water is a Human Right Act; Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act; Green New Deal for Cities; Climate Smart Ports Act; Energy Resilient Communities Act; End Polluter Welfare Act; Green New Deal for Public Housing; EV Freedom Act; the Agriculture Resilience Act; and the Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act.
We have got to address the global climate crisis by immediately reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body that summarizes the research of over 2,000 global scientists in applicable fields, stated in its 2018 report–detailing what it will take to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 centigrade above pre-industrial levels — that we need to reduce carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, and eliminate these emissions entirely by 2050. If we want to give posterity a stable climate and fully habitable planet, we must do all we can to reach these goals.
This does not mean, however, that it’s game over for West Virginia and the rest of Appalachia simply because we have built our economies up until now on the extraction and use of our natural resources. We have needed labor unions to protect our labor forces from extractive industry abuses, and we will need them going forward into this new economy. Those with capital will exploit labor if laborers cannot organize and collectively bargain — this is true whether you’re talking mountaintop mining and fracking or making solar panels and electric vehicles. It’s crucial that we pass the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. I’m glad to see that Manchin is now a cosponsor for this legislation.
Maybe the most important aspect of the Reimagine Appalachia blueprint is that it doesn’t leave fossil fuel workers and their families and communities behind. The study estimates that about 1,400 workers per year will be displaced in fossil fuel-based industries from now until 2030, while another roughly 650 such workers will voluntarily retire each year in West Virginia. The Economic Research Institute and Reimagine Appalachia call for pension guarantees, re-employment guarantees, wage insurance and retraining support, as needed. They estimate that this will cost about $140 million per year — money very well spent.
All of this can start with the passage of the American Jobs Plan infrastructure package. This doesn’t have to be about partisan politics. West Virginia is suffering from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a drug crisis and we’re hemorrhaging population. I understand that culture is built around customs and what we do for a living and that we have an extractive industry culture in West Virginia, but the only constant in life is change. It’s time to move on. It’s time to reimagine who we are and plan for and invest in a better future.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Back the Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act
May 1, 2012
George Banziger
Parkersburg News and Sentinel.com
Recently in the U.S. House of Representatives the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act was re-introduced into the 117th Congress. The EI&CD Act (HR 2307) is not a tax but a fee which to be placed on fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, which account for harmful carbon emissions. The fee starts low and grows over time. As a “dividend” this fee will be allocated in equal shares every month to the American people to spend as they see fit. To protect U.S. manufacturers and jobs, imported fossil-fuel products will pay a border carbon adjustment, and goods exported from the U.S. will receive a refund of the carbon fee.
This policy, if enacted, will reduce America’s carbon pollution by 30% in the first five years alone and is the single most powerful tool we have to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The EI&CD Act will make fossil fuels more expensive with this policy, and businesses will compete to provide clean-energy solutions. The resulting innovation will reduce our pollution quickly and efficiently, leading to abundant and reliable clean energy for the 21st century. It will also improve health and save 4.5 million lives over the next 50 years by reducing pollution in the air we breathe. This policy is also affordable to ordinary Americans because it puts money in their pockets—it does not place this revenue into the federal government’s coffers. The money collected from the fee is given as a monthly dividend of “carbon cash back” payment to every American to spend with no restrictions. Most low- and middle-income Americans will come out financially ahead or break even.
“Why is the EI&CD Act needed?” you might ask. There is consensus among credible scientists throughout the world that human-caused climate change is an urgent crisis. Glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate, oceans are rising, getting warmer, and more acidic. Carbon emissions are rising, the climate is warming, especially in the northern hemisphere, and extreme weather is causing extensive damage, costing human lives, and imposing huge costs of emergency relief on individuals and governments.
A simple analogy might serve to convey an understanding of the rationale for this policy. If I, or any resident of the Mid-Ohio Valley, generates waste or trash, we need to pay a regular fee to a trash-removal service to gather up and take away our waste. The same obligation should apply to those industries that account for carbon emissions as they extract fossil fuels. It’s only fair that they should pay a fee for the waste (carbon emissions) that they produce.
Another question you might ask is what would happen to the industries and jobs in the Mid-Ohio Valley that rely on extraction of fossil fuels if this policy were enacted. Many people in this area are acknowledging that the days of coal as a source of energy are ending. Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers, recently acknowledged his and his organization’s support of President Biden’s jobs plan for clean energy. In their public comment the UMW stated that what is needed is “a true energy transition that will enhance opportunities for miners, their families and their communities.” This means that those workers in the coal industry should be well supported in the transition to renewable energy. This is the right thing to do under these circumstances.
Renewable energy will bring different kinds of jobs, but these will be jobs that pay good wages and are sustainable as well as jobs that support improved health for individuals and the environment throughout the country. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor indicate that jobs in the solar and wind-energy fields are growing at a faster rate than the economy as a whole.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Earth Day events continue
Apr 26, 2021
Madeline Scarborough
Staff Reporter
mscarborough@newsandsentinel.com
For the past two weeks, people have come together across the community to celebrate Earth Day.
The area has hosted river and street clean ups; enjoyed nature through bird walks, bike rides and an area kayak challenge and come together to discuss how the community could be greener as a whole.
Two events that were held Saturday were a street clean up around Parkersburg High School hosted by the Wood County Democratic Party and an informational set up in Marietta where organizations focused on a greener world could meet with area residents to talk about how they could be greener.
“Every Earth Day, we try to get out and clean up the area,” said Josh Lemley member of Democratic Executive Committee.
Lemley said he was excited to be out in the community doing some good and enjoying the outdoors, especially after being cooped up during the Pandemic last year. The group marked routes around PHS that needed cleaned up and cleaned for two hours.
“Some streets you see a lot of trash and others you only see things like cigarette butts,” said Judy Stephens chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee.
“We are just out doing our part and hope it inspires others to clean up the streets as well,” said Stephens.
Cleaning up the streets has been a major point for many during Earth Day Celebrations.
During the river clean up last week, Michael Schramm with the Ohio River Islands Refugee in Williamstown also urged for people to pick up when it is safe to do so.
“When it rains, that trash goes into our rivers, and can travel from here to the Mississippi River and the Gulf,” Schramm previously said.
Saturday was not the last day of community celebratory events. Sunday there was a free outdoor screening at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church courtyard in Marietta of “Kiss the Ground” according to the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, it is “a new film about how regenerating the world soil has the potential to rapidly stabilise Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems and create an abundant food supply.”
Madeline Scarborough can be reached at mscarborough@newsandsentinel.com
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Why ‘better living through chemistry’ is not always true
Apr 24, 2021
Randi Pokladnik
Parkersburg News and Sentinel.com
“Better living through chemistry” was a marketing slogan used by the DuPont company in the 1930s. Chemical companies continue to make good use of advertising to convince Americans that we need their products. However, these companies neglect to warn us that there are tradeoffs for these so-called conveniences.
For years DuPont was aware of the health effects of a perfluoroalkyl substance [PFAS] or C8. It was used to make hundreds of products including stain resistant carpets and Teflon pans. The 2019 film “Dark Waters” tells the story of how Parkersburg, W.Va., residents were exposed to C8 through their drinking water. This “forever” compound is so prevalent that, according to a national study, it is in the blood of 99.7 percent of Americans.
Every day we are exposed to thousands of chemicals in our personal care products, foods, cleaning products, clothing, furniture, electronics, and food packaging. Do not assume these chemicals have been tested for safety and health effects. Most chemicals have had little to no testing done before they can be used in commerce. In 2014, when 10,000 gallons of a mixture of methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) was spilled into the Elk River, the drinking water source of 300,000 people, the safety data sheet listed “no data available” 152 times.
The Toxic Substance Control Act, passed in 1976, was a weak attempt by the USA to regulate chemical compounds. It failed to protect consumers as it allowed 62,000 chemicals manufactured pre-1976 to remain in the marketplace without toxic assessment. Even when testing is performed, synergistic effects are not considered and impacts on the endocrine system are rarely investigated.
The USA is one of a few countries that has failed to ratify the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Compounds (POPs). This international treaty, ratified by 184 nations in 2019, “aims to eliminate or restrict” persistent organic compounds such as the pesticides DDT, Dieldrin, and Aldrin. Like the C8 used by DuPont, many of these organic compounds will remain in our environment and our bodies for years.
Between 1970 and 1995, the volume of synthetic organic chemicals produced in the USA increased from 50 million tons to 150 million tons. One of the largest concentrations of petrochemical manufacturing plants can be found in the Mississippi corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The region has been dubbed “Cancer Alley” and has one of the highest rates of cancer in the USA. Some of the toxic compounds emitted from these facilities are carcinogens like chloroprene and benzene, others are endocrine disruptors like bisphenol A, and some, categorized as obesogens, contribute to obesity.
For years, this 85-mile stretch of polluted landscape has also been the location of several plastics-making cracker plants. Formosa Plastics has plans to build a $9.4 billion dollar plastics plant that would triple the level of carcinogens in the region. Citing extreme weather conditions in the gulf, the petrochemical industry has recently targeted the Ohio River Valley as a new location for a petrochemical buildout.
If this happens, the residents of the valley will be exposed to toxins just as hazardous as those being emitted in the communities of Cancer Alley. Additionally, more polluting single-use plastic packaging will be added to the already catastrophic plastic crisis.
Do the residents of the Ohio Valley really want to become the next “Cancer Alley?” How many young families will want to stay or relocate in a region known for health risks? Once again frontline communities will be accepting the risks while the petrochemical companies reap the benefits. “Better living through chemistry” is just a myth perpetrated by a loosely regulated industry that cares only about profits and little about citizens’ lives and the health of the planet.
***
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in Environmental Studies and is certified in Hazardous Materials Regulations.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action to host panel discussion
Apr 24, 2021
Staff Reports
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG — Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action is celebrating Mother Earth throughout April.
“Our featured events for the month revolve around a great documentary, ‘Kiss the Ground,’” said Adeline Bailey, Climate Action member. “We have joined with Interfaith Power and Light, who have offered a free online viewing period for home viewing from April 10 through April 25 thanks to a special arrangement with ‘Kiss the Ground’ and Roco films. All online viewers must register with IPL.”
According to Interfaith Power and Light, “Kiss the Ground” is a new film how about how regenerating the world’s soils has the potential to rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. The film explains why transitioning to regenerative agriculture could be key in rehabilitating the planet, while simultaneously invigorating a new sense of hope and inspiration in viewers.
Weather permitting, Climate Action and the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta will hold a COVID-safe outdoor screening of the film 7:30 p.m. April 25 in the church courtyard. The number of attendees will be limited to the COVID-safe regulations and masks and social distancing protocols will be observed.
“After you’ve seen the documentary, you’re invited to join MOVCA on Zoom at 7 p.m. Thursday for ‘Are Solutions to the Climate Crisis Right Under Our Feet?,’ a panel discussion about the relationship between healthy soil and the climate crisis and what you can do to be part of the solution to food justice and climate justice in our community,” Bailey said.
Register in advance for the meeting https://tinyurl.com/tf5sxryr. A confirmation email will be sent containing information about joining the meeting.
“People are calling ‘Kiss the Ground’ the most important film you’ll ever watch, which is a really big claim,” Climate Action Chairman Eric Engle said. “But it just may be true.”
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