MVCAC February 2020

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Whose Land Is This Land? | Sierra Club
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 26 Feb '20

26 Feb '20

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/whose-land-atlantic-coast-pipeline-appala… Whose Land Is This Land? A battle over a fracked gas pipeline turns into a fight for the future of energy The Appalachian Trail winds for over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine, through state, federal, and private land. Some portions of the trail run alongside city streets, like in Hot Springs, North Carolina. Some portions of the trail cross rivers, like the Kennebec River in Maine. And some portions of the trail cross through National Forest, like the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests that cover parts of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Typically, land within a national forest is managed by the US Forest Service, while the Appalachian Trail itself is administered by the National Park Service. The Forest Service, for its part, is authorized to allow the development of national forests for multiple use, meaning that it can grant permits to industries that want to use the resources of the national forest to their benefit. But what about the parts of the Appalachia Trail that cross through a national forest—are those areas Forest Service land, or Parks Service land? That is largely the question that the Supreme Court sought to answer when it heard oral arguments Monday in Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association. The case concerns the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a joint venture of the energy giants Dominion Energy and Duke Energy that would carry fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia to Virginia and North Carolina. In 2017, the US Forest Service issued the necessary permits for the pipeline to cross a portion of the Appalachian Trail that runs through the George Washington National Forest. Environmental and conservation groups, including the Sierra Club, sued to overturn the permits. Eventually, a federal court of appeals ruled that the permits were invalid because, among other things, the Forest Service lacked jurisdiction under the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act to grant a right-of-way for a pipeline on any land in the National Parks System. In one sense, the Supreme Court’s decision in Atlantic Coast Pipeline will have a limited impact on the pipeline’s future. The court of appeals vacated eight permits based on four independent grounds, including an inadequate environmental review process and an inadequate consideration of alternative routes. The pipeline’s construction has been plagued by delays and beleaguered by community protests. Because of these setbacks, developers have seen the cost of the pipeline balloon to $8 billion from the original price tag of about $5 billion. Even if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the pipeline, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the pipeline will ever become operational. But don’t mistake the fate of this single pipeline for the fate of fossil fuel development in the United States, particularly across some of the country’s most beloved natural lands. Even if a favorable decision won’t automatically save the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, there’s a reason that the energy companies petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the issue. This case is not just about the one pipeline: it’s about all the pipelines to come. On a map, the National Park system is a scatter-shot constellation of the 84 million acres that comprise the US National Parks. While there are notable exceptions in the West and in Alaska, in most places, a national park is an island unto itself; the parks may be numerous, but they relatively isolated from one another. That isolation creates gaps between the boundaries of the parks that, as the attorney for the pipeline companies told the Supreme Court, are “easy enough to steer a pipeline around.” But take a look at the National Trails system--which was created by Congress in 1968 to allow for “the establishment of a national system of recreation and scenic trails”-- and things change. Unlike the Park System, the National Trails system runs like rivulets across the entire map. The Appalachian Trail follows the length of the East Coast; in the center of the country, the Lewis and Clark Trail cuts down the middle of the Dakotas into the heart of the Midwest. And in California and Oregon, the California Historic Trail curves through a thicket of national parks and national forests as its tributaries reach for the Pacific. The environmental groups in Atlantic Coast Pipeline don’t suggest that an oil and gas pipeline can never cross any land in the National Trails system. But just as the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 prohibits the construction of pipeline on National Park System land without Congressional approval, environmental groups argue that pipelines cannot be built across National Trails land that is administered by the National Park Service without Congressional approval. Put another way: if federal land is administered by the National Park Service, environmentalists argued before the court, it is necessarily National Park System land. And Congress has made it very clear that you can’t build oil-and-gas pipelines on federal land in a national park without Congressional approval. If the Supreme Court were to side with the environmental groups, it would mean that, on the map of the United States, the gaps between the national parks where it is currently “easy enough to steer a pipeline around” would constrict, if only just a little bit. It wouldn’t make pipeline construction impossible, by any stretch. The Appalachian Trail, which is a patchwork of federal, state, and private land, wouldn’t become the “impermeable barrier” that Chief Justice John Roberts described at oral argument. Companies like Duke and Dominion could still construct a pipeline across the Appalachian Trail. They would just have to do it across private, local, or state land. Limitations, of course, create costs, which is perhaps the real reason that Duke Energy (which earned $2.7 billion in 2018) and Dominion (which earned $2.6 billion over the same period) would balk at the idea of having to choose from a slightly more limited set of options for delivering fossil fuels to consumers. Pipelines are already a costly venture, and fossil fuels are a bad investment. To capitalize on as much profit as possible, energy companies need to build their oil and gas pipelines now. That, ultimately, is the problem that the energy companies asked the Supreme Court to solve--and the problem that the court’s conservative justices seem most eager to answer. Describing the consequences of the environmental groups’ argument as “enormous,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito, appeared deeply skeptical of the idea that Congress would ever intend to make the Appalachian Trail off limits to oil and gas pipelines (per his usual silence, Justice Clarence Thomas did not ask a question at oral argument). “You would expect to see clear language like that to generate the significant consequences that your position has,” Kavanaugh told the environmental groups’ attorney at oral arguments. “You have textual arguments, the other side has textual arguments, but your position has significant consequences to it, enormous consequences.” Later, Justice Alito described the environmental groups’ claim as a “gotcha” argument, patched together through a lucky confluence of statutory language. The court’s conservative justices did not, at oral argument, acknowledge the enormous consequences on the other side of the ledger; that is, the consequences that have already come from the unfettered extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, like the gas that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would carry to the eastern seaboard. Nor did the conservative justices signal any discomfort with the consequence of upending parts of the Appalachian Trail for a pipeline intended to serve a demand that might not exist. At one point, Justice Stephen Breyer—considered to be part of the court’s more liberal arm—suggested that the pipeline developers might be able to win on narrower grounds than a sweeping proclamation that National Trail lands administered by the Park Service are not units of the National Park System. “I represent the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” the attorney for the pipeline replied. “It's not my job to resist winning this case on a narrow ground.” But with a five to four conservative majority, the Supreme Court seems poised to give the pipeline company the broad victory it desires, thwarting environmentalists’ attempts to limit, even slightly, the land across which oil and gas pipelines can be built in this country. Our national trails, the court seems ready to rule, are important—just not so important as a company’s right to bring fossil fuels to market. The consequences of hindering an energy company’s profits are “enormous;” the consequences of allowing the unfettered extraction and use of fossil fuels, at least to the court’s conservative majority, merits no consideration. It is a sobering vision of our country’s energy future. Perhaps more importantly, it is a sobering look into the role that the courts will play in halting—or hastening—the climate crisis. Sent from my iPad

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Tell states to cut transportation emissions: 2 days left
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 26 Feb '20

26 Feb '20

From: Clean Air Council <joe_minott(a)cleanair.org> > Date: February 26, 2020 at 10:30:40 AM EST > Subject: Tell states to cut transportation emissions: 2 days left > Reply-To: nzr(a)cleanair.org > > > > > > Donate > > Submit a comment to the Transportation & Climate Initiative by Friday 2/28 > Tell your state to reduce emissions and invest in a clean transportation system. > TAKE ACTION > MonValley Clean Air Coalition, > > > Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and other northeast states are considering a program that would transform the transportation sector in this part of the country through the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). Clean Air Council and other advocates across the region believe this is a critical step to improving transportation and addressing the climate crisis. > > > If designed correctly, this program could help to create safe roads for biking and walking, more frequent and reliable public transportation, greater access to electric vehicles, and a more equitable system with cleaner transportation options for everyone in the region. > > > Transportation is the country’s and region’s leading source of carbon emissions. Clean Air Council believes TCI will help to clean this sector up, but we need your help to move it forward. Fossil fuel companies are hard at work getting opponents to leave negative feedback in the program’s public comment portal, and we need environmentalists like you to help counteract that. > > > Click here to leave a comment supporting TCI and demand the most comprehensive program possible: we need improved transportation options, we need polluters to pay their fair share for the damage they are causing, and we need to act now! > > > Tips for comments: > Affiliation can be concerned resident/parent/voter/etc. > Request your state join the plan to reduce transportation emissions. > Explain why it is important to you that the states take action on the climate crisis now. > Demand a strong program that invests in public transportation, biking, walking, and prioritizes equity. > Leave a comment in support of a strong TCI program by this Friday, February 28th! > > > > Contact Nick Zuwiala-Rogers for more information about TCI and the Council’s work on this issue at nzr(a)cleanair.org. > > > Thank you for your action, > > > Joseph Otis Minott, Esq. > Executive Director and Chief Counsel > > > > Donate > > > > > > CONNECT WITH US > > > > > > > > > > PHILADELPHIA OFFICE > 135 S. 19TH STREET > SUITE 300 > PHILADELPHIA, PA, 19103 > PITTSBURGH OFFICE > 200 FIRST AVE. > SUITE 200 > PITTSBURGH, PA 15222 > > View this email in your browser > WILMINGTON OFFICE > 100 W. 10TH STREET > SUITE 1004 > WILMINGTON, DE, 19801 > Unsubscribe > > > > > > > > > > > >

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WVU Climate Conversations Podcast: An Introduction to the Podcast | WVU Climate Conversations Podcast | thedaonline.com
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 22 Feb '20

22 Feb '20

https://anchor.fm/climate-conversations/episodes/An-Introduction-to-the-Pod… WVU Climate Conversations Podcast: An Introduction to the Podcast From the Climate Conversations, WVU Daily Athenaeum, February 19, 2020 Kathryn Williamson, teaching assistant professor of physics and astronomy at West Virginia University, gives us an introduction to the WVU Climate Conversations podcast. Inspired by Katharine Hayhoe’s TED talk that, “the most important thing you can do to fight climate change is to talk about it,” students in the West Virginia University Fall 2019 Honors book club host their own climate conversations with a variety of guests. Episode Transcription: Hi everyone. My name's Katherine Williamson. I'm a professor of physics and astronomy at West Virginia University, and I usually teach astronomy, but this semester I got the chance to lead a book club for the honors college. So the name of the book club, Climate Conversations, I chose after listening to Katharine Hayhoe's TED talk, which says that the most important thing you can do to fight climate change is to talk about it. So that was the aim of every one of our book club meetings. And that's the aim of this podcast, is to keep that conversation going. We all have something to bring to the table. We all have a perspective that is valuable no matter how old or young where we live. If it's rural or urban, whether we're male or female, regardless of any sort of identity we have, we have our voice. This podcast series is a result of students' final projects in the climate conversations book club. I had seven students we met. The second half of the semester in Fall 2019 we read three books. The first book was the Two Mile Time Machine, which is about ice cores, climate change, and our future. Written by Richard Alley, Two Mile Time Machine is really about how we know the science of climate change throughout the eons. But when we dig through ice cores, we can see what was the temperature hundreds of thousands of years ago, what was the carbon dioxide concentration. And then the second book we read was called Earth and Human Hands. That was written by a planetary scientist, David Grinspoon. He actually called into her book club meeting and we got to ask him lots of fascinating questions about the Anthropocene and how planetary science has really given us a perspective of our own planet by studying Venus and Mars and other planets, we can learn about home. So those first two books were very science heavy. As a scientist myself, I felt compelled to make sure all the students in the book club got a chance to talk about the science and how we know what we know. But those two books kinda, they didn't lead to as interesting conversations as our third book, which was called renewable. Written by Eileen Flanagan about her search for the subtitle as her one woman's search for simplicity, faithfulness, and hope. And she is a Quaker activist who had served in the peace Corps in Botswana and just found herself sort of in her midlife, struggling to live true to her values. And she became an activist who actually. Got arrested right outside of the white house because of pushing for more action on climate change. So that sort of personal responsibility, I think spoke to a lot of students. And with this conversation with this podcast, we want to just encourage everyone, all of our guests, we want to highlight their voice and just show an example of what it means to have a climate conversation. In this podcast, we'll have a guest from the West Virginia House of Delegates, we'll have a physicist. one of my colleagues here at WVU, we will have students talking about their experience, either studying abroad, studying history, or just trying to live sustainably on campus, and we'll even talk to some activists here in West Virginia from the Citizens' Climate Lobby. So we're getting a broad perspective, political, scientific, personal, and I hope there's something in this podcast series that you can relate to, feel inspired by, and maybe you'll have your own climate conversations after this.

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University student organizations to rally against Longview Power Plant | WVU News | thedaonline.com
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 20 Feb '20

20 Feb '20

University student organizations to rally against Longview Power Plant Article by Gabriella Brown, WVU Daily Athenaeum, February 20, 2020 Student organizations will rally together at Woodburn Circle on Saturday at noon to protest against the construction of a natural gas and solar power plant. The organizations include WVU Sierra Club Coalition, Mountaineers for Green Design and the Sunrise Movement Greater Morgantown. Stephen Nelson, chief operating officer of Longview, said the $1.1 billion gas and solar power plant will use regionally produced Marcellus gas, and the solar facility will be one of the largest in Appalachia. Part of the project will be located on Longview’s property in Pennsylvania and part will be in Maidsville, West Virginia. Alexis Yost, a junior landscape architecture student and member of the Mountaineers for Green Design, said the construction of this plant could have irreversible environmental implications, including water contamination and the release of four million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. She said the construction of the plant poses its own set of problems, such as pipeline installation and deforestation. She said few people within the Morgantown community are aware of the situation. “The more you talk about it to people the more you realize no one knows that this is a really big deal,” Yost said. Jonah Kone, an Americorps Volunteer in Service to America in the WVU Land Use Clinic, said based on most scientific predictions, if carbon emissions are not reduced within 13 years, catastrophic impacts of climate change will become inescapable. He said this plant would simply add fuel to the fire. “For one, the Sierra Club and the Sunrise Movement are adamantly against any new fossil fuel infrastructure,” Kone said. “The reality is renewable energy can be competitive in West Virginia. We have a ton of untapped potential.” Kone said with this project in particular, one of the biggest problems is related to the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program, meaning the company agrees to pay a set stipend of fees to the county government in exchange for a property tax exemption. If approved, Kone said by being a part of the PILOT program, Longview would be granted a $200 million property tax and business inventory tax break. In order for this to pass, he said the Board of Education and the county commission will first need to approve it. Kone said the Sierra Club had its economics policy advisor do the numbers on the plan. He said the club found around 75% of the taxes the plants would normally be required to pay would be exempt. Nelson said Longview Power plans to take part in the PILOT program, and it will provide $2 million in PILOT payments and taxes in Monongalia County every year. He said this one of many benefit’s the plant will bring to Monongalia County, including creating thousands of jobs during construction and during the plant’s operation. “Employee compensation, direct, indirect and induced, will exceed $200 million,” Nelson said in an email. “In full operation, the gas and solar facilities will add approximately 35 new, high skill/high wage jobs with a payroll of around $2 million.” In response to the protest that will occur on campus, Nelson said Longview Power is committed to producing clean energy. “Longview is one of the cleanest burning coal-fired electric generation units in the world and our proposed gas facility, once operational, will be as well,” Nelson said. “We are committed to clean fossil and renewable development. We hope folks will take the time to learn more about us.” Yost said even if the rally has a small turnout, it is important to the environmentalist groups to get the word out about the situation. “If this still passes, young people need to vote,” Yost said. P.S. The proposed new plant would add 4 million tons per year of CO2. Source: https://www.thedaonline.com/news/university/university-student-organization…

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Re: [MVCAC] Longview Power, LLC vs. APPALACHIAN STEWARDSHIP FOUNDATION
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 16 Feb '20

16 Feb '20

DOMINION POST EDITORIAL 16 FEBRUARY 2020 APOLOGY STILL OWED GROUPS FOR REMARKS County commissioner needs to set false accusations right It’s a lesson most of us learn the hard way on more than one occasion. Make your words soft and sweet because you never know when you’ll have to eat them. But more importantly, you want to check out your sources and get your facts straight first. In mid-January, Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom’s words against an environmental foundation were hard and sour. Some of his frustration was a reaction to comments by a Sierra Club representative who questioned the C o m m i s s i o n’s transparency in negotiations with Longview Power. The Commission is negotiating a second payment in lieu of taxes deal with Longview Power for a solar and natural gas expansion to accompany its coal-fired power plant. Yet, when Bloom responded in a public meeting to those comments with accusations of a misappropriation of funds and maligning environmentalists for even receiving those funds, then threatening to forward the matter to the p ro s e c u t o r ’s office if certain conditions were not met, he stepped out of bounds. The funds in question are payments from Longview Power to the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation, an umbrella organization, created to administer and distribute funds Longview pays as a result of a challenge by the Sierra Club and two other environmental groups in Longview’s permitting process for its existing plant. A settlement with these groups resulted in Longview paying $500,000 for 10 years and $300,000 each year thereafter — $4 million to date — to be used for remediation efforts. Representatives from the Sierra Club, the other environmentalists and two nonvoting members, Longview and AMD Reclamation, comprise ASF’s board. Based on data provided by L o n g v i ew ’s president and CEO, Bloom asserted ASF had spent less than $355,400 on appropriate projects and had spent more than $1.2 million on “lawyers and other activities.” After reviewing the ASF’s public data on its website we cannot find a single fact that supports those accusation. The organizations that have received grants from these ASF funds all appear to fund appropriate activities. The ASF has provided grants totaling $2.2 million to fund appropriate activities and has not paid $1.2 million to lawyers. Period. ASF’s list of grants and tax forms are available to the public. And trying to cast these payments to ASF as “t a x p aye r ” funds or as shortchanging the school board is disingenuous, at best, wrongheaded, at worst. Yet, we have yet to hear a public apology to these groups from Bloom. It’s almost as if he’s not going to admit he’s wrong, because he didn’t look at the facts. But he’s not going to look at the facts, because he would have to admit he’s wrong. Our newspaper is well versed on making mistakes and having to clarify, correct and apologize for them. It’s better to err and apologize than to hope a problem just magically goes away. Especially, a public problem in a public venue caused by a public official. P.S. The President of Longview is the source of these accusations, which he repeated in a public meeting in Morgantown hosted by the Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition. dgn

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Your Rights at Stake: Come to Public Hearing on Anti-Protest Bill
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 08 Feb '20

08 Feb '20

https://ohvec.org/public-hrg-on-anti-protest-bill/ Your Rights at Stake: Come to Public Hearing on Anti-Protest Bill OVECFeb 6, 2020 Please come out for a public hearing on HB 4615, “The West Virginia Critical Infrastructure Protection Act,” which would create new criminal and civil penalties for conduct around gas and oil pipelines that could be applied to individuals and organizations involved in peaceful protests. Public Hearing on HB 4615, the Anti-Protest Bill 8:30 a.m., Monday February 10 in the House Chamber at the WV State Capitol 1900 Kanawha Boulevard East, Charleston, West Virginia Can’t come? Call your delegate and state your opposition to HB 4615. Find out who your delegate is here and find their contact info here. In State Houses around the United States, bills are being introduced that would criminalize peaceful protest. The bills would dramatically increase civil fines for protesters, and increase criminal penalties for specific forms of protest, even for organizations and individuals supporting protest. In the states where the bills have become enacted to law, challenges are underway at great expense to all involved. Greenpeace protesters in Texas appear to be the first to have been charged under these types of bills, and could face two years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. The organization itself could face a fine of up to $500,000 under the new state law. The Texas bill could even impact journalists covering protests. South Dakota appears to be the first state where a legal challenge to one of these bills has had a successful outcome. People in Ohio have been resisting a similar bill there, and now this corporations-over-people bill has invaded West Virginia. HB 4615 is un-American. A basic right for Americans is the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in the country. Protest was a foundational tenant for American democracy, and since our foundling days, protest has been essential in raising awareness about injustices to bring about social reforms. HB 4615 is unconstitutional. The right to peacefully assemble is protected under the First Amendment. Peaceful protest works. Almost every day in America people come together peacefully to demonstrate and raise our voices about clean air and water, equal rights for women and people of color, fair wages and working hours, local land use, and other issues we believe in. We all deserve to live in a society where we can speak our mind without fear of punishment. This is free speech. If a company is polluting our water source or a politician is acting against the people, we should be able to speak up. This bill stops people from criticizing the powerful. HB 4615 reeks of ALEC’s* widespread efforts to clamp down on protests of all kinds. HB 4615 has heightened penalties for trespass onto “critical infrastructure” (one year in jail), and felony penalties for trespass with intent to “willfully damage, destroy, vandalize, deface, tamper with equipment, or impede or inhibit operations” (three years in prison and a $1,000 fine). Actual damage, destruction, vandalism, defacing, tampering, impeding/inhibiting is a felony subject to five years in prison and a $2,000 fine. A person convicted of any of these offenses is also civilly liable to third parties for any personal or property damage that results. (*See: ALEC Exposed: The Koch Connection.) The bill contains conspiracy provisions as well, creating liability for a person or organization that “conspires” to trespass (a $5,000 fine) or to damage/tamper/etc. (a $10,000 fine). Any entity that “compensates, provides consideration to or remunerates a person” for trespassing is also civilly liable for any personal or property damage. If you can’t make it to the public hearing, please do let your delegate know this bill is unacceptable. As it begins, you should be able to access a live stream of the public hearing by clicking on the “House of Delegates Chamber” audio or video link here. Please stand up for democracy! Come out to this hearing and/or comment to legislators, and then make plans to join us the following Monday, February 17, for Good Government Lobby Day. Register for that, here. Sent from my iPad

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Proposed additional Longview Power Plant at Ft. Martin, Monongalia Co., WV
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 06 Feb '20

06 Feb '20

1. MON VALLEY CLEAN AIR COALITION, Monongalia County, WV NOTE: The following 13 items were submitted to the Monongalia County Commission at the regular weekly meeting on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 by Duane Nichols 1. The WV Public Service Commission held a Public Hearingon the proposed Longview II power plant this past Thursday in Charleston.Public comment was limited to only 2 minutes. The local newspaper indicated that Duane Nichols of Maidsville spokeabout the traffic flows on WV Route 53 thru the Ft. Martin community. 2. 2. Duane Nichols is from Stewartstown, but was speakingfor many residents of Maidsville. Actually,Stewartstown, Bakers Ridge, Pt. Marion and other areas are downwind of the twocoal fired plants and gets more than their share of the pollution. Now a third plant is proposed but is notneeded. 3. 3. The lawyer for Longview stated to the Public ServiceCommission that the “non-binding term sheet,” which is the financial arrangement of a PILOT agreement from the Monongalia CountyCommission, is actually a binding document; that it is official and formal andcommits the County to the project. SinceI was not aware of when or where the Mon. Commission had approved this project, Iwas in a state of shock. 4. 4.Since last Thursday, I have learned more about thetraffic in Maidsville and on the Ft. Martin hill. Listen to this: there are approx.300 diesel coal trucks per day hauling Pennsylvania coal up the hill toLongview I; --- there are special diesel trucks hauling Longview I flyash downthe hill and off to a remote facility, often after dark and perhaps during thenight; --- next, there are diesel trucks hauling First Energy flyash from theFt. Martin power plant down to the old Humphrey mine site off WV Route 100; ---next there is employee traffic for the power plants, --- delivery trucks forthe power plants, ---and then resident traffic and school buses. (Now much more is being proposed.) 5. 5. This Commission is planning to permit hundreds ofvehicles MORE for Longview II construction employees AND the large scalemovement of heavy power plant equipment. The Longview CFO told the PublicService Commission that some traffic could be from the north if the Shannopin dockat the mouth of Dunkard Creek is utilized. In my opinion, this is unlikely. So the traffic issues are much muchgreater than we ever were aware. Ibelieve the residents of the Ft. Martin community deserve more considerationthan they have been given. 6. 6. Residents of the Ft. Martin community have complainedto the WV DOH, to the WV PSC, to the State Police, and indeed to thisCommission. Yet, these challenges keep getting worse. The residents of Ft. Martin can actually “feel”and hear the truck vibrations inside their homes. And, driving on Routes 53 and 100 is quitedangerous.(All this traffic is adding to the air pollution.) 7. 7. Longview submitted the following two items to thePublic Service Commission on January 17, 2020 regarding the public roads:PROPOSED CONDITION 8. “Applicant and their contractors and subcontractors,shall not block roads by changing shifts or heavy haul while school buses arescheduled to be on the roads within 1 mile of the site.” PROPOSED CONDITION 13. “Applicants will consult with the DOH onthe advisability and feasibility of constructing a right turn lane on the CR 53approach to the Project site.” This is a puzzle because the project site is tothe left. Further, right turns arealmost always of no concern since they do not cross on-coming traffic. [This isthe only traffic control item proposed.] 8. 8. NEW TOPIC. Longviewsubmitted application materials to the WV-PSC on September 12, 2019. Includedin Exhibit 2 on page 17, the last paragraph reads as follows: “To the east,along the new entrance road to the CCGT Facility, the foundation of a homesteadfarm house will be preserved when the access road is constructed through thisarea. In addition, one of the stormwater management ponds located near the farm house foundation will be convertedto a recreational pond. This area willbe developed with the addition of a pavilion with picnic tables, a walkingtrail, and baseball/softball field. Signage will be added for the walking trail. The new Project Park will be considered aspart of the CCGT Facility operational footprint. The Project Park will be open for bothCompany and community functions and events at times approved by theCompany. The homestead ruins will bepreserved and identified by signage. Trees and shrubs will be planted around the pavilion and along thewalking trail.” However, these proposalsare absent from the Proposed Conditions of Exhibit JLK-3 submitted on January17, 2020. 9. 9. Consider the existing Ft. Martin Grade School, an oldstructure on Route 53. It is locked tight,probably has not been opened for 20 years. What are the plans for this school building? Can we consider moving itto a location where it could safely be appreciated, perhaps the Mason-Dixon Park. There it could be looked after by responsiblepeople. 1 10. Theexisting Longview I coal conveyor could be relocated to the Ft. Martin hill,and with cooperation from First Energy, could be used to transfer coal from theRiver up to the Longview I power plant. Cooperation among the power companies over there would be necessary.This County Commission would serve the county well by facilitating cooperationamong the parties. 11. Regardingthe coal-fired 1400 MW Ft. Martin power plant. Coal arrives by railroad carsbut the ash is conveyed up the hill to Route 53. It is then trucked down the hill and ontoRoute 100 where it is dumped onto the old Humphrey mine property, if I amcorrect. Now this is very near the Monongahela River, so the surface runoff andgroundwater leachate can ultimately flow to the River. We should insist that this ash be disposed uptop as originally planned, somewhere on top of the hill or inPennsylvania. This would remove some ofthe trucks and dust on the Ft. Martin hill. 12. Dust from the trucks gets on the roadway anddries, then the traffic suspends it into the air as an aerosol where some itsettles out in yards and on the homes of the residents. Some residents keepboots available for walking in the muck at their mail-boxes. 13. Manyletters have been received at the PSC raising issues with a PILOT agreement.The PSC is not forwarding these to Monongalia County. And, I doubt seriously that the CountyCommission is giving them any consideration. PILOT agreements are quasi-legal,not having a firm foundation in law. So, any PILOT agreement should beprepared, negotiated and approved only with the full and open participation ofthe pubic citizens. (Further, an alternative site should be chosen or better yet, limit the project to an alternative energy project of solar cells.) Duane G. Nichols, MVCAC Coordinator, 330 Dream CatcherCircle, Stewartstown, WV 26508Date: February 5,2020. Nichols330(a)gmail.com; 304-216-5535. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> RE: W.V. PUBLIC SERVICECOMMISSION: Case 19-0890-E-CS-CN,Longview Power II.Note: This Case will be open for comment until February 24th.Early comments are needed particularly with regard to whether the Ft. Martin site is right for another power plant. This new plant will generate some 4 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, adding to over 10 million already. A proposed agreement for property taxes in place of routinetaxes, called a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT), has been prepared by theMonongalia County Commission and submitted to Longview Power, LLC, for theirconsideration. This was done without the participation of the citizens of thecounty. A study and report of PILOTagreements in general and this one in particular has been completed by the WVCenter on Budget and Policy, as shown here: "PILOTAgreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at LongviewPower Plant" - West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, Ted Boettner,October 15, 2019 https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an… A. Letters of Information, Support or Protest can bemailed to: Ms. Connie Graley, Executive Secretary, WV Public ServiceCommission, 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, WV 25301. Specify the Case Numberand Title: Case 19-0890-E-CS-CN, Longview Power II. B. Comments Can Be Filed Electronically directly to theWV-PSC: Go to: WV Public Service Commission, choose “Submit a Comment,” choose “FormalCase,” enter the case number; click on the case number, enter the requestedinformation and your comment. Or, try the following link that may take you tothis same screen: http://www.psc.state.wv.us/Scripts/OnlineComments/formalComments.cfm?CaseID… C. Comments May be Submitted Electronically to theMonongalia County Commission: https://monongaliacounty.gov/contact_us/index.php

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Sierra Weekly Dispatch: A cascade of wins on coal and clean energy
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

From: "Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Club". Date: January 31, 2020 > Subject: Sierra Weekly Dispatch: A cascade of wins on coal and clean energy > > > > > For Beyond Coal Regional Campaign Director Holly Bender, the fight for a clean energy future is a family affair. > Dear Concerned Citizens..... > > This has been an incredible month for our Beyond Coal Campaign. First, the independent economic research group Rhodium issued a study showing that greenhouse gas emissions actually declined in the U.S. in 2019, almost entirely due to plummeting use of coal. When we started our campaign ten years ago, taking on the coal industry felt daunting. This month, we got the news that we’d won our 300th coal plant retirement...and then our 301st, 302nd, 303rd, and 304th. > > Let’s add that up. The five coal plants announced just this month churned out 25 million tons of climate-destroying CO2 in 2018 alone; closing them is like permanently taking 5.3 million cars off the road. On top of that, one of the last two proposed plants of the Bush-era coal rush—the Holcomb plant in Kansas—was finally abandoned this month, after a fourteen-year fight by our coal team. > > As Beyond Coal Regional Campaign Director Holly Bender explained: > > “Some of these coal fights live deep in our bones. Holcomb was one of mine. I started working on it as an intern with the Environmental Law Program in 2007. On January 15, we got the news that the proposal was finally abandoned for good. My family celebrated with homemade pizza, and we got the good Trader Joe’s wine (you know, the ‘Diamond Reserve’ label). I got to tell my two daughters that it was a really good day, and that all the pollution from the plant that could harm people, animals, and our environment would never happen.” > > These wins are the result of the tenacity, creativity, and commitment of thousands of volunteers and staff like Holly. Here’s a recap of what they’ve been able to accomplish just since we rang in the new year: > > January 2: Largest coal ash clean up in history announced through a settlement with the Sierra Club and allies. > January 6: Study in prestigious journal finds reduced US coal use saved 26,000 lives over the past decade > January 8: Coal plant #300 (Dolet Hills in Louisiana) announced to retire through a settlement with Sierra Club. > January 9: Tri-State announces coal retirements #301 and 302: Craig in Colorado and Escalante in New Mexico. > January 13: Reuters projects that 2019 will be the second biggest year ever for coal retirements. > January 15: Tri-State commits to 100 percent clean energy for Colorado by 2040, 50 percent renewable energy by 2024 for their electric cooperatives, and no new fracked gas plants as it phases out coal. > January 15: The proposed Holcomb coal plant in Kansas is finally abandoned. > January 21: Coal plant retirement #303 is announced: Merom Generating Station in Indiana. > January 22: Arizona utility announces a major new climate plan that will retire the Four Corners Power Plant—one of the biggest emitters carbon in the US, and commits to 100 percent clean power by 2050. > January 24: Coal plant retirement #304 is announced: Dairyland’s Genoa plant in Wisconsin. > > What a way to kick off this pivotal decade for our climate. We’re not finished yet—we’re only about halfway to our goal of retiring every coal plant in the US. As we do that work, we're also supporting an economic transition for coal workers and communities. And we’re already deep into tackling another big challenge: stopping the rush to fracked gas, which poses an enormous threat to our climate . But we have the wind at our backs. And I want to pause long enough to appreciate these victories and everyone who made them possible—including our generous donors. > > Your support is truly helping move the needle on a scale that matters for our climate and our future. As a mom with a big stake in that future, I can’t thank you enough. > > Warmly, Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Beyond Coal Campaign > > *501(c)3 contributions to the Sierra Club Foundation do not go toward our legislative lobbying efforts. Any lobbying activities are conducted by Sierra Club using 501(c)4 non-tax-deductible funds. > > > > > > > > >

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A CLIMATE UPDATE, SUNDAY @ 10:45 by Jim Kotcon
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

WVU Prof. Jim Kotcon will present: "A Climate Update: International, National, State and Local Activities." February 2 at 10:45 AM at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Morgantown, Prof. Kotcon will be updating us on climate change, and will share his knowledge of opportunities to get involved. Join in and learn more. The UUFM is a Welcoming Congregation. The UUFM is located at 429 Warrick Avenue, off University Avenue between campuses. More info at 304-906-1014

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