MVCAC October 2020

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8 discussions

Final call, Please register to speak against the Longview Greenhouse gas permit
by Duane Nichols 26 Oct '20

26 Oct '20

From: MON VALLEY CLEAN AIR COALITION > Date: October 26, 2020 at 7:12:43 PM EDT > > Subject: Final call, Please register to speak against the Longview Greenhouse gas permit > > If you have not already done so, please click the link in the announcement below to register to speak at the "Virtual Hearing" on Longview I Greenhouse Gas Permit. > > I attach the draft permit, the DEP's Engineering Evaluation, and some comments from a Sierra Engineer who has examined the permit. > > But if you don't have time to read all this, One simple message to WV-DEP: > > "We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions, please do not allow Longview to increase them, as proposed in this draft permit." > > Thank you. > > Jim Kotcon, Sierra Club & MVCAC > > P.S. Invite a friend! > > =========================================================== > > Friday, October 9, 2020 @ 9:04 AM > > > AIR QUALITY PERMIT NOTICE AND PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULED > > Notice of Intent to Approve > > On June 1, 2020, Longview Power, LLC applied to the WV Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality (DAQ) for a permit to establish a carbon dioxide emission standard for an electricity generation facility located at 1375 Fort Martin Road, Maidsville, Monongalia County, WV, at 39.7090 latitude and -79.9589 longitude. A preliminary evaluation has determined that all State and Federal air quality requirements will be met by the proposed facility. The DAQ is providing notice to the public of its preliminary determination to issue the permit as R13-3495. > > This permitting action will establish a weighted carbon dioxide standard on a calendar year basis using the established load bin limits below and the hours of operation in each load bin during the year. > > Load Bin Load Bin Range > (MWh G) Normal Operation > Level 1 Limit* > (lb CO2/MWh Net) Impaired Operation > Level 2 Limit** > (lb CO2/MWh Net) > LB-0 0-313 9,864G N/A > LB-1 >313-407 2,230 2,453 > LB-2 >407-501 2,108 2,319 > LB-3 >501-595 2,050 2,255 > LB-4 >595-689 2,002 2,202 > LB-5 >689 1,958 2,154 > > G = Gross generation in terms of MWh gross electricity generation. > * = Normal Operations above the minimum stable load of the emission unit. > ** = Impaired Operations above the minimum stable load that has been approved by the Director for a specified duration of time. Impaired Operation means that the unit can operate below normal efficiency due to unavoidable equipment failure. > > After the initial compliance year, the above limits will be increase by 0.4% annually due to unit degradation with a recovery rate that decreases the limit by 0.7% once every five years. In the year 2046, these limits will be fixed thereafter at the following limits: > > Load Bin Load Bin Range > (MWh G) Normal Operation > Level 1 Limit* > (lb CO2/MWh Net) Impaired Operation > Level 2 Limit** > (lb CO2/MWh Net) > LB-0 0-313 10,523G N/A > LB-1 >313-407 2,379 2,617 > LB-2 >407-501 2,249 2,474 > LB-3 >501-595 2,187 2,406 > LB-4 >595-689 2,136 2,349 > LB-5 >689 2,089 2,298 > > > The DAQ has scheduled a public meeting for 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2020. The public meeting will be held virtually to prevent the spread of COVID- > 19 in accordance with the Governor’s Safer at Home Order and the WVDEP COVID-19 Policy. Instructions for providing written comments and for providing oral comments at the virtual public meeting are provided below. > > The purpose of the public review process is to accept public comments on air quality issues relevant to this determination. Only written comments or comments presented orally at the scheduled public meeting, will be considered prior to final action on the permit. All such comments will become part of the public record. > > Written comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 9, 2020: > • Email written comments to Edward.S.Andrews(a)wv.gov with “Longview > Power Comments” in the subject line, or > • Mail hard copy comments to Edward Andrews, WV Department of > Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality, 601 57th Street, SE, Charleston, WV 25304. > > Public meeting participation: > • Members of the public can participate online or listen via > telephone. Participant pre-registration is required by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2020. > > To register, please complete the participant registration form at https://apps.dep.wv.gov/daq-register/133495. > > A confirmation email will be sent with information on how to join the public meeting. If you do not have internet access and want to register, please contact Sandie Adkins (ext. 41243) or Stephanie Hammonds (ext. 41263) at (304) 926-0475 by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2020. > > Additional information, including copies of the draft permit, application and all other supporting materials relevant to the permit decision may be obtained by contacting the engineer listed below or downloaded at: > > https://dep.wv.gov/daq/permitting/Pages/NSR-Permit-Applications.aspx > > Edward Andrews > WV Department of Environmental Protection Division of Air Quality > 601 57th Street, SE > Charleston, WV 25304 > Telephone: 304/926-0499, ext. 41244 > edward.s.andrews(a)wv.gov > > =========================================================== > > >

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TONIGHT, 6PM EDT - "Climate Generations" Global Webinar
by Duane Nichols 22 Oct '20

22 Oct '20

From: "Eve Marcum-Atkinson | WV Citizen Action Group" <eve(a)wvcag.org> > Date: October 22, 2020 at 2:51:17 PM EDT > > Subject: TONIGHT, 6PM EDT - "Climate Generations" Global Webinar > Reply-To: info(a)wvcag.org > > > > "What Do We Tell The Kids -- and What Are They Telling Us? > Generational Perspectives and the Climate Crisis." > > A Free Online Global Webinar > TONIGHT! > 6:00-8:00 PM US-EDT > > > > Dear Friend, > > > > Are you concerned about global warming and the climate crisis, and looking for solutions that involve people of all ages? > > If your answer is "YES," then TONIGHT please join others from around the world for a free, live, expert-led global webinar, originating from right here in WV, about how different generations can work together for climate solutions. > > Click this link to Register! > > Thank you for taking action for Earth! > > > Sincerely, > > Eve Marcum-Atkinson > Communications Coordinator, WV Citizen Action Group > > > > > West Virginia Citizen Action Group > a: 1500 Dixie St., Charleston WV 25311 > e: info(a)wvcag.org > > > DONATE > unsubscribe

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Three Scenarios for the Future of Climate Change | The New Yorker, 10/5/20
by Duane Nichols 11 Oct '20

11 Oct '20

Three Scenarios for the Future of Climate Change, Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, October 5, 2020 Three Scenarios for the Future of Climate Change. What will the Earth look like thirty years from now? To a discomfiting extent, the future has already been written. There’s a great deal of inertia in the climate system; as a result, we’ve yet to experience the full effects of the CO2 that’s been emitted to date. No matter what happens during the next few decades, it’s pretty much guaranteed that glaciers and ice sheets will continue to melt, as temperatures and sea levels continue to rise. But to an extent that, depending on your perspective, is either heartening or horrifying, the future—and not just of the next several decades but of the next several millennia—hinges on actions that will be taken by the time today’s toddlers reach adulthood. What’s technically referred to as “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” and colloquially known as “catastrophe” is warming so dramatic that it’s apt to obliterate whole nations (such as the Marshall Islands and the Maldives) and destroy entire ecosystems (such as coral reefs). https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/three-scenarios-f…

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Living on Earth: Beyond the Headlines
by Duane Nichols 10 Oct '20

10 Oct '20

https://loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=20-P13-00041&segmentID=5 Beyond the Headlines From LIVING ON EARTH, Air Date: Week of October 9, 2020 On this week's Beyond the Headlines, Environmental Health News Editor Peter Dykstra tells Host Bobby Bascomb about a plan to drill along the Atlantic that has fallen apart due to un-renewed seismic blasting permits. Then, the pair talk about how more K-12 schools are powering classrooms with solar energy. Finally, from the history books, the anniversary of a coal slurry spill that weakened the coal lobby's stranglehold on Appalachia. Transcript CURWOOD: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Steve Curwood. BASCOMB: And I’m Bobby Bascomb. It’s time for a trip now Beyond the Headlines with Peter Dykstra. Peter is an editor with Environmental Health News, that’s EHN dot org and Daily Climate dot org. DYKSTRA: Hi Bobby, there's a little bit of news that's flipped on the conventional wisdom, instead of people working to save whales, in at least one court case on the Atlantic coast, whales have helped save humans. BASCOMB: Oh, how's that? DYKSTRA: Well, there's some situation along the eastern coast of the US where the Trump administration had wanted to pursue seismic testing as the first step in the search for offshore oil. Seismic testing is contended to have done damage to whales and other marine mammals. Seismic testing is the firing of these huge compressed air cannons fired at the ocean floor and the feedback from those explosions helps determine whether or not there's oil and gas beneath the ocean floor. And because of court cases in South Carolina and elsewhere, the Trump administration appears poised to drop its efforts for permits for seismic testing, which means no offshore oil in the Atlantic. BASCOMB: Well, I know that the governors of these coastal states are opposed to drilling for oil off their shores and President Trump exempted Florida from offshore oil drilling but how have the oil companies themselves responded to this news? DYKSTRA: They haven't really responded much at all, possibly because oil drilling on the East Coast is something they never wanted in the first place. It's politically controversial. It involves risk of potentially catastrophic spill in some of our most beloved beach areas. And it's just not financially worth it. Any kind of offshore oil and gas recovery is expensive and this particular proposal comes at a time when oil is cheap. In other words, spending extra to get oil that is going to have a far lower profit margin and a much higher political expense. BASCOMB: All right, well, thank you to the whales, then. What else do you have for us this week? DYKSTRA: There's a little good news, according to a solar industry report, there's an 81% increase in K through 12 schools, kindergarten through high school that use solar power. That increase over the last five years, means 5.3 million kids and teens are going to school using solar energy. BASCOMB: Wow, that's amazing. I mean, it's very forward thinking, you know, and stands to reason for an organization that's inherently thinking about the future, you know, educating children, DYKSTRA: And a couple of practical concerns number one are schools are chronically underfunded, this may be another way to save energy costs. Schools just like a Walmart or a Target or a Costco have a lot of roof space and that roof space can be making energy and making money instead of being a neutral item on stretch school budgets. BASCOMB: Yeah, for sure. What do you have for us from the history books this week? DYKSTRA: October 11, 1980 fourty years ago, a coal company called Massey Energy saw its coal slurry dam fail, sending contaminated water through a couple of communities and into the Big Sandy River that's on the West Virginia Kentucky border, causing a tremendous water pollution problem. The Ohio River downstream is a major drinking water source for the region. That particular incident didn't bring with it a high death toll but almost exactly 30 years later in 2010, another Massey Energy project, a mine at Upper Big Branch in West Virginia caught fire, partly collapsed. Twenty-nine miners were killed and in an unprecedented legal move the flamboyant CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship was sent to jail for a year for mine safety violations that killed those 29 miners. BASCOMB: Well, one year in prison for the death of 29 people I mean, doesn't sound like very much. DYKSTRA: It doesn't sound like very much but because it's set a precedent and began to shake the stranglehold that big coal had on Law and Justice in the environment in Appalachia. It was a significant move. Don Blankenship was also a major political player, going to jail for a year certainly brought him down a notch as well. BASCOMB: All right well, thank you Peter. Peter Dykstra is an editor with Environmental Health News that's ehn.org and dailyclimate.org. We'll talk to you again real soon. DYKSTRA: All right, Bobby, thanks a lot. Talk to you soon. BASCOMB: And there's more on these stories at the Living on Earth website that's loe.org. #. #. #. #. #. #. . #. #. #. #. #.

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We're Going Live! Join Us for 24 Hours of Reality: Countdown to the Future
by Duane Nichols 10 Oct '20

10 Oct '20

Date: October 10, 2020 at 1:53:10 PM EDT > Subject: We're Going Live! Join Us for 24 Hours of Reality: Countdown to the Future > > > > Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition > Action Alert > Supporting Organized Voices and > Empowered Communities Since 1987 > > Oct 10, 2020 > > > > We're going live for 24 Hours of Reality: Countdown to the Future > Now is the time to ask ourselves one simple question: What is the future we want? > > From October 10-11, former Vice President Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project will do just that with 24 Hours of Reality: Countdown to the Future, a global conversation on the future we want and how we get there. > > For 24 straight hours, Climate Reality Leader activists across the planet will lead digital presentations and discussions exploring the historic conjunction of climate change, COVID-19, and structural racism that not only threatens our lives and deepest values, but opens the door to truly transformative change. > > Join us at today at 2 p.m. for a virtual presentation featuring Climate Reality Leader Dr. Randi Pokladnik as part of the worldwide two-day event. View the Facebook event to join on Zoom or watch the live presentation. > > Donate > > > The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition > > PO Box 6753 > Huntington, WV 25773-6753 > United States > info(a)ohvec.org 304-522-0246 > >

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Xiye Bastida: If you adults won't save the world, we will | TED Talk
by Duane Nichols 08 Oct '20

08 Oct '20

Xiye Bastida: If you adults won't save the world, we will | TED Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/xiye_bastida_if_you_adults_won_t_save_the_world_w… Xiye Bastida·TED2020 If you adults won't save the world, we will Details Transcript Reading List Comments (23) In a deeply moving letter to her grandmother, Xiye Bastida reflects on what led her to become a leading voice for global climate activism -- from mobilizing school climate strikes to speaking at the United Nations Climate Summit alongside Greta Thunberg -- and traces her resolve, resilience and profound love of the earth to the values passed down to her. "Thank you for inviting me to love the world since the moment I was born," she says.

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Global Launch | Countdown: To a better future.
by Duane Nichols 08 Oct '20

08 Oct '20

https://countdown.ted.com/global-launch Global Launch | Countdown: To a better future. To make progress on climate action we need to collaborate on a global scale, and your community has an important role to play. On 10.10.2020, Countdown will launch globally with a virtual event, and we invite you to join us. Watch online at home with your family and friends, or sign up to host a TEDx Countdown event of your own with your community, in your language, for your time zone. Tune in on 10.10.2020 on TED's channel on YouTube. In the meantime, sign up to get updates and reminders. Program Live: 11am-5pm Eastern Standard Time / 5-11pm Central European Time More than 50 speakers feature in five curated sessions that combine TED's signature blend of actionable and research-backed ideas, cutting-edge science, and moments of wonder and inspiration. View the full program JOIN AN EVENT AROUND THE WORLD You can join an event near you or on the other side of the world. Search to find one that works for you. ACCESS: Countdown: To a better future https://countdown.ted.com/

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CDC Acknowledges Coronavirus Can Spread Via Airborne Transmission
by Duane Nichols 06 Oct '20

06 Oct '20

From www.npr.org: CDC Acknowledges Coronavirus Can Spread Via Airborne Transmission, October 5, 2020 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says the coronavirus can be spread through airborne particles that can linger in the air "for minutes or even hours" — even among people who are more than 6 feet apart. The CDC still says that SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is most frequently spread among people in close contact with one another, through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. But in new guidance published Monday on its website, the agency also acknowledged that under certain circumstances, people have become infected by smaller particles that can linger in the air in enclosed spaces that are poorly ventilated. "Sometimes the infected person was breathing heavily, for example while singing or exercising," the CDC said. In such cases, the CDC said, there's evidence that the amount of smaller infectious droplets and particles that a contagious person produces "became concentrated enough to spread the virus to other people" – even if they were more than 6 feet away. In some cases, the CDC said, transmission occurred "shortly after the person with COVID-19 had left" the room. Many experts who study the airborne transmission of viruses have been warning that the coronavirus can spread through the air for months. Last month, many experts cheered when the CDC seemed to address the issue, posting an update that suggested that aerosols – tiny airborne particles expelled from a person's mouth when they speak, sing, sneeze or breathe — might be among the most common ways the coronavirus is spreading. But the agency took down that guidance a few days later, saying it was a draft proposal that was posted to its website in error. The CDC's latest guidance stops short of calling airborne transmission "common." "It's gratifying to see CDC acknowledge that there's a role for airborne transmission with this virus," said Donald Milton, an aerobiologist at the University of Maryland and coauthor of a letter published in the journal Science on Monday that calls for clearer public health guidance on how the coronavirus spreads through the air. However, the distinction between the CDC and Milton and his cosigners is how often airborne transmission happens. In a call with reporters Monday, Milton and his cosigners on the Science letter said the evidence suggests that airborne transmission is probably the dominant form of transmission – even in close-contact situations within 6 feet of an infected person. "Airborne transmission happens by inhalation of virus that's in the air," said Linsey Marr, professor of engineering at Virginia Tech and an expert in aerosol science. "And this is happening even more frequently when people are close to each other." So how does this affect how we should protect ourselves in practical terms? Marr and other experts said people should be wearing a mask whenever they are indoors with people outside of their household pod – even if they are standing more than 6 feet apart, or even in a situation where a plexiglass barrier is in place. Marr said masks are also a good idea outdoors if you are going to be in prolonged contact with people not in your household, even if you are more than 6 feet apart. "It's a grayish area where I think adopting the precautionary principle is best," Marr said. It also means that "ventilation really is just so important," said Kimberly Prather, an atmospheric chemist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and lead author of the Science letter. She recommends opening doors and windows, moving gatherings outdoors whenever possible, and the use of standalone air filters in rooms. In addition to improving ventilation indoors, the CDC said people should stay at least 6 feet away from others whenever possible, avoid crowded indoors spaces and – as always – wash their hands regularly. ########################### According to worldometers.info there are now 35,698,654 reported cases worldwide so far with a total of 1,045,953 deaths to date. The USA leads with 7,679,644 cases with 215,032 deaths. India is in second place with 6,682,073 total cases and 103,600 deaths. California is first place in the US with 835,971 cases to date and 16,178 deaths. Texas is second with 809,560 total cases and 16,564 deaths. Florida is third with 717,874 total cases and 14,722 deaths. NY continues to remain fourth with 500,415 cases and 33, 318 deaths. According to the PA Health Dept, the number of reported cases are 164,207 cases so far, with 8,227 deaths. Locally, Allegheny 12,777 cases (up 46) total deaths 364. Fayette 831 (up 3) with 7 deaths, Greene 194 with 1 death, Somerset 238 with 3 deaths, Washington 1,449 ( up 15) with 30 deaths, Westmoreland 2,461 (up 45) with 567 (up 1) total deaths , Garrett County, Md 76 with 1 death, Monongalia, WV 2,108 (up 10) with 5 total deaths. All cases and deaths are totals to date.

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MVCAC October 2020