The Enviroman blog, No. 95 for the week starting May 12, 2008.
Renselear County Legislators Focus on Environmental Issues
Denver Drivers Learn How to Boost Fuel Economy
Saving Endangered Species One Mouthful at a Time
Biodegradable Home Product Lines, Ready to Rot
The Class Isnt Always Greener (But It Could Be)
US. Coastal Waters Less Toxic Than 20 Years Ago.
Watertown Landfill to Produce Electricity
Albany County Passes Shopping Bag Recycling Program
Nissan Builds Buzz with Plans for Electric Car
Congress Votes to Stop Stockpiling Oil
US. Senators Probe Departure of EPA Midwest Administrator
Insane Solutions to Global Warming: Landfill Forests
Use of wind energy expected to grow dramatically
Report dissects decay in street maples
Oil Refiners See Profits Sink as Consumption Fall
EPA Waiver Challenge: More Delay
Get Used to It -- Sky-High Oil Prices Are Here to Stay
Oil prices ease from record levels
US. Lists Polar Bear as Threatened But Balks at New Protection
Sewer to Spigot: Recycled Water
Schenectady's Trash Fee A Success
Grim fish study prompts Hudson campaign
Talcum Powder Can Provoke Deadly Ovarian Cancer
LA Mayor's New Water Plan Makes Every Drop Count
2 accused of cutting trees on state land
Fish Population Concerns in the Hudson River
Hudson River Fish in Peril – The Pisces Report
Oil climbs to record above $127 a barrel
Saudis Resist Bush on Oil, but Say Output Was Increased
If Your Appliances Are Avocado, They Probably Aren’t Green
Paying too much for natural gas? Blame Enron
Lights out? NYers fall behind on energy bills
30 Years of Global Warming Has Altered the Planet
Rachel's: Carbon Sequestration is Dangerous
Boondocks is about farms, rural life, and power toys.
Energy looks at high energy prices and our future.
Hayseeds looks at politics and life in our nation.
Individual looks at myself and how I'm changing
Outblog is all about my outdoor experiences.
Transit looks at the changing ways we get around.
Truck gives you stories and trips in my Ford Ranger.
From the Troy Record:
Rensselaer County legislators are showing a deep concern for the county’s environment by focusing on a number of environmental initiatives including the remediation of the Loeffel landfill, the implementation of a second county electronics recycling day and a proposal to reduce the use of plastic bags.
Following a presentation made by state officials in Nassau April 22, several county legislators are eager to see some progress on the remediation of the Loeffel landfill as well as the protection of Nassau Lake and groundwater supplies.
However, Republican County Legislators Martin Reid and Alex Shannon, who represent District 4, are concerned plans to construct a treatment plant to deal with collection of leachate from the Loeffel site may be derailed because of state budget issues and a change in priorities at the state level.
See the article on TroyRecord.com.
“A device in their cars will track whether they are braking suddenly or speeding excessively, or if they have other bad driving habits. The goal of the test is to link aggressive driving with excessive fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. ”
“There are more than 1,000 plants and animals once commonly eaten in the United States that are threatened or virtually extinct, Nabhan says, and saving them means creating market demand for flavors that have fallen off American dinner plates. His combination cookbook and history, Renewing America's Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent's Most Endangered Foods, documents many of these once-common foods that reflect our culinary heritage. It's also a call-to-action on how to recover foods at risk before they go the way of the passenger pigeon.”
“Ploompf. It did feel pretty good. Yet starting this month, the most noteworthy features of Stanley and other Montauk Sofa pieces will be facets you won’t be able to see or feel, like wood frames from sustainably managed forests, uncoated nails, organic fabrics and stuffings, nontoxic dyes and, something extra: biodegradability. ”
“But it hasn’t happened this time: all through the period of the alleged bubble, inventories have remained at more or less normal levels. This tells us that the rise in oil prices isn’t the result of runaway speculation; it’s the result of fundamental factors, mainly the growing difficulty of finding oil and the rapid growth of emerging economies like China. The rise in oil prices these past few years had to happen to keep demand growth from exceeding supply growth.”
“School design, particularly public school design, is often lumped in with the design of other institutional structures like jails, civic centers and hospitals, to detrimental effect. My high school, for example, had the dubious distinction of having been designed by the architect responsible for San Quentin. (The convicts got the better building.) Schools fulfill a practical function, to be sure, but shouldn’t they be designed to inspire?”
But they still are a mess according to a NOAA report that was recently released.
U.S. environmental laws enacted in the 1970s are reducing overall contaminant levels in coastal waters of the United States, finds a 20 year study released today by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA. But the study shows continuing elevated levels of toxic metals and oils near urban and industrial areas of the coast.
Oil related compounds from motor vehicles and shipping activities continue to flow into coastal waters daily, NOAA reports. These compounds, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, have been monitored by NOAA scientists for decades so baseline data exist to help define the extent of environmental degradation.
I am not surprised. Our society has done much to filter out the most noxious substances from our environment before they are released through point sources of pollution, thanks to the 1970s-era pollution laws.
At the same time, many other various noxious chemicals and products escape the filters or even escaped detection in our environment. Once a toxin is created, it's very easy for it to get out in the environment, and silently accumulate to deadly levels that nobody really notices until it's much too late.
Read U.S. Coastal Waters Less Toxic Than 20 Years Ago on the ENS Newswire.
They are proposing to bring a new methane to power plant to the North Country Development Authority Landfill near Watertown.
Methane gas produced by the decomposition of waste at the Development Authority of the North Country landfill could be turning into electricity as soon as August.
Construction on a power plant that would convert methane gas into electricity has begun. The other components of the facility — a gas transmission line to the plant, an electricity transmission line from the plant and a substation — are either being constructed now or will begin soon.
That's great. Your reducing global warming gases, creating energy, displacing the need for more coal/oil based carbon dioxide emissions, reducing stinky hydrogen sulfide emissions, and you making money for the municipality.
Read Landfill methane to make electricity in the Watertown Daily Times.
While most stores already offer customers the ability to return their plastic shopping bags, the law makes it mandatory for all stores to participate as long as they are bigger then 10,000 sq ft.
Big box stores in Albany County will soon be required under a new law to establish in-store recycling programs for plastic shopping bags.
The law, approved unanimously Monday night by the county Legislature, requires stores with retail space of 10,000 square-feet or more to comply or face a $1,000 fine.
The big box stores — such as Lowe's Home Depot or Wal-Mart — must place clearly marked and identifiable collection bins at or near entrances to their stores so consumers can voluntarily drop off their bags.
I'm not surprised. Stores aren't going to oppose it and get a black eye. Plus, there is a real market for clean LDPE nowadays with such high oil prices, especially for making things like floor tiles and trim along the floor. LDPE is much less toxic then the vinyl alternative, and from recycled stock, probably even cheaper.
Read Albany County orders big boxes to recycle shopping bags in the Daily Gazette.
“Wind power could meet 20 percent of U.S. energy demand by 2030, according to Energy Department calculations, even though currents currently provide a mere 1 percent of U.S. electricity. Making the leap would be "ambitious" but "feasible," says the report: it wouldn't require technological breakthroughs, but would necessitate the construction of 75,000 new and improved turbines and a major expansion of the electricity grid. If wind did hit that 20 percent marker, it could eliminate 25 percent of the greenhouse gases currently spewed by natural-gas and coal power, as well as reducing water consumption by 4 trillion gallons. The cost, says the report, would be about $6 per person per year. Even though the DOE calculations assume that renewable-energy tax credits will not be renewed (which is a whole nother story), the fact that boosting wind power is feasible doesn't mean it'll actually happen. ”
“Nissan Motor Co. announced plans Tuesday to build an electric car by 2010, part of what the automaker says is a strategy to make it the global leader in zero-emission vehicles. ”
This video is quite interesting to watch. It is 77 minutes. Apologizes for the ads on the video, it's the only copy I could find online.
More about this video at End of Suburbia website.
“Groping for a quick response to rising gas prices, Congress voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to order the Bush administration to stop depositing oil in a national reserve even though lawmakers predicted the impact for consumers would be modest at best.”
“The circumstances surrounding the resignation of Mary Gade, formerly the U.S. EPA's regional administrator for the Midwest, are under investigation by an environmental committee of the U.S. Senate. ”
At least for the people around a DuPont teflon plant that makes PFOA, a suspected toxin, they have gotten sick from the exposure to PFOA.
A chemical used to make non-stick coating for pots and pans, food wrappers and stain-resistant fabrics may harm the immune system, liver and thyroid and cause higher cholesterol in children, according to the initial findings of a study of 69,000 people who live near a DuPont manufacturing plant.
The health effects observed in the study population in West Virginia and Ohio are believed to have been caused by exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA, also known as C8, released from the DuPont plant in Washington, West Virginia.
PFOA is one of a class of perfluorinated chemicals used to make Teflon coating and other nonstick products, oil-resistant paper packaging and stain-resistant fabrics.
A team from West Virginia University is leading the multi-year study of PFOA exposure. The study is funded by a portion of a $107.5 million settlement paid by DuPont to settle a 2005 lawsuit over releasing PFOA into the region's drinking water supplies.
I'm not surprised. Industrial exposure to many chemicals is very toxic, and ultimately we will probably find that Teflon is a pretty dangerous chemical to be exposed to, and it will be banned.
Does that mean you should panic and throw out all of your Teflon pans right now? Probably not, the danger is probably very low. But it does suggest there should be tighter regulation of Teflon plants, and people should consider purchasing non-Teflon pans in the future, and avoid overheating the pans.
Read Chemical Used to Make Non-Stick Coatings Harmful to Health on ENS Newswire.
From the Daily Green:
The whole problem with global warming starts with digging up and burning the carbon from plants and animals, in the form of coal and oil, that has been buried for millions of years.
So two German scientists have a solution: Start burying stuff on a massive scale.
The scientists, Fritz Scholz and Ulrich Hasse from the University of Greifswald, start with a common idea: Planting forests, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But instead of letting those trees stand (or worse burning or letting them decay so that the carbon is released to the atmosphere) the scientists have a novel suggestion. Landfill them.
By burying the trees from those deliberately planted forests, the scientists believe they might blunt the impact of global warming, or even negate all global emissions.
This in insane—almost as crazy as carbon sequestration or seeding the skies with iron to eliminate carbon dioxide.
Not to mention it wouldn't work. Putting trees and brush waste in a landfill until anaerobic conditions would produce methane, that is a super global warming gas (20x more potent then CO2) which could be then burned for energy to make carbon dioxide.
Read Global Warming Solution - Landfill Forests on thedailygreen.com.
“Two decades from now Americans could get as much electricity from windmills as from nuclear power plants, according to a government report that lays out a possible plan for wind energy growth.”
From the article:
RICHMONDVILLE — The town Zoning Board of Appeals will ask Schoharie County for a recommendation on Reunion Power’s request to keep its wind-measuring tower on Warnerville Hill for another year.
The ZBA’s decision to seek the advice of the county followed a 90-minute hearing where most speakers, including an attorney for Schoharie Valley Watch, a tower opponent, argued that the original permit allowing the tower violated zoning and should not have been issued.
Reunion Power Managing Director Steve Eisenberg said another year was needed to obtain an accurate measurement of wind conditions at the David Huse farm site leased to the Vermont-based company for the 197-foot-high tower.
The first 12 months of measuring the electricity-generating potential at the Karker Road site produced data that was “potentially promising,” Eisenberg told the ZBA, but another year is needed to evaluate potential long-term wind variations.
Read Wind tower advice sought.
“The goal, Luley said, is to develop better methods for determining the frequency and severity of decay in street maple trees, and create a protocol that towns and cities can use to determine whether trees are so decayed they need to be removed. Smaller communities cannot afford to employ a full-time arborist, and a protocol would make it easier for them to locate and remove hazardous trees.”
Not surpisingly, everybody but oil well owners are getting screwed by high oil prices.
While drivers are facing sticker shock at the pump these days, here is a bigger shock: high prices are putting a strain on oil refiners.
Valero, an independent refiner, said its first-quarter profit fell by 76 percent. Above, the company’s refinery in Paulsboro, N.J.
After last year’s stellar profits, American refiners are going through a traumatic period. In a time of record gasoline prices, some of them actually lost money in the first quarter, and for virtually all refiners, profits are down sharply.
Experts say the refiners are caught in a double bind. The price of their raw material, oil, is rising because of strong global demand. At the same time, consumption of gasoline in the United States is falling as a result of slower economic growth and consumer efforts to conserve.
However much the companies would like to raise gasoline prices enough to pass along the full increases in oil, analysts say they have been unable to do it. Oil prices doubled in the past year, while wholesale gasoline prices rose a mere 39 percent.
Read Oil Refiners See Profits Sink as Consumption Falls in the New York Times.
“On May 12, EPA filed a motion to transfer California's challenge to EPA's waiver denial from the Ninth Circuit to the D.C. Circuit. This is EPA's second attempt to nix the Ninth Circuit appeal. (It previously moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the Dec. 19, 2007 letter from EPA informing California of the waiver denial was not final agency action subject to appeal.) ”
“By unveiling a sweeping plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Sen. John McCain is distancing himself from President Bush, who has done little to address the problem of climate change during his eight years in office. That's the good news. The bad news is that the core of Mr. McCain's proposal isn't that much different from the weak clean air plan Mr. Bush announced during a visit to the Adirondacks in 2002.”
“This ain't a bubble, folks. Better get used to it. We've gotten a little relief in recent days, but the stubborn upward spiral of oil prices isn't going to let up to any significant degree. Yes, there's some debate between economists and industry analysts who fall into two camps -- Bubble, Not-a-Bubble -- but the evidence suggests high prices are here to stay.”
“The benchmark contract jumped to a record 126.98 dollars before settling at 125.80 dollars on Tuesday at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had risen 1.57 dollars at the close.”
“The Bush administration reluctantly declared the polar bear a threatened species today, concluding that the loss of Arctic sea ice has put the future of the iconic species in peril. But the administration also took steps to ensure the decision will not require new efforts to tackle global warming or put new restrictions on oil and gas development in polar bear habitat. ”
“A growing number of cities and counties grappling with water shortages are turning to a solution that may be tough for some homeowners to stomach: purifying wastewater so that residents can drink it.”
Not only has it helped raise revenue for cash strapped city and off-set the cost of long hauling solid waste (as shown in the banner featured on the blog :), it also has promoted recycling and all the benefits of reduced waste production and consumption of materials.
To save a few cents on their trash bill, nonprofits and city businesses have dramatically reduced the amount of garbage they throw away, Commissioner of General Services Carl Olsen said.
The city collected 3.5 percent less trash last year than it has in years before, a 1,000-ton reduction that saved the city $66,000 in disposal fees.
Recycling is also up, but not enough to account for the reduction in waste. While businesses appear to be recycling about 150 tons more every year now, they have also simply cut their garbage by 850 tons. It’s the first waste reduction in the city in 17 years, Olsen said.
Environmentalists have long encouraged not just recycling but also reducing waste and reusing items to protect the planet. But Olsen said what’s really motivating local businesses is the fact that they now have to pay for every gallon of trash they throw away.
In 2005, the city started charging for its trash collection. Residents are charged a flat fee, but businesses and nonprofits are charged by the gallon, based on the size of containers. Recycling is collected for free, motivating them to stop throwing cans and paper in with the rest of their trash.
“The more you recycle, the less you pay,” Olsen said. “So they pay a little more attention to their waste stream and recycle more.”
Schenectady has probably done a lot of things right when it comes to solid waste since then landfill has closed and they've had to long haul their waste all the way out to High Meadows landfill near Rochester.
Albany should be watching carefully to see if they can embrace many of the models learned from the city of Schenectady when they face their landfill closing much like the Schenectady one did about two decades ago and then a decade ago when Albany stopped taking the city's trash upon the close of the ANSWERS plant.
Long-haul trash disposal is fraught with a lot of problems, including $4.50 gallon diesel, but it is promoting recycling, especially when the waste materials can be a feedstock for local factories to make new products that people can consume, and send to the landfill again.
Read Hike in trash fee spurs recycling in the Daily Gazette.
“Campaign under way after study finds Hudson fish in decline despite cleaner river ”
“What could be more benign than body powder, right? Some of Chicago's most highly placed doctors would say, wrong. They are part of a coaltion of public health experts, medical doctors and consumers organizations that is petitioning the federal goverment for warning labels on cosmetic talcum powder products used by many women as part of their personal care regime - a warning that frequent use is linked to ovarian cancer. ”
My mother died of ovarian cancer. I'll do anything to prevent it in myself. My next step is to read some of those medical articles.
— Comment By Jennifer
“Water conservation and an unprecedented water recycling program are key to the 20 year, $1.5 billion water supply strategy introduced by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today. While dry seasons and the effects of climate change threaten Los Angeles' future water supply, population growth is expected to increase water demand in the city 15 percent by 2030. ”
“Two town residents who police said wanted a better view of the river from their properties are facing criminal charges for allegedly taking down 300 trees on state land.”
“As the quadricentennial of Henry Hudson's voyage up the Hudson approaches, a new report shows the river may be in more trouble than anyone suspected. Hudson Valley bureau chief Susan Barnett reports.”
“A report commissioned by Riverkeeper and released on May 15, 2008, The Status of Fish Populations and the Ecology of the Hudson (“Pisces Report”), produced by Pisces Conservation Ltd. reveals that many Hudson River fish are in serious long-term decline. Of 13 key species studied, ten have declined in abundance since the 1980s including shad, tomcod and white perch. Three species, striped bass, bluefish and spottail shiner, have increased due to circumstantial changes that favor them. Other important species not included in the study, such as the American eel, also show long-term declines. Despite the public perception that the Hudson River is in good health, the new evidence indicates an increasingly unstable ecosystem and long-term declines for signature Hudson River fish species.”
“Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose as much as $3.31 to $127.43 a barrel in electronic trading Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. That tops the previous high of $126.98 a barrel set Tuesday.”
“The Saudis have previously rejected American requests to increase production, and Mr. Naimi insisted that the increase was in response to demands from some 50 “customers” worldwide. He did not specify further. “Our response is positive,” he said at a news conference. “If you want more oil you need to buy it.””
“I DON’T know about you, but I’m a little tired of the whole green thing. Not the idea that Americans need to sharply cut their energy use (the words carbon footprint will not pass my lips). And not the idea that there are some relatively painless actions we can all take that will help — although I know real change will not be made without real sacrifice.”
“If you use natural gas at home, you’ve probably noticed that your bills have been getting bigger. In some parts of the country they’ve almost doubled in the past six years. You might assume that rising gas prices are the stuff of Econ 101: Gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico are dwindling, the cost of crude oil is sprinting upward, creating demand for other energy sources and hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged refineries, cutting supply and jacking up prices. But what’s partly behind spikes in your gas bills are the financial traders who capitalize on a dysfunctional regulatory system and an energy market that’s devised to confound consumers.**”
“However, a few cracks have split the shiny veneer of prosperity. Traffic sometimes piles up for the entire length of Rifle’s once-sleepy main drag, and roughnecks pack the hotel rooms, leaving tourists without a bed. Fast food joints have a hard time coaxing people to flip burgers - Grand Junction’s Burger King even offered a $300 signing bonus to lure new employees. It leads to the region’s essential question: What will this storm mean for the identities of these communities? Will today’s influx of cash and commerce help lay the foundation for tomorrow’s sustainable economy? Or will the thousands of drill rigs and thousands more workers reduce the amenity economy - not to mention the landscape - to a shambles, like a tornado tearing through a trailer park? ”
From the article:
A smart grid is exactly what it sounds like: an “intelligent” power grid that uses broadband technology to better manage multiple sources of electricity and increase energy efficiency. In August, Xcel plans to start installing the new smart grid with its 50,000 “smart meters” that will serve about 100,000 residents. Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy picked Boulder for the pilot because the Front Range city is medium-sized and environmentally conscious. It also offers research institutions like the University of Colorado and the National Bureau of Standards and Technology, which is already involved in smart-grid research for the federal government.
Kara Mertz, assistant to the city manager in Boulder, explains that the smart grid will employ a fiber-optic loop around the city. That network will allow communication between households, the utility company and the grid about the amount and source of power in use. The system can also regulate itself. If there’s a power overload in one part of the grid, for example, it will automatically route power through different lines to prevent a shutdown. In addition, a smart grid allows a consumer to choose the power sources she wants to use – wind, solar, or coal.
The system will help consumers make more energy-efficient choices and utilize more renewable energy resources, says Ethnie Groves, spokeswoman for Xcel. “If consumers can see what their households are using on a daily basis, they’ll be better able to track their own usage and figure out ways to save money or be more efficient,” she says.
Smart meters allow consumers to adjust their home power usage automatically. “Basically,” Mertz says, “if you have a ‘smart’ appliance or a little conversion box on your outlet to work with older appliances, the smart grid can talk directly to those appliances … you can turn your dishwasher on from a distance so it runs during non-peak hours, for example.” In addition, says Mertz, the system can store power in battery stations around the city, from which consumers can draw during non-peak hours, and customers “can put power back into the grid from (their) own solar panels.”
Read Welcome to Smart Grid City, Colorado in High Country News.
“According to the Public Service Commission, the number of Consolidated Edison and National Grid customers who were behind on their payments went up by 5% last month compared with April 2007. They are also falling further behind than before, as the amount city residents owe on their utility bill has gone up by 19%.”
“It may have been cold and wet where you lived this winter, but on a global scale, the warming climate is changing life on Earth, finds a new analysis of decades of scientific information not previously assembled. The data show that physical and biological systems across the Earth are being affected by higher temperatures resulting from human activities. ”
“If industry's CCS plan were ever implemented, it would be the largest hazardous waste disposal project that humans have ever undertaken, and among the most dangerous as well. As the New York Times reported April 23, 2008, "A large leak of underground carbon dioxide could be as dangerous as a leak of nuclear fuel, critics say." ”
