health

Indiana Citizens Skeptical of Trash Incinerator

- by Mitchell Kirk, June 26, 2013. Source: Pharos-Tribune 

A group of Logansport citizens is holding a question-and-answer session with energy, environmental and business leaders tonight to discuss the city’s power plant project.

“Our goal is to foster discussion among key people in the community who may not yet be committed to the Pyrolyzer (trash-to-electricity) proposal and would like more information on lowering electric rates now,” said Mercedes Brugh, who organized the event, in a statement.

The panel will include Morton Marcus, retired director of the Indiana Business Research Center; Bradley Angel, executive director of San Francisco-based Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice; and Mike Ewall, founder and director of Philadelphia-based Energy Justice Network. 

Timber Industry Distorts Information to Exploit Our Forests

- by Samantha Chirillo, July 11, 2013. Source: Register-Guard

Swanson supposedly states just the facts regarding Oregon's forests and industry, but instead distorts them. Swanson is connected to the Swanson Group, a family that owns mills dependent on public timber.

Her bias may be expected, but her name-calling is childishly rude. Educated, employed, property-tax-paying, law-abiding Oregonians like Susan Applegate and Patty Keene, whose June 6th guest viewpoint triggered Swanson's response, aren't "extremists" or "radicals." They just don't believe the unsupported claims the timber industry cares for the best interests of Oregon's forests and people. 

Biomass and Other Transition Fuels are a False Solution

- by Karen Orr, Energy Justice Network

Clean, truly renewable energy could fully power a large electric grid 99.9 percent of the time by 2030, according to recent research published by the Journal of Power Sources.

This can be done economically and without government subsidies if a well-designed combination of solar power, wind power and storage in batteries and fuel cells is implemented.

Biomass/incineration, ethanol, nuclear power and other false solutions have been promoted as “transition” fuels or technologies, yet the capital-intensive nature of these technologies make transition impossible. 

Oregon: Biomass Battleground

- by Samantha Chirillo, Energy Justice Network

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"99","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"319","style":"width: 420px; height: 279px; float: left; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px;","title":"Seneca Sustainable Energy biomass power facility","width":"480"}}]]Timber Town Eugene, Oregon buzzes along nearly oblivious to the forest destruction and herbicide poisoning around it. Much like a frog in a pot of water brought to a slow boil, the timber industry relies on what anthropologist and author Jared Diamond referred to as “landscape amnesia” in his book, Collapse — slow environmental degradation that would be offensive if only at a faster pace.

The scenario with the Seneca Sustainable Energy biomass power facility, located adjacent to the Seneca timber mill, is disturbingly similar. The State and local air authorities might let Seneca have its way, but no ad campaign on the part of Seneca is going to hide the reality that biomass energy, like the chemical clearcut regime it emerged from, is a dirty, destructive dead-end.

Waste to Energy a Health Hazard?

- by Mark Martin, June 23, 2013. Source: Christian Broadcasting Network 

Do you know where your trash goes? Landfills aren't the only option. Some goes toa  plant, where it's burned for energy. But some believe that may not be such a good idea.

Like a giant claw, a huge crane slowly descends into a pit filled with tons of trash, or "municipal solide waste" as it's known in the industry. The refuse holding pit is located at the Energy/Resource Recovery Facility near Washington, D.C. It is Covanta Energy's largest "energy from waste" facility. 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it's one of 86 plants that burns municipal solid waste to recover energy. The plant processes around 3,000 tons of municipal solid waste each day. Company leaders say that produces enough electricity for 80,000 homes.

Seneca Biomass Incinerator Requests Increase in Pollution Cap

- by Diane Dietz, July 17, 2013. Source: The Register-Guard 

The owners of a 2½-year-old electricity plant fueled with logging scraps have struggled to meet clean air standards since the facility began operations on the outskirts of Eugene and are asking regulators for a little more leeway to pollute. 

Seneca Sustainable Energy, on Highway 99 north of Eugene, has been caught by regulators spouting too much carbon monoxide, too much dark smoke and too much acetaldehyde — in conjunction with the Seneca sawmill next door. Plus, there has been uncertainty about how much fine particulate the plant emits.

In addition, the company ran seven months with its pollution controls for nitrogen oxides switched off, according to regulatory reports.

Biomass Opponents Take on Congress

Eighty-five organizations from twenty-six states (and counting) have signed on to a letter to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, insisting that the Senator protect Americans from harmful air pollution by ending his support for biomass incineration.

Energy Justice Network Pushes for Clean Air in Allentown, PA

June 18, 2013. Source: Colin McEvoy, The Express Times 

A Biomassacre Down Under 

Project withdrawn after federal funding source issues

June 14, 2013. Source: Andrew Creasey, Herald and News