Environment , Energy and Sustainability 2010

League of Women Voters^®
of La Plata County

Environment , Energy and Sustainability 2010

EEandS_10

The environment as it affects life in La Plata County
To reference the LWV-LPC 2007-2009 environmental activities, click to the Environment Archive page to the left.

Upcoming Events. Legislative Alerts. La Plata Actions. Env & Energy Legislation. US/CO Env and Energy Positions. LWV Positions. LWVUS Reference Materials. Colorado and US News. World EES News. Correspondance from our members. Past Events. References.

Upcoming Events

Legislative Alerts

*7/16/10 LWVUS Action Alert: It's Now or Never for Climate and Energy Legislation
By the end of July, Senate leadership plans to bring comprehensive climate change and clean energy legislation to the floor. Unless you contact your Senators now to tell them to support the legislation, this vote could be the end of the road for one of the most important issues facing our nation...

La Plata County Actions

Environment and Energy Legislation

*2/1/10 NY Times: Budget Will Eliminate Yucca Nuclear Waste Repository, Says Sen. Reid By KATHERINE LING of GREENWIRE
The White House will propose eliminating the budget and office in charge of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday. Reid said the administration budget to be unveiled today will merge the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management with the Office of Nuclear Energy, and the separate funding stream for Yucca will be eliminated...

*NY Times: E.P.A. Seeks Stricter Rules to Curb Smog By JOHN M. BRODER
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a stricter standard for smog-causing pollutants that would bring substantial health benefits to millions of Americans while imposing large costs on industry and local governments. The standard would replace one set by the Bush administration in March 2008, which has been challenged in court by state officials and environmental advocates as too weak to adequately protect human health and the environment.
The Obama administration's proposal sets a primary standard for ground-level ozone of no more than 0.060 to 0.070 parts per million, to be phased in over two decades. Regions with the worst smog pollution, including much of the Northeast, Southern and Central California and the Chicago and Houston areas, would have more time than other areas to come into compliance...

US/CO Environment and Energy Positions

* 8/4/10 Durango Herald:Agency to tackle drilling pollution EPA to rewrite rules for gas and oil fields by Joe Hanel
DENVER - The federal Environmental Protection Agency plans to rewrite its rules for air pollution from gas and oil drilling in response to a lawsuit from the San Juan Citizens Alliance.
EPA officials held a public meeting Tuesday in Denver to solicit input on updated rules. They held a similar meeting Monday in Arlington, Texas.
The effort marks the first major update to several air-quality rules for the industry in 10 to 25 years, in some cases.
The Environmental Protection Agency set up an e-mail address + CCG-ONG@epa.gov + that people can use to submit information about the agency's proposal to rewrite its rules for air pollution from gas and oil drilling.

*5/13/10 MSNBC:EPA moves to regulate industrial greenhouse gases By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to more tightly control air pollution from large power plants, factories and oil refineries, a step to limit emissions widely blamed for global warming.
The EPA said it is completing a rule requiring large polluters to reduce the amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that they release into the air. Those emissions can boost many allergens and worsen smog, which can trigger asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments.
The rule would require companies to install better technology and improve energy efficiency whenever they build, or significantly modify, a plant...

* 4/2/10 Durango Herald:New mileage rules: Pay more for cars, less at gas pump by Ken Thomas Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Drivers will have to pay more for cars and trucks, but they'll save at the pump under tough new federal rules aimed at boosting mileage, cutting emissions and hastening the next generation of fuel-stingy hybrids and electric cars. The new standards, announced Thursday, call for a 35.5 miles-per-gallon average within six years, up nearly 10 mpg from now.
The rules will cost consumers an estimated $434 extra per vehicle in the 2012 model year and $926 per vehicle by 2016, the government said. But the heads of the Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency said car owners would save more than $3,000 over the lives of their vehicles through better gas mileage...

*3/23/10 Denver Post:Ritter signs bill requiring greater use of renewable energy by 2020 By Lynn Bartels
Colorado, already viewed as a renewable energy leader, took another step Monday when Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law a bill that will give the state the highest renewable energy standard in the Rocky Mountain West. The measure requires that 30 percent of electricity be generated from renewable sources by 2020...

LWV Positions

*7/16/10 LWVLPC: Click EPA fracking study speech to read the speech, given by Jeannette Hillary on behalf of the LWVCO, at an EPA public meeting on July 13, 2010 in Denver to gather information for a study that will be conducted by the EPA from 2010 - 2012 on the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water.

*7/16/10 LWVLPC&LWVMC: Click LWVLPC & LWVMC letter on fracking study to read a letter on the upcoming EPA fracking study sent to Jill Dean, EPA Office of Research and Development (hydraulic.fracturing@eps.gov) by the La Plata County and Montezuma County Leagues.

*4/30/10 Letter to Tom Rice, BLM Natural Resource Specialist Kinder Morgan Goodman Point Environmental Assessment #CO-800-2009-043 from the LWV of La Plata County
The League of Women Voters of La Plata County, CO, in addressing the Kinder Morgan Goodman Point Development Project, urges the BLM and the EPA to look at the broader issue of drilling carbon dioxide on federal lands, not only in Canyon of the Ancients but across the U.S.

*11/25/09 A PROPOSAL FOR STREAMLINING EPA JURISDICTION IN THE FOUR CORNERS REGION Submitted by LWV of La Plata and Montezuma Counties
Atmospheric processes in the Four Corners area, which includes parts of CO, UT, NM, and AZ, as well as tribal trust lands of four Native American tribes, are large scale and complex and do not respect political boundaries. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency jurisdiction over air quality in the Four Corners area is fragmented, burdensome, and in need of review and modification, in order to fulfill its mission in this region...
Recommended actions to improve EPA mission performance in the Four Corners include:

Promptly establish a senior level USEPA coordinator based in a Four Corners community but reporting directly to USEPA in Washington, D.C.
Strongly consider establishing a Four Corners USEPA Operations Office (by 2012)

LWVUS Reference Materials

*2/14/10 League of Women Voters - Jefferson County Colorado Energy Resources
In this century our nation will face choices as we try to find new, cleaner, energy sources and learn ways to create or extract them. Over the next two unit meetings, we will examine all sources of energy--explaining and simplifying their effective output, costs, delivery system, environmental and human impacts, and suitability for use. The first session will focus on "old" technologies: coal, oil, gas, nuclear power and hydroelectric. The second will include newer technologies: wind, solar, ocean, biomass (including ethanol), and geo-thermal power. We will expand into new processes not viable on the commercial market at this time. In addition, the current American electric grid will also be explored...

*LWVUS: More from UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change COP15 Carole Conors Head of Delegation League of Women Voters of the US COP15 UNFCCC
Copenhagen was not a scientific conference. It was a political conference. While some countries were eager to tackle climate change, others came to negotiate what they could bring home to their countries and how little they'd have to spend in money and effort. Although there is disappointment among some country delegations and some in the NGO community, an accord was produced of some substance. Some good things did happen. The agreement states twelve acknowledgments. Every country signing the Accord acknowledges the twelve points, and it is believed that every country but four--Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Venezuela--intends to sign on...

Colorado and US News

*3/28/10 Durango Herald:State mulls $36M A-LP water plan Should take advantage of bargain rate, Whitehead says by Joe Hanel Herald Denver Bureau
DENVER - State Sen. Bruce Whitehead is pushing state officials to buy $36 million worth of water from the Animas-La Plata project. The Colorado Water Conservation Board will hold a special meeting by telephone Monday morning to discuss the option.
The state holds the right of first refusal to buy 10,460 acre-feet of water. If the state doesn't buy it, the water would go to the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribes, which own 33,050 acre-feet each behind the dam just west of Durango, near Bodo Industrial Park.

*2/18/10 Durango Herald:Nuclear power: Is it safe? Is it needed? Debaters discuss the pros, cons at Center of Southwest Studies by Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer
Past nuclear power disasters, present stagnation of the industry and possible resurgence got a thorough airing Tuesday at a debate about the need and wisdom of harnessing nuclear fission to satisfy the growing demand for electricity.
The debate was sponsored by the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the League of Women Voters and the Environmental Center at Fort Lewis College. Squaring off on issues in the half-full 125-seat lyceum at Center of Southwest Studies on campus were: b Dave Nulton, a retired U.S. Department of Energy employee who, among other duties, dismantled nuclear weapons and disposed of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium in the United States and the Soviet Union. Nulton, whose 36-year career with the DOE ended six years ago, now is an energy consultant in Durango...

*2/6/10 Durango Herald: DMR faces air-quality accusations San Juan County says resort failed to comply with agreement by Katie Burford
San Juan County officials have accused Durango Mountain Resort of failing to comply with air-quality measures imposed as part of the resort's development agreement.
In a meeting with La Plata County commissioners on Thursday, Paul Sunderland, San Juan County attorney, said DMR had not maintained air-quality or visibility data since 2005, had failed to produce a baseline analysis and violated a prohibition on open burning...

*1/31/10 Durango Herald: New analysis examines state water needs Colorado River study uses climate-change models to see future by Joe Hanel Herald Denver Bureau
DENVER - The question that keeps water managers up at night - How much water is left in the Colorado River? - now has an answer, courtesy of a state study that went public last week. Its answer: It depends. But it's probably less water than the state needs...

*1/23/10 NY Times Editorial:The Case for a Climate Bill
The conventional wisdom is that the chances of Congress passing a bill that puts both a cap and a price on greenhouse gases are somewhere between terrible and nil. President Obama can start to prove the conventional wisdom wrong by making a full-throated case for a climate bill in his State of the Union speech this week.
Washington has been forecasting the likely death of a climate bill with renewed certainty since Massachusetts elected a Republican senator who promised to block pretty much anything Mr. Obama wants. But even before then we were hearing two reasons why a bill could not pass: The Senate won't have any strength left when it finishes with health care, and the nation cannot afford a bill that implies an increase in energy prices. The first reason is defeatist, the second greatly exaggerated...

*1/14/10 NY Times: Proposed Tougher Ozone Standard Worries Intermountain West Drillers By SCOTT STREATER of GREEWIRE
More than a dozen Western counties with high levels of oil and gas drilling could face tougher requirements for ozone pollution under new proposed federal standards rolled out last week, adding another dose of regulatory uncertainty to an industry already facing tougher scrutiny over its air emissions.
The revised health standard, if finalized later this year, could cause petroleum-rich sections of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah to become so-called "nonattainment areas" for ozone, forcing state governments to revise or adopt new federally approved plans to reduce ozone precursor pollutants in the affected counties...

World EES News

*4/13/10 New York Times:Obama Calls for Joint Action to Safeguard Nuclear Stocks By DAVID E. SANGER and MARK LANDLER
WASHINGTON -- Saying that the prospect of nuclear terrorism had emerged as one of the greatest threats to global security, President Obama called on world leaders "not simply to talk, but to act" to secure or destroy vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear materials.
Mr. Obama, addressing a plenary session of the 47-nation nuclear security conference he had convened here, told fellow leaders Tuesday morning that it was time "not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress for the security of our people."
Mr. Obama, addressing a plenary session of the 47-nation nuclear security conference he had convened here, told fellow leaders Tuesday morning that it was time "not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress for the security of our people."...

*3/31/10 The Independent:Climate: 75 countries set carbon emission targets for 2020 - UN
Seventy-five countries accounting for more than 80 percent of greenhouse gases from energy use have filed pledges to cut or limit carbon emissions by 2020, the UN climate convention said Wednesday. The promises, made under the Copenhagen Accord, are only a step towards wider action to tackle global warming, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said in its official report on December's world climate summit.
A total of 111 countries plus the European Union (EU) "have indicated their support for the Accord," the UNFCCC said...

Correspondance from our members

*3/4/10 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone from Stephanie Huss, President, League of Women Voters of La Plata County

Past Events

*Click HBO Gasland Series to view an expose of the campaign to extract natural gas in the U.S. by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and its impacts on water supplies and health.
"Gasland" examines the industry's exemptions from environmental regulations and interviews citizens who live in drilling areas, including Colorado. The film was inspired when a gas company came to director Josh Fox's hometown with offers for drilling rights and he began to research the offers, resulting in this documentary alleging chronic illness, animal-killing toxic waste, disastrous explosions, and regulatory missteps. It is an award-winning Sundance documentary on the surprising consequences of natural gas drilling which is relevant to the fracking issue in La Plata County.

Check your provider for dates and times on HBO -- June 23, June 24, June 26, June 30, July 5 and July 9

*5/24/10 Alert from Mary Wilson - President, LWVUS - Climate Change call for action:
Big oil and the politicians who deny climate change are planning to force a vote on the Senate floor at any moment. Their intent? Block any action to combat the pollution that is destroying our planet. And they could win if we don't act now. Please take action to stop this anti-science, pro-special interest legislation.

Senator Lisa Murkowsi (R-AK) has offered a resolution that will overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's finding -- which is based on the clear consensus of the world's best scientists -- that greenhouse gases cause climate change. It would undo an historic agreement made last year with the auto industry to cut pollution and save up to 450 million barrels of oil each year, according to the EPA. The Senator's resolution clearly benefits special interests at the expense of the American public.
The Murkowski resolution would also block action against pollution spewing from the oldest and worst coal-fired power plants -- again putting powerful interests ahead of citizens like you and me.

The choice is clear: special interests versus the clear scientific consensus that manmade greenhouse gases are causing climate change here and around the world. We cannot let the special interests win. As a citizen who is deeply concerned about protecting our democracy -- and understands the role of science in modern society -- please take action now by contacting your Senators. Make no mistake. The science is clear. We must act to stop global climate change. But do not underestimate the power of special interests in the halls of Congress.
Now is the time to take action.
Thanks for all you do,
Mary G. Wilson President, LWVUS

*4/22/10 LWVUS:Earth Day message
Today is Earth Day. As our nation reflects on the problems facing our planet, it's important to remember why these issues matter, and what we can do as citizens. League supporters are now asking their Senators to make sure a climate change bill is as strong as possible, and it's not too late to add your voice. Click ACTION ALERT: Support Strong Climate Legislation to contact your Senators. You can also call 1-877-9-REPOWER, a service our friends at Repower America are providing as another way to reach your Senators.

*May 6-7 2010 San Juan Air Quality Forum Fort Lewis College Student Union, Durango, CO
The Mountain Studies Institute partners with the Colorado Department of Public Health, San Juan Basin Health Department, US EPA Region 8, NM Environment Department, Southern Ute Indian Tribe and other agencies to bring together experts on Air Quality to present and discuss air quality conditions in the Four Corners, potential health effects associated with air quality, and future regulation measures. Topics include air toxics, ozone, regional haze, mercury, and more.
This event is free and open to the public. Click air quality forum to check out the agenda.
Please register to attend this meeting and indicate which tour you would like to attend by e-mailing: jo.matson@state.co.us, or by calling (303) 692-3101.

*4/8/10 Durango Herald:More than recycling needed, expert says Zero Waste member Liss plans to speak in Durango next week by Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer
Recycling keeps waste out of landfills and incinerators, but the other two-thirds of the environmental mantra "reduce, reuse, recycle" is where a lot more attention must be given in order to make a dent in the mountains of unwanted materials. That's the wisdom from a seasoned solid-waste and recycling professional and an active participant in the Zero Waste International Alliance who will be in Durango next week.
Gary Liss, a nationally known advocate of Zero Waste, the movement to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills and incinerators, is scheduled to make presentations in Durango on Wednesday, April 14 and Thursday, April 15. Liss will speak Wednesday at the Green Business Roundtable lunch starting at noon at the Strater Hotel. On Thursday he will lead a workshop sponsored by the Four Corners Office for Resource Efficiency from 8 to 11:30 a.m. at the Durango Public Library. Contact the San Juan Citizens Alliance at 259-3583 about the lunch and 4CORE at 259-1916 about the workshop.

*Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 1 p.m. at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 495 Florida Road. LWVLPC will be discussing and voting on concurrence of the following Sustainability Principles Statement:

Sustainability is a way of life which seeks to balance environment, economic and human needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet the same goal. The concept of Sustainability is implicit in the Principles of the League of Women Voters. League positions are in compliance with the fundamental principle of sustainability, recognizing the interdependency among issues of public policy, and the impact of current decisions on the global welfare of future generations.

Reference information for this meeting includes:

2/26/10 Durango Herald: Concept of sustainability: Why it is important, now and in future by Sustainability Alliance of Southwest Colorado
9/9/09 LWVCO: SUSTAINABILITY BACKGROUND
*Feb 16, 2010 Panel on Nuclear Energy: Two Perspectives You are invited to participate in a cradle-to-grave look at nuclear fission as a source of electricity for the future. The panel discussion entitled Nuclear Energy: Two Perspectives will be presented on Tuesday, February 16 from 7 to 9pm at Fort Lewis College + Center for Southwest Studies in the Lyceum Room. Join our panelists: Dave Nulton + Energy Consultant and Dept. of Energy (ret) and Travis Stills + Attorney for Energy Minerals Law Center. This event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of La Plata County, San Juan Citizens Alliance and the Fort Lewis College Environmental Center. Bring your questions! Click Nuclear Energy: Two Perspectives to check out the flier. sponsored by the League of Women Voters of La Plata County

*1/25/10 Legislative Alert from LWVLPC and LWVUS
Over the past six months, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced plans to improve air quality here in the Four Corners and nationally. They have agreed to review air-pollution standards for gas and oil operations; to establish greenhouse gas (GHG) and mercury emissions standards whose primary source are coal-fired power plants; to establish a new standard for ground-level ozone; and to require retrofit technologies for reducing air pollution from the Four Corners Power Plan and the Navajo Generating Station, two of the largest pollution sources in the United States. These sources of air pollution in the Four Corners also contribute to global climate change.
Now, an amendment has been proposed to weaken the Clean Air Act and block progressive and needed EPA action against climate change. We strongly urge you to immediately contact Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall. Ask them to oppose the Murkowski amendment by using the League of Women Voters Action Alert site, below: just click where indicated.
The amendment may be voted on as early as Wednesday, January 20th. Please send your message opposing weakening of the Clear Air Act today!" Deanna Collins, LWVLPC EE&S Chair
LWVLPC ACTION ALERT: Stand Up Against Weakening the Clean Air Act

The Senate is expected to vote as early as Wednesday, January 20th on an amendment that would weaken the Clean Air Act and block EPA action against climate change. If it passes, the amendment will put public health at risk and jeopardize long-overdue action to cut emissions from the biggest polluters.
Take action today by clicking here and entering your zip code.
Now is the critical time to urge your Senators to oppose the weakening of a law with a nearly 40-year track record of protecting human health and the environment and spurring innovation. Just as EPA is finally beginning to use the Clean Air Act to cut dangerous pollution that is causing global climate change, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R AK) is trying to block that action.
The Murkowski Amendment would let America's biggest polluters off the hook and negatively affect thousands of American businesses that are waiting for Congress to set clear energy and climate policies that will unlock billions of dollars in job-creating clean energy investments.

A vote on the Murkowski Amendment could come any time during the week of January 20. Make your voice heard with those of other activists around the country. Ask your friends, family and other League members to contact their Senators as well!

TAKE ACTION

1. Contact your Senators now, click here and enter your zip code. Tell them to oppose the Murkowski Amendment and to support action against global climate change.

2. Send this alert to other concerned citizens - your grassroots network, your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Encourage them to contact their Senators today!

BACKGROUND
Learn more about what the League is doing to support climate change legislation.

Sign up to receive Action Alerts directly by email. Don't miss an opportunity to take action! It's easy to sign up and the League will never share your email with others: http://takeaction.lwv.org/lwv/mlm/signup/.

For additional information, please contact LWVUS Grassroots Lobbyist Christina Vamvas at lobbying@lwv.org.

League of Women Voters 1730 M Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036 202-429-1965 http://www.lwv.org lwv@lwv.org

References

*6/24/10 New York Review of Books:Climate: What You Need to Know by Nicholas Stern
a review of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben's new book is a passionate appeal from a writer who has dedicated his efforts to warning of the risks posed by human-driven climate change. It describes the challenges we face--whether from effects on the environment that are already occurring, or from those that will occur due to the greenhouse gases we have already emitted and are likely to emit in the coming decades--if we do not act to curb emissions. But while McKibben insists on the importance of strong action to reduce those risks, he struggles to find grounds for optimism and often tilts toward a pessimism that has characterized recent works by other environmentalists, such as James Lovelock...

* La Plata County Sustainability Office
Our Mission
To promote and incorporate social, environmental, and economic sustainable best practices, concepts and technologies into the workings of La Plata County government that are socially practical, environmentally sound, and economically feasible.

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: August 13, 2010 15:47 PDT.