The Promise of a New Energy Future

With gas prices passing $3 per gallon and growing public concern about energy and America’s over-dependence on oil, we have an unprecedented opportunity to put America on a new energy path at both the federal and state level.

Americans are demanding cars with better gas mileage, and overwhelmingly support improving energy conservation and increasing renewable energy.

For decades, government policy has favored powerful energy interests over energy conservation and renewable energy technology. But now there’s momentum for change both nationally and in Pennsylvania.

We know that America can dramatically reduce our dependence on oil and move to clean renewable energy sources. We can make cars that go 100 miles on a gallon of gas. Wind turbines and solar panels can supply power to millions of homes and businesses, and we can make high-performance products and building that use a fraction of the energy we use today.

However, in order to solve our energy problems, we need to start now.

That is why this fall we are launching an effort to promote real solutions to our country’s energy problems that delivers on the promise of a new energy future.

The Promise of a New Energy Future

America and Pennsylvania have the know-how to move us away from our dependence on oil and toward a cleaner, more secure future. We need a national and statewide commitment to a new energy strategy that prioritizes our national security, our environment and our children’s futures over Big Oil and other powerful interests. We are hoping that you will endorse the following platform which will help deliver on the promise of a new energy future.

• Reduce our dependence on oil by saving one-third of the oil Pennsylvania uses today by 2025. This can be accomplished through enactment of the Clean Vehicles Program, increased support for the state’s mass transportation systems, and deployment of clean alternative fuels. At the federal level, we should aim to save one-third of the oil we use today by 2025 (7 million barrels per day).
• Harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources like wind, solar and farm-based bio-fuels for at least a quarter of all energy needs by 2025. Nationally, we have virtually limitless potential to generate electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar power. In fact, the wind that blows through America’s plains is enough to meet the electricity needs of the entire country. In Pennsylvania, we should boost the Tier 1 requirement of the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard to 25% by 2025. We also can power our cars with renewable energy by using energy crops such as switchgrass and agricultural by-products.
• Save energy with high performance homes, buildings and appliances so that by 2025 we use 10 percent less energy than we do today, both nationally and in Pennsylvania. Dramatic improvements in energy efficiency are possible in virtually every aspect of our lives. Through building codes, efficiency standards for appliances and industrial equipment, and incentives for the purchase of energy efficient products, we can transform the way we consume energy.
• Invest in a New Energy Future. By committing $30 billion over the next 10 years to the New Energy for America Initiative, we could triple research and development funding for the energy-saving and renewable technologies we need to achieve these goals. In Pennsylvania, by committing increased resources over the next 10 years to this initiative, we could—at a minimum—quadruple research and development funding.

The goal of the New Energy Future campaign is to harness support for real energy solutions that will commitment our nation and our state to reducing our dependence on oil and other fossil fuels and to dramatically increase the amount of clean renewable energy we use to power our lives. By demonstrating broad support, we can create the political will to solve Americas growing energy problems.

That is why we are asking for your support by endorsing the Promise of a New Energy Future and joining us this fall in working to move America and Pennsylvania towards a new energy future. Here are some of the ways to get involved:

• Endorse the Promise of a New Energy Future
• Activate your membership by sending out an announcement about the campaign to your email list. Encourage your members to sign the online petition asking candidates to support The Promise of a New Energy Future and to attend campaign events in order to ask the candidates where they stand.
• Publicly show your support by attending one of the many events we will host to launch the campaign across the country, cosigning op-eds, and submitting letters to the editor.
• Build the coalition by asking all the groups that you work with to endorse the campaign, and get involved.
• Attend meetings with the candidates to directly call on them to commit to a new energy future.

Jossi Fritz-Mauer
Field Associate
PennEnvironment

Energy: Citizens Against Global Warming

Following meeting and consultation with the Energy Committee and the Board meeting of mid-August, a plan for action: “Citizens Against Global Warming” has been prepared. Its mission is to Confront Future Threats Now!

A draft plan has been sent to the Chester County Commissioners with a request for a near-future meeting to agree on or revise its proposals. Some seventeen suggested actions by or on behalf of the Commissioners, and eight for the task force itself are included. General acceptance of the plan is assumed, though not certain.

The plan draws inspiration from the current Global Warming groundswell stemming mainly from the Al Gore movie, “An Inconvenient Truth” It is heavy on educating everyone from schoolchildren to businesses, institutions and “plain” citizens. A major effort to recruit and prepare canvassers will begin as soon as the ink is dry with the Commissioners.

In the meanwhile, meetings are underway with the nine current members of the steering committee, including Pat Horrocks and Gene Wilson from the LWVCC. Much work needs to be done on organization, funding and legal status of the effort, in short constructing our infrastructure.

The effort can be expected to draw heavily on the League’s long experience with public education and on efforts to help achieve broad consensus in the citizenry.

Gene Wilson

Climate Paradigm Shift

The heavy flooding we just experienced is a clear sign of a climate paradigm shift. A rough definition of a paradigm is something that is in what is considered to be a normal state. A paradigm shift is an abrupt change from the norm to a new state which becomes the new norm.

For instance, around 500 million years ago, Pennsylvania’s eastern boarder faced south and Pennsylvania sat around twenty degrees south of the equator. That paradigm lasted for millennia. Much of the tropic foliage from that paradigm created the coal and oil deposits that we now extract for fuel.
When the continents shifted, over millions of years the tropical paradigm shifted to an ice age paradigm inflicting great change to Pennsylvania. Finally the paradigm again shifted ushering in the stable comfortable climate pattern that we’ve experienced for the last ten thousand years.

Well folks, we are experience another paradigm shift from that stable comfortable climate to the new global warming paradigm. Since we have not had the political will or consumption restraint to avert the ramifications of the well documented approach of global warming, we are now poised to pay the price.

The recent storm that dumped over a foot of water in a few hours in some parts of Pennsylvania was the product of global warming. This storm originated near the Florida Keys in the waters that never cooled during last year’s warm winter.

Get ready; this is only the beginning, its going to get much worse. No longer can we plan or live like we are still in the stable climate paradigm - it is gone.

I can just hear naysayers quacking over my having said this, as they did when the same was said about Hurricane Katrina. But, I say, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

Considering that we’ve had three consecutive years of “hundred year” floods; considering that every year since 1997 has been the hottest year recorded in many centuries, with 2005 being the hottest, I’m convinced it’s a duck.

This year’s tornado season experienced more tornados in one week than were recorded in entire tornado seasons of the past. There are endless signs of global warming worldwide. Rather than reiterating the list here, go see the movie, An Inconvenient Truth. This movie not only lays out the visible evidence, it supports it with the best available science.

Historically, along with each climate paradigm shift was the necessity for species to adjust or go extinct. So far, humans haven’t begun to adjust; we’re still in denial. Despite knowledge of the causes of global warming, our cars have gotten bigger with lower gas mileage. Each gallon of gas spews 25 pounds of CO2 in the atmosphere that destroys ozone for hundreds of years, yet the auto industry predominantly produces gas-hog SUVs and Hummers.

The new paradigm means extreme weather will be the norm, yet we haven’t shifted from building energy-hog houses on steep hills far from most social amenities like grocery stores, public transportation and the work place. Building homes on hillsides causes severe flooding in the valleys.

Why are we still building developments on farmland far form economic hubs given that within the next thirty years when the world oil supply runs out we will have to rely on bicycles or other non petroleum propelled means of transportation?

We still have a chance to softening the impact of global warming, but this new paradigm calls for us to adjust by implementing energy efficient heating and cooling systems, lighting, appliances and electrical equipment in residential and industrial facilities. We need to design “green buildings” that are far less reliant on conventional energy sources. We need to convert school bus fleets, cab fleets, rent-a-car fleets, trucking fleets, municipal and government fleets to alternative fuel vehicles and we must subsidize and modernize public transportation. The future requires a mix of alternative energy sources like wind, solar, and bio-fuels.

Species that don’t adjust don’t survive. The Mayan and Anasazi civilizations are a testament to that. Will we squander our future or will we be survivors?

© 2006 Richard Whiteford

Growing a Great Lawn without Chemicals

HOW TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL HEALTHY LAWN WITHOUT DANGER TO YOU, YOUR PETS, OR THE ENVIRONMENT

THE DANGER:

• More than one scientist has suggested that there is a link between the use of lawn chemicals and cancer in dogs (Such as article was published in 2004, in the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine.) Local veterinarians report a suspected correlation as well. For instance, a vet told a friend her cat was poisoned from eating grass that had been treated by lawn chemicals.
  
  
• Further study could show risks to people, especially children
  
• This risk is coming from a combination of chemicals in fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
  
• These chemicals run off lawns as waste water into streams, ponds and rivers and could filter through the soil into well water. The chemicals in streams and rivers run into bays. This is what has happened to the Chesapeake Bay.
  
• Lawn chemicals also can be tracked into the house, get into carpets and become an indoor airborne hazard.

THE WAY TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL LAWN (WITHOUT DANGER):

• Mow high (3”). The grass will then shade out the weeds.
  
• Leave clippings on the lawn. They will fertilize the grass.
  
• Do not water anything but a new lawn. Frequent watering discourages deep roots.
  
• Plant varieties of grass which are suitable to your lawn’s sun and shade conditions, its use, and its soil. Those good in Pennsylvania are blue grasses, perennial ryegrass, bentgrasses, fine and tall Fescue and Zoysia grass.
  
• If you see extensive damage from grubs, use milky spore (or beneficial nematodes) in the fall when the grubs are feeding.
  
• Fertilize with organic fertilizer in spring and fall. Corn gluten applied in the fall will fertilize your lawn and prevent weeds from growing in the spring.
  
• Correct the soil if it is in bad shape. The correct PH can be determined through a soil test. Soil test kits can be bought through some garden centers or through the county Agricultural Extension Service (look in the Blue Pages of your phone book). These tests will be sent to Penn State and an analysis returned to you)
  
• Organic fertilizers and remedies for lawn problems can be found at your local home/garden stores as well as on the internet such as:
  www.gardensalive.com.

Global Warming in Chester County

Anywhere you go these days the topic of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” comes up. Those who have seen it seem universally affected by it. Maybe they are the members of the choir who were predisposed to hear and believe what they saw and heard from Al Gore. But maybe there were some doubters about Global Warming who have genuinely gone through a change in viewpoint.

In my experience, that of our family, I can’t be so optimistic. Neither my wife’s oldest daughter nor my eldest son would have a thing to do with risking being persuaded the theory is valid. No, it’s all “cyclical”.

The other day my wife and I attended a luncheon where we got acquainted with the couple next to us; things were going swimmingly until Global Warming came up and that’s when a pall fell over our new relationship. They pronounced the word, “Cyclical” and that was the end of the conversation.

This gives pause to us in the LWVCC Energy Committee. We are seeking to gather a coalition dedicated to helping the County Commissioners lead in educating the public as to the facts, as well as taking important steps to “reduce carbon” and promote renewable energy.

League members at large can perform a major service by arming themselves with the facts and seeking to educate their friends. Al Gore and the scientists say there’s only ten years to the tipping point..

Gene Wilson, Chair, Energy Committee

Mercury, an Enchanting but Toxic Element

Do you remember playing with Mercury as a child? It was magical. You could drop it on the floor where it would form many beads of mercury. Then you could gather it up into a single ball by bringing the individual ones together.

Is mercury a solid, a liquid or a gas? Indeed, it has the properties of all three. This it what makes it so much fun to play with but so hard to keep out of the air and streams where it is ingested by fish and bugs that eaten are by fish and breathed into plants which are ingested by humans and animals. It is especially harmful to the unborn children of pregnant woman who have ingested fish contaminated with mercury.

In an effort to support coal power, the Federal Government has made the regulations monitoring safe mercury levels less stringent. Pennsylvania has the second highest number of coal fired power plants in the nation. As a result, Kathleen McGinty, Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), agreed to set a more stringent standard for mercury levels in Pennsylvania.

PADEP’s proposed rule would cut mercury in two phases.

• Phase I: 80% reduction by 2010
• Phase II: 90% clean-up by 2015.

There are two bills in the PA State congress that would prevent PADEP from implementing the safer standards. WE encourage you to contact your state representative and state senator to vote no to Pennsylvania House of Representative bill (HB 2610) and Pennsylvania Senate bill (SB 1201) that oppose PADEP’s rule.

For more information go to http://www.pennfuture.org/protectbabies/

Update July 5, 2006:

From PennFuture, “pennfuture@pennfuture.org, Friday June 30, 2006

“It looks like the mercury fight may be over, for now. And it is thanks to those of you who responded and contacted your PA State congressmen not to pass senate and house bills SB 1201 and HB 2610.

There is more to do: please thank your Senator if s/he is one of the 10 who voted no: Andrew Dinniman (D-Chester), Jay Costa (D-Allegheny), Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny), Vincent Fumo (D-Philadelphia), Stewart Greenleaf (R-Bucks, Montgomery), John Rafferty, Jr., (R-Berks, Chester, Montgomery), Robert Tomlinson (R-Bucks), Patricia Vance (R-Cumberland, York), LeAnna Washington (D-Philadelphia) and Constance Williams (D-Delaware, Montgomery).

If your Senator voted the wrong way, s/he needs to know your disappointment s well. Putting the interest of polluters over the public health is unacceptable. You can find all senator’s contact information and sample letters at PennFuture’s Legislative Action Center:

A 60-day public comment period will begin June 24 upon publication of the draft rule in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The public comment period runs until Aug. 26.

Update: August 4, 2006

On July 27, 2006, the third of a series of three hearings took place at Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Southeastern Regional Office in Norristown. The purpose of the hearings was to hear testimony (pro or con) for Pennsylvania’s
Mercury Rule would aims to significantly reduce the release of mercury from Pennsylvania’s coal fired power stations in the immediate future.

Thirty people testified. Twenty-nine of the testimonies were in support of the States Mercury Rule which is much more stringent than the Federal EPA proposal which does not call for the same percent reduction in the same time frame. The Federal Regulation would not be effective until 2050.

The testimonies given, for the most part, were brief, but salient. Why wait for 2050. Mercury is contaminating our air, streams and soils now. And it has been for a long time. The area that we live in shows higher concentrations of mercury than other parts of Pennsylvania. And, wherever our contaminated streams flow, there goes the mercury contamination to contaminate other bodies of water.

Support the State’s Department of Environmental Protection, and the people of the State.

Save Your Stream Even If You Can't See It!

By working with your municipality, your developer, and your neighborhood.

Encourage Good Municipality Planning

• The Municipality must abide by its comprehensive plan and its ordinances.
• A comprehensive plan sets forth the goals and objectives of the municipality.
• Ordinances are laws for enforcing the goals and objectives.
• The State requires the Municipality to follow the PA Municipalities Planning Code, which establishes the basic framework for community development.
• All developers must also abide by the municipality ordinances.
• As a citizen you have a right/duty to examine these documents.
• You should also attend township meetings and express your viewpoint on protecting your streams and watersheds.

How to Keep Your Stream Healthy

• Don’t mow your lawn to the stream bank.
• Plant native trees, shrubs and grasses on the stream bank.
• Create a buffer zone of native vegetation.
• Avoid using chemical fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides on the lawn
• Use compost or natural fertilizers (but not on the stream bank)
• Control storm water drainage to prevent the steam bank from eroding.
• Rechannel downspout drainage into garden areas.
• Use rain barrels below downspout to collect water.
• Plant roof gardens on commercial buildings.
• Require concave planting islands in parking lots.
• Keep wastewater out of streams.
• Encourage ground infiltration.

How Do You Know That It Needs SAVING ?????

What is an unhealthy stream:

• Lack of healthy aquatic life
• Signs of trash and other pollution
• Eroding stream banks
• Sediment blocking water flow
• Deep stream course, lack of wetlands and protected floodplain
• Lack of trees to cool water and provide litter to feed water life (for water life)

WHO Should Save Your Streams?

• Government
• Developers
• Homeowners
• YOU

WHY Save Your Streams?

• In order to protect drinking water and the ecology
• In order to prevent pollution, flooding and erosion
• In order to provide scenic value and recreation

You have a right to get the assistance of the following government and conservation organizations:

• Local Municipality Supervisors, Planning Commission, Environmental Action Commission (Council), and Municipality Manager
• Local Watershed Association
• County Planning Commission www.chesco.org/planning
• County Conservation District Office www.chesco.org/conservation
• County Water Resources Authority www.chesco.org/water
• PA Dept. of Environmental Protection www.depweb.state.pa.us/dep/site
• PA Environmental Council Association
  www.pecpa.org
• PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources www.dcnr.state.pa.us
• PA Fish and Boat Commission www.fish.state.pa.us
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers www.usace.army.mil
• U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service www.fws.gov
• U. S. Geological Survey Office www.usgs.gov

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GROWING A GREAT LAWN WITHOUT CHEMICALS

HOW TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL HEALTHY LAWN WITHOUT DANGER TO YOU, YOUR PETS, OR THE ENVIRONMENT

THE DANGER:

• More than one scientist has suggested that there is a link between the use of lawn chemicals and cancer in dogs (Such as article was published in 2004, in the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine.) Local veterinarians report a suspected correlation as well. For instance, a vet told a friend her cat was poisoned from eating grass that had been treated by lawn chemicals.
  
  
• Further study could show risks to people, especially children
  
• This risk is coming from a combination of chemicals in fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
  
• These chemicals run off lawns as waste water into streams, ponds and rivers and could filter through the soil into well water. The chemicals in streams and rivers run into bays. This is what has happened to the Chesapeake Bay.
  
• Lawn chemicals also can be tracked into the house, get into carpets and become an indoor airborne hazard.

THE WAY TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL LAWN (WITHOUT DANGER):

• Mow high (3”). The grass will then shade out the weeds.
  
• Leave clippings on the lawn. They will fertilize the grass.
  
• Do not water anything but a new lawn. Frequent watering discourages deep roots.
  
• Plant varieties of grass which are suitable to your lawn’s sun and shade conditions, its use, and its soil. Those good in Pennsylvania are blue grasses, perennial ryegrass, bentgrasses, fine and tall Fescue and Zoysia grass.
  
• If you see extensive damage from grubs, use milky spore (or beneficial nematodes) in the fall when the grubs are feeding.
  
• Fertilize with organic fertilizer in spring and fall. Corn gluten applied in the fall will fertilize your lawn and prevent weeds from growing in the spring.
  
• Correct the soil if it is in bad shape. The correct PH can be determined through a soil test. Soil test kits can be bought through some garden centers or through the county Agricultural Extension Service (look in the Blue Pages of your phone book). These tests will be sent to Penn State and an analysis returned to you)
  
• Organic fertilizers and remedies for lawn problems can be found at your local home/garden stores as well as on the internet such as:
  www.gardensalive.com.