eGovernment

Smog-forming pollution from Ohio’s power plants puts children’s health and Ohio’s environment at risk

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 04/10/2011 - 02:38.

Ozone pollution on the Cleveland skyline

On Thursday, April 7th, 2011, on the Green rooftop of the Environmental Health Watch Building, Environment Ohio released a new report showing that smog-forming pollution from Ohio’s power plants puts children’s health and Ohio’s environment at risk - Environment Ohio - Clean Air Program Reports - Dirty Energy’s Assault on Our Health: Ozone Pollution - 2011-04-07.  From the press release for the news conference announcing this report:

Power plants create the ingredients for dangerous ozone pollution, commonly referred to as smog, and the report ranks which power plants emit the most smog-forming pollution in Ohio and nationwide, and highlights the latest findings about how smog impacts our health and environment.

The report comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to finalize a standard in July to help reduce smog pollution, which could save up to 12,000 lives per year. Yet Congress and industry lobbyists are working to keep EPA from doing its job by threatening to block rules that limit dangerous air pollution. Environment Ohio is urging Senator Sherrod Brown to stand up for Ohioans’ health and support the EPA.

Green Power Network RFP Update: for renewable energy generation, renewable energy certificates, and green power - April 7, 2011

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 04/10/2011 - 02:09.

This update contains solicitations for renewable energy generation, renewable energy certificates, and green power as a courtesy to our subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, these requests for proposals and solicitations are neither supported nor endorsed by the U.S. Department of Energy, Green Power Network.

Certain regions bear a greater responsibility for producing GHG emissions - The United States Midwest is one such region!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 04/09/2011 - 14:47.

I had the good fortune to attend the first World's Fair held in Japan - Expo '70 (日本万国博覧会 Nihon bankoku hakuran-kai). The theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind" and one of the main principles of the master plan was that the wisdom of all the peoples of the world would come together in this place and stimulate ideas. The Expo featured demonstrations of early mobile phones, local area networking and maglev train technology. At age 9, I rode Bullet Trains 100 miles an hour and thought the world could be no more modern than "modern" Japan, of 1970. 

At the same time I was exposed to the modern power, wisdom and vision of all the world-peoples' progress and harmony at 日本万国博覧会, in Osaka... 福島第一原子力発電所 was being born, in Okuma, representing the ultimate in "power"-wisdom and vision of that nuclear age. The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant was connected to the grid around 40 years ago, in 1970, and the world hasn't really evolved our "power"-wisdom beyond that now-ancient "modern" time... as our 1970s "modern" energy technology and world are melting-down.

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 9, 2011: Shower power! Taking a five-minute shower rather than a bath saves water.

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 04/09/2011 - 12:30.

Shower power! A full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, but taking a five-minute shower saves water by using 10 to 25 gallons. Put a little timer or clock near your shower so you can see how fast you are. Save even more water, and money on your water bill, by installing a water-efficient showerhead, or ask your landlord to install one if you rent. More about using water wisely.

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 8, 2011: check how much of your electricity comes from renewable “green” power sources

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 16:16.

Earth Month Tip of the Day: It's electric.

Today's environmental tip: It's electric! You can check how much of your electricity comes from renewable “green” power sources, such as wind or solar. Green power produces less carbon emissions, reduces air pollution, and helps protect against future costs or scarcity of fossil fuels. If green power is a consumer option, check price differences from suppliers before you buy.

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 7, 2011: Be sensible! Use less water to get the same job done just as well.

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 04/07/2011 - 12:18.

Earth Month Tip of the Day: Be sensible.

Today's environmental tip: Be sensible! The Earth might seem like it has abundant water, but in fact only one percent of all water on the planet is available for humans. Buy fixtures and products that are water efficient - you can use less water to get the same job done just as well. When you go shopping, look for the WaterSense label to find water efficient products.

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 6, 2011: Be extra aware of environmental conditions where older people live!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 04/06/2011 - 12:21.

Earth Month Tip of the Day: Environmental hazards and the elderly.

Today's environmental tip: Be extra aware of environmental conditions where older people live! As we age, our bodies become more sensitive to chemicals and environmental conditions. So you should carefully use products such as pesticides or cleaning solvents near areas where older adults live and sleep. Always follow the directions on the product package or label.

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 5, 1011: Make it a full load! Run your dishwasher only when it's full.

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 04/05/2011 - 13:31.

Earth Month Tip of the Day: Make it a full load.

Today's environmental tip: Make it a full load! Run your dishwasher only when it's full. Don't pre-rinse dishes - tests show pre-rinsing doesn't improve dishwasher cleaning, and you'll save as much as 20 gallons of water per load. When you buy a new dishwasher, look for one that saves water. Water-efficient models use only about only about 4 gallons per wash.

EPA Compliance and Enforcement: Vice president, two managers of waste treatment facility sentenced for Clean Water Act felonies

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 04/04/2011 - 18:04.

Compliance and Enforcement and Water News (Region 5): Vice president, two managers of waste treatment facility sentenced for Clean Water Act felonies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 4, 2011

Vice president, two managers of waste treatment facility sentenced for Clean Water Act felonies

WASHINGTON - Three officials of Ecological Systems, Inc. (ESI),  an oil reclamation company that operated a centralized waste treatment facility in Indianapolis, IN, were sentenced  in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana  for felony violations of the Clean Water Act. The prosecution stemmed from ESI's intentional discharges of untreated wastewater and stormwater from its facility directly into the Indianapolis sewer system.  

"The Clean Water Act is designed to protect our nation's water resources, and the defendants' repeated attempts to hide the plant's capacity to handle the wastes that ESI accepted  and excess rain water threatened those critical protections," said Randall Ashe, Special Agent in Charge of the EPA Criminal Investigation Division's Chicago Area Office.  "Today's sentences prove that those who willfully circumvent our nation's laws and put Indiana residents and nearby homeowners at risk will be caught and prosecuted."

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 4, 2011: Heading to the beach? Check out the beach water before you go!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 04/04/2011 - 12:37.

Earth Month Tip of the Day: Check before you go.

Today's environmental tip: Heading to the beach? Check out the beach water before you go! We Americans take almost two billion trips to the beach every year, but people who swim at the beach sometimes get sick because the water is polluted. The good news is in the state where the beach is located, you can check with the state office to find out about the beach water - before you go.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson on National Public Health Week - April 4-10, 2011

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 04/04/2011 - 11:21.

EPA Celebrates National Public Health Week April 4-10, 2011

Posted on April 4th, 2011 - 10:30 AM

By  Administrator Lisa P. Jackson

When we talk about environmentalism, it typically brings to mind sweeping vistas and wide-open landscapes. Some people might think of saving the whales, protecting spotted owls or preserving old-growth forests. Those things are critically important – but they only tell part of the story. When the modern environmental movement got its start in the 1960s, it took hold in our nation’s cities and was led by people concerned about pollution in the air they were breathing, toxins in the water they were drinking and chemicals on the food they were eating.

The effort to safeguard our environment started – and continues to be – an effort to safeguard our health.

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 3, 2011: Don't idle! Remind your school system to turn off bus engines when parked.

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 04/03/2011 - 15:34.

Earth Month Tip of the Day: Don't idle

Today's environmental tip: Don't idle! Remind your school system to turn off bus engines when buses are parked. Exhaust from idling school buses can pollute air in and around the bus, and can enter school buildings through air intakes, doors, and open windows. Constant idling also wastes fuel and money, and school bus engines really need only a few minutes to warm up.

EPA Earth Month Tip of the Day - April 2, 2011: Be the first to know... Protect yourself from sun overexposure!

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 04/02/2011 - 15:24.

Today's environmental tip: Protect yourself from sun overexposure! In summer, always apply sun block SPF 15 or more to protect your skin from solar UV radiation. Just five or more sunburns can really increase your risk of developing skin cancer. The sun's rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. so at the times, seek shade or wear protective clothing such as a long-sleeved shirt.

Ohio's Renewable Portfolio Standard vs. California's New SB X1-2 vs. America's New Clean Energy Standard

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 04/02/2011 - 02:17.

March 29, 2011, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported: "In a bold move to bolster one of the few bright spots in California’s economy and set a precedent for strong renewable electricity standards nationwide, the California Legislature today approved a bill that would require utilities in the state to obtain at least 33 percent of their electricity from clean, renewable sources, such as the wind and sun, by 2020.  Promoted by the governor and legislative leaders in both houses as part of a green jobs stimulus package, the bill would create the most aggressive renewable energy requirement in the country and position California as a national leader in clean energy investments."

“This bill establishes California as the national leader in clean energy, improving the environment and stimulating the economy while protecting ratepayers from excessive costs,” Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto has said of Senate Bill ("SB") X1-2 he sponsored, which is expected to be signed into law by California Governor Brown.

Below is an overview of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission’s Renewable and Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard, which requires that by the year 2025 25 percent of the electricity sold by each utility or electric services company within Ohio must be generated from alternative energy sources, and Senate Bill ("SB") X1-2, which requires California's electric utilities to increase their renewable generation to 33% by 2020. Passage of that legislation is the culmination of years of effort to increase California's Renewable Portfolio Standard ("RPS") from its current 20%.

Only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 04/01/2011 - 21:44.

Living in Cleveland, fighting against excessive polluting by popular local industrial interests, I've found environmental and climate awareness here brain-dead... zombified... people walking in an unnatural smog, accepting unnatural death around them. So I appreciate a mathematical explanation of how an entire city of 500,000 may become dominated by environmental zombies - from today's Climate Progress, which references a study of the proliferation of zombies finding they will drive humanity to the collapse of civilization.... I believe this effectively explains Cleveland (and much of America) today:

The model showed two equilibria: the disease-free equilibrium (with no zombies) and the doomsday equilibrium (where everyone is a zombie). The application of a linear stability analysis showed that — in the absence of further interventions — the disease-free equilibrium was unstable and the doomsday equilibrium was stable. This finding was not promising.

Simulations based on a city of roughly 500,000 people demonstrated that an entire such city would be replaced by zombies [rapidly]. Were this mass replacement of a population to occur in a city such as Washington, DC, it may be unlikely anyone would notice.

There is a solution: "the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to attack hard and attack often":

DOE Announces $12 Million in Available Funding to Support up to 5 Advanced Biofuels Development Projects

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 03/30/2011 - 18:58.

DOE Announces $12 Million in Available Funding to Support Advanced Biofuels Development - March 30, 2011

To support the goal announced by President Obama today to reduce America’s oil imports by one-third by 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it will be accepting applications for $12 million in funding for laboratory or small pilot-scale projects that support the development of advanced biofuels. Successful projects will develop technologies that will be able to replace refinery feedstocks or directly replace gasoline, diesel, or jet fuels without requiring modifications to vehicles or fueling infrastructure. These projects will continue to accelerate innovations in the renewable biofuels industry as part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to build a cleaner, safer, and more secure energy future for America that ultimately breaks our dependence on foreign oil and moves our nation toward a clean energy economy that creates jobs and boosts U.S. competitiveness.

Obama Administration’s Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future Equals Blueprint for a Secure Future for the Hemp Economy in America

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 03/30/2011 - 17:13.

As a citizen interested in clean energy and renewable fuels, who lives in an environmental injustice hotspot, heavily polluted by fossil fuel emissions, that needs cleaner energy solutions in our region, I have been excited to see President Obama and his core department leadership - especially Department of Energy Secretary Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Jackson - embrace and champion the urgency of moving America beyond our dependency on ecologically-destructive fossil fuels, toward development of a sustainable, localized, environmentally, socially and economically positive biomass and biofuels energy economy, which shall include industrial hemp grown in the United States of America once again, beginning in 2011.

From the conclusion of a speech by President Obama, at Georgetown University, today, on the Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future for America:

We’re already paying a price for our inaction.  Every time we fill up at the pump, every time we lose a job or a business to countries that are investing more than we do in clean energy, when it comes to our air, our water, and the climate change that threatens the planet that you will inherit -– we’re already paying a price.  These are costs that we are already bearing.  And if we do nothing, the price will only go up.

So at moments like these, sacrificing these investments in research and development, in supporting clean energy technologies, that would weaken our energy economy and make us more dependent on oil.  That’s not a game plan to win the future. That’s a vision to keep us mired in the past.  I will not accept that outcome for the United States of America.  We are not going to do that.  (Applause.)

Garden As If Your Life Depended On It, Because It Does

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 03/30/2011 - 03:33.

You don't need to drive far south or west of Cleveland to find life springing renewed from the soil and plants, and appreciate we will soon have an abundance of sunshine, warm weather and opportunity to grow healthy, local food in our yards here in Ohio, again.

Home-grown food picked fresh from the garden is much more flavorful and environmentally friendly than most food available in markets - much more convenient and far less expensive... essential in times of economic and price uncertainly. This Winter, we ate tomato sauce made from tomatoes we grew last Summer, and froze, and it tasted as fresh as a Summer day - and the tomatoes were free, and as near at hand and low-carbon as the unused back corner of the freezer.

Because of concern about the economy, environment, and our health, I expect our family will grow significantly more food at home this year than last. For inspiration and reasons to plant large, abundant gardens this year, and help others in the community grow local food at home, as well, here is an excellent article from Alternet suggesting you "Garden As If Your Life Depended On It, Because It Does":

Tremors in food supply chains and pricing will make gardening look like a lot more than a hobby, a seasonal workout, a practical way to fill your pantry with your summer favorites, or a physically, spiritually and mentally healing activity, or all four. Gardening and small-scale and collective farming, especially of staple crops and the ones that could stave off malnutrition, could become as important as bringing home the bacon, both the piggy and the dollar kind. Why?

See Change Reports: The US market for medical marijuana is worth $1.7 billion in 2011 and could reach $8.9 billion in five years

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 03/26/2011 - 21:33.

March 24, 2011: MSNBC reported -  Medical marijuana becoming blockbuster drug... Annual sales near $2 billion and rising in states with tolerant laws:

Medical marijuana is now a $1.7 billion market, according to a report released Wednesday by See Change Strategy, an independent financial analysis firm that specializes in new and unique markets. The figure represents estimated sales of marijuana through dispensaries in states with medical marijuana laws. It is the first time a definitive dollar figure has been given to the emerging medical cannabis industry.

To put that number in perspective, sales of medical marijuana rival annual revenue generated by Viagra, a $1.9 billion business for Pfizer.

"The progress we've made over the past seven days demonstrates how the international community should work..."- Obama

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 03/26/2011 - 20:53.

The White House, Washington

Good morning,

I'm writing today with an update on the situation in Libya, including the actions we've taken with allies and partners to protect the Libyan people from the brutality of Moammar Qaddafi. For further details, please take a moment to watch this morning's Weekly Address (above).

Sending our brave men and women in uniform into harm's way is not a decision I make lightly. But when someone like Qaddafi threatens a bloodbath that could destabilize an entire region, it is in our national interest to act.  In fact, it’s our responsibility.

Case Think: 15 years after being effectively removed from the US market, the prolific danger of leaded gasoline becomes clearer

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 03/26/2011 - 17:18.

Thanks to Laura McShane for pointing out an excellent article on lead poisoning research at Case Western Reserve University, in the Fall/Winter 2010 Think Magazine - with multimedia features - on-line at Getting the Lead Out: Fifteen years after being effectively removed from the U.S. market, the prolific danger of leaded gasoline becomes clearer

This reports on Childhood lead exposure and uptake in teeth in the Cleveland area during the era of leaded gasoline - a recent Case Western Reserve University-affiliated analysis of the lead burden of Cleveland children through the period when leaded gasoline was introduced and later phased out (from about 1930 to 1990), surfacing critical implications.

Comparison of relative temporal changes in lead concentration in tooth enamel and lake sediments, and relative changes in the total amount of lead additives to gasoline
Comparison of relative temporal changes in lead concentration in tooth enamel and lake sediments, and relative changes in the total amount of lead additives to gasoline. Maximum absolute values and symbols are:  4.94 μg/g (teeth, smoothed data, uninterrupted line), 72.7 ppm (“new core Lake Erie sediment, triangles), 41.1 ppm  (Graney et al., 1995 Lake Erie sediment, open circles), and 253,000 mt of lead additives to gasoline produced in the US, closed circles (see Methods).

I caught this on a back page, and seen this and knew it needed to be put on the front page.

Submitted by savcash on Sun, 03/20/2011 - 18:05.

 It is important information that I (and others agree with) So I quote; "  A CAREFULLY MANICURED SET OF FACTUAL PREMISE DO NOT NECESSARILY AMOUNT TO TRUTH. (see more below)

Draft Plan EJ 2014 Implementation Plans outline actions EPA will take to advance environmental justice in each area of focus

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 03/18/2011 - 05:55.

Draft Plan EJ 2014 Implementation Plans New!

To accomplish the goals outlined in Plan EJ 2014, the EPA developed nine Draft Implementation Plans which will guide agency actions in rulemaking, permitting, compliance and enforcement, community-based action, Administration wide action, science, law, information, and resources. The Draft Implementation Plans outline EPA goals, strategies, activites, deliverables, and milestones for each of the nine areas.

For each of the Draft Implementation Plans, we are asking for feedback from the public on how we can continue to address the issues that are most important to ensuring the protection of the air, water and land that support all of our nation’s communities and will result in environmental and economic health benefits.

Submit Public Comments on Regulations.gov