PATH Transmission Line Plans Indefinitely Suspended

In 2007 American Electric Power and FirstEnergy Corp  proposed building a transmission line from the John Amos Power plant in Putnam County across West Virginia and part of Virginia to a substation in Maryland. The Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, or PATH, was intended  to meet future power demands in the East by transmitting West Virginia power along the new transmission line. Brian Farkas of AP reports that plan has come asunder, due to lower demand for power brought about by the recession.

Will Heat Balls Warm America?

Many people may be unaware that the US will begin phasing out most common  incandescent lights - the light bulbs that are ubiquitous in most American homes - beginning January 1, 2012.  It will do so through energy efficiency requirements that, while not outright banning incandescents,  will make them more expensive.   Don't blame it on Obama - President Bush approved the ban as part of  energy legislation in 2007.  This is from the Daily Caller, reporting on GOP attempts to repeal the ban. 

The same restrictions are going into place in Europe, but one German entrepreneur is trying to get around this by repackaging the incandescent lamps as "heat balls".  The following is taken from the Mother Nature Network:

You gotta hand it to German businessman Siegfried Rotthaeuser, who came up with a brilliant run around the European Union ban on conventional incandescent light bulbs — he rebranded them as "Heat Balls" and is importing them for sale as a "small heating device."

The funny thing about this is that incandescent bulbs are fairly efficient when they are used as heaters, throwing off around 95 percent of the energy they draw as heat. In colder climates, using the bulbs for lighting isn't always an inefficient choice as the bulbs add to the warmth of the home.

Perhaps the day will come when we install incandescents in the winter, and replace them in the  summer with CFLs and LEDs.

Corps of Engineers Proposes Changes to Nationwide 404 Permits

The US Army Corps of Engineers proposed in the Federal Register on February 16 to change certain Nationwide Permits (NWPs) for activities resulting in fill material being placed in waters of the United States under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. NWPs are the general permits that allow minor wetlands filling without a full permit, and often require only a notification to the Corps. Here is a short summary of some of the changes proposed: 

current acreage limits for the NWPs and

propose to modify some of the NWPs

acreage limits. We are also proposing to

modify the language concerning the use

of waivers in NWPs 13, 29, 36, 39, 40,

42, and 43 by clarifying that a waiver

may be granted only after the district

engineer makes a written determination

concluding that the discharge will result

in minimal adverse effects. The

modified waiver language will also be

applied to NWPs 21, 44, and 50, as well

as proposed new NWPs A and B. We are

proposing to replace the 25 cubic yard

limit for temporary pads in NWP 6 with

a

NWP 50 we are proposing a

limit on non-tidal waters of the United

States including the loss of no more

than 300 linear feet of stream bed,

unless for intermittent and ephemeral

stream beds the district engineer waives

the 300 linear foot limit by making a

written determination concluding that

the discharge will result in minimal

adverse effects. In NWPs 40 and 44 we

are proposing to increase protection of

streams by adding a 300 linear foot limit

for losses of stream bed, which can be

waived for intermittent and ephemeral

stream beds if the district engineer

makes a written determination

concluding that the discharge will result

in minimal adverse effects.

Proposed NWP A, Land-Based

Renewable Energy Generation Facilities,

and proposed NWP B, Water-Based

Renewable Energy Generation Pilot

Projects, have a

of non-tidal waters of the United States,

including the loss of no more than 300

linear feet of stream bed, unless for

intermittent and ephemeral stream beds

the district engineer waives the 300

linear foot limit by making a written

determination concluding that the

discharge will result in minimal adverse

effects. Both of these proposed NWPs

require PCNs.

In NWP 48, we are proposing to add

another PCN threshold for proposed

expansions of the project area for the

production of shellfish.1⁄10-acre limit for temporary pads. For1⁄2-acre1⁄2-acre limit for losses

We are proposing to retain most of the

Of particular interst to West Virginians is the proposed reissuance of NWP 21, with  the following preferred option:

Option 2 (Preferred Option)

—21.

Surface Coal Mining Activities.

Discharges of dredged or fill material

into waters of the United States

associated with surface coal mining and

reclamation operations provided the

activities are already authorized, or are

currently being processed by states with

approved programs under Title V of the

Surface Mining Control and

Reclamation Act of 1977 or as part of an

integrated permit processing procedure

by the Department of Interior (DOI),

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation

and Enforcement (OSMRE).

The discharge must not cause the loss

of greater than

waters of the United States, including

1⁄2-acre of non-tidalKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES2

the loss of no more than 300 linear feet

of stream bed, unless for intermittent

and ephemeral stream beds the district

engineer waives the 300 linear foot limit

by making a written determination

concluding that the discharge will result

in minimal adverse effects. This NWP

does not authorize discharges into tidal

waters or non-tidal wetlands adjacent to

tidal waters.

This NWP does not authorize

discharges of dredged or fill material

into waters of the United States

associated with the construction of

valley fills.

Notification:

submit a pre-construction notification to

the district engineer and receive written

authorization prior to commencing the

activity. (See general condition 30.)

(Sections 10 and 404)The permittee must

Comments are  being accepted until April 18.  Hit the hypertext above to find out information about commenting.

Fourth Circuit Rules On Clean Water Act Citizen Suit Recovery

Under the Clean Water Act, citizens can sue dischargers who are not complying with their permit limits.  Before doing so, they must give 60 days notice to the discharger to allow it to come into compliance or to allow the State environmental agency to start its own lawsuit.  In the notice, the citizens have to identify the violations that they are alleging have occurred. If they file suit after the 60 day waiting period, citizens can recover their attorney fees for bringing the suit.

The  Fourth Circuit has recently ruled in the case of Friends of the Earth Inc. et al. v. Gaston Copper Recycling Corp., No. 06-1714, 2011 WL 18368 (4th Cir. Jan. 5, 2011) that the citizens must give notice of the violations for which they are bringing their citizen suit. If they fail to do so, the citizen suit cannot seek penalties for those violations. The following passage  is taken from Westlaw's News and Insights blog, which reports that the Court  

found the plaintiffs had failed to include in their notice letter alleged violations involving the release of cadmium, zinc, iron, and oil and grease.  The letter also gave insufficient notice of alleged monitoring and reporting violations, the appeals court found.

The panel also agreed with Gaston that the lower court erred in finding a violation based upon the late submission of the final improvement plans in December 1991.

By the time the plaintiffs filed their complaint in September 1992, the plans had been submitted, thereby depriving the District Court of jurisdiction over a “wholly past” violation, the appeals court said.

Marcellus Gas Bill Taken Up By House

The natural gas industry has received lots of attention this year, as the Legislature grapples with regulating Marcellus Shale drilling.  Marcellus Shale wells are almost always horizontally-drilled wells, often with several wells to a drill pad, resulting in larger pads and ponds for holding fracking flowback.  Bringing drill rigs to the pads, hauling frac water and materials to the well sites, and everything else associated with this energy bonanza has occasionally caused problems for residents of the drilling area.

The DEP proposed legislation to more closely regulate horizontal drilling, and the Senate Judiciary Committee  proposed a bill of its  own. The House currently is working on a bill, HB 2878.  Here is an article from the Charleston Gazette explaining where things stand on the House bill, which may become the workhorse bill.

The only thing that is certain is that things will change a lot before any bill regulating gas drilling is finalized.

Cellulosic Biomass Fuel Proves Elusive

One of the environmental saviors that has been promoted in recent years is cellulosic biomass - alcohol derived from plant wastes, like corn stalks, wood slash, and other nonfood material. The idea was to produce methanol from what would otherwise be waste material, and use the methanol as fuel, replacing petroleum and ensuring domestic energy security.

It hasn't happened, and this story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution  shows how difficult it will be to achieve  the ambitious targets that Congress set for cellulosic fuel.  There's no reason it can't happen in the future, and we hope they'll keep trying, but this debacle underscores the need to keep mining coal and drilling for gas.

DEP Releases Water Quality Assessment Report

The West Virginia DEP has released the biennial report on water quality in the state.  One of its important features is the 303(d) list, which is a list of all streams that are not meeting water quality standards, and the reasons they are not meeting standards. The listing is important for any permitted discharger, as it could mean much more  stringent permit limits will be put into effect.  The DEP's press release follows.

A comprehensive report detailing the health of the state’s waters and a listing of impaired streams and lakes statewide has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Department of Environmental Protection submitted the West Virginia 2010 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report to the federal agency for review and approval after soliciting public input. The report was approved Feb. 8.

The report fulfills requirements of Section 303(d) and Section 305(b) of the federal Clean Water Act. Section 303(d) requires the creation of a list of impaired streams and lakes in the state and Section 305(b) necessitates an overall assessment of West Virginia’s waters.

The DEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management’s Watershed Assessment Branch compiled, evaluated and summarized all readily available water quality data for West Virginia’s waters. The integrated report contains assessment methodologies and results, information on Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development, water pollution control programs and various other water resource management issues. The 303(d) list is used for TMDL selection and development in West Virginia. A TMDL is a plan of action used to clean up streams not meeting water quality standards.

Individuals may request a CD version of the West Virginia 2010 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report or download all or part of the report from www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/303d. 

For more information about the report or to request a CD version, please contact Steve Young at (304) 926-0495, ext. 1042.