Chemical cracker plants result in unneeded plastics and excess air pollution

From an Article by Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Magazine, January – February, 2021

Third, we stopped attempts to expand drilling while we reclaimed abandoned wells, mines, and drilling sites. The oil and gas industry was in a precarious place as 2020 came to a close. It was struggling to compete with renewable energy, facing the wrath of communities angry about drilling and pipelines, and grappling with dwindling returns from fracking, which made the industry’s finances look more like a pyramid scheme.

Through on-the-ground organizing, we prevented the fossil fuel industry’s last-gasp attempt to establish new markets for its products. We blocked the construction of more than a dozen proposed fracked-gas export terminals and halted the creation of a new “Cancer Alley” of chemical and plastics plants in the Ohio River valley.

We forced the industry to stop drilling next to homes, schools, and communities. And we secured protection from drilling on Indigenous lands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Bears Ears National Monument.

Meanwhile, we created jobs for thousands of oil, gas, and coal workers. We put 120,000 people to work plugging over 2 million abandoned oil and gas wells and addressing methane leaks that were roasting our planet.

Congress also passed the RECLAIM (Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More) Act to fund reclamation projects and community-led economic development in Appalachia.

## Part D is scheduled for tomorrow on FrackCheckWV.net.

This Article appeared in the January/February edition of SIERRA with the headline “A Love Letter From the Clean Energy Future.”

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See also: Bipartisan RECLAIM Act passes House as part of infrastructure bill | Steve Valk, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, July 8, 2020

The bill was reintroduced in the 116th Congress in April of 2019 by Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) and accumulated 65 cosponsors, including 14 Republicans. A Senate version of the bill was introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) and had 6 Democrat cosponsors, but has died in Committee.

Dear Friends & Concerned Citizens, November 5, 2020

Election day is over (whew!), but now begins election week…(or weeks? A month? Months?!). There will be time to discuss the results and how they impact the waters of West Virginia, but most importantly in this moment, we want to check on you. Are you doing OK?

The anxiety we’re all feeling takes a toll on our bodies and minds. It takes a toll on who we are, and how we feel about each other. With all the emotions we’re feeling, mundane tasks like grocery shopping or checking email become insurmountable. In more ways than one, 2020 has made it hard to breathe.

Yesterday, during a virtual staff meeting, we found ourselves reflecting on a recent breathing and mindfulness exercise we participated in during a socially-distanced staff retreat at Babcock State Park. Lately, we’ve all found ourselves turning to the strategies we learned to find a little calm and catch our collective breath.

We want to share a couple tips to help you regain control (of your breath at least!) if you are feeling anxious.

>> Go outside. You don’t have to go far. From state parks and forests to local hiking trails to your own backyard, anywhere you can feel the breeze, hear the birds, and see the sun.

>> Get grounded. This step is literal. Take off your shoes and socks and let your feet touch the ground. Think about it – how often do you ever truly feel the soft grass or crinkle a fallen leaf or dig through loose soil? Let those toes fly!

>> Breathe in, breathe out… Once you’re in a comfortable position – sitting, standing, wherever you feel relaxed – inhale slowly through your nose, fill your belly (you read that right) up with air, and then slowly exhale through your nose or mouth. Continue breathing this way until you feel calm, peaceful, and ready to go on with your day.

Try it right now: take one deep breath in while you count to four, then slowly release it as you count to four. Practice this breathing exercise for about a minute and see how you feel. Hopefully, you’ll feel a little more relaxed.

Finding a breath of fresh air

To clean water and deep breaths,

— The WV Rivers Team

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Donate to our activities if you can do:

West Virginia Rivers Coalition
3501 MacCorkle Ave SE #129 | Charleston, West Virginia 25304
304-637-7201 | wvrivers@wvrivers.org

Lois and family live right here in the Marcellus region

From Lois Bower-Bjornson, Clean Air Council, October 6, 2020

My name is Lois Bower-Bjornson, and I’m the Southwestern Penna. Field Organizer with Clean Air Council. I am the mother of four children – three boys and a girl. I grew up in and still live and work in what has become the most heavily fracked county in Pennsylvania – Washington County. I am a dancer by trade, so I never imagined I would be working to advocate for stronger environmental protections for my community, the state, and even the country. I chose to do this work because my family, friends, and neighbors are negatively impacted by the natural gas infrastructure that surrounds us.

Early on in my advocacy work, I attended many meetings with elected officials to encourage them to develop standards to protect my community’s air and health. During the meetings, I started asking the question, “do you know what it’s like to live with fracking in your backyard? Come see it for yourself.”

After the first few elected officials showed interest in witnessing the impacts of fracking, I created the Council’s Frackland Tours project. I designed the tours to give elected officials and members of the media a first-hand account of what it is like to live near fracking and related operations used to clean and transport the gas, such as pipelines and compressor stations.

Frackland Tours begin with a presentation by health and environmental experts on fracking, its health effects, and the potential plans for the build-out of natural gas and petrochemical infrastructure in the region. I then lead participants on a tour of well pads and pipelines around my home and those of other residents affected by oil and gas infrastructure. The most important part of the tour is meeting with impacted residents. Participants of the tour get to experience first-hand the negative impacts to air, water, land, and overall quality of life that come from living close to oil and gas operations. I have seen a number of elected officials and agency officials respond with shock and disbelief to what they saw and heard on the tour.

Click here to watch Lois’ Frackland Tour

As part of the tour, I ask elected officials to act on what they have learned and seen. I and other affected residents have asked officials to advance a strong regulation to reduce methane and harmful compounds from existing oil and gas operations and prevent natural gas operations from being sited too close to where people live, work, and play. These tours are supporting affected residents in finding their voice so that our elected leaders can hear their stories and be inspired to address the impacts.

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See also: EPA Rollback Boosts Toxic Air Pollution and Health Risks Including Cancer

From the Staff, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), October 01, 2020

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing an environmental rollback that ends enforcement of a longstanding “once in, always in” toxic air pollution policy, which required industrial facilities to implement major pollution control measures as long as the plant is in operation.

The following is a statement by John Walke, clean air director in the Climate & Clean Energy program at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“EPA’s ill-conceived move lets polluters of the most toxic air pollution regulated by the Clean Air Act increase that pollution by two, five or even 10 times what they were spewing into the air before this rollback. That will expose people to more mercury, lead, arsenic, asbestos and benzene pollution—and harmful health impacts including cancer, neurotoxic effects, fetal damage and premature death.

“That’s dangerous and immoral, especially amid a respiratory pandemic hitting hardest on people exposed to high levels of air pollution. We intend to fight this with every tool available.”

The VA Legislature provides leadership keeping Gov. Northam busy signing bills

From an Update by Ivy Main, Power for the People, VA, April 3, 2020

With Democrats in charge, Virginia passed a suite of bills that establish a sturdy framework for a transition to renewable energy in the electric sector.

At the center of this transformation are the Clean Economy Act, HB1526/SB851, and the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act, HB981/SB1027. Other new laws direct further planning, make it easier for customers to install solar, improve the process for siting wind and solar farms, and expand financing options for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Gov. Ralph Northam has now signed these bills. The legislation takes effect on July 1. One of the strongest arguments in support of our energy transition is that it will save money for consumers.

So what happens after July 1? How does this all work? Let’s look at the way these major pieces of legislation will change the energy landscape in Virginia.

Dominion’s plans for new gas plants come to a screeching halt

Before the 2020 legislative session, Dominion’s Integrated Resource Plan included plans for as many as 14 new gas combustion turbines to be built in pairs beginning in 2022. In December, the company announced plans to build four gas peaking units totaling nearly 1,000 MW, to come online in 2023 and 2024.

But that was then, and this is now. The Clean Economy Act prohibits the SCC from issuing a certificate of convenience and necessity for any carbon-emitting generating plant until at least January 1, 2022, when the secretaries of natural resources and commerce and trade submit a report to the General Assembly “on how to achieve 100 percent carbon-free electric energy generation by 2045 at least cost to ratepayers.”

Even with no further moratorium, Dominion will find it hard to sell the SCC on the need for new gas plants on top of all the renewable energy and energy storage mandated in the Clean Economy Act. Solar and battery storage together do the same job that a gas peaker would have done — but they are required, and the gas peaker is not. Meanwhile, the energy efficiency provisions of the act mean demand should start going down, not up.

Dominion has already signaled that it recognizes the days of new gas plants are largely over. On March 24, Dominion filed a request with the SCC to be excused from considering new fossil fuel and nuclear resources in its upcoming Integrated Resource Plan filing, arguing that “significant build-out of natural gas generation facilities is not currently viable” in light of the new legislation.

Fossil fuel and biomass plants start closing

By 2024, the Clean Economy Act requires the closure of all Dominion or APCo-owned oil-fueled generating plants in Virginia over 500 MW and all coal units other than Dominion’s Virginia City Hybrid plant in Wise County and the Clover Station that Dominion co-owns with Old Dominion Electric Cooperative.

This mandate is less draconian than it sounds; it forces the closure of just two coal units, both at Dominion’s Chesterfield plant. Other Dominion coal plants in Virginia have already been retired or switched to using gas or biomass, and one additional coal plant in West Virginia lies beyond the reach of the legislation. Oil-fired peaking units at Yorktown and Possum Point were already slated for retirement in 2021 and 2022. APCo owns no coal or biomass plants in Virginia.

Although the exceptions might appear to swallow the rule, the truth is that coal plants are too expensive to survive much longer anyway. One indication of this is a March 24 report Dominion filed with the SCC showing its fuel generation sources for 2019: coal has now fallen to below 8 percent of generation.

By 2028, Dominion’s biomass plants must shut down, another victory for consumers. All other carbon-emitting generating units in Virginia owned by Dominion and APCo must close by 2045, including the Virginia City plant and all the gas plants.

As of 2050, no carbon allowances can be awarded to any generating units that emit carbon dioxide, including those owned by the coops and merchant generators, with an exception for units under 25 MW as well as units bigger than 25 MW (if they are owned by politically well-connected multinational paper companies with highly-paid lobbyists).

MORE ON THESE UPDATES IN VIRGINIA FOR TOMORROW . . .

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See also: VIRGINIA becomes first state in the South to commit to carbon-free – The Washington Post, Gregory Schneider, April 13, 2020

RICHMOND — Over the weekend, Gov. Northam authorized the omnibus Virginia Clean Economy Act, which mandates that the state’s biggest utility, Dominion Energy, switch to renewable energy by 2045. Appalachian Power, which serves far southwest Virginia, must go carbon-free by 2050. Almost all the state’s coal plants will have to shut down by the end of 2024 under the new law. Virginia is the first state in the old Confederacy to embrace such clean-energy targets.

www.24hoursofreality.org

Watch 24Hours of Reality — 24 Reasons for Hope: www.24hoursofreality.org

September.16&17.2014: “Cutting Carbon Emissions Pays for Itself”

M.I.T. scientists find that healthcare savings from cleaner air can cover the cost of reducing carbon pollution.

See this web-site:  www.24hoursofreality.org