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Posted: February 17, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Climate Corner: Net metering benefits all

Feb 17, 2024

Jean Ambrose

editorial@newsandsentinel.come)

As someone who lives in rural Wood County, I experience frequent power outages. That means worrying about whether my freezer is going to thaw or if my blood sugar alarm is working. For my neighbor it’s her oxygen machine for COPD. That’s why the idea of “living off the grid” is so attractive to many people. When you can generate your own power you know it’s always there for you and you have the security that you’ll always be able to afford it.

With that in mind, we installed 18 solar panels six years ago. After the solar tax credit, the array cost us $12,000, which would take at least 10 years to get back in savings, but we wanted to contribute to reducing greenhouse gasses and also enjoy the sense of self reliance that comes from using the sun for our power needs. It still is magical to me. (A fun fact: the sun produces enough energy in one hour to power the entire globe for one year.) I could plug in an electric vehicle and eliminate my gasoline costs as well. The economic security this gives to a household is tremendous, to know you don’t have to worry about affording your heat and electricity and getting to work.

As electrification of our energy system moves inevitably forward, the case for making the change to solar gets stronger and stronger. Mon Power’s number of customers generating their own power increased from 306 in 2019 to 763 in 2023, according to PSC filings. Business and residential customers who have invested in their own solar power number around 5,000 according to Solar United Neighbors. If we use my own investment as an average, that means private individuals have voluntarily invested $60,000,000 into West Virginia’s power grid.

In return, customers with solar panels have a special electric meter that measures both kilowatts used and kilowatts generated; at the end of the month the customer pays for the difference or accumulates credits against their next bill. This is called net metering where the customer gets the same credit for the power they generate that the electric company charges. This is on top of the base rates they also pay to the electric companies which are supposed to be each customer’s share of transmission and distribution costs.

Seeing the increase in solar power, WV electric companies are working this legislative session to pay a much smaller wholesale rate for customer generated power. This eliminates the incentive for the average homeowner to make that big upfront investment; Dan Conant owner of Solar Holler in the Eastern Panhandle said his scheduled installations in First Energy territory all were canceled when this came up in the legislature. He thinks it will kill his business and any others in the state who are looking to invest in the jobs of the future in solar energy. (This happened in Nevada.) WV is ranked 49th per capita among all states jobs according to the annual census by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council with only 378 solar energy jobs, while Kentucky has 1595, Ohio has 7486, and Pennsylvania 4288 solar jobs .

41 states have net metering in place. It has been a critical policy for the expansion of solar businesses, but WV seems to want to discourage this economic development. WV electric companies say people who can’t afford solar energy are subsidizing those who can by not paying their share of transmission and distribution costs. That argument ignores the clear benefits to the electric grid and to other customers expansion of this energy resource provides. Solar home photovoltaic (PV) systems reduce the amount generated by or purchased from fossil fuel-fired plants. They decrease the amount of energy lost through transmission lines. By reducing demand on the grid, solar systems help ratepayers and utilities avoid the cost of new power plants, transmission lines and other electric infrastructure. Solar energy is stable, unlike the fluctuations we experience with other forms of energy, and helps stabilize rates otherwise subject to volatile fossil fuel prices. Solar PV energy also increases grid resiliency by decentralizing power production so one region’s problems don’t have to spill over into other regions.

Solar energy also creates valuable benefits to society at large and to the environment, which is one of my personal motivators for our family’s investment. 25% of greenhouse gasses which are warming our planet come from electricity production, the second highest after transportation (28% : EPA) Solar energy reduces air pollution that harms public health. It creates jobs and new business opportunities that spur local economies.

A review of 11 cost/benefit analyses of net metering revealed that solar energy brought more value to the community and society than the benefits received through net metering. (Shining Rewards: Lindsey Hallock, Frontier Group)

Net metering is smart public policy that creates benefits for all, including electric companies, and provides fair compensation to those who invest in solar. Government is always carving out exceptions and incentives for what are called “public/private partnerships.” Net metering is a creative public/private partnership that benefits, not just one or two companies, but hundreds of West Virginians, with the potential to benefit thousands. If solar homeowners were a single business, net metering would remain the law of the land without debate.

***

Jean Ambrose is trying not to be a criminal ancestor.

Posted: February 10, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Climate Corner:‘Some animals are more equal than others’

Feb 10, 2024

Aaron Dunbar

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

One of my first actions as a fledgling climate activist was to deliver 100 books on the subject of climate and the environment to the office of my climate change denying Congressman, Bill Johnson. I harbored no illusions that this action would convert my bought-off Representative into some born again eco-warrior, but at the very least I figured that: A. it would rob him of the cover of claiming there was “insufficient information” about the subject of climate change, and B. it would annoy him, and that would be funny.

Among the works I included in this collection was Thomas Friedman’s 2008 book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America.” I enjoyed the book quite well at the time, and although I knew little else about the Pulitzer Prize winning author, I naively assumed that, because he was writing about climate, and because climate is the most important issue of our time, he and I must share at least a baseline similarity in terms of our overall worldview.

Fast forward to February 2, 2024, however, when the New York Times published the following article: “Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom, by Thomas L. Friedman.”

Now, if that immediately sounds incredibly racist to you, don’t worry. It gets much worse.

Every Arab nation described in Friedman’s column is depicted as some species of insect, whereas the United States and Israel are “an old lion” and “a sifaka lemur,” respectively. Most notably, Friedman compares the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to a parasitoid wasp infecting its host, and flatly declares that “We have no counterstrategy that safely and efficiently kills the wasp without setting fire to the whole jungle.”

For the New York Times to publish something so blatantly racist and openly genocidal is shocking, though perhaps on-brand for the paper that helped lie us into the Iraq War and initially downplayed the threat of Adolf Hitler.

What’s perhaps more shocking to me is the amount of sheer indifference to the loss of human life on display from individuals like Friedman, who purport to be advocates for the survival of our planet.

Dr. Leah Stokes, an environmental political scientist, recently tweeted her support for Joe Biden in response to his administration’s pause on natural gas projects, stating that “President Biden is a climate leader. And Trump? He’s an arsonist.”

Bill McKibben, often worshiped by environmental activists as a veritable climate messiah, responded to this with “very well put.”

It’s unclear whether the two of them were unaware of or simply indifferent to the ongoing genocide in Gaza perpetrated by their dear “climate leader,” which to date is responsible for some 30,000 deaths, over 10,000 of them children. According to The Guardian, the first two months of Israel’s U.S.-backed bombing alone generated more CO2 emissions than twenty other nations annually — to say nothing of the immense reserves of natural gas in Gaza that are currently being eyed by “the old lion and the sifaka lemur” as they “set fire to the whole jungle.”

For years the climate movement has been inculcated with warnings about the extreme racism of the far right, and the danger of growing eco-fascist ideologies which seek to pin the blame for environmental catastrophe on issues such as immigration and overpopulation, particularly among the Global South. But by all appearances, this gross and racist callousness toward human suffering is being paralleled by relatively “mainstream” neoliberals who falsely label themselves as pro-climate.

As climate essayist Mary Annaise Heglar opined, “I’m super confused how anyone can call themselves fighting for a ‘livable future’ while staying silent in the face of a literal genocide.”

In December, the center-liberal Atlantic published an article entitled “War in the Congo Has Kept the Planet Cooler.” This disturbing title was swiftly changed in response to the predictable backlash it received, but not before offering a startling glimpse at how the publication clearly tallies the value of certain human lives.

“An argument for war being beneficial for the climate without stressing the human casualties enables discussions that can be unethical and perverse. It implies that lives, African lives, are disposable in search of climate solutions,” write Nteranya Ginga, Tshimundu, Koko Ginga, and J. Munroe in their response to said article, published via Brittle Paper.

And yet I can’t help but wonder, how is this any different from the multitude of those in the environmental movement who dismiss issues such as child slavery being used in Congo’s cobalt mines to power rechargeable batteries and electric vehicles? This is a subject frequently broached in bad faith by the right, but which largely gets hand-waved away by mainstream segments of the climate movement, and treated as a complete non-issue.

At the end of the day, it’s abundantly clear that there are those with so-called “environmentalist” leanings who view the lives of their fellow human beings as expendable. They’re more than willing to compromise and ignore the safety and well-being of others so long as their own interests are met — chiefly, the maintaining of their own comfortable lifestyles, regardless of the human cost.

True climate activism is about the sacred preservation of life on Earth. Any activism that runs counter to that goal, be it to defend war, industry, or ideology, is not climate activism at all. It must be vocally denounced and rejected out of hand, given no opportunity for purchase in our fight for a better, more equitable world.

***

Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.

Posted: February 5, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Climate Corner: Transition to cleaner energy offers opportunities

Feb 3, 2024 News and Sentinel

Heather Sprouse

hsprouse@wvrivers.org

Hydrogen, the simplest and most abundant element on earth, could be a key piece in the puzzle of energy solutions needed to avoid the most extreme impacts from climate change. There are multiple ways to produce hydrogen power, including nuclear, fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. Hydrogen is lightweight and could help us de-carbonize industries that emit high levels of greenhouse gases, such as freight hauling and cement manufacturing. In some countries like China, Japan and Germany, there are a significant number of hydrogen fueling stations for vehicles.

In October, the Biden-Harris administration announced the seven regional hydrogen “hubs” selected to receive $7 billion in federal funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. “Hubs” refers to the network of infrastructure needed to produce and connect the many different facilities involved in getting hydrogen fuel to consumers. Currently, most of the hydrogen in the United States is produced using fracked gas that is captured during underground drilling. Methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, is a key component of fracked gas, which can be reformed to produce hydrogen energy.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy created the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). This office was established to help scale up projects using emerging technology that could help equitably transition the U.S. to a low-carbon economy. Late last year, OCED announced their pledge of up to $925 million dollars to support private investment in the proposed Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). Most of the 15 facilities proposed to be part of ARCH2 are located in West Virginia, with connections to facilities in parts of eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania. ARCH2 is the only proposed hydrogen hub that would produce hydrogen energy solely from fracked gas.

When we consider the future of our economies and communities, we must think holistically. We have an incredible opportunity to invest in overall well being as we make decisions about how we will respond to the urgent need to de-carbonize. Well being is multi-faceted and includes access to good paying jobs, affordable housing, healthcare, and opportunities for recreation and a healthy environment, among other factors.

Each town that is proposed to host ARCH2 infrastructure has unique characteristics including history, geography and culture. These locations also have past experiences with industry that have left significant harms unresolved. Some of the communities impacted by ARCH2 projects lie in cancer clusters caused by chemical plants and coal burning power plants already located nearby. Nothing in ARCH2 plans detail how these harms will be minimized before additional fossil-fuel structure is permitted. We know that fracking causes greenhouse gas pollution. It also creates health harms to communities located near drilling pads and adjacent to waste disposal facilities.

OCED has committed to environmental justice and a robust community engagement process, ensuring that these unprecedented federal investments are for the benefit of everyone. Toward this goal, OCED has said a Community Advisory Committee will be established to guide the development of Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs). CBAs are legally binding agreements that provide communities with a tool for holding industry accountable. Benefits can include a commitment to providing job training and prioritizing local workers in employment contracts. Benefits Agreements can also detail how decisions that impact the community will be made, such as provisions for how a Community Advisory Committee operates, what decision making power it has and who is selected to participate. While this foresight from OCED can be applauded, it must be equitably implemented.

Hydrogen energy has the potential to help reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C but working to simply stop the worst case scenarios is not enough. OCED has the opportunity to step forward as a leader in the energy transition by leaning into the wealth of strength and skills that exists in all of our communities. To achieve long term well being, and meet federally mandated environmental justice priorities, we must be intentional and hold our leaders accountable to a truly just transition utilizing less harmful energy sources.

***

Heather Sprouse is the Ohio River Coordinator with the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. She supports communities engaging with the environmental permitting process and advocating for their clean water priorities. She can be reached at hsprouse@wvrivers.org.

Last Updated: March 7, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Renewable energy is no threat to agriculture

Feb 3, 2024

RANDI POKLADNIK

Herald-Star Online

Why does Ohio’s Republican party continue to vilify solar and wind energy, as evidenced by a recent opinion piece “We must abandon reckless wind and solar subsidies” by U.S. Senate candidate Frank LaRose? His op-ed is a barrage of talking points propagated by trade publications and other opinion pieces; there are no peer reviewed studies cited.

The facts show that Ohio farmers do face obstacles, but not from renewable energy. Farmers in the Midwest are experiencing the effects of climate change — “increased average temperatures, changes in rainfall that can lead to flooding or droughts, and an increase in extreme weather events that can adversely affect crops,” especially corn and soybeans, the top two crops produced in Ohio.

Since the passage of SB52, many Ohio counties are vetoing utility-scale renewable projects. They are being misled by an anonymously funded group spreading misinformation about rural solar projects. The much-needed economic benefits these projects could bring to communities and farmers are lost. But Ohio citizens, like my family, desiring to protect their land from destructive oil and gas development have no such legislation. Instead, we are “forced pooled” by out-of-state energy companies using Ohio’s pro fossil fuel laws. Minerals resources are stolen from underneath Ohioans’ homes without their approval. Meanwhile, wind turbines in Ohio have some of the strictest set-back regulations in the nation (more than 1100 feet), but an oil or gas well pad can be located 150 feet from an occupied dwelling.

When it comes to subsidies, oil and gas industry subsidies have far exceeded any amounts awarded to renewables by the Inflation Reduction Act. In 2022, fossil fuel subsidies globally were more than $7 trillion, with the United States contributing $20 billion a year. This comes at a time when 2023 was declared the hottest year on record and the fossil fuel industry was making record profits ($200 billion in 2022.)

Additionally, these subsidies do not include social costs to humanity from toxic air and water emissions, including negative health effects costing billions of dollars in health care costs and labor losses. The Haliburton Loophole exempts oil and gas from almost every major environmental law. Billions of barrels of radioactive, toxic produced wastewater from fracking is unregulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and is injected into Class II injection wells in rural communities. Last year, the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management found that “waste fluid injected into the three K&H wells had spread at least 1.5 miles underground and was rising to the surface through oil and gas production wells in Athens and Washington counties” endangering drinking water sources.

Most Ohio citizens know about the $60 million bribery scandal with HB 6, yet Ohio customers continue to pay more than $130,000 daily to bail out two 1950s-era coal plants (one plant is actually located in Indiana.)

Adding insult to injury is the recent passage of HB201, which will charge Ohio’s 3.7 million gas customers “up to $1.50 per month for as long as five years to extend gas lines to sites that could potentially be used for megaprojects, even if no buyer has been lined up.”

LaRose fails to mention that many of the IRA energy credits are going directly to consumers and will help Ohio families save on energy costs in the future. These credits include: “The installation of new doors, windows, skylights, insulation, heat pumps, installation of residential solar, small-scale wind, geothermal heat pumps, home battery storage and fuel cell energy systems.”

LaRose fails to mention that solar panel companies in Ohio are providing many long-term high paying jobs in local communities. In 2021, First Solar in Toledo, which already has two plants in Ohio, announced a third Ohio plant which will produce thin film PV modules. This $680 million dollar investment will be second only to China in number of panels produced.

If LaRose had done his homework, he would have learned that solar panels and farming are not incompatible. Livestock can graze and crops can be grown under solar panels. Agrivoltaics is a type of farming that uses a symbiotic relationship between solar panels and crops. Benefits from this method include less crop water use, increased solar production due to panel cooling from the crops, and less damage to crops from wind and hail.

“The groundbreaking 800 megawatt, 5,700-acre ‘dual use’ development known as the Oak Run Solar Project in central Ohio recently filed plans to implement agrivoltaics at a record-shattering scale. The project also proposes to launch a national training center in agrivoltaics.”

If we really want to talk about “phony policies costly to the environment” we should mention that Ohio’s Republican party continues to ignore scientific facts about the health and environmental effects from fracking by passing pro-fossil fuel legislation whenever it can. This comes at a cost to rural communities faced with the externalities from fracking. Our communities and our kids’ health have been sacrificed for fossil fuel development. We see the damage to our rural landscapes daily, including forest fragmentation from a spiderweb of pipelines, enormous water withdraws, air and water pollution, and radiation from produced water. The enormous amounts of fugitive methane emissions from fracking are also fueling climate change.

What really “lacks any humanity or common sense” is selling Ohio State Parks to the oil and gas industry, jeopardizing an annual $8.1 billion outdoor recreation industry and threatening 133,000 local jobs dependent on that industry.

Technological improvements have now made renewable green energy cheaper than fossil fuels. Yet, the Appalachian counties of Ohio continue to be a mineral colony for fossil fuels, and increased drilling is sanctioned by Ohio’s Republican Party. How long will Ohio’s Republican party continue to thwart Ohio’s progress into the future, and continue to rely on a destructive industry that requires more and more fresh water and more injection wells for toxic wastes?

(Pokladnik, a resident of Uhrichsville, holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, master’s and doctorates in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.)

Last Updated: February 1, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Good News for the Ohio River Valley!

Written by: Dr. Randi Pokladnik | Posted on: 12-30-2023 |

FaCT: Faith Communities Together for a Sustainable Future

Category: News | Ohio River Valley PTTGCA Solar battery storage FORM Energy

As 2023 comes to an end, the people in the Ohio River Valley are happily learning that the proposed plastic cracker plant for Dilles Bottom in Belmont County has been canceled!

After over five years of waiting, the primary investor, Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical America, has announced it has decided to build their plastics-making plant in Thailand instead of Ohio. The plant was put on hold back in April of 2020. Their partner, a U.S. subsidiary of South Korea’s Daelim Industrial Co., withdrew as PTTGCA’s partner in July 2020. Both companies had been planning major investments in the $5.7 billion plant, 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, for several years.

This means the Ohio Valley will not be subject to air and water emissions from the plastics plant. Emissions from plastics plants include: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and greenhouse gasses.

Another positive development is the hiring for over 750 full-time jobs by FORM Energy’s Iron/Air Battery Plant in Weirton, West Virginia. FORM Energy, a Massachusetts-based company, broke ground on its iron-air battery manufacturing plant this past May.

Workers will produce batteries capable of storing electricity for 100 hours. FORM’s batteries will run on iron, water and air instead of the more commonly used but less-abundant metal lithium. The $760 million project is being built at the site of the former Weirton Steel Mill.

These batteries will be used to power solar arrays during down times when solar energy is not available.

Posted: January 29, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Climate Corner: Leading the charge

Jan 29, 2024

Giulia Mannarino

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law on Aug. 16, 2022. It’s the largest, most ambitious investment in climate and energy in American history. This law will help the United States meet its climate goals, including reducing carbon emissions by about 40% by 2030. The IRA supports a combination of grants, loans, rebates, tax provisions and other incentives to accelerate deployment of clean energy, clean vehicles, clean buildings and clean manufacturing. In addition, it strengthens energy security, creates good paying jobs, reduces energy and health care costs and even makes the tax code fairer. This law is already having a significant impact on American workers and families. According to a White House statement released Aug. 16, 2023, outside groups estimate the IRA’s clean energy and climate provisions had already created more than 170,000 clean energy jobs. And it is projected to create more than 1.5 million additional jobs over the next decade. In the last year alone, companies have announced over $110 billion in clean energy manufacturing investments. Over a billion dollars has already been awarded to help communities provide protection from the disastrous impacts of climate change and become more resilient. Over the next seven years, twice as much wind, solar and battery deployment is expected as there would have been without the IRA.

Rewiring America, a nonprofit organization focused on helping electrify homes, businesses and communities, states it “… helps Americans save money, tackle nationwide emissions goals, improve health and build the next generation of the clean energy workforce.” According to their website, the three biggest contributors to a household’s emissions are a vehicle (50%), home heating (25%) and water heating (10%). Electrifying those three will make a huge impact on your household’s “carbon footprint”. Rewiring America’s website provides lots of helpful information as well as useful tools such as the e-book “Electrify Everything in Your Home.” This guide provides blueprints and plans for homeowners and renters to go electric as well as information on available rebates, tax credits and financing options. Also provided is an online Household Calculator to estimate the cost savings available from lower operating costs for using newer, more efficient electric appliances. Their mission is to replace the one billion fossil fuel powered appliances and machines in the country with electrically powered ones. Rewiring America acknowledges that replacing a home’s fossil fueled appliances all at once could be expensive and not an option for all households. Their recommendation is to replace fossil fueled machines with electric versions as they break down. This may take several years. Even if your utility uses fossil fuel to generate electricity, it’s important to make this switch because as power plants are replaced with renewables, emissions will decrease. But, this won’t happen if you’ve installed another fossil fueled machine in your house.

Forty years ago, when winters were more frigid and snow did not melt until spring, our household was always toasty thanks to a shallow gas well on our farm in southwestern Pennsylvania. However, I realize it is probably responsible for our daughter’s asthma and need for an inhaler. The fact that global warming, caused by human use of fossil fuels, was causing, not only a climate crisis, but also health issues, was not something which Americans were made aware of at that time. These facts were known only to the scientific community and the fossil fuel corporations. Eventually the scientists sounded the alarm for the general public while the fossil fuel industry chose to spread intentional disinformation and discredit their warnings. My household witnessed the gas industry expansion and the horrors of horizontal fracturing (fracking). We watched as the rural undeveloped countryside, where we grew most of the food we ate, raised sheep and children, began to transform into an industrial zone. This was due to well drilling, gas flaring and heavy vehicle traffic at all hours of the day and night. We escaped to Wood County and, albeit unintentionally, purchased our first ever all electric home. We excitedly installed solar panels and a Level 2 wall charger in the garage for a future electric vehicle (EV). Recently, an EV purchase was made with an amazing $7,500 discount off the price thanks to the IRA. It is exciting to be part of the solution.

Another world is possible! And for the sake of our grandchildrens’ grandchildren, it is absolutely necessary.

***

Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a grandmother concerned for her granddaughter’s future, and vice president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.

Posted: January 20, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Climate Corner: No more time to delay action

Jan 20, 2024

Eric Engle

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

The International Energy Agency recently reported that an estimated 507 gigawatts of renewable electricity were added globally in 2023, three-quarters of which was solar. Most of this solar was built in China, which, according to reporting in The Guardian newspaper, installed more solar last year than the entire world commissioned the year before in 2022, despite having cut solar subsidies in 2020 and 2021.

“Record rates of growth across Europe, the US and Brazil have put renewables on track to overtake coal as the largest source of global electricity generation by early 2025,” Guardian reporter Jillian Ambrose shared from the IEA report. Ambrose continued, “By 2028, it forecasts renewable energy sources will account for more than 42% of global electricity generation.”

This is great and welcome news. Unfortunately, it is coupled with the news that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded and that oil production reached a record high last year. Now, the American Petroleum Institute (API), a massive oil and gas lobby, has launched an eight-figure ad blitz that began January 9th to promote fossil fuels and, to quote API CEO Mike Sommers, “dismantle policy threats” to the industry. This propaganda campaign will only serve to slow crucial progress on addressing the global climate crisis.

Fortunately, though, we’ve even seen progress on the solar front in West Virginia. Despite the fact that West Virginia still gets about 91% of its electrical generation from coal-fired power plants, a piece from WDTV recently shared that “Officials say nearly 50,000 solar panels are now generating renewable energy at the approximately 80-acre Fort Martin site, which can produce up to 18.9 megawatts (MW) of solar energy per hour. One MW of solar energy powers a national average of 173 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.”

The WDTV piece continues, “Mon Power hired more than 100 local union workers, primarily from the Morgantown and Parkersburg areas, to complete the work at the Fort Martin solar site. Additionally, the solar panels, racking systems and supporting electrical equipment were made in the United States.” This is exactly how renewable energies should continue to grow–using local union workers and domestically-produced equipment. Provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act both mandate and incentivize domestic production using union labor or prevailing wages.

Another area of crucial growth for clean energy is the successful deployment of electric vehicles (EVs). In addition to $7,500 tax credits available at point of purchase (reduced if component parts are not entirely produced in the US), the starting prices of new models of EVs have gone down dramatically. For example, A Volvo EV SUV being released this year as a 2025 model will have a starting price of $36,265, 275 miles of range and can go from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. My 2022 model Kia Niro Touring Edition hybrid vehicle started at $40,000 before trade-in value.

EVs are cheaper to maintain over the life of the vehicle than an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle and cheaper to charge than what it costs to fill up any ICE vehicle per gallon of gasoline. Coupled with zero tailpipe emissions that lower not only greenhouse gas emissions but other forms of air pollution like PM 2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter), EVs are a win-win-win as upfront costs fall. The displacement of ICE vehicles is well underway as both home and public charging infrastructure continues to expand.

To quote Rabbi Jason Siegel, Climate Finance Advisor at Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, writing for the journalistic outlet Common Dreams:

“It’s clear we are at the end of the fossil fuel era. Solar and wind energy are the cheapest forms of energy to build. The market itself is acting on this imperative. Fossil fuels as a sector have performed worse financially over the past decade that the rest of the market. Over the last 30 years, they have shrunk from a quarter of the market to around 5%. According to a recent report, six public pensions could be $21 billion richer if they had ditched investments in coal, oil, and gas a decade ago.”

This is why we’re seeing the ad blitz by the nation’s biggest fossil fuels lobby. We keep hearing how China and India have to act first, but clearly China is acting even in spite of its coal growth and we in the United States have an acute responsibility to be a global leader on climate action, given the fact that we are, historically speaking, the world’s highest per capita emitters.

When it comes to attempts to delay or deny crucial climate action, we’ve got to collectively shout the title of one of The Who’s biggest hits: We “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

***

Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.

Posted: January 13, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Climate Corner: America’s vanishing treasures

Jan 13, 2024

Vic Elam

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

“Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans.” This is a quote from a statement made by President Nixon as he signed the Endangered Species Act in 1973. President Theodore Roosevelt, after seeing the demise of the passenger pigeon which once numbered in the billions and a near miss for the American bison, hoped to protect species from extinction with the establishment of the precursor to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and this call to action has been echoed by countless others. Seventy years later the Endangered Species Act was realized, and we recently celebrated the 50th year of that Act.

The threats to our nation’s natural treasures are different today than they were in T. Roosevelt’s era although habitat destruction that was a critical factor for the passenger pigeon is still a major factor for many species today. The myriad of impacts that we all have on the environment continues to take its toll. Climate change is a major stressor for many species that are struggling to hang on. One example: spring warm up is causing many insects to emerge earlier than usual where other reliant species have life cycles timed to this event and they rely on photoperiod, that is the lengthening of the day. The relationship between warming and the photoperiod are changing but some species aren’t getting the memo, jeopardizing their food supply and/or reproductive success.

Even though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, enabled with the provisions of the Endangered Species Act, has been able to protect 99% of the species that have been listed as endangered from extinction, 2023 saw 21 species added to the lengthening list of those that are designated as officially extinct. Eight of the species designated as extinct are fresh-water mussels, and one of those were once found in W. Virginia and Ohio. Freshwater mussels have experienced serious declines for many years and many species are now listed. The nearby Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge was established in part to protect the mussel populations in the Ohio River. According to their website, fws.gov/refuge/ohio-river-islands, the refuge harbors 47 species of mussels of which 8 are listed as endangered.

Mussels are considered bio-indicator species like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, a good indicator of the quality of their environment. Mussels provide ecosystem services that benefit people; they are filter feeders that remove contaminants or excessive nutrients from the water, a single mussel can filter as much as 15 gallons of water a day. Mussels are especially susceptible to the effects of climate change for a number of reasons but especially because they rely on fish to complete their life cycle and many mussel species rely on a particular species of fish. A decline in fish populations tends to exacerbate a corresponding decline in mussel population.

Climate change impacts us all in so many ways that we are not aware and delayed effects will impact generations that follow. It took several decades for things to get bad enough for us to establish the Endangered Species Act — it was too late for many species and was too late to make the needed change to prevent many more extinctions then. Scientists have been warning us about the dangers of climate change for decades, why wait until this crisis gets to or past critical before we get serious. We know that failure to act will lead to serious consequences, so if for no other reason, for the sake of the mussels let’s act now.

***

Vic Elam is an avid outdoorsman and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment, including Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.

Posted: January 6, 2024 by main_y0ke11

Climate Corner: Time to get off the bench

Jan 6, 2024

Randi Pokladnik

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

The final 2023 column of the Climate Corner, written by George Banziger, “Some Good News for the Climate in 2023,” spoke about the progress we have made toward addressing the climate crisis. Some of that good news is that the FORM Iron Air battery plant in Weirton, W.Va., is hiring over 750 people for full-time employment. They will be making batteries to back up renewable energy.

Each week, Climate Corner writers like George try to educate their audience about the environmental issues affecting our lives as well as the lives of the other species that inhabit this blue planet. Education is certainly key to understanding some of the complex problems that we face today, but all the education in the world will not be helpful if we fail to put that education into action.

One of the hardest attitudes to confront when dealing with climate change is apathy. I can explain scientific studies and teach the basics about chemistry and hazardous materials but I cannot stop someone from being indifferent to the crisis that is all around us.

Some researchers believe that the human mind has been programmed to think only of the present. For thousands of years, humanity had three main concerns: food, shelter, and reproduction. Today, because of technology, many of us in this country have stable, secure lives. Convincing these people that the climate crisis is in fact happening right now is difficult. They still believe it is twenty or fifty years away; far in the future.

Cognitive dissonance is another reason people are unwilling to recognize the climate crisis. They admit there is a problem, but hesitate to take action. Instead, they try to justify life choices that contribute significantly to their carbon footprint. We might see hundreds of news stories about the warming planet and lives lost due to climate disasters, but unless it’s happening in our backyard, we tend to dismiss them. Some people have become numb to the crisis and feel no urgency to act.

In the U.S., unfettered capitalism plays a major role in our willingness to ignore climate change. Regulations have become a dirty word in the financial world. People see them as an assault on freedoms. Consider the backlash when incandescent light bulbs were phased out in favor of LEDs. People do not like change or sacrifice. It is hard to get people to sacrifice a short-term gain for a long-term gain, even if viable eco alternatives exist.

Misinformation certainly plays a role in apathy and inaction. Recently, certain PR groups associated with the fossil fuel industry have gone to great lengths to falsely label solar panels and wind turbines as being dangerous or toxic. This has stalled renewable energy in several areas, including Ohio. Sadly, several counties and townships have voted to ban large solar arrays and wind farms.

But what about people who do believe in anthropogenic climate change and yet fail to act? Is it because they feel one person cannot make a difference? Every time we spend money, we either vote for or against the planet. It might cost a bit more to buy the planet-friendly product, but in the long run you save money. My Patagonia backpack purchased in 2002 for $75 dollars looks like new after twenty years of use. Buying that backpack rather than a cheaper one was a money saver for me as well as being better for the environment.

If we all stopped using plastic water bottles, think of how much waste and carbon emissions we could stop. Replacing four plastic water bottles a day with a reusable aluminum bottle or a glass bottle keeps close to 1,500 plastic bottles a year out of the waste stream. Multiply that by thousands of people!

Single-use plastic bags made from fracked gas can be seen blowing along rural fence lines or clogging storm drains. Some stores now charge money or raise prices to account for plastic bags. Taxpayers pay to clean the litter up. Plastic wastes break up into tiny micro and nano plastics and enter the food web. A reusable, cloth bag is stronger, lasts a long time, and is ecofriendly.

Another simple, cheap way to cut down on greenhouse gases is to waste less food and make sure the food wastes that you do create end up in a compost pile. The compost you make will be a great source of nutrients for vegetables and flowers. Keeping food waste out of the landfill cuts down on anaerobic decay in a landfill. This type of decay produces the dangerous greenhouse gas methane.

These are easy to do actions that do not cost much. Some of us can do even more by using the Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives to update appliances or heat pumps. We recently replaced our twenty-year old heat pump with a geothermal system. At age 68 and 65, my husband and I may never see a return on our investment, but just knowing we are using Mother Earth as our source of hot or cold air makes us very happy.

Isn’t it time to “get off the bench” and act on climate change?

***

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.

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editorial@newsandsentinel.com

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