ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL BLOGS

Painful Lessons for Wind Power - HUMAN EVENTS

Neil Anderson lives a quarter of a mile from the turbine.  He’s an avid supporter of alternative energy, having owned and operated a passive solar company on Cape Cod for the past 25 years.  “It is dangerous,” he told WGBH in Boston.  “Headaches.  Loss of sleep.  And the ringing in my ears never goes away.  I could look at it all day, and it does not bother me … but it’s way too close.”

Tired of the constant chopping sound, pained residents decided to lawyer up.  This month a deal was struck with the town to disengage the turbine when winds exceed 23 miles an hour.  This is problematic because giant windmills such as Wind One operate at optimum efficiency at about 30 miles an hour.

So now Falmouth’s investment has taken a hit.  According to Gerald Potamis, who runs the wastewater facility, shutting off the turbine during higher winds will cost the town $173,000 in annual revenue, because now they’ll have to rely more on natural gas.

via www.humanevents.com

New device on utility poles can adjust your thermostat

March 25--YORK, Pa -- Dwight Rhine recently spotted additions to the utility poles in his Manchester Township neighborhood and wondered what was up.

A metal arm sticks out from the pole, and the object attached to it is partially blue.

It turns out that they are controllers for Met-Ed's energy saving program.

Customers can voluntarily enroll to allow the utility to remotely control their air conditioners and pool pumps when demand for power peaks on hot summer days. In return, residents receive a credit on their bill.

via www.istockanalyst.com

Fuel Fix » Lawmakers urge state, EPA to settle air pollution squabble

A House subcommittee urged the EPA on Thursday to resolve its differences with Texas over the unique way the state regulates industrial air pollution.

The bipartisan push came at the end of a hearing in Houston convened by a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to review the impact of the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent actions in Texas.

The EPA and Texas are at odds over several issues, but much of the talk focused on the federal agency’s rejection of the state’s use of so-called flexible permits for refineries, chemical and plastics makers and other facilities.

via fuelfix.com

A case of never letting the source spoil a good story | Ben Goldacre | Comment is free | The Guardian

This week the Telegraph ran the headline "Wind farms blamed for stranding of whales". It continued: "Offshore wind farms are one of the main reasons why whales strand themselves on beaches, according to scientists studying the problem." Lady Warsi even cited this as fact on the BBC's Question Time this week, while arguing against wind farms.

But anyone who read the open-access academic paper in PLoS One, titled "Beaked whales respond to simulated and actual navy sonar", would see that the study looked at sonar and didn't mention wind farms at all. At our most generous, the Telegraph story was a spectacular and bizarre exaggeration of a brief contextual aside about general levels of manmade sound in the ocean by one author at the end of the press release (titled "Whales 'scared' by sonars").

...

Lastly, on Wednesday the Daily Mail ran with the scare headline "Swimming too often in chlorinated water 'could increase risk of developing bladder cancer', claim scientists". There's little point in documenting the shortcomings of Mail health stories any more, but suffice to say, while the story purported to describe a study in the journal Environmental Health, anyone who read the original paper, or even the press release, would see immediately that bladder cancer wasn't measured, and the Mail's story was a simple distortion

via www.guardian.co.uk

The Guardian is, generally, a far-left news organization and I don't usually trust the source; but this particular article has a point.

Government Catch-22 Clouds Consumer Adoption of Solar Roofs

From CNBC:

As the federal government pushes to make solar energy cost competitive with coal, local governments are undercutting the effort by imposing high fees and red tape on business and consumers.

“Consider thousands of local processes, fees and timelines,” says Rob Cahill, manager of business development for solar financier SunRun, pointing out that installing solar panels is still treated by city authorities like a complex home renovation. “It’s not surprising that a significant amount of (solar’s cost) is embedded in a local regulatory morass,” he says.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41732845

Fuel Fix » EPA proposes regulating mercury from coal plants

Federal environmental regulators proposed new rules today for mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants — a move that could cost industry billions of dollars while preventing thousands of premature deaths a year.

via fuelfix.com

As one internet commentator puts it,

"Coal is too polluting and dangerous.
Nuclear is radioactive.
Hydro destroy fish habitat.
Solar destroys desert lizard habitat.
Wind creates an ugly landscape."

Unfortunately, there is no thing as a risk-free world. Continued attempts to try to achieve it will cause us all to pay dearly as energy prices escalate.

Do drivers with "green cars" put on more miles? — Autoblog Green

Sweden seems to be experiencing what experts call a backfire effect from the company's rash of green car sales. Swedish car buyers have been snapping up clean diesel and ethanol vehicles in droves thanks to sizable government incentives, but, according to reports, the nation has actually seen its emissions from the transportation sector increase by an impressive 100,000 tons. What happened?

A similar scenario has played out here in the Land of the Free, where American drivers covered an additional 20.5 billion vehicle miles in 2010 compared to 2009. That number marks a .7 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), which might be enough to offset any emission gains garnered by the controversial Cash for Clunkers program.

via green.autoblog.com

Twitter Blames Japan Earthquake on Global Warming | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

Hours after a massive earthquake rattled Japan, environmental advocates connected the natural disaster to global warming. The president of the European Economic and Social Committee, Staffan Nilsson, issued a statement calling for solidarity in tackling the global warming problem.

“Some islands affected by climate change have been hit,” said Nilsson. “Has not the time come to demonstrate on solidarity — not least solidarity in combating and adapting to climate change and global warming?”

“Mother Nature has again given us a sign that that is what we need to do,” he added.

via dailycaller.com

As one web poster put it, next we'll be told that global warming is repsonsible for the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Expert Warns of Health Risks Associated With New Light Bulbs

(CNSNews.com) – A lighting expert who has overseen lighting projects including the Statue of Liberty and the Petronas Towers expressed concerns on Capitol Hill Thursday about the safety of certain types of new light bulbs.

Appearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Howard M. Brandston spoke in favor of the "Better Use of Light Bulbs Act" – a measure which would overturn elements of a 2007 law mandating that traditional incandescent light bulbs be phased out over the next few years.

In his testimony, Brandston claimed that parts of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act serve as a “de-facto ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs” and that compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs -- the most popular alternative to ordinary incandescent bulbs -- pose a risk to public health and safety.

(Click here [2] to see a 2009 CNSNews.com commentary which addresses those issues.)

 “The compact fluorescent lamp contains mercury,” said Brandston. “One gram of mercury will pollute a two acre pond. This 2007 light bulb standard brings a deadly poison into every residence in our nation.

via www.cnsnews.com

Capitol Alert: Environmental groups tell Democrats to hold firm

Nearly two dozen environmental groups have sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders urging them to reject any changes in environmental and health laws that may be proposed by GOP lawmakers as part of a budget deal.

via blogs.sacbee.com