People Before Profit blog

Top 10 environmental issues of 2013

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 15:42:00 +0000

It's been another year of environmental disasters in the U.S. - some fueled by corporate profiteering, others by climate change. However, it's important to take note of progress where it's due: steps forward have been made in expanding solar energy, as well as curbing carbon and mercury emissions. Nevertheless, in light of what's happened to the climate this past year, let's take a look at 10 of the biggest issues of 2013 and see what lessons can be learned from them going forward.

10. Wolves

Wolves were under attack this year, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in June to strip federal Endangered Species Act protections from them. The population is already at an all-time low. Experts believe that doing more to protect these animals, not less, is in our best interest, and that we would benefit economically and ecologically from such an endeavor. Fortunately, on Dec. 17, one million Americans stated their opposition to removing wolf protections, via conservation groups that collected their comments and sent them along to the Fish and Wildlife Service. So while wolves were certainly a hot topic in 2013, if enough people stand up for them, this issue need not devolve into a disaster.

9. Petcoke

Residents in southeast Chicago are lamenting the continued nuisance of petcoke (short for oil waste called "petroleum coke"), which is currently piling up near their neighborhoods. The smoke from the stuff is drifting into their homes, disturbing family events, and causing endless health concerns. It's disconcerting to know that the billionaire Koch brothers have been technically responsible: KCBX Terminals, which has done some of the dumping, is a division of Koch Industries, which has been implicated in numerous other environmental disasters.

8. Fracking

Fracking, a process through which natural gas is extracted from the ground, has not proven too popular with residents affected by toxic water, towns enduring small earthquakes from the drilling, and environmental activists who have come to realize that fracking is anything but safe. The process has persisted throughout 2013 and, even more worrying, the fossil fuel industry is increasingly setting its sights on natural gas, seeing it as a cheaper alternative to coal. But there are better alternatives.

7. Poaching

Though average Americans seem not to realize it, an all-out war is being waged on the rhinoceros, particularly in South Africa, where they are prized for their horns. Poachers have evolved with the times and grown more dangerous, now wielding high-powered rifles and assault vehicles. The western black rhino is now extinct, and other species, like the northern white rhino and the Javan rhino, are at risk. The illegal wildlife trade is growing to such an extent that experts believe more rhinos will soon be slaughtered than born.

6. Wildfires

They continue to burn in California even now, as winter approaches. This has been a particularly bad year - amidst a whole string of recent bad years - for areas at risk for wildfires. A look back at California's Rim Fire, which began on Aug. 17 and burned 257,314 acres, is sobering. The third largest wildfire in the state's history, its rapid spread was certainly made worse by a climate change-fueled drought and heat wave, as well as Forest Service budget cuts. It was also one of 17 major brushfires (burning 1,000 acres or more) in the U.S. this year.

5. Carbon emissions

On a more positive note, the Environmental Protection Agency, bolstered by the willingness of President Obama to confront climate change head-on, has done a number of good things in 2013. One of the most important has been the curbing of carbon emissions from new coal-fired power plants. This is part of a long-term series of safeguards enacted by the Obama administration this year, a followup to the EPA's 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which sought to reduce mercury output.

4. Oil

Possibly the number one word on the tip of every environmental activist's tongue this year, for a variety of unpleasant reasons. Numerous pipelines have burst and spewed oil. The most severe of these occurred in Mayflower, Arkansas, where the town was plagued by pools of tar sands oil after the 65-year-old ExxonMobil-owned Pegasus pipeline ruptured. Meanwhile, things were no safer by train. One recent disaster involved an Oct. 19 derailment in Alberta, Canada. But the worst was a June 6 derailment and crash in Quebec, in the town of Lac-Mégantec, which caused major explosions and killed 47 people. Finally, the other oil-related issue haunting environmentalists is the fact that 3 million barrels of crude are currently being loaded into the southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline - operations for that leg of the project are supposed to start next month. One can only hope another Mayflower-scale accident does not occur.

3. Solar energy

If there has been progress made in any department this year, it's that of solar energy. It is seen as increasingly viable by companies, and there have been a number of good developments in solar on the East Coast. New Jersey, ranked in 2012 as number one in solar, is turning 800 landfills and 10,000 abandoned industrial areas into massive solar farms. This is a big win for a state with a messy history of pollution and environmental damage. Meanwhile, New York is installing a 47-acre solar plant in Staten Island's Fresh Kills Park, which is currently the site of the world's largest landfill. Less pollution zones and more solar power is a win-win for the environment, and the reason why solar energy was on the minds of many East Coasters in 2013.

2. Fukushima

Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown is creating a panic years after the fact, due to the disaster's ripple effect. It will not only have dire consequences for the environment, but for human health and livelihoods as well. When Typhoon Wipha lashed Tokyo in October this year, it only made the situation worse. The still-leaking radioactive output from the Fukushima plant increased twofold after the storm hit, with spillage over 14,000 times what is considered safe pouring into the sea. The Fukushima cleanup deadline has been extended to 2017, but the fallout will have repercussions for decades to come.

1. Climate change

And finally, the root of many of the problems on this list. Republican politicians continue to deny its existence in the interest of corporate profits. Scientists continue to warn that if we don't take measures soon, it will be irreversible. Others maintain that it's already too late to undo the damage. And the odd weather - with snow on the Egyptian pyramids for the first time in 112 years - serves as a constant reminder of the severity of global warming. The threat is imminent and the need for response through collective action is urgent. Most would argue, in fact, that climate change not only was the largest issue for environmentalists this year, it was the largest issue for everyone. And, sadly, we can surely expect it to go the same way in 2014.

Photo: A camel experiences snow for the first time in Cairo, Egypt. Via Twitter.

Obama to federal agencies: triple use of clean energy by 2020

Fri, 06 Dec 2013 16:32:00 +0000

President Obama issued an executive order on Dec. 5, calling for an increase in solar, wind, and other renewable energy for federal agencies, to 20 percent by 2020. That's three times the amount that the agencies are currently using. The usage is expected to go up by 10 percent by 2015, at least 15 percent between 2016 and 2017, and 17.5 percent between 2018 and 2019.

Obama declared, "In order to create a clean energy economy that will increase our nation's prosperity, promote energy security, combat climate change, protect the interests of taxpayers, and safeguard the health of our environment, the federal government must lead by example."

This statement is in line with other positive environmental moves the president has made on the federal level, both during this year and in 2012. These include implementing a mercury reduction measure called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, enacted by the EPA; cutting carbon output, which could decrease U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by up to 40 percent; and developing a climate change response plan that aspires to double renewable energy usage for the nation as a whole.

Federal agencies have already reduced their total greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent since Obama began his campaign to phase out their reliance on fossil fuels. That figure is, according to EcoWatch, the equivalent of taking 1.5 million cars off the road.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) commended the president for his bold step forward on this matter. SEIA president Rhone Resch remarked, "From an environmental perspective, few things threaten our nation's future prosperity and way of life more than climate change. That's why it's so important for the federal government to lead by example. We applaud President Obama for standing firm and following through on a key commitment he made as part of his Climate Action Plan.

"Moving forward, we also encourage the administration to develop a modern procurement process that allows solar to compete evenly with fossil fuels. Federal agencies should have the authority to adopt long-term power purchase agreements in order to maximize savings for U.S. taxpayers."

The solar movement is indeed catching on in the U.S., with New Jersey, California, and Arizona being the top states to implement the technology. Conversely, there are more solar companies in the state of New Jersey than tanning salons. Arizona, meanwhile, installed more "utility-scale solar" technology than any other state in 2012, according to SEIA. And Maryland and Massachusetts saw sharp declines in the cost of solar installation during 2011 and 2012. Given these developments, it would seem logical that federal agencies should follow suit.

The push to move the Obama administration on to a clean energy path began, at least partially, last year, when the Pentagon committed to establishing three gigawatts of renewable energy on Army, Navy, and Air Force installations by 2025. That's enough to power 750,000 homes.

The president's executive order, however, gives the overall clean energy push some much needed thrust.

Photo: Julie Jacobson/AP

Oil refinery waste piling up in Chicago

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:45:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Residents on the southeast side of this city are complaining about smoke, but it's actually dust from an oil refinery, and it's drifting into many nearby neighborhoods. That's because KCBX Terminals and Beemsterboer Slag Company are operating facilities along the Calumet River, just south of the Chicago Skyway bridge. Those facilities are storing big piles of coal and petroleum coke (petcoke) - both forms of waste dumped from a nearby BP oil refinery.

The pile by Chicago is full of carbon, sulfur, and toxic heavy metals. It first drew major attention on Aug. 30 when a sweeping wind brought some of the dust into the middle of a baseball field, effectively ending a little league game that was taking place at the time. "Kids that were playing ball were sent scurrying away because the stuff was getting into their eyes, and their face, and their mouths and everything," said Tom Shepherd, a volunteer with the Southeast Environmental Task Force. "They had to just get the heck out of there."

Initially, he added, no one knew where it was coming from: "People were calling 9-1-1 and saying, 'There's a fire. We don't know where the fire is, but the neighborhood's full of smoke.'"

Whiting Refinery, the place from which the waste first came is actually located in Indiana, but it can be seen from the Chicago neighborhoods being affected. That refinery is now tripling the amount of petcoke it processes (BP calls it an "upgrade") and will soon be handling tarsands oil from Canada as well. The fact that BP owns the facility isn't terribly surprising, given their atrocious environmental (many would say "criminal") record.

More interesting is the fact that KCBX Terminals, which operates some of the yards where the piles are dumped, is a division of Koch Industries, the greed-based company owned by the billionaire Koch brothers. The Kochs were also implicated in an environmental disaster earlier this year, when a pipeline owned by one of their subsidiaries leaked thousands of gallons of crude on Oct. 30.

On Nov. 18, Windy City mayor, Rahm Emanuel, promised a crackdown on the pollution. His office announced in an email that Emanuel is ordering the Department of Public Health to adopt "strict regulations on the maintenance and storage" of piles containing petcoke. Though it did not get into specifics, the email guaranteed that at least three storage terminals would be provided to start containing the black dust.

Susanna Gomez, a 37 year-old mother and grandmother who lives near the noxious stockpiles, remarked, "We could barely open the windows this summer because the black dust was so bad." She doesn't have the money to move, and her son is asthmatic.

Regulators with the EPA have now ordered that pollution monitors be posted around those enormous mounds, but citizens are doubtful such a measure will change anything. The agency made its announcement at a community meeting in the East Side United Methodist Church on Nov. 14, amidst cries of "Move the piles! Move the piles!" If not that, others suggested, then the next best thing would be to do what the law already requires in states like California, which is to cover the piles. The EPA also declared it would investigate whether the piles are in violation of the Clean Air Act, something the pollution monitors will supposedly help determine.

But residents like Sue Garza don't need monitors to tell them something's wrong. Said Garza, "We are breathing this stuff every day. No one asked us if we wanted to have these piles dumped here in the first place. We don't want this anymore."

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP