The Front Porch Blog, with Updates from AppalachiaThe Front Porch Blog, with Updates from Appalachia

BLOGGER INDEX

The Mayan Calendar Has Ended, And There is Still Coal Ash in the Tennessee River

Friday, December 21st, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

So the world did not end today, as much of the discussion around the end of Mayan calendar seemed to suggest. But it might have seemed like that to the residents of Harriman, Tn. exactly four year ago today, when an earthen dam at a nearby power plant failed, and 1 billion gallons of coal ash waste flooded across fields and farmland and oozed into nearby rivers. The amount spilled is enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Though no one was directly hurt or killed, the catastrophe at the Tennessee Valley Authority power plant surely devastated lives. People got sick from the fumes coming off the ash and had to boil their water. Property values plunged, compelling people to sell their homes and property to TVA. Dangerous heavy metals were released into the Emory River, a tributary of the Tennessee River.

It was the first time a majority Americans learned what coal ash was and how dangerous it could be. People were shocked to know that a waste product from burning coal was most often dumped into unlined pits behind earthen dams. More shocking is the fact that, in the absence of federal standards coal ash — laced with heavy metals, known carcinogens and other toxins — is less regulated than household waste.

In the Southeast, we know there are 450 of these impoundments holding back 118 billion gallons of coal ash. Not only is there the risk of a dam breaking, there is the more insidious pollution of our waterways. (See if there is one near you).

I will never forget the day Donna Lisenby, Coal Campaign Coordinator for Waterkeeper Alliance, John Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper and I traveled to “ground zero” and paddled to where the Emory River ceased being a river and began to look like a sludge pit. It looked like the end of the world. 

Little has happened since the TVA spill. Clean-up that was supposed to take a few weeks still isn’t completed. TVA has decided to allow “natural recovery” to take place, which basically means TVA will stop trying to dredge the river and see if Mother Nature might be able to finish the job with the remaining 9% of the ash still left.  (more…)

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No Longer Hidden in Plain Sight, Thanks to SoutheastCoalAsh.org!

Monday, December 10th, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

For how large coal ash impoundments can be, they are sure hard to spot.

For example, there are two large earthen dams full of coal ash just north of Charlotte near Mountain Island Lake. Can you spot them?

(Answer: They’re on that long ridgetop to the left of the plant.)

Since Duke Energy is probably not going to place yellow neon signs near the impoundments to alert the public to the dangers that these dams may cause to groundwater or public safety anytime soon, we did the next best thing. Working with Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other partner organizations like Southern Environmental Law Center and NC Conservation Network, we have helped create Southeastcoalash.org. With just five key strokes (your zip code) you can see where coal ash impoundments are hiding in plain sight near you. (more…)

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Happy 40th Birthday, Clean Water Act!

Thursday, October 18th, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments


At Appalachian Voices, we strive to connect communities, families and individuals to their decision-makers to help them protect their land, air and water. We see ourselves in service to those people to help them achieve their goals of providing a good quality for themselves and others.

The Clean Water Act, which is 40 years old today, is very similar. The landmark legislation fundamentally changed the nation’s relationship to its waterways. Going into the 1970s, our waterways were in terrible shape. Only one-third of our waterways were fit for swimming and fishing. Chemicals were allowed to spew into our rivers and streams. Time magazine had written Lake Erie’s obituary. The Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio was so choked with pollution that it had burst into flames several times over a decade.

Citizens from across the country, realizing that we needed to do something, and do something quickly, took to the streets and demanded change. A slew of new environmental protections came into being, including the Clean Water Act in 1972. (more…)

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Half-Baked Coal Ash Bill: A Dangerous Proposition for Our Air and Water

Friday, August 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Air and Water Protections are as American As Apple Pie — and they are under attack.

Most people talk about creating legislation in terms of sausage-making. It can be downright dirty work. But I prefer to think of it as pie-baking, requiring the combination of concentrated efforts while keeping the final product in mind.

Though I am new to the world of baking, I have quickly learned one thing: no matter how great your filling, it is ultimately the crust that makes — or breaks — your pie. The filling is the easy part; just throw some fruit, flour, spices and sugar together – and voila! Pie crusts are very tricky though. If you get a temperature or an ingredient wrong, it doesn’t matter what’s in the pie — the integrity of your pie is toast.

Thanks to lillibakescakes.wordpress.com

A Bad Pie is like a Bad Bill... But with dire consequences

What does this have do with latest version of the Senate coal ash bill, introduced and sponsored by a number of Southeast Senators like Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Jim Webb and Mark Warner (both from Va.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.).?

The bill is being touted as a compromise of legislation that passed in the House and was first introduced in the Senate last fall. But while minimal improvements have been made to the filling of this legislation, its still a terrible pie overall. (more…)

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New Report Details How Duke Energy Can Save the Carolinas Billions

Friday, July 27th, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

This is a repost from Greenpeace’s Quit Coal blog, written by their NC Organizer, Monica Embrey..

Amidst a whirlwind of controversy this past month, the new Duke Energy has an opportunity to lead the country and act in the best interest of its ratepayers, shareholders and the planet.

Today, Greenpeace released our report (PDF) that details how Duke can be a true renewable energy leader and end their dirty business practices. By embracing renewable energy and energy efficiency, Duke and Progress can save North and South Carolina customers over $100 billion dollars through 2032.

Our plan — Charting the Correction Course: A Clean Energy Pathway for Duke Energy—highlights specific solutions to benefit both the company and its customers, and explains how for the Carolinas cleaner is cheaper.

Duke currently runs a dirty business. As the nation’s largest utility, Duke operates 28 coal-fired power plants across the United States, half of which are located in the Carolinas. The city of Charlotte is surrounded by 4 of Duke’s dirty coal plants and is ranked the 5th worst city to live in for people who have asthma. Residents in communities like Mt Holly, NC near the 83 year old Riverbend Coal Plant face much higher rates of learning disabilities in children and cancer in adults because of the pollution from toxic coal ash ponds to the local water supply. The carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions from Duke’s aging coal fleet are higher than national and regional averages. Despite massive PR campaigns, Duke’s plants operate at the expense of neighboring communities.

The cost of Duke’s dirty coal plants impact not only the health and local environment, but also the pocketbooks of hard working customers. If Duke continues on its current plan, it’s estimated that within the next ten years, electricity rates in the Carolinas would quadruple and increase nearly 20-fold by 2032 in order to pay for the company’s proposed dirty energy construction. For the next twenty years, the Carolinas would source the majority of their power from 70-plus year old coal plants and deteriorating nuclear plants, while doubling the company’s exposure to volatile natural gas prices. Higher rates in these tough economic times are already causing many families to choose between paying for medical bills and keeping the lights on. In North Carolina, we are already seeing multiple rate hikes to pay for dirty energy sources.

But Duke Energy doesn’t need to continue to operate a dirty business. Instead, it can invest in real renewable energy solutions that are a win-win for people, the planet and the company. It’s time that Duke’s green rhetoric matches its portfolio reality. We’ve laid out the pathway. What step will Duke Energy and its CEO Jim Rogers take?


Did A Steamed Bun Ask the White House To Label Coal Ash As Non-Hazardous?

Thursday, July 5th, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 1 Comment

Last week, we escaped another harrowing attempt by Rep. David McKinley (WV) and company to allow coal-fired utilities to keep getting away with polluting our water (and sometimes air) with coal ash, the toxic byproduct of burning coal for electricity.

While a rider to stop the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from issuing federal standards on coal ash disposal and storage did not make it into the Transportation bill, McKinley is far from throwing in the towel.

In an E&E article about the Transportation bill (reposted on WNCA’s website), McKinley declared, “We’re not finished. I can say that. We’re not finished.”

While opponents of stronger protections on coal ash are not done trying to stop the EPA from issuing final rules, they also aren’t done telling blatant untruths…. (more…)

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Protect Families: Stop Toxic Coal Ash From Polluting the Federal Transportation Bill

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Keep Coal Ash Out of our Water and the Transportation Bill!

West Virginia Rep. David McKinley is a man on a mission — to save the coal industry from the bullies at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. McKinley’s afraid that the EPA may eventually require coal-fired utilities to contain their coal ash so it’s not allowed to continue to pollute our waterways. But McKinley is not alone — he had some help from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the organization currently under fire for providing industry the means to unduly influence our elected officials.

McKinley’s bill, H.R. 2273, would literally prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from protecting families from the water and air pollution associated with poor storage and disposal of coal ash, the toxic remnants of coal-burning.

Last Wednesday, McKinley attached the entire toxic bill as an amendment to the “must-pass” House version of the Transportation Bill. With the Senate version already passed a few weeks ago, there will now be a conference of House and Senate members to hammer out the final Transportation bill.

Please contact your Senators and ask them to reject any amendments that would gut federal coal ash protections.

The passage of this coal ash bill would have real consequences for real people. Just ask Steven Johnson, Gloria Dorsett, Robert Deveaux and Donna Keiser, whose lives have been forever changed by the toxic menace of coal ash. (more…)

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Join Us for World Water Day Events and Kick Some Coal Ash

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

World Water Day is on Thursday, March 22. It is a day to not only celebrate the gift of water, but to also learn what we can do to protect this precious resource. In North Carolina, water pollution from coal ash, the residue from burning coal for electricity, is a huge state-wide problem that can no longer be ignored.

In order to educate and activate citizens who care about protecting our water, we have some great events planned in Charlotte and Asheville! We ask that you RSVP here.
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Bad Coal Boyfriend Doesn’t Want Change His Dirty Ways!

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Our letter about the EPA’s new Mercury and Air Toxics Rule was published in the Charlotte Observer last week.

In response to “EPA limits toxic plant emissions” (Dec. 22):

Thanks to EPA, it just got easier to dump that ‘bad boyfriend’ coal

The coal industry reminds me of a controlling, abusive boyfriend when it complains about the EPA’s new guidelines to reduce coal plants’ mercury emissions. He tries to convince you that you can’t live without him. But the toxins he emits give you bronchitis, give your children asthma and poison the fish you eat. Fortunately, the EPA just performed an intervention. Big Coal has known for two decades that he’d have to make changes to stick around. If he can’t treat you better, there are better options out there. Thanks to the EPA, it will be a little easier to break the cycle of abuse. Now you can breathe a little easier – and maybe one day, eat the fish again.

Sandra Diaz Boone

Now, what I couldn’t fit into a 150-word letter is all the false arguments our bad boyfriend coal makes for not being able to make these changes. Like it’s going to cost him too much. And because of that, you will end up freezing in the dark.

Joe Romm cuts through the industry talk with aptly titled blog post: Big Coal: Children’s Health and Clean Air Are Not Worth Our Spending One Penny of the Billions in Cash We’re Sitting On, he shows that the utilities overall have the cash reserves to make these changes.

Right now, that cost is being paid- by us, by the American people. When mercury and other toxins enter our air, water, and food supply, there is a cost to that. When we and our children get sick, there is a cost to that. To that child missing school, from the adult missing work. There is the cost of going to the doctor, to the medicine that will be needed, to the hospital stay that may be required. The coal industry wants YOU to keep footing that bill, not them. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Coal isn’t really becoming more expensive, in that regard. It just coal always has been that expensive, we were just blind to the cost. Let’s make the transition to new sources of energy, wind, solar and energy efficiency (which I know isn’t a a source of energy). It can be done, and it is being done, all across the world.

Businesses that adapt make it in the world, the ones who cling to their old business models, will not. The people are demanding cleaner air, cleaner water, and the jobs that come with making those treasure. Coal is a dead man walking, and there are other sources of energy eagerly awaiting to take its place.


Breathe Easier: EPA Finalizes Historic and Life-Saving Guidelines To Reduce Power Plant Pollution

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 2 Comments

The American people have won a fundamental victory in our right to clean air and water. Special thanks to the 900,000 Americans who spoke their truth to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about how power plant pollution has impacted their lives. And the EPA listened.

Yesterday, the EPA released scientific guidelines that will slash toxins like arsenic, chromium, nickel and particulate matter from coal-fired power plants starting in 2016. Coal-fired power plants are the single largest, and till now, unregulated, source of air pollution in the U.S.

These standards have been 20 years in the making. In 1990, Congress gave EPA the authority to limit hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants through amendments in the Clean Air Act.

George W. Bush’s EPA actually finalized a rule in 2005, but the D.C. Circuit threw it out because the agency had removed power plants from the Clean Air Act list of sources of hazardous air pollutants. The court “required EPA to develop standards that follow the law and the science in order to protect human health and the environment.”

The Riverbend Plant near Charlotte, NC, is ancient. Built in 1929, part of the plant will close in 2015

Over half the power plants in the country already use some form of pollution control– the guidelines are actually based on existing technology being used today on many of these plants.

The coal industry has been crying that the new guidelines are too expensive and will cause grandmothers across the country to freeze in the dark.

Actually, coal-burning for electricity has been a bad investment for a long time, and the price of not having these pollution controls has been unduly placed on the American public, in the form of health costs.

Power plant pollution like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) can cause and/or aggravate respiratory diseases like bronchitis and asthma.

Mercury enters local waterways, where it bio-accumulates at levels dangerous enough for human consumption. People of lower income tend to eat more fish from their local rivers and streams, and therefore have more exposure to mercury. Children and infants are most at risk, since their brains have not developed the blood-brain barrier needed to keep toxins like mercury from affecting mental capacity.

Instead of touting this victory of public health, especially for low-income communities who are unfairly impacted by power plant pollution, some news outlets have decided to focus on the impact that these life-saving guideline will have on the power plants themselves.

In anticipation of the EPA guidelines, the Associated Press published an article titled, “EPA rules threaten old power plants” that went on to say that while EPA’s guidelines were a factor in their decision to shutter these plants, that “these plants have been allowed to run for decades without modern pollution controls because it was thought that they were on the verge of being shuttered by the utilities that own them.”

Yes, placing pollution controls will be the final straw for some of these power plants, but according to the AP article, “The average age of the plants that could be sacrificed is 51 years”. 50 years is the average lifespan of a coal-fired power plant, so these plants should up for retirement, regardless of any EPA rules.

The other fear that the coal industry like to inflame is the issue of reliability. Anticipating that, the EPA guidelines give plants more time if needed in order to ensure reliability. Quoted in the AP article is John Moura, manager of reliability assessment at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation

“We can’t say there isn’t going be an issue. We know there will be some challenges,” Moura said. “But we don’t think the lights are going to turn off because of this issue.”

Thank the EPA for siding with public heath, not polluters!


Not only will the lights stay on, we will be healthier in the long run. In central and southern Appalachian states, the new EPA standards will prevent 2276 premature deaths and provide 18.8 billion in health benefits.

Now that is news that should make us all breathe a little easier.

Let the EPA know that you appreciate their leadership; the way that Big Coal’s allies in the House of Representatives have been ripping into the EPA for simply doing its job, they need to be encouraged to do more to represent the public interest.


The Scoop on Coal Ash at Asheville Plant in North Carolina

Thursday, December 15th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Big Thanks to Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper for his help with this post.

Bird’s Eye View of Coal Ash

Bird's Eye View of Asheville's Coal Plant- © Copyright 2011 Roy Tennant, FreeLargePhotos.com

Coal contains heavy metals by its very nature. Heavy metals are toxic and oftentimes, a little dab will do ya. For example, just one teaspoon’s worth of mercury can contaminate a 20 acre lake to the extent that the fish become contaminated enough that they can become unsafe to eat.

When coal is burned for electricity, heavy metals are concentrated in the resultant coal ash (known more technically as “coal combustion waste”). Heavy metals of concern include but are not limited to arsenic, lead, mercury, manganese, and selenium. Each of these heavy metals can have differing negative effects on the body. (more…)

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Happy Birthday, Clean Water Act!!

Monday, November 21st, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 2 Comments

We recently took the Red, White and Water campaign to the Festival Latino in Wilmington, NC. Festival goers signed photo postcards to their member of Congress Representative Mike McIntyre asking him to stand up for our clean water protections.

Hispanic communities suffer disproportionately from the impacts of coal pollution. 32 coal-fired power plants across the country are in counties that are either more than 25% black or more than 25% Latino, and 9 are in counties that are more than 20% Native American. That means more exposure to mercury pollution from the burning of coal and arsenic pollution from coal ash dams.

So, while all Americans have a huge stake in keeping our waters clean, Latino communities are made to carry a larger pollution burden to bear.

Below are some of the great people we met in Wilmington, luchando por su derecho al agua limpia! (fighting for their right to clean water!)



 

 


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