Climate Action » Suzanne Bopp

Environmental Group Sues Wisconsin State Agency

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:43:56 +0000

Last week, the Wisconsin Sierra Club sued the state’s Department of Natural Resources, saying that agency has failed to provide requested records on several state-owned coal plants. The Sierra Club is trying to ensure that the plants are in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

The group requested the records in October.

The plants in question are at UW La Crosse, UW Eau Claire, UW Stevens Point and UW Stout. They have all undergone modifications which may require them to install additional pollution controls.

Wisconsin Governor Doyle decided to take one plant, at UW Madison, completely off coal – shifting to biomass and natural gas – after a federal judge decided that the plant was violating the Clean Air Act. “The governor gets credit for making the right decision, but it’s been a long haul,” says Jennifer Feyerherm, director of Sierra Club’s Wisconsin Clean Energy Campaign. “The governor talks a lot about how moving to biomass will help create jobs. He should make his legacy getting all the state-owned plants off of coal.”

The state currently contracts with two companies for its coal, one of which is Massey Energy, the largest practitioner of mountaintop removal coal mining in the country.

– Suzanne Bopp

Mountaintop Removal Mining Kills Fish

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:41:03 +0000

A biologist from Wake Forest University was scheduled to brief U.S. Senators today on yet another environmental problem caused by the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining: poisoned fish.

Dead and deformed fish in surrounding streams are a consequence of selenium pollution from mountaintop coal mining, which is causing permanent damage to the environment and poses serious health risks, says Dennis Lemly, a professor of biology.

Selenium pollution affects fish first, so they are the best barometer for understanding the threat to ecosystems downstream from mountaintop removal mining operations, says Lemly, who advocates a ban on the process. His research found toxic levels of selenium in 73 of 78 stream samples.

Lemly was part of a team of 12 ecologists and engineers who provided the first comprehensive analysis of damage done by mountaintop removal mining. In Washington, he and his colleagues will also share their research with representatives of the EPA and the President’s Council on Environmental Quality.

High levels of selenium threaten fish survival; contaminated fish that do survive and reproduce have offspring with serious birth defects, such as crooked spines and deformed heads. They cannot survive and reproduction will fail, Lemly says. He warns the fish population could be wiped out – and that’s not all.

“I specialize in fish, but that is only one part of the overall picture,” Lemly says, “Public health is also an issue with mountaintop removal mining.”

The threat is expanding as this destructive process expands, Lemly says – and mountaintop removal mining has doubled in the past eight years. Once an ecosystem is polluted, the environmental damage is permanent.

– Suzanne Bopp

Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour Rolls

Suzanne Bopp — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:43:20 +0000

The Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour got underway yesterday in New Orleans, with Rev. Yearwood, actress Gloria Reuben and DJ Biz Markie joined by community and student leaders and hundreds of students on the campus of Dillard University. All those voices came together to call for a clean energy future.

Rev. Yearwood talked about how that future will fight poverty and pollution at the same time, saying, “This is our lunch counter moment…In the 20th Century they had to fight for equality, and in the 21st century we gotta fight for existence.”

Later that day, at Tulane University, close to 100 people attended a roundtable discussion on engaging youth, communities of color and low-income communities in the clean energy movement. Tulane Professor Charles Allen talked about the importance of rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward by focusing on sustainable building practices and a discussion about how the environmental community can get from talk to action: moving past the message to practices that people can incorporate into their daily lives.

Next stop: Little Rock, Arkansas

The rest of the bus tour dates:

Columbia, MO: Saturday, February 20

Indianapolis, IN: Sunday & Monday, February 21-22

Bloomington, IN: Monday, February 22

Columbus, OH: Tuesday, February 23

Washington, DC: Tuesday-Wednesday, February 23-24

Troubles for New Wisconsin Coal-Fired Plant

Suzanne Bopp — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:37:47 +0000

Late last month, an enormous new coal plant in Wisconsin began producing electricity – enough to power a million homes.

The We Energies Oak Creek plant, a $2.3-billion facility, was approved years go, when the state’s electricity demand was much higher. Now its power is no longer needed, even according to state regulators.

The plant was originally expected to cost $2.19 billion, but weather delays and other factors resulted in a cost overrun of at least $122 million, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (The final figures won’t be certain until next year.) Now the state’s Public Service Commission, a three-member, governor-appointed group, will consider with how much of that should be repaid by customers, who already have seen their average monthly bill rise 41% since 2005, when construction on the Oak Creek plant began.

And that’s not the end of Oak Creek’s troubles; We Energies has already settled a case having to do with its water system’s damaging impacts on surrounding lakes. “If that plant were built today, it wouldn’t be able to use the water cooling system it has,” says Jennifer Feyerherm, director of the Sierra Club’s Wisconsin Clean Energy Campaign. After filing a complaint, they have now settled with We Energies; the company will pay $5 million a year for 20 years to a non-profit organization set up to help mitigate the damage from the water cooling system, and to install 15 MGW of solar power and 15 MGW of biomass capability in the state.

“When they proposed the plant, we said it would be a bad investment, and that’s what they’re finding out,” Feyerherm says.

We Energies expects to bring the second of Oak Creek’s two boilers online later this year.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Asks Court to Block EPA from Regulating Emissions

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:01:09 +0000

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, no surprise, is asking a federal court of appeals to review the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that greenhouse gases pose a health risk that the agency could regulate under the Clean Air Act. The Chamber is leading the national campaign that includes the oil, natural gas, coal, and utility industry that believes doing nothing to limit carbon emissions is better than doing something. Stasis, the Chamber asserts, is a better move for the economy than regulating carbon and modernizing how America power itself. In the face of ample evidence that securing environmental safety — Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Superfund, RCRA — produced vast environmental gains, the Chamber is convinced that regulating carbon will cost the economy more than leaving polluters to keep polluting.

“Today the Chamber is filing a formal petition indicating it will challenge EPA’s decision to trigger Clean Air Act regulation, based on lapses in EPA’s process in making that decision,” said Steven J. Law, general counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a press release.

The Chamber’s stance on climate change has cost it several members recently, including PG&E, PMN, Exelon, Apple and Mohawk Fine Paper. Nike decided to abandon its seat on the Chamber’s board.

The statement closes by saying that “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations” – this despite the fact that this number was exposed as an exponential exaggeration last fall by Mother Jones.

Wisconsin Residents Urge Passage of Clean Energy Jobs Act

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:54:02 +0000

A coalition of organizations announced that 12,000 Wisconsinites have signed a postcard to their legislators in support of the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

“We’ve knocked on thousands of doors in communities across Wisconsin and one thing is clear: the public wants clean energy and they want it now,” said Dan Kohler, Wisconsin Environment Director, in a press release. “People in Wisconsin are deeply concerned about our dependence on oil and dirty coal and they know we can do better by harnessing homegrown, clean energy sources such as wind and solar power, and by using energy more efficiently.”

A group of citizens planned to deliver the postcards to state representatives and senators before testifying at the final scheduled public hearing of the Assembly Clean Energy Jobs committee.

Event participants said they believe that developing clean energy technologies in Wisconsin can help the state innovate and compete economically, and that conservation and efficiency programs can help save consumers money. They didn’t believe that using more clean energy would cause economic harm, as some opponents claim. “I remember the exact same arguments being used when acid rain legislation was proposed years ago,” said Will Stahl, a semi-retired teacher from Neenah. “Opponents of these kinds of initiatives always try to exaggerate the potential costs. Personally, I believe we need to innovate to achieve more energy independence.”

Join the Rainforest Action Network’s Day of Action this Thursday

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:53:15 +0000

This Thursday, February 18, will be a social media day of action to stop mountaintop removal coal mining. Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is organizing the effort aimed at JP Morgan Chase, which finances the destructive practice.

JP Morgan Chase maintains a financial relationship with Massey Energy, which is responsible for most of the mountaintop removal mining in this country, as well as four more of the top 10 producers of mountaintop removal coal.

RAN says that, “Mountaintop removal is the highly destructive mining practice that literally explodes the tops off of mountains. It harms homes and habitats. It’s destroyed nearly 1.2 million acres of Appalachian forest and mountains. It has buried over 2000 miles of rivers and streams with debris and pollution.

Instead of bankrolling this brutal, toxic and irreversibly destructive practice of destroying mountains for climate-killing coal, Chase should put their money on the right side of history.

It’s time for Chase to stop making millions from destroying Appalachia’s mountains.”

RAN is asking supporters to blog, Tweet, Facebook and email their networks this Thursday to let them know about the destruction caused by mountaintop removal and JP Morgan Chase’s funding of it.

Get more information and sign up for the day of action at RAN’s Web site.

Texas Governor Gets a “Citizen Citation”

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:51:50 +0000

Texas Governor Rick Perry is one of several politicians and business interests (including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a group of senators) trying to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, but after he filed his lawsuit against the EPA this week, Texas environmental groups made a filing of their own.

Texas’ Public Citizen and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club issued Perry a citizen citation to “cease and desist endangering the health of breathers, the economy and the climate in Texas by continuing to permit coal plants and other large sources of CO2.”

The groups issued a joint press release that read, in part:

“This morning, Gov. Rick Perry attempted to show Texas voters that he is bigger than both Texas and federal law by filing a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health. Instead, he just further highlighted his failure to protect Texans’ health and the safety and long-term stability of our economy and climate.

“Instead of suing the EPA, Perry should be taking proactive steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build up our clean energy economy. Perry likes to brag about his accomplishments in promoting wind and energy efficiency and the emissions Texas has avoided as a result, but he is also hammering through a second Texas coal rush that will negate all that hard work and add 77 million tons of CO2 to Texas’ already overheated air.”

Governor Perry’s petition claims that EPA regulations would be devastating to farmers and ranchers, and that the EPA did not use sound science to reach its decision on greenhouse gases.

Upcoming Climate Trial

Suzanne Bopp — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:18:36 +0000

Tim DeChristopher got national headlines last year when he bid on and won 14 oil and gas leases worth $1.8 million. Now he’s headed for a trial for making false statements and interfering with an auction and the sentence could include up to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.

He plans to argue that the threat of global warming is so serious, his actions were justified.

Calling the upcoming trial “a turning point in the climate movement,” the Web site It’s Getting Hot in Here has published a letter in support of DeChristopher that was co-written by Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine; Terry Tempest Williams, world renowned wildlife author; Bill Mckibben, founder of 350.org and author of The End Of Nature; and climatologist James Hansen, author of Storms of my Grandchildren.

The text of the letter:

Dear Friends,
The epic fight to ward off global warming and transform the energy system that is at the core of our planet’s economy takes many forms: huge global days of action, giant international conferences like the one that just failed in Copenhagen, small gestures in the homes of countless people.

But there are a few signal moments and one comes next month, when the federal government puts Tim DeChristopher on trial in Salt Lake City. Tim—“Bidder 70”– pulled off one of the most creative protests against our runaway energy policy in years: He bid for the oil and gas leases on several parcels of federal land even though he had no money to pay for them, thus upending the auction. The government calls that “violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act” and thinks he should spend ten years in jail for the crime; we call it a noble act, a profound gesture made on behalf of all of us and of the future.

Tim’s action drew national attention to the fact that the Bush Administration spent its dying days in office handing out a last round of favors to the oil and gas industry. After investigating irregularities in the auction, the Obama Administration took many of the leases off the table, with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar criticizing the process as “a headlong rush.” And yet that same Administration is choosing to prosecute the young man who blew the whistle on this corrupt process.

We cannot let this stand. When Tim disrupted the auction, he did so in the fine tradition of non-violent civil disobedience that changed so many unjust laws in this country’s past. Tim’s upcoming trial is an occasion to raise the alarm once more about the peril our planet faces. The situation is still fluid—the trial date has just been set, and local supporters are making plans for how to mark the three-day proceedings. But they are asking people around the country to flood into Salt Lake City in mid-March. If you come, there will be ample opportunity for both legal protest and civil disobedience. For example:

#Outside the courthouse, there will be a mock trial, with experts like NASA’s Jim Hansen providing the facts that should be heard inside the chambers. We don’t want Tim on trial—we want global warming on the stand.
#Demonstrators will be using the time-honored tactics of civil disobedience to make their voices heard outside the courthouse in an effort to prevent “business as usual”—it’s business as usual that’s wrecking the earth.
#There will be evening concerts and gatherings, including a “mini-summit” to share ideas on how the climate movement should proceed in the years ahead. This is a people’s movement that draws power from around the globe; for a few days its headquarters will be Salt Lake City.

You can get the most up-to-date news at climatetrial.com, including schedules for non-violence training, and information about legal representation. If you’re coming, bring not only your passion but also your creativity—we need lots of art and music to help make the point that we won’t sit idly by while the government tries to scare the environmental movement into meek cooperation. This kind of trial is nothing but intimidation—and the best answers to intimidation are joy and resolve. That’s what we’ll need in Utah.

We know it’s short notice. Some of us won’t be able to make it to Utah because we have other commitments or are limiting travel, and if you’re in the same situation, climatetrial.com will also have details of solidarity actions in other parts of the country. If you can contribute money to help make the week’s events possible, click here. But more than your money we need your body, your brains, and your heart. In a landscape of little water, where redrock canyons rise upward like praying hands, we can offer our solidarity to the wild: wild lands and wild hearts. Tim DeChristopher deserves and needs our physical and spiritual support in the name of a just and vibrant community.
Thank you for standing with us,
Naomi Klein,
Bill McKibben,
Terry Tempest Williams,
Dr. James Hansen

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National TV Ad Urges Congress to Pass Clean Energy Act

Suzanne Bopp — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:14:52 +0000

Operation Free has launched a new national television ad. It highlights the connections between our dependence on oil and funding for terrorist organizations, urging Congress to take action and pass clean energy legislation.

Operation Free is a coalition of groups including VoteVets.org, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans & Military Families for Progress supporting the belief that it’s our patriotic duty to do all we can to keep our country safe, and transitioning to clean energy is an essential part of that.