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Mission
Statement
The
Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable serves mine scarred watersheds through
training, capacity building and providing a collective voice for
underserved communities seeking to restore the well being of their
citizens and environment.
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EVENTS
9th
Annual Great Lakes Water Conference
Historically, water law has been the province of lawyers
and policymakers in the arid western United States. In recent years,
however, lawmakers in the Great Lakes region have come to recognize the
critical role that water management plays in securing a healthy and
vibrant society over the long term. In recognition of this development,
the University of Toledo College of Law and its LIGL sponsors annual
conferences each fall on water issues of importance to the Great Lakes
region and the nation.
The
University of Toledo College of Law and its affiliated Legal Institute
of the Great Lakes will hold the Ninth Annual Great Lakes Water
Conference on Friday, November 13, 2009 at the University of Toledo
College of Law.
U.S.
Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan and Cameron Davis, Senior Advisor
to the USEPA Administrator, will be the keynote speakers. Three panels
will discuss Stimulating and Restoring the Great Lakes, The Reach of
the Clean Water Act, and The Compact in Action.
To
register or for more information, call 419.530.2628 or send an e-mail
to ann.elick@utoledo.edu
New Energy. New Jobs. New Opportunities for Appalachia
The demand for clean energy and efficient energy use is
creating a new energy sector and generating new opportunities for
business growth and job creation. How can Appalachian communities grow
green jobs in today's evolving energy economy?
ARC's October 2009 New Energy. New Jobs. New Opportunities
for Appalachia conference will share ideas and best practices on how
communities can use their energy resources and emerging energy
technologies and practices to diversify and strengthen their economies.
Topics will include growing green enterprises, developing
energy-efficient facilities, and building new-energy education and
training programs.
Join your colleagues in Athens to explore how your
community can benefit from the economic opportunities of the clean-energy
sector.
The conference will be held October 26-28 at Ohio
University's John Calhoun Baker University Center, One Park Place,
Athens, Ohio 45701. The registration fee is $150.
Click here for more
details.
Obama Task Force public hearing for Healthy Oceans and
Great Lakes - Cleveland/Midwest
WHEN: Oct. 29, 4 - 7 pm
WHERE: Downtown Marriott, Key Center, 127 Public Square, Cleveland, OH
WHY: This is a chance for Ohioans to say why a strong national policy
for healthy Great Lakes and oceans would be good for Ohio and the
nation as a whole. Specifically we can speak up on how the Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative can help form a better National Policy.
RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143762935967
BACKGROUND: On June 12, President Obama announced the creation of a
federal Ocean Policy Task Force to develop a unifying national policy
and framework to effectively manage the increasing amount of industrial
pressure on our oceans and Great Lakes. The June 12 Presidential Memorandum
establishing the Task Force is attached. More information can also be
found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans/
National Environmental Public Health Conference Webcast
This year's conference, Healthy People in a Healthy
Environment, aims to improve the nation's environmental health capacity
by enhancing the expertise of: Public health, healthcare, and
environmental professionals, Academic researchers, and
Representatives from communities, organizations, and
advocacy and business groups with a primary interest in environmental
public health.
The 2009 conference also aims to develop and encourage
innovative strategies for addressing existing and emerging issues and
to provide a forum for NCEH, ATSDR, and its many partners to share
research, scientific, and program information about environmental
public health priorities. Conference key note and plenary sessions will
be available by webcast. Registration is required, but there is no
charge. A list of speakers as well as registration information
can be found here.
Watershed GIS Workshop
November, 18th and 19th
The overall goal of the workshop is to give watershed
coordinators the tools, datasets, and skills needed to make GIS and
digital soils information a useful and efficient resource. The
objective of the workshop is to train watershed coordinators in using
GIS and to assist them in utilizing available spatial data for
watershed plan development and implementation. This workshop will
be taught using ArcGIS 9.3 software and will be for those who are
beginners to intermediate users of the software.
There are only 12 seats, so if you would like to register for the
workshop, send an email to aaron.lantz@dnr.state.oh.us
when you are sure you can attend. There is no cost to watershed coordinators
for this workshop. It is recommended to bring a thumb drive to be
able to transport projects and data back to your office (storage size
of the drive does not matter but it is recommended to have at least 1
Gig available).
Lunch will be on your own!! There are a number of restaurants
nearby.
Workshop location:
ODNR Central Office Complex (Fountain Square)
Building I 2nd Floor Computer Room
2045 Morse Rd.
Columbus, OH 43229
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NEWS
Budget
Dramatically Shifts Resources From Environmental Protection, Natural
Resource Conservation
HARRISBURG,
Pa., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cuts and diversions in the
budget just adopted by the state have dramatically reduced spending for
environmental and natural resource programs in Pennsylvania by $347
million in just one year according to Donald S. Welsh, President &
CEO of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.
"The
unprecedented 26 percent cut in the Department of Environmental Protection
and 18 percent cut in Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
budgets raise significant doubts about the capacity of both agencies to
fulfill their missions," said Welsh. "Environmental programs
for some reason seem to have been singled out for cuts that go way
beyond the average 9 percent suffered by other agencies."
The
General Fund budget of DEP was cut $58 million, or 26.7 percent, with
most of the cuts coming in line items used to fund staff positions.
Over 300 positions are at risk of being eliminated as a result of these
cuts.
DCNR's
General Fund budget was cut $21 million, or 18.5 percent, with again
many of the cuts coming in personnel line items. There are about 160
positions at risk of being eliminated at DCNR.
"Of
great concern is the diversion of $234 million from the Oil and Gas
Fund to the General Fund that was earmarked for improving recreation
and access to our State Parks and Forests," said Welsh.
"Taking the proceeds from mineral rights sales away from conservation
programs erases 55 years of precedent in Pennsylvania."
$174
million was transferred from the Oil and Gas Fund to balance to 2008-09
budget, and $60 million is to be transferred to balance the 2009-10
budget. Another $180 million is set to be used from the Fund to balance
the 2010-11 budget, as well.
"Adding
to these diversions is the requirement in the budget to lease thousands
of acres of State Forest land for Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling
to raise the money needed for the diversions," said Welsh.
"It is a sad day for the Commonwealth when we are selling off our
natural resources to balance the budget."
For
full article, click
here.
Successful Clean Up Event
At ECRR, we are
always pleased to share news of successful events by watershed groups
throughout the region. Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage
Corridor had a cleanup of invasive plants and weeds from in and around
Lock 4 of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Some
two dozen volunteers participated in the effort to beautify an area
that includes a memorial observation deck that overlooks the Lehigh
River.
By bringing together members of the Delaware & Lehigh
Trail Tenders, some local foster care youth, and Lehighton Boy Scout
Troop 82 we were able to put a huge dent into a neglected portion of
the Weissport Canal Trail. In the space of five hours the two dozen or
so participants at this community activity accomplished the first phase
of an ongoing project to restore and maintain the landscape around Lock
4. Lock 4 is located approximately 2 1/2 mile north of the Weissport
Trailhead in Lehighton.
FOC Purchases Riverfront Property Along the Cheat River
Narrows
Excerpts from FOC newsletter article by Janet Lenox,
Friends of the Cheat Associate Director
In June, after years of fundraising and negotiating with
Patriot Mining Company, a subsidiary of the International Coal Group
(ICG), Friends of the Cheat finalized the purchase of the former
Patriot Coal prep plant site. This land consists of approximately 17.5
acres in the community of Preston, along the Cheat River Narrows on
Route 72 in Preston County. The vision in purchasing this site was to
provide public access to the river for fishermen and boaters, and a
safe take out location for rafting companies. It would also provide
access for hiking and biking on the proposed rail trail that runs from
Kingwood to Rowlesburg. Long range plans include a green building that
would serve as the FOC office, along with providing a public
interpretive area with information on things like water restoration,
history of the area, coal mining, lumbering, & early settlers. In
January, a $5,000 Focus WV Brownfields mini Grant was awarded to
Friends of the Cheat for a phase 1 environmental assessment on this
site. Friends of the Cheat were one of 15 grantees to receive this
award. The objective of this award is to
help communities cultivate & implement a redevelopment vision for
Brownfield properties of strategic community interest. Triad
Engineering from Morgantown, WV offered to do this assessment free of
charge, which they completed in late July. A limited phase II
assessment is recommended to address Potential Environmental Concerns
on the site.
There was a Grant showcase event held on August 4th at the Erickson
Alumni Center in Morgantown, WV. This event showcased all 15 grantee
projects and the
successes each have achieved. Friends of the Cheat won 3 out of the 7
awards given out during this showcase. These awards were as follows: 1. Greenest Vision:
The project with the most environmentally sustainable vision 2. Technical Resourcefulness:
The project that has leveraged the largest amount or variety of
additional technical support 3.
Financial Resourcefulness: The project that has leveraged
the largest amount or variety of additional financial support.
A public site tour and vision session was held at the site on Saturday
August 15th. The vision session consisted of an exchange of ideas &
concerns people have with the site and the proposed rail trail that
runs through this property. Nearly unanimous in all of the comments,
was the site's potential for trail development plus environmental and
historical education. Devra Deems and Janice Hirst, two local school
teachers, both envisioned being able to take their students to the site
to access nature trails. Randy Robinson visualized a green building
that housed an environmental education center as well as a museum
focusing on the industrial, ecological and cultural history of the
area. Friends of the Cheat hired Chris Hirst, a WVU landscape architect
student, as a summer intern to help create a preliminary design for the
site as part of the $5,000 focus grant. The plan is to have a completed
draft by April 2010. Chris also designed and produced a display and
brochure for the grant showcase which provided information about the
site history, current condition, plant species, Phase I ESA results,
and green building ideas. The brochure was a handout for the showcase and
community outreach. Chris will be continuing to compile historical data
from the early 1800's till its former use as a coal prep plant, along
with completing an in depth inventory and analysis of the soil, slope,
vegetation, and the hydrology of the site. The data collected will
be used to develop his plan.
The final report for the Phase I $5,000 focus grant was
submitted on August 21st. Along with this submission, Friends of the
Cheat submitted an application for the phase II $12,000 Focus Grant.
This grant would to be awarded to 5 out of the 15 grantees to be used
for site implementation and marketing. On September 1st during the WV
Brownfields conference held at the Waterfront Place Hotel in
Morgantown, Friends of the Cheat was one of the 5 recipients that
received this award. This award will go towards assessing the site for
a green building and waste management. The other 4 recipients of this
grant were Friends of the Deckers Creek for the old J&B filling
station in Reedsville, Rowlesburg Revitalization Committee for the old
Rowlesburg School (former Appalacian Wildwaters headquarters), Marion
County Regional Development Corporation for the Owens Illinois Glass
Factory, and the Brooke-Hancock Regional Planning & Development
Council for the Weirton Rail Yard.
Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways
New York Times article by CHARLES DUHIGG
Published: October 12, 2009
MASONTOWN, Pa. - For years, residents here complained
about the yellow smoke pouring from the tall chimneys of the nearby coal-fired
power plant, which left a film on their cars and pebbles of coal waste
in their yards. Five states - including New York and New Jersey - sued
the plant's owner, Allegheny Energy, claiming the air pollution was
causing respiratory diseases and acid rain.
So three years ago, when Allegheny Energy decided to install scrubbers
to clean the plant's air emissions, environmentalists were overjoyed.
The technology would spray water and chemicals through the plant's
chimneys, trapping more than 150,000 tons of pollutants each year
before they escaped into the sky.
But the cleaner air has come at a cost. Each day since the equipment
was switched on in June, the company has dumped tens of thousands of
gallons of wastewater containing chemicals from the scrubbing process
into the Monongahela River, which provides drinking water to 350,000
people and flows into Pittsburgh, 40 miles to the north.
"It's like they decided to spare us having to breathe in these
poisons, but now we have to drink them instead," said Philip
Coleman, who lives about 15 miles from the plant and has asked a state
judge to toughen the facility's pollution regulations. "We can't
escape."
Even as a growing number of coal-burning power plants around the nation
have moved to reduce their air emissions, many of them are creating
another problem: water pollution. Power plants are the nation's biggest
producer of toxic waste, surpassing industries like plastic and paint
manufacturing and chemical plants, according to a New York Times
analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data.
Much power plant waste once went into the sky, but because of toughened
air pollution laws, it now often goes into lakes and rivers, or into
landfills that have leaked into nearby groundwater, say regulators and
environmentalists.
Officials at the plant here in southwest Pennsylvania - named
Hatfield's Ferry - say it does not pose any health or environmental
risks because they have installed equipment to limit the toxins the
facility releases into the Monongahela River and elsewhere.
For full article, click here.
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Pro-Coal
protesters arrived in force to the hearings. The theater
was
completely filled leaving scores of protesters outside to
picket
their ideas in front of the Charleston Civic Center.
Army Corps of
Engineers Hold MTR Permit Process Hearing
By: Cynthia Wildfire
and Danny Allgeier
The Army Corps of Engineers is considering making changes
to their current permitting process for Appalachian mountaintop removal
and valley fill sites, and is holding hearings throughout the region to
encourage public input. ECRR does not have an official position on the
issue, but would encourage involvement from watershed organizations
whose regions will be impacted, because the rule change rests largely
on the level of impact such mines have on water quality. Mountain
top removal operations are known to have far
reaching consequences regarding regional water quality due to
valley fills and possible chemical runoff into streams and
aquifers. Written comments may be submitted until October 26.
Currently Nationwide Permit 21 allows the Army Corps of Engineers to
streamline mountaintop removal permitting rather than examining the
impacts of each site. Proposed changes would either eliminate NWP 21 or
modify it so that more attention is paid to the environmental effects
and impacts on water quality likely to be caused by the mines and
valley fills. On Tuesday, October 13th the Army Corps of
Engineers hosted a public hearing in Charleston, West Virginia.
The hearing was meant to be a moderated public forum to express
opinions on both sides of the issue.
Cynthia
Danny and I attended the hearing in Charleston, WV, though he
arrived a bit later and wasn't able to get into the hearing room.
Industry had huge turnout, with some people mentioning coming on buses
from their mining operations. The overflow formed a pro-coal rally
outside the Civic Center, protesting the EPA and environmentalists.
Inside, most of the 740 seats were occupied by miners, mine operators,
and families of miners concerned about their livelihoods. Many speakers
feared that the proposed change in permit process, which would increase
review of individual permits, would end all mining in Appalachia. Some
argued that this proposed change is part of a larger movement against
surface mining and coal in general. A spokesman for the United Mine
Workers said that the regulatory process is too onerous and unstable,
leaving companies unable to predict when or how they will get the
permits they need to run their mines. He requested that the Army Corps
of Engineers change the process to make it easier and clearer, not more
complex. Many of the miners spoke out against the perceived
environmental habit of favoring the interests of "mayflies and
lizards" over those of people and jobs. One man stated that
"If you shut down these permits, you shut down mining - and ya'll
are going to have to feed us. You won't have to worry about the lizards
and fish, 'cause we're gonna have to eat 'em!"
With the huge industry turnout, perhaps the environment within the
hearing shouldn't have been surprising. The few environmentalists who
spoke in favor of the change could barely be heard over the angry
heckling and occasional threats. In response to Goldman Prize winner
Maria Gunnoe's comment that "if you think it's hard to live
without jobs and money, trying living without water," one heckler
shouted "If you have a job, you can BUY water," receiving
loud cheers from the audience. Gunnoe also pointed out that a more
in-depth permitting process in which individual permits are examined
would protect communities by creating a space for local landowners to
examine the permits and make regulators aware of any specific threats
posed. Fellow Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition member Vivian
Stockman argued that the crux of the matter regarding the change in
permitting process rests on whether or not the impacts of the mining
are significant. "It is clear," she said, "that the
cumulative effects are not minimal...Mountaintop removal impacts the
land and water significantly and permanently," and hence deserves
closer review.
Danny
Upon arrival, I immediately realized that I came too late. The
venue had been completely filled prior to the start of the
hearing. There were already close to 100 people protesting for
industry. The crowd was made up primarily of coal miners who had
been bussed in from their respective sites. Many still wore the
clothes they had worked in during the day, donning the bright orange
reflective stripes on their jackets. Others in attendance
included coal miner families and pro-coal citizen groups. Picket
signs displayed messages like, "Global what?", "If you
don't like coal turn your lights off," and "Without coal are
you going to feed my family." Many of the signs displayed
specific energy companies such as Massey along with their messages.
Chants would frequently arise and be taken up by the crowd with
vigor. Animosity was targeted toward the EPA, Representative Nick
Joe Rahall (who released a statement interpreted by some as pro-EPA),
and environmentalists by and large. Tension was high.
People perceived to have anti-mountain top removal opinions were loudly
heckled by protesters. Some were even followed by the crowd as
they attempted to leave. Police and security escorted
environmentalists to prevent any kind of physical violence from
erupting into a dangerous incident.
Since I was not able to enter the building, I talked to the people
outside. One individual told me that he was a coal miner for 18
years. While he did not disclose the company for which we worked,
he was willing to say that he worked in West Virginia. In
response to environmental concerns, he assured me that the coal mining
operations were not as ecologically damaging as some would lead me to
believe. "Coal mining is like building a house," he
said. "It doesn't look good when you're laying the
foundation, but at the end you're left with something
useful." He elaborated on this by talking about the
reclamation that goes on after a sight is mined; how the government closely
regulates practices and how the land is left before a new sight is
found. Such regulation is necessary, according to this miner, for
he too has concerns about companies that would take advantage of a more
relaxed regulatory climate.
For the large part, this hearing was perceived as a general attack on
mountain top removal. While the reality of it was that the
hearing addressed the Army Corps approval policy for permits, most
protesters felt that it was a slippery slope that would lead to the
complete collapse of the coal industry. An individual who was
part of a pro-coal citizens group voiced his opinions concerning
employment. West Virginia is already ranked among the most
impoverished states in the country and some felt that the coal industry
was the only thing keeping the state out of bankruptcy and the lights
on at night. It was generally agreed among the protesters that
there was no other energy resource available that could replace
coal. In general it was easier to polarize opinions
causing the issue to take the form of an "us versus
them" argument. What is important to remember in the future
is that we all ultimately want the same things, we simply differ on the
means of achieving those goals and we should therefore strive to
reach a common ground to prevent alienating any one group.
Written comments regarding the proposed changes may be submitted until
October 26. Send through the mail to: US Army Corps of Engineers, Attn:
CECW-CO (Attn: Ms. Desiree Hann), 441 G Street NW, Washington, DC
20314-1000. Comments may also be submitted online at the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Just follow the
instructions for submitting comments to supplement the hearing records
to docket number COE-2009-0032.
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