The years between World War I and World War II were full of innovation, technological advances, and scientific growth. Many modern inventions — or the perfection of modern inventions — take root in that time. And, so it is with Teflon, a specialty plastic or fluoropolymer with some highly desirable properties, and also some deadly consequences.
While the invention of Teflon in 1938 came about by accident in the laboratory of Roy Plunkett, who was working on a refrigerant, being able to safely manufacture the substance took some time. At the intersection of modern chemistry and global history, developing a means to bond carbon and fluorine was seen as a solution to a problem — and one that had little to do with what goes on in the kitchen.
Around this time, prominent U.S. scientists were warning President Franklin D. Roosevelt that Germany would soon have a nuclear bomb. In response, the U.S. initiated a covert program to stockpile and weaponize uranium and create the atom bomb. This program was called The Manhattan Project.
In order to accomplish such a task, the government needed industry to develop a compound that would be virtually indestructible — one that could withstand the harshest conditions without breaking down. This was fundamental to the production of components necessary for the physical construction of the bomb. While scientists were looking to the bonding of carbon and fluorine for the answer, such a marriage was a dangerous and explosive proposition. First, they needed to develop the technology to merge them safely and in large quantities. In doing so, some of the resultant tech led to processes for making bomb components — and some was licensed by industry.
By 1944, DuPont still faced some difficulties with the mass production of Teflon. This became all too apparent when an accident occurred just before Thanksgiving at the company’s New Jersey facility — ripping apart a building and killing two workers. In the aftermath, the corporation decided to construct a plant specifically for the manufacture of Teflon. They selected Washington, W.Va., as the site of this new endeavor.
A photo of the newborn manufacturing facility kept in the Hagley Digital Archives shows a rather sparse looking place that is nearly unrecognizable as the Washington Works of today.
The rest, as they say, is history. Forever chemicals formed by the bonding of carbon and fluorine are essential to the production of Teflon and thousands of other consumer applications. However, PFAS are so slippery that their release into the environment proved most difficult to control. For decades DuPont used a riverside landfill for the disposal of Teflon waste. In time, a growing awareness of contamination issues led the corporation to relocate the contents of this landfill. They dug it up and moved it to Dry Run.
And, so began the Tennant family’s struggles — and the legendary battle over their cattle and the mysterious wasting disease that killed their entire herd.
Today this is all part of our chemical legacy.
The proliferation of PFAS had a 50-year head start on concerns over health and the environment. Evidence that exposure leads to the development of cancer and other health problems has done little to slow the spread. Industry keeps making new derivatives and putting them into use. PFAS can be found in the environment globally, in every body of water, and in the bloodstream of every human alive — from before birth.
If you are interested in a more thorough, academic exploration of the subject, I invite you to explore “Timebombing the Future” by Dr. Rebecca Altman.
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Callie Lyons is the author of the 2007 book, “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8,” which chronicles the discovery of PFAS or highly fluorinated compounds in Mid-Ohio Valley water supplies and beyond. She is a journalist and researcher for FITSNews and the FITSFiles true crime and corruption podcast.
The idea of carbon capture and storage (aka carbon capture and sequestration or in some cases carbon capture, utilization and storage or sequestration) has captured the imagination of West Virginia’s state and federal politicians. That’s about all it significantly captures, though.
The technology doesn’t capture even a fraction of what’s needed and envisioned after decades of effort. This proposition is well on its way to becoming a financial boondoggle, public health and environmental nightmare and a major factor in why we fall well short of greenhouse gas emissions reductions that we absolutely must achieve.
We at Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action were one of 17 groups that sent a letter to the U.S. EPA recently requesting that the federal agency not grant primacy over Class VI injection wells for the storage of captured carbon dioxide to the state of West Virginia. We have numerous reasons for concern.
For one, West Virginia regulators do not have the experience or expertise necessary to effectively oversee these wells. Class VI wells are fairly new developments as injection wells go. Secondly, West Virginia regulators lack the capacity or resources to oversee this additional class of wells. Despite recent legislative efforts, West Virginia has the lowest inspector to well ratio of any state in the region, and that ratio is not going to rise to acceptable levels anytime soon. It will continue to be about one inspector per 3,500 wells for the foreseeable future.
West Virginia law also allows owners and operators to evade liability for storage facilities, in this case underground pore spaces located below our state parks and wilderness areas, socializing risks while privatizing profits. To quote from the letter to the EPA, “in 2022, West Virginia passed [House Bill] 4491, allowing storage operators to be released ‘from all liability and regulatory requirements associated with the storage facility’ as early as 10 years after completion of a storage project, with the state assuming the responsibility for monitoring and managing the storage facility.”
Finally, the state government in West Virginia has shown time and again that the public engagement and participation in new energy projects they allow is all but nonexistent, and what does exist is just a formality with no meaningful influence. Those of us in the groups who sent this letter to the EPA saw this on full display just recently when offering public comment to the West Virginia Economic Development Authority. The WVEDA made a decision to write a $62.5 million loan using taxpayer dollars for a proposed facility in Mason County right outside of Point Pleasant and the public was all but shut out and completely ignored.
The Mason County proposal is for a blue hydrogen production facility (blue hydrogen is hydrogen obtained from methane gas with the associated carbon dioxide captured and sequestered) and an accompanying biomass usage facility. The project goal is to use the hydrogen and biomass to power data centers, greenhouses, steel production and transportation. The promise is 4,000 construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs with average wages at those permanent jobs of at least $110,000 a year. If you believe that will come to fruition, I’ve got oceanfront property I’d like to sell you in Mason County.
Want a more likely scenario? Look no further than the fracked gas industry that will supply the hydrogen behemoth in Mothman territory. To quote from analysis by the Ohio River Valley Institute, an independent, nonpartisan research and communications center focused on the Ohio River Valley, “Appalachia’s largest gas-producing counties have continued to drastically underperform the region and the nation in job, population and income growth since the beginning of the fracking boom. These 22 counties lost 10,339 jobs and 47,652 residents between 2008 and 2021.”
What about the methane released throughout every step of the natural gas recovery and use process? Methane, while shorter-lived in the atmosphere, is 86-times more efficient at trapping heat over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide. There’s no discussion of methane in these plans.
What about the fact that carbon dioxide displaces oxygen and, if it leaks from the miles of pipelines and numerous storage sites being proposed, could cause internal combustion engine failure or, far worse, widespread asphyxiation? Crickets.
What about the fact that carbon dioxide can form carbonic acid when stored underground and cause a breakdown of storage sites and combine with co-pollutants to cause immense harm to water resources? Nothing.
These ideas stink of desperation by the fossil fuels and derivative industries to maintain their enormously profitable status quo. Green hydrogen — produced using renewable energy to split water molecules to obtain and use the hydrogen atoms — is the most promising path for hydrogen’s decarbonizing future. There is also the possibility of white hydrogen, which is hydrogen obtained directly from the earth in what are hopefully safely and justly recoverable deposits. Blue hydrogen, like the rest of the hydrogen color scheme, is nonsense.
We’re being sold snake oil again, my fellow West Virginians, and we need to let our politicians know unequivocally that we’re not buying.
Eric Engle, of Parkersburg, is board president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
The jet stream is a river of wind that blows from West to East, high up in the atmosphere where jets fly. It is the boundary between the cold air of the north and the warm air of the south. The peaks and valleys in the jet stream generate the pressure centers shown on weather maps as an H or L. The waviness of the jet stream is a feature that effects its movement. In the past 30 years, scientists have observed extremely large bends in the jet streams’ northward peaks and southward valleys coinciding with rising air temperatures. Because polar regions of the planet are warming more rapidly than other regions, the typical north-south temperature difference is decreasing which may be causing a wider, slower jet stream. Certain climate scientists theorize the drastic decline of ice in the Arctic, a direct consequence of human release of greenhouse gases, is linked to these shifting weather patterns.
Atmospheric scientist, Jennifer Francis, PhD, senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center, has done extensive research on Arctic warming, atmospheric vapor and energy. She was among the first to identify the consequences of shrinking Arctic ice and its link to shifting global weather.
In 2003, Francis was part of a group of scientists who published a paper with a stunning conclusion: within a century, the world could witness a summer Arctic Ocean that would be ice-free, a state not seen for thousands of years. They theorized that the loss of Arctic sea ice had caused the jet stream to weaken. Since larger dips in the jet stream move more slowly, Persistent Weather Patterns (PWP) are increasing. That means droughts, heat waves, intense rain and tropical storms now persist in the same location longer than usual.
In the April 2018 issue of Scientific American, Francis authored an article with the title “Meltdown”. Her article stated the Arctic is a “…canary in the coal mine for the earth’s entire climate system.” Francis concluded the Arctic Ocean will likely be free of summer ice by 2040, a full 60 years earlier than predicted originally. As the temperatures of the air and ocean increase; sea ice, permafrost and glaciers/ice caps are all thawing rapidly. This summer there is a lot less sea ice than ever recorded before. Less sea ice, which reflects much of the sun’s energy, means more exposed ocean water, which is darker in color and absorbs more of that heat, making it even more difficult for ice to reform. And this year additional factors, including El Nino, are helping push temperatures to new extremes. However, according to a Yale “Environment 360” article published recently, global warming caused by use of fossil fuels is still by far the leading driver.
On July 29, 2021, in a radio interview, Francis shared information regarding the predicted increases for extreme weather events in the future. If current fossil fuel emissions were not limited, PWP would increase in frequency by two to seven times as many. Going beyond that into the future, the probabilities would get even larger, up to 21 times more likely. If the pace of human-induced climate disruption continues to grow, the consequences of planet warming fossil fuels will continue to produce PWP that grow more extreme as well as more frequent. In early July, an online news article reported that according to Francis, this summer’s soaring temperatures are “almost certainly” the warmest temperatures the planet has seen “probably going back at least 100,000 years.” And although July was the hottest month ever recorded, across the globe, weather records continue to be broken. Global warming is becoming global “weirding” and the resulting shattering of weather records a disturbing new normal.
The Arctic is changing the way scientists said it would but faster than the most aggressive predictions. Although it’s too late to preserve the Arctic as we have known it, there are rays of hope. World leaders agreed to establish a fund to help developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change and to protect at least 30% of the world’s land, inland waters, coastal areas, and oceans. The European Union adopted new rules that will put its 27 member states on track to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030. The Inflation Reduction Act, now one year old, puts the U.S. on the path to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030. For the sake of the grandchildren, we must build on these successes and ensure that political leaders carry through on these plans.
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Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a grandmother concerned for her granddaughter’s future, and vice president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
My family has strong ties to the steel industry. My paternal grandmother “flipped tin” during the 1950s and 1960s to check for tinplate defects. My dad was a millwright at Wheeling-Pitt. He worked on the blast furnace. My uncle worked at Weirton Steel’s coke plant on Brown’s Island. My brother also worked at Weirton Steel and I worked at the research center for National Steel. I remember when the steel mills were the biggest employers in the Ohio River Valley. During the 1980s, 15,000 people were employed at Weirton Steel alone. Those days are gone, but recently a new company, Form Energy, has selected a 55-acre portion of Weirton Steel’s former site to build rechargeable iron/air batteries. NASA experimented with this type of battery back in the 1960s.
This past April, my husband and I went to Form Energy’s informational open-house for the new iron/air battery plant. The session took place at Weirton’s Millsop Community Center where representatives from various departments in the company answered our many questions. Some questions we had were: What exactly is an iron/air battery? How will it help renewable energy use? What types of jobs and how many jobs will it provide for the area?
We all know that iron rusts in the presence of oxygen. During this rusting process, the iron releases energy. That energy can be converted to electricity, and can be used to back up commercial-scale wind, solar and hydro-electric projects. If electricity is applied back to the battery, the process is reversed and the rust (iron-oxide) becomes iron again as oxygen is released. The batteries are designed for commercial-scale applications and can provide 100+ hours of energy; so wind, water and solar energy become reliable 24-7 throughout the world. The costs to produce iron/air batteries is 1/10th that of Lithium batteries. Iron/air batteries also have no risks of thermal run-away, are recyclable, contain no heavy metals, and pair well with Lithium-ion batteries. Iron/air batteries may be “the best solution to balance the multi-day variability of renewable energy due to their extremely low cost, safety, durability, and global scalability.”
Form Energy is an American company with more than 400 employees working at locations in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and California. The plant in West Virginia will employ at minimum 750 full-time employees. The $760 million dollar investment is expected to start production of batteries by late 2024 and expects to produce 500 megawatts of batteries annually.
One of the downsides of renewable energy that fossil fuel proponents are quick to point out is that “the sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t blow all the time.” The iron/air battery will provide the backup system needed for these renewable energy sources during downtimes. “Each iron/air battery is about the size of a washer/dryer set and holds 50 iron-air cells, which are then surrounded by an electrolyte (similar to the Duracell in your TV remote).” These batteries could be a game changer for renewable energy systems.
The combined manufacturing capabilities of two solar companies in Northwest Ohio (First Solar and Toledo Solar) place Ohio second only to China when it comes to being the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer. Toledo Solar makes about one million panels a year; one every 30 seconds. Their panels are shipped across the nation for residential and commercial buildings. First Solar supplies panels for the utility-scale solar sector.
Even though Ohio leads the world in production of solar panels, anti-solar voices seek to halt new solar projects in the state. They claim that large-scale solar projects are destroying farm lands. That claim is simply not true and in fact research is being conducted all over the world to help integrate solar energy production with agriculture. It is called agrivoltaics.
Recently, the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority issued $275 million in bonds to finance the Madison Fields Solar Project in Madison County, Ohio. This project will combine cattle and crops with solar panels. “By working together on the same land, farmers and energy developers can realize benefits for all involved while preserving the agricultural character of the state’s rural communities.”
Researchers have found that the crops best suited to be grown under solar panels can vary from region to region. Oregon State University Department of Biological and Ecological engineering published a peer reviewed report “Solar PV Power Potential is Greatest Over Croplands.” Some of their findings concluded that solar panels create a sort of micro-climate for certain crops, and the crops create cooler conditions for the panels which enhances their efficiency. Some plants that have been successfully grown under panels or alongside them include: aloe vera, tomatoes, biogas maize, pasture grass, and lettuce. In the Pacific Northwest, barley and other grasses worked well. Additionally, berries offered the highest yields and also had the highest increase solar efficiency. Some crops that did not do well included taller varieties like sunflowers, apples and corn.
In 2022, Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) jointly proposed legislation that could catalyze the growth of agrivoltaics in the U.S. If passed into law, the Act would invest $15 million per year from 2024 to 2028, a $75 million total toward agrivoltaics research and demonstration projects. A report from the Ohio University Extension said of agrivoltaics, “many farmers support PV solar because it reduces volatility of future energy costs, has low maintenance costs, positive environmental attributes, and once the initial capital investment is recovered, the fuel is free.”
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Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with a politician and a few local business owners about the oil and gas industry. Those who supported fracking used the familiar talking points to defend the process and minimize the role it plays in exacerbating the climate crisis.
It was disappointing to be confronted with misrepresentations and falsehoods about the industry. Since the 1980s the fossil fuel industry has made a point of pushing climate denial, even though internal studies by Exxon predicted “by about 2060, CO2 levels would reach around 560 parts per million.”
Contrary to fracking proponents’ claims, volcanoes do not put more carbon dioxide into the air than fossil fuels. “Greenhouse gas emissions from volcanoes comprise less than 1% of those generated by today’s human endeavors.” We don’t need to frack for energy independence.
The data shows much of that fracked gas leaves the country. “Today, the United States is a net exporter of natural gas and one of the top exporters of liquefied natural gas in the world.”
We need to transition away from fossil fuels for national security. In fact, climate change is now a national security priority for the Pentagon. Former Defense Secretary James Mattis said “climate change is real and a threat to American interests abroad and the Pentagon’s assets everywhere.”
Current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “There is little about what the department does to defend the American people that is not affected by climate change. It is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such.”
HB6 gutted Ohio’s energy-efficiency programs and stalled renewable energy. Ohio now ranks 39th in terms of power generated by renewables. Solar panels have become more efficient and affordable. Our home has an 8.4 kW rooftop system, and our electric bills are substantially lower, even negative for summer months.
Recently, the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority issued $275 million in bonds to finance the Madison Fields Solar Project in Madison County, Ohio. This project will combine cattle and crops with solar panels: agrivoltaics. By working together on the same land, farmers and energy developers can realize benefits for all involved while preserving the agricultural character of the state’s rural communities.
Because of the “Haliburton Loophole,” fracking is exempt from most major federal environmental laws including the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. A recent study showed the Ohio EPA is lacking in its ability to address citizens’ complaints about air pollution generated by fracking infrastructure.
Between 2014 and 2021, the industry used 7.2 billion pounds of chemicals that were not identified. Under Ohio law the industry does not have to disclose drilling compounds it deems as being protected by “trade secret” agreements. This also causes a dangerous situation for first responders, many of which are volunteers in rural communities.
Ohio’s ODNR regulations only require a $5,000 bonding for a well and $15,000 total for multiple wells. That would hardly cover any cleanup should an accident occur on or near a state park. It is time the public gets scientifically based facts about this industry, not ill-informed platitudes.
I find that there are a lot of people who seem to have a sense of privilege when it comes to possessions. I don’t and cannot pass judgment on anyone but offer an argument that maybe we should all consider the impacts of our decisions big and small.
For instance, family sizes are typically much smaller than they used to be and yet I see a lot of new construction homes that are very large. According to the MIT Climate Portal “New homes in the U.S. have grown 45% in size since the 1970s, requiring much more material per home.” Rather than owning a home that is a status symbol, maybe we should consider the energy required to heat and cool all that space; the forest that was cut to make room for the house and yard; the construction materials that resulted in deforestation, mining, etc.; and the roof surface that sheds water rather than letting it soak in to recharge the aquifer and sheds water much quicker than natural conditions contributing to erosion and flooding.
The argument is similar when it comes to what kind of vehicle we drive. What if the script was switched and people who drive Priuses or fully electric vehicles were revered for their contribution to the climate crisis. I often find drivers of large, powerful, fuel-thirsty vehicles are somehow put-off by fuel conserving vehicles and worse by pedestrians or cyclists, as if they are better because they can push down hard on that gas pedal.
Even the small things add up to a huge difference — getting away from single-use plastics, reducing the mowed area of a lawn and restoring to trees or native plants. Everyday consumer goods such as clothing consumes tremendous amounts of resources to produce. There is something to be said for making things last or buying things that last in the first place.
What if we considered the global impact of our decisions — climate induced migration and hunger; sea level rise; extreme weather events and fire events; changes in weather patterns such as monsoon seasons; sea ice break-up and permafrost thawing; I could go on. We must look no further than in the mirror to see who more than anybody is responsible for these events. The U.S. has contributed more greenhouse gas emissions than any other nation in the world over the years, especially when measured per capita. So, when migrants from impacted countries come knocking at our door for help, maybe we should consider that we may be at fault for that need.
This is not intended to shame anyone, and I can certainly make improvements in my lifestyle. I just hope that this gives you food for thought when you make buying decisions. We are all in this together and with a little humility and working together we can make positive change.
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Vic Elam is a Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action member, an avid outdoorsman, and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment and the children we borrow it from
Seattle, Wash. — As senior officials from the U.S. and throughout the Pacific Rim met in Seattle for a final round of talks before President Biden hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this November, environmental advocates delivered a letter from 234 environmental groups calling on the administration to pursue a “Climate Peace Clause” that would end trade disputes threatening climate initiatives around the world.
“Outdated trade rules continue being used to attack climate programs at the federal and sub-federal levels,” said Clayton Tucker, a climate organizer with the Trade Justice Education Fund. “A moratorium on the use of trade agreements to challenge climate mitigation and clean energy transition policies would enable local, state and national governments to safeguard existing climate measures and adopt the additional policies urgently needed to prevent the worst outcomes from climate change.”
Signed entirely by state and local environmental organizations, the groups’ letter calls on the Biden administration to “take decisive action to prevent climate policies in our states from being attacked and undermined via outdated trade agreements.”
Their letter points to both a World Trade Organization ruling against the solar programs in eight U.S. states and the ongoing trade threats against clean vehicle provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act as “a warning sign of what could happen as our states adopt the stronger and bolder climate policies that are needed.”
“We were glad when the administration recently announced a reciprocal agreement ending India’s trade attacks again U.S. states’ solar programs and vice versa,” said Tucker. “Unfortunately, other clean energy initiatives in the U.S. and elsewhere are still being threatened and future climate policies remain at serious risk. A Climate Peace Clause would provide assurances that other climate programs won’t be delayed or weakened by trade attacks moving forward.”
The groups are calling for a Climate Peace Clause to be immediately adopted within any and all pending trade agreements, as well as international venues, such as APEC and the G7, and other coalitions of willing countries.
The state and local environmental groups’ letter echoes previous calls for a Climate Peace Clause made by state legislators from all fifty states and by national environmental organizations including the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace USA, Food & Water Watch, Oil Change International, 350.org and others.
In a gated community not far from the beltway, twin fires rage toward the heavens. On either side of the street, two sprawling McMansions kindle into ash, sparks pirouetting upward into the night sky. The blazing homes belong to two well-known and respected families, the Dempseys and the Remingtons.
“Daddy, the house is on fire!” cries the youngest Remington child, running up to the head of the family with his siblings in tow.
Mr. Remington, sitting in his armchair, uncrosses his legs and lowers the newspaper in his lap.
“On fire?” he asks.
The youngest child pauses for a moment, then turns to look at his siblings, as though for confirmation of this obvious fact. A few of them nod.
“Yes!” he reiterates, “The whole house is burning down!”
Mr. Remington lingers on his newspaper for a moment, then brushes the ash from the shoulder of his smoker’s jacket.
“No it’s not,” he says finally.
The children gape at him. “But… The fire and smoke,” says an older brother, gesturing around the room, “They’re everywhere!”
“Wrong,” Dad says. “There is no fire, and there never has been. That’s just a lie from our enemies to try and threaten our way of life.”
The kids stand there, slack-jawed. Eventually though, a few of them nod. “Yeah,” they say. “Yeah, that sounds right.”
Though not everyone is convinced. “Can’t you hear the fire alarm?” asks one of his daughters.
Mr. Remington waves a dismissive hand. “There’s always been fire,” he says. “Fire comes in cycles. That’s how God made it!”
There’s some grumbling from his audience, though by now several of them have come around.
“Even if there was a fire, we have to take into account the possible financial benefits this could bring about!” says one son.
“Exactly!” says Mr. Remington.
“Humans have always adapted to fire,” says his youngest boy, nodding vigorously.
“If it’s a legitimate fire, the body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down,” says another.
His youngest daughter, standing in the doorway, spontaneously combusts.
“Close that, will you?” says Mr. Remington, nodding to the door. They seal themselves into the den, ignoring her screams.
“Gee dad, I guess you were right,” says his eldest son.
“Your old man’s learned a thing or two in his day,” says Mr. Remington proudly. “But I will say, it’s getting a little bit hot in here. Why don’t you kids wait here while I head upstairs and crank up the AC?”
He leaves the circle of children sitting cross-legged on the floor of the den, and shuffles up the stairs with no intention of returning.
Meanwhile, a similar scene unfolds across the street.
Mr. Dempsey can be seen lounging in his recliner, staring off into the distance as the golden flames close in on all sides.
His children run up to him. “Dad! Dad, the house is on fire!”
“Huh? What’s that?” he asks confusedly.
“Our house is burning down!” repeats his middle daughter.
“Good gracious!” he exclaims, rising to his feet. “You’re absolutely right, kiddo! Quick, we gotta do something!”
The children prepare to bolt from the house and escort their elderly father as needed. But to their surprise, they see him instead shuffling in the direction of the kitchen sink. He turns on the faucet, and starts filling up glasses from the cupboard with water. He hands them one by one to the children crowded around him.
“Here, start dumping these on the fire!” he commands his youngest son. The boy doesn’t immediately comply, his gaze transfixed on the freezer full of melted Jeni’s ice cream now spilling out onto the linoleum.
“Dad, I don’t think this is enough,” says the middle daughter, watching as her younger sister splashes the contents of her glass onto the conflagration. The flames blink, then roar back to life more furiously than ever.
“Listen Jack, at least we’re doing something about it,” he counters. “If you’ve got a problem with how I do things, why don’t you go live with the Remingtons instead? I’m doing more than they are!”
“Dad, this is an emergency!” she pleads. “We need to call 9-1-1!”
He winces. “Emergency isn’t really the right word for it,” he says. “I think that the concerns are based on what we should all be concerned about, but the solutions have to be, and include, what we are doing in terms of going forward in terms of investments. There’s a process for these things. We have to go about this the right way, or else we’re no better than the Remingtons.”
At first the children continue to plead. But as they fall into the steady rhythm of activity, feebly splashing water at the flames and then returning to the sink, their complaints gradually subside.
“This isn’t really having much of an effect,” says the middle daughter, “but at least we’re doing something.”
“Keep it up!” says Mr. Dempsey, giving them a thumbs up through the haze. “This is the only way to change things! Now you kids stay with it, I’m gonna go upstairs and see if I can find some more glasses!”
Like his counterpart, Mr. Dempsey has zero intention of returning.
The two neighbors emerge into the center of their shared street, locking eyes against the backdrop of their burning homes. They cross to the center of the road, shaking hands.
“Looks like some excitement going on at your place,” says Dempsey.
“A bit more than I’d like, I’m afraid,” chuckles Remington.
Though they love to play-act as fierce ideological rivals, the two of them really aren’t so different from one another.
They stand there chatting for a few minutes, until at last a pair of private jets descend through the sizzling updraft of smoke, landing in their neighbors’ yards.
“That looks like my ride,” says Remington. They shake hands again, and the two men depart for their second homes, many miles away from here, and from the angry inferno of the desecrated world they’ve left behind.
The children are burning.
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Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
July 25, 2023 Event- Panel discussion Annie Regan, ReImagine Appalachia moderator, with Kimberly Ishmael, Policy Campaign Coordinator at Community Farm Alliance and Lindsey Shapiro, Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.
“Instagram Live: How Can We Support the Farm Bill?”
Available on United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
June 30, 2023 Press Release (missing from June report)
“U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy Announce Partnership to Provide More than $1 Billion to Reduce Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Sector”
“Activist Bill McKibben rallies adults over age 60 to fight for climate action” McKibben’s organization, Third Act, organizes seniors to write letters, hold sit-ins, and more.
A recurrent myth in the Mid-Ohio Valley is that the transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels has to be painful and fraught with job loss, economic decline, and sacrifice. This assumption cannot be further from the truth. It is possible and within our grasp to take charge of our economy and promote job creation with new manufacturing powered by renewable energy while also addressing the accelerating problem of human-caused climate change. The need to address climate change is strikingly compelling in light of the extreme weather being experienced all around the northern hemisphere this summer.
For too long advocates of fossil fuels have led us to believe that coal and oil and now natural gas will lead central Appalachia (western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio. West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky) to economic prosperity. This promise has not been fulfilled in the past and will not in the future. Very little of the billions of dollars invested and revenue generated in natural gas extraction have helped the local economy in this region. A study by the Ohio Valley Research Institute (O’Leary, 2021) has shown that central Appalachia trails the U.S., in general, on measures of economic prosperity such as personal income and net economic growth. This pattern is largely due to the fact that oil and gas extraction is a capital-intensive business. The revenue, community benefit, and jobs with natural gas have not accrued to our region.
Opportunities exist which build upon recovery from extractive industries and align with new growth in renewable energy to benefit our local communities. One example is the manufacture of “eco bricks,” which are produced from coal ash, a biproduct of burning coal. It is estimated that there are 161 coal ash ponds in Appalachia (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2021). This coal ash, if left untended can lead to acid mine drainage and sulfuric acid. When coal ash is combined with some sand, lime, and gypsum, it can produce a composite construction material (aka “eco bricks”) that is stronger and has less of a carbon footprint than standard Portland cement (Ohio River Valley Institute, 2021).
Another opportunity for economic growth involving coal ash relates to the demanding need for rare earth elements (REE) for battery production and other applications needed for the new renewable energy technologies. Currently, 70% of REE come from China. It is possible to derive REE from coal ash (Water Research Institute, WVU, 2022), it is difficult to extract, but it is likely that research directed at the issue can address this problem in the near future.
There is also “mass timber,” a sustainable alternative to concrete and steel; mass timber is made from solid wood panels (derived from trees that are sustainably harvested) nailed or glued together; they are fire resistant, strong, sustainable, and cost efficient. There is industrial hemp, an alternative to plastic, which can be grown on damaged lands. And there are many options for industry around waste recovery, such as using recycled glass to make insulation. The science of battery technology is growing rapidly, and large batteries are in great demand for the rapidly expanding production of electric vehicles. There is also the need to cap orphaned oil and gas wells–a labor-intensive enterprise.
All of these ideas can be developed in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia with locally owned businesses and with the help of federal stimulus programs that are currently available.
There is an innovative project right now on our own doorstep in Mid-Ohio Valley. Thanks to the foresight and diligence of Jesse Roush, executive director of the Southeast Ohio Port Authority, and an innovative international company called SAI, a research and development center focused on heat exchange is being established just south of Marietta. The new center is based on the utilization of heat generated from computer chips, which is recycled to replace natural gas as a heat source for applications in agriculture, fish hatcheries, and residences. Tao Wu, Director of the Heat Recycling Center, is leading efforts to develop multiple computing heat recycle projects, which will benefit the community. The new facility, located on Gravel Bank Road in Warren Township, already has a greenhouse under construction, which can provide vegetables and other crops during winter months for the local community. The opening event for the center will take place on Aug. 9 from 2-5 p.m. (check local news media for details).
***
George Banziger, Ph..D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. Now retired, he is a volunteer for Harvest of Hope and a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Citizens Climate Lobby, and of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.
Find Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on the following social media:
Last Updated: September 2, 2023 by main_y0ke11
The Teflon Time Machine – from the Manhattan Project to the Mid-Ohio Valley
Sep 2, 2023
Callie Lyons
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The years between World War I and World War II were full of innovation, technological advances, and scientific growth. Many modern inventions — or the perfection of modern inventions — take root in that time. And, so it is with Teflon, a specialty plastic or fluoropolymer with some highly desirable properties, and also some deadly consequences.
While the invention of Teflon in 1938 came about by accident in the laboratory of Roy Plunkett, who was working on a refrigerant, being able to safely manufacture the substance took some time. At the intersection of modern chemistry and global history, developing a means to bond carbon and fluorine was seen as a solution to a problem — and one that had little to do with what goes on in the kitchen.
Around this time, prominent U.S. scientists were warning President Franklin D. Roosevelt that Germany would soon have a nuclear bomb. In response, the U.S. initiated a covert program to stockpile and weaponize uranium and create the atom bomb. This program was called The Manhattan Project.
In order to accomplish such a task, the government needed industry to develop a compound that would be virtually indestructible — one that could withstand the harshest conditions without breaking down. This was fundamental to the production of components necessary for the physical construction of the bomb. While scientists were looking to the bonding of carbon and fluorine for the answer, such a marriage was a dangerous and explosive proposition. First, they needed to develop the technology to merge them safely and in large quantities. In doing so, some of the resultant tech led to processes for making bomb components — and some was licensed by industry.
By 1944, DuPont still faced some difficulties with the mass production of Teflon. This became all too apparent when an accident occurred just before Thanksgiving at the company’s New Jersey facility — ripping apart a building and killing two workers. In the aftermath, the corporation decided to construct a plant specifically for the manufacture of Teflon. They selected Washington, W.Va., as the site of this new endeavor.
A photo of the newborn manufacturing facility kept in the Hagley Digital Archives shows a rather sparse looking place that is nearly unrecognizable as the Washington Works of today.
The rest, as they say, is history. Forever chemicals formed by the bonding of carbon and fluorine are essential to the production of Teflon and thousands of other consumer applications. However, PFAS are so slippery that their release into the environment proved most difficult to control. For decades DuPont used a riverside landfill for the disposal of Teflon waste. In time, a growing awareness of contamination issues led the corporation to relocate the contents of this landfill. They dug it up and moved it to Dry Run.
And, so began the Tennant family’s struggles — and the legendary battle over their cattle and the mysterious wasting disease that killed their entire herd.
Today this is all part of our chemical legacy.
The proliferation of PFAS had a 50-year head start on concerns over health and the environment. Evidence that exposure leads to the development of cancer and other health problems has done little to slow the spread. Industry keeps making new derivatives and putting them into use. PFAS can be found in the environment globally, in every body of water, and in the bloodstream of every human alive — from before birth.
If you are interested in a more thorough, academic exploration of the subject, I invite you to explore “Timebombing the Future” by Dr. Rebecca Altman.
***
Callie Lyons is the author of the 2007 book, “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8,” which chronicles the discovery of PFAS or highly fluorinated compounds in Mid-Ohio Valley water supplies and beyond. She is a journalist and researcher for FITSNews and the FITSFiles true crime and corruption podcast.
Last Updated: September 7, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Don’t buy snake oil in form of carbon capture
Charleston Gazette-Mail
The idea of carbon capture and storage (aka carbon capture and sequestration or in some cases carbon capture, utilization and storage or sequestration) has captured the imagination of West Virginia’s state and federal politicians. That’s about all it significantly captures, though.
The technology doesn’t capture even a fraction of what’s needed and envisioned after decades of effort. This proposition is well on its way to becoming a financial boondoggle, public health and environmental nightmare and a major factor in why we fall well short of greenhouse gas emissions reductions that we absolutely must achieve.
We at Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action were one of 17 groups that sent a letter to the U.S. EPA recently requesting that the federal agency not grant primacy over Class VI injection wells for the storage of captured carbon dioxide to the state of West Virginia. We have numerous reasons for concern.
For one, West Virginia regulators do not have the experience or expertise necessary to effectively oversee these wells. Class VI wells are fairly new developments as injection wells go. Secondly, West Virginia regulators lack the capacity or resources to oversee this additional class of wells. Despite recent legislative efforts, West Virginia has the lowest inspector to well ratio of any state in the region, and that ratio is not going to rise to acceptable levels anytime soon. It will continue to be about one inspector per 3,500 wells for the foreseeable future.
West Virginia law also allows owners and operators to evade liability for storage facilities, in this case underground pore spaces located below our state parks and wilderness areas, socializing risks while privatizing profits. To quote from the letter to the EPA, “in 2022, West Virginia passed [House Bill] 4491, allowing storage operators to be released ‘from all liability and regulatory requirements associated with the storage facility’ as early as 10 years after completion of a storage project, with the state assuming the responsibility for monitoring and managing the storage facility.”
Finally, the state government in West Virginia has shown time and again that the public engagement and participation in new energy projects they allow is all but nonexistent, and what does exist is just a formality with no meaningful influence. Those of us in the groups who sent this letter to the EPA saw this on full display just recently when offering public comment to the West Virginia Economic Development Authority. The WVEDA made a decision to write a $62.5 million loan using taxpayer dollars for a proposed facility in Mason County right outside of Point Pleasant and the public was all but shut out and completely ignored.
The Mason County proposal is for a blue hydrogen production facility (blue hydrogen is hydrogen obtained from methane gas with the associated carbon dioxide captured and sequestered) and an accompanying biomass usage facility. The project goal is to use the hydrogen and biomass to power data centers, greenhouses, steel production and transportation. The promise is 4,000 construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs with average wages at those permanent jobs of at least $110,000 a year. If you believe that will come to fruition, I’ve got oceanfront property I’d like to sell you in Mason County.
Want a more likely scenario? Look no further than the fracked gas industry that will supply the hydrogen behemoth in Mothman territory. To quote from analysis by the Ohio River Valley Institute, an independent, nonpartisan research and communications center focused on the Ohio River Valley, “Appalachia’s largest gas-producing counties have continued to drastically underperform the region and the nation in job, population and income growth since the beginning of the fracking boom. These 22 counties lost 10,339 jobs and 47,652 residents between 2008 and 2021.”
What about the methane released throughout every step of the natural gas recovery and use process? Methane, while shorter-lived in the atmosphere, is 86-times more efficient at trapping heat over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide. There’s no discussion of methane in these plans.
What about the fact that carbon dioxide displaces oxygen and, if it leaks from the miles of pipelines and numerous storage sites being proposed, could cause internal combustion engine failure or, far worse, widespread asphyxiation? Crickets.
What about the fact that carbon dioxide can form carbonic acid when stored underground and cause a breakdown of storage sites and combine with co-pollutants to cause immense harm to water resources? Nothing.
These ideas stink of desperation by the fossil fuels and derivative industries to maintain their enormously profitable status quo. Green hydrogen — produced using renewable energy to split water molecules to obtain and use the hydrogen atoms — is the most promising path for hydrogen’s decarbonizing future. There is also the possibility of white hydrogen, which is hydrogen obtained directly from the earth in what are hopefully safely and justly recoverable deposits. Blue hydrogen, like the rest of the hydrogen color scheme, is nonsense.
We’re being sold snake oil again, my fellow West Virginians, and we need to let our politicians know unequivocally that we’re not buying.
Eric Engle, of Parkersburg, is board president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: August 26, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Weather on steroids
Aug 26, 2023
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The jet stream is a river of wind that blows from West to East, high up in the atmosphere where jets fly. It is the boundary between the cold air of the north and the warm air of the south. The peaks and valleys in the jet stream generate the pressure centers shown on weather maps as an H or L. The waviness of the jet stream is a feature that effects its movement. In the past 30 years, scientists have observed extremely large bends in the jet streams’ northward peaks and southward valleys coinciding with rising air temperatures. Because polar regions of the planet are warming more rapidly than other regions, the typical north-south temperature difference is decreasing which may be causing a wider, slower jet stream. Certain climate scientists theorize the drastic decline of ice in the Arctic, a direct consequence of human release of greenhouse gases, is linked to these shifting weather patterns.
Atmospheric scientist, Jennifer Francis, PhD, senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center, has done extensive research on Arctic warming, atmospheric vapor and energy. She was among the first to identify the consequences of shrinking Arctic ice and its link to shifting global weather.
In 2003, Francis was part of a group of scientists who published a paper with a stunning conclusion: within a century, the world could witness a summer Arctic Ocean that would be ice-free, a state not seen for thousands of years. They theorized that the loss of Arctic sea ice had caused the jet stream to weaken. Since larger dips in the jet stream move more slowly, Persistent Weather Patterns (PWP) are increasing. That means droughts, heat waves, intense rain and tropical storms now persist in the same location longer than usual.
In the April 2018 issue of Scientific American, Francis authored an article with the title “Meltdown”. Her article stated the Arctic is a “…canary in the coal mine for the earth’s entire climate system.” Francis concluded the Arctic Ocean will likely be free of summer ice by 2040, a full 60 years earlier than predicted originally. As the temperatures of the air and ocean increase; sea ice, permafrost and glaciers/ice caps are all thawing rapidly. This summer there is a lot less sea ice than ever recorded before. Less sea ice, which reflects much of the sun’s energy, means more exposed ocean water, which is darker in color and absorbs more of that heat, making it even more difficult for ice to reform. And this year additional factors, including El Nino, are helping push temperatures to new extremes. However, according to a Yale “Environment 360” article published recently, global warming caused by use of fossil fuels is still by far the leading driver.
On July 29, 2021, in a radio interview, Francis shared information regarding the predicted increases for extreme weather events in the future. If current fossil fuel emissions were not limited, PWP would increase in frequency by two to seven times as many. Going beyond that into the future, the probabilities would get even larger, up to 21 times more likely. If the pace of human-induced climate disruption continues to grow, the consequences of planet warming fossil fuels will continue to produce PWP that grow more extreme as well as more frequent. In early July, an online news article reported that according to Francis, this summer’s soaring temperatures are “almost certainly” the warmest temperatures the planet has seen “probably going back at least 100,000 years.” And although July was the hottest month ever recorded, across the globe, weather records continue to be broken. Global warming is becoming global “weirding” and the resulting shattering of weather records a disturbing new normal.
The Arctic is changing the way scientists said it would but faster than the most aggressive predictions. Although it’s too late to preserve the Arctic as we have known it, there are rays of hope. World leaders agreed to establish a fund to help developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change and to protect at least 30% of the world’s land, inland waters, coastal areas, and oceans. The European Union adopted new rules that will put its 27 member states on track to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030. The Inflation Reduction Act, now one year old, puts the U.S. on the path to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030. For the sake of the grandchildren, we must build on these successes and ensure that political leaders carry through on these plans.
***
Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a grandmother concerned for her granddaughter’s future, and vice president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: August 20, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Two new innovative developments for renewable energy and jobs
Aug 19, 2023
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
My family has strong ties to the steel industry. My paternal grandmother “flipped tin” during the 1950s and 1960s to check for tinplate defects. My dad was a millwright at Wheeling-Pitt. He worked on the blast furnace. My uncle worked at Weirton Steel’s coke plant on Brown’s Island. My brother also worked at Weirton Steel and I worked at the research center for National Steel. I remember when the steel mills were the biggest employers in the Ohio River Valley. During the 1980s, 15,000 people were employed at Weirton Steel alone. Those days are gone, but recently a new company, Form Energy, has selected a 55-acre portion of Weirton Steel’s former site to build rechargeable iron/air batteries. NASA experimented with this type of battery back in the 1960s.
This past April, my husband and I went to Form Energy’s informational open-house for the new iron/air battery plant. The session took place at Weirton’s Millsop Community Center where representatives from various departments in the company answered our many questions. Some questions we had were: What exactly is an iron/air battery? How will it help renewable energy use? What types of jobs and how many jobs will it provide for the area?
We all know that iron rusts in the presence of oxygen. During this rusting process, the iron releases energy. That energy can be converted to electricity, and can be used to back up commercial-scale wind, solar and hydro-electric projects. If electricity is applied back to the battery, the process is reversed and the rust (iron-oxide) becomes iron again as oxygen is released. The batteries are designed for commercial-scale applications and can provide 100+ hours of energy; so wind, water and solar energy become reliable 24-7 throughout the world. The costs to produce iron/air batteries is 1/10th that of Lithium batteries. Iron/air batteries also have no risks of thermal run-away, are recyclable, contain no heavy metals, and pair well with Lithium-ion batteries. Iron/air batteries may be “the best solution to balance the multi-day variability of renewable energy due to their extremely low cost, safety, durability, and global scalability.”
Form Energy is an American company with more than 400 employees working at locations in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and California. The plant in West Virginia will employ at minimum 750 full-time employees. The $760 million dollar investment is expected to start production of batteries by late 2024 and expects to produce 500 megawatts of batteries annually.
One of the downsides of renewable energy that fossil fuel proponents are quick to point out is that “the sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t blow all the time.” The iron/air battery will provide the backup system needed for these renewable energy sources during downtimes. “Each iron/air battery is about the size of a washer/dryer set and holds 50 iron-air cells, which are then surrounded by an electrolyte (similar to the Duracell in your TV remote).” These batteries could be a game changer for renewable energy systems.
The combined manufacturing capabilities of two solar companies in Northwest Ohio (First Solar and Toledo Solar) place Ohio second only to China when it comes to being the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer. Toledo Solar makes about one million panels a year; one every 30 seconds. Their panels are shipped across the nation for residential and commercial buildings. First Solar supplies panels for the utility-scale solar sector.
Even though Ohio leads the world in production of solar panels, anti-solar voices seek to halt new solar projects in the state. They claim that large-scale solar projects are destroying farm lands. That claim is simply not true and in fact research is being conducted all over the world to help integrate solar energy production with agriculture. It is called agrivoltaics.
Recently, the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority issued $275 million in bonds to finance the Madison Fields Solar Project in Madison County, Ohio. This project will combine cattle and crops with solar panels. “By working together on the same land, farmers and energy developers can realize benefits for all involved while preserving the agricultural character of the state’s rural communities.”
Researchers have found that the crops best suited to be grown under solar panels can vary from region to region. Oregon State University Department of Biological and Ecological engineering published a peer reviewed report “Solar PV Power Potential is Greatest Over Croplands.” Some of their findings concluded that solar panels create a sort of micro-climate for certain crops, and the crops create cooler conditions for the panels which enhances their efficiency. Some plants that have been successfully grown under panels or alongside them include: aloe vera, tomatoes, biogas maize, pasture grass, and lettuce. In the Pacific Northwest, barley and other grasses worked well. Additionally, berries offered the highest yields and also had the highest increase solar efficiency. Some crops that did not do well included taller varieties like sunflowers, apples and corn.
In 2022, Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) jointly proposed legislation that could catalyze the growth of agrivoltaics in the U.S. If passed into law, the Act would invest $15 million per year from 2024 to 2028, a $75 million total toward agrivoltaics research and demonstration projects. A report from the Ohio University Extension said of agrivoltaics, “many farmers support PV solar because it reduces volatility of future energy costs, has low maintenance costs, positive environmental attributes, and once the initial capital investment is recovered, the fuel is free.”
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Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.
Last Updated: September 7, 2023 by main_y0ke11
It is time the public gets scientifically based facts
August 14, 2023
Dr. Randi Pokladnik
The bargainhunter.com
Letter to the Editor,
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with a politician and a few local business owners about the oil and gas industry. Those who supported fracking used the familiar talking points to defend the process and minimize the role it plays in exacerbating the climate crisis.
It was disappointing to be confronted with misrepresentations and falsehoods about the industry. Since the 1980s the fossil fuel industry has made a point of pushing climate denial, even though internal studies by Exxon predicted “by about 2060, CO2 levels would reach around 560 parts per million.”
Contrary to fracking proponents’ claims, volcanoes do not put more carbon dioxide into the air than fossil fuels. “Greenhouse gas emissions from volcanoes comprise less than 1% of those generated by today’s human endeavors.” We don’t need to frack for energy independence.
The data shows much of that fracked gas leaves the country. “Today, the United States is a net exporter of natural gas and one of the top exporters of liquefied natural gas in the world.”
We need to transition away from fossil fuels for national security. In fact, climate change is now a national security priority for the Pentagon. Former Defense Secretary James Mattis said “climate change is real and a threat to American interests abroad and the Pentagon’s assets everywhere.”
Current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “There is little about what the department does to defend the American people that is not affected by climate change. It is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such.”
HB6 gutted Ohio’s energy-efficiency programs and stalled renewable energy. Ohio now ranks 39th in terms of power generated by renewables. Solar panels have become more efficient and affordable. Our home has an 8.4 kW rooftop system, and our electric bills are substantially lower, even negative for summer months.
Recently, the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority issued $275 million in bonds to finance the Madison Fields Solar Project in Madison County, Ohio. This project will combine cattle and crops with solar panels: agrivoltaics. By working together on the same land, farmers and energy developers can realize benefits for all involved while preserving the agricultural character of the state’s rural communities.
Because of the “Haliburton Loophole,” fracking is exempt from most major federal environmental laws including the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. A recent study showed the Ohio EPA is lacking in its ability to address citizens’ complaints about air pollution generated by fracking infrastructure.
Between 2014 and 2021, the industry used 7.2 billion pounds of chemicals that were not identified. Under Ohio law the industry does not have to disclose drilling compounds it deems as being protected by “trade secret” agreements. This also causes a dangerous situation for first responders, many of which are volunteers in rural communities.
Ohio’s ODNR regulations only require a $5,000 bonding for a well and $15,000 total for multiple wells. That would hardly cover any cleanup should an accident occur on or near a state park. It is time the public gets scientifically based facts about this industry, not ill-informed platitudes.
Last Updated: August 12, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: A little humility might be in order
Aug 12, 2023
Vic Elam
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
I find that there are a lot of people who seem to have a sense of privilege when it comes to possessions. I don’t and cannot pass judgment on anyone but offer an argument that maybe we should all consider the impacts of our decisions big and small.
For instance, family sizes are typically much smaller than they used to be and yet I see a lot of new construction homes that are very large. According to the MIT Climate Portal “New homes in the U.S. have grown 45% in size since the 1970s, requiring much more material per home.” Rather than owning a home that is a status symbol, maybe we should consider the energy required to heat and cool all that space; the forest that was cut to make room for the house and yard; the construction materials that resulted in deforestation, mining, etc.; and the roof surface that sheds water rather than letting it soak in to recharge the aquifer and sheds water much quicker than natural conditions contributing to erosion and flooding.
The argument is similar when it comes to what kind of vehicle we drive. What if the script was switched and people who drive Priuses or fully electric vehicles were revered for their contribution to the climate crisis. I often find drivers of large, powerful, fuel-thirsty vehicles are somehow put-off by fuel conserving vehicles and worse by pedestrians or cyclists, as if they are better because they can push down hard on that gas pedal.
Even the small things add up to a huge difference — getting away from single-use plastics, reducing the mowed area of a lawn and restoring to trees or native plants. Everyday consumer goods such as clothing consumes tremendous amounts of resources to produce. There is something to be said for making things last or buying things that last in the first place.
What if we considered the global impact of our decisions — climate induced migration and hunger; sea level rise; extreme weather events and fire events; changes in weather patterns such as monsoon seasons; sea ice break-up and permafrost thawing; I could go on. We must look no further than in the mirror to see who more than anybody is responsible for these events. The U.S. has contributed more greenhouse gas emissions than any other nation in the world over the years, especially when measured per capita. So, when migrants from impacted countries come knocking at our door for help, maybe we should consider that we may be at fault for that need.
This is not intended to shame anyone, and I can certainly make improvements in my lifestyle. I just hope that this gives you food for thought when you make buying decisions. We are all in this together and with a little humility and working together we can make positive change.
***
Vic Elam is a Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action member, an avid outdoorsman, and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment and the children we borrow it from
Last Updated: September 7, 2023 by main_y0ke11
234 Environmental Groups Call for a Climate Peace Clause to End Trade Attacks on Climate Initiatives
Aug 7, 2023
Trade Justice Fund.org
Seattle, Wash. — As senior officials from the U.S. and throughout the Pacific Rim met in Seattle for a final round of talks before President Biden hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this November, environmental advocates delivered a letter from 234 environmental groups calling on the administration to pursue a “Climate Peace Clause” that would end trade disputes threatening climate initiatives around the world.
“Outdated trade rules continue being used to attack climate programs at the federal and sub-federal levels,” said Clayton Tucker, a climate organizer with the Trade Justice Education Fund. “A moratorium on the use of trade agreements to challenge climate mitigation and clean energy transition policies would enable local, state and national governments to safeguard existing climate measures and adopt the additional policies urgently needed to prevent the worst outcomes from climate change.”
Signed entirely by state and local environmental organizations, the groups’ letter calls on the Biden administration to “take decisive action to prevent climate policies in our states from being attacked and undermined via outdated trade agreements.”
Their letter points to both a World Trade Organization ruling against the solar programs in eight U.S. states and the ongoing trade threats against clean vehicle provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act as “a warning sign of what could happen as our states adopt the stronger and bolder climate policies that are needed.”
“We were glad when the administration recently announced a reciprocal agreement ending India’s trade attacks again U.S. states’ solar programs and vice versa,” said Tucker. “Unfortunately, other clean energy initiatives in the U.S. and elsewhere are still being threatened and future climate policies remain at serious risk. A Climate Peace Clause would provide assurances that other climate programs won’t be delayed or weakened by trade attacks moving forward.”
The groups are calling for a Climate Peace Clause to be immediately adopted within any and all pending trade agreements, as well as international venues, such as APEC and the G7, and other coalitions of willing countries.
The state and local environmental groups’ letter echoes previous calls for a Climate Peace Clause made by state legislators from all fifty states and by national environmental organizations including the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace USA, Food & Water Watch, Oil Change International, 350.org and others.
(MOVCA has signed on to this letter.)
Last Updated: August 5, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: House of Denial
Aug 5, 2023
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The flames rise.
In a gated community not far from the beltway, twin fires rage toward the heavens. On either side of the street, two sprawling McMansions kindle into ash, sparks pirouetting upward into the night sky. The blazing homes belong to two well-known and respected families, the Dempseys and the Remingtons.
“Daddy, the house is on fire!” cries the youngest Remington child, running up to the head of the family with his siblings in tow.
Mr. Remington, sitting in his armchair, uncrosses his legs and lowers the newspaper in his lap.
“On fire?” he asks.
The youngest child pauses for a moment, then turns to look at his siblings, as though for confirmation of this obvious fact. A few of them nod.
“Yes!” he reiterates, “The whole house is burning down!”
Mr. Remington lingers on his newspaper for a moment, then brushes the ash from the shoulder of his smoker’s jacket.
“No it’s not,” he says finally.
The children gape at him. “But… The fire and smoke,” says an older brother, gesturing around the room, “They’re everywhere!”
“Wrong,” Dad says. “There is no fire, and there never has been. That’s just a lie from our enemies to try and threaten our way of life.”
The kids stand there, slack-jawed. Eventually though, a few of them nod. “Yeah,” they say. “Yeah, that sounds right.”
Though not everyone is convinced. “Can’t you hear the fire alarm?” asks one of his daughters.
Mr. Remington waves a dismissive hand. “There’s always been fire,” he says. “Fire comes in cycles. That’s how God made it!”
There’s some grumbling from his audience, though by now several of them have come around.
“Even if there was a fire, we have to take into account the possible financial benefits this could bring about!” says one son.
“Exactly!” says Mr. Remington.
“Humans have always adapted to fire,” says his youngest boy, nodding vigorously.
“If it’s a legitimate fire, the body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down,” says another.
His youngest daughter, standing in the doorway, spontaneously combusts.
“Close that, will you?” says Mr. Remington, nodding to the door. They seal themselves into the den, ignoring her screams.
“Gee dad, I guess you were right,” says his eldest son.
“Your old man’s learned a thing or two in his day,” says Mr. Remington proudly. “But I will say, it’s getting a little bit hot in here. Why don’t you kids wait here while I head upstairs and crank up the AC?”
He leaves the circle of children sitting cross-legged on the floor of the den, and shuffles up the stairs with no intention of returning.
Meanwhile, a similar scene unfolds across the street.
Mr. Dempsey can be seen lounging in his recliner, staring off into the distance as the golden flames close in on all sides.
His children run up to him. “Dad! Dad, the house is on fire!”
“Huh? What’s that?” he asks confusedly.
“Our house is burning down!” repeats his middle daughter.
“Good gracious!” he exclaims, rising to his feet. “You’re absolutely right, kiddo! Quick, we gotta do something!”
The children prepare to bolt from the house and escort their elderly father as needed. But to their surprise, they see him instead shuffling in the direction of the kitchen sink. He turns on the faucet, and starts filling up glasses from the cupboard with water. He hands them one by one to the children crowded around him.
“Here, start dumping these on the fire!” he commands his youngest son. The boy doesn’t immediately comply, his gaze transfixed on the freezer full of melted Jeni’s ice cream now spilling out onto the linoleum.
“Dad, I don’t think this is enough,” says the middle daughter, watching as her younger sister splashes the contents of her glass onto the conflagration. The flames blink, then roar back to life more furiously than ever.
“Listen Jack, at least we’re doing something about it,” he counters. “If you’ve got a problem with how I do things, why don’t you go live with the Remingtons instead? I’m doing more than they are!”
“Dad, this is an emergency!” she pleads. “We need to call 9-1-1!”
He winces. “Emergency isn’t really the right word for it,” he says. “I think that the concerns are based on what we should all be concerned about, but the solutions have to be, and include, what we are doing in terms of going forward in terms of investments. There’s a process for these things. We have to go about this the right way, or else we’re no better than the Remingtons.”
At first the children continue to plead. But as they fall into the steady rhythm of activity, feebly splashing water at the flames and then returning to the sink, their complaints gradually subside.
“This isn’t really having much of an effect,” says the middle daughter, “but at least we’re doing something.”
“Keep it up!” says Mr. Dempsey, giving them a thumbs up through the haze. “This is the only way to change things! Now you kids stay with it, I’m gonna go upstairs and see if I can find some more glasses!”
Like his counterpart, Mr. Dempsey has zero intention of returning.
The two neighbors emerge into the center of their shared street, locking eyes against the backdrop of their burning homes. They cross to the center of the road, shaking hands.
“Looks like some excitement going on at your place,” says Dempsey.
“A bit more than I’d like, I’m afraid,” chuckles Remington.
Though they love to play-act as fierce ideological rivals, the two of them really aren’t so different from one another.
They stand there chatting for a few minutes, until at last a pair of private jets descend through the sizzling updraft of smoke, landing in their neighbors’ yards.
“That looks like my ride,” says Remington. They shake hands again, and the two men depart for their second homes, many miles away from here, and from the angry inferno of the desecrated world they’ve left behind.
The children are burning.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: August 8, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Suggested Readings for August 2023
MOVCA Selected Media Postings July 2023 (and a few articles omitted from last report)
Compiled by Cindy Taylor
Appearing online in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel:
July 20, 2023 Editorial
“GreenPower: Electric bus program shows positive savings”
https://www.newsandsentinel.com/opinion/editorials/2023/07/greenpower-electric-bus-program-shows-positive-savings/
Appearing on-line on WTAP:
July 31, 2023 Feature by Chase Campbell text and video (Dr. Eric Fitch, Marietta College interviewed)
“Regional impacts of climate change: What does climate change mean for the Mid-Ohio Valley?”
https://www.wtap.com/2023/07/31/regional-impacts-climate-change/
July 31, 2023 Feature by Sam Gottfried
“Athens makes drastic reductions in carbon emissions”
https://www.wtap.com/2023/07/31/athens-works-towards-reducing-carbon-emissions/
July 27, 2023 Feature by Chase Campbell Text and video (Eric Engle interviewed)
“U.S. Supreme Court permits construction of Mountain Valley Pipeline”
https://www.wtap.com/2023/07/27/us-supreme-court-permits-construction-mountain-valley-pipeline/
July 18, 2023 Feature by Chase Campbell
“Regional advocates encourage federal funding Ohio River Restoration”
https://www.wtap.com/2023/07/18/regional-advocates-encourage-federal-funding-ohio-river-restoration/
July 2, 2023 Feature by Chase Campbell Text and video
“Local advocate shares tips for having a Plastic Free July”
https://www.wtap.com/2023/07/02/local-advocate-shares-tips-having-plastic-free-july/
July 1, 2023 Feature by Laura Bowen Text and video
“Local meeting breaks down energy-related issues”
https://www.wtap.com/2023/07/01/local-meeting-breaks-down-energy-related-issues/
Available on WTRF- 7 Newsbreak:
July 12, 2023 Feature by John Lynch Text and video
“Gas released from well in Ohio Valley; 450 people evacuated”
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3086483383676-gas-released-from-well-in-ohio-valley-450-people-evacuated
Available on the Charleston Gazette-Mail:
See articles by Mike Tony, Environment and Energy Reporter: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/users/profile/mike%20tony/
July 27, 2023 Article by Mike Tony, Energy and Environment Reporter
“Gasping for air: State oversight triggers EPA disapproval, air quality advocate frustration in asthma-heavy WV”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/gasping-for-air-state-oversight-triggers-epa-disapproval-air-quality-advocate-frustration-in-asthma-heavy/article_15689a52-b8e3-515c-b31d-f4d0c708ff52.html
July 27, 2023 Article by Mike Tony, Energy and Environment Reporter
“Supreme Court chief justice clears way for Mountain Valley Pipeline construction to resume”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/supreme-court-chief-justice-clears-way-for-mountain-valley-pipeline-construction-to-resume/article_19e56471-a741-536d-b28f-6f98f5de9fc2.html
July 18, 2023 Article by Mike Tony, Energy and Environment Reporter
“Coal-fired Pleasants Power Station closer to hydrogen switch after purchase agreement signed, county commissioner says”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/coal-fired-pleasants-power-station-closer-to-hydrogen-switch-after-purchase-agreement-signed-county-commissioner/article_c4b8601b-cdbe-5f02-a936-28283a5182fd.html
July 15, 2023 Article by Mike Tony, Energy and Environment Reporter
“ ‘We have to move on’: WV leaders pushing state flood risk upward by favoring resource extraction over climate action”
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/we-have-to-move-on-wv-leaders-pushing-state-flood-risk-upward-by-favoring-resource/article_125003fa-8da1-5bf1-b201-063fe54c43e3.html
Available on Ohio Capital Journal:
July 28, 2023 Article by Susan Tebben
“Wind farm project allowed to go forward after Ohio Supreme Court ruling”
July 28, 2023 The Rundown Article by Jacob Fischler
“Democrats push more resilient, lower-carbon infrastructure at U.S. Senate climate hearing”
July 21, 2023 Article by Kathiann M. Kowalski (First appeared on Energy News Network)
“Declaring natural gas ‘green energy’ in chicken bill violated Ohio constitution, groups argue”
July 18, 2023 Article by Kathiann M. Kowalski (First appeared on Energy News Network)
“Ohio commission considers state park drilling requests under expedited timeline”
July 10, 2023 Article by Kathiann M. Kowalski (First appeared on Energy News Network)
“Hydrogen, nuclear among winners in last-minute changes to Ohio budget bill”
Available on The Allegheny Front:
July 28, 2023 Article by Julie Grant
“Ohio Activists Join National Groups to Deliver Petition to EPA to Ban Vinyl Chloride”
July 7, 2023 Article by Julie Grant text (Aaron Dunbar, MOVCA, is quoted) and audio link
“Activists Rally to Prevent Fracking Under Ohio’s Largest State Park”
Available on Public News Service:
June 29, 2023 Feature by Nadia Ramiagan, Producer
“WV Among Top States for Public Harms from Fossil Fuels”
https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2023-06-29/energy-policy/wv-among-top-states-for-public-health-harms-from-fossil-fuels/a85127-1
Available on Save Ohio Parks: https://saveohioparks.org
July 29, 2023 Article by Randi Pokladnik
“Activists Are Just Citizens Who Care About Ohio’s Parks”
July 21, 2023 Article by Ben Hunkler
“Ohioans are on the Fence About Fracking, Why is the State Pushing for More Drilling on Public Lands?”
July 23, 2023 Opinion piece by Austin Warehime (originally published in The Daily Jeffersonian on July 23rd)
“Eastern Ohio Must Fight to Preserve Natural Resources, Stop Salt Fork Fracking”
July 12, 2023 Article by Cathy Cowan Becker
“Two Eastern Ohio Oil and Gas Accidents Highlight Hazards of Fracking State Parks, Wildlife Areas”
July 5, 2023 Article
“Meet The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission”
July 2, 2023 News feature about anti-fracking rally with photos (Randi Pokladnik and Aaron Dunbar are featured)
“Save Ohio Parks and Allies Rally to Fight Against Fracking at Salt Fork State Park”
July 5, 2023 an abbreviated version of this article also appears in The Times Leader:
https://www.timesleaderonline.com/news/local-news/2023/07/save-ohio-parks-allies-rally-to-fight-against-fracking/
Available on-line on WV Rivers https://wvrivers.org :
July 26, 2023 Webinar Recording
“Legislative Update & Advocacy that Works”
June 29, 2023 Information from WV Rivers’ “Pipeline Visual Assessment Training”- links to recording and resources
Appearing on-line on Ohio River Valley Institute https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org
July 25, 2023 REPORT by Claire Kovach, Stephen Herzenberg, Amanda Woodrum, and Ted Boettner
“Targeted Employment: Reconnecting Appalachia’s Disconnected Workforce”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/targeted-employment-reconnecting-appalachias-disconnected-workforce/
July 20, 2023 Article by Ben Hunkler, ORVI
“Ohioans are on the fence about fracking. Why is the state pushing for more drilling on public lands?”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/ohioans-are-on-the-fence-about-fracking-why-is-the-state-pushing-for-more-drilling-on-public-lands/
July 6, 2023 ORVI staff report
“True Transition: If RGGI Goes Into Effect, Pennsylvania Should Use Its Proceeds to Make PA Fossil Fuel Workers and Communities Whole”
https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/true-transition-report/
Appearing on-line on ReImagine Appalachia: https://reimagineappalachia.org/events/
August 1, 2023 Coalition Biweekly Lunchtime Update:
Learn about the Appalachian Sustainable Potential Map
July 25, 2023 Event- Panel discussion Annie Regan, ReImagine Appalachia moderator, with Kimberly Ishmael, Policy Campaign Coordinator at Community Farm Alliance and Lindsey Shapiro, Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.
“Instagram Live: How Can We Support the Farm Bill?”
July 25, 2023 Event- Article with description of speakers, link to recording, presentations, report and resources
“Targeted Employment – Re-Connecting Appalachia’s Disconnected Workforce: Report Launch”
July 10, 2023 Article by Violet Affleck and Dana Kuhnline with link to download toolkit
“Check out our New Toolkit: Bringing the Farm Bill to Your Farmers Market”
June 28, 2023 Part 3 of ReImagine Appalachia’s Communications Workshop. Recording available
“Creating Engaging Zoom Webinars”
Appearing on-line on WV Public Broadcasting or WOUB (PBS) or WVXU:
July 27, 2023 Article by Curtis Tate Text and audio
“’It’s Over.’ Supreme Court Has Had Final Word On Pipeline, Capito Says”
July 25, 2023 Article by Curtis Tate Text and audio
“FERC Approves Transfer Of Pleasants Power Station To Omnis Technologies”
RELEVANT TO OUR REGION
Available from Center for Biological Diversity : https://www.biologicaldiversity.org
July 31, 2023 Press Release Nina Bell, Northwest Environmental Advocates & Hannah Connor , Center for Biological Diversity
“EPA Petitioned to Update 47-Year-Old Toxic Pollutant List”
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/epa-petitioned-to-update-47-year-old-toxic-pollutant-list-2023-07-31/
Available on 350.org:
July 28, 2023 Press Release
“Anger and Shock as ExxonMobile announces Further Profits Amidst Soaring Temperatures and Energy Prices”
https://350.org/media/
July 27, 2023 Press release
“350.org Responds to U.S. Supreme Court Allowing Construction to Continue on the Mountain Valley Pipeline”
Available on Newsweek.com
July 3, 2023 Article by Judith Enck, President, Beyond Plastics
“Plastic’s Health Impacts Are Becoming Impossible To ignore”
https://www.newsweek.com/plastics-health-impacts-are-becoming-impossible-ignore-opinion-1811050
Available from Beyond Plastics:
July 27, 2023 Press Release Contacts – Melissa Vallient and Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics
“Environmental Leaders Deliver 27,570 Petition Signatures to EPA Calling for Ban on Vinyl Chloride”
https://www.beyondplastics.org/press-releases/epa-ban-vinyl-chloride
MORE EDUCATIONAL ARTICLES, PERSPECTIVES , RESEARCH and RESOURCES
Available on Environmental Working Group (EWG): (missing from June report)
June 28, 2023 News Release
“EWG applauds Biden EPA’s historic $7B investment in low-income residential solar”
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2023/06/ewg-applauds-biden-epas-historic-7b-investment-low-income
Available on United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
June 30, 2023 Press Release (missing from June report)
“U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy Announce Partnership to Provide More than $1 Billion to Reduce Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Sector”
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/us-environmental-protection-agency-and-us-department-energy-announce-partnership
July 13, 2023 (updated) EPA’a site Investing in America
“EPS Funding Announcements from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act”
https://www.epa.gov/invest/epa-funding-announcements-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-and-inflation-reduction-act
Available on The Guardian:
July 31, 2023 Environment article by Oliver Milman
“One man his drone: ‘My hope is to shut down the coal industry’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/31/west-virginia-mining-coal-industry
July 25, 2023 Climate crisis opinion feature by Rebecca Solnit
“We can’t afford to be climate doomers”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/26/we-cant-afford-to-be-climate-doomers
July 10, 2023 Environment article by Guardian staff and agencies
“ ‘Unchartered territory’: UN declares first week of July world’s hottest ever recorded’”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/11/uncharted-territory-un-declares-first-week-of-july-worlds-hottest-ever-recorded
July 6, 2023 Article by Guardian staff and agencies
“UN says climate change ‘out of control’ after likely hottest week on record”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/07/un-climate-change-hottest-week-world
July 5, 2023 Climate Crisis article by Damien Gayle
“Tuesday was world’s hottest day on record-breaking Monday’s record”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/05/tuesday-was-worlds-hottest-day-on-record-breaking-mondays-record
July 5, 2023 US news article by Stephen Starr in Fayette county, WV
“From coal to kayaking: West Virginia’s miners turn to tourism to pay the bills”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/05/west-virginia-coal-miners-tourism?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
July 4, 2023 Climate Crisis article by Fiona Harvey, Environment editor
“Improving soil could keep world within 1.5C heating target, research suggests”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/04/improving-farming-soil-carbon-store-global-heating-target
Available on Common Dreams:
July 7, 2023 Article by Jessica Corbett
“ ‘Nothing Short of Outrageous’: Attorneys for Youth Climate Plaintiffs Blast Biden DOJ”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/doj-dismiss-juliana-climate
July 3, 2023 Article by Olivia Rosane
“ ‘We’ve Run Out of Time’: Experts and Activists Urge Climate Action Amid Summer of Extremes”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/experts-urge-climate-action-amidst-extreme-summer
Available on E&E News ENERGYWIRE:
July 7, 2023 Article by Carlos Anchondo, Jason Plautz, & Zach Bright
“EPA says carbon capture is within reach. Utilities aren’t biting.”
https://www.eenews.net/articles/epa-says-carbon-capture-is-within-reach-utilities-arent-biting/
Available on Inside Climate News:
July 31, 2023 Science Article by Keerti Gopal
“Mike Huckabee’s “Kids Guide to the Truth About Climate Change” shows the Changing Landscape of Climate Denial”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31072023/huckabees-kids-guide-to-climate/
July 29, 2023 Politics & Policy Article by Kathiann M. Kowalski
“New Report Card Shows Where Ohio Needs to Catch up in Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29072023/ohio-behind-meeting-greenhouse-gas-emissions-cuts/
July 25, 2023 Politics & Policy article by Bob Berwyn
“This Summer’s Heatwaves Would Have Been ‘Almost Impossible’ Without Human-caused Warming, a New Analysis Shows”
July 5, 2023 Clean Energy article by Kathiann M. Kowalski
“Country’s Largest Grid Operator Must Process and Connect Backlogged Clean Energy Projects, a New Report Says”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05072023/pjm-grid-clean-energy/
See June REPORT by Noah Strand, Policy Associate American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE)
https://acore.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ACORE-Power-Up-PJM-Report.pdf
July 4, 2023 Science article by Bob Berwyn
“June Extremes Suggest Parts of the Climate System Are Reaching Tipping Points”
July 2, 2023 Fossil Fuels article by James Bruggers
“Little Publicized but Treacherous Methane From Coal Mines Upends the Lives of West Virginia Families”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02072023/methane-coal-mines-west-virginia/
Available on Science & Environmental Health Network:
July 17, 2023 Article by Sandra Steingraber, SEHN senior scientist
“The RePercussion Section: On Fracking and Food, Part 2: Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia”
https://www.sehn.org/sehn/2023/7/17/the-repercussion-section-on-fracking-and-food-part-2-green-hydrogen-and-green-ammonia
July 2023 Article by Peter Montague, SEHN Fellow
“Goals for Ending the Climate Emergency: A letter to My Friends”
https://www.sehn.org/sehn/2023/7/17/goals-for-ending-the-climate-emergency-a-letter-to-my-friends
Available on Climate Emergency Declaration: https://climateemergencydeclaration.org
June 24, 2023 posting
“Climate emergency declarations in 2,336 jurisdictions and local governments cover 1 billion citizens”
https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/
Available from Yale Climate Connections:
July 28, 2023 Review by Samantha Harrington
“Yale Climate Connections book club: Centering hope and possibility”
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/07/yale-climate-connections-book-club-centering-hope-and-possibility/
July 26, 2023 Review by Michael Svoboda
“For this smoky summer, 12 new books and reports on wildfires”
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/07/for-this-smoky-summer-12-new-books-and-reports-on-wildfires/
July 14, 2023 Article text and audio by YCC team
“Activist Bill McKibben rallies adults over age 60 to fight for climate action” McKibben’s organization, Third Act, organizes seniors to write letters, hold sit-ins, and more.
See also June interview with McKibben:
June 20, 2023 Article/Interview by Bridget Ennis
“What baby boomers can do about climate change, according to Bill McKibben”
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/06/what-baby-boomers-can-do-about-climate-change/
July 12, 2023 Article by Jeff Masters
“How fast are the seas rising?”
Last Updated: July 31, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Transition to renewable energy — environmental and economic renewal
Jul 29, 2023
George Banziger
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
A recurrent myth in the Mid-Ohio Valley is that the transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels has to be painful and fraught with job loss, economic decline, and sacrifice. This assumption cannot be further from the truth. It is possible and within our grasp to take charge of our economy and promote job creation with new manufacturing powered by renewable energy while also addressing the accelerating problem of human-caused climate change. The need to address climate change is strikingly compelling in light of the extreme weather being experienced all around the northern hemisphere this summer.
For too long advocates of fossil fuels have led us to believe that coal and oil and now natural gas will lead central Appalachia (western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio. West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky) to economic prosperity. This promise has not been fulfilled in the past and will not in the future. Very little of the billions of dollars invested and revenue generated in natural gas extraction have helped the local economy in this region. A study by the Ohio Valley Research Institute (O’Leary, 2021) has shown that central Appalachia trails the U.S., in general, on measures of economic prosperity such as personal income and net economic growth. This pattern is largely due to the fact that oil and gas extraction is a capital-intensive business. The revenue, community benefit, and jobs with natural gas have not accrued to our region.
Opportunities exist which build upon recovery from extractive industries and align with new growth in renewable energy to benefit our local communities. One example is the manufacture of “eco bricks,” which are produced from coal ash, a biproduct of burning coal. It is estimated that there are 161 coal ash ponds in Appalachia (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2021). This coal ash, if left untended can lead to acid mine drainage and sulfuric acid. When coal ash is combined with some sand, lime, and gypsum, it can produce a composite construction material (aka “eco bricks”) that is stronger and has less of a carbon footprint than standard Portland cement (Ohio River Valley Institute, 2021).
Another opportunity for economic growth involving coal ash relates to the demanding need for rare earth elements (REE) for battery production and other applications needed for the new renewable energy technologies. Currently, 70% of REE come from China. It is possible to derive REE from coal ash (Water Research Institute, WVU, 2022), it is difficult to extract, but it is likely that research directed at the issue can address this problem in the near future.
There is also “mass timber,” a sustainable alternative to concrete and steel; mass timber is made from solid wood panels (derived from trees that are sustainably harvested) nailed or glued together; they are fire resistant, strong, sustainable, and cost efficient. There is industrial hemp, an alternative to plastic, which can be grown on damaged lands. And there are many options for industry around waste recovery, such as using recycled glass to make insulation. The science of battery technology is growing rapidly, and large batteries are in great demand for the rapidly expanding production of electric vehicles. There is also the need to cap orphaned oil and gas wells–a labor-intensive enterprise.
All of these ideas can be developed in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia with locally owned businesses and with the help of federal stimulus programs that are currently available.
There is an innovative project right now on our own doorstep in Mid-Ohio Valley. Thanks to the foresight and diligence of Jesse Roush, executive director of the Southeast Ohio Port Authority, and an innovative international company called SAI, a research and development center focused on heat exchange is being established just south of Marietta. The new center is based on the utilization of heat generated from computer chips, which is recycled to replace natural gas as a heat source for applications in agriculture, fish hatcheries, and residences. Tao Wu, Director of the Heat Recycling Center, is leading efforts to develop multiple computing heat recycle projects, which will benefit the community. The new facility, located on Gravel Bank Road in Warren Township, already has a greenhouse under construction, which can provide vegetables and other crops during winter months for the local community. The opening event for the center will take place on Aug. 9 from 2-5 p.m. (check local news media for details).
***
George Banziger, Ph..D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. Now retired, he is a volunteer for Harvest of Hope and a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Citizens Climate Lobby, and of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.
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