01/15/2011 - If a company dumped the black goop behind a factory, it would violate all sorts of environmental laws and face an expensive hazardous-waste cleanup.
But playgrounds, parking lots and driveways in many communities are coated every spring and summer with coal tar, a toxic byproduct of steelmaking that contains high levels of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems.
Nearly two decades after industry pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exempt coal tar-based pavement sealants from anti-pollution laws, a growing number of government and academic studies are questioning the safety of the widely used products. Research shows that the tar steadily wears off and crumbles into contaminated dust that is tracked into houses and washed into lakes.
In Lake in the Hills, a fast-growing McHenry County suburb about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey found that driveway dust was contaminated with extremely high levels of benzo(a)pyrene, one of the most toxic chemicals in coal tar. The amount was 5,300 times higher than the level that triggers an EPA Superfund cleanup at polluted industrial sites.
High levels also were detected in dust collected from parking lots and driveways in Austin, Texas; Detroit; Minneapolis; New Haven, Conn., and suburban Washington, D.C. By contrast, dramatically lower levels were found in Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City and Seattle, Western cities where pavement sealants tend to be made with asphalt instead of coal tar.
The findings raise new concerns about potential health threats to people and aquatic life that went undetected for years. {continued}
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Driveway Sealant - Environmental Threat
Missiles to Megawatts
Shaw Areva Mox Services is building a 600,000 sq ft. building in Aiken, S.C. that will be used to help end nuclear proliferation and save fuel costs.
Related story: Cold War
On the Irish Climate Change Bill
Sound an awful lot like what goes on here in the good ole U.S. of A., hope they have much better luck and critical thought ideals and move forward on this, unlike here!
January 18, 2011 - Frank McDonald’s analysis of the proposed climate change legislation in Ireland makes for depressing reading (Opinion, January 17th). The legislative proposal is itself of limited ambition, with huge concessions already having been made to placate the various lobby groups, but it seems the usual suspects are crying bloody murder (and wolf) in attempt to strip the Bill of any meaning.
As a former Ibec press officer, it never ceases to amaze me how the Irish media gleefully regurgitates Ibec’s evidence-less arguments that are offered up every time a Government tries to introduce progressive legislation with which Ibec does not agree. Ibec (and its subsidiary trade organisations) is at it again, claiming that the proposed climate legislation will cost jobs, without providing any evidence to back this up as usual. The truth is the opposite: this legislation should spur innovation and create jobs in the growing global green economy. {continued}
It's Helping the UK Meet its Green Future Goals
Ahhh, to be able to read, and especially see, the actual movement forward in this Country! Oh well, the U.S. lost what once was some three decades back, as others are moving forward!
17th January 2011 - With the introduction of the feed-in tariff (FIT) last year, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind have seen a boost in installations across the UK. As more people begin to see them on houses in their own streets or in neighbour’s back gardens, solar panels and wind turbines can also expect to enjoy a growing embrace by the public.
This embrace will be a critical factor to help the UK meet its green future goals. The implications of the feed-in tariff are explored in detail in a new report from Greenbang, “The UK’s Feed-in Tariff: Impact, response and market trends for the decade ahead.”
It’s an exciting time for British businesses to be involved in the industries covered by the feed-in tariff. Many companies such as Solarcentury are experiencing rapid growth in numbers of employees, doubling in size by the end of the year. Other companies seeing substantial growth include Evance in the wind sector, Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon in the hydro sector and Monsal in the anaerobic digestion sector.
It’s now up to these companies to take control of the FIT’s positive effect on the market and use it to the greatest possible extent. That will require sound marketing and building a positive client base on the foundation of a good reputation.
While the UK is still lagging behind in the green economy compared to other European countries, it is not too little too late. Still, it hasn’t helped that the renewable energy incentives came into effect in an anemic, post-recession economy. That’s because the first two years are the most important: that’s when the feed-in tariff rate, as well as rate of installations, is highest. {continued}
Co-op Leaders Push 'Green' Reforms
If one doesn't stay with advancement and invest at the front end it costs more not only in investing to catch up but more during the period, long long time, while just arguing and doing nothing. They also lose the abilities and experiences to advance rapidly which makes those costs cheaper.
Board members seek more renewable energy sources, but some members question their value.
Jan. 17, 2011 - Over the past few years, efforts to reform the Pedernales Electric Cooperative have come from every direction.
Co-op members, elected officials and newspaper editorial writers alike have called for more transparency and accountability at a utility once so closed-off that meetings of its board of directors were often held in secret.
Largely, they've succeeded, and today Pedernales is much more open than it was during the era of Bennie Fuelberg, its former general manager who was convicted of felony theft and money laundering charges last month.
But lately, members of the nation's largest customer-owned electric utility have pushed for a new type of reform — creating a greener, more environmentally friendly co-op. That has set up a new conflict with other members who say Pedernales should focus exclusively on cutting spending and reducing electric bills.
"If (green energy) can be shown to be economically advantageous to the owners of the company, we're for it. If not, we're not," said member Ken Rigsbee, who says that Pedernales' electric bills are already higher than those of Austin Energy and other electric co-ops that buy power from the Lower Colorado River Authority.
A December 2008 audit of the co-op by Navigant Inc. found that on average, Pedernales customers were paying about 19 percent more than Austin Energy customers were paying for electricity. {continued}