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One thing I know for sure is that Blankenship testified under oath a few months ago that he now lives in Johnson City, Tenn. I haven’t been able to confirm persistent rumors that he’s back in the coal business in some capacity. But this morning, readers of the Charleston Daily Mail’s editorial page were treated to an op-ed under Blankenship’s byline. Headlined ‘The 2004 allegations against McGraw hold up: Child molesters do not belong in public schools,’ the piece is a take on — of all things — the Penn State University football program’s child rape scandal.” — Ken Ward Jr., Coal Tattoo
The EPA stopped short of granting an across-the-board delay in implementing the rules, as sought by companies such as American Electric Power Co. (AEP) and Southern Co. (SO), according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity while the proposal is under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Instead, it’s designed to offer guarantees that the EPA rule won’t endanger electric reliability by forcing companies to shut plants that burn coal. The EPA ‘will reinforce that an additional year is available,’ Christine Tezak, a senior policy analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. in McLean, Virginia, said in an interview. ‘But people will still have to ask for it.’ The rule, estimated by the EPA to cost $11 billion in 2015, is one of the most expensive proposed by President Barack Obama’s administration. It is set to be issued next month and take effect in 2015.” — Mark Drajem, Bloomberg
The Brandon Shores plant will meet the EPA’s new air toxics rule by ‘an ample margin,’ said Paul Allen, Constellation’s senior vice president for corporate affairs. Constellation broke ground to build the scrubber in June 2007 and finished in September 2009. At the peak of construction, 1,385 people worked on it. Allen said he’d heard the complaint that the EPA wasn’t giving industry enough time. ‘That doesn’t square with our experience,’ he said. As with any construction project, there was a trade-off between how much was spent and how fast the work got done. The state deadline made Constellation move fast, and it spent $885 million. It also added 30 jobs to run the pollution-control equipment — and it remains profitable. Today, the white plumes rising from two new stacks at the plant emit mostly water vapor and carbon dioxide. The scrubber — a large chemical plant next to the plant — cuts 95 percent of the sulfur dioxide, which contributes to soot, and 90 percent of the mercury.” —Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers Too many Ohioans die from pollution from coal burning power plantsOhio produces more air pollution than any state in the country, largely due to New EPA rules protect public healthThe U.S. EPA is proposing a series of standards for air and water pollution that would protect public health. These rules would prevent releases of mercury, acid gases, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and ozone, and would protect lakes and streams from superheated water coming out of power plants. The U.S. EPA estimates that the rules would prevent up to 36,000 deaths a year. The rules could reduce health care costs by $120 billion every year, which translates to $42 in savings for every dollar invested by power companies.
Mail your letter to: Senator Sherrod Brown713 Hart Office Senate BuildingWashington, DC 20510
AKRON — “A recent report in the Washington Post proved revealing. It examined data from surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency asking businesses the leading reasons for their job cuts. In 2010, just 0.3 percent of layoffs were due to ‘government regulations/intervention.’ A far more telling, and obvious, factor? The lack of demand. A recent Hartford Financial Services survey arrived at similar results. …That isn’t to deny the many tales of maddening rules. Rather, the aim is the larger context, a reminder that regulations serve an invaluable purpose. They prevent people from inflicting harm on other people. They reflect the simple truth that men and women are not angels, as James Madison famously observed about the need for government to balance greed, selfishness, carelessness. Consider the recent calamities due to a lack of effective regulation, the financial crack-up, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the mine collapse in West Virginia. Lisa Heinzerling, a Georgetown law professor, makes these points — and another — in a recent essay for the American Constitution Society. She cites John Locke’s notion that the law promotes freedom by protecting people from other people. In other words, regulations shouldn’t be assessed on a narrow measure of jobs. The true test is whether or not they benefit the whole.” — Editorial, Akron Beacon Journal  "We are fortunate to live next to such a beautiful lake, which I might add is one of the major sources of fresh water. Shouldn't we do everything within our power to preserve it, not only for ourselves but for the future generations to come." Critics say White House office operates as ‘one-stop wrecking machine’ for important environmental protections Report shows Obama has been just as zealous as his predecessor at thwarting the EPA. Photograph: Kent Nishimura WASHINGTON, DC — “Oira was set up by Congress with the purpose of performing a last review of government regulations to see how they would work once they were put into effect. Its current chief is Cass Sunstein, a friend of Obama from his days teaching at Harvard Law School. In practice, critics say the office operates as a one-stop wrecking machine undoing environmental, health, and worker safety protections that could cause political problems for the White House. When lobbying Congress and the president fails to delay or weaken a regulation, industry has learned over the years that Oira can be their last best resort, the report says. ‘A steady stream of industry lobbyists — appearing some 3,760 times over the ten-year period we studied — uses OIRA as a court of last resort when they fail to convince experts at agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to weaken pending regulations.’ The lobbyists were particularly obsessed with trying to undo environmental protections. Corporate executives and indusry lobbyists turned up at the White House about once a week over the last decade to try to delay or weaken EPA regulations, or more than 440 meetings.” — Suzanne Goldberg, The Guardian
CINCINNATI — “Tom+Chee co-owner Corey Ward was baffled last year when a Rumpke representative told him they couldn’t supply recycling services to his grilled cheese and tomato soup shop on East Court Street. ‘Every beverage we serve comes in plastic or glass,’ Ward said. ‘We had customers asking if we recycled. We’d have to say ‘Sorry, we don’t.’ His team considered driving the reusable garbage to a public recycling drop-off near the Main Library. Then they learned about the Bar & Restaurant Recycling Program through the Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District. ‘Rumpke does offer recycling,’ said Michelle Balz, community outreach coordinator who runs the waste district project. ‘But sometimes there’s a communication breakdown.’ So she walked Tom+Chee through the process of setting up recycling, and today the shop that started in a tent on Fountain Square (and found fame in the form of bacon grilled cheese sandwiches topped with BBQ chips and grilled cheese donuts) recycles enough plastic, glass and cardboard to fill a standard-sized six-person hot tub once a month.” — Carrie Whitaker, Cincinnati Enquirer
And while we appreciate and support the push to diversity our nation’s energy base with wind power, the megawatts aren’t the only thing electric about this burgeoning industry. Wind energy now supports more than 3,000 jobs in Iowa, a combined payroll of some $70 million. If that doesn’t blow you away, consider this: It’s likely only the beginning. As schools like Sioux City’s Western Iowa Tech Community College and Estherville’s Iowa Lakes Community College expand to offer degrees and training for the industry, even more young Iowans will have a new reason to stay at home: Jobs. And high-paying jobs at that. Why Iowa? Good question. In an eight-part series that began last Sunday and finishes today, the Journal and Lee Enterprises’ other Iowa news outlets examined how the industry got started and where it’s going. The short answer to ‘Why Iowa?’ is simple: We got it. And we got it early.” — Editorial, Sioux City Journal CHESTER, WV — “I thought the public would like to know how First Energy’s Little Blue Coal Ash Impoundment is affecting the property on Doberman Road in Lawrenceville. The water is coming down over the hillside and washing large ditches in my driveway. I have to put my truck in four wheel drive to get out of it. My son is handicapped, they brought his leg braces and tore the front end of their car up trying to get out of the driveway. If he would need medical help they would get in, but I don’t know if they would get out. It has all the trees leaning over my driveway. I’m just waiting to go out and the trees will be in my driveway or fall on my roof. The water has come down over the hill and over my driveway onto the rest of my property. My backyard is very wet and it has went under my house and it is washing my home off of its foundation. I have mold in my house so great I can not sleep in my bedroom. I have to sleep in a chair, in the living room. Our clothes, boots and coats are covered in mold. The mold is getting to both of us and my dogs. I went to get my pots and pans to use and they had mold on them. The outside of my house and the building that I have stuff stored in is covered in mold. I went to clean my building out and my stuff had mold all over it. That is just some of the damage that First Energy has done to my property by dumping Coal Ash in my backyard.” — Peggy Byard, letter to the Editor, East Liverpool Review New facility in Mansfield would have brine delivered by rail for disposal underground
MANSFIELD — “The flood of salty wastewater that’s washing into Ohio from a growing number of natural-gas wells in Pennsylvania is spreading west. Mansfield city officials said this week that Austin, Texas-based Preferred Fluids Management wants to drill two, 5,000-foot disposal wells on the north side of town. ‘From what I’ve heard, it sounds like a modern-day dump,’ said Phil Messer, the city’s director of public service and safety. The wells would inject as much as 150,000 barrels a month. The wastewater, known as brine, would be brought in by truck and train. Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials gave the company a permit to drill and operate the wells, and said it would be the first site in Ohio to take brine sent by rail. Although a Dec. 13 meeting is scheduled to discuss zoning issues, Messer acknowledged that the city might not have the authority to keep the wells from being drilled.” — Spencer Hunt, Columbus Dispatch Some utilities passing along costs of tighter environmental regulationsMARISSA, IL — “Regardless of whether utilities add more pollution controls, some environmentalists say shutting coal-fired plants makes the most sense because such plants will always produce emissions that are harmful to public health. While coal has long been one of the cheapest and most reliable sources of power available, other sources of power carry a fraction of the emissions. ‘Given the age of these plants and their location, the far more sensible approach is to retire them and replace them with something cleaner instead of continuing to keep these aging dinosaurs alive,’ said Shannon Fisk, a litigator with the Natural Resources Defense Council.” — Julie Wernau, Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON, DC — “The Associated Press compared the companies’ congressional testimony to company reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reports to the SEC consistently said the impact of environmental proposals is unknown or would not cause serious financial harm to a firm’s finances. Companies can legitimately argue that their less gloomy SEC filings are correct, since most of the tougher anti-pollution proposals have not been finalized. And their officials’ testimony before congressional committees was sometimes on behalf of — and written by — trade associations, a perspective that can differ from an individual company’s view. But the disparity in the messages shows that in a political environment, business has no misgivings about describing potential economic horror stories to lawmakers.” — Associated Press
DAYTON — “Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy has about 685,000 electric customers in Ohio, including in the southern parts of the Dayton region in Butler and Warren counties. Under the new electric security plan, Duke will transfer its generation assets to an affiliate and hold auctions to determine generation rates. This transfer must take place by Dec. 31, 2014. PUCO anticipates that the new plan will result in an initial decrease in electric rates for residential customers beginning Jan. 1, 2012. The actual amount won’t be known until after the first auction. Duke estimates that customers will see a rate reduction of about 11 percent in their bills as of Jan. 1, the company said in a press release. That’s roughly $14 a month for a typical residential customer, it said.” — Dayton Business Journal |
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