BEYOND COAL COMMITTEE NEWS

Wed February 10 - 7:00 pm  

Rescheduled!: March 4th at 2 pm. Room 4

Akron Public Library - Main Street Branch - Meeting Room 1

Beyond Coal is ramping up on several fronts and we need your support/involvement.  Action areas include:

1.  Stop proposed coal mining operation in Carroll County.

2.  Stop proposed coal washing operation in Harrison County.

3.  Build public pressure campaign to keep local municipalities from pursuing energy contracts with companies planning to build NEW coal plants.

4.  Support alternative energy programs through local education & advocacy.

If one or more of these is of interest to you please join us on 2/10.  For questions contact: Paul Feezelpaul@distractedbynature.com 330-627-7163

 
Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change
by Derrick Jensen

Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday, or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons, or that dancing naked around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”?

Part of the problem is that we’ve been victims of a campaign of systematic misdirection. Consumer culture and the capitalist mindset have taught us to substitute acts of personal consumption (or enlightenment) for organized political resistance. An Inconvenient Truth helped raise consciousness about global warming. But did you notice that all of the solutions presented had to do with personal consumption—changing light bulbs, inflating tires, driving half as much—and had nothing to do with shifting power away from corporations, or stopping the growth economy that is destroying the planet? Even if every person in the United States did everything the movie suggested, U.S. carbon emissions would fall by only 22 percent. Scientific consensus is that emissions must be reduced by at least 75 percent worldwide. 

Or let’s talk water. We so often hear that the world is running out of water. People are dying from lack of water. Rivers are dewatered from lack of water. Because of this we need to take shorter showers. See the disconnect? Because I take showers, I’m responsible for drawing down aquifers?Well, no. More than 90 percent of the water used by humans is used by agriculture and industry. The remaining 10 percent is split between municipalities and actual living breathing individual humans. Collectively, municipal golf courses use as much water as municipal human beings. People (both human people and fish people) aren’t dying because the world is running out of water. They’re dying because the water is being stolen. 

Continue Reading »

Excerpt from Toward Freedom

Coal Mine Laws Written in Blood: An Interview with Judy Bonds (Coal River Mountain Watch)

Written by Frank Joseph Smecker
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

“Currently we have proposed two bills: a House bill: (H.R. 1310) the Clean Water
Protection Act, and a Senate bill: (S. 696) the Appalachia Restoration
Act. Both bills will sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining, and
protect clean drinking water for many of our nation’s cities. It will
also protect the quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents who
face frequent catastrophic flooding and pollution or loss of drinking
water as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining. But I honestly
believe these bills will not be passed into law unless the politicians
have the courage to do so.”

Read the interview in its entirety here: http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1593/1/

For those of you who may not have heard, the Starlight Workshop
(Starlight Enterprises Incorporated or SEI) at 638 Commercial Avenue SW
in New Philadelphia is now collecting all types of plastic for a
recycling project/effort (not just plastic types 1&2 that the local
curbside programs will take, but ALL plastic, including the plastic
grocery baggies).

Plastics accepted can be most anything: plastic
wraps, shrink wrap, bubble-wrap, CD cases, plastic toys, rinsed plastic
spoons/forks, yogurt/pudding cups, `Lean Cuisine’-type meal trays,
plastic bottles (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MOTOR OIL BOTTLES/CONTAINERS) ,
milk/laundry detergent bottles, even fast-food plastic
cups/lids/container s!

***Please note that the SEI WORKSHOP, NOT THE STARLIGHT SCHOOL is the
collection site for the plastic, so please do not take items to the
Starlight School (which is located on Church Ave.)

ALL PLASTIC ITEMS MUST BE RINSED THOROUGHLY BEFORE BEING BROUGHT IN FOR THE COLLECTION; THE WORKSHOP WILL NOT BE CLEANING THE PLASTIC ITEMS.

Items collected will then be taken to a facility that will reuse the
plastic to make new recycled plastic products for resale.

For those of you who do not have curbside pickup of recycling in your
town/area, this is a great opportunity to drop off your plastic for
recycling! Items may be dropped off during regular business hours
(7:30am to 3:30pm at the rear of the SEI workshop at the large back
dock door; simply ring the bell, and someone will come to the door to
take your items to the collection bin. (Please do not leave items
laying outside to avoid debris being blown around or scattered by
animals.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email and I will try
to answer any questions you may have. pugluvr2@yahoo. com

Thank you for recycling and assisting the workshop clients with this
very worthwhile project!

There are TONS of grants for residential alternative energy projects, offered from the Ohio Department of Development:

http://www.odod.state.oh.us/cdd/oee/elfgrant.htm

A short and comprehensible explanation of the program is at:

http://www.greenmadesimple.com/incentives/details/ohio-energy-loan-fund-elf-renewable-energy-loan-program

From: The Alternative Consumer 
Published February 17, 2009 09:39 AM

[...]

“Well, perhaps necessity and a government mandate will overcome the challenges presented by climactic conditions and land availability to get renewable solar energy flowing in my native Bay State.  Just this weekWestern Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) announced that it filed a plan to implement an integrated, large-scale solar energy program with the Department of Public Utilities.   The solar installations, to be located in WMECO’s western Mass service area, could begin generating eco friendly, renewable power from photovoltaic (PV) facilities as early as 2010.”

Massachusetts’ 2008 Green Communities Act authorizes electric distribution companies like WMECO, to contribute to the development of 250 megawatts of installed solar by 2017.  Under the act, WMECO is allowed to own up to 50 mega watts of solar facilities.

The challenge for this heavily populated, northeastern state is:  where do you place a sea of solar cells?  The answer appears to be a combination of:  public rooftops like schools and municipal buildings; landfills and other non-usable land; utility properties, and a variety of undeveloped acreage.  Companies like Solutia, the Big E and The Springfield Republican are also volunteering to get involved in the pilot project.

Hopefully, future innovations in photovoltaic technology and solar panel design will help mitigate land use and climate restrictions, and make New England a major consumer of cost-effective renewableenergy.”

posted by the Environmental News Network: http://www.enn.com/top_stories/commentary/39332

Spencer Hunt, of Columbus Dispatch reports:

Ohio environmental officials are considering a request by a mining company to pump coal waste into the ground instead of turning an eastern Ohio stream into a 1.85-billion-gallon lagoon. 

In April, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency rejected Murray Energy’s plan to dam and fill Casey Run in Belmont County. 

The EPA said the lagoon would threaten the pristine waters of nearby Captina Creek, the home of the endangered eastern hellbender salamander. 

State officials said today that underground storage would be a temporary alternative to a lagoon. They said that in the long run, the company will likely need to dam a different Belmont County stream. 

for more: http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/02/06/caseyrun.html?sid=101

This is the responce to my concern over the bald eagle nesting site at the Beach City Dam

Mr. Aker, ( its really spelled Acker)

            Your email inquiry as to the bald eagles at Beach City Dam was forwarded to me for response.  My apologies for the delay.

            The US Army Corps of Engineers did some preliminary rip rap addition to the overflow structure late in 2008.  I understand that they have plans for additional work along the earthen dam itself.  However, this work is awaiting funding and is not currently scheduled.  The Corps has been in coordination with both the ODNR and the US Fish & Wildlife Service regarding this work and any potential impacts to the nesting bald eagles there.  Please be assured that no work will be authorized in proximity to the nest during the time period when nesting is occurring.  All necessary actions to prevent disturbance to the eagles will be taken.

            Also, please feel free to contact this office should you have any further concerns regarding disturbance to the nesting eagles at Beach City.

Thank you,

Dan Kramer  

Daniel L. Kramer

Wildlife Management Supervisor

Wildlife District 3

912 Portage Lakes Drive

Akron, OH  44319

(330) 245-3022 direct

(330) 644-3802 X3022 automated

dan.kramer@dnr.state.oh.us