8/20/08 St. Louis-Area Candidate Forum on the Environment - October 6, 2008
A coalition of local non-profit organizations is presenting a Candidate Forum on the Environment and we invite you to attend. Please save the date: Monday, October 6, 2008 from 7-9pm. All statewide candidates and legislative candidates in the St. Louis area are being invited. This is not a debate, but an opportunity for candidates to present their positions on environmental issues and answer questions from the audience.
Monday, October 6, 2008 - 7-9pm
Central Reform Congregation
5020 Waterman Avenue (at Kingshighway)
Presented by:
Jewish Environmental Initiative (a committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council)
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Missouri Votes Conservation Education Fund
Sierra Club, Eastern Missouri Group
Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice
Additional Co-sponsors:
Central Reform Congregation
Ethical Society of St. Louis
First United Methodist Church of Webster Groves
KDHX Community Media
8/13/08 Clean Energy Backers Confident Despite Setback
The Clean Energy Ballot Initiative has one last complication to overcome before it goes before Missouri voters in November 2008. Last week, the Missouri Secretary of State announced which issues will appear on this November's ballot, and much to our surprise, the Missouri Clean Energy Initiative was not included in that announcement.
Instead, it was reported that our signature-gathering campaign came 526 signatures short of qualifying in the 3rd Congressional District (southern St. Louis region).
Missouri Clean Energy Initiative Logo Missourians for Cleaner Cheaper Energy, the backers of the Inititiave, plan on challenging this decision and have already begun sifting through signatures to analyze which signatures were counted by the individual county officials to be "valid" or "invalid".
There are a variety of errors which are commonly made during the validation process, and lawyers are working diligently to ensure that every valid signature is counted.
Previous campaigns have missed the mark by many more signatures than this, and we are confident that in a matter of several weeks, we will hear an announcement from the Secretary of State that the Clean Energy Initiative will appear on the ballot this November 4th.
Ballot initiatives are often placed on the ballot after legal challenges. In 2006, a Missouri judge ruled that 1,004 signatures for a tobacco tax initiative should have been counted and the measure was subsequently placed on the November ballot. In 2002, rulings that additional valid signatures should have been counted in both a tobacco tax initiative and a collective bargaining initiative resulted in both measures being placed on the ballot.
Over 160,000 Missourians signed the petition to put the Clean Energy Initiative on the ballot. Missourians are ready for Clean Energy and we will make sure every valid signature is counted so that Missourians can have their voices heard in November.
In the meantime, Missourians for Cleaner Cheaper Energy continues to build grassroots support. Get involved today by signing a petition in support of the Clean Energy Initiative, joining the Clean Energy Initiative Facebook group, and spreading the word about this important issue.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment will keep you posted on the progress of the challenge, as well as other opportunities to help along the way.
8/8/08 "Unleaded" Documentary Premiere this Saturday
This Saturday is the premier of "Unleaded", a documentary that reveals Doe Run, a small Missouri town's fight for survival and the right to rid itself of toxic lead contamination.
Unleaded Exposure
"Unleaded" is the Senior Thesis of screen writer and director Will Godar, a 2008 graduate from St. Louis Priory. The film exposes the reality of what it takes for a small town to face big business and the EPA.
"Unleaded" will show at the Chase Park Plaza Cinemas at Lindell and Kingshighway in St. Louis at 11am this Saturday, August 9th. The Chase Park Plaza Cinemas are inside the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. The running time is around 35 minutes.
Godar will also be showing a short 8-minute film that he made in collaboration with 10 other young St. Louis filmmakers, in competition with young filmmakers in LA, New York, Boston, Chicago, and other major U.S. cities.
Watch the "Unleaded" trailer and then come see the premier this Saturday!
8/4/08 UAA Public Meetings and Comment Period
Your Chance to Speak Out for Safe Streams!
Do you think kids should be able to play safely in Missouri streams, without fear of exposure to bacteria that can cause typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, dysentery, and other illnesses? Do you want to make sure your stream is safe for recreational uses like swimming, playing, wading, and fishing?
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is proposing to remove protections against bacteria on 90 streams across the state, and now they want to hear from you. The Department is holding public meetings in seven cities this month, starting tonight in Thornfield, Missouri (see details below). The St. Louis region meeting is Wednesday, August 6.
Why would DNR want to exempt streams from the protections the Clean Water Act envisioned for all the nation's streams? The answer: To save sewer agencies and other facilities--public and private--the cost of disinfecting the otherwise treated wastewater that they discharge into streams. Meanwhile, DNR has spent many hundreds of thousands of public dollars on studies, called Use Attainability Analyses (UAAs), that are used to justify these exemptions.
DNR's UAAs rely almost exclusively on stream depth to determine whether a stream can support swimming and other recreation. If the stream isn't deep enough--at least a meter deep in holes or a half-meter on average--at the few sites sampled (which total only 5-10% of the stream's length), the state assumes people can't swim in the stream and exempts it from protections normally required for swimming and other "whole body contact recreation."
Kids and even adults often engage in whole body contact recreation in much shallower water, however. On a hot day, lying down in ten inches of a cool stream entices children and adults alike. And it's quite possible that people enjoy locally-known swimming holes located on the 90-95% of the stream not surveyed. In either case, exempting their stream would leave these people exposed to dangerous bacteria.
But the greatest flaw of the UAAs is that there is no requirement to contact or interview local residents about their use of the stream, even though any such use by anyone since 1975 would require that protections against bacteria be kept in place. Indeed, few UAAs have bothered to include any interviews with those who would know how and where a given stream is used.
When DNR compounded that omission by barely publicizing the public comment period on the proposed exemptions, the Coalition sent news releases to every county where streams were recommended for exemption and sent letters to many local residents asking them to submit information on their streams. The heavy response and the public's displeasure with the state's efforts to remove protections from streams prompted DNR to quickly extend the comment deadline to August 31st and schedule a series of public meetings--while making the groundless accusation that we had spread "misinformation" and caused "public alarm that is totally unnecessary."
You will therefore have two opportunities this month to make your voice heard on behalf of safe and clean streams. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is holding public meetings during August at the following locations:
- Thornfield - Aug. 4 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Thornfield School, Hwy 95, immediately north of Thornfield
- St. Louis - Aug. 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Area, 11715 Cragwold Road, Kirkwood
- Poplar Bluff - Aug. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's Southeast Regional Office, 2155 North Westwood Boulevard, Poplar Bluff
- Kansas City - Aug. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's Kansas City Regional Office, 500 NE Colbern Road, Lee's Summit
- Springfield - Aug. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's Southwest Regional Office, 2040 W. Woodland, Springfield
- Macon - Aug. 25 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's Northeast Regional Office, 1709 Prospect Drive, Macon
- Jefferson City - Aug. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's Lewis and Clark State Office Building, 1101 Riverside Drive, Jefferson City
While we expect these meetings to be, in large part, an attempt to repair DNR's image, they will also be an opportunity to express your views on UAAs and the state's stream exemption effort as well as to provide specific information about how and where you use your favorite streams. Please include information on non-whole body contact recreation, such as wading, boating, or fishing, since these also expose people to bacteria and viruses and should require at least some level of protection.
Those attending the St. Louis meeting should note that UAAs are being done this summer and fall on Black Creek, the portion of Deer Creek below Black Creek, and the segment of the River des Peres downstream of Deer Creek. If you have information about recreational use of these streams, please provide it at the meeting or in written comments. It's entirely possible that these streams will be added to the other 90 streams recommended for exemption from bacteria protection later this year -- unless DNR hears that people use them.
For maps of the affected streams, short comment forms you can submit, and more information about the UAA process, please see the Coalition's UAA webpage.
Written comments -- as detailed as possible about how and where you or others use your stream--will be accepted until August 31, 2008. Please send them to:
John Hoke, UAA Coordinator, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Water Protection Program, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176
Or email: john.hoke@dnr.mo.gov
Or fax: 573-522-9920
Thanks for your efforts to keep Missouri's streams clean and safe!
8/1/08 MDNR Hosts Second Forum on Wind Energy
On August 6, Missouri landowners wondering what it would be like to have a wind farm built on their property can hear from a Gentry County landowner with first-hand experience, as the second in a series of three Department of Natural Resources video conferences unites nine Missouri cities in a discussion of economic impacts of wind energy developments in Missouri communities.
The August 6 video conference will be held from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m., linking participants from Columbia, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Kirksville, Maryville, Neosho, St. Joseph, St. Louis and Springfield. Mike Waltemath, a lifelong resident of Gentry County, will be one of three speakers during the second wind energy forum, "Community and State Economic Impacts." The forum will identify issues that landowners should be aware of before signing a lease, along with the impact that wind energy development has on the local and state economy.
Other presenters on August 6 include Larry Flowers, Wind Powering America technical director, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, discussing the economic impact of wind energy development. Harry Kemker, energy consultant and wind energy researcher, will also report on his study of the economic feasibility of wind energy development in Missouri that he prepared for Missouri Wind Resources LLC.
Following a conference format, each public forum will start with expert presentations, followed by panel discussion, leading to attendees sharing their views in small roundtable discussion groups. Due to the relatively marginal financial outlook for customer scale wind systems at this time, the wind forums will focus on utility-scale wind potentials and issues, rather than on small wind systems.
August 6, 5:30 to 9 p.m.: The second forum "Community and State Economic Impacts" will identify issues that landowners should know about before signing a lease and the impact wind energy development has on the local and state economy.
September 15, 5 to 9 p.m.: The third forum, "Wind Energy Action Options" will explore what is needed for this self-renewing natural resource to best serve the needs of Missourians.
There is no cost to attend the forums or to observe the conferences online, but registration is required. Information and online registration is available on the department's Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/energy/renewables/win d-energy-forums.htm. Upon registration, an admission ticket and the address of each meeting place will be provided to those who register. People who have access to a personal computer and high-speed Internet connection can observe the video conference online. Those unable to register online, and those with disabilities requiring special services or accommodations to attend the forums, can make arrangements by calling the department's Energy Center at 1-800-361-4827 or 573-751-2254.
7/30/08 Close the Lead Poisoning Loophole: Act Now
This is more technical than our usual communication, but it hearkens back to the old saying, "the devil is in the details." In addition to some of the major, more glaring problems we earlier highlighted for you, the Environmental Protection Agency has buried several gifts to industry in nooks and crannies of the Proposed Rule to revise the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for lead. One in particular is of great concern, and it is important that EPA hear from the public on this.
Lead is emitted in particles of various sizes. When you measure the levels of lead in the air, how much you find depends on what size particles your measuring tool is capable of measuring. Currently, EPA uses the most inclusive measurement tool - Total Suspended Particulates (TSP). However, EPA is considering shifting to a more limited measurement tool, which only measures particulate 10 microns or less in diameter (PM10). Because large sources such as smelters emit a large portion of their total lead emissions in particle sizes larger than PM10, measuring only for PM10 could miss up to 50% of the source's actual, harmful lead emissions.
Here's the loophole: While the discussion of an appropriate level for the NAAQS has throughout this process focused on levels of lead measured as TSP (i.e., looking at all lead in the air), EPA's Proposed Rule throws out the concept of shifting to lead measured as PM10 - BUT MAINTAINING THE SAME RANGE OF LEVELS. In other words, EPA has officially proposed to revise the lead NAAQS from a level of 1.5 µg/m3 to somewhere in the range of 0.1 - 0.3 µg/m3, and has also requested comment on levels going as high as 0.5 µg/m3. EPA's science staff and its outside science advisers (Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, or CASAC) have told EPA to revise the standard to as low as 0.02 µg/m3, and no higher than 0.2 µg/m3. If EPA switches to PM10 as the measurement tool (also known as the "indicator"), then it will - with that one decision - double whatever the level is stated as. Even if EPA were to stay with the 0.2 µg/m3 maximum level recommended by EPA Staff and CASAC (with the understanding that it would be lead as TSP at that level), switching to PM10 would make that level, in effect, up to 0.4 µg/m3 of lead as TSP - double the maximum recommended by the scientists.
The deadline for comments on the proposed rule change is coming up quickly on Monday, August 4. You can submit comments via email to a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov or via fax to (202) 566-1741. Please reference Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0735 in any communications to EPA.
Below is a sample message that you can send to EPA:
"I am concerned about the monitoring system for lead in the air. In addition to setting the standard at no higher than 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter measured as the highest monthly average over a 3-year period, for the foreseeable future, lead should continue to be monitored using Total Suspended Particle (TSP) monitors in order to ensure that the standard accurately reflects all lead emissions and protects public health with a margin of safety."
7/2/08 Ameren's Plans for a Second Nuke at Callaway
South Carolina Closed Its Doors to Ameren's Radioactive Waste On July 1
Starting July 1, 2008, South Carolina will no longer be available to store radioactive waste from 36 states including Missouri. The facility at Barnwell, South Carolina has been accepting the radioactive waste largely originating from civilian nuclear reactors. Missouri now has no place to send its hottest "low-level" atomic waste. It makes sense to stop making more waste.
And yet eastern Missouri utility AmerenUE is proposing a second nuclear reactor at its Callaway plant, guaranteeing future rate hikes for its customers, and more radioactive waste.
For the snapshot of why nuclear power is not the solution and what IS, check out Beyond Nuclear and Renew Missouri.
The public can play an important role in energy decision-making. And the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is inviting people to learn more. The NRC will conduct a public meeting in Fulton on Wednesday, July 9, to discuss how the agency will review an expected application for a second nuclear reactor at the Callaway site, about 10 miles southeast of Fulton. AmerenUE intends to apply later this year for a license to build and operate the second reactor.
The NRC will hold the meeting at Champ Auditorium, on Seventh Street on the Westminster College campus in Fulton, from 7-9:30 p.m. NRC will describe the overall review process, as well as how the public can participate in the process. The NRC will host an open house for an hour prior to the meeting.
Attention St. Louis
For AmerenUE customers from the St. Louis area interested in carpooling to the meeting, please contact klogansmithATmoenviron.org for details. Carpools will leave around 3 p.m. from University City and return (hopefully) before midnight. I look forward to hearing from you.
On a related note:
The Government Accountability Office has released a report showing nuclear power plants coming up short on fire safety: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08747.pdf
6/20/08 Green Homes and Renewable Energy Festival
Presented by EarthWays Center and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Saturday, September 27 - 10am - 6pm
Green Homes & Renewable Energy Festival
Mid-Town St. Louis
Sunday, September 28 - 11am - 4pm
Green House Tour
Throughout St. Louis
Two major events, the Ozark Renewable Energy Expo and the EarthWays Green Homes Festival, have merged! Read on to learn about the new festival format.
Saturday, September 27:
- Grandel Square, the urban home of the Earthways Center, will become an exciting Green Street Promenade of exhibitors, green vendors, and kid's activities. Festival admission and parking is free!
- Expert Workshops and Demonstrations will be presented throughout the day in three classrooms next door at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School. Workshops will cover a range of topics like solar and wind energy, home and vehicle efficiency, urban farming, composting, recycling, and more. Participants can attend multiple workshops for only $5.
- The Festival will occur simultaneously with Grand Center's Dancing in the Streets event. This event draws thousands of additional visitors to our neighborhood, boosting the audience for the Green Homes & Renewable Energy Festival.
Sunday, September 28:
- Green House Tour featuring several homes throughout St. Louis pursuing certification through LEED-Homes and/or the Green Building Initiative. Attendees can take the self-guided tour or join the bus tour. The bus tour fee also includes lunch.
Stay tuned for more information. To learn more, visit www.greenhomesstl.org/festival.html or email enoble AT moenviron.org.
We hope to see you there.
6/18/08 Speak Up For The Arch
Public Meetings Planned for Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
On June 25 and July 1, the National Park Service will hold two open house meetings in St. Louis to give individuals and organizations an opportunity to learn about and comment on preliminary plans for the future management of the Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse, also known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. We urge people to attend these meetings and comment on the proposals as public participation is crucial for any decisions to reflect the community's vision and values about this urban landscape.
While we support efforts to solve some of the problems at the site -- like accessibility and its lack of connection to downtown St. Louis -- we oppose any effort to remove park land from the National Park System. Taking America's treasured public lands away from the authority of the National Park Service is not the solution.
The meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, June 25 from 5-8pm in the Trolley Room of the Dennis and Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center (the historic Lindell Pavillion) in Forest Park; and Tuesday, July 1 from 3-6:30pm in the Old Courthouse, 11 N. Fourth Street.
6/12/08 Public Forums on Wind Energy in Missouri
Beginning with a June 25 live statewide video conference, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Energy Center is holding a series of public forums this summer to discuss the state's wind energy potential.
Missourians are invited to join in three statewide discussions of how to best use the state's wind energy resources. The three events will be held as video conferences concurrently in nine cities: Columbia, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Kirksville, Maryville, Neosho, St. Joseph, St. Louis and Springfield.
Wednesday, June 25, 5 to 9 p.m.: The first forum in the series, "Harvesting Missouri Wind Resources," will deal with the wind energy industry including getting electricity to where it is needed.
August 6, 5 to 9 p.m.: The second forum "Community and State Economic Impacts" will identify issues that landowners should know about before signing a lease and the impact wind energy development has on the local and state economy.
September 15, 5 to 9 p.m.: The third forum, "Wind Energy Action Options" will explore what is needed for this self-renewing natural resource to best serve the needs of Missourians.
Following a conference format, each public forum will start with expert presentations, followed by panel discussion, leading to attendees sharing their views in small roundtable discussion groups. Due to the relatively marginal financial outlook for customer scale wind systems at this time, the wind forums will focus on utility-scale wind potentials and issues, rather than on small wind systems.
While there is no cost to attend or to observe the conferences online, seating at each location is limited, and registration is required. Complete information and a registration form are available on the department's Web site. Upon registration, an admission ticket and the address of each meeting place will be provided to those who register. People who have access to a personal computer and high-speed internet connection can observe the video conference online.
Those unable to register online, and people with disabilities requiring special services or accommodations to attend the forums, can make arrangements by calling the department's Energy Center at 1-800-361-4827 or 573-751-2254.
6/5/08 Attend EPA's Public Hearing on the Airborne Lead Standard June 12
Although lead causes brain, kidney, developmental and cardiovascular damage in children, the EPA has proposed new airborne lead standards that are weaker than scientists recommend.
We need your help to make EPA set a stronger airborne lead standard that fully protects people's health. On June 12, EPA is holding a hearing in St. Louis to receive public input on its plans. Attending this hearing is one of the most effective ways to make your voice heard.
Please attend the June 12 hearing and tell EPA to protect kids from lead!
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to klogansmith@moenviron.org with your name and phone number where we can reach you. We'll be happy to provide information to help you prepare for the hearing.
WHERE AND WHEN
June 12, 2008, 9 am - 9 pm
Omni Majestic Hotel, Salon A and B
1019 Pine Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63101
HOW IT WORKS
At the hearing, you'll have the opportunity to submit written testimony and/or deliver testimony orally to EPA officials. When you RSVP, we'll be in touch to provide materials to help you prepare testimony and we will help schedule your time slot (you will not have to stay the entire day). Some suggested talking points are attached below to help.
HOW TO SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY: Bring your written testimony to the hearing, where you can submit it directly to EPA. Your written testimony can be as long as you like, and can be submitted on paper or in an electronic format, such as on a CD or computer disc.
HOW TO GIVE ORAL TESTIMONY: You can also be assigned a 5 minute, set time slot in which to deliver oral testimony. Oral testimony should be under 5 minutes long.
BACKGROUND
Lead is a heavy metal that was once used in gasoline and paint. It is still released by many industrial sources such as power plants, smelters and cement kilns, and is also present in some types of aviation fuel. Persistent in urban dust, lead has been proven to lower children's IQ levels, impairing their ability to learn and succeed in school, and to contribute to aggression, attention deficit and other behavioral problems that may last into adulthood. Lead also causes brain and kidney damage and cardiovascular injury.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a maximum legal level of lead in our air almost 30 years ago, when scientists understood far less about lead than they do today. Since then, the Centers for Disease Control has twice lowered the blood lead level at which medical intervention is recommended, and has now concluded that no level is safe. EPA, however, did nothing to improve its three-decades-old standard despite laws requiring it to review its standards every five years. In 2005, a federal court ordered the agency to review the lead standard in light of current science.
Although EPA's own scientists and advisers have concluded that, to adequately protect public safety, the agency should significantly strengthen the current airborne lead standard of 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter to a level below 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter, EPA Administrator Johnson has proposed a range of standards between 0.1 and 0.3 micrograms per cubic meter. Based on the latest science, the EPA's own scientists think that the high end of the proposed range is not safe.
EPA is also ignoring scientific advice on how to measure the levels of lead in the air. For public safety, it should be averaged over a period no longer than a month since lead can have negative health impacts over a short period of time. However, EPA is considering a proposal to measure the levels of lead in the air averaged over a three month period.
Thank you for taking a stand for cleaner air.
5/19/08 Climate Change Bill Could Give Billions To Nuclear Industry - Your Calls Now Can Stop It
The Lieberman-Warner climate change bill is slated to come to the Senate floor the week of June 2-6, 2008. Without even explicitly mentioning nuclear power, the bill would be the largest giveaway to the nuclear power industry ever -- some $500 billion worth.
And if that weren't enough, one or more amendments are expected to be submitted to give even more billions of taxpayer dollars to the nuclear industry; further reduce public participation in nuclear issues; and speed the development of new radioactive waste sites over public opposition.
We need to stop this nuclear nonsense, and your voices need to be heard. Even our friends in the Senate, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), say they are not receiving enough phone calls on this issue. They, and we, are urging you to call your senators now and demand that they oppose any nuclear provisions or amendments to the Lieberman-Warner bill.
Your calls are especially important because the nuclear industry is actively lobbying to obtain more taxpayer dollars, and they have far more resources to do so than the environmental movement.
Please call your Senators today: Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
Background information on Lieberman-Warner Bill (S. 2191)
According to an aide to Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill scheduled to be debated on the Senate floor during the first week of June "would be the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States."
The cap-and-trade carbon emissions system that the bill would establish would both make utility investments in carbon-emitting technologies like coal and gas less economically competitive by putting a price on carbon, and would also create a fund -- totaling as much as $500 Billion over the next four decades -- that could be used for nuclear power investment.
There are many problems with the proposed legislation, not the least of which is that its emissions reductions targets fall far short of what science now says is necessary to avoid a climate catastrophe. In fact, the global carbon emissions reduction of 80% by 2050 called for by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Global Climate Change translates into a 95% reduction in U.S. emissions -- or essentially a carbon-free energy economy. But at best, the Lieberman-Warner bill would reduce emissions about 60-70% by 2050, and perhaps not even that much.
Nuclear amendments that have been discussed on Capitol Hill may include some, or even all, of the following:
- more money for taxpayer loan guarantees for new reactors
- more money for "risk" insurance if reactors are delayed because of interventions or other licensing problems
- establishment of "interim" storage sites for high-level radioactive waste
- speed-up of Yucca Mountain licensing
- further restrictions on public participation in reactor licensing
- money for training nuclear engineers
- money for training skilled workers (like welders)
- money for security guards and improvements
- money for Hardened On-Site Storage
- money to build new factories to manufacture large reactor components
- money for new transmission lines
- money for transformers
We need safe, clean, fast and affordable solutions to the climate crisis. Nuclear power meets none of those criteria. Your actions now can make a real difference!
Please call your Senators today: 202-224-3121, and alert your colleagues, co-workers, church groups, PTAs, and all of your friends and ask them to call too! And please call both of your senators no matter where you think they may stand on the issue: we need to create a better sense in the Senate that people care about this issue.
5/15/08 Missouri Clean Energy Initiative - Signature Goal Met!
170,000 Signatures Collected Across the State
On Sunday, May 4, 2008, less than an hour before the Secretary of State deadline, Missourians for Cleaner, Cheaper Energy turned in 170,000 petition signatures in support of placing a renewable electricity standard (RES) on the November ballot. 92,000 signatures were required to qualify the Clean Energy Initiative for the ballot. Thanks to a late push, the group met its goal of collecting at least 50% more than the qualification requirements in each of six targeted congressional districts. Given that the signature gathering only began two months ago, this is a significant accomplishment.
The effort enjoyed strong volunteer support. More than 400 volunteers helped collect signatures, and with bright green shirts, they were a visible presence across the state. In the end, volunteers helped collect nearly 20% of the overall signatures needed to qualify!
Next, MCE and groups around the state will conduct an educational campaign to help the public understand the importance of renewable energy and of reducing Missouri's dependence on coal.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment, along with many other groups such as Renew Missouri, League of Conservation Voters, Missouri Votes Conservation, the American Wind Energy Association, and Sierra Club supported the effort to bring the Clean Energy Initiative to the November ballot.
An RES is Critical for Missouri
The RES mandates that investor-owned utilities obtain 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021. The RES defines renewables as wind, solar, biomass, and small hydro. Twenty-five other states have a mandatory RES spurring the development of renewable energy and creating jobs in those states.
Missouri, on the other hand, obtains 85% of its electricity from coal. Coal power plants are the number one contributor to climate change, and coal power plants are linked to respiratory illness and heart disease. Coal power plants also emit the toxic metal mercury, leading to widespread contamination of waters and, ultimately, warnings about eating certain fish from our waters.
The coal used to power our homes is imported from out-of-state at a cost of over $9 billion a year. Renewable energy, by contrast, brings jobs and investment to Missouri. Wind Capital Group has developed three utility-scale wind farms in Northwest Missouri generating nearly $3 million dollars in investment for rural Missouri -- in just one year.
A renewable electricity standard is good for the environment, for public health, and for the economy. The Missouri General Assembly has not passed a mandatory RES (introduced every year since 2000), though polls demonstrate that Missourians have broad support for the policy. Now, the Secretary of State must validate the signatures before August and Missourians will be able to vote on the Clean Energy Initiative in November.
To learn more about the Clean Energy Initiative, visit www.missouricleanenergy.org.
5/8/08 Forest Service Plans Logging and Development in Proposed Smith Creek Wilderness: Your Comments Needed Now!
Situated in the midst of mid-Missouri's population centers of Columbia, Fulton, and Jefferson City, the Cedar Creek District of the Mark Twain National Forest is much-used and much-beloved. And no portion of the Cedar Creek District is more special or better loved than the beautiful and still surprisingly remote Smith Creek proposed Wilderness Area above and below the old Rutherford Bridge connecting Boone and Callaway Counties. For more than 25 years, conservationists have worked with the Forest Service to respect and protect the authentic wilderness character of Smith Creek's streams, bluffs, pinnacles, forests, wildlife, and solitude. In 2007, Smith Creek was included in a statewide proposal along with six other Missouri areas for designation as a federal Wilderness Area.
But now Smith Creek is threatened as part of the proposed Southwest Project. Through this project, the Forest Service plans extensive management and development within the proposed Smith Creek Wilderness. Because of their significant impacts, such activities would effectively and permanently preclude future Wilderness designation of the recently acquired Epple Tract, a critical part of the proposed Smith Creek Wilderness with frontage on Cedar Creek.
Activities proposed in the Epple Tract of Smith Creek include:
Even-aged logging (Shelterwood/Seed Tree)
Uneven-aged logging, clearing groups up to two acres
Road development
Construction of two parking areas and a boat access
Cattle grazing, fence construction, and fertilizer applications
Prescribed fire
While some management may be of benefit to the overall landscape, much of the Southwest Project, including Smith Creek, emphasizes even-aged management, such as clearcut and shelterwood (two-stage clearcut) logging. Even-aged logging does not mimic natural processes in this area, and serves only the interests of subsidized resource extraction from our public lands. The economy in Boone and Callaway Counties, unlike much of the Ozarks, does not rely on timber, making it even more inappropriate to promote this type of management here.
But while there are problems with the Southwest Project as a whole, our immediate concern is the impact on the proposed Smith Creek Wilderness. The Cedar Creek District is the most fragmented and sparsely forested district in the Mark Twain National Forest, and the beautiful, ecologically-rich landscape of Smith Creek is unique in this setting. The management activities proposed here constitute an intensive level of development, and would needlessly destroy the remote naturalness of this area. Much of the management for the Epple Tract of Smith Creek does not make environmental or economic sense, and the most unique resources of Smith Creek would be sacrificed.
A coalition of organizations, individuals, and businesses around the state has endorsed a proposal for long overdue Wilderness designation of seven critical areas in the Mark Twain National Forest. Since adoption of the 2005 Forest Plan, the Forest Service has already proposed logging two of these areas (Lower Rock Creek and Smith Creek). It is now clearer than ever that Wilderness designation of all seven areas is critical for the long-term protection of Missouri's diminishing and endangered Wilderness resource.
For more information, visit www.mowild.org, or contact scottm@mowild.org or quercusstellata@gmail.com.
Comments on the Southwest Project are due by May 16. Please contact the Forest Service today. While composing your own comments is best, you can send (and edit) a comment letter directly from www.heartwood.org.
To send a letter by mail or your personal email account, send comments to:
Elrand D. Denson
Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District
108 South Sam Houston Blvd.
Houston, MO 65483
comments-eastern-mark-twain-rolla@fs.fed.us (subject line: Southwest Project #21888)
The Southwest Project documents can be downloaded at http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/marktwain/projects/projects/30801/. The North Zone maps cover the Smith Creek area.
Thanks!
5/6/08 Save the Date - Green Homes and Renewable Energy Festival
GREEN HOMES & RENEWABLE ENERGY FESTIVAL
Saturday, September 27, 2008 from 10 am - 6 pm
GREEN HOUSE TOUR
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Presented by EarthWays Center and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Two major Missouri events, the Ozark Renewable Energy Expo and the EarthWays Green Homes Festival have merged!
We are combining our efforts to offer an exciting festival that will feature exhibits, workshops, hands-on demonstrations, kids' activities, a Green House Tour - and more!
The 2008 Green Homes & Renewable Energy Festival will be located at EarthWays Center, on Grandel Square in mid-town St. Louis. Please save the date and plan to participate. Read on below for more details!
Friends and Colleagues, Along with a spring warm up and new buds on trees, we are looking forward to our annual fall festivals. EarthWays Center is excited to announce our 2008 festival partnership with Missouri Coalition for the Environment, combining the drawing potential of two established public education events.
Mark your Calendar for Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28, 2008, as the event will not be the same without your participation and support.
Note change: This year, the festival is on Saturday, filling EarthWays' house, grounds and our entire street with workshops, exhibitors, music, food, and fun. Sunday will be devoted to a Green House Tour. The popular Change-A-Light Bulb Sale with $1 compact florescent bulbs will take place both days.
We will be in touch with you shortly to further update you on specifics of this year's festival. Changes and improvements reflect our recognition that general interest in green homes, energy efficiency, and sustainability is growing. We hope these changes allow us to accommodate the expanding community of fantastic companies, vendors, contractors, and organizations.
New Name - New Site Layout
For the 2008 Green Homes & Renewable Energy Festival we are expanding attractions into our neighborhood! On Saturday, Grandel Square will become a pedestrian festival promenade, showcasing a variety of exhibitors, renewable energy experts, and children's activities.
Workshops will be offered in Cardinal Ritter High School, at the end of our street. Attendees can explore a full city block of resources. EarthWays Center will also be open for public tours.
On Sunday, we will repeat and expand our Green House Tour, featuring a new group of certified-Green homes located around the St. Louis area. As in 2007, a bus-tour ticket option will be offered. Attendees can gather ideas and make connections to help them make their own home greener!
The 2008 festival will accommodate the needs of both EarthWays and the Coalition's past exhibitors, attract new participants, and generate greater Green public awareness and interest. And we've expanded the festival on Saturday to 10am - 6pm, in response to public and participant requests.
We look forward to working with you in the upcoming months as we plan for another successful fall festival. You will receive more information about festival participation and sponsorship in May.
If you have questions about the new structure or your participation in the Green Homes & Renewable Energy Festival please contact Joyce Gorrell at EWC or Erin Noble at MCE (contact information below).
Thank you for your support of EarthWays Center and Missouri Coalition for the Environment programs!
Erin Noble
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
314-727-0600
enoble@moenviron.org
Joyce Gorrell
EarthWays Center
314-577-0220
joyce.gorrell@mobot.org
5/1/08 EPA Proposes New Lead Standard
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced their new proposed standard for lead in the air. Here's the official word: http://www.epa.gov/air/lead/actions.html
The EPA is proposing to strengthen the lead standard from the current 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter to 0.1-0.3 micrograms per cubic meter in order to "continue America's clean air progress on lead."
This is an amazing step for public health and will drive innovation in technology. Today, we are celebrating, though there is still a long way to go toward the final rule due out in September.
This revision of the lead standard is nearly two decades overdue. The agency is taking comments for the next 60 days and expects to hold two public hearings June 12, 2008- one in St. Louis and one in Baltimore.
In the mean time, enjoy this bit of news of environmental progress.
Kathleen Logan Smith
4/25/08 Take a Stand on the River des Peres - April 29
The River des Peres Watershed Coalition, with which the Coalition for the Environment is actively and proudly involved, is holding its third planning forum Tuesday, April 29, at 6:30 PM. The first two forums, in February and March, turned out to be great opportunities to meet people with similar interests in the River des Peres watershed and to look for interesting solutions to its unfortunately many problems.
But even if you couldn't make it to those two meetings, you won't want to miss this next one, because decision time has arrived! Now that a number of possible projects and activities have identified (but it's not too late to suggest others), it's time to narrow them down to those that are most worthwhile and doable. The River des Peres needs your ideas and wisdom, so please come join us at the forum.
The meeting will be held at the Heman Park Community Center, 975 Pennsylvania Ave., University City, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6 p.m. (come visit!), and snacks and beverages will be provided.
The River des Peres Watershed Coalition was formed in 2002 to advocate for the protection and restoration of the St. Louis area's largest watershed. Encompassing the 114-square-mile area drained by the River des Peres and its many tributaries (Gravois, Deer, Black, and Engelholm Creeks, among others), the River des Peres watershed takes in much of St. Louis city, University City, Pagedale, Clayton, Richmond Heights, Webster Groves, Ladue, and 36 other municipalities. The RdPWC has held regular and well-attended river cleanups and invasive plant removals at various locations in the watershed as well as developed a demonstration restoration site on Deer Creek. (For more on the RdPWC, please go to www.riverdesperes.org.)
But much more, obviously, needs to be done to address the needs of this abused urban watershed. The time has come for the River des Peres Watershed Coalition to move to a new level of action. It is critical that this process include everyone concerned with the River des Peres watershed; it's going to take a lot of ideas and hands to assist this watershed to become, once again, what it can and should be. Please make a point to join us at the April 29 meeting, when we can set the direction for Coalition's future.
4/21/08 Support the Coalition on Earth Day
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment is a small but effective force for clean water, clean energy, and public lands. As a not-for-profit, membership-supported organization, your support helps sustain our work and allows us to grow.
In honor of Earth Day, please make a spring contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500 or whatever you can afford to the Coalition.
By contributing, you become a member of the Coalition, and your support gives us the tools to fight for healthy streams, clean energy, and public lands.
Your support is the most important source of funding for the Coalition. Please give online today.
A number of important issues are moving - and quickly - this spring.
1. We are supporting the collaborative effort of groups across Missouri who are collecting signatures to get a Clean Energy Initiative on the November ballot. By requiring major utilities to obtain a minimum of 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021, the measure will help wean the state off of coal, clean our air, combat climate change and create local jobs. To help or learn more, visit www.renewmo.org.
2. The Coalition will be mobilizing citizens to prevent an effort by the state to remove Clean Water protections from hundreds of our streams.
3. The state will be acting on various rules for factory farms, lakes, and streams. The Coalition is pressing for meaningful laws and for closing loopholes.
4. The U.S. EPA will be issuing the air pollution standard for the toxic metal lead. We are collaborating with groups across the nation to advocate for a protective standard.
Please consider an Earth Day gift to support our work. Learn more at www.moenviron.org, where you can find updates, event calendars, and resources that you can use to make Missouri a cleaner, safer, healthier state.
Yours truly,
Kathleen Logan Smith
4/15/08 Clean Energy Initiative Gains Momentum
The Clean Energy Initiative is gaining momentum every day, and we're only 17 days away from our signature deadline. Your help is urgently needed.
Only 17 more days! We Still Need Your Help...
As our deadline approaches, we are in desperate need for more signatures. Please volunteer to collect today. In doing so, you will be combating climate change and spurring the development of renewable energy in Missouri.
Over 300 volunteers are collecting signatures across the state! But in order to gather the required 100,000 signatures to get the RES on the ballot, we need 100 new volunteers to commit to collecting 40 or more signatures between now and Monday, April 28.
Will you sign up and help bring renewable energy to Missouri?
Getting the Renewable Electricity Standard on Missouri's ballot is one of the most important things we can do to impact climate change and boost the development of renewable energy in Missouri. Please commit to collecting signatures, even if it's only within your personal network.
How can you help?
Call or email the Missouri Coalition for the Environment today and we'll get you a petition immediately. Then, gather signatures at Earth Day events, neighborhood meetings, in the park, or at your book club meeting.
Sign up today - we are running out of time!
Phone: 314-727-0600
Email: enoble @ moenviron.org
And to thank you for your hard work:
Join us for happy hour and pizza at the
Missouri Coalition for the Environment office
"Turn 'em in and Tip one Up Party"
Every Thursday evening in April beginning at 7 pm.
Bring your petitions to be notarized
Have a cold beer/soda and pizza with the team!
Notary Information:
We have an official notary on staff at the MCE office 6267 E Delmar Boulevard 2-E. Brian is available from 9 am to 5:30 pm Mon-Fri. to notarize your petitions.
All petitions must be turned in by Monday, April 28.
To learn more about the Clean Energy Initiative visit www.RenewMO.org.
Thanks for your help!
3/28/08 Help Bring Clean Energy to Missouri
We know you've probably been seeing various e-alerts calling for a mandatory Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) in Missouri. Arguably, no other policy is more effective at spurring the development of renewable energy.
Unfortunately, Missouri legislators have taken a pass on a historic opportunity to promote renewable energy solutions. Despite our "leaders" resistance to the RES, two-thirds of Missourians support it. That leaves it up to you and me.
Help us get the Clean Energy Initiative on Missouri's November 2008 ballot.
What is the Clean Energy Initiative?
85% of Missouri's electricity comes from coal --- all of which is imported from out of state. The Clean Energy Initiative is a mandatory RES that requires investor-owned electric utilities to purchase electricity from renewable sources -- solar, wind, landfill gas and biomass -- equaling at least 2% of retail sales by 2011 and increasing incrementally to at least 15% of sales by 2021.
The Clean Energy Initiative includes a cost containment provision that caps rate increases for Missouri consumers at 1%. Learn more at www.RenewMO.org.
How to Get Involved?
It will take over 100,000 signatures to get the Clean Energy Initiative on the ballot. Our signature gathering teams are working across the state, and we need your help now! A few hours of your time collecting signatures will help decrease Missouri's reliance on coal, fight climate change, and bring renewable energy jobs to the state.
Our May 2nd, 2008 deadline for signatures is quickly approaching and we desperately need your help!
Volunteer to collect signatures at one of the events listed below. You must be 18 years or older to collect signatures.
If you can't make these events, donate or become a volunteer at www.RenewMO.org
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities
A few hours of your time can make a huge difference. Please email Erin Noble at enoble@moenviron.org or call (314) 727-0600 to sign up for one of the below events.
Saturday, March 29
Paint the Town Green: 1000 Signature Saturday
This Saturday, we'll collect 1000 signatures by painting the town green for renewable energy. We'll spread throughout the city, in high-traffic locations such as the Central West End, the Art Museum, and other fun places.
Meet us at 10 a.m. at the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. (6267 Delmar Blvd. Ste. 2E St. Louis, MO 63130 -- in the Delmar Loop, just above Meshuggah's Cafe).
After we collect, we'll meet at Blueberry Hill for a quick debrief and social.
Monday, March 31
Go Green for the Redbirds: Cardinals Opening Day
Join us as for the excitement of the St. Louis Cardinals' Opening Day at Busch Stadium, where we'll collect 1000 additional signatures for clean and safe energy.
Before the game: Meet at the Busch Stadium Metrolink stop at 1:15 pm.
During the game: We'll watch the game at Al Hrabosky's: 800 Cerre St, St. Louis, MO.
After the game: Meet outside Al Hrabosky's at 5:30 p.m. to walk back to the stadium in order to catch folks leaving game and gather more signatures.
Sunday, April 6
St. Louis Marathon
Meet at Civic Center Metro Link stop at 8:00 am
Tuesday, April 8
St. Louis Municipal Elections
Volunteers needed at various times and locations.
Email enoble @ moenviron.org to sign up.
3/24/08 EPA Reopens West Lake Landfill Public Comment Period
 PLEASE ATTEND THURSDAY, MARCH 27th, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
EPA Public Meeting
West Lake Landfill Superfund Site
Bridgeton Community Center
Multipurpose Room
4201 Fee Fee Road
This THURSDAY, MARCH 27th, the US Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public meeting to discuss its plan to leave highly radioactive waste in the Missouri River floodplain, next to Earth City.
YOU ARE URGED TO ATTEND in order to demonstrate citizen resolve to remove all radioactive waste from the West Lake Landfill. Your very presence, whether or not you speak, will emphasize the community's determination to be heard.
The EPA has taken the unusual step to re-open the Public Comment period for its West Lake Landfill Superfund Site "Proposed Plan." Comments will be accepted from March 27th through April 9th.
This Public Comment period is our last opportunity to affect a change in EPA's Proposed Plan to leave the waste at West Lake.
In 1973, thousands of cubic yards of highly radioactive waste were illegally dumped in the 200-acre landfill. Located in the Missouri River floodplain, West Lake sits 8.5 miles upstream from public drinking water intake pipes.
Missouri American Water Company's North County water plant (in Florissant) provides drinking water from the Missouri River for people who live or work north of I-70. Additional intake pipes farther downstream supply water to the City of St. Louis. Removing the radioactive waste from the landfill will prevent contaminated water from the West Lake Landfill from getting access to your kitchen sink.
The radioactive waste was illegally dumped. No liner exists beneath the site to protect the radioactive material from leaching into the groundwater. Through years of exposure to threats of high river water and heavy rains, resulting in highly-saturated soils, radioactive wastes have been already migrating into the groundwater which flows to the Missouri River.
In 2006, the EPA released its proposed plan to place a cap made of rocks, clay and construction rubble on top of the radioactive waste. The plan was met with public outrage; more than 100 comments were submitted to the EPA. Many comments voiced alarm concerning the potential of flooding.
During the meeting on March 27th, people will have an opportunity to make their voices heard once again. The EPA is expected to tell the public that the Earth City levee will protect the landfill from flooding.
Professor Robert E. Criss, a geochemist at Washington University, commented that, "Levees fail. Several levees in St. Louis County have failed in the last fifteen years. These risks are chronically underestimated." He explained that the flow rate of the Missouri River near West Lake Landfill is about 70,000 cubic feet per second. When asked how long it might take for the landfill's radioactive contaminants to reach the North County water plant, in the event of a levee failure, Dr. Criss estimated, "About a day. The wastes would be everywhere."
The predominant isotope of concern is thorium-230. It has a half-life of 75,000 years. Other isotopes include uranium-238, with a half-life of four-and-a-half billion years. Polonium-210 is also present at West Lake.
Though safe cleanup may be costly, it can be done. Modern methods for removing dangerous wastes include "dust suppression tents" that employ negative pressure and filters. Placed above a hazardous site during excavation and cleanup, they prevent the release of radioactive waste particles into the air. (Nothing has been containing West Lake's airborne radioactive particles for the past three decades.) The cleanup of all the other sites in St. Louis that contain similar wastes (from nuclear weapons production in the 1940's and '50's) has either been completed or the sites are currently being excavated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The wastes are being transported to federally licensed radioactive waste disposal facilities --- away from water and away from people.
It is essential that Congress mandate that the Corps take charge of removing the radioactive waste from West Lake Landfill before the Corps' trained and experienced contractors leave St. Louis. That means NOW.
PLEASE ATTEND THE MEETING ON MARCH 27th and please also send written comments to the EPA. Please urge your neighbors and elected officials to attend also, and to send in comments.
Comments may be submitted in writing or electronically through April 9th, or during the March 27th public meeting. Send written or electronic comments to:
Debbie Kring
Community Involvement Coordinator
U.S. EPA - Region 7
901 North 5th Street
Kansas City, KS 66101
kring.debbie@epa.gov
Toll-free: 800-223-0425
3/18/08 River des Peres Forum and Recent Event Materials
River des Peres Watershed Coalition - Planning Forum, March 25, 2008
The River des Peres Watershed Coalition invites citizens, civic and municipal leaders, and agency personnel to attend the River des Peres planning forum.
At the first planning gathering, which was attended by over 50 representatives from educational institutions, government entities, environmental organizations, and the general public, we discussed the critical issues that the community believes are affecting the River des Peres. On March 25, 2008, we will continue this discussion by considering ways that we can improve the River. The meeting will be held at the Heman Park Community Center in University City beginning at 6 pm.
Please contact Danelle Haake by phone at 314-941-0489 or email riverdesperes @ gmail.com for further information about the forum series or about the issues facing the River des Peres. We look forward to your enthusiastic participation in creating a new strategic plan for the River des Peres Watershed Coalition.
Materials Online - Climate Action Summit and Food Fight Panel
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment, the Sierra Club, Woman's Voices Raised for Social Justice and The Ethical Society of St. Louis thank the more than 150 participants that attended the Climate Action Summit on March 8. The day was full of informative speakers and networking. The handouts, presentations, and audio from the event can be accessed at www.moenviron.org/ClimateSummit.asp.
In case you missed the Food Fight Panel at the Coalition's Annual Meeting, access the audio of the informative event online at www.moenviron.org/annualmeeting.asp.
3/4/08 Conservation Lobby Day Recap & Climate Summit Reminder
On Tuesday February 26, a geographically diverse coalition of nearly one hundred environmental supporters descended on the state capitol for Conservation Lobby Day. The event was sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Missouri Votes Conservation, and the Sierra Club.
It was an exciting and rewarding day. We started off with legislative briefings on critical issues like factory farms, green building, e-waste, and renewable energy. Participants (both the inexperienced and the seasoned lobbyist) then dispersed throughout the building, attending hearings and meeting with legislators and congressional aides to express their support for policies that improve water and air quality, protect public health, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Overall, the day was a great success and we thank all of you who showed up to lend your support. With your help, we will continue to make Conservation Lobby Day a force for change in Missouri.
To view legislative fact sheets on renewable energy, green building, factory farms, and other issues, visit www.moenviron.org/LobbyDay.asp.
Climate Action Summit this Saturday
Climate Action Summit
Local Action Against Global Warming
The Ethical Society of St. Louis
9001 Clayton Rd, St. Louis, MO 63117
Saturday, March 8, 2008
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Attend the Climate Action Summit to learn what Missouri cities are doing to combat climate change and how you can get involved in helping your town go green. The event is free, but we'd appreciate it if you would register with this on-line form.
The Climate Action Summit is sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, the Sierra Club, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice, and the Ethical Society of St. Louis.
Tentative Schedule
9:00-9:30: Breakfast and registration
9:30-9:45: Erin Noble, Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Opening Remarks
9:45-10:20: Colleen Sarna, Sierra Club
Cool Cities and Citizen Action
10:20-11:10: Dennis Murphey, Kansas City Chief Environmental Officer
Development and Implementation of the Kansas City Climate Action Plan
11:10-11:40: Jay Hasheider, Columbia Water & Light
Integrating Renewable Energy and Efficiency into Utility Programming
11:40-11:50: Break
11:50-12:05: Linda Goldstein, Mayor of Clayton
Clayton's Action on Climate Change and U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Summit Report
12:05-12:20: Tim Embree, assistant to Mayor Francis Slay
St. Louis's Action on Climate Change
12:20-12:35: Rick Hunter, St. Louis Chapter, US Green Building Council
Green Building Solutions to Combat Climate Change
12:35-12:45: Liz Forrestal, Missouri Votes Conservation
Towards a Regional Sustainability Plan
12:45-1:00: Network with Municipal Groups
1:00-2:00: Optional Breakout Session, PJ Wilson, Renew Missouri
Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) Ballot Initiative: Missouri needs a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) which requires utilities to obtain a portion of their electricity from renewable sources. Learn about the effort to get this critical climate change policy on the November 2008 ballot and find out how you can get involved. (Lunch provided during this session).
2/21/08 Be a Pal to the River des Peres - February 26
The River des Peres -- that poor, abused stream system that drains much of St. Louis city and county -- needs some good friends. One of the ways in which the Coalition for the Environment has come to the aid of the River des Peres is by being an active partner with the River des Peres Watershed Coalition (RdPWC). Next week, RdPWC will hold a community forum to set goals and chart a path to the future for this important organization. Everyone -- citizens, civic and municipal leaders, agency personnel, students -- who is interested in the River des Peres and its tributaries is invited to take part.
The first gathering to address the future of the Coalition will be on February 26, 2008, from 6pm to 9pm at the Heman Park Community Center, 975 Pennsylvania Ave., University City. Snacks and beverages will be provided. Please RSVP to Danelle Haake at 314-941-0489 or email riverdesperes @ gmail.com. Additional meetings, as needed, will be held on the last Tuesday of each subsequent month.
The River des Peres Watershed Coalition was formed in 2002 to advocate for the protection and restoration of the St. Louis area's largest watershed. Encompassing the 114-square-mile area drained by the River des Peres and its many tributaries (Gravois, Deer, Black, and Engelholm Creeks, among others), the River des Peres watershed takes in much of St. Louis city, University City, Pagedale, Clayton, Richmond Heights, Webster Groves, Ladue, and 36 other municipalities. RdPWC has held regular and well-attended river cleanups and invasive plant removals at various locations in the watershed as well as developed a demonstration restoration site on Deer Creek. (For more on RdPWC, please go to www.riverdesperes.org.)
But much more needs to be done to address the needs of this abused urban watershed. The time has come for this young organization -- as it does for all watershed groups at this stage -- to take stock of itself, clarify its mission and goals, and reorganize itself to meet those goals. It is critical that this process include everyone concerned with the River des Peres watershed; it's going to take a lot of ideas and hands to assist this watershed to become, once again, what it can and should be.
Please make a point to join us at the February 26 meeting, when friends of the River des Peres can get to know each other and set the direction for the River des Peres Watershed Coalition's future.
2/15/08 Food Fight Panel and Climate Action Summit
Food Fight - The Battle for Control Over What We Eat
Missouri Coalition for the Environment's Annual Meeting
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Schlafly Tap Room
21st and Locust in Midtown St. Louis
Doors Open at 2:30 p.m.
Program 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Join us for a stimulating conversation about the health, economics, and politics of the food we eat.
Speakers:
John Ikerd: University of Missouri Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics. Author of Small Farms are Real Farms, Sustainable Capitalism, and Return to Common Sense.
Terry Spence: Northern Missouri cattle farmer and President of Family Farms for the Future, knows first hand what happens when farms go factory. His farm in northern Missouri is surrounded by factory farms and 80,000 pigs.
Chris Wimmer: proprietor of The Farm at Kraut Run, an organic farm in Wentzville, MO, coaxes food from the land for a growing number of subscribers.
Julia Hart: St. Louis Vegetarian Society, shares insights into the planetary benefits of a vegetarian diet.
MCE members and non-members are welcome to attend. Please RSVP to attend this free event by clicking here.
Climate Action Summit - Local Action Against Global Warming
The Ethical Society of St. Louis
9001 Clayton Rd, St. Louis, MO 63117
Saturday, March 8, 2008
9:30 am - 1:00 pm
Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing our generation. Missouri is a major contributor to climate change as Missouri had the nation's fifth highest increase in per capita carbon dioxide emissions from 1990-2003.
Attend the Climate Action Summit to learn what Missouri cities are doing to combat climate change and how you can get involved in helping your town go green.
Complimentary continental breakfast will be provided from 9:00-9:30 am.
This event is sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, the Sierra Club, and Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice.
Speakers:
Colleen Sarna, Sierra Club. "Cool Cities and Citizen Action"
Dennis Murphey, Kansas City Chief Environmental Officer. "Development and Implementation of the Kansas City Climate Action Plan"
Jay Hasheider, Columbia Water & Light. "Energy Conservation and Efficiency for Municipalities"
Linda Goldstein, Mayor of Clayton. "Clayton's Action on Climate Change and U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Summit Report"
Tim Embree, assistant to Mayor Slay. "St. Louis's Action on Climate Change"
Rick Hunter, St. Louis Chapter, US Green Building Council. "Green Building Solutions to Combat Climate Change"
Click here to register to attend the free Climate Action Summit.
1/24/08 Conservation Lobby Day 2008: Show Me Clean, Show Me Green
Join Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Missouri Votes Conservation, and the Sierra Club at the Missouri State Capitol on Tuesday, February 26 for Conservation Lobby Day.
Learn about environmental issues facing the 2008 legislature such as CAFOs (factory farms), green building, renewable energy, and healthy streams. Meet with state senators and representatives and network with others in Missouri's conservation community.
Conservation Lobby Day begins at 9:30 am in House Hearing Room 2 (lower level of the capitol). The agenda includes a briefing on critical environmental legislation, a how to lobby session, meetings with legislators, and a complimentary lunch. Lobby Day will be completed at 3:30 pm.
Carpools are forming from St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City, Washington University, and University of Missouri-Columbia.
Please click here for more information and to register. We need your help to promote environmental policy that will provide Missouri with a healthy and clean future.
We hope to see you there.
1/17/08 Save Our Streams and Wetlands
Recent decisions by the United States Supreme Court and the Bush administration have created doubt about whether certain types of water bodies are protected by the Clean Water Act, the nation's landmark water pollution law. As a result, many of America's smaller streams and wetlands are not being adequately protected.
About 20 million acres of wetlands and nearly 2 million miles of streams are currently under threat by a draft guidance document released by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers. The guidance was designed to assist the agencies in determining which waters will get Clean Water Act protection.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration's approach is seriously flawed and ignores a well-established scientific fact that streams and wetlands, no matter how small, are part of a larger, interconnected whole. Each of our rivers is born in these smaller water bodies, or what we call our "headwaters," and healthy headwaters are critical to healthy downstream waters.
If this guidance is finalized, it will be difficult to show that the Clean Water Act protects many of our smaller streams and wetlands. Proving that a water body warrants protection will require a resource-intensive, confusing and subjective process by an agency (the Army Corps of Engineers) that is already finding it impossible to meet its current obligations under the Clean Water Act.
You Can Help
There is a bill before Congress that will restore Clean Water Act protection to all of our waters. Click here to send a letter to your representative in support of the Clean Water Restoration Act.
Write a letter to the EPA and the Army Corps by January 21 asking them to revise the guidance so that it protects all water bodies. Simply add the date, your name, city, and state to the sample comment letter below, and e-mail to OW-Docket@epa.gov.
January __, 2008
Re: Docket no. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0282
I urge you to withdraw the June guidance document issued by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers designed to help implement the Supreme Court's decision in Rapanos v. United States. This document fails to fully protect water bodies that the agencies still have the authority to safeguard, despite the Supreme Court's decisions. I urge you to issue a replacement document that protects our waters to the fullest extent of the law.
One glaring problem with the guidance is that it mistakenly leaves in place a 2003 policy that has contributed to the loss of Clean Water Act protection for countless so-called "isolated" water bodies. Despite representations to the contrary, the EPA and the Corps retain significant authority to prevent the pollution and destruction of these "isolated" water bodies. Unfortunately, you have been neglecting this authority and regularly declaring these waters unworthy of protection.
The new guidance is also flawed in questioning whether certain kinds of tributary streams may be protected. Although tributaries to protected waters have been protected for many years, the guidance would protect tributaries that are not "relatively permanent" only if it can be shown that they are "significant" enough, using the guidance's vague standards. The Supreme Court did not establish any new rules restricting protections for tributary streams; doing so in this guidance threatens a great number of non-perennial streams, which constitute nearly 60 percent of the nation's stream miles outside of Alaska.
Finally, even though the Supreme Court's decision left your agencies a great deal of flexibility to protect the nation's wetlands when those wetlands collectively contribute to water quality, the guidance takes a very narrow view of when it is appropriate to consider such cumulative effects. The likely upshot of this approach is that more wetlands will be found to be insignificant and, therefore, unprotected, substantially harming our nation's water quality.
Please rethink and revise your current interpretation of the Supreme Court's decision and the Clean Water Act. I urge you to use your significant legal authority to protect America's entire system of water bodies.
Thank you for this opportunity to comment.
Sincerely,
Your name
City, State
1/10/08 Lack of Renewable Energy Leadership Slows Progress
It's no secret that Missouri is behind the curve on renewable energy and climate change policy. Perhaps the most telling sign of our lack of commitment came this winter at the Midwestern Governors Association's climate change summit. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt was the only governor of the twelve in the Association who did not participate in the development of a climate change agreement. In fact, Governor Blunt did not even bother to attend the summit. Blunt only recently signed limited provisions of the Association's agreement.
Despite Blunt's touting of this feeble commitment, his actions are greenwashing, pure and simple. He skillfully endorsed only the provisions of the plan that cater to his biofuel agenda, and refused to sign other provisions that set firm goals and measure progress in critical energy policy areas. For example, he did not commit to developing greenhouse gas reduction targets, participating in a regional carbon cap-and-trade mechanism, or enhancing Missouri's renewable electricity standard.
The third regional agreement of its kind in the United States, the Midwestern climate protection agreement is critical to the development of sound energy policy in this country. Collaboration among Midwestern governors is particularly important because the Midwest is the world's fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Missouri
Governor Blunt's lack of commitment to climate change and renewables is especially devastating given Missouri's heavy reliance on coal. Coal provides 85% of Missouri's electricity while only 0.01% of our energy is produced from renewable sources. Coal-burning power plants are the largest contributor to global warming, and mercury from coal plants has led to consumption warnings on fish in every water body in the state. Emissions from coal plants intensify asthma and heart disease.
Missouri has 21 coal-fired power plants and is considering permitting another plant in Norborne, Missouri. From 1990 to 2003, Missouri's per capita carbon dioxide emissions were the fifth highest in the country.
Missouri Fails to Adopt RES
Another sign that Missouri has fallen behind is their refusal to adopt a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). The RES requires utilities to obtain a fixed percentage of their power from clean, renewable sources by a target date. Instead of adopting the RES, Missouri's General Assembly adopted voluntary targets that simply require utilities to make a "good faith effort" to obtain 11% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Twenty-three states have a mandatory RES. By hiding behind voluntary standards, Missouri is evading its responsibility to reach its renewable electricity potential. A good faith effort alone will not transition Missouri to renewable energy.
The RES approach is cost-efficient (RES cost increases for the average household are about 25¢ per month) and is good for the economy. Renewable energy firms bring new jobs and investment to Missouri. In just one year, Wind Capital Group wind farms in Northwest Missouri generated nearly $300 million in investment for rural Missouri. Renewable energy is serious business.
Positive Changes Ahead
Despite a lack of true leadership on renewable energy policy, there has been some progress in Missouri. In 2004, the city of Columbia adopted a mandated RES by ballot initiative that garnered 78% of the vote. Columbia's RES calls for 2% renewables by 2007 and an increase to 15% by 2022. Columbia Water & Light is currently ahead of its RES schedule, using wind and landfill gas to meet its renewable energy targets.
Until 2007, Missouri was just one of a handful of states lacking an important renewable energy policy called true net-metering. Last year, the General Assembly passed a true net-metering law that makes it more cost effective to install a renewable electricity system in your home or office.
In addition, a November 2007 poll conducted by Research for Change found that 66% of Missourians would support a mandatory RES in Missouri. The same poll also found that 81% of Missourians support financial incentives that would lower the price of solar and wind technology.
Missouri voters recognize the economic, public health, and energy security benefits of renewable energy. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment is calling upon the General Assembly to answer to its constituents and pass an RES mandate and renewable incentives in 2008.
12/20/07 Did the Grinch Steal Church Mountain?
Remember the deluge at Taum Sauk two years ago this month, when Ameren overfilled and broke its reservoir, dumping well over a billion gallons of water into Johnson's Shut-ins State Park? That damage has recently been compounded by the failure to include the protection of nearby Church Mountain in the state's $180 million settlement of its civil suit with Ameren over the disaster. A fine start to the holiday season, indeed!
Church Mountain sits in the heart of the geologically unique and recreationally rich St. Francois Mountains, between Taum Sauk Mountain (Missouri's highest point) and Proffit Mountain, on which Ameren's Taum Sauk reservoir sat. It is a region of spectacular waterfalls (such as Mina Sauk Falls), crystal-clear streams, and well-loved hiking trails. The 1300 acres of Church Mountain that Ameren owns sits amid some of Missouri's most popular state parks and conservation lands. It's best use would clearly be to be joined with them to protect the entire area's great biological diversity and recreational value.
That's not the use Ameren has in mind for it, however. Only a few short years ago Ameren was stopped by the concerted efforts of citizens, state officials, and environmental groups, including the Coalition, from carving a huge reservoir atop Church Mountain for a pumped storage power generating facility that would have dwarfed the one at Taum Sauk. Even though it is now rebuilding the Taum Sauk reservoir, Ameren still has visions of reaping profits from a second facility on Church Mountain.
After the collapse of Ameren's dam, environmental groups joined to ask the state to acquire Church Mountain as part of its compensation for the damages to Johnson's Shut-ins and the Black River. Despite assurances from the state during negotiations with Ameren that at least a long-term lease for the property would be part of the settlement package, no lease to or transfer of Church Mountain was included in the $84 million payment for "natural resource damages."
The payment instead included a license (a $15 million credit to Ameren) to build an extension of the Katy Trail alongside (not on, as elsewhere) a railbed the company owns. There is a good chance it will never be built, given the inadequate amount of money Ameren provided in the settlement for the trail's construction and the multitude of landowners from whom permission to build would have to be granted. This is not to mention the hundreds of acres of trees that would have to be cut and wetlands filled to construct the trail. A good deal for the state it was not!
The settlement must get court approval before it is finalized, so there is still an opportunity to affect it's terms. Please submit your comments on the settlement to the Department of Natural Resources, for review by the state, Ameren, and the Reynolds County Circuit Court, by December 27.
You can email your comments to: moparks@dnr.mo.gov or mail to:
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Division of State Parks
P.O. Box 176
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Don't forget to put Church Mountain on your gift list!
12/7/07 Looking for the Perfect Green Gift?
Unsure what to get your friends and family this holiday season? Do your find your gifts always end up being returned, never used, or in the landfill anyway?
Avoid green guilt and holiday stress by giving loved ones a gift membership to the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. In the few minutes it takes to buy a membership online, your friend receives an MCE membership and an organic cotton MCE t-shirt, and the Coalition is better equipped to protect Missouri's water, air, and public lands.
Here's how it works:
You click here to purchase a MCE gift membership with your credit card, designating the name, address, and t-shirt size of the membership recipient. After a few days, your friend is mailed a certificate acknowledging your gift of MCE membership and a 100% organic MCE t-shirt (pictured to the right).
As an MCE member, your friend will also receive our Alert newsletter (published three times a year) and will be invited to MCE-sponsored events such as speaker panels, Conservation Lobby Day, our annual meeting, and more.
Why should I support the Missouri Coalition for the Environment?
The Coalition is Missouri's environmental watchdog working to restore wetlands, clean the air, preserve our public lands, and promote renewable energy.
Powerful forces in Missouri are working to carve loopholes out of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and laws that protect public lands. Your support helps us press for stronger laws and better enforcement.
Why is a growing membership important for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment?
Membership support is the Coalition's most important funding source. It gives us the freedom to represent the public interest and the strength to make a difference.
A large support base equals a steady income stream, which allows us to spend more time working on the issues and less time fundraising.
A large environmental constituency means we're able to activate more people at critical times on pressing environmental issues.
Forget gift giving, would you rather just join yourself? Click here if you would like to join (or, if already a member, donate) to receive your own MCE t-shirt.
Thank your for your support.
12/4/07 Save the Money, Save the Future
Tell Congress that nuclear power is NOT the solution to the climate crisis and deserves no more subsidies!
The congressional Energy Bill is moving towards final floor votes in both Houses, perhaps as early December 5th or 6th in the House of Representatives. If passed by the House, the identical Energy Bill would then be taken up by the full Senate in short order. In recent days, an agreement was reached to require an increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFÉ) standard for cars to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, the first such increase in three decades in the United States. A Renewable Electricity Standard of 15% by 2020 is still being bitterly fought out between proponents and opponents behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, as are important renewable electricity tax incentives. It is not yet clear these good ideas will be included in the final energy bill, or if some of them might find new life in other bills in the near future. Suffice it to say, some good, long-overdue provisions are about to be passed by the House, and hopefully the Senate, in the days ahead. Tellingly, Bush has threatened to veto the energy bill.
Another major environmental victory in the energy bill is the likely exclusion of unlimited loan guarantees, without congressional oversight, for the construction of new reactors (the last order for a reactor in the U.S. that was actually constructed was placed in 1973).
However, it is now feared that this handout to the nuclear industry will rear its head in the energy and water appropriations bill, which will then be rolled into an omnibus appropriations bill. While it appears that we have beaten back the Senate's more extreme version of the nuclear loan guarantees provision, sponsored by Sen. Domenici (R-NM) -- to grant unlimited loan guarantees, while removing congressional appropriations oversight from year to year -- the current threat is that the nuclear power industry will seek $25 billion in new reactor loan guarantees in Fiscal Year 2008 alone. While the new version of the nuclear loan guarantee program would retain congressional appropriators' power to limit the amount of federal loan guarantees for new atomic reactors each year, it would not allow them to exclude nuclear reactors from eligibility for loan guarantees, even if such grants would make little or no sense in any particular year, or if better options other than nuclear present themselves (such as wind, solar, and efficiency projects). The nuclear power industry appears ready to seek $25 billion this fiscal year, $25 billion or more in Fiscal Year 2009, and so on into the future.
Incredibly, Domenici's extreme provision originated as a direct response from the nuclear industry to a reasonable position taken by bi-partisan (and pro-nuclear!) House appropriators. The House appropriators said that no new nuclear reactor project is far enough along yet to need federal loan guarantees in Fiscal Year 2008, so no such funding was going to be approved. Sen. Domenici is now wielding his immense political power (he is ranking Republican on both the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and on the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee) to try to lock in $25 billion for new nuclear reactors in the next year alone.
If enacted, Sen. Domenici's provision would effectively grant one of the single largest subsidies to the nuclear power industry in history. Not if, but when, nuclear utilities default on their loan repayments, taxpayers would be left holding the bag, potentially to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that well over half of new reactor construction projects will default on their loans. The unlimited nuclear loan guarantee proposal represents an extreme transfer of financial risk from nuclear utilities and Wall Street investment banks onto U.S. taxpayers.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobby arm of the industry, has requested over $50 billion in federal loan guarantees over the next two years alone. Help stop these ridiculous loan guarantees!
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call your U.S. Representative and both of your U.S. Senators as soon as possible. Urge them to oppose the $50 billion in nuclear loan guarantees for new reactors in the next two years alone. Urge them to speak with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, to exclude such provisions from the final Energy Bill and from any appropriations bills. Urge them to speak with the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee, and the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, from their House of Congress. Urge them to sign onto any congressional "Dear Colleague" letters opposing these massive federal loan guarantees for new atomic reactors, and any lingering rollbacks of congressional authority to oversee this program.
You can call your Rep. and Senators' Washington, D.C. offices via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Or, to find phone numbers for your Representative's and Senators' district offices, go to www.congress.org and enter your zip code in the "My Elected Officials" box in the upper left hand corner of the Web site. There you can find complete contact information for your federal Representative and Senators.
Here's an example of what you could say: "Hello. My name is _____________. I live in ___________. I'm calling to urge Rep./Senator __________ to block massive nuclear power loan guarantees in the impending Energy Bill, appropriations bills, or any other legislation where it might be attached.
To learn more about the nuclear loan guarantee proposal, go to www.beyondnuclear.org.
The above alert originated with our friends at Beyond Nuclear.
Thanks for your efforts on behalf of a clean, safe energy future!
11/13/07 Make the Call for Wilderness!
Would you like to see more than 4% of the national forest land in Missouri protected as Wilderness-free from logging, road building, and ATVs? The Missouri Wilderness Coalition (MWC) is asking Congress to designate seven spectacular places on the Mark Twain National Forest as Wilderness areas. With the modest addition of these 50,000 acres, over 7% of the Forest would be kept in its natural wild state forever, to be enjoyed for its beauty, solitude, and unparalleled view of native Ozark forests now all but gone. And you can help make it happen.
You may have seen the front-page article on the Wilderness effort in Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which describes the seven potential Wilderness areas. (You can also learn much more about the areas on the Missouri Wilderness Coalition website.) In the Post-Dispatch article, Senator Kit Bond stated, "I look forward to working with the Missouri Wilderness Coalition and my colleagues in Congress to extend federal protection to remaining areas deserving of special protection." This is a significant gesture from the Republican Senator, and he needs to hear from the people of Missouri that the new Wilderness proposal is right for Missouri and that his support is appreciated. At the same time, it is likely that Senator Bond will be hearing from our opponents, so we can't take his support for granted.
Please take a few moments to call Senator Bond at one of the numbers listed below. And when you call, please:
- Thank the Senator for his positive remarks in Post-Dispatch article, and for his history of supporting Wilderness in Missouri.
- Let him know that you support the Missouri Wilderness Coalition proposal to designate the seven new Wilderness Areas.
- If you have ever visited any of the seven proposed areas, or any other Wilderness Area in Missouri, be sure to say so.
After you call, it would be helpful to us if you would let us know by sending us a quick email to dsherburne@moenviron.org. And remember, if you don't call, who will? It only takes a minute, and it can make big difference.
You can also view a very positive piece on the Wilderness effort that aired on KMOV-TV last weekend here. Kim McGuire of the Post-Dispatch did a great job presenting the issue.
Offices of Senator Kit Bond
Washington , DC Office:
274 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5721
St. Louis Office:
7700 Bonhomme, #615
St. Louis, MO 63105
(314) 725-4484
Kansas City Office:
911 Main St., Suite 2224
Kansas City, MO 64105
(816) 471-7141
Cape Girardeau Office:
Federal Building, Rm. 140
339 Broadway
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
(573) 334-7044
Springfield Office:
300 S. Jefferson, Suite 401
Springfield, MO 65806
(417) 864-8258
Columbia Office:
1001 Cherry Street, Suite 204
Columbia, MO 65201
(573) 442-8151
As a proud partner in the Missouri Wilderness Coalition, MCE invites you to check MWC's website for more information about the proposed Wilderness areas.
Thanks for your efforts on behalf of Missouri's Wilderness!
11/9/07 New Coal Power Plant Proposed for Norborne, MO
Attend Public Hearing on Proposed Coal Power Plant
Goppert Community Center
Tuesday, November 13
2nd & Pine Streets,
Norborne, MO
6:30 pm
Norborne is 60 miles east of Kansas City.
Associated Electric is holding a public hearing next Tuesday regarding a proposed coal plant in Norborne, Missouri.
Associated Electric needs to hear from you that new coal plants are not an option. The state of Kansas recently denied permits for two new coal plants proposed in Kansas. We can do the same in Missouri, but our voices must be heard.
Please attend the hearing on November 13. There will also be a pre-hearing rally and press conference at the Goppert Community Center at 5:30 pm. A huge turnout from around the state will send a strong message to Associated Electric that Missouri:
Supports a clean energy future and opposes more coal plants that dirty our air and water and intensify global warming.
Please contact Melissa Hope (Melissa.hope@sierraclub.org) if you plan on attending. A bus will be provided if 30 more people from St. Louis attend. Please tell your friends and RSVP to Melissa by noon on Saturday so bus arrangements can be made.
If you can't attend the hearing, you may submit comments in opposition to the proposed plant by 5:00 p.m. on November 21, 2007.
Written comments should be sent to:
Mr. James L. Kavanaugh
P.O. Box 176
Jefferson City ,
MO 65102-0176
Click for the draft permit and the notice of public hearing.
Energy Bill Without Renewables? Your Calls Needed Today!!
Congressional leadership is dropping the ball on renewable energy, and your help is desperately needed to get the bill back on track.
Believe it or not, on Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi dropped both the renewable energy standard and the renewable energy tax incentives from the energy bill.
Without these provisions, the federal energy bill does NOTHING to promote renewable energy.
PLEASE call your Representatives and Senators and ask them to pressure Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi to put the RES and renewable energy tax incentives back in the bill. Energy legislation without these provisions would be a tremendous loss.
You can find your Senator and Represenative's contact information here. Please call their Washington offices.
Talking points include:
National Renewable Electricity Standard (RES)
- Support a renewable electricity standard that requires 15% of the country's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020
- 25 states plus the District of Columbia have approved renewable electricity requirements with many setting targets far more aggressive than the proposed federal standard of 15%. For example, California law mandates 20% by 2010 while Minnesota, Hawaii, and Colorado law mandates 20% by 2020.
- A national standard is especially important for Missouri as we do not have a state-madated RES. An RES will bring jobs and economic development to Missouri.
Renewable Energy Tax
- Incentives
Please extend and expand existing renewable energy tax incentives, particularly the production tax credit for renewable power plants, Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, and the investment tax credits for commercial and residential solar and fuel cell technologies.
- These tax incentives are vital to ensure continued, dynamic growth in the production of electricity using renewable energy resources and should be extened at least 8 years.
Thank you in advance for your time and commitment.
11/2/07 EPA Staff Send Strong Recommendation to Administrator
Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality staff recommended that the amount of the toxic metal lead allowed in the air should be reduced in order to protect public health. In fact, the Final EPA Staff Paper released yesterday recommended that the administrator consider a number of at least 7 -30 times lower than the current standard.
If the EPA Administrator follows their recommendations, and if the standards are effectively implemented, Americans will be healthier.
Lead exposure poses cardiovascular danger to adults, and young children exposed to lead at even the lowest levels suffer long-term neurological harm, including reduced IQ levels. In Missouri, a health study by the Missouri Dept. of Health and Senior Services found a statistically significant cluster of cases of Lou Gehrig's disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS), a neurological disease, near the Herculaneum lead smelter.
The Final Staff Paper is a critical step in three-year review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for lead. The Clean Air Act requires the review every five years, but it is occurring under a court order after the agency failed to conduct a full review since the standard had been set in 1978. The agency was challenged in court. The Washington University School of Law Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic filed the challenge on behalf of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and former residents of Herculaneum, Missouri. The ruling detailed the timeline for the three-year review process.
The paper also recommends averaging the lead air samples over a monthly period instead of the current quarterly average (3 months), a step that would protect air quality of more Americans. The paper also recommends that the Administrator reject the idea of revoking the lead standard, or removing lead from the list of criteria pollutants.
The EPA expects to issue an "Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" on the lead standard on November 30, 2007,and will propose a standard by May 1, 2008.
According to the court order, the standard must be finalized by September 1, 2008.
See the story in the Post Dispatch here.
And also in the news, on the same day, a story that underscores, once again, that there is no safe level of exposure to lead -especially for children. This time, with the Centers for Disease Control: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21586480/
To read the final staff paper, a fact sheet, and related materials: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/pb/s_pb_index.html
Special Thanks
Thanks to all who joined us last Saturday at Black Bear Bakery for Words on Purpose, the poetry reading with
Steve Schreiner, University of Missouri, St. Louis Associate Professor & Poet, author of Too Soon to Leave
and
Catherine Rankovic
Washington University Poet, Essayist and author of Island Universe: Essays and Entertainers
I enjoyed the readings, and from the |
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