Vote Informed: Environmental Score Cards for our Candidates

I hope you will all go to vote - and select your candidates mainly according to how important the environment is to these candidates. Without a healthy environment all other issues become secondary!

Congress:

http://scorecard.lcv.org/search?zip=49221

Michigan:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ru0zYQOP85HkbMZGgm3LuzJ1Wosdf00F2C21G3mQQbA/edit#gid=0

• Bronna Kahle did not answer an environmental questionnaire that was sent to her from the Sierra Club of Michigan - you can guess why...
• Harvey Schmidt did return his questionnaire but its content is at the moment confidential.

We won a monumental and historic victory for the climate and for anti-fracking communities all over this country

We won a monumental and historic victory for the climate and for anti-fracking communities all over this country.

At the DNC platform hearings, Josh Fox, Bill McKibben, Ben Jealous, Dr. Cornell West, Jane Kleeb, Deborah Parker and the Sanders Delegation negotiated for a sea change in the policy of the Democratic Party.

The Democratic National Committee adopted strong language opposing fracked gas power plants, advocating for carbon and methane pricing, adopting a standard for all federal energy projects that they would not harm the climate, and committed to involving communities, people of color and native tribes in all future energy planning. Wow.

The amendment says the Democrats:

-Support a price on carbon AND methane

-Support high labor standards in the development of renewable energy

-Will fight to change the clean power plan to incentivize renewable energy over fracked gas.

-Any new infrastructure, like pipelines, must pass the climate test and take into consideration landowners, communities of color and tribal nations.

Announcing the unity amendment Josh said “This is what happens when you organize. This is what happens when you never say die.”

Our movement has forced establishment Democrats to come to the table. Our movement has forced establishment Democrats to take the science on climate change seriously, not just pat themselves on the back for being better than the Republicans on climate change.

But as Dr. Cornell West said during the announcement of the unity amendment “We’ve got to keep the focus on the gap between declaration and execution.”

Our movement will be required to hold them accountable.

We must be the ones who organize against every fracked gas power plant and pipeline. We must be the be the ones who organize against offshore drilling. We must be the be the ones who organize against the development of fossil fuels on public lands.

These projects fail the climate test and together we can stop them and build something better.

Check out the video of this historic moment and catch Josh Fox tomorrow on Democracy Now! 

WATCH VIDEO HERE

New England senators, witness question pipeline financing practices

Frank Zaski shared this:

Many utilities are locking their ratepayers into long term natural gas pipeline contracts. This is troublesome particularly for proposed, unneeded pipelines. Note clips from this article.

 

New England senators, witness question pipeline financing practices

(06/14/2016)

Large gas pipelines traditionally are financed by utilities and other large customers that determine they will save substantially with lower rates, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) observed. “But does it make sense to make home heating customers and small businesses bear the risk when the state lets utilities pass the costs through? Giant pipeline companies should not be allowed to force consumers to pay for these huge uneconomic projects,” she said.

 

N. Jonathan Peress, who is EDF’s gas air-policy director, said the magnitude of new gas pipeline projects under developed combined with what’s been built in the last 10 years could lead to a capacity bubble. “It could impose unnecessary costs on energy customers for expensive yet unneeded pipeline capacity, and ultimately constrain deployment of lower cost energy sources like wind and solar in the future,” he warned.

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2016/06/new-england-senators-witness-question-pipeline-financing-practices.html?cmpid=EnlDrillingJune172016&eid=288216020&bid=1436704

 

In Michigan, the proposed Nexus pipeline is 50% owned by an unregulated division of DTE Energy, the state’s largest utility. While only 5% of the gas flowing thru Nexus is destined for Michigan, DTE Gas and Electric is trying to have their ratepayers pay the costs (subsidize!?) for a substantial portion of this pipe in their monthly bills. The Sierra Club Michigan Chapter is protesting at the MPSC and notified FERC.  http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp?fileID=14267826

 

An article (based on the SC post) appeared in Michigan’s largest newspaper reporting this situation. http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/06/13/critics-dte-pipeline-plan-bad-ratepayers/85608948/

 

In Ontario, business, utility and industrial users stated to the OEB that they do not want unnecessary and costly overbuild of the Dawn Parkway pipeline needed to transport additional Rover/Nexus gas from Dawn. They believe the government will mandate reduced natural gas consumption (through RE and EE). They know they would have to pay for pipeline legacy costs as well.  http://www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/oeb/Industry/Regulatory%20Proceedings/Policy%20Initiatives%20and%20Consultations/2015%20Natural%20Gas%20Market%20Review%20%28EB-2015-0237%29

  

If we are serious about complying with COP21 and substantially reduce GHG emissions, we cannot be locked into 20 year natural gas pipeline contracts, particularly for new, unneeded pipelines. Ratepayers must be made aware of this.

 

 

Fossil Fumes: A public health analysis of toxic air pollution from the oil and gas industry. - Clean Air Task Force (CATF)

 As the United States works toward implementing ambitious climate goals,
methane pollution from the oil and gas supply chain has received
increased attention, and for good reason — methane is a greenhouse gas
87 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the near term, and the oil
and gas industry is the largest source of methane pollution. But methane
is just one harmful air pollutant from the oil and gas industry. This
report sheds light on the health impacts of hazardous and toxic air
pollutants that are often emitted from oil and gas sites alongside
methane, including benzene, formaldehyde, and ethylbenzene. These
hazardous toxic air pollutants harm the health of communities living
near oil and gas facilities such as oil and gas wells, compressor
stations, and processing plants.



Read the whole story and download the full report here:



Fossil Fumes: A public health analysis of toxic air pollution from the oil and gas industry. - Clean Air Task Force (CATF)

Lenawee County (49221, Adrian and 49256, Morenci zip codes) leads MI in kids' high lead levels

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/06/lead-levels/85518956/

CAFO Emissions Update

H2S (hydrogen sulfide gas) readings, 1 mile from CAFO. Lenawee County, Michigan, June 2, 2016 at 6:14 a.m.  33110 ppb.  For hydrogen sulfide, the EPA lists 0.7 ppm limits for lifetime exposure, and ATSDR (CDC: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) lists 70 ppb for acute and 30 ppb for intermediate exposures<https://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/ehsrc/CAFOstudy/CAFO_8.pdf>.

CAFO Waste Emissions exceed EPA standards: Memorial Day Wkend 2016 - Monitoring, Reporting, Educating about CAFO Pollution

 Memorial Day Weekend was a toxic one for rural areas of Lenawee County, Michigan. Hydrogen Sulfide Emissions jumped from 1800 ppm to 5870 ppb (Parts per billion) after CAFO waste was spread on adjacent land. This is over 82 times the Acute level of exposure (See image below). Generally, outdoor areas that are not exposed to industrial releases of H₂S have airborne concentrations of less than 1 ppb H2S as an ultra-low background level.



Read the full story here:

CAFO Waste Emissions exceed EPA standards: Memorial Day Wkend 2016 - Monitoring, Reporting, Educating about CAFO Pollution