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Letters-to-the editor tips
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 CLEVELAND — “The chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio said he is retiring, nearly 3½ years before his term expires.
Alan Schriber said leading the five-member board of the energy and commercial transportation regulator for 12 years is enough.
‘I have been considering this move for many months, and simply decided that after nearly 12 years as chairman, it’s time to move on,’ Mr. Schriber said in a statement. ‘It’s been a great ride and privilege to serve Ohio.’
The move will give incoming Republican Gov. John Kasich the opportunity to name his own utilities chief. Mr. Schriber’s appointment to a five-year term was set to expire in April 2014.”
— Jay Miller, Crain’s Cleveland Business
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 This image was taken from the new Cleveland hazecam on Tuesday, Nov. 9, the most recent day when the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency issued an air quality advisory for fine particle pollution, or soot. CLEVELAND — “Haze is a reduction in visibility caused by air pollution. Cleveland Hazecam is dedicated to increasing public awareness of air pollution, its causes and health effects, and what we can do to reduce it. Our hazecam generates a live image of Cleveland’s skyline every 15 minutes.”
— clevelandhazecam.net
Check out the Cleveland Hazecam
BOONE, NC — “Last April, the Environmental Protection Agency took a bold step toward curtailing mountaintop removal coal mining when it issued draft guidelines that reduced the practice of “valley fills” — which bury streams and poison Appalachia’s water sources — unless they met a high standard.
The guidelines were just one of a series of draft rules issued that day that would reduce the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining. And every day since then, Big Coal has been arguing that the rules are too costly and need to be overturned.
But now it’s our turn to be heard. The EPA is now accepting public comments on its proposed restrictions on mountaintop removal.
Can you take just a moment today to tell the EPA to stand firm on limiting the devastating effects of mountaintop removal coal mining? Comments are due on December 1st.”
— I Love Mountains
Send a comment to the EPA
BP, Westar, and DuPont among companies exempted from environmental law
WASHINGTON, DC — “In the name of job creation and clean energy, the Obama administration has doled out billions of dollars in stimulus money to some of the nation’s biggest polluters and granted them sweeping exemptions from the most basic form of environmental oversight, a Center for Public Integrity investigation has found.
The administration has awarded more than 179,000 ‘categorical exclusions’ to stimulus projects funded by federal agencies, freeing those projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Coal-burning utilities like Westar Energy and Duke Energy, chemical manufacturer DuPont, and ethanol maker Didion Milling are among the firms with histories of serious environmental violations that have won blanket NEPA exemptions.”
— Kristen Lombardi and John Solomon, Center for Public Integrity
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 PARKERSBURG, WV — “Before it can complete the current portion of its study, the C8 Science Panel needs participants to respond for a follow up interview.
Monday, Dr. Kyle Steenland, a member of the science panel determining whether there’s a link between C8 and human disease, held a conference in Vienna.
Dr. Steenland is asking the people who were interviewed in 2009 to call in for a second interview.
‘There’s also a group we were never able to find for the first round of interviews and so, you can still do your first round interview. So, there’s some catch up there we can also do,’ says Dr. Kyle Steenland, Member of the C8 Science Panel.”
— WTAP News
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— Brett Dunlap, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
 Dave Zapotosky/Toledo Blade CARROLL TOWNSHIP — “A new reactor head for the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station arrived in Carroll Township.
The massive reactor head is 17-feet across and weights more than 82 tons. It rolled through eastern Lucas County Monday afternoon. It is outfitted with new control rod nozzles made of a material less likely to crack than its predecessors.
FirstEnergy discovered problems with the nozzles on its current reactor head and had to shut Davis-Besse down for about two months earlier this year.”
— Fox Toledo
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Emerging Leader Awards: Sarah Saheb and Michelle Dillingham
 Sarah Saheb The vision and drive that helped Sarah Saheb to put herself through Truman State University also helped her to create life, hope and community where before there was crime, blight and despair. She furthered her education at the Center for Progressive Leadership where she became a New Leaders Fellow in 2008. While her job with the Service Employees International Union Local 3 serves her passion for organizing people toward justice, it is her volunteer work on the Green Cincinnati Plan, the urban garden/local food project OTR (Over-the-Rhine) Homegrown for which she receives her Emerging Leader Award.
 Michelle Dillingham Michelle Dillingham’s work and volunteer history spans many different environmental initiatives. As assistant to Vice Mayor David Crowley, Michelle helped advance Cincinnati’s Environmental Justice ordinance. She also serves on the Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council Development Team, the Cincinnati Urban Agriculture Advisory Board and works with fellow awardees Dan Korman and Sarah Saheb at OTR Homegrown. Michelle represents the AFL-CIO in the Blue Green Alliance, which released a report “Pathways and Policies on Green Jobs” in October.
 Dan Korman Grassroots Champion Award: Dan Korman
Dan Korman, Park + Vine’s owner, is receiving the Grassroots Champion Award recognizing his sustainable and local business leadership, advocacy for the bicycling community in Cincinnati, and extraordinary example of conscientious living.
Environmental Harmony Through Art Award: Willis “Bing” Davis
 Willis "Bing" Davis Bing Davis’ art expresses the way of our ancestors in being acutely aware of our place in the environment. As an educator through the years he has emphasized to his students the importance of finding new uses for found objects, not just finding a new purpose for them but to elevate them to a transformative state so that the viewer, “…stop, pause to reflect, and in that reflection, hopefully, give honor and praise to those who went before and those on whose shoulders they stand.” Mr. Davis is an internationally renowned artist, whose work has been shown in Ghana, Frankfurt, Germany, and St. Petersburg, Russia. He has also created arts education programs and exhibits for Dayton area arts organizations and schools.
Lifetime Achievement Awards: Carl and Marjorie Evert, and Gerry and Marvin Kraus
 Dr. Carl and Marjorie Evert Dr. Carl and Marjorie Evert are shining examples of a couple dedicated to their Pleasant Ridge community through their work with Citizens Concerned about Hilton Davis and the Pleasant Ridge Community Council to clean up the toxic Hilton Davis site (now owned by Kodak) over the past 25 years. They’ve also been key leaders in addressing air nuisances in the city and restoring the Office of Environmental Quality in Cincinnati after it had been cut from the city’s budget, as well as representing citizens on the Alliance for Chemical Safety, and addressing solid waste issues in Hamilton County. We recognize them with a joint lifetime achievement award for their persistent leadership to make our local environment better for us all.
 Marvin and Gerry Kraus Gerry and Marvin Kraus have both worked hard to lend support, expertise and leadership to many environmental campaigns and organizations throughout Southwest Ohio including, but not limited to recycling in Cincinnati, the Environmental Community Organization (ECO), the Environmental Advisory Council, the Cincinnati Specialties good neighbor campaign, North Avondale Neighborhood Association, and Ohio Citizen Action. We recognize them with a lifetime achievement award in gratitude for their hard work to improve our environment.
Howard M. Metzenbaum Award: Caroline Beidler
 Caroline Beidler (left) with Dr. Erin Haynes The Ohio Citizen Action Howard M. Metzenbaum Award, the organization’s highest award, is presented to an Ohioan who exemplifies the late Senator’s principled tenacity.
Caroline Beidler of Marietta, Ohio, never gave up on her campaign to reduce dangerous pollution from the Eramet manganese refinery in her community. She began her efforts fifteen years ago, when she noticed a terrible odor that affected her health, her quality of life, even her dream home.
Caroline kept a “stink diary,” talked with her neighbors, spoke out, helped organize “Neighbors for Clean Air,” and worked with Ohio Citizen Action to launch a good neighbor campaign. In 2008, Eramet announced it would make $150 million in improvements to its facility to prevent pollution and continues to meet with the Neighbors for Clean Air as changes are implemented.
LISBON – “The Columbus law firm that quit representing Baard Energy because of the company’s failure to pay its legal bills is back on board.
Attorney Christopher Jones advised the state Environmental Review Appeals Commission that the law firm of Calfee, Halter & Griswold was again representing Baard Energy’s Ohio River Clean Fuels (OCRF) project, indicating the company now had the money to pay them.
The law firm was hired to represent Baard Energy to defend against appeals filed by environmental activist groups challenging the air pollution permits issued by the OEPA. The permits are for the OCRF project – a $6 billion plant proposed for outside Wellsville that would convert coal to jet and diesel fuel.
Jones withdrew from the appeals case on Oct. 5, eight days after a federal court magistrate issued a default judgment to an engineering firm owed money by Baard Energy for the OCRF project. The judgment was in the amount of $155,812, plus interest, for a total judgment of $222,764.
Baard Energy President and CEO John Baardson told the Columbus Dispatch in an Oct. 31 story they had run out of money but he was confident the debts would be paid once private investors came on board,”
— Tom Giambroni, Salem News
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 CINCINNATI — Melissa English of Ohio Citizen Action will speak at the Christ Church Cathedral Community Issues Forum on December 2. Ms. English will present information from the report The Future is Now: A Citizens’ Audit of the Rumpke Sanitary Landfill and Regional Solid Waste Management, co-written with Property Owners Want Equal Rights, a group of Rumpke landfill neighbors. The forum takes place in the undercroft of the cathedral (lower level) every other Thursday at noon. The forums are free and open to all, and all programs include time for questions and answers. Attendees may bring their own lunch or buy one at the cathedral for $5.50.
CINCINNATI — Since April, 5,342 letters, messages and drawings have streamed into Rumpke headquarters in Colerain Township from people who believe in a better way to manage the region’s waste. These citizens do not agree that expanding the landfill in Colerain Township is necessary or wise and many have criticized the company for suing the township over denial of a zoning request. Children’s drawings in particular tend to focus on the underground fire that has been burning since August 2009 and on the importance of recycling.
— Melissa English, Southern Ohio Campaign Director, Ohio Citizen Action
 Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse in Cleveland CLEVELAND — United States District Court Judge Dan Polster has ordered plaintiffs Ohio Citizen Action and Maple Heights neighbor Carl Gaglione to meet in person with a representative from the City of Maple Heights and all respective attorneys on Monday, November 29, 2010 in Judge’s chambers at the Federal Courthouse on 801 W. Superior Avenue in Cleveland.
This Case Management Conference is a planning meeting which sets the agenda and schedule for upcoming Court proceedings related to Ohio Citizen Action and Gaglione’s yard sign lawsuit against the City of Maple Heights, Ohio Citizen Action, et al. vs. City of Maple Heights.
— Stephen Gabor, Cleveland Area Campaign Director, Ohio Citizen Action
Matt Keener prepares to interview Chuck Huck
 - Deanna Broadus during her interview with Matt Keener
MAPLE HEIGHTS — Los Angeles filmmaker Matt Keener came to Maple Heights last Thursday to interview neighbors about pollution coming from Kokosing Asphalt’s plant north of Granger and south of I-480 on the Maple Heights/Garfield Heights border. Keener interviewed Kathy and Chuck Huck and Deanna Broaddus. All three neighbors have been active in a campaign to convince Kokosing to reduce pollution in their neighborhood.
Keener was in town as part of a project being funded by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The project’s goal is to encourage polluting facilities to make products and provide services in cleaner, less harmful ways. Keener works with Collaboration Filmworks, a Los Angeles-based media company that focuses on creating and marketing stories for major motion picture and television projects and provides production support for non-commercial independent film projects. Keener wrote, produced and was assistant director for Random Shooting in L.A. (2002); wrote and directed Self-Inflicted (2005); and produced and directed The Wedding Project (1999).
In her interview with Keener, Broaddus said, “I take care of my health and my body. I exercise, I eat right, and it could all be destroyed by pollution coming from an asphalt plant in my neighborhood.”
— Stephen Gabor, Cleveland Area Campaign Director, Ohio Citizen Action
 The lining in this disposal cell keeps coal ash from leaching into the nearby water supply; an unlined disposal cell in the same site has come under scrutiny. (Joe Mills ) CROOM, MD — “The winding Mataponi Creek looks clear in the sunlight, with marsh grasses lining its banks. But some of the coal ash waste from a nearby power plant is also coursing through its waters, and residents are worried it is contaminating their well water.
The area around the Brandywine ash storage site – where waste from Mirant Mid-Atlantic’s Chalk Point plant containing carcinogens and heavy metals ends up – is a fairly rural community, with residents who are far from politically active and have little leverage with elected officials who might act on the matter.
‘Why is this not in some other county? Why is it not in the Potomac?’ asked Fred Tutman, who heads the environmental advocacy group Patuxent Riverkeeper, as he navigated his motorboat on the Mataponi Creek. ‘It’s about power, economic power, political power, resource power.’”
— Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
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 MARTINSVILLE, VA — “Martinsville officials now think it will be mid-December before they receive from American Municipal Power (AMP) details about a power plant project in Ohio in which the city may participate.
That is because of the many technical aspects involved in changing a coal-fired project into a natural-gas fired project, the city’s new Power Advisory Committee learned during its first meeting Friday.
The city electric department hoped to have that information already.The new target date is based on city officials’ recent talks with AMP staff.”
— Mickey Powell, Martinsville Bulletin
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COLUMBUS – Baard Energy says it didn’t comply with an October 14 order by the State’s Environmental Review Appeals Commission because it didn’t know about it. The order instructed Baard Energy to retain an attorney by October 25. According to a November 17 filing, “Representatives of [Baard Energy’s Ohio River Clean Fuels] have no knowledge of receipt of the Commission’s October 14th Ruling”. All Commission rulings are sent to all parties, including Baard Energy.
The new Baard filing was made by Christopher Jones, who said he “is re-engaged and re-appears as counsel” for Baard Energy now that John Baardson has met his “fee obligations.” Jones will be defending Baard’s pollution permits for the proposed coal refinery in Wellsville. Jones, hired in June, had abruptly quit as counsel on October 4. Baard’s previous counsel, Anthony Giuliani, also abruptly dropped Baard.
— Paul Ryder, Organizing Director, Ohio Citizen Action
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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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