Through Sat. April 26, 2008 8:00 PM

Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22, 2008. There will be events in the East Tennessee area throughout the week of April 19 through April 26.

Check it out.

Nashville's Earth Day Festival will be on Saturday, April 19, from 11AM to 7PM at Centennial Park.

An Earthfest in the Memphis area will be held at the Lichterman Nature Center on Saturday, April 19, from 10AM to 2PM.

Save the planet!

The Tennessee Clean Water Network has launched a new blog. The blog will cover water quality issues, legislative updates, stories from local communities, and updates on TCWN's activities.

The House Environment subcommittee voted against HB3348 that would ban mountaintop removal mining in Tennessee.

The Senate Environment, Conservation, and Tourism committee is scheduled to hear companion bill SB3822 a second time today.

UPDATE: Sen. Tommy Kilby has blocked a vote on the bill in the Senate committee. Kilby is bullying committee members, and they don't like it. Notes taking during live video stream after the jump...

UPDATE: Tom Humphrey files this report on the House subcommittee vote. Voting against the bill were William Baird, R-Jacksboro; George Fraley, D-Winchester; Joe McCord, R-Maryville; Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains; and John Tidwell, D-New Johnsonville.

In a New York Times Opinion piece recently brought to my attention,

Since the 1980s, pesticide use has increased fivefold in Latin America as countries have expanded their production of nontraditional crops to fuel the demand for fresh produce during winter in North America and Europe. Rice farmers in the region use monocrotophos, methamidophos and carbofuran, all agricultural chemicals that are rated Class I toxins by the World Health Organization, are highly toxic to birds, and are either restricted or banned in the United States. In countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador, researchers have found that farmers spray their crops heavily and repeatedly with a chemical cocktail of dangerous pesticides.

...

Testing by the United States Food and Drug Administration shows that fruits and vegetables imported from Latin America are three times as likely to violate Environmental Protection Agency standards for pesticide residues as the same foods grown in the United States.

Recommendations? Buy locally. Buy organic. Buy products grown in the US or other countries with the same pesticide restrictions. Push manufacturers and providers to provide safe food products. Do you know that most Green Giant canned/bottled mushrooms are not from the US? Mushrooms? Geez, anybody can grow mushrooms.

Be careful out there (and save the birds in the process).

Appalachia is being utterly gutted by Big Coal. The desperate calls for change are coming from the ground up, and our candidates must now come here.

As "The Examiner" notes:

Of the remaining 566 Democratic delegates to be won, 352 will be awarded from Appalachian states. The western parts of Pennsylvania (April 22) and North Carolina (May 6) along with West Virginia (May 13) and Kentucky (May 20) will take on outsized importance in the weeks to come.

The choice is obvious...
A majority of West Virginians oppose mountaintop removal.
A majority of Americans oppose mountaintop removal.

The political will to end mountaintop removal is here.

Towns and cities around the world are turning out the lights for an hour to highlight the threat of climate change.

Created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour has grown from a single event into a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 35 US cities will participate, including the US flagships--Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco.

On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Great idea. I hope it catches on.

I do wonder about their choice to have it on a Saturday night. Will that deter many people from participating?

Nissan and the Nashville area have worked well together for several (many) years. With Nissan's move of their U.S. Headquarters from California to Tennessee, they are trying to show their appreciation of the environment.

• 1,500 employees
• light harvesting system" automatically dims or turns off interior lights in the 460,000 square feet of offices.
• Sun shades outside — sort of like reflective visors — with computer-designed blades direct sunlight to reduce glare and heat in the Southern summer.
• Air conditioning and heat are controlled through outlets at each work station. "You heat the people and not the space,"
• consume about 35 percent less energy than a traditionally designed building
• restoring a 2 1/2-acre wetland. Tens of thousands of native Tennessee plants, including iris, button bush and rushes, are already growing there.

Nissan is slow to change their vehicles to be more efficient. They do emphasize performance and handling, which can be fun. The Sentra has offered pretty good mileage for years. The new Versa is a good addition to their fleet. They need to get the Altimata Hybrid available to all states.

Senate Bill 1408/House Bill 1829 mandates deposits for recycling of drink containers.

It will result in less litter along our roadways, less waste in the landfills, money saved on litter crews, and improved scenic quality of Tennessee.

Once assigned by the government operations committee, Senate Bill 1408 will go to the Senate Committee for Environment, Conservation and Tourism for a vote, probably next week. If approved, it will go to the full Senate. Once there, its chance of passage is deemed excellent.

If your State Senator is on the Environment, Conservation, and Tourism committee, encourage them to support this bill.

For more info visit the Tennessee Bottle Bill Project website.

Governor Phil Bredesen and Tennessee Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke announced 20 recycling equipment grants totaling nearly $425,000. Matching applicant funds totaled nearly $200,000.

These grants help encourage recycling and reduce the amount of waste going in to landfills. They are available to counties, cities, non-profit recycling organizations and solid waste authorities and are funded by revenues from a state surcharge on each ton of solid waste disposed in landfills and from a fee on new tires sold in the state.

State Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) introduced HB2511 last week that prohibits the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation from launching "investigative or enforcement actions of violations of environmental laws based solely on information submitted by an anonymous source."

Tipsters must fill out a form with their name and address, and name the individuals suspected of a violation, the time and place of the violation, and the specific regulation violated.

The law would also apply to local governments.

What is the purpose of this and what's behind it? It appears to weaken TDEC's enforcement capability and give cover to midnight toxic dumpers.

If trees are clear cut in the forest and an anonymous whistleblower can't report it, did it really happen?

The controversial "Road to Nowhere" is officially not going to be built. An environmental impact study recommendation in October led the way for Congress to appropriate money for a $6 million "down payment" on a $52 million cash settlement with the citizens of Swain Co., who were promised a new road when construction of Fontana Dam flooded an existing road in 1943.

TDOT & TDEC Sign Environmental Streamlining Agreement

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) today signed a new pact designed to establish a coordinated planning and development process for transportation projects. The goal of the Tennessee Environmental Streamlining Agreement is to ensure that the state’s vital transportation improvements can be implemented without unnecessary delays, while protecting and enhancing the quality of Tennessee’s environment.

TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely said "This will allow us to more quickly identify and resolve environmental concerns."

Resolve or circumvent?

On the other hand, it makes sense to incorporate environmental impact studies into the planning process, so we don't waste time and money on projects only to find out they are environmental disasters.

What do you think?

From the AP on CNN

Al Gore, who was criticized for high electric bills at his Tennessee mansion, has completed a host of improvements to make the home more energy efficient, and a building-industry group has praised the house as one of the nation's most environmentally friendly.

The former vice president has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs -- even on his Christmas tree.

We need state and federal incentive and tax credit programs to make these types of energy conservation improvements available and affordable for everyone.

TVA met with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation on Wednesday to request a variance that would allow them to discontinue monitoring ambient sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels at six coal-fired power plants in Tennessee. The request was granted, and TVA will no longer monitor ambient SO2 at the facilities, which are:

• Bull Run
• John Sevier
• Johnsonville
• Kingston
• Cumberland
• Gallatin

TVA will still monitor point-source "smokestack" SO2 emissions at these facilities.

SO2 contributes to the formation of acid rain, which damages trees, crops, historic buildings, and monuments, and makes soils, lakes, and streams acidic affecting forests and wildlife. SO2 also contributes to the formation of atmospheric particles that cause visibility impairment, most noticeably in national parks.

The variance is a result of an October 2006 EPA rule change that relaxes standards for SO2 monitoring in areas where it is no longer believed needed.

Three conditions must be met to obtain a variance: (1) The actual sulfur dioxide emissions from a fuel burning installation do not exceed 20,000 tons per year; (2) The source must be located in an attainment area and must not significantly impact a sulfur dioxide nonattainment area; (3) Measurements of air quality in the vicinity of the source demonstrate that ambient sulfur dioxide levels do not exceed 75 percent of the ambient air quality standards for sulfur dioxide.

The good news is that TVA has significantly reduced SO2 emissions over the years and meets two of the three requirements. Ambient SO2 levels at these facilities are less than 25% of the SO2 air quality standards, and TVA has not violated ambient air quality standards at any of these facilities since 1993.

But, TVA does not meet the first requirement. In 2006, SO2 emissions exceeded 20,000 tons at all of these TVA facilities except Cumberland. Johnsonville is the worst offender at 86,800 tons, followed by Kingston at 55,500 tons. Total SO2 emissions for these six facilities were 242,200 tons in 2006.

TVA successfully argued before the EPA and TDEC that the 20,000 ton limit should not apply to them, stating "The reason that this requirement cannot be met is the fact that there are only seven coal fired power plants located within the State of Tennessee (six are listed above and the seventh is located in Shelby County and is unaffected by this variance). Consequently these power plants are very large by national standards. Thus, even burning lower sulfur coals, the actual sulfur dioxide emissions, measured in tons per year, will be very large." TDEC concurred and granted the variance.

While we applaud TVA's ongoing emission control efforts, this exemption does not appear consistent with the letter or the spirit of the weakened regulation. In fact, arguing that their facilities are too large to comply seems to defy logic.

A TDEC spokesperson provided background information on the hearing, which you can read after the jump. TDEC also forwarded a copy of TVA's request for variance, which you can read here.

"A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household," said Jianguo Liu, an ecologist at Michigan State University...
...
Per person, divorced households spent more per person per month for electricity compared with a married household, as multiple people can be watching the same television, listening to the same radio, cooking on the same stove and or eating under the same lights.

That means some $6.9 billion in extra utility costs per year, Liu calculated, plus an added $3.6 billion for water, in addition to other costs such as land use.

Finally! I'm doing something to save the environment with no effort.

WKRN files this report on an Erin, TN man who has built a gas/electric/human powered (tri-hybrid) bike and he's riding it 1000 miles to Amarillo Texas:

"This is Exertrike Tri-Hybrid and it is not a production model," [Jay] Perdue showed News 2. "This one was set up to run down the interstate down to Amarillo, Texas, 1,000 miles getting over 300 miles per gallon. It is street legal in the state of Tennessee, with lights and running lights, turn signals and mirrors and even has a horn."

According to WKRN, the tri-hybrid tops out at 54 MPH. The Discovery Channel is covering his journey.

The inventor has some journal notes at his Exertrike website. According to his notes, the tri-hybrid used on the 1000 mile run is powered by a 2.5 hp Honda 4 stroke engine and 6 batteries totaling 72 volts.

Congressman Jim Cooper, a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act, today sent out a "Dear Colleague" letter along with two other Southern Congressmen urging support for the legislation:

I hope you will join us as proud co-sponsors of this legislation.

Mountaintop removal coal mining in the Appalachian region produces a tremendous amount of toxic waste that is often recklessly shoved into our headwater streams. In recent years, these "valley fills" have buried hundreds of miles of our waterways, jeopardizing the health of the environment and the people in Appalachia.

...

To date, at least one million acres of Appalachia's mountains have been destroyed by mountaintop removal mining, and more than 1200 miles of streams are buried and destroyed by waste. The EPA expects that mountaintop removal will double in the next decade.

If Congress does not intervene, we will lose even more of Appalachia's precious communities and culture, long term economic potential, natural beauty, and abundant ecological resources and services.

This mountaintop removal is doing more than just damaging the scenery in Appalachia. It's literally poisoning the water and putting all of the residents there in jeopardy.

Glad to see that Congressman Cooper is doing something about it. It's just too bad that Congressmen Davis, Duncan, and Wamp--you know, the Congressmen whose districts actually ARE in Appalachia--will most likely vote to protect the President's cronies in the mining industry rather than to protect their own constituents.

From the Governor's office:

Governor Phil Bredesen joined Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke and representatives from The Nature Conservancy today to celebrate the completion of a historic 127,000-acre conservation acquisition on the northern Cumberland Plateau.

The project is called “Connecting the Cumberlands” because it connects the acquired property with other publicly owned land on the northern Cumberland Plateau. This connection creates a swath of protected forestland for preservation and public enjoyment that totals 200 square miles – about twice the size of the City of Knoxville where today’s celebration was held.

The state of Tennessee partnered with The Nature Conservancy and two conservation-minded timber companies, Conservation Forestry and Lyme Timber, to successfully complete the acquisition, which encompasses contiguous tracts in Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Scott counties. All 127,000 acres will be managed for public use by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Tennessee State Parks.

Gov. Bredesen called it the "largest land conservation initiative in our state since the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated in 1940."

The current drought has had such an impact on Georgia that fans at Saturday's University of Georgia homecoming game were asked not to flush the toilet.

Now it's an emergency!

The issues with coal-fired power plant emissions are well chronicled - increased lung and cardiovascular disease, loss of visibility, and (somewhat importantly) the complete shattering of our global climactic patterns.

Many are also seeing for the first time that extracting coal is as destructive (and socially expensive) as emitting coal. Mountaintop removal and strip mining are decimating the majestic Appalachian Mountains – the oldest mountains on this continent. More than 1 million acres have been blasted away, and shoved recklessly into creek-beds and hollows. 1200+ miles of headwater streams have been buried, poisoning the water for us and those who live down stream.

The ancient hardwood forests of Appalachia (themselves an important carbon sink in our war on CO2) are often shoved aside with the mountain, left to rot and clog our streams without even being commercially harvested. The “rape” of Appalachia, as Senator Webb has called it.

How much coal would be “worth it?”
100 years?
250 years?
500 years?

Hows about a dozen?

The Tennessee Conservation Voters ranked Sen. and Speaker Pro Tempore Rosalind Kurita (D-Clarksville) as the highest scoring member of the Tennessee General Assembly on environmental issues.