An EPA report (2007) looked at 181 coal ash disposal sites throughout the US and found that these sites release toxic chemicals and metals such as arsenic, lead, boron, selenium, cadmium, thallium and other pollutants at levels that put human health at risk. Coal ash dumped in unlined or clay-lined ponds and landfills pose the greatest risk. At least 23 states have poisoned surface or groundwater supplies from improper disposal of coal ash. Texas has one of the highest levels of coal ash generation.

In Texas alone, the Brandy Branch Coal ash dump, the Southwestern Electric Power Co. coal ash dump, and the Texas Utilities Electric Martin Lake Reservoir have leaked elevated levels of selenium and toxic metals. There are no leachate collection systems in Texas, and there is no groundwater monitoring.

Coal ash is currently considered exempt waste under an amendment to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA is proposing to regulate, for the first time, coal ash to address the risks from the disposal of the wastes generated by electric utilities and independent power producers. We’re encouraging that EPA support the first proposal (RCRA, subtitle C designation), to allow coal ash to be classified as a HAZARDOUS WASTE. We hope you will join us in Cleaning Up Texas from this unchecked industrial waste!

Please come to these hearings and present your views on the proposed rules or come and show your support. (As we’ve learned from the recent TCEQ hearings, your presence makes a big difference!) Each hearing will have a morning, afternoon and evening session, starting at 10:00 a.m. (local time) and ending at 9:00 p.m. or later depending on the number of speakers. If you would like to speak at the hearing, please preregister. The hearings will be held at the Hyatt Regency Dallas, 300 Reunion Boulevard, Dallas, TX, 75207.  Phone: (214) 651-1234. 

Click here to learn more about Coal Ash and why certain waste from the production of electricity generation should be designated as a hazardous material (to keep out of our state’s landfills or burned upwind of DFW to make cement).

Try this new tool, Nature Find, provided by the National Wildlife Federation. Enter your zip code and it will generate a map with nearby state and local parks and wildlife areas. It also includes aquariums, arboretums, botanical gardens, kids’ museums, zoos, and more. (You will need to play with the zoom tool on the map for more detail though.)

It also makes for a great travel tool too!

This reform is great news as the use of formaldehyde in construction has made it one of the most common indoor air pollutants.

Formaldehyde can irritate the eyes, and when inhaled, it can create headaches and burning sensations in the throat and trigger/aggravate asthma symptoms. It is also a known human carcinogen associated with nasal sinus cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer.

A major catalyst for the legislation was a Sierra Club investigation that revealed high levels of formaldehyde in many of the FEMA trailers that were given to displaced residents during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Paul Stewart, who spoke to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2007, was one of many residents who experienced ill effects. Click here to hear his story.

Formaldehyde has been in use since the 1860s and is used in particle board and in glues for furniture, flooring, and cabinets. It’s also found in inks and used to help bind bind dyes and pigments to make fabrics more wrinkle-resistant. And because it kills most bacteria and fungi, it is also used in aqueous solution as a disinfectant and as a preservative in vaccines.

Please register to attend and/or speak at his important opportunity to voice your concerns about North Texas Barnett Shale drilling practices and risks.

WHEN/TIME: Thursday, July 8th (6:00-10:00pm)
WHERE: Hilton Fort Worth (downtown, 815 Main Street - map)

REGISTER: Due to possible venue capacity constraints, the EPA encourages everyone who plans to attend the DFW public meeting to register in advance.  http://hfmeeting.cadmusweb.com/RegistrationForm.aspx

WHY SHOULD I ATTEND: There is currently great debate surrounding the health and ecological consequences of the practice of gas drilling hydraulic fracturing, or “fracing” (like “cracking”), across the US/world.

The North Texas Barnett Shale is experiencing a gas drilling boom, and fracing has brought urban natural gas extraction into our communities (within a few hundred of feet of our homes/schools, in many cases) and below our drinking water aquifers.

Industry claims that the chemicals used in their processes are safe, but they won’t disclose their ingredients (”secret formula, like Coca Cola,” one exec has quoted), stating exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act and Superfund, as granted to them under the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Independent tests have identified dozens of neurotoxic and carcinogenic chemicals used in the fracing process.

Locally, XTO Energy (now Exxon Mobil) submitted a request for a specific use permit for a gas well on May 25 to the City of Dallas. Dallas City Councilman Sheffie Kadane said he is in favor of XTO’s plan to drill on its lease and said he hoped the two lessees would follow XTO’s single permit application with other requests for approval to drill on their existing leases.

WRITTEN COMMENTS: To submit a written comment, send your email to hydraulic.fracturing@epa.gov.

For more info about the EPA HF Study Background, Intent, Timeline and Web-based Outreach, click here.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/uic/wells_hydrofrac.html

• Covered pots boil faster
• Pressure cookers and microwave ovens reduce cooking time
• When cooking multiple things, re-use an already hot burner or heated oven
• Let frozen food thaw before cooking
• Cut food into smaller pieces before cooking - so that it cooks more quickly
• Turn off stove before finishing cooking; the pot will continue to retain its heat for a while
• Pick the right size pot for what you are trying to cook
• Electric heats more consistently than Gas; however Convection heats even more consistently and quickly
• Many foods don’t require preheating the oven
• You can turn the oven off earlier, if you don’t open the door while baking
• Opening the oven door can cause the temperature to drop by 25-75 degrees

The city’s 2011 Bike Plan open house Thursday was so well attended that by 7 p.m., there was no available space to lock up a bike at City Hall. Almost 250 people, some in cycling jerseys and toting helmets, came out to express their desires and concerns to planners, including Dallas Bike Coordinator Max Kalhammer and Toole Design Group, the consulting firm that is putting the plan together.

The general consensus was that the city needs more bike lanes. The city has a nice trail system, but it’s not always logical for commuting. Cyclists also suggested that the Katy Trail should connect to Spring Valley and across Beltline.

Peter Lagerwey, Toole’s senior designer, gave some 30 examples of bike system elements that work well in other cities. But to make a bike system work in Dallas, it has to be formulated based on the needs of cyclists here. The 2011 Bike Plan has a website with an interactive map and survey at http://www.tooledesign.com/dallasbikeplan/, where Dallas residents can make suggestions for the plan through June 30, when Toole and city staff will start putting the ideas together for a preliminary plan.

In an ‘Improving Home Energy’ seminar that I frequently deliver around the metroplex, I discuss foam insulation products that can be injected into existing walls and generally provide an R4 value per inch. In addition to greater thermal insulation, many of these products will provided added sound insulation and fire resistance as well.

However, when asked: ‘Where in Dallas can I get that done?’, it has been difficult to locate local companies that do this for existing homes.

Well recently, I learned of a company called Homesulate that has an office in Plano that will do just that. According to ‘Homesulate’: A simple 1-day project can slice energy bills in older homes by as much as 50%.’

They use a non-toxic, non-expanding foam that contains no formaldehyde or urethane. It was developed with a grant from the Department of Energy. (It is important that any foam products you choose do not contain formaldehyde, urethane, CFC or HFCs. And like many products of this type, you can recoup some of the expense through Energy Tax Credits and Energy.

For more information about Homesulate, contact Carolee.K@HomesulateNT.com or visit here: http://www.homesulatent.com/

And if you’ve had any experiences with the product, good or bad, please share them here.

Washington, DC: Americans can breathe easier today as Intermountain Power’s
coal plant in Utah became the 100th new coal plant to be prevented or
abandoned since the beginning of the coal rush in 2001. In their place, a
smart mix of clean energy solutions like energy efficiency, wind, solar and
geothermal has stepped up to meet America’s energy needs. Last year 42
percent of all new power producing capacity came from wind; for the first
time the wind industry created more jobs than mining coal. And it’s not just
wind, significant job creation is happening across the clean energy
spectrum. http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=X2ATjVgoKx_zKBEeqBk7gQ.. .

Coming just a week after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced
the city would end coal use by 2020, and announced the same day as a
decision by Basin Electric Power in South Dakota to pull plans for a new
coal-fired power plant, the Intermountain Power coal plant marks a
significant milestone in the shift to clean energy.

“We are witnessing a remarkable transformation toward a cleaner, healthier,
more secure future,” said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond
Coal Campaign. “At the beginning of the coal rush in 2001, it seemed
inevitable that as many as 150 new proposed coal plants would get built.
Since then we’ve seen an incredible change in the way people, businesses and
governments– like Los Angeles– are thinking about energy, figuring out how
to generate and use it more cleanly and efficiently. Coal is no longer a
smart or cost-effective option.  We can create jobs and electricity through
clean energy technology made in America.”

For the past six years the Sierra Club and its allies have been running a
hard-hitting campaign to expose the dirty truth about coal. Tremendous
grassroots pressure, rising costs, and upcoming federal carbon regulations
all contributed to the demise of the 100 plants. Activists with the Sierra
Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign worked on the ground in almost every state to
fight local coal plant proposals, turning out to public hearings, holding
rallies and meeting with officials to push for cleaner and cheaper energy
options for their area.

“I was around for the first coal plant Sierra Club tackled; against all odds
and with literally only a handful of us who believed in fighting the plant.
Now, only a couple of years later, there are thousands of grassroots
volunteers who are helping defeat the construction of polluting coal burning
plants. We are seeing a movement,” said Verena Owen, volunteer chair of the
Beyond Coal Campaign.

That movement has kept well over 400 million tons of harmful global warming
pollution out of the air annually, making significant progress in the fight
against global warming. Stopping 100 new coal plants has also kept thousands
of tons of asthma-causing soot and smog pollution, as well as toxins like
mercury out of our air and water.

As the new coal rush ends in many states, the Sierra Club is working to
replace the existing dirty and unreliable coal plants that are large
contributors to health harming soot, smog and mercury pollution with cleaner
energy options that create more jobs.

“Stopping one hundred coal plants is a huge milestone in our fight to end
global warming, but the coal industry is still pushing forward with plans
for dozens of new plants in places, like Michigan and Kansas, and pouring
money into slick advertising campaigns and lobbying efforts,” said Nilles.
“As we celebrate this amazing milestone, we must redouble our efforts to
stop new plants and replace the existing coal plants with clean energy.”

For more, visit www.sierraclub.org/100coalplants
For detailed information on clean energy job creation in other sectors
visit, http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=l5See79j94jSBGU6uNQe3Q.

This article is from the Sierra Club. For more information, contact: Virginia Cramer, 804-225-9113 x 102

For more information:

http://www.ashrae.org/pressroom/detail/17194 

This is time sensitive. These are the last 2 weeks of the 2009 session of the Texas legislature. Please urge passage of these bills! 

The Texas legislature is in the last two weeks of its five month long, every other year session. In these sessions our primary focus has too often been fighting bad bills. But, for a change we have some GOOD legislation that has a chance of getting passed! There are three bills that have passed the Senate, and are now scheduled for vote by the full House. Please call or e-mail your state representative as soon as possible and ask him or her to support these bills. If you don’t know your state representative, you can look up who it is here:

http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

The results page shows the name and phone number of your representative, along with a links that will take you to their e-mail form.

The bills we want them to vote in favor of are:

SB 545, on-site renewables
SB 541, off-site solar
SB 16, energy efficient building codes and clean air programs

It should take you less than five minutes to look up your representative, call, and leave a message with the staff person asking for a vote in favor of these bills.

If you want more details on these bills or would like to use the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club web-site to send e-mail, please refer to the chapter’s action alert on this page:

https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=2259&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr010=69d4r0rwe6.app24a