It’s Getting Hot In Here

On Thursday Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) announced plans to purchase development rights to the Rock Creek Wind Farm in Gilliam County, Oregon. The wind farm, scheduled to begin construction in 2013 or 2014, will have the capacity to produce 400 to 550 megawatts. That is enough energy to power, depending on wind variability, 125,00 homes. At present, 9% of PGE’s electricty is supplied from renewables, but this development indicative of changing mindsets and changing strategies.

The proposed project is currently owned by Renewable Energy Systems America Inc. (RES Americas). RES Americas operates nearly 3,900 Megawatts of wind power capacity (10% of all the currently available wind power in the country) at sites across the country and have another 12,500 Megawatts in development.

Continue reading ‘Portland Expands on Wind’

My opinion column on the University of Maryland and green building is out today.  If you want to read UMD’s impressive new GHG inventory, see here.

I want to congratulate the university and student activists for their recent major accomplishments on the sustainability front. The 2009 Campus Carbon Footprint Report of our campus emissions recently came out and found that in 2009, the carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 26,394 metric tons, a 10.5 percent reduction from 2005. This means that the university is on pace to meet its goal of a 15 percent reduction by 2012. Continue reading ‘Pushing UMD to Build Green’

On Tuesday, September 21st, 2010, French Oil Giant Total begins the hearing process in Fort McMurray, Alberta, as an application for their proposed Joslyn Mine. From Total’s own admission the new open pit mine will:

• Result in one and a half million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution each year, equivalent to putting over 270,000 cars on the road.
• Destroy seven thousand hectares of land, equivalent to the 13,000 football fields, with no realistic hope of reclamation of these areas to the same natural state they were in before.
• Result in the production of 12.5 billion litres of toxic tailings waste each year, and over the project life amounting to a volume large enough to fill over 100 sports stadiums, without any proven plan to keep these toxic materials from entering the region’s lands and waters.
• Result in the production of 2,740 tonnes of pollution each year that causes acid rain.
• Remove and pollute up to 22 billion litres of fresh water from the Athabasca River each year.

There has been no process showing ‘free, prior and informed consent’ with the Indigenous communities in the region, including the Mikisew Cree First Nation, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, or the Fort McKay First Nation. Treaty rights and Indigenous sovereignty is grossly undermined and disrespected as health problems, including documented cases of rare cancers, continue to increase within these impacted communities directly related to existing tar sands operations. Continue reading ‘Hearing for Total’s Joslyn Open Pit Mine begins in Fort McMurray, Alberta tomorrow’

UPDATE: Check out the video from Ellard Vasen

This past Saturday, in the little town of Vlaardingen near Rotterdam, an estimated 1500 Scouts gathered to create this aerial image of 10:10. The event was organized by JMA (Jongeren Milieu Actief) in Amsterdam. This is arguably the largest 10:10 image ever recorded. It reminds us of the goal to reduce emissions by 10% in 2010 and how important it is that we to get to work during and after the Global Work Party on October 10, 2010.

What are you planning for 10:10? Check out 10:10global.org or 350.org to find a work party near you or start your own.

Credit: Robert van Waarden

Cross-posted from Greenpeace USA’s Grassroots blog.

DC is about to witness an uprising!

Appalachia Rising is three days of coalfield residents and activists from across the country standing together for an end to mountaintop removal (MTR), an extremely destructive form of mining where the tops of mountains are blown off to extract the coal seams below.

You can register here for Appalachia Rising, September 25-27 in Washington DC.

I saw firsthand the effects of MTR on Appalachian communities while visiting Rock Creek, WV this past January.  Below is a selection of photos that my friend, Phoebe Neel, and I shot while bearing witness to the destruction.

This behemoth of a complex owned by Massey Energy contains the Goals Coal Processing Plant.  Above it, sits the Shumate Coal Sludge Impoundment pond, which contains 2.8 billion gallons of toxic coal waste.  Beyond that is the Edwight mountaintop removal site, whose blasting puts the dam at risk of failing.  Also out of the picture is Marsh Fork Elementary, which would be wiped out if such a failure were to occur.  Thankfully, the community won a six year fight this past April to build a new school, which will break ground next year. Continue reading ‘Stand with Coalfield Residents at Appalachia Rising’

Shockwaves rippled through the world’s largest environmental lawsuit today. A new damages assessment has been submitted in the lawsuit pitting 30,000 Indigenous peoples and local farmers against the global oil giant Chevron.

The damages assessment finds that because of factors still persisting in the Ecuadorean rainforest from Chevron’s pollution, nearly 10,000 Ecuadoreans are at significant risk of dying from cancer by the year 2080, even if Chevron cleans up the toxic contamination in the next ten years.

“The information in this submission is highly significant because it reflects clearly that there is a terrible oil-related disaster in Ecuador in the area where Chevron operated,” said Pablo Fajardo, lead lawyer for the Amazon communities. “What these analyses make chillingly clear is that thousands of Ecuadorean citizens may well contract and die of cancer in the coming decades because of Chevron’s contamination,” he added.

Continue reading ‘Shock: Experts say 10,000 Ecuadoreans may die by 2080 because of Chevron’s pollution.’

Due to a bill passed in the fall of 2009 by the Oregon State Legislature, field burning in 2010 has been outlawed. This primarily applies to the burning of grass seed and cereal grain crop residues in the Willamette Valley. With what was previously a dirty, pollutant-filled yet money-saving process now illegal, farmers have had to turn to something new. Their proposed solution is not only greener, but it may turn out to be profitable as well.

photo via The Oregonian
Continue reading ‘Clean Legislation Creates Clean Energy’

Tumultuous times call for strong communities and relationships to be forged as we break our ties to dirty energy. This October, Southern youth are coming together for a rendezvous of old friends and new partners at the Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC). Here in the Southeastern United States, we are constantly playing David and Goliath with dirty energy companies whose profits come at the cost of human health and the environment. The BP catastrophe is only the latest in a long line of attempts to capitalize on fossil fuels that have left people struggling in their wake. Though through struggle we grow and so it appears that the frustrations with dealing with coastal cleanups, lapsed regulatory permits, and proposed coal plants are being channeled into a growing network of Southerners dedicated to quitting our fossil fuel addictions and envisioning a cleaner leaner energy economy.

Please come over to Athens, GA to join this clean energy movement at the Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC) on October 1-3, 2010. Continue reading ‘Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference’

Today, the Utah Governor’s Energy Initiative Task Force will hold a public hearing to gather input on Utah’s 10-year energy plan. This hearing comes one day after the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (DOGM) gave final approval for a tar sands mine in Eastern Utah, the first tar sands mine in the country.

“Approving tar sands one day, then asking for public input on the state’s energy future the next is either dishonest or dysfunctional,” said Ashley Anderson, coordinator for Peaceful Uprising, a US climate action organization based in Utah.

The PR Springs mine, to be operated by Canadian-based Earth Energy Resources, would occupy 213 acres in Grand and Uintah Counties in Eastern Utah. The site is within the Colorado River watershed, which supports 30 million people across the region. Earth Energy Resources expects to produce 2,000 barrels of crude bitumen per day, 350 days per year for 7 years.

“This project has no real value or contribution to society,” said John Weisheit, Colorado Riverkeeper and Conservation Director of Living Rivers. Continue reading ‘Utah Approves First Tar Sands Mine in US’

Former UN climate chief, Yvo de Boer, gave an interview today to Bloomberg News arguing that the debate over C02 targets is largely “irrelevant” in the UN climate process. Here’s why he’s wrong.

A frank discussion about science-based targets (like reducing the concentration of C02 in our atmosphere below 350 parts per million) is key not only to summoning the necessary ambition to tackle global warming, but also to maintain the credibility of the UN climate negotiations. Big polluters cannot be allowed to perpetuate the idea that weak targets will avert catastrophe. There is currently 392 ppm C02 in our atmosphere and this year we’ve seen Pakistan underwater, Russia on fire, and, most recently, tens of thousands of walruses are forced to shore by melting sea ice. Can anyone really claim that 450 ppm of C02 is safe for our planet?

Yvo de Boer dismisses the importance of targets because he feels that first, big polluters won’t increase their level of ambition and second, that the debates over targets contributed to the failure to reach an agreement in Copenhagen.

Sure, it’s going to be tough to push countries like the US to take action, but letting them off the hook guarantees failure. Instead, we need to build a movement that can push our countries to summon the courage and leadership necessary to take on climate change. On 10/10/10, we’ll be getting to work on climate solutions in thousands of communities around the world and pressuring our leaders to get to work, as well. Speaking clearly and strongly about what the world needs to do to stop the climate crisis — lowering C02 below 350 ppm — helps build that movement and keep up the pressure on countries to increase their ambition to meet what science says is necessary.
Continue reading ‘Former UN Climate Chief is Wrong, Strong C02 Targets are Essential’