West Virginia Blue
The Best Blogging Community in West Virginia Democratic politics, progressive policies, the good life and free living in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.
While West Virginia coal-fed politicians haven't wanted coal operators held accountable for poisoning West Virginia, the law says otherwise.
Ken Ward Jr.:
In federal court down in Huntington, attorneys for the Sierra Club and other groups have just filed copies of a major lawsuit settlement that insiders are saying could require Patriot Coal to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to treat selenium pollution from three of the company's major mountaintop removal mining complexes here in West Virginia.
The deal will require Patriot to build and operate new treatment systems for 43 water discharge outfalls on 10 different permits - far more than 14 outlets covered in a previous deal with Alpha Natural Resources or the five outfalls included in a settlement with Arch Coal.
This is a huge win for people who love West Virginia.
And kudos to the environmental organizations AND Patriot Coal for reaching this agreement.
China has become more capitalistic and worried about the long-term effects of climate change on its economy than the West Virginia coal apparatchiks who rise and cheer in support of the coal industry despite the massive harm it is doing to the state and the people.
Global warming threatens China's march to prosperity by cutting crops, shrinking rivers and unleashing more droughts and floods, says the government's latest assessment of climate change, projecting big shifts in how the nation feeds itself.
The warnings are carried in the government's "Second National Assessment Report on Climate Change," which sums up advancing scientific knowledge about the consequences and costs of global warming for China -- the world's second biggest economy and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gas pollution.
Global warming fed by greenhouse gases from industry, transport and shifting land-use poses a long-term threat to China's prosperity, health and food output, says the report. With China's economy likely to rival the United States' in size in coming decades, that will trigger wider consequences.
"China faces extremely grim ecological and environmental conditions under the impact of continued global warming and changes to China's regional environment," says the 710-page report, officially published late last year but released for public sale only recently.
Meanwhile the coal apparatchiks in West Virginia spout coal propaganda the way communists used to quote their phony ideological propaganda.
Sadly our coal apparatchiks can't look past their next coal company campaign contribution to consider the long-term detrimental effects of their policies on the state's workers and economy.
Making it easier to export energy from North America, and that is what the Keystone project really would do, would not benefit West Virginia's coal or natural gas industries.
So when false claims are made about the number of jobs created, keep in mind that's not taking into account the number of jobs that would be lost here.
An anti-fracking rally took place at the State Capitol Monday put on by West Virginia for a Moratorium on Marcellus (WV4MOM). Over a dozen people spoke, from those affected by this controversial means of gas extraction personally to community leaders and politicians concerned about it and health impacts on communities where it's happening. Other issues of concern included environmental and property damages and devaluation associated with the drilling, not to mention damaged roads, traffic, radioactive mud and water, and fish kills. That is just to name a few of the negative consequences of fracking the Marcellus Shale aka playing Russian roulette with your health, well being and this state's economy like another certain industry which shall remain nameless. A decent sized crowd turned out from all across the state.
Rose Baker of Wetzel County Action Group, who is directly affected by the drilling, said:
"This natural gas boom is coming at a huge cost to the people of West Virginia. It is a life changer to people who live near these industrial sites.
Air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution.
I'm sure that one hundred years ago when the minerals were severed from the land, drilling thousands of feet into the ground and pumping thousands of gallons of chemicals underground was not imagined.
The regulations we have in place today were written for a different era for oil and gas extraction. We need to put a stop to the destruction of West Virginia and get stronger regulations in place before it's too late."
Part 1
Featuring: Kathy Cash (West Virginia for a Moratorium on Marcellus), Rose Baker (Wetzel County Action Group), Del. Mike Manypenny (D-Taylor), writer and Mtn. Party gubernatorial candidate Bob Henry Baber, and musicians John and Rye Garlow
Part 2
Featuring: Del. Barbara Evans Fleischauer (D-Monongalia), Lewisburg Mayor John Manchester, Physician Dr. Larry Schwab, MD.
Writer and Mtn. Party gubernatorial candidate Bob Henry Baber on Marcellus Shale Drilling
Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo highlights that the coal industry's lawyers are intent on perpetuating false, derogatory stereotypes about West Virginians in an attempt to hide the truth.
Panelists debate whether the U.S. is doing enough to heed the warnings of coal industry scientists who say turbines could blow the Earth right into the sun.
Ken Ward Jr. ponders the question at Coal Tattoo. Too many of our politicians bury their heads in the coal ash so they can't see the sky needs cleaned up.
The inquiry over hydrofracking, which was initiated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee when Mr. Waxman led it last year, also found that 14 of the nation's most active hydraulic fracturing companies used 866 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products - not including water. More than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or are listed as hazardous air pollutants, the report said.
A request for comment from the American Petroleum Institute about the report received no reply.
Some of the ingredients mixed into the hydraulic fracturing fluids were common and generally harmless, like salt and citric acid. Others were unexpected, like instant coffee and walnut hulls, the report said. Many of the ingredients were "extremely toxic," including benzene, a known human carcinogen, and lead.
Companies injected large amounts of other hazardous chemicals including 11.4 million gallons of fluids containing at least one of the toxic or carcinogenic B.T.E.X. chemicals - benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene. The companies used the highest volume of fluids containing one or more carcinogens in Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas.
Cornell University professors will soon publish research that concludes natural gas produced with a drilling method called "hydraulic fracturing" contributes to global warming as much as coal, or even more.
The conclusion is explosive because natural gas enjoys broad political support - including White House backing - due to its domestic abundance and lower carbon dioxide emissions when burned than other fossil fuels.
Cornell Prof. Robert Howarth, however, argues that development of gas from shale rock formations produced through hydraulic fracturing - dubbed "fracking" - brings far more methane emissions than conventional gas production.
What kind of extremist radicals would want to stop the EPA from doing its job?
Fortunately enough Senators showed common sense and acted appropriately:
Senator Ben Cardin, Chair of the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee, said: "These attacks on the Clean Air Act would have been bad for jobs, bad for our emerging clean energy companies, and bad for America's health. I will stand firm with my colleagues now and in the future to oppose such misguided measures and to support leading public health groups; clean energy companies; environment and conservation organizations; as well as healthy kids and families."
Senator Barbara Boxer said: "Today, the Senate stood up for children and families by defeating four amendments that would have interfered with EPA's efforts to protect the health and safety of the American public. The Clean Air Act has had strong bipartisan support since it was passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Nixon. The American people support EPA's efforts to safeguard us from polluters, and I will continue to fight any effort to weaken the Clean Air Act."
Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE), Chair of the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, said: "Forty years ago, naysayers claimed the Clean Air Act was too costly and would doom our economy. We heard the same predictions in 1990 when we strengthened the Clean Air Act. But the naysayers were wrong. Since 1970, the Clean Air Act's benefits have outweighed costs by 30 to 1, and our Gross Domestic Product has grown over 200 percent. Cleaner air has saved thousands of lives, billions of dollars in health care costs and it has grown our economy. By voting down these amendments, we have kept America on the right course."
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Chair of the Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health Subcommittee, said: "If you think smog is ugly in the air, imagine how ugly it looks inside a child's lungs. Weakening the Clean Air Act puts the profits of polluters above the health of our children - and no parent should have to worry about letting their children play outside because the air is too dirty."
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chair of the Green Jobs and the New Economy Subcommittee, said, "I find it unconscionable that in the year 2011 the Clean Air Act is being attacked by big polluters and their allies in Congress who want to gut this successful public health law. We know the very real health benefits of cleaner air, and that is why I introduced a Resolution, S. Res. 119, with 33 co-sponsors, to fight back against efforts to deregulate polluters."
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chair of the Oversight Subcommittee, said: "Today, the Senate sent a strong message that we stand by the Clean Air Act and the health benefits it provides to all Americans. Last year alone, the Clean Air Act saved 160,000 lives, and we are confident that many more lives will be saved in the future. We should not be playing politics with public health."
Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), Chair of the Children's Health and Environmental Responsibility Subcommittee, said: "The ongoing assault against the Clean Air Act, as evidenced by the McConnell amendment, represents the dramatic shift to ideological politics that have taken over Washington. The Clean Air Act was passed with strong support from Republicans and Democrats before being signed into law by President Nixon to protect the integrity of our air supply. Today, instead of protecting the health and well-being of our people, some are protecting the profits of large polluters, and I simply think that's wrong."
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said: "The Clean Air Act has prevented thousands of cases of respiratory illness and made our communities healthier for our families. The Act has improved the quality of life across our nation. It has succeeded because of carefully-crafted, science-based standards. These standards are continuously subject to short-sighted, special interest attacks like the amendments we considered today. We must, on behalf of our families' health, defeat these attacks."
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said: "Strong protections are needed for the air we breathe and the water we drink. These failed votes show that the American people won't stand for these extreme attacks on the Clean Air Act that put our health at risk. American families overwhelmingly support the Clean Air Act. These assaults are the wrong priorities, and move us in the wrong direction."
Just what the environment needs, more pro-industry spin:
The Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia plans to launch an advertising campaign touting the industry's contributions to the state, saying the natural gas sector has unfairly gotten a bad reputation during the debate over tougher regulations for Marcellus Shale drilling.
snip
Some have criticized the industry for hiring out-of-state workers from areas such as Oklahoma and Texas.
"The Marcellus formation is being drilled not because it was just discovered, but because of new technology," McCown said. "That technology was developed in other states."
He said the industry is aggressively trying to hire West Virginians and that the out-of-state workers also help local economies.
"If people come from out of state and stay at the hotels here, and eat at the restaurants and buy gasoline at the service stations, I don't think that's a bad thing," he said.
Sure, come here, trash the place, destroy our roads, pollute our water even more than it already is, but it's all good because some of your workers might leave a tip at the restaurant they stop at on their way back home out of state.
Copyright 2011 West Virginia Blue
Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified.
This site exists thanks to financial support from BlogPAC, dedicated volunteers and participation by members of this community. The views expressed at West Virginia Blue belong solely to their respective authors.
