Here's another round-up of stories you may not have heard about just yet. Most of it is about coal - but not all.
First up, in timely coal news - we need you to call your U.S. rep right now to urge them to not weaken coal ash standards (The photo to the left is of the massive coal ash spill in Harriman, Tenn., from December 2008. Photo by Lyndsay Moseley). From our friends at EarthJustice:
Next up is more coal news. If you're in California, you might just be knee-deep in election news. The latest is that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina received campaign money from Murray Energy, a major coal company whose CEO is a climate denier, along with other major coal companies in Appalachia.
Now for some good coal news: A legal challenge has proved successful in Georgia, where a state administrative court ruled against two state water permits for the proposed 850-megawatt Plant Washington coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, GA. The court has ruled that the water withdrawal and water pollution discharge permits issued by Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for the proposed power plant are both legally flawed. More details here.
And coal's not just bad for the water, as some residents in Illinois discovered this past weekend on a tour of a longwall mining site. The Illinois Sierra Club Mining Issues Committee took folks on a tour in Hillsboro, where the new Deer Run longwall mine is under contruction next to town, within a few hundred feet of the local hospital. If you're unfamiliar with how damaging longwall mining can be, watch this video to learn more.
They also traveled to Macoupin County to see longwall mined areas still not "reclaimed" after a decade after mining - not to mention the Shay 1 mine coal waste impoundment, which features millions of gallons of toxic coal slurry. Check out pictures from the tour on Flickr.
Also this past weekend, hundreds of Texans gathered for the Great Texas Cleanup Event in Houston, which was co-organized by the Texas Sierra Club - especially by our Texas Beyond Coal and Texas Sierra Student Coalition teams (seen in the photo to the right). The event was an outdoor music and arts festival mixed with community organizing for clean energy and clean air. This website has a great write-up and more fantastic pictures.
Finally, in more good clean energy news, got this tip via email: "Atlantic Green Power (AGP) announced (July 20th) it received final approval to build a 14.4 megawatt (MW) solar farm in Upper Pittsgrove, N.J. This approval makes the pending project the largest solar energy generation facility to receive final site plan approval in New Jersey to date, and one of the largest on the East Coast."
We need you to call your Congressional Representative immediately!! Please take two minutes this morning to help stop our opponents from gaining ground in the House. You can call the House switchboard and ask to be transferred to your member's office, (202) 224-3121----
Two damaging letters to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson are currently circulating in the House asking for weak coal ash regulations.
Representatives Rick Boucher (VA) and Fred Upton (MI) are circulating one letter seeking sign-on from Energy and Commerce Committee members and Representative Holden (PA) is circulating a second letter to all House members. Both letters ask EPA to issue only guidelines, maintain the inadequate status quo of weak state regulations, and refrain from establishing federally enforceable regulations!
Please call your representative in Congress and ask him/her to refrain from signing a letter that will hurt your community and lead to EPA action that fails to protect our health and environment from toxic coal ash.
Let your voice be heard and call immediately. The deadline for sign on to these letters is TODAY. The authors may extend the deadline, but only until Friday at the latest.
Next up is more coal news. If you're in California, you might just be knee-deep in election news. The latest is that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina received campaign money from Murray Energy, a major coal company whose CEO is a climate denier, along with other major coal companies in Appalachia.
Now for some good coal news: A legal challenge has proved successful in Georgia, where a state administrative court ruled against two state water permits for the proposed 850-megawatt Plant Washington coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, GA. The court has ruled that the water withdrawal and water pollution discharge permits issued by Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for the proposed power plant are both legally flawed. More details here.
And coal's not just bad for the water, as some residents in Illinois discovered this past weekend on a tour of a longwall mining site. The Illinois Sierra Club Mining Issues Committee took folks on a tour in Hillsboro, where the new Deer Run longwall mine is under contruction next to town, within a few hundred feet of the local hospital. If you're unfamiliar with how damaging longwall mining can be, watch this video to learn more.
They also traveled to Macoupin County to see longwall mined areas still not "reclaimed" after a decade after mining - not to mention the Shay 1 mine coal waste impoundment, which features millions of gallons of toxic coal slurry. Check out pictures from the tour on Flickr.
Finally, in more good clean energy news, got this tip via email: "Atlantic Green Power (AGP) announced (July 20th) it received final approval to build a 14.4 megawatt (MW) solar farm in Upper Pittsgrove, N.J. This approval makes the pending project the largest solar energy generation facility to receive final site plan approval in New Jersey to date, and one of the largest on the East Coast."
How can the Sierra Club support S.3495 knowing full well that more mountains will be blown up to generate electricity to charge batteries? I the club to show leadership on ending our dependence on oil by co-sponsoring S. 3495, the Promoting Electric Vehicles Act of 2010 ONLY IF THOSE VEHICLES ARE RUN ON ELECTRICITY FROM NON-FOSSIS ENERGY SOURCES. TRADING OIL FOR COAL IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Posted by: hebintn | July 29, 2010 at 01:14 PM