GOP Rep Jokes About Murdering Treehugging Democrats

GOP Representative Gregg Harper is quite a charmer. When asked by Politico what the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus does, this Mississippi lawmaker pulled quite a gem of Republican hunting humor out of his butt.

From Treehugger:

While hunters, sportsmen, and trappers across the country are actually helping ‘liberal democrats’ to pass climate legislation, GOP Representative Gregg Harper is talking about murdering them. When Politico asked him what the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus does–Harper is a member–he replied, “We hunt liberal, tree-hugging Democrats, although it does seem like a waste of good ammunition.”

The remark was given during a routine interview with Politico, in which he not so subtly displayed his distaste for environmentalists and members of the opposite party.

And that’s a pretty grim joke if I’ve heard one. What politician–especially in the age of the omnipresent sound byte–thinks it’s a good idea to talk about killing their political opponents? The punchline of this joke isn’t ‘environmentalist Democrats are stupid’ or backwards, it’s literally that they deserve death. Um, ha?

Asked later about the comment, Harper was unrepentant, stating through his spokesperson that it was supposed to be fun.

The sad thing is, we’d be willing to bet that the majority of the Fox News audience that caught that comment thought it was hilarious. These are people who take Glenn Beck seriously and enjoy watching Larry the Cable Guy. Enough said.

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Boing Boing

Snails Save Bulgarian Farmers from Recession

Few industries have been spared during the global recession, with many still bracing for things to get worse before they get better. But farmers in Bulgaria have found a product that is seemingly recession-proof: snails. The cost to raise them is low and demand is so high, farmers can’t keep up with orders.

From MSNBC:

Businesses may shut by the day across Europe, and Bulgarian agriculture has been declining for 20 years, but snails — a delicacy particularly popular in France and Italy — have become a dynamic niche for the European Union’s poorest country.

September is harvest season and demand is outstripping supply for “escargots”, as the French call them (”ohlyuvi” in Bulgarian). The country has seized the chance to reinforce a position exporting luxury foods that are rarely consumed at home.

About 800 to 900 tons of snails and snail products — six times more than in 2008 — will be exported from Bulgaria this year to please the palates of aficionados, mostly in France.

300 new snail farms are set to open in Bulgaria next year as orders come in from all over Europe. People are really hungry for some snails.

Hey, sometimes tradition trumps smart spending, and people want little luxuries these days. Though why disgusting little slimy creatures are a luxury, I’ll never know.

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Flickr user AussieGall

GOP Politicians Parrot False Climate Bill Talking Points

What’s more important – actual facts, or talking points filled with false figures designed to knock down the competition at any cost? To the GOP, it’s clearly the latter. They’ve never been known for fighting fair, but in the past year or so the Republican Party has apparently decided that anything goes, with a series of jaw-droppingly dirty tactics centered upon outright lies and propaganda.

So, it’s not too surprising that eight GOP politicians are continuing to parrot talking points about the supposed costs of climate legislation, despite the fact that they’ve been repeatedly proven false. The $1,761 figure is an inflated estimate of the cost of a bill that was never even considered by Congress.

Hell, in the right-wing sphere, claims made on the news don’t have to have any basis in truth whatsoever. ThinkProgress has a great rundown on the process used to spread these false figures (via The Huffington Post):

STEP ONE: “News” generated by right-wing think tank.

STEP TWO: Right-wing print journalists write “breaking news” story.

STEP THREE: Promoted by Drudge, story repeated endlessly on right-wing blogs, Twitter, and talk radio.

STEP FOUR: Republican politicians, right-wing think tanks, and polluter front groups release statements of shock and outrage.

STEP FIVE: On Fox News, Glenn Beck calls President Obama a liar/socialist/Marxist/communist/fascist/racist.

Josh Nelson of EnviroKnow listed the many politicians who have repeated the false figure including Sen. Lamar Alexander, Sen. James Inhofe, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Roy Blunt, Rep. Fred Upton, Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, House Minority Leader John Boehner and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence. Check out the details at The Huffington Post – it’s truly sickening.

The GOP is happy to use any means necessary to protect their wealth and power against any perceived threat, real or imaginary. But who cares about climate change or health care as long as Republicans can keep their Hummers and McMansions?

Link [ThinkProgress] + [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user Ingrid Taylar

EPA Close to Declaring CO2 a Dangerous Pollutant

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson says that CO2 will be declared a dangerous pollutant within a few months. This move could help push climate change legislation through Congress at a pace slightly faster than that of a melting iceberg.

A formal “endangerment finding” would force the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act regardless of whether Congress passes a final climate change bill. Top senators have recently declared that they plan to delay introducing legislation that would cap carbon emissions.

From SF Gate:

The EPA kick-started the regulatory process in April when it proposed declaring carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases as pollutants that jeopardize the public health and welfare. EPA scientists believe the greenhouse gases contribute to global warming by trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The EPA can formalize the finding anytime, now that it has closed a 60-day public comment period that netted more than 300,000 responses.

President Obama and Jackson have said they would prefer that Congress – rather than the EPA – take the lead in implementing new greenhouse gas limits. Businesses and energy industry leaders also have largely favored congressional action over EPA-imposed limits, because they believe lawmakers are better positioned to combine economic safeguards with any new carbon cap.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases qualified as pollutants and could be regulated, if the government were to determine that they threatened the public.

No doubt, this news will immediately cause opponents of climate change action to howl about CO2 being the source of life on this planet, and predict fines for exhaling. “Everybody hold your breath!” Har har har.

Common sense should tell these people that such a fear is absurd, but you know what they say about common sense. Climate change deniers don’t have any.

Link [SF Gate]

Sierra Club Seeks DOJ Investigation into Faked Climate Bill Letters

The Sierra Club has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate lobbying firm Bonner & Associates to see if it has faked letters to other legislators in the past after the firm was caught forging anti-climate bill letters.

Bonner & Associates sent letters purporting to be from two West Virginia minority groups to Rep. Tom Perriello in an attempt to trick him into voting against the Waxman-Markey climate bill that narrowly passed in the House last month. It didn’t work – Perriello voted for the bill anyway – but, the Sierra Club asks, how many other faked letters has this firm sent out?

From the Sierra Club’s letter to the Attorney General, via Treehugger:

Dear Attorney General Holder,

I am writing to urge you to initiate an investigation into the recent, apparently illegal activities of Bonner & Associates, a consulting firm located in Washington, D.C. In June of 2009 Bonner & Associates, on behalf of an unspecified client, sent letters via fax machine to the offices of U.S. Representative Tom Perriello. These letters purported to come from community organizations within Rep. Perriello’s Congressional district – including Creciendo Juntos and the Charlottesville, Virginia chapter of the NAACP – and utilized the letterhead of these organizations.

…The letters were sent without authorization of any representative of the community organizations. The individuals whose names and signatures appear on the letters do not exist.

…On behalf of Sierra Club, I therefore urge you to initiate an investigation into Bonner & Associates. First, the Department of Justice should ascertain whether forged letters were sent to other Representatives or Senators. Second, the Department of Justice should investigate whether other community organizations were similarly misrepresented.

That ‘unspecified client’ has turned out to be none other than the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), a front group for the coal industry. ACCCE claims not to have known about the tactics, saying in a press release “we are outraged at the conduct of Bonner & Associates”.

The Sierra Club, for one, isn’t buying it. They ran a full-page advertisement today in CQ, The Hill, Politico, Roll Call, and the National Journal’s Congress Daily AM. Treehugger reports that the ad says “When Dirty-Energy Washington Lobbyists couldn’t get any real-life supporters to defeat comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation, they made them up instead.”

Read the full letter from the Sierra Club to the DOJ (PDF) as well as ACCCE’s full response to the controversy.

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Flickr user david drexler

Climate Bill Faces Tough Battle in the Senate

As Greenpeace activists fight for action on global warming in Italy during the G8 Summit, climate change legislation here in the States faces an even tougher challenge. After passing in the House last week, President Obama’s climate change bill will likely see major erosion of environmental goals by the time the Senate is through with it.

Democrats had hoped to get some GOP support for the bill, but any votes coming from the other side of the aisle – and, indeed, from some lawmakers in their own party – would likely come at the expense of several key points in the bill.

From The Washington Post:

Senators will weigh a slew of potential compromises — everything from allowing more offshore drilling for oil and natural gas to increasing funding for nuclear energy — that they think would inch the package closer to passage. But environmental activists warn that the 1,400-page House version of the bill already includes so many giveaways to corporate America that more horse-trading in the Senate could lead them to oppose the final version.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) is counting on a handful of committee chairs to complete their portion of the legislation, which would create a cap-and-trade system, requiring major greenhouse gas emitters to either reduce their emissions or buy allowances.

As of today, Reid can count on the support of about 40 to 45 senators for that basic premise, according to aides and outside activists backing the legislation. Supporters are targeting a pool of roughly two dozen lawmakers — including about 15 of Reid’s Democrats — who will determine the legislation’s fate.

Democrats from the Rust Belt states of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan are pushing for more incentives to help their depressed industries shift to alternative energy sources. The same senators also will likely want more funding for carbon capture and sequestration, a controversial and still-evolving technology described by its developers as “clean coal” but derided by many environmentalists. The technology is already slated for $10 billion in government-funded research in legislation that passed the House. A trio of Democrats from the Dakotas want more funding for wind power.

The only likely backers of the bill in the GOP are moderate Maine senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. In order to get more GOP support, the bill would have to include funding for nuclear options.

The bill is expected to hit the Senate floor sometime in the fall. By the time they’re done with it, however, the bill will likely be so diluted and full of concessions that environmentalists will want nothing to do with it.

This could get ugly. We envision Jerry Springer-like ‘Bitch, I’ll tear out yo weave’ cat fights over various interests – which would be fun, if it weren’t for the whole ‘the world is at stake’ thing.

Link [The Washington Post]

Obama Administration Orders 14,105 Fuel-Efficient Vehicles

President Obama has lived up to his word on greening the federal fleet, ordering 14,105 fuel-efficient vehicles worth $210 million. The vehicles will be paid for with funds from the Recovery Act. The U.S. General Services Administration said that it ordered the vehicles from GM, Chrysler and Ford last week.

From GreenBiz.com:

“GSA is committed to spending Recovery dollars quickly and wisely,” Commissioner James A. Williams of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service said in a statement. “Simultaneously, we are focused on acquiring vehicles that will provide long-term environmental benefits and savings by increasing the fuel efficiency of the federal fleet.”

On March 30, Obama directed his administration to purchase about 17,600 commercially available, fuel efficient vehicles from American auto companies by June 1, to use funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — and to get the job done swiftly to boost the nation’s auto industry and replace aging vehicles with greener ones.

As Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, the vehicle orders is “good for our economy, good for our workers, and good for our environment”. Way to go green and give people jobs at the same time – a fantastic way to approach both the economic and climate crises.

Link [GreenBiz.com]
Photo credit: The Huffington Post

GOP Rep. Joe Barton Says CO2 is Harmless Because “It’s in Coca-Cola”

How low can the GOP go? The battered party is struggling with an identity crisis as millions of its members jump ship, and its scattered cast of current ‘leaders’ is making things even worse. The remarks that came out of Texas Rep. Joe Barton’s mouth on Tuesday morning illustrate the sort of dumbfounding stupidity – or perhaps willful refusal to accept the facts – that has come to define the Republican party.

Rep. Barton, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, claims that we shouldn’t be concerned at all about carbon emissions. After all, CO2 is in our Coca-Cola!

“It’s odorless, colorless, tasteless, doesn’t cause cancer, doesn’t cause asthma… there’s nobody that’s ever been admitted to a hospital because of CO2 poisoning.” Stunning logic there, Congressman!

The Economist said it best:

Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not simply that Mr Barton is a climate-change sceptic. There are plenty of those and some make decent arguments against moving ahead with measures to control emissions. The problem with Mr Barton is that he is wholly uninterested in the science and statistics of the global warming debate. He is about as curious as a dead cat, as is his colleague in the Senate, James Inhofe.

Link [The Huffington Post] + [The Economist]

Public Schools to Get $6.4 Billion in Green Improvements

Public schools across America are in serious need of TLC. Pitifully low budgets mean some schools don’t even have clean drinking water, let alone up-to-date textbooks. But, Congress just passed a piece of legislation that might just save school districts enough money to get back on track. $6.4 billion has been earmarked for green projects in public schools, modernizing buildings so they’re more energy efficient.

From CNN, via The Good Human:

The measure passed 275-155 in a largely party-line vote, and will now move to the Senate for further review.

Among other things, the bill allocates substantial funds for improvements along the Gulf Coast, where many school districts are still struggling to repair buildings damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The committee says the bill would require that 100 percent of the funds go toward green projects by 2015, which is the final year of funding under the bill.

“All students and teachers deserve safe and healthy learning environments, but too often, their schools are literally falling apart,” said Rep. George Miller, D-California, who is the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and one of the bill’s sponsors.

“This legislation is a victory for students, workers and our planet. It will help improve educational opportunities and boost student achievement, it will help transition us toward a green economy by making our classrooms more environmentally friendly,” he said.

Of course, Republicans criticized the high cost, never able to look beyond today and see what tomorrow will bring. They also have a problem with the ‘increasing role of federal government’, claiming that the power to construct and renovate schools is a ‘fundamental right’ of state government.

It’s easy for old, rich white men whose grandchildren are more than likely enrolled in private schools to complain about such things while millions of school kids sit in public schools with sagging roofs, mold in the walls, peeling vinyl floors and other major problems. The American Society of Engineers says that one-third of America’s schools need extensive repair or replacement. This $6.4 billion is just a small fraction of the $112 billion the ASE says is needed to bring the nation’s public schools into an overall good condition.

Rachel Gutter of the U.S. Green Building Council emphasizes the benefits:

“The typical green school saves $100,000 a year on direct operating expenses. In school terms, that’s enough to hire two new teachers, purchase 200 new computers or 5,000 textbooks,” Gutter said.

“So these are major savings. And that’s just one year. The typical school lasts 40 years. And when you do the math, it starts to become some serious savings. … It pays for itself after a few years of operation.”

Link [CNN] via [The Good Human]
Photo credit: Flickr user woodleywonderworks

Obama Picks Superfund Polluter Lawyer for Environmental Post

President Barack Obama has nominated a lawyer who has spent much of her career defending major polluters to a sensitive environmental post.

Yes, you read that correctly.

If you feel like you’re experiencing an especially vivid and painful flashback to the days of former President Bush’s environmental follies, you’re not alone. It was common Bush administration practice to put the fox in charge of the hen house. The term ‘conflict of interest’ was seemingly meaningless to an administration that put nepotism ahead of the interests of the people and the land.

But it’s not something that most liberals would expect from President Obama, who has sought to separate himself from such practices.

From Think Progress:

On Tuesday, Obama “announced his intent to nominate” Ignacia S. Moreno to be Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division in the Department of Justice. Moreno, general counsel for that department during the Clinton administration, is now the corporate environmental counsel for General Electric, “America’s #1 Superfund Polluter“: Number five in the Fortune 500 with revenues of $89.3 billion and earnings of $8.2 billion in 1997, General Electric has been a leader in the effort to roll back the Superfund law and stave off any requirements for full cleanup and restoration of sites they helped create.

Before General Electric, Moreno worked as a corporate attorney at Spriggs and Hollingsworth. Moreno’s name is found in the Westlaw database as an attorney defending General Motors in another Superfund case, the GM Powertrain facility in Bedford, Indiana: Historical uses and management of PCB containing hydraulic oils and PCB impacted materials has contaminated on-site areas as well as the sediment and floodplain soil within Bailey’s Branch and the Pleasant Run Creek watershed.

If confirmed, Moreno will be in charge of the office that enforces environmental laws and defends federal regulations in lawsuits. Her experience lies in defending polluters, not enforcing environmental justice. And considering the particularly heinous nature of the crimes she has defended – like GM’s PCBs – can she really be expected to do the right thing?

Some say that Moreno’s industry experience could actually help her enforce the law, including Eric Schaeffer, director of the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project. Schaeffer, who resigned as chief of the EPA’s enforcement office in 2002 in protest of the Bush administration’s enforcement tactics, thinks that Moreno can use her knowledge to the government’s advantage. But who’s to say that Moreno has had a change of heart?

It’s an understatement to say that environmentalists are concerned about this nomination. I think ‘sputtering outrage’ more accurately captures the general sentiment. We expect better than this from President Obama.

Link [Think Progress] + [The New York Times]
Photo credit: The Daily Mail

EPA Bans Highly Toxic Pesticide

A toxic bird-killing, worker-poisoning pesticide will no longer appear in our food after an EPA decision to ban the chemical concoction. Tests have shown carbofuran to be highly toxic to mammals, marine animals, freshwater fish, birds and other creates and causes damage to the nervous system in humans, including respiratory paralysis and death.

From NRDC:

Initially, EPA had said that although uses of the pesticide in the U.S. would be cancelled, it would still be allowed as a contaminant on imported coffee, sugarcane, rice, and bananas. This would have meant that the manufacturer, FMC Corp., could still sell carbofuran in other countries that grow these foods  for U.S. markets, thus putting at much greater risk those foreign workers, their families, and their environment. Today’s decision will prevent all food contamination, including imports.

There are still two non-food uses of carbofuran that will remain: spinach seeds and pine seedlings will still be allowed to be treated with a granular form of carbofuran. EPA said that its future intentions are to cancel these uses as well, although today it is only the food uses that are being cancelled.

Isn’t it sad how we get all worked up over incidences in which the EPA actually, you know, does its job, protecting the environment and such? We got used to the EPA being not just ineffective but at times counterproductive under the Bush administration, so now every time Obama’s EPA makes a halfway decent decision we’re cheering them on like rabid football fans.

Link [NRDC]

Industry-Funded Report Inflates Cost of Obama Green Jobs Plan

Surprise, surprise: a new study sponsored by a group of energy-intensive industries claims that President Obama’s plan for a cap-and-trade system and to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would result in 1.9 million job losses and would cost the average American household $1,400 a year. If those figures sound off to you, you’re on to something.

Kevin Grandia of DeSmogBlog explains at The Huffington Post:

These industry estimates are wildly off the mark, of course.  The Environmental Protection Agency last week concluded that the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade legislation being debated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee would cost the average household just $98 to $140 a year through 2050.

The Coalition for Affordable American Energy, which commissioned the study, was formed in June 2008 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Wholesalers-Distributors, and 73 other industry trade associations.

The group currently claims more than 180 associations as members, including dozens of local chapters of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. and such noteworthy partners as the International Association of Ice Cream Vendors and the Association for Hose and Accessories Distribution.  (The group has no website of its own, all of its online communications are hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which calls itself a “key player” in CAAE.)

The Coalition for Affordable American Energy last made headlines when the group’s leaders met with former President Bush in August 2008 to lobby for increased domestic oil and gas drilling both offshore and in environmentally sensitive areas of Alaska. “I agree with them,” Bush said at the time.

Now, the Coalition is updating their report based on the Waxman-Markey bill, but that hasn’t stopped people (hellooo, Fox News) from taking the incorrect figures and running with them. The CAAE study has been widely published and cited since its release.

Naturally, conservatives and corporations were up in arms about these inflated figures, saying the cost was too high – but as The Hill pointed out, the economic consequences of a warming planet could be even greater. That’s one thing that so many on the right don’t seem to get: they’re not looking past here and now to consider what’s looming in the future.

Link [The Huffington Post]

Could Senator Spector’s Party Switch Aid a Cap-and-Trade Bill?

Arlen Spector is no environmentalist. This former Republican, now Democrat Pennsylvania senator is rated a mere 32% by the League of Conservation Voters and has made many an anti-environment vote in the Senate. Sure, Spector’s switch from one party to another may be more motivated by a desire to survive the 2010 elections than a real change in his standpoint. But, some believe that his about-face might help speed a cap-and-trade bill through the Senate.

From The Daily Green:

Specter’s party switch nominally will make it easier to pass a climate bill with the 60 votes necessary to shut off filibusters. If and when the interminable Minnesota Senate race finally ends with comedian Al Franken clinging to a narrow lead, the Democrats will have reached the magic number of 60. Specter, however, like other conservative Democrats from coal-dependent states, won’t necessarily be a slam-dunk vote for a cap-and-trade bill unless there are free allowances or other provisions to ease cost impacts.

Specter’s record on environmental issues has been, at best, fair to middlin.’ He tended to follow rather than lead, and it showed in his ho-hum numbers in Republicans for Environmental Protection’s annual Congressional Scorecard. With new leaders to follow, perhaps his environmental voting record will change.

Others aren’t so sure. From Reuters columnist John Kemp, via The Guardian:

Until now, the threat of a filibuster sustained by the 41 Republicans in the chamber has masked divisions among Democrats themselves. If the Republicans are reduced to 40 votes and unable to block legislation, Democrats will find themselves in an uncomfortable spotlight.

Party divisions were on display earlier this month when 26 Democratic senators from industrial and Midwest states broke with colleagues from the coasts to bar the use of the expedited budget reconciliation process to pass climate change legislation using a cap-and-trade programme.

On financial regulation, healthcare, and Social Security, the party is deeply split between liberals anxious to push ambitious reform, and centrists who favour a less radical approach. Given these divisions the president may not have 50 votes, let alone 60, with or without the support of Specter and Franken.

Specter’s change of party makes little difference. Together with Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Specter was already one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate. In many areas, the administration could already count on his support to assemble ad hoc 60-vote majorities even as a Republican. Nothing will change.

It’s also important to remember that Spector is from a coal state, and he’s not likely to support any cap and trade programs that don’t include special provisions that allow the industry in Pennsylvania to remain relatively unharmed.

As anxious as we are to get a move on with climate change legislation, this likely won’t be a quick and easy battle, even with a 60-vote majority in the Senate.

Link [The Daily Green] + [The Guardian]
Photo credit: MSNBC

Jerkass Congressman Thinks He Stumped Energy Secretary Chu

Oh, the joys of Twitter – especially now that Republicans have seized onto it to prove that they’re ‘hip’ and ‘with it’.  We all know how Republicans say the darndest things and Twitter provides a platform like no other for them to make asses of themselves.

Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), the ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, thinks he managed to “baffle” Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, and told all of his Twitter followers so with the following message:

“I seemed [sic] to have baffled the Energy Sec with basic question – Where does oil come from?”

Gee, could it be that Barton was just doing what he could to make Chu look bad given that such a question takes much longer to answer than the few seconds he had left would allow? Heavens no! Republicans would never pull suck trickery.

This guy is almost giving Michele Bachmann a run for her money.

Link [TPM]

EPA Cracks Down on Mercury Pollution from Cement Kilns

The Feds have finally gotten serious about cracking down on mercury pollution produced by cement kilns. On April 21st, just in time for Earth Day, the EPA released new regulations that will cut airborne mercury pollution by 81%-93% – a huge victory for environmental law firm EarthJustice, which has been fighting for regulation for years.

From the EarthJustice press release:

Led by Lisa Jackson, the EPA Administrator newly appointed by President Obama, EPA is proposing first time standards for cement kilns of mercury, hydrochloric acid, and toxic organic pollutants such as benzene.  In addition, the agency is strengthening the outdated standards for particulate matter to better control kilns’ emissions of lead, arsenic, and other toxic metals.

Earthjustice prevailed in a string of lawsuits aimed at forcing EPA to set limits for airborne mercury pollution from cement kilns for nearly a decade. Such limits were due under the federal Clean Air Act in 1997.

“This is great news and is a promising sign that the new leadership at EPA and in the White House is serious about protecting public health and the environment,” said Earthjustice attorney Jim Pew. “By stopping pollution at its source, we can keep mercury from poisoning the fish we eat. Bit by bit, we can reclaim our nation’s waters and protect our children’s health and our environment from dangerous mercury pollution.”

Although cement kilns have avoided controlling their mercury pollution until now, they are one of the largest sources of mercury emissions nationwide and the worst mercury polluters in some states. But kilns can curb their mercury emissions by using cleaner raw materials, cleaner fuels, and readily available technology like scrubbers and activated carbon injection.

Even small doses of mercury are extremely dangerous. Just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and make the lake’s fish unsafe to eat.

Check out EarthJustice’s flyover of the Cupertino cement kiln in the hills outside San Francisco:

As Treehugger reports, this rule will also make it more difficult for coal-fired electrical utilities to compete on price with natural gas-fired electricity and/or renewable energy:

As Treehugger reports, this rule will also make it more difficult for coal-fired electrical utilities to compete on price with natural gas-fired electricity and/or renewable energy:

Coal-fired electrical generating plants currently send most of their mercury emissions skyward, as vapor carried along with hot gases flowing up the smokestacks. Because mercury is a metal vapor in hot stack gas, it is dissociated from particulate matter and therefore is not captured in conventional pollution control devices like a bag filter. Hence, relatively little mercury ends up in the fly ash produced by utilities. (Mercury does coalesce into aerosols and dust particles down wind from the discharge point.)

If coal-fired utilities are forced by coming regulation to add mercury pollution controls, they are likely to end up diverting a great deal of the captured mercury to the fly ash, increasing the mercury concentration of fly ash, which is commonly added to cement kiln feed. Cement kilns will not be able to serve as de-facto disposal facilities – which amounts to nothing more than shifting the mercury from one stack to another. Thus, utilities that once were giving away fly ash to cement kiln operators will now have to pay to dispose of it instead, increasing the cost of coal-fired electricity.

Check out an interactive web feature at the EarthJustice website that illustrates how cement manufacturing creates mercury pollution, as well as this interactive map showing the locations of cement kilns nationwide.

Link [Treehugger] + [EarthJustice]
Photo credit: Flickr user Tarboat

EPA FAIL: No Plans to Remove Rocket Fuel from our Drinking Water

When Bush was president, the EPA was practically useless. We couldn’t count on them to get anything important done – for us, anyway. They were more than happy to help out their industry buddies, though. Well, despite a fresh new EPA that’s seemingly more on top of things than their predecessors, perchlorate – also known as rocket fuel – is still present in abundant quantities in our drinking water.

Studies have found perchlorate not just in tap water but in milk, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots – even human breast milk and urine, showing just how widespread the contamination really is. Yet Bush’s EPA decided not to protect us from it – and so far, Obama’s EPA hasn’t reversed that decision, despite the recent finding of alarming quantities of the substance in infant formula.

From NRDC Switchboard:

Instead, EPA had said that a national primary drinking water regulation for perchlorate would not present “a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems.”

In addition to its failure to take action on perchlorate in drinking water, EPA has proposed a Health Advisory Level (HRL) of 15 micrograms per liter (µg/L, equal to parts per billion, ppb) of perchlorate in drinking water, which EPA says would be used as a cleanup level in contaminated sites. However, EPA’s own scientific experts calculated that if drinking water were contaminated at that level approximately 400,000 children under one year old would be drinking unsafe levels of perchlorate daily (i.e. they would exceed EPA’s calculated daily allowable level (reference dose, RfD) of 0.7 microgram per kilogram body weight per day (µg/kg bw/d).

The report from government scientists last month found that levels of perchlorate in some milk-based infant formula and formula reconstituted with contaminated drinking water were so high that infants drinking these contaminated food sources would exceed the RfD for perchlorate.

You might be thinking, “Well, then maybe it’s okay for us to drink rocket fuel.” Wrong. The ill health effects of perchlorate contamination have been documented for decades. Prolonged exposure can cause impaired thyroid function, which can then lead to obesity or extreme weight loss, infertility and Grave’s Disease. The EPA itself found in 1995 that laboratory animals developed thyroid disorders after two weeks of drinking perchlorate-laced water.

No amount of rocket fuel in our water is acceptable – especially in conjunction with all of the other chemicals that are allowed in ‘small amounts’. The EPA needs to take action, and they need to do it now.

Link [NRDC Switchboard]
Photo credit: David Leonard

Offshore Wind Power Could Replace Coal, says Salazar

Wind power has the ability to not just supplement but possibly entirely replace coal-fired power plants if it were fully developed off the East Coast, says Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.  Salazar spoke on Monday at a public hearing in Atlantic City on how America’s offshore areas can be used to meet our energy needs.

And who was the first to pipe up that this is impossible, but a coal industry group?

From Yahoo News:

“The idea that wind energy has the potential to replace most of our coal-burning power today is a very real possibility,” he said. “It is not technology that is pie-in-the sky; it is here and now.”

Salazar said ocean winds along the East Coast can generate 1 million megawatts of power, roughly the equivalent of 3,000 medium-sized coal-fired power plants, or nearly five times the number of coal plants now operating in the United States, according to the Energy Department.

Jason Hayes, a spokesman for the American Coal Council, said he was puzzled by Salazar’s projections. He said wind power plants face roadblocks including local opposition, concerns about their impact on wildlife, and problems in efficiently transmitting power from far offshore.

“It really is a stretch,” he said of Salazar’s estimate. “How you put that many new (wind) plants up, especially in deep water, is confusing. Even if you could do what he said, you still need to deal with the fact that the best wind plants generate power about 30 percent of the time. There’s got to be something to back that up.”

Salazar’s spokesperson clarified that the secretary does not expect wind power to be fully developed, but was speaking about its potential. Of course, it would take time – but the point is that it’s possible. And, given the environmental benefits, why shouldn’t we push wind power technology to its limits? Unless [shudder] a Republican wins the next election and we’re back to Bush-era policies within 5 years, the coal industry is already speaking from beyond the grave and they know it.

Link [Yahoo]

Photo credit: EarthFirst composite/Wikimedia Commons

Obama Seeks to Out-Do Clinton in Greening the White House

President Obama wants to green the White House, and though it’s been done before, he’s going to one-up former Presidents Carter, Clinton and Bush in every way he can. Carter installed solar panels, Clinton embarked on an ambitious effort that successfully improved the efficiency of lighting, heating, A/C, insulation and water use and even anti-environment Bush installed a few solar energy systems. But Obama is focused on reducing the White House’s behemoth carbon footprint, and that will take a lot more work.

From The Huffington Post:

Obama isn’t ready to give details of his broader go-green plans for the White House, but administration officials report that small steps are under way: The housekeeping staff is making the switch to greener cleaning supplies, and complex managers have asked engineers and groundskeepers to use greener products whenever possible. Efforts are afoot to improve and promote recycling.

As for what more can be done, outside experts on green buildings report that the administration is seeking out information about what’s feasible. Given the priority Obama placed on renewable energy in his economic stimulus package and budget, environmentalists are chattering about what further steps he will take at the White House.

Prior to taking office, Obama promised to lead by example and show Americans that it’s really not that hard to go green. The small steps they’re currently taking may not seem all that impressive on the surface, but so far, each thing they’ve done – from the kitchen garden to the eco-friendly playground – can be easily imitated by most Americans. And, there’s undoubtedly much more to come.

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: WhiteHouseMuseum.org

EPA Halts Mountaintop Removal Mining Projects

The Environmental Protection Agency has put hundreds of mountaintop removal mining projects on hold while they evaluate the impact on streams and wetlands, officials announced on Tuesday. Mountaintop removal mining is an extremely environmentally damaging process, which allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into certain waterways.

From The Huffington Post:

The EPA said in a statement that it would be actively involved in the review of the long list of permits awaiting approval by the Corps, a signal that the agency under the Obama administration will exercise its oversight.

The EPA has the authority to review and veto any permit issued by the Corps under the Clean Water Act, but under the Bush administration it did that rarely.

“If the EPA didn’t step in and do something now, all those permits would go forward,” said Joe Lovett, executive director for the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment. “There are permits that will bury 200 miles of streams pending before the Corps.”

The EPA action stunned the coal industry, which had been breathing easily since the mid-February ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last month, an appeals panel in Richmond, Virginia overturned a lower court’s ruling that would have required the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct more extensive reviews, hence the coal industry’s surprise. A spokesman for the National Mining Association called the hold on the permits “troubling”.

Does this mean mountaintop removal is on its way out? We can only hope that it’s a signal of a new beginning, but it will undoubtedly take a while before the process is stopped completely, if that ever even happens. But, this is a very encouraging sign. The campaigns to draw attention to the issue seem to be working.

It’s just amazing that we’re not writing negative posts about how the EPA is screwing the environment and human health anymore!

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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