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Letters-to-the editor tips
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 Children playing near smokestacks. CLEVELAND — “A new national NAACP report, ‘Coal Blooded: Putting Profits over People‘, identifies Lake Shore Plant in Cleveland, as the nation’s sixth-most harmful plant for low-income communities and communities of color, receiving a grade of ‘F’. On Thursday, June 30, NAACP leaders will release the report and urge Cleveland residents to take action.
The report analyzes emissions and demographic factors – including race, income, and population density – to calculate ‘environmental justice scores’ for the nation’s 431 coal-fired power plants. The report’s release coincides with the comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new mercury and air toxics standards, which will limit toxic emissions from power plants.
‘Lake Shore Plant is an egregious example of a nationwide issue – coal power plants that are disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color,’ stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. ‘We hope that this report will raise awareness at a critical juncture for reform.’
Continue reading Cleveland coal plant harms low-income communities and communities of color
 Robert L. Reymond, associate vice president, Energy Group, Burns & McDonnell TULSA, OK — “Robert L. Reymond, PE, associate vice president, Energy Group, Burns & McDonnell:
‘I think that what we are going to see over the next three to four years is a lot of work in the engineering construction business in the power industry driven by regulation, specifically in terms of environmental projects. Environmental retrofits to existing coal are going to be an enormous business and are going to be very, very active over the next four years. We are already starting to see it. The projects are already starting to happen. From that perspective I think it looks good.’”
— Brian Wheeler, Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production
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 NEW YORK, NY — “Electric utility American Electric Power Co. spent $2 million lobbying the government in the first quarter on clean air and clean water rules, according to a recent disclosure report.
That’s about half of the $3.6 million that the company spent in the fourth quarter of last year, and about 40 percent less than the $3.3 million it spent in the first quarter of 2010.
The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of tightening clean air standards, reducing the amount of pollutants such as mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that utilities and others are allowed to release into the air. Two-thirds of AEP’s electric generation capacity comes from coal-fired power plants, a major source of these pollutants.
AEP and other coal-heavy utilities have argued that the clean-air rules are tightening too fast, leading to high costs for equipment that removes pollutants from smoke.”
— Associated Press
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 ROCKVILLE, MD — “When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story — insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows.
By rewriting history, plant owners are making it easier to extend the lives of dozens of reactors in a relicensing process that resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp.
As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation’s nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator’s application.”
— Jeff Donn, Associated Press
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 ALBANY, N.Y. — “One of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s top advisers met with the operators of the Indian Point nuclear plant last week and told them that the governor was determined to close the plant.
Mr. Cuomo is not the first politician or the first governor to take that position, but newly passed state legislation will make it easier for him to do so.
The meeting was the first high-level meeting between Entergy, the company that runs Indian Point, and the Cuomo administration, and it was convened at Entergy’s request.
Mr. Cuomo has repeatedly taken the position in speeches that he wants to close the plant. But his administration had not delivered the message so directly to the company, or in such strong words, and company officials left the meeting alarmed.
The encounter seemed to mark a heightened determination to close the plant, and recent events put considerable leverage in the governor’s hands to make his wish a reality.”
— Danny Hakim, New York Times
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 AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — “This new analysis of the global power plant market shows that since the late 1990s, wind and solar installations grew faster than any other power plant technology across the world – about 430,000 MW total installed capacity between 2000 and 2010. . . Between 1970 and 1990, OECD1 countries that electrified their economies mainly with coal, gas and hydro power plants dominated the global power plant market. The power sector, at this time, was in the hands of state-owned utilities with regional or nationwide supply monopolies. The nuclear industry had a relatively short period of steady growth between 1970 and the mid 1980s – with a peak in 1985, one year before the Chernobyl accident – while the following years were in decline, with no sign of a ‘nuclear renaissance’, despite the rhetoric. Between 1990 and 2000, the global power plant industry went through a series of changes. While OECD countries began to liberalize their electricity markets, electricity demand did not match previous growth, so fewer new power plants were built. Capital-intensive projects with long payback times, such as coal and nuclear power plants, were unable to get sufficient financial support. The decade of gas power plants started.”
— Sven Teske, Greenpeace International
The Silent Energy Revolution.pdf
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The finished model of Miami Fort
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Rachael Belz sets up the model
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Detail of model describing use of mountaintop removal coal
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Detail of model describing Ohio River pollution
CONEY ISLAND AMUSEMENT PARK, CINCINNATI — A model of Miami Fort coal plant drew the eyes of many Paddlefest participants last Friday and led to great conversations with Ohio Citizen Action staff. The model, made by Cincinnati Ohio Citizen Action canvassers, stood out among the water sports gear, canoes and displays of the other exhibitors. “People would kind of look, then look again and lots of them came over to ask about the model and what we were doing,” said Coal Program Organizer, Rachael Belz. “I met some really passionate and knowledgeable people who I think will make great volunteers,” she said.
– Melissa K. English, Development Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
For more information about volunteering for our campaign to close Duke’s Miami Fort and Beckjord coal plants, contact Rachael Belz.
 Aubrey McClendon, chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., sent an email to employees in which he called the Times article “inaccurate and misleading.” OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — “Weekend New York Times articles that questioned whether the productivity and economic potential of shale gas has been overhyped by industry officials created a furor Monday among oil and gas executives as well as academic officials who study the industry.
‘Are you telling me some reporter at The New York Times knows more about the natural gas business than 25 companies and their engineers? I don’t think so,’ said Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who has amassed much of his fortune through his ability to analyze and predict developments and price movements in the oil and gas industry.
Aubrey McClendon, chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., sent an email to employees in which he called the Times article ‘inaccurate and misleading.’
‘The Times story was obviously motivated by an anti-natural gas agenda. It is telling that the reporter chose not to interview a single reliable source and instead selectively quoted emails from unnamed sources or well-known industry critics dating back to as early as 2007 to invent a series of inaccurate and misleading allegations,’ McClendon said.”
— Randy Ellis, Jay F. Marks, NewsOK
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 "A drilling operation in Texas. In documents, Energy Information Administration officials voice skepticism." WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Energy companies have worked hard to promote the idea that natural gas is the fossil fuel of tomorrow, and they have found reliable allies among policy makers in Washington.
‘The potential for natural gas is enormous,’ President Obama said in a speech this year, having cited it as an issue on which Democrats and Republicans can agree.
The Department of Energy boasts in news releases about helping jump-start the boom in drilling by financing some research that made it possible to tap the gas trapped in shale formations deep underground.
In its annual forecasting reports, the United States Energy Information Administration, a division of the Energy Department, has steadily increased its estimates of domestic supplies of natural gas, and investors and the oil and gas industry have repeated them widely to make their case about a prosperous future.
But not everyone in the Energy Information Administration agrees. In scores of internal e-mails and documents, officials within the Energy Information Administration, or E.I.A., voice skepticism about the shale gas industry.”
— Ian Urbina, New York Times
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NEW YORK, NY — “In the e-mails, energy executives, industry lawyers, state geologists and market analysts voice skepticism about lofty forecasts and question whether companies are intentionally, and even illegally, overstating the productivity of their wells and the size of their reserves. Many of these e-mails also suggest a view that is in stark contrast to more bullish public comments made by the industry, in much the same way that insiders have raised doubts about previous financial bubbles.
‘Money is pouring in’ from investors even though shale gas is ‘inherently unprofitable,’ an analyst from PNC Wealth Management, an investment company, wrote to a contractor in a February e-mail. ‘Reminds you of dot-coms.’
‘The word in the world of independents is that the shale plays are just giant Ponzi schemes and the economics just do not work,’ an analyst from IHS Drilling Data, an energy research company, wrote in an e-mail on Aug. 28, 2009. Company data for more than 10,000 wells in three major shale gas formations raise further questions about the industry’s prospects. There is undoubtedly a vast amount of gas in the formations. The question remains how affordably it can be extracted.”
— Ian Urbina, New York Times
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 Lisa Crawford explains how her group FRESH fought to make the preserve a reality.  Mike Koscielak learns about "Duck and Cover" in an exhibit of a 1950s living room.  Sue Walpole hits the highlights of the Fernald site's history.  Sue Walpole shares photographs of Fernald from 1938, 1952, 1992 and the present. FERNALD PRESERVE — Ohio Citizen Action canvassers toured the site of a nuclear weapons production facility that’s been reclaimed by the community as a nature preserve. Their guides, Lisa Crawford of Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health, and Sue Walpole of Flour Fernald, both have over 20 years experience with the site, which once enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. “This is the best possible outcome,” said Lisa Crawford of the site, which now is home to quail, ducks and otters. The visitor center is also one of Ohio’s best examples of environmentally friendly building and design. Canvassers were especially impressed by the wastewater treatment system of wetlands and solar powered pumps and the many building features made from recycled materials.
— Melissa K. English, Development Director, Ohio Citizen Action.
Lisa Crawford was awarded The Ohio Citizen Action Howard M. Metzenbaum Award in 1996. We are now accepting nominations for this year’s award.
Brewster Rhoads has grown event into the largest in the country
 Paddlefest promoter Brewster Rhoads with his kayak. / The Enquirer/Michael E. Keating CINCINNATI — “…Rhoads has another thrill in store this weekend on the Ohio: the sight of more than 2,000 Paddlefest participants in kayaks and canoes. Organizers say it’s the largest paddling event of its kind in the country.
Rhoads is chair and founder of the event, which is a project of the Ohio River Way, a nonprofit that promotes and celebrates the recreational benefits of the river.
Now in its 10th year, Paddlefest has grown from a one-day event with 285 paddlers to a three-day celebration for thousands. A Kids Outdoor Adventure Expo is expected to draw 3,000 young people on Thursday, followed by the Ohio River Music & Outdoor Festival on Friday. Saturday features the traditional float down the Ohio from Coney Island to the Public Landing.
Rhoads, a Philadelphia native who lives in Mount Washington, calls Paddlefest a ‘paddling pep rally.’ It’s one reason, he says, that Cincinnati can claim the title of ‘paddling capital of the U.S.’”
— John Johnston, Cincinnati Enquirer
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Brewster was Cincinnati Director for Ohio Citizen Action in the 1980′s.
Please stop by the Ohio Citizen Action booth at Paddlefest this weekend!
 CINCINNATI — “Duke Energy’s residential customers in Ohio would pay about $4 a month more under a new proposed, nine-year electric rate plan.
The new rate would take effect starting Jan. 1, if approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
The plan would base charges on both a competitive auction to set electric prices and a required capacity charge for all customers.
It would replace a two-year plan based on market rates that was rejected by the commission earlier this year.
Duke’s current electric rate plan expires at the end of this year. It has triggered half a dozen competitive offers from electric suppliers in Duke’s Ohio service area.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based utility holding company has about 615,000 electric customers in southwest Ohio.
The latest proposal has several new features including a mechanism to share net profits from the sale of energy and related services from Duke’s Ohio power plants with customers. They would receive 80 percent of profits, and the company would receive 20 percent.”
— Mike Boyer, Cincinnati Enquirer
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 LISBON — “Baard Energy is being sued in Coshocton County for its past role in creation of a now-closed ethanol plant that has fallen 18 months behind on its payments to the city of Coshocton.
Coschocton’s mayor issued a news release Wednesday announcing it had filed a breach-of-control lawsuit against Coshocton Ethanol and John Baardson, CEO of Baard Energy. Baard Energy was the initial developer of the ethanol plant, which it sold to another company in 2006, two years before the plant opened.
As part of the deal to land the plant, Coschocton agreed to borrow $7 million from the state to extend city sewage lines to the ethanol plant and fund needed improvements at the municipal sewage treatment plant before wastewater could be accepted from the facility.
The agreement called for the plant operator to repay 70 percent of the loan, but the facility closed in December 2008, 10 months after it opened, and the city of Coshocton has not received any payments in 18 months. According to the news release, the owners have been working unsuccessfully on securing funding to reopen the plant, and the city has been in talks with officials over that period, but circumstances forced the city to act now to protect itself.”
— Tom Giambroni, Salem News
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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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