Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

Eureka Recycling speaks out against Washington/Ramsey county Minnesota, incineration scheme

[Note:  Originally published in the Villager newpaper –content not online– on April 22, 2015.0  Scan of original article here.]

Up in smoke: To burn garbage or prevent waste

By Tim Brownell and Bryan Ukena

Eureka Recycling has been tracking the discussions of the Ranset/Washington Counties Resource Recovery Authority [note:  officially called “project” not “authority”] regarding the potential purchase of the Newport Waste Processing Facility.  The Resource Recovery Authority’s approach is troubling to many of the residents of these two counties, as it is to us, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to demonstrate that waste is completely preventable. Continue Reading →

Comments { 1 }

Action alert: Some good bills and another mega horrible bill

A look at the bills up before the Senate Environment and Energy Committee on March 26th illustrates how mixed the bag is.  Good bills, questionable bills,  and bad bills, and one mega-horrible bill. Continue Reading →

Comments { 0 }

Promised updates on details of mega-horrible bills….

This is the promised further detail on the “mega-horrible” bills being heard in a Senate committee at 4:00 pm this afternoon (Thursday, March 19th.

For the utility “deregulation” bills

see Carol Overland’s Legalectric.org post, “the problems with SF 1735″ .  Overland has been practicing utility regulatory law for a long time and knows the history behind the present scams.  This is complicated stuff that just can’t be reduced to sound bites, but here are two anyway:  (1) Utilities, expecially Xcel Energy, can pretty much afford to buy off everybody, and (2) Nobody in Minnesota government or politics seems to be publicly standing up for ratepayers, the environment, or the public interest.

Attorney General Lori Swanson has the authority to act on behalf of the public.  Ask her to do so:  (651) 296-3353 or 1-800-657-3787, Attorney.General@ag.state.mn.us.

[Note:  There is a “delete-all” amendment to S. F. 1431 which we received at 10:30 pm.  This new version does not seem to correct any of the problems people are objecting to.  It has new sections, some of which seem to raise new concerns.]

[Update:  The AG’s office DID appear at the hearing and oppose both the original bill and the delete-all amendment.  Kudos to Lori Swanson.]

For the “Energy Omnibus Bill, S.F. 1431,” see below

Continue Reading →

Comments { 1 }

[Wash Post] “Utilities wage campaign against rooftop solar”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/utilities-sensing-threat-put-squeeze-on-booming-solar-roof-industry/2015/03/07/2d916f88-c1c9-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.html

This, folks, is what is REALLY going on.  The good news is that the cost of solar has dropped and it’s really happening.  The bad news is that it will happen slowly and expensively if the utilities keep a chokehold on it.  Utilities have long since mastered the art of pretending to promote what they are actually blocking.  Perhaps no utility in the world is cleverer at this than Xcel Energy (Northern States Power Company).  The breadth and depth of NPS’s current efforts to gut the utility regulatory process and impose its will on Minnesota energy policy is breathtaking.  Stand by for more details on this.  And: expect some really horrible legislation to sneaked through the Minnesota Legislature.

Alan Muller Continue Reading →

Comments { 3 }

Renuking Minnesota?

monti1[1]Above: The Monticello reactor.  Note the tall stack used to vent cancer-causing radioactive gases.

(Please forgive the personal notes in this post.  So often we debate the technical merits of nuke power, without sufficiently considering the human side, the human impacts, of the decisions getting made.)

I’ve had more of a relationship with the nuclear industry than seems ideal.  In Delaware, I can look out a window and see the domes of three reactors.  In 2000, I wrote in an alert:

“Parts of New Castle County (DE) are in the “ingestion zones” (= within fifty miles) of 7 nuclear reactors (Limerick 1 and 2, Peach Bottom 2 & 3, Salem 1 and 2, and Hope Creek). While the nuclear industry has always claimed that it’s radiation output is too small to cause health problems, more and more reports are linking proximity to nuclear facilities to breast cancer, leukemia, childhood cancer and birth defects, and other health problems.”

Continue Reading →

Comments { 0 }

“U.S. taxpayers help fund oil-train boom amid safety concerns”

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/u-s-taxpayers-help-fund-oil-train-boom-amid-safety/article_cd09f5c9-9c34-505b-a5dc-3abca7d069ce.html

As a follow up to the bridge story, see this piece from Reuters.

Minnesota is one of the states that has been somewhat forthcoming about oil train traffic.

Minnesota (MNDot) is in the process of developing a 2015 state rail plan.  This is in response to a federal requirement.  I attended a meeting about it in Red Wing but went away feeling less than fully enlightened.

 

Comments { 0 }

“Railroad bridge conditions hidden from public view”

Images:  Railroad bridges along the Mississippi River

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/railroad-bridge-conditions-hidden-from-public-view/article_23e95758-fbbd-58ae-af31-619a3d4b4518.html

An important story on rail bridges was published on December 14th in the LaCross [WI] Tribune.  Byline:  Chris Hubbuch.   We understand this story was instigated by Guy Wolf, Alan Stankevitz, Irv Balto, and other leaders of Citizens Acting for Rail Safety (CARS).   CARS gave extensive briefings to Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin and other public officials, and provided much of the information and many of the images used in the story. Continue Reading →

Comments { 0 }

Pretty sky but the transmission lines need a lot more thought….

Comments { 0 }

“Giving Tuesday” and all that….it’s my turn for an “ask”

Today is one of those days when we get many emails asking for contributions. As Bill McKibben says ‘Today is “Giving Tuesday’, which is a charitable rebuttal to the madness and materialism of ‘Black Friday'”.

Below is just a selection from today’s inbox:

“Help us fight for justice, fairness and equality”
“For Giving Tuesday, be a polar bear’s hero”
“We need you on #GivingTuesday”
“Be a Waterfront Champion on #GivingTuesday”
“Celebrate #GivingTuesday with ADA”
“Help us fight for justice, fairness and equality”
“It’s Giving Tuesday! Please help”
“This Giving Tuesday, give critters a place to roam”
“It’s #GivingTuesday! Join the Global Movement”

Most of the orgs asking for contributions do good work and deserve contributions. But having been an environmental campaigner/consultant for a long time, I’ve formed some strong views, including these: Continue Reading →

Comments { 0 }

Passing of Jan Greenfield

Jan’s obit as it appeared in the Strib:

Janice Naomi Greenfield
Share on Facebook Tweet Print

Greenfield, Janice Naomi age 72, of St Paul. A devoted and conscientious mother to two sons, a friend to a host of diverse people, an ardent environmentalist who loved to hug trees, and an accomplished folkdancer, contradancer and English Country dancer, Jan died in her home from lymphoma on Sunday morning, 26 Oct 2014. As a mother she modeled friendliness, diligence, intellectual curiosity and acceptance of others; as a spouse she coaxed her husband into becoming a better man; as a friend she was reliable, loyal and forgiving. She departed this life in the same honest and principled manner as she had lived it, and was buried in a simple ceremony on 27 October with six of her immediate family in attendance. Jan is survived by her former spouse Roger Forsberg, sons Brian (Heather) and Jev (Rachelle), brother and sister-in-law Walt and Angie Greenfield and several cousins, nephews and nieces. Memorials preferred to Tapestry Folkdance Center (Minneapolis).

Jan made great contributions to the fight against a waste burner at the Rock-Tenn plant in St. Paul, against increased burning of garbage at the “HERC” incinerator in Minneapolis, and against the proposed  “eco-crapper” wood burner on Lake Street in Minneapolis.  All these fights were successful.

Jan was also very concerned about unnecessary electromagnetic field exposures from “smart meters.”

She maintained several websites for advocacy efforts.

The range of her interests and activities was wide–I didn’t know about them all by any means.

Jan was an exceptional person.  She put her life energy into working to make our world a better place.  She was much loved and will be much missed.

Comments { 0 }