Christmas Tree Recycling Begins

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and state Division of Natural Resources will collect live Christmas Trees from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5, at the Capitol Market in downtown Charleston.

The annual Christmas Tree recycling event yielded close to 500 trees last year. The DNR takes collected trees and places them in lakes across West Virginia to improve fish habitat.

Each year, existing, rotting habitats are replaced by newly recycled trees and new habitats are created, as well. The trees provide excellent hiding and feeding areas for fish and other aquatic creatures.

This is the ninth year the DEP’s Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan (REAP) program has coordinated the tree recycling effort. To be accepted, all decorations must be removed from the tree, including ornaments, tinsel and stands.

Those who drop off trees can enter their names into drawings for ski packages at West Virginia resorts.

For more information, contact the DEP’s Sandy Rogers at

(304) 926-0499, ext. 1004, or email Sandra.D.Rogers@wv.gov

West Virginia DEP Offers Sustainability Grants

West Virginia communities interested in advancing their sustainability goals can apply for mini-grants offered through the Sustainability Institute at Bridgemont Community and Technical College and the West Virginia Sustainable Comunitites (WVSC) program.

 

A limited number of small grants will be awarded for technical assistance only, including professional services such as architectural/engineering, marketing/branding, and meeting facilitation. Construction, travel, printing, administrative, equipment, and overhead expenses are not eligible.

The WVSC program was launched by the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2006 to send young people from diverse backgrounds to work with rural communities across the state in order to further community-based sustainability efforts.

WVSC assists communities in locating qualified technical service providers to collaborate on project implementation.

These sustainable development professionals, working in concert with community members, comprise the project’s Sustainability Team. Grant funds are used to support expenses associated with the work of the Sustainability Team. 

Projects should correspond to one or more areas of emphasis such as architectural services to incorporate sustainable design and energy efficiency into an historical building renovation project; hiring a consultant to develop a business plan or feasibility study for a new recycling program; landscape design to incorporate water conservation, native vegetation, and local art into a greenway, trail, or community park project; engaging a professional facilitator for a sustainability planning process or to update an existing plan; and, hiring a consultant to develop a “buy local” campaign.

Eligible applicants range from 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations to grassroots organizations working with a 501

(c)3 fiscal sponsor. Also eligible are local government agencies and quasi-governmental entities

The deadline for grant applications is January 15, 2013.

Grants will be awarded in mid-February. Completed applications must be submitted to jdurant@bridgemont.edu.

For more information, contact Jamie Lyn Durant, WVSC program coordinator, at (304) 734-6710 or jdurant@bridgemont.edu.  Durant is available to review and provide feedback on draft proposals submitted prior to Jan.

7.

Coal To Replace Oil As Top Energy Source By 2017?

It appears  premature to declare the decline of  coal as a world energy source, as some have one of the world's premier energy sources.  The International Energy Agency  announced yesterday that the use of coal continues to increase, and the IEA makes the surprising prediction that coal might surpass petroleum as the world's top energy source by 2017.

Carbon Capture and Sequestration Strikes Out in Europe

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), the removal  of carbon dioxide from air pollution emissions and its storage  underground, is widely lauded as the means by which we can continue to burn coal without causing the earth's climate to warm.  It has proven difficult to do on a large scale, though, which calls its feasibility into question.   Guardian (U.K.) reports that a competition by the  European Union to find a CCS process to fund with  275 million euros resulted in no one who could propose an viable project. You can see the story here.

There are serious questions about whether CCS is a practical control technique, and important  legal issues to be resolved as well.  It is not clear who is responsible if the gas migrates or escapes, if there are seismic events triggered, etc.  The West Virginia Legislature formed a Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Working Group to look at these issues,  and it issued a report in July of 2011.  I don't think anything has happened with the report since that time.

Carbon capture has been promoted by some as BACT (Best Available Control Technology) that should be imposed on power plants and other sources of carbon dioxide.  One can question whether it is even needed, in light of the planet's failure to warm in the last 15 years, even as carbon dioxide levels rise.

The End Of Global Warming?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the international body that was created to report on the extent of global warming, is in the midst of one of its interminable report writing processes.  If it goes like before, the result will be questionable conclusions drawn from spotty data, with an executive summary  that warns of imminent disaster from predicted global temperature increases.  These increases are estimated  from computer models that the IPCC runs, carefully controlling the computer inputs in a way that has resulted in predictions of large increases in the future.

These predictions of large temperature increases  have been made for over 20 years now, and  it would be fair to see how they stack up against the actual temperature data over the past 20 or so years.  It appears they didn't do so well.  Someone has leaked the draft of the most recent IPCC report, and it contains a surprise, seen in the graph below:


Ignore the gray bands, which aren't relevant for our purposes.  Look at the colored bands, which show the range of IPCC model estimates.  The actual measurements are at the low end of the models, at best, and the apparent trend is down, not up.  Read more about it  here.  And remember, this is the IPCC's own  graph, relying on  adjusted temperature data, data  which have been disproportionately adjusted to reduce temperatures in the past and increase them after the model periods began, to exaggerate temperature increases.

The  IPCC computer modeling was a big part of the justification used by EPA to justify limits on greenhouse gas emissions.  Wonder if they'll reconsider now.

Latest Climate Change Conference Ends Without Meaningful Agreement

The Telegraph (UK ) is reporting a deal has been cut on climate change at the most recent international confab on global warming. When one looks at the report, however, it's clear why  these international conferences are less and less meaningful.  The commitments, such as they are, were gaveled through over the objections of  participants:

After several days of deadlocked talks, conference chairman Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah finally rushed through the package of deals which he termed the Doha Climate Gateway, riding roughshod over country objections as he swung the gavel in quick succession proclaiming: "It is so decided."

Observers said Russia had been trying to halt the extension of Kyoto, whose first leg expires on December 31. Moscow objected to the passing of the deal, and noted that it retained the right to appeal the president's action.

It doesn't say much for your agreement if you  have to ram it through in this fashion.  But more importantly, the "deal" only applies to countries with about  15% of the worlds emissions:

An extension of Kyoto was finally approved with the 27-member European Union, Australia, Switzerland and eight other industrialised nations signing up for binding emission cuts by 2020. They represent about 15 per cent of global emissions.  The protocol locks in only developed nations, excluding major developing polluters such as China and India, as well as the United States which refuses to ratify it.

Russia, Japan and Canada have all pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, questioning why their emissions should be limited when the bulk of the worlds emissions are unregulated. 

Lord Monckton's attempt to introduce some sanity into the proceedings was much more instructive and lots more entertaining. 

US Supreme Court Approves Temporary Takings Claims

The US Supreme Court said that even a temporary taking of property through flooding may be the basis for a takings claim under the Fifth Amendment.

Held: Government-induced flooding temporary in duration gains noautomatic exemption from Takings Clause inspection. Pp. 6–15.  

This from the McClatchy News Service: 

The 19-page ruling means that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission might get paid eventually for the Black River flooding damage that resulted when the Army Corps of Engineers released water from the Clearwater Dam in neighboring Missouri. From 1993 to 2000, the flooding wiped out more than 18 million board feet of timber in a wildlife management area about 115 miles from the dam.

 The decision in  Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States  can be found here.  It would not seem to have much application in West Virginia, but the approval of temporary takings claims may have ramifications in some other contexts.

West Virginia Issues MS4 Storm Water Guidance

This news release about municipal storm water management guidance comes from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.  At 500 pages, this is going to take some time to study. 

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has a new tool to help communities reduce the impacts of polluted storm water on the state’s streams and rivers.

Produced for the WVDEP by the Center for Watershed Protection, the 500-page West Virginia Stormwater Management and Design Guidance Manual is the first of its kind in the state. Both state and federal funds were used for the $150,000 project, which took two and a half years to complete and is based on up-to-date research in the science of stormwater management.

The manual outlines innovative ways to use plants and soils to reduce runoff volumes and pollutants at development and redevelopment sites. The guide can be used as a design resource by any West Virginia community interested in more effectively dealing with the harmful effects of polluted stormwater to the state’s waterways.

The manual’s chief function, however, is to provide design instruction and guidance on implementing stormwater practices in accordance with West Virginia’s small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) General Permit.  Forty-seven West Virginia communities are regulated under the MS4 permit.

“This is a resource tool for state stormwater officials, engineers and designers who are required to implement the provisions of the MS4 permit,” said the WVDEP’s Sherry Wilkins, project manager for the Guidance Manual. “By meeting these performance standards outlined in the permit, the MS4 communities will effectively improve the water quality of our streams and rivers and that benefits everybody.”

The WVDEP plans to distribute the manual to the state’s MS4 communities first. It will be available on the agency’s Web site by the end of December. Go to: 

http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/Programs/stormwater/MS4/Pages/defa

ult.aspx.

Why the Ethanol Waiver Would Not Work

The following was copied from the ABQ Journal and was written by John Stewart / President, Stewart Management and Consulting Inc., Albuquerque on Mon, Dec 3, 2012.  You  can see it here.

By way of background, ranchers and consumer advocates,  about the price of corn and other grains following this year's drought, asked EPA to waive the requirement for ethanol as an oxygenate in fuel.  Corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol production.  The idea was to reduce demand for corn and thereby drive down its  price so  that cheaper feed would be available for livestock and humans.  I thought Mr. Stewart offered an interesting   explanation of the origin of the use of ethanol as an oxidizer in fuel, and the  (non)effect that granting the ethanol waiver would have had. I have no idea whether he's right, but it's a perspective I hadn't seen. 

Clean Air Act Led to Mass Use of Ethanol

By John Stewart / President, Stewart Management and Consulting Inc., Albuquerque on Mon, Dec 3, 2012

Regarding the editorial in the Nov. 23 Journal titled “EPA Denial of Ethanol Waiver Is Bad Policy,” I would like to make two things clear at the beginning. First, I do work as a consultant in the agribusiness industry, which includes corn processors.

Second, I feel the EPA and its head, Lisa Jackson, have frequently over-reached in their rule making. That being said, I agree with the EPA’s decision not to waive the Renewable Fuel Mandate for a very important reason. Since the inception of the mandate and up to now, ethanol use in gasoline has always exceeded the mandate.

What is poorly understood is that the explosion of the corn starch ethanol industry is a result of the Clean Air Act’s removal of tetra ethyl lead from gasoline, not the renewable fuel mandate.

When the petroleum industry’s preferred substitute for lead, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was found to be polluting groundwater, its only practical replacement as an oxygenate and octane enhancer was, and still is, ethanol. The only substitutes for ethanol are the so-called “aromatics” such as benzene, toluene and xylene. They are much more expensive for blenders than ethanol, and benzene is a known carcinogen.

The sudden demand for ethanol as an oxygenate and octane enhancer created a spike in the ethanol price, which made ethanol production hugely profitable. As a result, billions of dollars were spent to create the corn processing ethanol industry because the only feedstock available to produce ethanol in sufficient quantity was, and still is, corn.

To establish a cellulosic industry necessary to produce the amount of cellulosic ethanol mandated in EISA (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) would require many billions of dollars. The fact that BP, which is one of the few players that could risk large amounts of capital, has recently terminated its effort to build a cellulosic processing plant tells us that commercial production of ethanol from cellulose is far from reality and may never happen.

I suggest you read the EPA’s Notice of Decision which can be accessed at this website http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/notices.htm. I specifically recommend that you read pages 27, 28 and 49. EPA clearly states, correctly, that a waiver of the mandate would have no effect on the quantity of ethanol used in motor fuel.

You should also be aware that there is no ethanol subsidy. When the corn starch ethanol industry was in its infancy there was a subsidy. This subsidy, as is the case with most government programs, stayed in place far too long. Once ethanol became the octane enhancer of choice, there was no need to continue the subsidy, and it was finally eliminated in 2011.

Wild Horses Invade Mine Land

From WYMT in  Kentucky, this news about wild horses on a strip mine site in Harlan County.  My colleague, Marsha Kauffman, saw a similar site on a trip to a strip mine in Mingo County.  She was amazed at the number of horses that were simply moving about  in large herds.  She was told that the horses were  often left there by their owners to forage until someone came to get them.  Others were  just free-roaming and had no owner.

Evidently the horses in Harlan County, like the mustangs  in the West that are rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management, are overgrazing their land.  Mine operators are having trouble maintaining the grasses that are necessary to allow them to get bond release. With no large natural predators, it's not surprising  that the herd has grown out of control.

Fracking Innovations

David Wethe of Bloomberg Buisnessweek reports on some of the innovations that are being developed to make fracking of natural gas-bearing shale strata more  environmentally-friendly.  The new approaches generally fall into one of two camps - ways to frack without water, or ways to clean up water that has been used to frack.

The article  notes that the fracking wastewater has been linked to surface water pollution, but I don't believe that is true in West Virginia.  The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has had a zero discharge limit for flow back and  produced fluids for years, which  effectively prohibited the discharge of frack water  brought up from downhole. There were a few municipal wastewater treatment plants that took frack water, but not many, and West Virginia has been ahead of the curve on preventing frack water from getting into state streams.

EPA Enters Into Consent Agreement with West Virginia Company

           PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 29, 2012) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has entered into a Clean Water Act (CWA) administrative consent agreement and final order (CAFO) with PDC Mountaineer, LLC (PDCM) to resolve violations involving construction activities at Marcellus Shale gas extraction facilities in northern West Virginia.

The settlement requires PDCM to pay a penalty of $177,500. Also, the company is restoring and/or completing mitigation projects at four sites pursuant to three separate CWA administrative orders incorporated into the CAFO.  

EPA conducted two site inspections on December 11, 2011, and March 28, 2012 at the D’Annunzio Well Pad and the Hudkins Well Pad in Harrison County, W. Va. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires persons wishing to discharge fill material into wetlands or streams to obtain a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In this case, the company failed to apply for or receive a Section 404 permit. In addition, information subsequently provided by the company revealed more violations along the course of two pipelines which will ultimately transport gas extracted by PDCM.

Unpermitted activities included the filling, relocating and placement of culverts in streams and the filling of wetlands. The violations at the four sites resulted in adverse impacts to nearly an acre of emergent and forested wetlands. There are permanent impacts to more than 1,500 linear feet of stream, and temporary impacts to more than 3,000 linear feet of streams. Mitigation for the wetland and stream impacts includes a combination of restoration, mitigation, and the purchase of wetland credits from a mitigation bank. The affected wetlands and streams ultimately flow into the West Fork River, which is part of the Monongahela River Basin.

            Wetlands are a scarce resource in West Virginia, occupying less than 0.4 percent of West Virginia’s land surface area. Since 1780, over 24 percent of West Virginia’s wetlands have been lost.   Wetlands are vital to protecting the integrity of our rivers and estuaries by providing a natural filtration system for pollution before it gets into rivers, lakes and ponds, and by preventing flooding after storms. They also provide important fish and wildlife habitat. While progress has been made in recent years to reverse the trend, wetlands continue to be threatened.

The streams involved in this case were mostly headwater streams, the small creeks and streams that are the origin of most rivers. Headwater streams function to store floodwater, reduce sediment, and provide an important source of freshwater dilution to downstream waters.

PDCM is headquartered in Bridgeport, W.Va, and is a joint venture between PDC and Lime Rock Partners, L.P., a private equity firm. It was formed to explore and develop Marcellus Shale gas deposits.

As part of the settlement, the company did not admit to violating the CWA.

West Virginia DEP Offers Free Wildflower Calendars

West Virginians already looking forward to the sights of spring and summer can get some early satisfaction by ordering an Operation Wildflower 2013 “Roadsides in Bloom”

calendar from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The free calendar is sponsored by the DEP and the state Department of Transportation. It includes the 13 best photos -- as judged by state officials -- of West Virginia wildflowers, photographed by West Virginia citizens and others. The calendar features photos of flowers growing naturally along state roads or in Operation Wildflower beds planted by the state Division of Highways. Twelve winning photos were selected to represent the months of the year and a grand prize winner’s photo is displayed on the calendar cover.

David Arroniz, of Kearneysville, is this year’s grand prize winner for his photo of cherry blossoms growing along Childs Road in Jefferson County.

Other winners include: Ann Walker, Hillsboro; Lynn Carr, Cool Ridge; Penny Johnson, Charleston; Gladys Mullins, Elkview; Kathryn Davis, Hambleton; Savannah Cantrell, Alkol; Cheryl Dalonges, Ridgeley; Raymond Harr, Franklin; Pamela Manning, Culloden; Eugene Walker, Hillsboro; Gary Bolt, Beckley; and Randy Timm, Webster Springs.

To order a calendar, go to:

http://www.dep.wv.gov/dlr/reap/ow; call 1-800-322-5530; or email dep.aah@wv.gov. If you call and get voicemail, please leave your name and address on the mailbox.

West Virginia’s Operation Wildflower beautification program is a joint effort between the DEP and the DOH. It includes more than 250 acres of wildflowers grown along West Virginia’s roadways.

US Supreme Court Could Require Permits for Urban Runoff

On December 4  the US Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether municipalities will be required to obtain NPDES permits for the pollutants that run off from their streets and buildings through their municipal separate storm  sewer systems, orMS4s, into nearby rivers. The case,  Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense  Council,  is an appeal from a decision of the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals  in which the City (County?) of Angels  was ordered to obtain permits for its discharges of runoff into the Los Angeles River. Roderick Walston has a great analysis of the case and the legal issues involved, and I invite you to check it out to learn more about them.

Legalities aside, this is a tough nut to crack  politically.  MS4s can be major contributors to water quality violations, but requiring  NPDES permits for this type of runoff will  likely result in higher taxes to pay for the  treatment needed to meet discharge limits.

WV Supreme Court Rules On Surface Owner's Right to Object to Gas Drilling Permit

In a decision that was closely watched in West Virginia, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled that surface owners do not have a right to  object to the issuance of an oil and gas drilling permit.  In Martin v. Hamblet, 11-1157 (Nov. 21, 2012) the court ruled that the statutory right to object was  given to the operator of a coal seam the well would run through, not the owner of the land on which the well was located.

The Circuit Court of Doddridge County had certified the following question to the Court:

Does the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeal’s [sic] opinion in State ex rel. Lovejoy v. Callaghan, 576 S.E.2d 246, 213 W. Va. 1 (2002) interpret the relevant statutes, when read in para materia, to permit a surface owner to seek judicial review of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Oil and Gas’s issuance of a well work permit for a horizontal Marcellus well?

Syllabus Point 6  expressed the Court's conclusion:

6. The right of judicial review with regard to the issuance or refusal of a well work permit as provided by W. Va. Code § 22-6-41 (1994) (Repl. Vol. 2009) does not extend to owners of the surface rights of the property upon which the proposed well is to be drilled. To the extent that State ex rel. Lovejoy v. Callaghan, 213 W. Va. 1, 576 S.E.2d 246 (2002), indicates otherwise, it is overruled.

The Court also addressed Mr. Hamblet's  Due Process and Equal Protection arguments, even though they weren't part of the certified question, and found no public action to condemn.  Mr. Hamblett, having entered into a lease with EQT that allowed it access to his land for the purposes of drilling a well, was adversely affected by that agreement, not the issuance of the well permit.

Mr. Hamblet's constitutional arguments are premised upon the notion that surface owners have an unrestricted right to enjoyment in their property. A surface owner's rights, however, are subject to the mineral owner's rights. A mineral owner generally has the right to utilize the surface for "purposes reasonably necessary for the extraction of the minerals." Buffalo Mining Co. v. Martin, 165 W. Va. 10, 14, 267 S.E.2d 721, 723 (1980).  In other words, "'[t]he owner of the mineral underlying land possesses as incident to this ownership the right to use the surface in such manner and with such means as would be fairly necessary for the enjoyment of the mineral estate." Squires v. Lafferty, Pt. 1, Syl., 95 W.Va. 307, 121 S.E. 90 [(1924)]." Syllabus, Adkins v. United Fuel Gas Co., 134 W.Va. 719, 61 S.E.2d 633 (1950). Here, EQT has a legally binding lease that grants it explicit rights of access to the oil and gas underlying Mr. Hamblet’s property. It is this contractual obligation burdening Mr. Hamblet’s surface estate that deprives him of an unrestricted right to enjoyment of his property, not the issuance of the well work permit at issue. As such, the constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection do not apply. Article III, § 10 of the Constitution of West Virginia “protects the individual from deprivations by the State, but not from actions of private persons.” Queen v. West Virginia University Hospitals, 179 W. Va. 95, 103, 365 S.E.2d 2d 375, 383 (1987).

Counties REAP Benefit of DEP Recycling Grants

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, today, awarded grants worth $1.452 million to 32 recipients through the agency’s REAP Recycling Assistance Grants program.

DEP Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman presented the 2013 grants during a ceremony at the DEP’s Charleston headquarters. Grants were awarded to state solid waste authorities, county commissions, municipalities, private industries and nonprofit organizations.

Funding for the Recycling Assistance Grants Program is generated through the $1 assessment fee per ton of solid waste disposed at in-state landfills and is provided by WV Code 22-15A-19(h) (1). REAP is the DEP’s Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan program.

Following are the grant recipients:

BERKELEY COUNTY

Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority $125,750 

To assist with site improvements and storage containers for the ongoing county-wide program.

BRAXTON COUNTY

Braxton County Solid Waste Authority      $128,521   

To assist with personnel and to purchase a box truck, a forklift, and assist with the ongoing county-wide program. 

CABELL COUNTY

Cabell County Solid Waste Authority $47,600    

To assist with personnel, and expand current mixed media recycling and educational media campaign for the county- wide program.

Goodwill Industries of KYOWVA Area $33,092 To purchase recycling containers, fuel for recycling trucks, shrink wrap and baling wire for the ongoing program.

FAYETTE COUNTY

Fayetteville, Town of $40,000

To assist with personnel and fencing for the recycling area for the ongoing town program.

     

GREENBRIER COUNTY

Alderson, Town of $45,535

To assist with personnel and to purchase a flatbed truck and indoor office recycling containers for the town’s recycling program.

Greenbrier County Solid Waste Authority $45,000 To purchase a baler for the ongoing county-wide program.

HARRISON COUNTY                          

Harrison County Recycling Center $75,000 

To purchase a horizontal baler for the ongoing program.

Harrison County Solid Waste Authority $16,244 To purchase recycling containers for classrooms and hallways for the ongoing county-wide program.

Nutter Fort, Town of $10,600

To purchase a sideload triple recycling system, household recycling bins and to assist with the ongoing town program.

JACKSON COUNTY

Jackson County Solid Waste Authority      $90,980

To purchase an electric forklift, a van truck and a heavy duty pick-up truck for the ongoing county-wide program.

KANAWHA COUNTY

Charleston, City of $60,060

To purchase a dump truck with lift gate for the ongoing city-wide program.

Recycling Coalition of WV $48,000

To assist with WV Recycles Day educational inserts and promotional ads for the statewide recycling advertising campaign.

LEWIS COUNTY

Lewis/Gilmer Solid Waste Authority $28,593 To purchase a roll-off container and educational materials for the ongoing county-wide program.

LINCOLN COUNTY

Lincoln County Solid Waste Authority      $14,010

To purchase school recycling bins and to assist with personnel for the ongoing county-wide program.

LOGAN COUNTY

Vance Recycling $26,875

To purchase a forklift for the ongoing program.

MERCER COUNTY

Bluefield, City of $20,542

To assist with personnel and operational expenses for the ongoing city-wide program.

 

Mercer County Solid Waste Authority $59,167    

To purchase a skid steer loader, a baler and to assist with

personnel for the ongoing county-wide program.

     

MONONGALIA COUNTY

PC Renewal $25,000

To purchase a forklift for the ongoing electronics recycling operation.

Westwood Middle School $14,041.50    

To purchase hook-lift recycling bins and recycling bags for the school’s recycling program.

NICHOLAS COUNTY

New River Trading $48,049.90

To purchase a fork truck and storage building for the ongoing program.

PRESTON COUNTY

Preston Tire and Recycling $25,698

To assist with the purchase of a canopy cover for the ongoing recycling operation. 

Terra Alta, Town of $15,000

To assist with personnel for ongoing town program.

RALEIGH COUNTY

Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority      $150,000   

To purchase a horizontal baler for the ongoing county-wide program.

RITCHIE COUNTY

Ritchie County Solid Waste Authority      $20,000

To purchase forklift roll guard cage replacement, a cantilever gate for chain link fence, two utility trailers, and assist with the ongoing county-wide program.

ROANE COUNTY

Roane County Solid Waste Authority $75,700 To purchase a recycling box truck, a vertical baler, a forklift and assist with personnel and insurance for the truck for the ongoing county-wide program.

WAYNE COUNTY

Wayne County Commission $47,300

To assist with roof replacement and to purchase portable loading dock for the ongoing program.

Wayne County Solid Waste Authority $26,964.36 To assist with personnel and fuel for the recycling trucks for the ongoing county-wide program.

     

WETZEL COUNTY

Zanesville Welfare Organization/Goodwill $15,000 To purchase an electric forklift for the ongoing program.

WOOD COUNTY

Parkersburg, City of $31,907

To purchase recycling bins, cardboard containers and assist with personnel for the ongoing city-wide program.

WVU at Parkersburg      $15,450

To purchase a three-bin recycling trailer and to assist with the ongoing program.

WYOMING COUNTY

Wyoming County Commission $17,315

To purchase a high density vertical baler for the ongoing program.

Watts UP With That Responds to Al Gore Hysteria

I'm a little late getting this up, but the following is a press release from Anthony Watts, the man  with the most-viewed blog on global warming on the internet.  He is providing some counter-programming to an Al Gore 24 hour media event.   It will be interesting to see who does better  with viewers.

WUWT-TV to debut on November 14th to counter Al Gore’s “Dirty Weather Telethon” on November 14th and 15th starting at 8PM EST (5PM PST)

Al Gore is forming another 24 hour media event on November 14th, focusing on “dirty energy=dirty weather”, which you can read about here.

WUWT Editor Anthony Watts says:

It is yet another example of what has been called “Tabloid Climatology” trying to use the once forbidden “weather is not climate” meme. Now almost any weather event seems to be used as “proof” of a global warming influence where just a few years ago the idea was laughed at by climate activists.

Journalists should take note that the largest and most prestigious scientific journal in the world, Nature, has come down squarely against the kind of claims Mr. Gore is making in his previews saying:

Better models are needed before exceptional events can be reliably linked to global warming.

Source:  http://www.nature.com/news/extreme-weather-1.11428

Mr. Gore’s program is yet another transparent politically based attempt to link climate and weather, and to make people fearful of common weather events that we’ve seen all throughout history. WUWT hosted a 24 hour counter event last year, thanks to the talents of our contributing cartoonist, Josh.  You can review that here.

Last year, during his “24 Hours of Climate Reality”, Mr. Gore created a video called “Climate 101” in which he purported to show a laboratory experiment showing the warming effects of CO2. Unfortunately it was discovered that Mr. Gore fabricated the experimental results using video post production techniques. You can read about it and see the evidence here:

Video analysis and scene replication suggests that Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project fabricated their Climate 101 video “Simple Experiment”

and

Replicating Al Gore’s Climate 101 video experiment shows that his “high school physics” could never work as advertised

Due to Mr. Gore broadcasting fabricated and impossible to replicate science experiments, and then failing to correct the video even when glaringly obvious falsifications were pointed out, and partly due to WUWT’s founder Anthony Watts recent interview (and backlash) on PBS Newshour, a donor has stepped forward and offered to equip WUWT for professional Live TV over the Internet and has purchased a complete web enabled TV studio setup for use this year, seen here.

It includes two cameras, live video over net input, and live graphics/slideshow input.

It has been tested and has succeeded a 24 hour live web broadcast burn in period. When in production, the WUWT-TV web channel will have all of the elements of a professional TV production. While it won’t match the well-funded technical quality of Mr. Gore’s CurrentTV operations, it will offer a wide variety of viewpoints to counter the claims that “weather is now climate” that Mr. Gore is making.

During the live event Wednesday and Thursday, WUWT-TV will be able to conduct live video interviews via Skype online video, plus will feature simultaneous PowerPoint presentations run in high quality HD to go with the live interview, while the guest narrates. These can be full screen or split screen depending on the setting.

Guest presentations will be pre-loaded into the live on-air system, and to facilitate remote control, WUWT has engineered a remote ‘web clicker’ that allows guest presenters to control their presentation from their end, using a web page with a forward and back button on it.

WUWT-TV has invited a number of individuals to give presentations. A list follows.

SCHEDULED TO APPEAR:

Andrew Montford (Author of The Hockey Stick Illusion)
Richard Lindzen (Alfred P. Sloan professor of Meteorology, MIT)
Marc Morano (Climate Depot)
John Coleman  (Founder of the Weather Channel, now at KUSI-TV)
Chris Horner (Senior Fellow, Center for Energy and Environment, CEI)
Steve McIntyre (editor of ClimateAudit.org)
Dr. Ross McKitrick (University of Guelph)
Dr. Roy Spencer (co author of UAH global temperature dataset)
Joe D’Aleo (Certified Consulting Meteorologist, WeatherBell)
Joe Bastardi  (Lead forecaster, Weatherbell)
Senator Jim Inhofe (retiring from Senate EPW )
Bob Tisdale (author of Who Turned on The Heat?)
Dr. Ryan Maue (meteorologist, Tropical storm specialist, Weatherbell)
Burt Rutan, (Engineer and Aviation Pioneer)
Dr. Sebastian Lüning  (co-author of Die kalte Sonne)
Harold Ambler (Author of Don’t Sell Your Coat)
Donna Laframboise (Author of The Delinquent Teenager)
Pat Michaels (former State climatologist of Virgina, fellow of the Cato institute)
Pete Garcia (Producer of the movie The Boy Who Cried Warming)
Christopher Monckton (SPPI)
Dr. Timothy Ball (climate scientist, commentator)
John Kehr (Author of the book, The Inconvenient Skeptic)
Dr. David Evans (Author of The Skeptics Case)
Dr. David Stockwell (Climate Modeller)
Mike Smith (Certified Consulting Meteorologist)
Steve Mosher and Tom Fuller (authors, The CRUtape Letters)
Kenji (member – Union of Concerned Scientists)

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For Questions – Contact WUWT-TV staff here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/about-wuwt/contact-2/

A schedule for speakers will be posted on WUWT the day of the event, along with important updates. Check www.wattsupwiththat.com for details.

Bromide Levels Return To Normal In the Monongahela River

A couple years ago, there was concern about Total Dissolved Solids, or TDS, in the Monongahela River.  There was call for the development of a water quality criterion for TDS, and talk about imposing controls on disposal of brine from oil and gas operations.  In response, the Pennsylvania DEP asked, and oil and gas operators voluntarily agreed, that no one dispose  of brine through wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).  The plants weren't constructed to remove dissolved solids, and therefore they were essentially being dumped untreated into Pennsylvania rivers.  (The West Virginia DEP had not generally allowed brine disposal through WWTPs, and therefore the oil and gas industry in WV  wasn't contributing to the problem.)

The fix appears to have worked.   According to an Associated Press report in the Charleston Gazette, levels of bromides, a constituent of TDS and a problem for municipal drinking water supplies, have dropped significantly.

 Jeanne VanBriesen said Thursday that preliminary data from tests this year showed that levels of salty bromides in the river have declined significantly when compared to 2010 and 2011. In many cases the bromides were at undetectable levels this year, and in general they returned to normal levels.  "These are very nice, low bromide levels, where we would like them to be,'' VanBriesen said of the 2012 test results, which were presented at a water quality conference in Pittsburgh.

Water Quality Standards Meeting November 8

      This is a reminder that the West Virginia Department of Environmental

Protection's Water Quality Standards Program will conduct a public meeting from

1:30 to 3:30 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 8, at WVDEP headquarters in Charleston.

The meeting will take place in the Coopers Rock Conference Room. 

Staff from the WVDEP will discuss comments received during the recent

solicitation of public input on potential revisions to the state's water

quality standards, which will be under review as part of the 2014 Triennial

Review process. Submitted comments have been posted on the Water Quality

Standards 2014 Triennial Review webpage.

For more information, please contact Kevin Coyne at (304) 926-0499, ext. 1110,

or via email at Kevin.R.Coyne@wv.gov.

WV DEP Division of Air Quality to Provide Air Inventory Reporting Training

John Pitner, the West Virginia Manufacturers Association's Air Team Leader, provides a heads-up that the WV  Division  of Air Quality has finalized plans to train the regulated community on the new web based “State and Local Emissions Inventory System” (SLEIS).  This application will be used to submit  annual emission inventory information for reporting year 2012, due by March 31, 2013.

Please save the following date to your calendar:

Tuesday, December 4, 2012  from  10 am  to 3 pm. It will be held in the WVDEP offices in the  Coopers Rock Training Room or you can attend online via a GoToWeb internet meeting.  The WVDAQ will send out a formal announcement containing details of the training in the next few weeks.

Contact Bob Betterton, WV Division of Air Quality, 304 9260499 for more information. 

WV Office of Oil and Gas Horizontal Well Presentation Material Now Available

Last week (October 24) the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection held a seminar in Flatwoods to explain how it was implementing rules regulating horizontal drilling, which is occurring principally in the Marcellus Shale area. The PowerPoint  presentations and other material from from that meeting  can be found here.

The Weather Isn't Getting Worse

Global warming doomsayers have seized upon Hurricane Sandy as proof of the increasing intensity of storms that is supposed  to occur as a result of greenhouse gas emissions. It's clear, though that any greater  losses due to hurricanes are a result of  increased business development and pricey homes near coastal areas.  Roger  Pielke Jr., a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado,  responds to  passions with fact in a Wall Street Journal online op-ed:

In studying hurricanes, we can make rough comparisons over time by adjusting past losses to account for inflation and the growth of coastal communities. If Sandy causes $20 billion in damage (in 2012 dollars), it would rank as the 17th most damaging hurricane or tropical storm (out of 242) to hit the U.S. since 1900—a significant event, but not close to the top 10. The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 tops the list (according to estimates by the catastrophe-insurance provider ICAT), as it would cause $180 billion in damage if it were to strike today. Hurricane Katrina ranks fourth at $85 billion.

While it's hardly mentioned in the media, the U.S. is currently in an extended and intense hurricane "drought." The last Category 3 or stronger storm to make landfall was Wilma in 2005. The more than seven years since then is the longest such span in over a century.

It's not just that major hurricanes that are occurring  less frequently, so are droughts, tornadoes and floods:

Flood damage has decreased as a proportion of the economy since reliable records were first kept by the National Weather Service in the 1930s, and there is no evidence of increasing extreme river floods. Historic tornado damage (adjusted for changing levels of development) has decreased since 1950, paralleling a dramatic reduction in casualties. Although the tragic impacts of tornadoes in 2011 (including 553 confirmed deaths) were comparable only to those of 1953 and 1964, such tornado impacts were far more common in the first half of the 20th century.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that drought in America's central plains has decreased in recent decades. And even when extensive drought occurs, we fare better. For example, the widespread 2012 drought was about 10% as costly to the U.S. economy as the multiyear 1988-89 drought, indicating greater resiliency of American agriculture.

So losses may be greater  now, but that's due to inflation and increased building, not storm intensity.  Something to think about next time you hear that the new paradigm is increased storm ferocity due to global warming/climate change/climate disruption.

Bio-Engineering In The Brave New World.

The Atlantic Monthly, which churns out some of the most thought-provoking prose in American topical literature, has presented a fascinating article on "Hacking the President's DNA."  The premise of the story is that it will soon be possible  for anyone who can obtain another person's DNA, in this case the President of the United States, to develop a designer pathogen that is lethal to that person. The  pathogen might be spread, like the flu, by a host of persons who were unwittingly infected with it without much outward effect,  until it reaches the POTUS and kills or disables him.

I can't speak to the likelihood of that scenario actually occurring, as it still smacks of science fiction.  But I'd recommend the article to anyone who, like me, was unaware of how far genetic manipulation has come.  I knew that genome sequencing has fallen to the $1000 per person level, and will soon be even less expensive, and more ubiquitous.  But I  was surprised by the amount of gene splicing and biological manipulation that is possible by small scale hobbyists and biological hackers.  The ease with  which "designer life" can be created, for good and ill, is impressive.  In  the past obtaining bacteria that ate petroleum  from oil spills,  or manufactured biodiesel from CO2 and water, required finding a natural organism and carefully cultivating it.  It now appears that such organisms can be created out of whole (genetic) cloth, and can be designed to be more efficient and operate under variable conditions.  The implications for energy production and our environment are staggering. Here's a description of what is going on now:

But Venter merely grazed the surface. Plummeting costs and increasing technical simplicity are allowing synthetic biologists to tinker with life in ways never before feasible. In 2006, for example, Jay D. Keasling, a biochemical engineer at the University of California at Berkeley, stitched together 10 synthetic genes made from the genetic blueprints of three different organisms to create a novel yeast that can manufacture the precursor to the antimalarial drug artemisinin, artemisinic acid, natural supplies of which fluctuate greatly. Meanwhile, Venter’s company Synthetic Genomics is working in partnership with ExxonMobil on a designer algae that consumes carbon dioxide and excretes biofuel; his spin-off company Synthetic Genomics Vaccines is trying to develop flu-fighting vaccines that can be made in hours or days instead of the six-plus months now required. Solazyme, a synbio company based in San Francisco, is making biodiesel with engineered micro-algae. Material scientists are also getting in on the action: DuPont and Tate & Lyle, for instance, have jointly designed a highly efficient and environmentally friendly organism that ingests corn sugar and excretes propanediol, a substance used in a wide range of consumer goods, from cosmetics to cleaning products.

The authors of the piece were Andrew Hessel, Mark Goodman and Steven Kotler

Adding Beneficial Microbes to Drinking Water

Public water suppliers spend lots of money trying to eliminate bacteria from drinking water.  But not all bacteria is harmful.  Indeed, we couldn't live without the bacteria that lines our guts and helps us digest food.

redOrbit reports on an intriguing proposal to encourage the existence and growth of beneficial microbes in drinking water:

The award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast produced by the American Chemical Society (ACS) has consistently been putting forth groundbreaking, research-based solutions to problems facing people around the world.

The latest episode, based on a paper recently published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, explains how water filtration systems might be used to encourage the growth of beneficial microbes in “purified” drinking water that would benefit consumers and outcompete harmful bacteria.

It's interesting to think that municipal water plants and home faucet filters might  one day be selectively removing some bacteria and  adding others to improve our health.

West Virginia Water Quality Standards Meeting November 8

      The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Water Quality Standards Program will conduct a public meeting from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 8, at WVDEP headquarters in Charleston. The meeting will take place in the Coopers Rock Conference Room.

 

Staff from the WVDEP will discuss comments received during the recent solicitation of public input on potential revisions to the state’s water quality standards, which will be under review as part of the 2014 Triennial Review process.

For more information, please contact Kevin Coyne at (304) 926-0499, ext. 1110, or via email at Kevin.R.Coyne@wv.gov.

West Virginia DEP To Hold Environmental Seminar November 8

A seminar designed to help West Virginia businesses and organizations better understand state environmental regulations and the consequences of non-compliance with those regulations is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., on Nov. 8, at Cabela’s in Charleston. 

The seminar is being conducted in coordination with the state Department of Environmental Protection and the West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership. It will be led by Dr. Terry Polen, Ombudsman for the WVDEP. Polen will cover the following topics:

Required permits; stormwater pollution prevention plans; ground water protection plans; spill pollution control and countermeasures; air quality permits; regulations for used oil; hazardous and solid waste; greenhouse gases; Tier II; and toxic release inventories.

The cost of the seminar is $75 (including lunch) and class size is limited. The registration period ends at noon on Nov. 7. For more information, or to register, contact Michelle Kyker at 304-290-8463 (mkyker@wvmep.wvu.edu) or Bob Bailey at 304-546-3642 (rbailey@wvmep.wvu.edu).

The same seminar will be presented on Dec. 6 in the Eastern Panhandle at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg, 301 Foxcroft Ave. The registration deadline is noon, Dec. 5. 

West Virginia's Triennial Review - Changing WV's Water Quality Standards

Every three years states are required to review their water quality standards.  West Virginia's next review formally kicks off in June of 2013, when changes will be officially  proposed, but  Kevin Coyne, Manager  of the WV Water Quality Standards program under Division of Water and Waste Management  Director Scott Mandirola, invited interested parties to get a head start and identify the issues that they believe should be considered  in the coming year.

Some of the better comments were provided by the West Virginia Coal Association. Twenty years ago, NPDES permit for coal mines were pretty simple - there were iron and pH limits, and not much else.  Industrial facilities received the tougher scrutiny,but that's no longer the case.   Manganese limits were added to mining NPDES permits (ironically, manganese was being used for water treatment), then selenium became an issue, and now conductivity.    Citizen suits and objections by EPA to mining permits have focused on these and other water quality concerns in order to force additional treatment that provides questionable environmental improvement.

Two issues addressed by the WVCA bear particular mention.  The first is the designation of all state streams as drinking water supplies.  The state maintains the fiction that all streams should be treated as if they are drinking water supplies, even though that is not required by the Clean Water Act, is completely impossible to achieve, and results in unnecessarily stringent permit limits that do not benefit anyone. The fact is, anywhere a public water supply is installed, all other dischargers have to protect it, and NPDES permit  limits would be imposed to do so.  Until there is a drinking water use, though, those protections are meaningless to everyone except the discharger that spends millions to protect a use that does not exist.  The WVCA comments provide  a good history of how we got to this point, and we can hope they will make correcting those historical mistakes a key feature of their efforts next year.

The other comment worth looking at is the suggestion that the DEP reconsider its application of the narrative criteria and  use of the  West Virginia Stream Condition Index.  The WVSCI is a guidance, not a rule, but it has frequently been applied as if it were a rule. Developing a new means of measuring compliance with the narrative water quality standards would be a welcome change.

How Much Coal Is Left In Central Appalachia?

Sometimes forgotten in the battle over mountaintop removal mining is the fact that miners are chasing smaller and smaller seams, making it less and less economical. While it's far from running out, the easily-obtained coal in southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky has all been mined.  Ken Ward reports on that phenomenon here, and his analysis is worth a look.

Persons unfamiliar with coal mining would probably be amazed at the amount of coal that  can be left in the mine after mining is complete. Room and pillar mining leaves huge blocks of coal behind, holding up the ceiling and keeping the surface from subsiding.  From diagrams, it would appear that more coal is left than is taken out. .Here is a diagram showing coal removal methods, although it doesn't show longwall mining, which gets much more coal, but allows the roof to collapse behind the longwall miner.  This is another description of the various mining methods.

Global Temperatures Haven't Risen in 15 Years

David Rose  of the UK Daily Mail reports that  UK Meteorology Office data show that the world stopped getting warmer 15 or 16 years ago. During the same time the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by about 10%.  It looks like it may be time to reformulate all those climate change models.

Horizontal Well Rules Advance

The huge increase in horizontal well drilling that has come with development of the Marcellus Shale play has led state regulators to take a close look at the environmental requirements  for those types of wells.   The Marcellus Shale industry is currently  operating under emergency rules that were adopted by the  West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection last year. The DEP now has to replace those emergency rules, which are only good for a little over a year, with legislative rules that are permanent.  Toward that end, in June the  DEP proposed its Rules Governing Horizontal Well  Development (35 CSR 8), which were similar to, but an expansion of, the emergency rules.  Comments on the proposed rule were accepted, and there were a large number  offered by the oil and gas industry and by the public.  You can see the comments, and the DEP's response, here.  (It may take a while to load, as there are over 700 pages of comments, hearing transcript and DEP response.)  The rule, as it was amended and sent to the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee on September 14, can be found here.

Legislative rules must be approved by the Legislature in West Virginia.  Come January, the proposed rule will be considered by the LRMRC, which will make a recommendation on adoption to the Legislature.  It will work its way through  several committees, where we will likely be fighting over certain provisions, until it is  passed by the Legislature and final-filed by the DEP.

West Virginia Brine Use Policy For State Roads

Natural gas wells can produce large amounts of brine that  flows back to the surface after well completion activities are finished. This salt water can be  an excellent substitute for the solid salt that is laid down on roadways before anticipated snowfalls, or after snow hits the ground. The brine also contains other substances, though, and not all flow back will qualify as road treatment salt.  The Department of Environmental Protection has specified what can be in the brine that qualifies for road use, and those limits are found  in this agreement between the WV Department of Highways and the DEP.

Subsequent note October 5, 2012  While this blog posting is correct, it could benefit from some additional clarification offered by the DEP.  The brine specifications were developed by the DEP to be used by the DOH in its bidding process, to let potential suppliers know of the quality specifications for brine sold to the State. The agreement should not be interpreted as a  permit for road application of brine by private individuals, even if it meets these quality standards.

Germany Leads The Way In Renewable Energy - And Suffers The Consequences

No other industrialized country has been more aggressive than Germany in developing renewables, in the form of  solar and wind power. The potential up side was demonstrated on September 14, when Germany hit 31 gigawatts of energy from wind power alone.  That's a huge number, lots of free energy, and had to be a large percentage of national electricity usage.  So why aren't more Germans celebrating, and why is Germany investing in so many new coal-fired power plants?

Christopher Booker explains in the (UK) Telegraph why reliance on renewables like wind and solar cause electricity rates to skyrocket and put an economy at risk. As Mr. Booker explains:

The more a country depends on such sources of energy, the more there will arise – as Germany is discovering – two massive technical problems. One is that it becomes incredibly difficult to maintain a consistent supply of power to the grid, when that wildly fluctuating renewable output has to be balanced by input from conventional power stations. The other is that, to keep that back-up constantly available can require fossil-fuel power plants to run much of the time very inefficiently and expensively (incidentally chucking out so much more “carbon” than normal that it negates any supposed CO2 savings from the wind).

 As consumers we are used to hitting the switch and lights coming on.  We have no idea of the complexities that are involved in matching the vagaries of solar and wind-produced electricity to the steady demands of the electrical grid. If our governments insist on more renewables in energy companies' portfolios, we may soon find out.

This was one example of what can happen to manufacturing when electricity is unreliable, which is especially interesting in light  of the possible start up of the aluminum smelter in Ravenswood:

Now the problem for the German grid has become even worse. Thanks to a flood of subsidies unleashed by Angela Merkel’s government, renewable capacity has risen still further (solar, for instance, by 43 per cent). This makes it so difficult to keep the grid balanced that it is permanently at risk of power failures. (When the power to one Hamburg aluminium factory failed recently, for only a fraction of a second, it shut down the plant, causing serious damage.) Energy-intensive industries are having to install their own generators, or are looking to leave Germany altogether.

Is The Diamond Darter West Virginia's Next Endangered Species?

On July 26, 2012  the Department of the Interior proposed listing the Diamond Darter as an endangered species and to designate portions of the lower  Elk River as critical habitat:  Here is the start of the  Federal Register notice

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to list the diamond darter (Crystallaria cincotta) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act); and propose to designate critical habitat for the species. In total, approximately 197.1 river kilometers (122.5 river miles) are being proposed for designation as critical habitat. The proposed critical habitat is located in Kanawha and Clay Counties, West Virginia, and Edmonson, Hart, and Green Counties, Kentucky.

The Notice includes the following findings, for which the Department of the Interior was seeking comment

We have made the following finding related to these criteria:
• Diamond darter is endangered by water quality degradation; habitat loss; inadequate existing regulatory mechanisms; a small population size that makes the species vulnerable to the effects of the spread of an invasive alga (Didymosphenia geminate); loss of genetic fitness; and catastrophic events, such as oil and other toxic spills. This rule proposes to designate critical habitat for the diamond darter.
• Critical habitat designation would not be expected to increase threats to the species, and we have sufficient scientific information on the diamond darter to determine the areas essential to, and essential for, its conservation. Accordingly, we have determined the designation of critical habitat is both prudent and determinable.
• In total, we propose to designate approximately 197.1 river kilometers (122.5 miles) as critical habitat. The proposed critical habitat is located in Kanawha and Clay Counties, West Virginia, and Edmonson, Hart, and Green Counties, Kentucky.

The West Virginia Coal Association and the Department of Environmental Protection filed comments  opposing the listing.  The DEP noted that coal mining was identified as a threat to the diamond darter's existence, but little of the Elk River watershed has been mined. The DEP also said that the diamond darter's survival to the present means that it has come through worse water  quality conditions than presently exist, and that the demise of the diamond darter has largely occurred in streams with impoundments, which allow silt to settle and cover the substrate, while the Elk is largely undammed. The Coal Association contends that there is no evidence that the current environmental regulations are failing to protect the darter, that the determinations of the water quality necessary to support the darter are  based on studies of related species, not the diamond darter, and there is no evidence that conductivity levels in the Elk pose a problem to the darter.

Ninth Circuit Rules Global Warming Lawsuit Preempted By Congressional Action

The Ninth Circuit has affirmed the federal District Court's dismissal of the claim by the  native Alaskan village of Kivalina that several energy companies were responsible for global warming, which contributed to reduced sea ice, which caused the community to relocate their village. As Robert Cook of Bloomberg BNA reports: 

 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Clean Air Act and Environmental Protection Agency actions taken under the statute “displace” a claim by the native village and city of Kivalina for damages caused by greenhouse gas emissions by energy producers.

The Ninth Circuit's decision  did not reach the merits of the villagers' claims, but instead ruled that their common law claims have been preempted by legislative action:

In sum, the Supreme Court has held that federal common law addressing domestic greenhouse gas emissions has been displaced by Congressional action. That determination displaces federal common law public nuisance actions seeking damages, as well as those actions seeking injunctive relief. The civil conspiracy claim falls with the substantive claim. Therefore, we affirm the judgment of the district court. We need not, and do not, reach any other issue urged by the parties.

This was one  of several nuisance suits filed years ago  in an attempt to make money from the catastrophic global warming meme.  You can see the Ninth Circuit's decision here.