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13 March 2011
from the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Landmark Laughlin smokestack crashes down
Posted by ahanscom at 2:44 PM
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13 March 2011
Greater Salem Green Drinks March Networking at Danversport Yacht Club
scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, 2011 from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET)
Posted by ahanscom at 2:42 PM
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13 March 2011
From biofuelsjournal.com:
Environmental Defense Fund and Forest Guild Report Warns Against Stripping Dead Wood From Southeast U.S. Forests
http://www.biofuelsjournal.com/articles/Environmental_Defense_Fund_and_Forest_Guild_Report_Warns_Against_Stripping_Dead_Wood_From_Southeast_U_S__Forests-105117.html
Date Posted: February 17, 2011
"The report released by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and The Forest Guild says reducing the dead wood in a forest may affect its ability to support wildlife, provide clean water, sequester carbon and regenerate diverse plants.
"'Historically, dead wood was considered to have a low economic value,' said Will McDow, manager of the EDF Southeast Center for Conservation Incentives.
"'There is increased interest today in dead wood for energy and fuel, and more intensive harvesting of biomass could have long-term consequences for Southern forests.
"'Stripping the forest floor to create energy is imprudent.'
"'Southern forests have less dead wood than other regions of the United States, yet it plays a crucial role,' said Zander Evans, research director of The Forest Guild.
Posted by ahanscom at 2:42 PM
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13 March 2011
from careersinwind.com --
"How can I work in the wind industry?"
http://www.careersinwind.com/
"Wind energy companies are growing to meet America's demand for clean, renewable, and domestic energy. These companies need skilled professionals. CareersInWind.com is dedicated to connecting wind energy companies with experienced, capable wind professional who want to use their expertise to advance your business and the industry. And only CareersInWind.com directs recruitment dollars back toward promoting and advancing the wind energy industry."
Posted by ahanscom at 2:38 PM
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13 March 2011
Beyond Coal campaign moves across Massachusetts
Clark Students Move Beyond Coal
Clark University, Worcester, MA
Posted by ahanscom at 2:36 PM
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13 March 2011
Sustainability Forum Saturday Victory Garden Series
scheduled for Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 3:00 PM - Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 2:00 PM (ET)
The Sustainability Forum of Beverly with The Food Project
and The Trustees of Reservations Presents:
Saturday Victory Garden Series
Layout, build, and grow your own backyard plot or container garden!
Have homegrown fresh produce by the summer!!!
In three sessions, 30 participants will receive the resources and training they need to envision, maintain, and troubleshoot their very own backyard gardens and produce fresh vegetables this season!
$10
Posted by ahanscom at 2:33 PM
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13 March 2011
from the Boston Globe:
We need protection against toxic hazards
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2011/03/05/we_need_protection_against_toxic_hazards/
March 5, 2011
AS A mother of two young girls who is well aware of the toxic hazards that my family faces every day, I was thrilled to see the Globe’s coverage this week of the issue of chemicals in household products (“Toxic or not?’’ g, Feb. 28). However, I was dismayed that the article promoted careful shopping as a solution to this widespread problem.
Even for someone like me who is well educated about toxic chemicals and vigilant about protecting my children’s health, it would be a full-time job to keep our home toxic-free, and impossible to protect my children from the chemical soup in their schools and other places they go every day.
While taking steps at home is the “only tool’’ we’ve got, as Dr. Ana Soto, professor of cellular biology at Tufts University School of Medicine, says, it’s not the answer.
These toxic chemicals need regulation, and we need our legislators to step up and pass laws that make companies find safer alternatives. Our children deserve it.
Erica Streit-Kaplan
Newton 
Posted by ahanscom at 2:31 PM
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13 March 2011
The Topless America Project
A film in production about mountaintop removal
http://toplessamerica.org/about
"Topless America is a collaboration of activists, artists and students stemming from many different backgrounds, geographical and cultural. We are dedicated to documenting the fight against America’s coal industry, and the preservation and protection of the land and people of the United States. Our mission aims to raise the public awareness of the origins of electricity and supports a higher perception of America’s relationship with energy."
Posted by ahanscom at 2:27 PM
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13 March 2011
from Biomass Busters:
Climate Scientists Debunk Carbon Neutrality of Biomass Power
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_Ux0gOUSmP2MmQ5ZGVmZmMtZjUwNC00ZGY1LThhOGEtY2ZlZjcxNDE1MTg3&hl=en
[Below are excerpts from a Feb. 2, 2011 letter to the Washington State Legislature from Mark E. Harmon of Oregon State University, Timothy D. Searchinger of Princeton University, and William Moomaw of Tufts University.]
Burning biomass emits 150 percent the carbon dioxide of coal, and 300-400 percent the CO2 of natural gas, per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated.
The number and scale of biomass facilities proposed in Washington strongly suggests that new trees will have to be cut to provide fuel for these plants, because mill residues and logging residues are inadequate.
If fuel is obtained by harvesting trees that would not otherwise be cut, then the carbon "payback period" is decades to more than a century, even if the harvested trees are replaced.
Using wood for power generation that would otherwise be added to forests thus not only increases the rate of CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour but also reduces the critical forest carbon "sink."
Simply declaring biomass power to be carbon neutral does not make it so.
Posted by ahanscom at 2:24 PM
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13 March 2011
From the American Lung Association:
Toxic Air: The Case for Cleaning Up Coal-fired Power Plants
http://www.lungusa.org/healthy-air/outdoor/resources/toxic-air-report/
The American Lung Association’s report Toxic Air: The Case for Cleaning Up Coal-fired Power Plants documents the range of hazardous air pollutants emitted from coal-burning power plants and the urgent need to clean them up to protect public health. The report details the dangerous mix of toxic air pollutants that flow from the stacks of uncontrolled coal burning power plants and the health harm associated with these pollutants. The report also discusses the technologies that are available for dramatically cutting these emissions—technologies that are commercially available and proven to work. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to issue a proposal to cleanup this toxic pollution by March 16.
Posted by ahanscom at 2:20 PM
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13 March 2011
'Fracking' Disposal Sites Suspended, Likely Linked To Arkansas Earthquakes
From the Huffington Post
Posted by ahanscom at 2:18 PM
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13 March 2011
Examples of Plant Redevelopment/Reuse
Posted by ahanscom at 2:14 PM
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13 March 2011
from Drew Grande, Sierra Club - Beyond Coal Campaign
Visit to Senator Brown's office
We concluded the meeting by asking where Senator Brown stood on EPA funding. The staffer said that he was unclear and we agreed upon a two week follow up meeting. Today I asked for that follow up meeting and was told that the Senator or his staff would not be able to sit down with the Sierra Club for the near future (you can read the email below).
While Senator Brown or his staff will not meet with the Sierra Club I am sure they would be happy to hear from everyone else. Hearing the need for clean air and stopping polluters from dumping lead, arsenic, mercury and other heavy metals from other groups and constituents will help amplify this message and further our cause of closing coal.
Drew Grande
Sierra Club - Beyond Coal Campaign
Associate Organizer
10 Milk St, Suite 632
Boston, MA 02108
Posted by ahanscom at 2:13 PM
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13 March 2011
Colombia: Appalachia and Colombia: the People Behind the Coal
Witness for Peace Delegation, May 31, 2011 - June 10, 2011
http://witnessforpeace.live.radicaldesigns.org/userdata_display.php?modin=51&uid=683
Total Cost: $2,400 (approx.). Includes airfare to Colombia Note: you may sign up for one or both portions of delegation (with price reduced accordingly) Colombia only: $2100 (includes $900 airfare); Appalachia only: $300
Total due: April 29, 2011
Deposit: $150
Deposit due: April 15, 2011
Almost half of the electricity in the United States comes from burning coal. This delegation takes participants to two regions devastated by coal mining, in Kentucky and northern Colombia.
Appalachia: May 31-June 3
We start in Kentucky, with a Mountain Witness Tour sponsored by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC). Participants will witness the impact of Mountain Top Removal mining and Valley Fills on local communities, the environment and experience the daily realities of sharing a county road with high volumes of overloaded coal truck and heavy equipment traffic as residents tell their story. Participants learn first hand the process of Mountain Top Removal mining by having the opportunity to meet local KFTC members who have experience in the industry.
Colombia: June 3-10
We then travel to Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the hemisphere, and also the country with the highest levels of official and paramilitary violence, including forced displacement, killings of journalists, trade unionists, and human rights activists.
Foreign corporations are some of the major beneficiaries of this situation. Foreign companies control Colombia’s coal mines, and much of the coal is exported to supply power plants in the eastern U.S. Coal companies have been accused of serious human rights violations.
This delegation will meet with human rights activists, trade unionists, members of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, and others affected by coal production in Colombia. We will explore how we as consumers can work in solidarity with communities and organizations in Colombia to hold corporations accountable for human rights.
Total Cost: $2400 (approx.). Includes airfare to Colombia
Note: you may sign up for one or both portions of delegation (with price reduced accordingly)
Colombia only: $2100 (includes $900 airfare); Appalachia only: $300
Deposit: $150, due April 15, 2011; Total balance due: April 30, 2011
Delegation Coordinator
Avi Chomsky
978-542-6389
Delegation Coordinator
Steve Striffler
479-283-4795
Posted by ahanscom at 2:02 PM
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09 March 2011
from State Representative Lori Ehrlich:
A meeting to discuss "An Act Relative to Plastic Bag Reduction"
Senator Eldridge and Representative Ehrlich will be hosting a meeting next Wednesday morning to discuss their identical bills known as "An Act Relative to Plastic Bag Reduction," filed and co-sponsored by over 40 Senators and Representatives. The meeting will be held at the State House on Wednesday, March 9 at 9:30 AM, in room B-1. For access to B-1, please enter the State House via the Ashburton Park Entrance on Bowdoin Street.
The meeting will be to discuss organizing strategy to help this proposed legislation become reality.
Contact Rep. Ehrlich’s office at 617-722-2014 with any questions.
Posted by ahanscom at 9:30 AM
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08 March 2011
Kathy Mattea: My Coal Journey
scheduled for Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 1:00 p.m.
Mattea presents My Coal Journey, a one-hour program incorporating stories from her family history and her current advocacy for the environment combined with a slideshow and a performance of songs from Coal. The presentation traces her motivation for beginning the recording project, her research into the musical genre’s history and elemental style, and her family’s ties to coal mining culture in Appalachia, along with discussion of environmental and social justice issues surrounding coal mining methods in today’s world.
Posted by ahanscom at 12:00 AM
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06 March 2011
from the Sierra Club Compass:
EPA Report Shows Tremendous Benefits of Clean Air Act
"The Environmental Protection Agency just released a new report showing that benefits from 'the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments will reach approximately $2 trillion in 2020 while saving 230,000 people from early death in that year alone.'"
Posted by ahanscom at 9:44 AM
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06 March 2011
On the Greenpeace blog:
The Real Cost of Coal: A Personal Story
Guest Blog: Sandra Winter is a local activist involved with HealthLink and Greenpeace working to shut down the coal plant in Salem Habor.
"Now I have new thoughts about coal and they are not comforting at all. These new thoughts have been created in large part from living in the oppressive shadow of the smokestacks of the Salem Power Station. Forty-five years ago, when I moved to Marblehead, Massachusetts, the sight of the four looming towers and the endlessly flashing lights on them unnerved me. I have watched the huge plumes of smoke coming from those stacks: sometimes pale grey, sometimes ominous black and always streaming in the direction of the prevailing wind."
Posted by ahanscom at 9:39 AM
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06 March 2011
scholarships to attend WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition
May 22-25, 2011 in Anaheim, CA
Education Scholarship Information
Submission deadline is March 18, 2011.
For the fifth year in a row, the American Wind Energy Association is delighted to offer several scholarships to attend WINDPOWER 2011® Conference & Exhibition to be held May 22-25, 2011 in Anaheim, CA.
The Education Scholarship Program provides an opportunity for those aspiring to enhance their knowledge of the wind industry, to attend WINDPOWER® Conference & Exhibition.
Posted by ahanscom at 9:37 AM
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06 March 2011
from the New York Times, 2/26/11:
Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers
"But the relatively new drilling method — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas."
Posted by ahanscom at 9:34 AM
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06 March 2011
From greenercars.org --
2011 MODEL YEAR RANKINGS RELEASED
UNDERSTANDING ELECTRIC VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY
Plug-in cars are getting plenty of attention, for a variety of reasons: they’re pretty much oil-free, can cut emissions responsible for global warming, and have high-tech appeal. For more information on understanding their fuel economy, click here.
Posted by ahanscom at 9:31 AM
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06 March 2011
from the Green Justice Campaign and Community Labor United:
Ensuring the ‘Green Economy’ includes everyone!
" In December 2008, the Green Justice Coalition launched a campaign to bring home energy efficiency upgrades and jobs to Boston's low-income communities and communities of color. We are a partnership of community groups, labor unions, environmental groups, and other organizations that support a sustainable, equitable, and clean energy economy in the Boston region. Low-income communities and communities of color have been overburdened by our unsustainable economy. We want to ensure that these communities are at the forefront of the growing green, sustainable economy. We are committed to making sure that our region’s growing green economy creates quality jobs, local workforce development opportunities as well as healthier and safer communities."
Posted by ahanscom at 9:28 AM
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06 March 2011
From the Mass. Chapter of the Sierra Club:
A Clean Northeast: Beyond Coal and a Clean Energy Future
The Sierra Club has released a landmark report outlining a path to a renewable energy future for Massachusetts and the entire Northeast, the most energy-intensive region of America. The Club's new report "A Clean Northeast" analyzes our region's addiction to coal and how we can move beyond it with efficiency, wind, solar, and other renewables. Massachusetts is the only New England state that still relies significantly on coal-fired power plants. A renewable energy future for the Northeast will create new, green jobs - up to 48,000 in Massachusetts alone - all while reducing our environmental footprint and fighting global climate change. The Massachusetts Chapter volunteers and staff are exerting every effort to increase energy efficiency, facilitate renewable energy siting, and help create a coal-free Commonwealth by 2020. We could use your help! Please visit our legislative page to learn about our priority "Coal-Free Commonwealth by 2020" and ask your legislator to support it. Visit the Chapter's Beyond Coal website for additional opportunities to help. See the events section below to learn where our film "Coal Country" is screening near you. Click here for a copy of the report.
The Green Communities Act
... and Acting Locally
If you're interested in what you can do to help green your community, then look no further! Under the Green Communities Act, Massachusetts residents can access energy-efficiency, weatherization and other related eco-friendly resources through a state-wide grant program to promote renewable energy and a cleaner environment for all. Click here for more.
Posted by ahanscom at 9:19 AM
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06 March 2011
Natural Gas seen as cleaner, cheaper
from the Boston Business Journal, March 4, 2011
" If the coal-burning Salem Harbor Power Station closes as planned in mid-2014, environmentalists won’t get to take the credit. The closure would be largely thanks to one of coal’s fellow fossil fuels — natural gas.
"'Natural gas is actually now less expensive than coal, at least for Salem Harbor,' said Dan Genest, spokesman for the plant’s owner, Virginia-based Dominion Resources Inc. 'Salem really can’t compete because the price of natural gas is so low.'”
Posted by ahanscom at 9:14 AM
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06 March 2011
What is the State of Salem Sound?
scheduled for March 25 and 26, 2011
Past, Present and Future
A Symposium for the Public
Once pristine and teeming with fish, our coastal waters became fouled over time--but where do we stand now?
Posted by ahanscom at 9:10 AM
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06 March 2011
from the Energy Justice Network:
Biomass Basics
"Green" biomass (like energy crops) is often a foot in the door for more toxic waste streams. Plants that start off burning "clean wood chips" can easily turn to burning more contaminated fuels (which may be cheaper or even free), or get paid to take really dirty wastes like trash or tires. Economic pressures encourage use of these dirtier fuels.
Posted by ahanscom at 9:06 AM
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