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 Ohio Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, second from right, and other state and local officials look at the site for the proposed Baard Energy refinery on the Ohio River. WELLSVILLE – “The Baard Energy plant is still a reality and is coming to the area, according to Wellsville Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Allmon.Allmon told the chamber Thursday a meeting was held with Baard officials and ‘they are still coming.’ After the chamber meeting, Allmon said he and presidents of other chambers met with Baard President Steve Dopuch, who could not give a specific time frame but who indicated he is ‘almost positive’ the plant will be built. ‘The biggest obstacle right now is the Sierra Club,’ Allmon said, Jo Ann Bobby-Gilbert, Morning Journal News.
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Conviction could impact Baard Energy project, Tom Giambroni, Salem News.
Baard Energy: It’s everyone else’s fault, M Stewart, Ohio River Life blog.
 Michael Michaud (D) of Maine's 2nd District WASHINGTON, DC — “Another co-sponsorship record was achieved today when Rep. Michael Michaud (D) of Maine’s 2nd District became the 164th co-sponsor to sign onto the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310), an effective ban on mountaintop removal coal mining. Rep. Michaud is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where the bill currently sits. Six Ohioans are also co-sponsors of H.R. 1310: Mary Jo Kilroy, Steve Driehaus, Tim Ryan, Dennis Kucinich, Marcia Fudge, and Betty Sutton. Neither Ohio Senator is a co-sponsor of the Senate version, the Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696), despite letters and messages from 34,195 Ohioans,” Kate Russell, Organizer, Ohio Citizen Action
 Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum The Ohio Citizen Action Howard M. Metzenbaum Award is the highest honor the organization can give. Since 1995, it has been presented to an Ohioan who best reflects Senator Metzenbaum’s example of principled tenacity.
Ohio Citizen Action is inviting nominations for this year’s award by April 30, 2010.
When Howard M. Metzenbaum retired from the U.S. Senate in 1994, Ohio Citizen Action wanted to honor him by presenting an award in his name each year. Throughout his years of service in the Senate, Senator Metzenbaum’s name was synonymous with fighting for what’s right. For every day of his eighteen years of service in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Metzenbaum never stopped fighting for the rights of workers and consumers, never stopped being outraged at injustice, and never gave an inch to special interests.
Award Criteria: The nominee must be a resident of or have a strong connection to Ohio and must have demonstrated achievements exhibiting “principled tenacity.”
Nominations Process:
Please provide the following:
- Nominee’s name, address, phone, occupation and/or organizational affiliations.
- Your reasons for nominating this individual for the Metzenbaum Award.
- Relevant background information, such as nominee’s biographic sketch or resume, newspaper articles or other materials.
- Your name and contact information.
Please send nominations to Sandy Buchanan, Executive Director, Ohio Citizen Action, 614 W. Superior Ave, Suite 1200, Cleveland, OH 44113 or email to sbuchanan@ohiocitizen.org.
Thank you.
 WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Have they turned their backs on the great American pastoral and our devastated coalfield communities and gobbled up the hook-line-and-sinker of Big Coal public relations shams and Big Coal lobby money? Instead of making false promises of more boom-bust jobs in a heavily mechanized industry—strip mining strips jobs, using explosives and bulldozers instead of miners–why aren’t Midwest Democrats recognizing the huge boom in the clean energy market and helping coalfield communities get their fair share of the clean energy jobs, and the investment funds? Why aren’t they advocating for a G.I. Bill for coal miners and former coal miners, to get education and retraining, and help launch the weatherization programs with electricians, plumbers, construction workers, or massive reforestation programs with the same bulldozer drivers? Why aren’t we setting up a manufacturing base to build solar panels and wind turbines–not just use them?,” Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post.
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But he rules against Englewood’s licensing requirements in its ordinance
 A federal judge, in a split decision, has upheld the city of Englewood's curfew but struck down other parts of the ordinance. ENGLEWOOD — “A federal judge last week upheld the city’s 6 p.m. curfew on solicitors. ‘We are thrilled to win, that he supported a 6 o’clock curfew,’ City Manager Eric Smith said of U.S. District Judge Walker Rice’s Feb. 16 decision. ‘That’s an extremely important point that we prevailed on.’ The city did not, however, prevail on all its points in defense of a suit brought by Ohio Citizen Action. The judge did find portions of the city’s ordinance — requiring solicitors to get a copy of the city’s do-not-solicit list and the curfew — constitutional, while striking down some aspects of the do-not-solicit list and the licensing of solicitors. The latter, the city claimed, was needed to protect its citizens from fraud. Call it a split decision, ” Doug Page, Dayton Daily News.
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Englewood lawsuit Q&A, Doug Page, Dayton Daily News.
 Hay bales were placed in the creek to help "clean" the contaminated water “This morning Kentuckians for the Commonwealth member Mickey McCoy, a resident of Martin County, discovered that a stream near his home, the Coldwater Fork, was running gray and black from a slurry spill at a coal processing facility owned by Massey Energy. These types of spills threaten the health of nearby residents and wildlife populations and are all too frequently a fact of life for people who live downstream from slurry impoundments… What is it going to take to get Massey to obey the law? Why are they allowed to continue operating when they show a consistent disregard for the health and safety of the communities they reside in?” Erik Hungerbuhler, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.
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 Mark Chaney protests the SunCoke plant during the Monroe City Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 23. (Robert Leifheit) MONROE — Some Monroe residents are questioning why the city is continuing its fight against SunCoke Energy… Larry Keith of Trenton said jobs are vital to every community. ‘I understand their environmental concerns, but every city needs commerce… People have got to have jobs. There’s just no way around it. ‘Monroe Mayor Robert Routson disagrees, saying in a statement released Tuesday by the city that, ‘It is not acceptable to risk the health of 12,000 Monroe citizens for the sake of 75 permanent jobs,’” Denise Wilson, Middletown Journal.
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Anti-SunCoke persistence miffs AK, union — Jessica Heffner, Oxford Press.
Meeting tonight about SunCoke energy permit In Monroe —Annette Peagler, WCPO.
 The Martin County coal sludge spill in 2000 MARTIN COUNTY, KY — “The Martin County Sheriff’s Office says a slurry spill has been reported along Coldwater Branch, which is also Route 908. Dispatchers tell WSAZ.com that the spill was reported between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Tuesday. They say Martin County Coal contacted the Kentucky Environmental Protection Agency to say there was a slurry spill. It’s not known how much spilled. K.C. Fitch with Martin County EMS tells WSAZ.com that the spill is minor. Fitch says the spill has turned the creek water black, but did not cause a significant rise in the water levels. He says crews are now on the scene working to contain the spill,” WSAZ.
Coldwater Branch in Martin County, KY is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, which in turn flows into the Ohio River at Catlettsburg, KY. In 2000, a sludge dam broke in Martin County, releasing a torrent of 300 million gallons of toxic coal sludge into the water system.
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 Breaking ground on Massey Energy's regional headquarters were: left to right, Baxter Phillips, Massey's Chief Administrative Officer, Mike Snelling, vice president of surface mining, Larry Lodato, director of the Economic Development Office, State Senator Ron Stollings, Bart Clemons, president of Massey Coal Services, Don Blankenship, Chief Executive Officer, and Chris Adkins, Chief Operating Officer. CHARLESTON, WV — “Massey Energy says it’s changed the way it would pay severance packages for several top executives if the Richmond, Va.-based coal company is sold. Massey says in a regulatory filing that Chief Executive Don Blankenship and three others would receive fixed lump sum cash payments under a change approved recently by the board of directors. Previously, their payments would have been based on formulas included in individual agreements with Massey. The document filed Monday doesn’t provide details. Massey says those will be included in a later filing. Besides Blankenship, Massey says the change covers Chief Operating Officer John Adkins, surface mining chief Mike Snelling and Chief Financial Officer Eric Tolbert,” Associated Press.
Why does this news deserve attention? Because it supports recent rumors that Peabody Energy may want to buy Massey Energy.
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 U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) Rahall says he’s not defending the EPA
BECKLEY, WV — “Some 200 members of the House proposed legislation to abolish the method, but it went to the Roads and Transportation Committee, where Rahall is vice chairman. ‘I blocked it,’ he said. ‘I kept it from even having a hearing on it. It would have passed Congress overwhelmingly. It was a freebie. Republicans would have voted to end mountaintop removal.’ Since it’s not an issue in their districts, he said, ‘they’d have voted to abolish it in a heartbeat.’ Another means of wiping out the practice would be to amend the surface mining and reclamation law which Rahall authored in his first year in Congress in 1977. ‘Guess where that has to go?’ he asked. ‘The Natural Resources Committee. Guess who’s chairman? Me,’” Mannix Porterfield, Register-Herald.
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 An EPA SunCoke hearing held in September. (Pat Auckerman/Middletown Journal) The company can only use its new permit to construct $360 million coke plant in Middletown, agency says.
MIDDLETOWN — “While SunCoke Energy may be on its second air permit for its $360 million coke plant, only one of them is valid. The company received a second, more stringent New Source Review air permit by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency this month. While SunCoke was granted a valid netting permit from the state in November 2008, it was the subject of numerous appeals and a Clean Air Act lawsuit which threatened to put a hold on the project. While Ohio EPA officials said they believe that first permit to be protective of public health, language in the NSR permit makes it invalid,” Jessica Heffner, Middletown Journal.
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 Our Good Neighbor Campaign Handbook was published in 2006, and is available on Amazon and the other major on-line booksellers.
It is a 168-page guide to how to win the kind of anti-pollution campaigns we have been waging in Ohio and elsewhere. The chapters were written by people who have learned the lessons from experience: Rachael Belz, Hilton Kelley, Kim Klein, Denny Larson, Teresa Mills, the late John O’Connor, and Paul Ryder.
Purchase the book at Amazon.com or download a copy (2.1 MB pdf)
Good neighbor campaigns
Canvassing
Continue reading How to win
 COLUMBUS — “Baard Energy says its proposed coal-to-liquid refinery for Wellsville will help the United States become more more energy independent. Sounds great, but the arithmetic doesn’t work. Let’s start at the refinery level. Typically, for every one ton of coal fed into a refinery using this technology, two barrels of liquid fuel come out the other end, according to a U.S. Department of Energy study. The Baard Energy proposal is no exception. They say they will use 9.3 million tons of coal a year to produce 53,000 barrels a day of liquid fuel. That works out to 2.08 barrels per ton of coal.
 Now back to energy independence. Imported crude oil is about 60% of U.S. consumption. What would it take, using the coal-to-liquids technology, to displace just 10% of U.S. oil consumption? It would require a 42% increase in U.S. coal production, or 475 million tons more coal every year, to run these refineries, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
 This is simply not going to happen. People will not stand for it,” Paul Ryder, Organizing Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
 Twisted Gun Golf Course on a Mingo County mountaintop removal site in West Virginia. CHARLESTON, WV — “Mountaintop-removal mining continues to damage the environment long after regulators sign off that mine sites have been properly reclaimed, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. GAO investigators found that mountaintop removal damages water quality, reforestation efforts need improvement, and mine operators often do not comply with the approximate original contour reclamation requirement. And in a 68-page report to Congress, the GAO said federal and state regulators could do more to limit the damage and to ensure mine operators are held financially responsible for cleaning up industry messes,” Ken Ward, Jr, Charleston Gazette.
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COLUMBUS — “It would help neighbors in Wellsville and the surrounding area to know what a plant like Baard Energy wants to build looks like in real life. Here is one, in Secunda, South Africa, that uses the same technology Baard plans to use.
If this looks like a refinery, its because that’s what it is. The name ‘Ohio River Clean Fuels Coal-To-Liquids Facility’ was chosen to avoid having to call it a refinery. A ‘refinery’ is defined as ‘an installation that manufactures finished petroleum products from crude oil, unfinished oils, natural gas liquids, other hydrocarbons, and oxygenates.’ Coal is a hydrocarbon, and the Baard plant is a refinery,” Paul Ryder, Organizing Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
Continue reading Baard Energy wants to build an “Ohio River Clean Fuels Coal-To-Liquids Facility” in Wellsville. What is that? What would it look like?
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Letters supporting the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act 7,672 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and made personal phone calls urging state legislators to support the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act as of May 14, 2013.
Ohio coal-fired power plants
Resources on proposed Cleveland incinerator
AEP’s Muskingum River Power Plant
Letters to American Electric Power 989 neighbors have sent handwritten letters urging AEP to retire its Muskingum River coal plant as of July 15, 2011.
Letters to Duke Energy 2,307 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and telewires urging Duke Energy to retire Miami Fort Unit 6 and Beckjord coal plants as of July 15, 2011.
Letters to Kokosing Asphalt 8,709 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and petitions urging Kokosing Asphalt to be a good neighbor as of February 25, 2011.
Letters to Rumpke 9,205 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and petitions urging Rumpke to be a good neighbor as of April 15, 2011.
Letters to FirstEnergy 3,914 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and petitions urging FirstEnergy to retire their four Lake Erie coal plants as of July 15, 2011.
Mountaintop removal coal mining
Letters to Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator Rob Portman 6,615 members have sent handwritten letters and petitions to Senator Brown urging him to support US EPA rules that will protect our health from polluting coal plants as of January 24, 2012.
3,751 members have petitioned Senator Portman urging him to support US EPA rules that will protect our health from polluting coal plants as of January 24, 2012.
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