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

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/

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

from: http://science.howstuffworks.com/question481.htm

We’ll start by figuring out how much energy in kilowatt-hours the light bulb uses per year. We multiply how much power it uses in kilowatts, by the number of hours in a year. That gives 0.1 kW x 8,760 hours or 876 kWh.

The thermal energy content of coal is 6,150 kWh/ton. Although coal fired power generators are very efficient, they are still limited by the laws of thermodynamics. Only about 40 percent of the thermal energy in coal is converted to electricity. So the electricity generated per ton of coal is 0.4 x 6,150 kWh or 2,460 kWh/ton.

To find out how many tons of coal were burned for our light bulb we divide 876 kWh by 2,460 kWh/ton. That equals 0.357 tons. Multiplying by 2,000 pounds/ton we get 714 pounds (325 kg) of coal. That is a pretty big pile of coal, but let’s look at what else was produced to power that light bulb.

A typical 500 megawatt coal power plant produces 3.5 billion kWh per year. That is enough energy for 4 million of our light bulbs to operate year round. To produce this amount of electrical energy, the plant burns 1.43 million tons of coal.

read more at : http://science.howstuffworks.com/question481.htm

HARRIMAN, Tenn. — Millions of yards of ashy sludge broke through a dike at TVA’s Kingston coal-fired plant Monday, covering hundreds of acres, knocking one home off its foundation and putting environmentalists on edge about toxic chemicals that may be seeping into the ground and flowing downriver.

Read more here: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081223/GREEN02/812230370/1001/RSS6001

AMP-Oh is going ahead with its plans, though they say that construction won’t necessarily begin soon:

http://www.ohio.com/news/33810184.html

This week, the Environment and Natural Resources committee of the Ohio Senate will consider a bill that would strip the Ohio EPA of authority to issue coal mining permits, delegating that authority instead to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources - a much more industry-friendly agency. 
I oppose this bill, as do EPA and DNR themselves. In fact, the only people to benefit would be Ohio’s coal industry, especially companies like Ohio Valley Coal owned by Bob Murray. Ohio Valley Coal recently applied for a permit to drain one of Ohio’s most pristine streams and fill the streambed with toxic coal slurry. When the Ohio EPA nixed that idea, though, Murray’s coal industry friends hatched a new plan: take away the EPA’s authority altogether. It’s the political version of firing the ref who called a foul on you.

senatorboccieri@maild.sen.state.oh.us

senatorwilson@maild.sen.state.oh.us

Continue Reading »

Friends of Lower Muskingum River meeting - 7:00 PM Thursday
> December 4 in Rm B201 Washington State Community College.
>
> Speaker will be Gary Conley, Voinovich School of Leadership
> and Public Affairs, Ohio University.  He will speak about
> his research at the OU Center for Air Quality which has
> focused on air quality resulting from coal-fired power
> plants in the Ohio River Valley.  The public is invited.

I was driving through Coal Country a couple weeks ago and bought a local paper in Boone Cty, WV. Because Coal Mining often causes groundwater problems, the solution has been to get treated city water out to those people who do not have clean groundwater. This story is shocking to me, mostly because this is the USA, where everyone should have access to clean water.

“Prenter Residents Still Waiting on Water”

Water station placed at nearby church for people to get potable supply

Continue Reading »

A 30 minute hike to see the effects of strip mining, near Baltzey Valley Road, followed by Hot Apple Cider and a presentation by Kip Brady, New Philadelphia High School teacher, about his work he did with students on the impacts of mining on Ecosystems. Discussion to follow.

Meet at Eric’s at 10:30:

1103 Baltzley Vly Rd SE, New Philadelphia , 44663.