Environment
Reversing 14 years of management for habitat protection, the Ohio Division of Forestry (DOF) has announced plans to eliminate an 8,000 acre Backcountry Management Area (BCMA) in Shawnee State Forest in Scioto and Adams Counties. Conservation leaders believe the radical change in management will devalue the public's investment and threaten rare and endangered species, including the timber rattlesnake.
The Shawnee BCMA currently includes the following special protections not enjoyed by most of Ohio's state forest lands: (1) Two existing roads in the BCMA are closed to vehicular traffic; (2) clear-cuts are limited to 25 acres maximum; (3) cuts can only occur on a 250-year rotation cycle; (4) management must be coordinated with the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves and the Division of Wildlife to help protect state listed species; and (6) future recreational developments must be “low impact.” DOF is proposing to dissolve all of these protections along with the BCMA designation, itself, in favor of a new "Intensive Management" zoning designation.
The Shawnee BCMA currently includes the following special protections not enjoyed by most of Ohio's state forest lands: (1) Two existing roads in the BCMA are closed to vehicular traffic; (2) clear-cuts are limited to 25 acres maximum; (3) cuts can only occur on a 250-year rotation cycle; (4) management must be coordinated with the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves and the Division of Wildlife to help protect state listed species; and (6) future recreational developments must be “low impact.” DOF is proposing to dissolve all of these protections along with the BCMA designation, itself, in favor of a new "Intensive Management" zoning designation.
Drop dead date pushed up – Man made pollution, mostly CO2, is accelerating at a rate that has a definite endpoint for world civilization as we know it. Since accumulated CO2 in the atmosphere sticks around for hundreds of years, we won’t be able to change the cycle of oblivion once it gets rolling. (Image: Takver)
In 2004, Lawrence Smith of UCLA pointed out that vast reservoirs of methane gas stored under Siberian permafrost could enter the atmosphere as global warming accelerated ice melts holding the tundra together. By 2008, the beginning of the permafrost melt was imminent and warnings were sounded. Now, we hear that the methane release, 20 times the pollution effect of CO2, will cost $60 trillion in adaptions to the damage to the environment (yes, $60 trillion).
What profound denial. Why characterize catastrophic global climate change in terms of dollars? Why not just say: there is no chance to mitigate this emerging cycle of oblivion because world leaders won’t even mention the topic and by the time they do, it will be too late. We’re done. Stick a fork in us.
In 2004, Lawrence Smith of UCLA pointed out that vast reservoirs of methane gas stored under Siberian permafrost could enter the atmosphere as global warming accelerated ice melts holding the tundra together. By 2008, the beginning of the permafrost melt was imminent and warnings were sounded. Now, we hear that the methane release, 20 times the pollution effect of CO2, will cost $60 trillion in adaptions to the damage to the environment (yes, $60 trillion).
What profound denial. Why characterize catastrophic global climate change in terms of dollars? Why not just say: there is no chance to mitigate this emerging cycle of oblivion because world leaders won’t even mention the topic and by the time they do, it will be too late. We’re done. Stick a fork in us.
The FreshWater Accountability Project Ohio (FWAPOH) today released a report on the presence and dangers of radiation present throughout the horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) industry that is extracting minerals in Ohio. The report, authored by Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a longtime expert on radioactive waste management and since 1992, on radiation hazards from oil and gas drilling, details the serious problem associated with bringing up long-buried radium and other naturally-occurring hazards from thousands of feet underground. The radiation is associated directly with the "hottest" areas of gas and oil productivity in deep shale layers and is an inevitable and burgeoning waste problem.
Radiation leaks, steam releases, disease and death continue to spew from Fukushima and a disaster which is far from over. Its most profound threat to the global ecology—a spent fuel fire—is still very much with us.
The latest steam leak has raised fears around the planet. A worst-case scenario of an on-going out-of-control fission reaction was dismissed by the owners, Tokyo Electric, because they didn’t find xenon in the plume. The company says the steam likely came from rain water being vaporized by residual heat in one of plant’s stricken reactors.
But independent experts tend to disbelieve anything Tepco says, for good reason. Reactor Units One, Two and Three have exploded at Fukushima despite decades of official assurances that commercial atomic power plants could not explode at all. The company has been unable to clear out enough radioactive debris to allow it to put a cover over the site that might contain further airborne emissions.
The latest steam leak has raised fears around the planet. A worst-case scenario of an on-going out-of-control fission reaction was dismissed by the owners, Tokyo Electric, because they didn’t find xenon in the plume. The company says the steam likely came from rain water being vaporized by residual heat in one of plant’s stricken reactors.
But independent experts tend to disbelieve anything Tepco says, for good reason. Reactor Units One, Two and Three have exploded at Fukushima despite decades of official assurances that commercial atomic power plants could not explode at all. The company has been unable to clear out enough radioactive debris to allow it to put a cover over the site that might contain further airborne emissions.
President Obama presented his climate change plan to the nation on June 25. He committed himself and his administration to the overarching goals of limiting and eventually stopping the buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and promised to keep the planet a viable place for coming generations to live. In his speech, Obama said:
“Ninety-seven percent of scientists, including, by the way, some who originally disputed the data, have now put that to rest. They’ve acknowledged the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it.” And: “So the question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late.”
“Ninety-seven percent of scientists, including, by the way, some who originally disputed the data, have now put that to rest. They’ve acknowledged the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it.” And: “So the question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late.”
The Green Shadow Cabinet said today that while President Obama's call for the Environental Protection Agency to strengthen regulation of carbon emissions from existing power plants was a long overdue step in the right direction, his “all of the above” approach to energy is still a disaster for the climate.
Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party's 2012 presidential nominees noted, "You can't give your child an 'all of the above diet' with toxic lead and arsenic, and think that adding some spinach and blueberries is going to make it OK. Likewise, reducing carbon pollution from coal does not make fracking, tar sands oil, deep water and Arctic drilling OK. The climate is spiraling into runaway warming. Obama's promotion of cheap dirty fossil fuels makes coal regulations just window dressing on a disastrous policy."
Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party's 2012 presidential nominees noted, "You can't give your child an 'all of the above diet' with toxic lead and arsenic, and think that adding some spinach and blueberries is going to make it OK. Likewise, reducing carbon pollution from coal does not make fracking, tar sands oil, deep water and Arctic drilling OK. The climate is spiraling into runaway warming. Obama's promotion of cheap dirty fossil fuels makes coal regulations just window dressing on a disastrous policy."
Today, grassroots leaders in Ohio called out state leaders for failing to protect Ohioans from solid radioactive waste from hydraulic fracturing (fracking). According to local citizens groups, Governor Kasich’s budget bill will provide inadequate protection from low-level radioactive waste, and therefore constitutes a handout to the oil and gas industry. They are asking the state to require the oil and gas industry to properly dispose of Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW).
“The regulations represent yet another concession to the oil and gas industry at the expense of Ohioans’ health and safety,” says Alison Auciello, an organizer for Food & Water Watch. “Governor Kasich and our regulators are billing the proposal as a way to monitor and keep radioactive waste from landfills. But the legislation will indeed do the opposite of the claims made by the administration. Even worse, it gives a false sense of security that we are being protected. Disposal of radioactive waste should be considered a grave matter, not an ill-informed side note to the budget bill.”
“The regulations represent yet another concession to the oil and gas industry at the expense of Ohioans’ health and safety,” says Alison Auciello, an organizer for Food & Water Watch. “Governor Kasich and our regulators are billing the proposal as a way to monitor and keep radioactive waste from landfills. But the legislation will indeed do the opposite of the claims made by the administration. Even worse, it gives a false sense of security that we are being protected. Disposal of radioactive waste should be considered a grave matter, not an ill-informed side note to the budget bill.”
From his California beach house at San Clemente, Richard Nixon once watched three reactors rise at nearby San Onofre. As of June 7, 2013, all three are permanently shut.
It’s a monumental victory for grassroots activism. it marks an epic transition in how we get our energy.
In the thick of the 1970s Arab oil embargo, Nixon said there’d be 1000 such reactors in the US by the year 2000.
As of today, there are 100.
Four have shut here this year. Citizen activism has put the "nuclear renaissance" into full retreat.
Just two of 54 reactors now operate in Japan, where Fukushima has joined Chernobyl and Three Mile Island in permanently scarring us all.
Germany is shutting its entire fleet and switching to renewables. France, once the poster child for the global reactor industry, is following suit. South Korea has just shut three due to fraudulent safety procedures. Massive demonstrations rage against reactors being built in India. Only the Koreans, Chinese and Russians remain at all serious about pushing ahead with this tragic technology.
It’s a monumental victory for grassroots activism. it marks an epic transition in how we get our energy.
In the thick of the 1970s Arab oil embargo, Nixon said there’d be 1000 such reactors in the US by the year 2000.
As of today, there are 100.
Four have shut here this year. Citizen activism has put the "nuclear renaissance" into full retreat.
Just two of 54 reactors now operate in Japan, where Fukushima has joined Chernobyl and Three Mile Island in permanently scarring us all.
Germany is shutting its entire fleet and switching to renewables. France, once the poster child for the global reactor industry, is following suit. South Korea has just shut three due to fraudulent safety procedures. Massive demonstrations rage against reactors being built in India. Only the Koreans, Chinese and Russians remain at all serious about pushing ahead with this tragic technology.
In January, it seemed the restart of San Onofre Unit 2 would be a corporate cake walk.
With its massive money and clout, Southern California Edison was ready to ram through a license exception for a reactor whose botched $770 million steam generator fix had kept it shut for a year.
But a funny thing has happened on the way to the restart: a No Nukes groundswell has turned this routine rubber stamping into an epic battle the grassroots just might win.
Indeed, if ever there was a time when individual activism could have a magnified impact, this is it (see www.sanonofresafety.org and www.a4nr.org).
This comes as the nuclear industry is in nearly full retreat. Two US reactors are already down this year. Yet another proposed project has just been cancelled in North Carolina. And powerful grassroots campaigns have pushed numerous operating reactors to the brink of extinction throughout the US, Europe and Japan, where all but two reactors remain shut since Fukushima.
In California, it's San Onofre that's perched at the brink.
With its massive money and clout, Southern California Edison was ready to ram through a license exception for a reactor whose botched $770 million steam generator fix had kept it shut for a year.
But a funny thing has happened on the way to the restart: a No Nukes groundswell has turned this routine rubber stamping into an epic battle the grassroots just might win.
Indeed, if ever there was a time when individual activism could have a magnified impact, this is it (see www.sanonofresafety.org and www.a4nr.org).
This comes as the nuclear industry is in nearly full retreat. Two US reactors are already down this year. Yet another proposed project has just been cancelled in North Carolina. And powerful grassroots campaigns have pushed numerous operating reactors to the brink of extinction throughout the US, Europe and Japan, where all but two reactors remain shut since Fukushima.
In California, it's San Onofre that's perched at the brink.
Environmentalists of all stripes support policies to expand solar energy and wind energy, among other “renewables.” Indeed, solar and wind are viewed across the spectrum of environmental groups as a principal method for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gas emissions that are causing increasingly catastrophic climate change. Fossil fuels are the main sources of such climate change.