C8 Report Filed With Court (Revised Nov 4, 2009)

A study conducted by West Virginia researchers as part of the settlement of a state court lawsuit brought by residents of the Parkersburg area has concluded that children with exposure to C8, or perfluorooctanoic acid, had higher amounts of bad cholesterol in their bloodstream. I have not seen the report, although Ken Ward has, and here is the first story on the study.

In September, a federal judge threw out most of the claims that were brought in federal district court against DuPont for the release of C8 in the Parkersburg area. That decision can be found here. The court dismissed most of the allegations against DuPont, including those for negligence, gross negligence, reckless, wilful and wanton conduct; private nuisance; trespass battery and
public nuisance. The only claim that was allowed to proceed was that for medical monitoring.

AEP Begins Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide at Mountaineer Plant

Carbon sequestration took another step forward as American Electric Power began a pilot program for storing carbon dioxide underground. The CO2, generated by AEP's Mountaineer plant, is a small part of that generated by the plant, but it's a start toward understanding how CO2 reacts to being stored underground. Here's a story from the Gazette about the project.
Here's some more information about carbon sequestration in its broadest form, from Wikipedia.

Judge Recht's Daubert Decision Is Worth A Look

Many environmental lawsuits stand or fall on complex scientific and technical issues. And folks, let me tell you,there's a lot of half-baked opinions and faulty data out there masquerading as science. Some of it's easy to disprove - we had a case involving underground storage tanks where a discoloration of the lining was deemed by one "expert" to be evidence of complete and utter degradation caused by de-polymerization of the fiberglass coating. Looking at the pictures, you might have believed it - at least until you walked up and removed the smudges with your thumb, revealing pristine fiberglass. Other times, though, you have talking heads going at it over esoteric questions that aren't so easily resolved. It takes a judge who is willing to sit down and take a good hard look at the experts' opinions and decide who can testify. Judge Recht recently performed such an analysis in Ohio County, and it's worth a read. (Thanks to Mark Hayes for passing this on to me.)

Judges are supposed to evaluate expert opinions to see if they are grounded in the scientific method before allowing experts to testify. They don't decide which opinions are correct, they just decide which experts have premised their opinions on scientific principles. The seminal decision in this regard is Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), where the Court considered what expert scientific evidence could be considered relevant under the Federal Rules of Evidence:

"The inquiry envisioned by Rule 702 is, we emphasize, a flexible one. Its overarching subject is the scientific validity--and thus the evidentiary relevance and reliability--of the principles that underlie a proposed submission. The focus, of course, must be solely on principles and methodology, not on the conclusions that they generate."

This publication says it well - Daubert: The Most Influential Supreme Court Ruling You've Never Heard Of.

West Virginia Wind Energy Project In Maryland Court

I am relying on the An American Lion blog to report on the legal action against a wind energy project in West Virginia. The title is The Bat Massacre of West Virginia, which might make you think it is anti-wind towers, but the gist of it seems to be that windmills kill far fewer birds and bats than other things, like windows, cats, power lines, etc. Here's part of the article - I recommend the whole thing to you, if you're interested in some thoughts on the environmental costs of wind power, weighed against its benefits.

"Cowan, 72, a longtime caving fanatic who grew to love bats as he slithered through tunnels from Maine to Maui, is asking a federal judge in Maryland to halt construction of the Beech Ridge wind farm. The lawsuit pits Chicago-based Invenergy, a company that produces "green" energy, against environmentalists who say the cost to nature is too great."

"The rare green vs. green case went to trial Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
It is the first court challenge to wind power under the Endangered Species Act, lawyers on both sides say. With President Obama's goal of doubling renewable energy production by 2012, wind and solar farms are expanding rapidly. That has sparked battles to reach a balance between the benefits of clean energy and the impact on birds, bats and even the water supply."

"At the heart of the Beech Ridge case is the Indiana bat, a brownish-gray creature that weighs about as much as three pennies and, wings outstretched, measures about eight inches. A 2005 estimate concluded that there were 457,000 of them, half the number in 1967, when they were first listed as endangered."

Former Techsol President Indicted In Spill

On October 28, 2004 there was a spill of coal tar light oil near Huntington, West Virginia that resulted in contamination of the groundwater and other unfortunate effects. The feds recently indicted James Holt, the president of Techsol Chemical Co. at the time the spill occurred. As this is an example of federal criminal enforcement in Southern West Virginia, I thought I would share the indictment with those who are interested. Thanks to my partner, John Palmer, for providing it to me.

I won't comment more, as we had a role in the environmental side of this, other than to mention that John Palmer reports that Dave Bungard, a fine attorney and former partner, is representing Mr. Holt in this matter. I assume that Perry McDaniel put together the indictment.

EPA Rejects Mountaintop Mining Permit in West Virginia

EPA has decided to revoke Mingo Logan Coal Company's Spruce No. 1 mountaintop mining permit, which was issued back in 2007. This is unprecedented - EPA has rejected permits in the past, but has not, to my knowledge, revoked an existing permit at a working site. The EPA veto is not final yet; before it becomes final EPA needs to go through a public comment period, a likely hearing, and the mining company has to be given a chance to revise the permit to meet objections.


EPA has described its veto authority in a fact sheet that explains the process for denying or withdrawing authorization to place fill material in waters of the United States under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act. It's worth reviewing if you're interested in the process.

Whether Mingo-Logan can meet all EPA's objections is a good question. EPA is subjecting surface mining to intense scrutiny, and holding operations to very high standards, such that few large earth-disturbing projects, even if done for nonmining projects like road construction, could meet the test. Furthermore, by looking at the cumulative effects of many surface mines in that area, EPA is aggregating harmful impacts in a way that make approval of permits very difficult.

The Associated Press has reported on this, as has the Charleston Gazette. As usual, the most complete analysis of mountaintop mining news is found in Ken Ward's blog, Coal Tattoo.

New Treatment for Wood Could Be Useful in WV

Ecogeek reports a new process for treating wood so that they better stand up to outside use as decking, siding, etc. At a time when the WV wood product industry is struggling, anything that would help increase the use of WV wood rather than tropical hardwoods is a hopeful development. The process, called kebonization,

" . . . is similar to pressure treating wood (which is another way to make soft woods usable for exterior use). But, instead of soaking the wood in toxic chemicals like chromated copper asrsenate (CCA, which is now banned for most uses in the US and the EU) or alkaline copper quaternary compounds (ACQ, the most widely used replacement for CCA after the ban), it is instead soaked in furfuryl alcohol, a waste byproduct from sugar cane which is also sometimes used as a food additive. There are no special handling requirements or precautions needed to deal with waste from this wood, and it can be disposed of just like any other untreated wood.
During the kebonization process, the alcohol becomes a resin that reinforces the cells of the wood. The result is a wood with excellent outdoor exposure tolerance like teak or mahogany, but with a harder surface than many of the tropical woods that it replaces. The wood also naturally fades to a silvery-grey color much like those tropical woods, as well."