This is great work. I’d like to
Letters-to-the editor tips
|
 City of Cleveland administrators are not ready to pull the plug on controversial waste-to-energy technology. CLEVELAND — “Council members, who assumed last week that the proposition had met its end, expressed frustration and disappointment after hearing that the administration would not eliminate it from consideration.
‘The city’s own study demonstrates that the waste-to-energy plan is an economic lead balloon,’ said Councilman Jay Westbrook. ‘Call it for what it is, and stop tormenting tax-paying, conscientious residents.’
For several years, the city has flirted with the technology called gasification, which calls for burning pellets made from compressed trash to generate electricity for city-owned Cleveland Public Power.”
— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
link to article
— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, OH — “There is an ironic juxtaposition at play in Ohio concerning the fundamental right of property owners to control the use of their land.
Ohio land owners, as a group, are of two minds about this right, at least when it comes to land atop shale oil and gas. Many property owners believe they should have the right to use their land as they please — that is, to lease drilling rights to potential shale oil and gas developers, or to have their land included in a drilling unit. After all, it’s their land. They should have the right to make that decision.
But what if they want to exercise their right to control the use of their land in a different way? What if the landowner wants his land not to be used for shale oil and gas development? Would a landowner have the right to make that decision as well?
Actually, not necessarily.”
— Heidi Gorovitz-Robertson, Crain’s Cleveland Business
link to article
 Paul Bender, the city of Cleveland’s new head of public utilities. CLEVELAND — “At Bender’s swearing-in ceremony last month, Jackson praised him for his range and depth of experience and said Bender will play a critical role in ensuring the future viability of the city’s utilities.
But not everyone is sold on the new director just yet.
Environmentalists say they have yet to see where Bender stands on controversial issues involving Cleveland Public Power. The city is still studying the possibility of building a waste-to-energy plant, which would burn trash to generate electricity. And the utility is snagged in expensive long-term contracts with coal-burning power plants. In one case, a plant was never even built, but the city is on the hook for millions of dollars in stranded costs. The failed plant is at the heart of a pending lawsuit, involving CPP and a consortium of other cities that signed the deal.
Bender said in a recent interview that he has only begun to review CPP’s contracts and energy portfolio. He also deflected questions about the waste-to-energy plant, stating that the mayor is taking the lead on that issue.”
— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
link to article
 A mountain of trash at Cleveland’s Ridge Road transfer station, where the city had planned to build a waste-to-energy facility. CLEVELAND — “Mayor Frank Jackson opened the door to other ideas in April after the gasification concept suffered a beating by environmentalists and some City Council members concerned about pollution and the cost of building the facility.
Critics argue that the mayor’s call for new suggestions intimated a continued preference for methods that convert waste to energy, resulting in submissions predominantly from companies specializing in some aspect of incineration or gasification. And environmentalists say that the city’s persistent pursuit of an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency air emissions permit based on the earlier gasification model is a clear indication that Jackson still envisions a gasification plant at the city’s Ridge Road garbage transfer station.
‘The idea of pursuing an air permit before the city has made a decision contradicts their claim that they haven’t made a decision,’ said Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action. ‘It’s critical that the city listen to the hundreds of Clevelanders who spoke out during public hearings and said, ‘We don’t want new sources of air pollution. We want strong composting and recycling programs.’”
— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
link to article
CLEVELAND — “These groups already in place in Cleveland are well positioned to help develop proposals that would reduce waste, and generate income for neighborhood groups. As evidenced at the Cleveland Recycling/Composting these local groups already have contact with local and national public and private sector experts in reuse, recycling and composting.
While in an ideal world, the City of Cleveland’s Administration would be working closely with neighborhood groups to develop proposals to reduce waste, however that is not the case. The Frank Jackson Administration currently seems intent to develop an incinerator to burn garbage to create electricity. However, the grassroots groups can show the administration that there is an alternative and that the public can be engaged in reducing waste and creating jobs in a way that doesn’t pollute our air and the environment.
— Chuck Hoven, Cleveland Plain Press
link to article pdf
CLEVELAND — ” In a hotel ballroom filled with entrepreneurs, angel investors and government bureaucrats hungry for opportunities in the evolving field of turning household trash into energy, Ivan Henderson delivers some sobering advice: Waste to energy is not an easy ride.’It’s been a bumpy road,’ the soft-spoken commissioner for Cleveland Public Power told an audience at the Waste Conversion Congress in Philadelphia earlier this month.
Cleveland’s efforts to bring a promising, if unproven, technology to provide a local source of power and manage its waste stream has faced a few hiccups: local opposition, federal criticism and the firing of a top consultant.
… Citizen groups believe Cleveland Public Power’s gasification talk is a smokescreen for another incinerator project.
‘They don’t want to call it an incinerator because they know the public opposition to incineration,’ said Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action. ”
— Tiffany Stecker, Midwest Energy News
link to article
 Garbage is unloaded at Cleveland's Ridge Road waste transfer station, where recyclables are processed and trash is prepared for shipment to landfills. Mayor Frank Jackson would like to find a way to use some of that refuse as an alternative energy source for city-owned Cleveland Public Power. CLEVELAND — ” For years, Cleveland has flirted with a little-known technology for converting garbage into electric power, attracted by the idea of a green alternative to dispatching 230,000 tons of trash to Ohio landfills yearly and relying on coal-fired plants to supply Cleveland Public Power’s customers.
The promise of the technology called ‘gasification‘ might sound too good to be true; environmentalists have argued that it is.
But the possibility that Cleveland will build a ‘waste-to-energy’ plant at its Ridge Road garbage-transfer station seems to have survived several years of public scrutiny, the crusade of environmental groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s declaration that such a project runs the risk of becoming a new major source of pollution for Cuyahoga County.
And though Mayor Frank Jackson’s administrators told City Council members in April that they are ready to ‘hit the reset button’ on the plan — opening the door to new suggestions on how to manage the waste stream or generate energy — city spokespeople say the mayor still believes in the potential of gasification and isn’t done vetting the technology just yet. ”
— Leila Atassi, The Plain Dealer
link to article
 CLEVELAND — “Last month Cleveland City Council gave the administration and Cleveland Public Power $200,000 for a new trash consultant, and said it would investigate all trash processing options — kinda.
After spending a few million in a stalled attempt to build the first U.S. high-tech gasification plant to turn garbage into cool stuff like decorative bricks and that would give CPP 7 percent of its electricity, the city fired the developer. Critics say a new request to 255 waste management companies asking how best to deal with all our trash is the same as the original: It limits options to things like gasification that would turn the trash into fuel.
‘If they’re going to do this they need to start over and set goals,’ says Chris Trepal, director of the Earth Day Coalition. She and other enviro types scheduled national recycling experts to talk to council’s sustainability committee about greener trash disposal but after they flew in, the meeting was canceled with no explanation.”
— Maude L. Campbell, Cleveland Scene Magazine
link to article
 Keynote speaker Bob Gedert, Director of Resource Recovery in Austin, Texas. CLEVELAND — Two of the country’s leading experts on developing outstanding programs for recycling, composting, and resource recovery of materials brought valuable information to Cleveland for the “You and the Environmental Symposium” on June 2, 2012. Bob Gedert, Director of Resource Recovery in Austin, Texas, and Neil Seldman, President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Washington, D.C., provided concrete examples and blueprints for how non-profit groups, private businesses, and city governments can make major strides in reaching a goal of “zero waste.”
“Fifty percent of household waste can be recycled, and another forty percent composted, using technology that is available today,” Gedert explained. His department in Austin has issued a comprehensive plan to reach the goal of 90% reduction of waste by 2030.
“The best zero waste plans are community-invested,” Gedert said. Prior to adopting their plan, Austin city officials held 100 community meetings to find out what kinds of programs the citizens wanted. Gedert has worked in Ohio, Indiana, California and Texas to implement recycling programs and says he always includes a community organizing component, with recycling block captains who encourage their neighbors to learn to recycle. A survey in Austin showed that the lowest-income communities have the highest recycling rates. “Well-managed recycling always costs less than trash management,’ Gedert said.
Seldman described the business opportunities that can be created to reuse materials we now think of as “waste.” “There are companies who would be glad to locate their businesses in Cleveland to handle and reprocess materials like high quality paper, mattresses, and other items,” Seldman commented. “This is the way to create good-paying jobs that won’t be outsourced.” Continue reading Clevelanders learn from “zero waste” experts at June 2nd Symposium
 CLEVELAND — “To capitalize on the renewed interest in recycling and composting generated by the public meetings earlier this year, environmental groups are now pressing the city to develop a more comprehensive plan. Ohio Citizen Action, Earthday Coalition and other groups have organized the Cleveland Composting and Recycling Forum on Saturday, June 2nd at the downtown YMCA.
‘Clevelanders have said loud and clear that they want stronger recycling programs,’ commented Chris Trepal, Executive Director of Earth Day Coalition, in a news release. ‘The urban gardening and local food community in Cleveland creates hundreds of opportunities for the productive use of compost.’
‘We’re hoping to bring in good ideas from other cities,’ adds Sandy Buchanan, Executive Director of Ohio Citizen Action, who says that the local and national speakers attending the event will provide a litany of successful models.”
— Lee Chilcote, Freshwater Cleveland
link to article
WHEN: June 2, 2012 – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHERE: Downtown YMCA, 2200 Prospect Ave, Cleveland
Co-sponsors: Earth Day Coalition, Environmental Health Watch, Ohio Citizen Action, Northeast Ohio Sierra Club, Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition, GreenCityBlueLake Institute
With support from the George Gund Foundation
The symposium will feature keynote speakers Bob Gedert, Director of Resource Recovery in Austin, Texas, and Neil Seldman, President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance from Washington, DC. Bob and Neil have a wealth of experience in designing and implementing recycling and resource recovery programs in cities across the country.
We’ll also feature local experts on composting and recycling, and will learn about the status and plans for recycling programs in Cleveland and across the county.
Please bring your neighbors, your notebooks, and your ideas for how we can move our city forward in creative and practical ways, both at the neighborhood and city-wide level.
Registration fee will be $5 for the program (including coffee, drinks, and snacks)
Lunch can be pre-ordered for $5 (or feel free to brown-bag)
Click here to register, or contact Sarah Batke, or call 216-861-5200
Cleveland Public Power doesn’t need an incinerator to meet “advanced energy” standards
CLEVELAND — “In its full page ads promoting the incinerator in January, CPP said the alternative to building the facility is to ‘keep doing what we are doing,’ including ‘continue buying 99.9 percent of our power from the market.’ CPP also said it needs to build the incinerator to ‘obtain electric generation that helps meet the Advanced Energy Portfolio Standards goals for CPP.’
Both of these claims are red herrings. CPP has in fact already signed long term ‘take or pay’ contracts with American Municipal Power (AMP) to become, in effect, owners of at least 75 megawatts of baseload power and 60 megawatts of intermediate power that does not come from the market. The intermediate power has already come on line, and most of the other new plants are slated to go on line in 2012 and 2013. This means CPP has already committed to having at least 40 percent of its baseload power come from non-market sources.
These contracts include 50 megawatts of power from AMP’s new hydro plants on the Ohio River. The hydro power meets the city’s definition of ‘advanced energy,’ and will allow the city to fully meet, and likely surpass, its own standard of purchasing 15 percent of its power by renewable sources by 2015. CPP does not need a municipal waste incinerator to meet this standard.
Power from an incinerator would not be ‘clean’ or ‘green.’ Megawatt for megawatt, the proposed incinerator would be more polluting than a new coal-fired power plant, according to the incinerator’s proposed air pollution permit. At the public hearings, citizens urged CPP to invest in real sources of renewable energy and to investigate solar power, wind power and energy efficiency.”
— Sandy Buchanan, Eco Watch
Read the whole story: http://ecowatch.org/2012/clevelands-plan-to-build-a-garbage-incinerator-goes-up-in-smoke/
 CLEVELAND — “Less than two weeks after Cleveland fired its consultant responsible for designing a proposed trash-to-electricity plant, city council approved spending $200,000 for a new consultant, who administrators promise will help the city ‘hit the reset button’ on the controversial project.
In a 15-2 vote Monday night, council authorized the city to seek and hire a consultant to review new proposals on how best to manage the city’s trash, with an eye toward potentially parlaying any waste that cannot be recycled into an alternative fuel source for city-owned Cleveland Public Power.
…But some council members say the pending air emissions permit and the fact that Cleveland Public Power Commissioner Ivan Henderson will receive all of the proposals before the consultant does, are signs that the administration is wedded to the gasifier model and is not as open-minded as it claims”
— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Read the whole story: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/04/cleveland_city_council_authori.html
CLEVEAND — Citizens who have opposed the City of Cleveland’s plans to build a garbage incinerator at the Ridge Road transfer station are telling U.S. EPA, Ohio EPA, Major Frank Jackson, and members of City Council that the City should not be allowed to receive an air pollution permit for a proposed new incinerator.
Despite the fact that the city fired Peter Tien, the designer of the proposed incinerator, for incompetence, administration officials told City Council last week that they want to continue to work from the same “model” they had before, and that they intend to pursue the air pollution permit for the facility, now pending at Ohio EPA. The permit was written by a consultant hired by Tien, and relied on data and assumptions from Tien’s calculations.
Earth Day Coalition Executive Director Chris Trepal commented, “this whole proposal was built on a house of cards. The City should not be allowed to receive a permit for a facility whose foundation was so shaky that the consultant was fired for incompetence.”
Cleveland Public Power has asked City Council to approve a $200,000 contract for a consultant to study the potential for an incinerator and other forms of waste handling. Although information for the consultant to study wouldn’t be available until July 31, the administration wants Council to pass the ordinance as an “emergency” ordinance tonight.
“Everything about this project has been backwards,” commented Ann Marie Knotek, a neighbor of the proposed facility. “The city didn’t listen to the consultants they hired years ago who sent up warning flags about this whole project. What’s the rush to push through another $200,000 for a consultant? The mayor needs to start from a clean slate.”
— Sandy Buchanan, Executive Director, Ohio Citizen Action and Chris Trepal, Earth Day Coalition
Read letter to the USEPA: http://ohiocitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/USEPA_letter_4-8-12.docx
 CLEVELAND — “Jeers…to Peter Tien, the consultant who finally has run out of chances to design a workable trash-to-energy plant for Cleveland. Tien has a couple of weeks to bill the city for work already done on a $1.5 million contract that has now been canceled. If he botches that as badly as he fouled up his work on the plant, he might end up paying the city.”
— editorial board, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Read the whole story: http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/03/cheers_jeers_126.html
— Maude L Campbell, Cleveland Scene Magazine
|
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.
Resources on proposed Cleveland incinerator
|
