MVCAC August 2022

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It Costs Nothing to Leave Our Trees as They Are - The New York Times
by Duane Nichols 27 Aug '22

27 Aug '22

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/opinion/carole-king-logging-biden.html It Costs Nothing to Leave Our Trees as They Are By Carole King, Opinion Editorial, New York Times, August 25, 2022 Ms. King is a singer, songwriter, author and environmental advocate. My career as a songwriter began in Manhattan, not far from where I was born. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1968, I became part of the singer-songwriter community that coalesced around Laurel Canyon. I thought California would be wild in the sense of nature. It turned out to be wild in the sense of drugs and parties. I wanted to live close to the kind of wild nature that must exist somewhere on a large scale. Somewhere turned out to be Idaho. In 1977 I moved to a mobile home on Robie Creek, a 40-minute drive from Boise. For the next three years, I lived in the backcountry northeast of McCall in a cabin with no running water or electricity. After that I lived adjacent to the Salmon River for 38 years, with a national forest as my nearest neighbor. The future of America’s national forests is being shaped now. The Biden administration is developing a system to inventory old-growth and mature forests on federal land that the president wants to be completed by next April. But given the immediate threats facing many of these forests and their importance to slowing climate change, bold action is required immediately to preserve not just old-growth and mature trees but entire national forest ecosystems comprising thousands of interdependent species. President Biden should issue an executive order immediately directing his secretaries of the interior and agriculture to take all steps available to them to stop commercial logging on public land. We can’t wait a year. One of the best technologies to store carbon is an unlogged forest with minimal human intrusion. Forests sequester vast amounts of carbon in the trunks, leaves and roots of trees of all ages and sizes and the soil beneath them. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and water from the air and ground and through the process of photosynthesis release oxygen into the air. It costs nothing to leave them as they are. Allowing commercial logging to continue in our national forests would also be a catastrophe for the biodiversity they contain. The order I propose would bring about a significant reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide. And it will help the United States meet the requirements of the Paris agreement, which Mr. Biden rejoined on the first day of his presidency. Even with the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, he will fall short of his promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 to 52 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Cutting more forests isn’t going to help hit that mark. Last fall, over 200 climate scientists from around the country sent Mr. Biden a letter underscoring the consequences if timber harvesting continues in the national forests. They wrote that “greenhouse gas emissions from logging in U.S. forests are now comparable to the annual” carbon dioxide “emissions from U.S. coal burning.” Protecting federal forestlands from logging, on the other hand, would remove 84 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year, they wrote. My experience in Idaho led me to become involved as a volunteer in the ongoing effort to protect a bioregion of 23 million acres of nationally owned public land in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon and Wyoming by means of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. That legislation would designate corridors for the safe passage of wildlife between existing wilderness and roadless areas on federal forestland. It was proposed by scientists in the late 1980s who understood that protecting and connecting large-scale forest ecosystems is necessary for species to thrive. Despite the legislation receiving some bipartisan support in past years, it has not been enacted in the nearly 30 years since it was introduced. Forest preservation is a climate solution. That’s why we need action to safeguard the forests on the public lands we all share. Federal law requires that most public lands be managed for multiple uses, such as recreation, gas and oil development, mining and logging. But this longstanding policy is running headlong into efforts to slow the warming of our planet. Forests on federally owned land are being destroyed at breakneck speed by heavy equipment that can saw through a tree, strip its branches and set that tree on a pile of logs in the time it took me to type this sentence. The effects of the climate crisis are undeniable. People are suffering, and the scale of the problem sometimes makes us feel helpless. But the public can do something right now by asking Mr. Biden — in numbers too big to ignore — to use all of his powers to stop the logging of the nation’s mature and old-growth forests. In 1970, my collaborator Toni Stern wrote the lyrics to my most popular song, “It’s Too Late.” That title should not refer to the climate. That’s why, at age 80, I’m using my voice to call on Mr. Biden to stop commercial logging in our national forests. Please add your voice to mine. A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 26, 2022, Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: Leave Forests Alone, Before It’s Too Late.

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VIRTUAL TECHNICAL SEMINAR ~ Green Chemical Design & Development
by Duane Nichols 23 Aug '22

23 Aug '22

https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2022/08/23/virtual-technical-seminar-green-che… VIRTUAL TECHNICAL SEMINAR ~ Green Chemical Design & Development Green & Sustainable Chemicals Needed to Replace Toxic Substances § Boost Green and Sustainable Chemical Development with AI § Presented by Craig Rowlands, Senior Toxicologist and Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at UL Solutions FROM: Virtual Local Section, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, August 22, 2022 Public concerns about the health and environmental safety of chemicals are driving the development of more sustainable, ‘‘greener’’ chemicals and products. Intrinsic chemical hazards are a function of many factors including physicochemical properties, chemical structure, and sub-structures. Using these properties to predict chemical hazards provides chemical R&D programs with a fast and increasingly reliable technology for new green chemical designs. Artificial Intelligence prediction software is well suited for this purpose and can be applied to all stages of the value chain when developing new green and sustainable chemicals. Dr. Rowlands is a Senior Toxicologist and Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at UL Solutions providing leadership in the innovation of products and services for chemical safety assessments of consumer products. He has spent over 20 years applying conventional and new toxicology approaches including non-animal and computational predictive toxicology in chemical safety evaluations. His current research is developing approaches to using artificial intelligence models to aid in the development of green and sustainable chemicals. This meeting is free and open to all, not just to Virtual Local Section members. ====================== THREE MEETING OPTIONS ====================== PRIMARY MEETING (LIVE PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT) 9:00 PM ET Wednesday, August 24, 2022 Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUoduquqD0qE9O4BwlDfAWGetzB2vbblo… ALTERNATE 1 (RECORDED PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT) 7:00 AM ET Thursday, August 25, 2022 Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpdeCvqDkuG9J2hMp2EO3-JrZgJOITg6… ALTERNATE 2 (RECORDED PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT) 1:00 PM ET Thursday August 25, 2022 Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtf-2rpz4qGNWEHVt7Pj4ypXKK2kyLvf… After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing instructions for joining the meeting. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## EPA Calls for Nominations for 2023 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards From the EPA Press Office, Washington, DC, August 18, 2022 WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards from companies or institutions that have developed a new green chemistry process or product that helps protect human health and the environment. EPA is again including an award category to recognize technology that reduces or eliminates greenhouse gas emissions, in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to combat the climate crisis. Additionally, EPA is announcing a webinar to be held on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, from 2 p.m.– 3:30 p.m. EDT, to educate stakeholders on the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards and the nomination process. “Green Chemistry Challenge Award winners are leaders in their field and their technologies demonstrate how this revolutionary discipline can be used to prevent pollution at its source,” said EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention Jennie Romer. “Green chemistry is also a tool in the fight against climate change, and by encouraging the use of greener products, it can advance environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities where industrial sites are disproportionately located.” Sent from my iPad

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West Virginia city on list of worst year-round particle pollution | WOWK
by Duane Nichols 22 Aug '22

22 Aug '22

https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/west-virginia-city-on-list-of-wor… West Virginia city on list of worst year-round particle pollution by: Alix Martichoux, Nexstar Media Wire Posted: Apr 10, 2022 Updated: Apr 10, 2022 (NEXSTAR) – The World Health Organization announced this week that 99% of the world’s population breathes poor-quality air, that when inhaled over time can cause cardiovascular and respiratory disease. While cities in the developing world have the worst air quality, according to the WHO, pollution is still a problem in American cities. There are chronic sources of air pollution, like vehicle traffic on busy highways, as well as seasonal issues, like smoke from wildfires. The American Lung Association tracks air pollution in U.S. cities. Its annual report uses data from the Environmental Protection Agency on the presence of two types of pollutants: ozone (or smog) and particulate matter. Particulate matter has many sources, such as transportation, power plants, agriculture, fires and industry – as well as from natural sources like desert dust. Using the EPA data, the report ranks the most and least polluted metro areas. The cities with the highest amount of ozone pollution (or smog) are: Los Angeles-Long Beach, California Bakersfield, California Visalia, California Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona Sacramento-Roseville, California San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California Denver-Aurora, Colorado Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, Utah San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California The cities with the worst year-round particle pollution are: Bakersfield, California Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California Visalia, California Los Angeles-Long Beach, California Medford-Grants Pass, Oregon Fairbanks, Alaska San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, Pennsylvania/Ohio/West Virginia El Centro, California “Particulate matter, especially PM2.5, is capable of penetrating deep into the lungs and entering the bloodstream, causing cardiovascular, cerebrovascular (stroke) and respiratory impacts,” WHO said. “There is emerging evidence that particulate matter impacts other organs and causes other diseases as well.” The American Lung Association also keeps track of which cities have the least air pollution. The ten cities with the cleanest air, free of particle pollution are: Urban Honolulu, Hawaii Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii Cheyenne, Wyoming Wilmington, North Carolina Casper, Wyoming St. George, Utah Bellingham, Washington Elmira-Corning, New York Sioux Falls, South Dakota Duluth, Minnesota/Wisconsin There are many cities that also scored well for smog-free air, but because they all had similar readings, the ALA did not rank them. You can see the full list of clean air cities in the American Lung Association’s report.

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Children Living Close to Fracking Sites Have Two to Three Times Higher Risk of Leukemia - DeSmog
by Duane Nichols 19 Aug '22

19 Aug '22

https://www.desmog.com/2022/08/17/children-fracking-sites-higher-risk-cance… Children Living Close to Fracking Sites Have Two to Three Times Higher Risk of Leukemia From an Article by Nick Cunningham, DeSmog Blog, August 17, 2022 Children living close to fracking sites in Pennsylvania are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia, and contamination of drinking water is suspected as an avenue of exposure, according to a new study. “Unconventional oil and gas development can both use and release chemicals that have been linked to cancer, so the potential for children living near UOG to be exposed to these chemical carcinogens is a major public health concern,” the study’s senior author, Nicole Deziel, associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, said in a statement. Unconventional oil and gas development, more commonly referred to as fracking, exploded over the past two decades, with a particularly frenzied period of drilling in Pennsylvania in the early 2010s. Fracking results in a range of toxic chemicals and pollutants being discharged into the air and waterways, including heavy metals, radioactive material, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. For example, benzene, a known carcinogen, is routinely emitted into air and water during the drilling and fracking process. Published on August 17 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the study looked at almost 2,500 children in Pennsylvania, including 405 who have been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer. The researchers compared children 2 to 7 years old living within close proximity of fracking sites since birth against others living further away, while controlling for a variety of confounding factors, including other environmental exposures. “Our results indicate that exposure to [unconventional oil and gas] may be an important risk factor for [acute lymphoblastic leukemia], particularly for children exposed in utero,” Cassandra Clark, one of the study’s authors and a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Cancer Center, told DeSmog in an email. The researchers looked at oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania that fell within the same watershed as the children in the study, and used an exposure metric that takes into account topography, hydrology, and proximity to gas wells. They found that children living within two kilometers (roughly 1.2 miles) of a drill site were two to three times more likely to develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. The results suggest drinking water may be impacted by fracking operations nearby. Other studies have shown that oil and gas drilling uses or emits 55 chemicals that are known or probable human carcinogens. This new study adds more evidence that not only does proximity to fracking contribute to heightened risk of childhood leukemia, but also that water contamination could be one of the sources. The study adds to the enormous body of research that shows negative health impacts for people living close to oil and gas operations. DeSmog has reported on some earlier findings, including the health risks of people living in close proximity to flaring, and the increased risk for pregnant women who live close to drilling developing gestational hypertension and eclampsia. But there is a dearth of research on the links with childhood cancer, and the Yale study adds stronger evidence of the dangers for children living close to fracking operations. “While there have been around 50 epidemiologic studies of [unconventional oil and gas] exposure and a variety of health outcomes to date, only two studies focused on childhood cancer,” Clark said. “This is the largest study of unconventional oil and gas development and childhood cancer to date, and the first to incorporate an exposure metric that focuses on the drinking water pathway.” “This new study connects a lot of dots,” biologist Sandra Steingraber, co-founder Concerned Health Professionals of New York, who was not involved in the study, told DeSmog. “As such, this study is a kind of terrifying voila,” Steingraber said, adding that the methodology in the study is “really robust.” For years, the Concerned Health Professionals of New York has compiled and published a compendium of scientific and medical findings of the human health impacts from fracking. Steingraber noted that the latest study also builds on other research demonstrating the harms of fracking in Pennsylvania. One study linked higher numbers of gas wells with higher rates of pediatric asthma hospitalizations. Another found benzene in the bodies of people living near fracking. A third found links between fracking and the risk of heart attack. “These findings from this case-control study both corroborate and extend a rapidly growing body of evidence — now documented in more than 100 studies — showing that fracking is a public health crisis,” Steingraber said. “All together, these studies, new and old, show us that fracking in Pennsylvania is not safe for Pennsylvanians — even those living a mile or more away. In fact, it’s a moral obscenity.” Southwest Pennsylvania has also seen a cluster of Ewing’s sarcoma in teens, a rare form of bone cancer, and many residents suspect fracking as the culprit. The state has approved millions of dollars in funding to study the possible links. One consistent takeaway from so many health studies related to fracking is that proximity is key. In many states, there are no federal setback requirements and drillers are allowed to encroach on local populations, setting up rigs within a few hundred feet of homes and businesses. “The allowable setback in Pennsylvania, where our study was conducted, is 500 feet,” Clark said. “Our findings of increased risk of [acute lymphoblastic leukemia] at distances of two kilometers (about 6560 ft) or more from [drilling] operations, in conjunction with evidence from numerous other studies, suggest that existing setback distances are insufficiently protective of children’s health.”

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MVCAC August 2022