South Carolina Stands Up to Coal

This is this week's weekly post from Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club's Move Beyond Coal campaign.

South Carolina is on the front lines of global warming, being that they are in the path of the more fierce hurricanes and rising sea levels. So it should be no surprise that a coalition has formed against the latest planned coal-fired power plant there – a 660-megawatt near the Pee Dee River area.

If built, this plant could be the single largest new destroyer of Appalachian mountains in the United States.  Why? Because the plant would use coal sourced from the states where the coal industry is busy blowing off the tops of mountains to get the coal out.

For a state with such wind and solar potential, and no coal reserves, it is downright bizarre that a state agency (yes, the state runs power plants) to be stuck in such 19th century thinking about energy options. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon across the U.S. – many states with great clean, renewable energy options are busy chasing energy sources of the past.

That’s why our South Carolina chapter has banded together with a great new coalition of like-minded organizations to urge the state to be a leader, not a laggard.  This new coalition called “SC Says No” – is already getting some results in the fight against the Santee Cooper plant.

Photo courtesy Courtesy Graeme Fouste of the Columbia Free Times

The coalition members recently led a delegation to a South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control hearing to demand a board review of the plant’s air permit. Their presence was acknowledged by board members and the request for a board hearing on the air permit was granted for Feb. 12.

South Carolina Chapter Director John Ramsburgh has a simple 2009 resolution “Put a Palmetto State smack-down on this coal plant. The state can do so much better.”

We’ll be there to help them the whole way.

Obama in the Driver's Seat

This is a guest post from Jesse Prentice-Dunn of the Sierra Club's Clean Cars Program.

Happy Waiver Day, everyone! For the past year, California and 15 other states have waited for the EPA to approve their request to set greenhouse gas standards for motor vehicles. Well, after quite some time and a denial from the Bush administration, the wait is almost over. This morning President Obama directed the EPA to reconsider California's request, which would force automakers to produce cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

Now I'm not sure if you read the paper before you get going, but browsing today's Washington Post had a slight feeling of Christmas morning. While Obama's executive order will not cause the California clean car waiver to be granted instantly, it shows that we have a President who understands that making our cars and trucks more efficient is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming and save oil. It means that we have a President who is following through on his campaign promises to make global warming a priority. And it gives me hope that we'll actually cut through partisan gridlock and pass desperately needed policies that make our cars cleaner and our communities more livable and efficient.

SD Coal Plant Blocked: Sign Of A New EPA?

This post is written by Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's Move Beyond Coal Campaign.

This is a great day for clean energy and people's health: Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overturned the State of South Dakota's approval of the massive Big Stone II coal-fired power plant.  The EPA's decision comes after the state failed to require state-of-the-art pollution controls for the coal plant - controls that would address harmful soot, smog and global warming pollution.

Today's decision is also a victory for the rule of law - with the EPA signaling that it is back to enforcing long-standing legal requirements fairly and consistently nationwide and that they're concerned about pollution and global warming.

What's Under LaHood?

This is a guest post by Jesse Prentice-Dunn of the Sierra Club's Clean Cars Campaign.

Yesterday I trotted over to Capitol Hill to watch the Senate Commerce Committee grill former Republican Congressman Ray LaHood before confirming him as Secretary of Transportation. Although the Senate star power was out (Kerry, Durbin, among others), I was more interested in hearing the nominee’s thoughts on vehicle fuel economy standards and innovative projects that combine roads and rails with mass transit, biking and walking. 

After years of combative Senate hearings, this was a comparative love-fest.  Republicans and Democrats alike were falling over themselves to praise the former Congressman for working across party lines, while pointing out the many challenges we face in federal transportation policy. (Check out the webcast and opening statements from LaHood and Senator Rockefeller.)

I came away happy too, not because I was still feeling the buzz from the previous day's Inauguration, but because (soon to be Secretary) LaHood expressed his belief that sustainability should be a guiding principle for transportation policy. He didn't stop there. When questioned about fuel economy standards, LaHood stated his strong support and that he intends to move full steam ahead finalizing strong standards. He went on to applaud multiple forms of transportation and long-range planning.

From Congressman LaHood's testimony yesterday, it's clear that we have a tremendous opportunity to quickly set ambitious CAFE standards that make our vehicles more efficient. With that said, there is still work to be done. I know it, you know it, and the Governator of California is letting Obama know it. California and 15 states are ready to implement stronger vehicle emission standards - they just need a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency. So buckle up, it looks like the race is on to make our cars and communities cleaner and more efficient.

Obama and Chu Speak About Clean Energy

First up - President-Elect Obama spoke today at an Ohio company that produces parts for wind turbines. It was a good speech, touting his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plant - and here are some highlights (click here to read the entire speech):

It’s a plan that will save or create three to four million jobs in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries – and 90 percent of these jobs will be in the private sector.  And I want to be clear – we’re not looking to create just any kind of jobs here.  We’re looking to create good jobs that pay well and won’t be shipped overseas.  Jobs that don’t just put people to work in the short-term, but position our economy to be on the cutting edge in the long-term.

That starts with new, clean sources of energy.  We know that the possibilities here are limitless.  Here in Ohio and across America, we’ve seen old factories become new clean energy producers....

...Take the example of wind power alone: I’m told that if we don’t act now, because of the economic downturn, half of the wind projects planned for 2009 could wind up being abandoned.  Think about that.  Think about all the businesses that wouldn’t come to be, all the jobs that wouldn’t be created, all the clean energy we wouldn’t produce. 

And think of what’s happening in countries like Spain, Germany and Japan, where they’re making real investments in renewable energy.  They’re surging ahead of us, poised to take the lead in these new industries.  

This isn’t because they’re smarter than us, or work harder than us, or are more innovative than we are.  It’s because their governments have harnessed their people’s hard work and ingenuity with bold investments – investments that are paying off in good, high-wage jobs – jobs they won’t lose to other countries. 

There is no reason we can’t do the same thing right here in America.  That’s why, as part of our Recovery and Reinvestment plan, we’re committing to double the production of renewable energy in the next three years, and to modernize more than 75% of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes...

What are your thoughts on and reactions to the speech and his plan? Tell us in the comments.

Secondly - Obama's nominee to head up the Department of Enegy, Dr. Steven Chu, has been checking the Change.gov website comments on clean energy and global warming, and recently gave a YouTube response covering temperature increases, a smart national energy grid, and more. It's really interesting, you can tell he's got quite a background in the field - so go check it out.

Next Stop for Nuclear Waste: Texas

Here's a story flying under the radar. You may have thought Nevada's Yucca Mountain was the only destination for nuclear waste - not true. From the Associated Press:

Texas environmental regulators approved a plan Wednesday to dispose of low-level radioactive waste from around the country at a remote site near the New Mexico border.

Our Lone Star Chapter is working hard against this decision - letting us know that the environmental analysis of the site and this decision were not completed. From our Lone Star Chapter:

In addition...the Sierra Club attached three affidavits from nuclear waste experts Marvin Resnikoff, Diane D’Arrigo and hydrology expert George Rice showing that so-called low-level radioactive waste can travel several miles underground and that previous low-level radioactive waste operations in other states had leaked and that clean-up costs had dwarfed financial assurance measures designed to pay for clean up.

The chapter folks say that while Yucca Mountain grabs the headlines, the country's nuke waste will now quietly head to this private dump site in West Texas. They add that when fully developed, this decision could mean two train loads of waste each week through 2015 through undisclosed U.S. cities and into this Texas desert facility:

The (license) would allow Waste Control Specialists to bring in more than 28 million cubic feet...of low-level radioactive waste to both a State Compact Site – primarily to serve Texas’s two nuclear plants -- and a Federal Facility for Department of Energy left-over waste. As such, the site would eventually become the largest commercial low-level radioactive waste site in the country, with some wastes remaining dangerous for tens of thousands of years.

Shocking, and true. We will keep you posted on further developments!

Delivering a New Slogan to the Coal Industry

This post is by Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign.

In late November we launched our "Coal is Not the Answer" campaign to debunk the claims of clean coal. At that time, we also unveiled our contest of creating a new slogan for coal – one that tells the truth.

We know many of you got involved, as we received more than 5,000 slogan entries and 1,000 comments on the website, from people all over the U.S. Yesterday we delivered all 5,000 slogans to the biggest "clean" coal pushers in the U.S. - the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).

The Best and Worst Governors of 2008

This post is written by Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign.

We saw some great strides for clean energy and against global warming in 2008, but there are states where dirty energy, namely coal, continues to be promoted.  There are three Governors who are particularly noteworthy because of their actions on global warming. 

Let's start off with the good news.

The Best of 2008
Kansas – Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
Governor Kathleen Sebelius continues to stand firm against the coal industry and stand up for Kansans. We watched as early in the year she courageously opposed the largest proposed coal plant in the United States – the massive Sunflower coal plant in Western Kansas. If there is an example of bone-headed investment it is this:  building a coal plant in a state with world class wind resources and sending Kansas dollars to Wyoming to buy coal instead of investing in rural Kansas and wind power. 

This issue consumed the last state legislative session, with a national audience watching every move.  In the end, after three vetoes by Governor Sebelius, common sense and clean energy prevailed, and the coal plant was defeated.  Congratulations to Gov. Sebelius – we applaud her tireless efforts on behalf of Kansas and against out-of-state coal interests.

Videos of the TVA Coal Ash Spill

If you haven't had a chance to see any video of the TVA coal ash spill in Tennessee, there is a lot out there to look through. Today this latest footage from Appalachian Voices came to my email, and I wanted to share it. App Voices and many other organizations have been taking water and soil samples for testing. This latest video from App Voices shows them on the water getting samples, which is interesting because they show some processes - but the most shocking part comes at the end, when they reveal the coal-filled stomach of a catfish they pull out for testing.

This is their second water and soil testing video. Their first one got a lot of attention because they were paddling through the waste on the river and you see some very up close shots of what the river looks like now. I've posted that video here too.

So take a look and be shocked - and know that there are many more of these coal sludge impoundments across the U.S. Coal is not clean. Period.

Nuclear Power Much More Expensive Than Renewables

This one almost passed us by last week - but it's very much worth reading. Climate Progress published a report detailing the skyrocketing costs of nuclear power, how it's now averaging 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt hour. That number far exceeds the cost of renewable energy like solar and wind power, as well as energy efficiency. Read more over on the Climate Progress blog post.

(hat tip EcoGeek)

Coal Waste Spills by the Dozen?

This blog is co-written by Bruce Nilles and Mary Anne Hitt, director and deputy director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign

Shocking news out of Alabama today – TVA has confirmed another coal waste spill, this one at its Widows Creek coal-fired plant in northeast Alabama. TVA officials say that the release came from a gypsum treatment operation. They also told the Knoxville News-Sentinel that the spill occurred at around 6:00am this morning, and that some of the toxic waste has reached nearby Widows Creek.

This is the second coal ash spill at a TVA facility in less than a month, following the tragic spill at the Kingston plant in Tennessee that contaminated water in the Emory and Clinch Rivers and more than 300 acres of nearby land, including dozens of homesites. We hope the residents near Widows Creek have fared better and we offer our sympathy to those who have been affected.

While full details on the Widows Creek spill aren’t yet available, this new spill raises a simple, obvious question – what is going on here?

One explanation is that this is just an unfortunate coincidence, perhaps brought on by the weather. But a much more likely explanation is that smaller coal ash spills and releases – like the ones we’re learning about in Alabama and now East Tennessee – are all too frequent, and the magnitude of the TVA disaster in Tennessee finally shined a light on a quiet tragedy that has been going on for decades.

Stopping the Coal Rush and Mountaintop Removal Mining: A Clean Slate

This blog is co-written by Bruce Nilles and Mary Anne Hitt, director and deputy director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign

We are all thrilled that President-Elect Obama’s inauguration is coming up so quickly – we’re excited by the new possibilities for the U.S. to jump-start a clean energy economy, fight global warming, and to clean up and protect the environment. On day one of his administration, Obama can take long-overdue steps to put the nation on a clean energy path and finally address the most serious impacts of coal, including mountaintop removal mining. Between now and Inauguration day, we need your help to deliver that message.

The Obama Administration will release its energy agenda soon after Inauguration Day, and we here at the Sierra Club have created a quick and extremely effective “To Do” list for them. These are four steps they can take on the first day that will make a tremendous difference, setting the bar for the Administration’s work on energy and climate change issues - and they wouldn’t require Congressional action at all.

TVA's Example of Dirty Coal

This post is co-written by Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club National Coal Campaign, and Lyndsay Moseley, Washington representative for the National Coal Campaign.

Today the Sierra Club will put the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on notice for its negligence surrounding the tragic December 22 coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee. In collaboration with more than a dozen neighbors whose property was directly affected by the spill, along with a coalition of other environmental organizations, we are requesting that a federal court oversee the cleanup and remediation and that the responsible parties compensate local residents.

On December 22, 2008, an earthen dam for a coal ash waste impoundment failed at the Kingston Fossil Plant, releasing a billion gallons of coal ash sludge and contaminated water into the Emory and Clinch Rivers and onto more than 300 acres around the community of Harriman. 

We have Sierra Club members, staffers and volunteers living in this area and who grew up near Harriman - and we've also had some of our staff visit the spill site (including today’s blog co-writer Lyndsay Moseley). The feedback we’re getting from the people there is heart-breaking.

News that Slipped Through the Cracks

Here's another coal story from the holiday season - this time it's one that seems to have slipped through under the radar of the mainstream media. The Office of Surface Mining granted a permit for more coal mining on Native lands in Arizona. This permit is for Black Mesa, which is considered sacred land to several tribes.

Read more about the issue in this E magazine article and in this column by Elsa Johnson of the Navajo Nation (scroll down).

If you want to get active on it - lend the Black Water Mesa Coalition a hand!

Dynegy Abandoning LS Power Coal Plants

This is a weekly blog post from Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign.

The hints came down in December, but today it is confirmed: Dynegy is abandoning its plans to build five new coal plants as a joint venture with LS Power.  Without its larger partner, LS Power will have a very difficult time developing and financing the proposed plants, even though the company has said it will try.

These abandoned plants are in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Iowa and Arkansas, and this is a major victory for the Sierra Club, our partners, and the thousands of people who stood up to Dynegy's dirty plans. Dynegy had been the largest developer of new coal-fired power plants in the country, but due to our efforts the company has now recognized that new coal plants are an economic mistake and the wrong direction for their shareholders and the country.  We applaud them for taking this major step forward in securing a clean energy future. 

The Continuing Coal Ash Spill Aftermath

We here at Compass have been on a holiday break until today, but we have been closely watching the terrible aftermath of that coal ash impoundment spill in Tennessee from last week. Thankfully, this tragedy is not getting swept under the rug - there are still plenty of articles being written about the toxins in the ash and the impact on everyone around the spill.

There's also word (noted in the AP article on the TN governor below) that Congress will hold a hearing on the spill next week and that the Senate Environment Committee heard from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) officials and local officials yesterday.

I thought I'd highlight a few good articles on here, so check these out.

NY Times: "Metal levels found high in tributary after spill" - Our friends over at Appalachian Voices have tested the water near the sludge spill and found toxin levels many times higher than those found by the EPA or Tennessee's Department of Environment and Conservation. Sad but true, the EPA and TNDEC have not revealed their full test results yet. In fact, they've only revealed the test results for a spot that, according to this article, is six miles upstream from the sludge site.

Associated Press: "Community's future, vistas clouded by sludge spill" - A good article because it addresses the impacts to hunters and anglers, as well as talks to a person affected by the Inez, Ky., coal sludge spill in 2000.

USA Today: "Tenn. residents fear impact of sludgy ash spill" - Looks at the toxins and how locals are responding.

LA Times: "After Tennessee ash spill, cleanup and worry" - A great overview of the entire situation.

Associated Press: "Tenn. gov. promises more oversight of ash ponds" - Some promising words from Gov. Phil Bredesen:

"Burning fossil fuel for electricity is a dirty business," he said. "Everywhere this happens there are huge ash piles, there are environmental issues. My dream out of all of this is maybe this is an epiphany for TVA and for the country that some things have got to change."

Christian Science Monitor: "Tennessee spill revives coal ash controversy" - This article is a great look at the coal ash situation across the US, including the history of regulations, as magnified by this TN disaster.

This story won't be going away anytime soon - we'll be doing our best to make sure of that. This is a serious issue for the many reasons listed in these articles above and it should not be ignored.