State DNR Poised to Approve Enbridge’s Crude Oil Storage Facility and Pipeline Expansion
Enbridge Energy Co., located at 2800 E 21st St, Superior, Douglas County, Wisconsin, FID 816010580, has submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) a permit application, including plans and specifications for construction and operation of three new large (24.5 million gallons each) crude oil storage tanks, modification of two large (under construction) crude oil storage tanks, increased pipeline 61 tar sands derived crude oil carrying capacity, associated piping components, increasing pumping pressure at 3 stations and installing 9 new pump stations, cleaning emissions from existing tanks T35 – T40, and a new diesel emergency generator.
Enbridge Company’s permit application proposes tripling the volume of tar sands derived crude oil transported by Pipeline 61. This pipeline is currently carrying Canadian tar sands oil through Wisconsin from Superior, WI, then south to Delevan, WI. The pipeline then crosses over the Illinois state line and continues south where the tar sands are distributed to refineries.
DNR has already made its preliminary determination that Enbridge Company’s application meets state and federal air pollution control requirements, and that the permit should be approved. DNR’s analysis and draft permit is available for inspection at the Bureau of Air Management Headquarters, Seventh Floor, 101 South Webster Street, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703; (608) 266-2621; and at the Northern Region Air Program, Superior Area Office, 1701 N. 4th Street, Superior, WI 54880, tel. (715) 392-7989; and at the Superior Public Library 1530 Tower Ave., Superior, WI 54880-4880. Alternatively, the public may contact Don C. Faith, III at (608) 267-3135, or by e-mail at don.faithiii@wisconsin.gov. DNR’s public notice says the information is also available for downloading at: http://dnr.wi.gov/cias/am/amexternal/AM_PermitTrackingSearch.aspx.
The DNR held a public hearing on Monday, May 5, 2014 in Superior, Wisconsin. The purpose of the hearing was for the DNR to hear public testimony on Enbridge Company’s proposal. A dozen people testified against DNR issuing the permit at the hearing while four registered in favor of DNR’s granting of the permit.
The proposed Endbridge Co. expansion is planned in two phases: phase 1 will involve the modification of 3 existing pump stations to increase tar sands crude flow from 400,000 bpd (barrels per day) to 560,000 bpd; phase 2 will involve the construction of 9 new pumping stations in Wisconsin along the pipeline route and increase the tar sands crude flow to 1,200,000 bpd. That is an awful large amount of heavy crude oil to be flowing through Enbridge’s pipelines every single day.
Enbridge’s Pipeline 61 will be an avenue to export dirty tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, outside of the United States, to overseas oil markets, where it is likely to be used for combustion into energy, with the primary byproducts of (1) carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas that is being up to dangerous level in the atmosphere and oceans, as it remain in the atmosphere for over a century, adding to the warming of the atmosphere, in combination with the greenhouse gases emitted before and after it’s emission. This quantity of oil burning will greatly and negatively affect air quality around the surface because warming air is more conducive to carrying the pollutants and soot which emerge from all sources, causing disastrous air quality affects on human health all over when breathed.
The DNR claims that it has already made a determination under ch. NR 150, Wisconsin Administrative Code, that this type of proposal normally does not have the potential to cause significant adverse environmental or secondary effects; also DNR’s hearing notice states that “This is a preliminary determination and does not constitute a final approval from the Air Management Program or any other DNR sections which may also require a review of the project.
DNR decides to issue this permit to Enbridge Company, this will lead to more tar sands spills, water pollution, increased demand for tar sands oil, more climate change pollution, and more air pollution.
Warmer air holds more moisture, and thus more air pollution in the United States. DNR should deny the permit application for Enbridge Company’s Line 61 and the proposed massive oil storage facilities on that basis alone.
Line 61 crosses through Wisconsin from Superior to Flanagan, IL and will include new pumping stations (in Hawthorne, Ladysmith, Owen, Marshfield, Minong, Stone Lake, Adams, Portage, and Waterloo) and increased pumping pressure at existing stations (Sheldon, Vesper, and Delavan). This puts a number of our water bodies at risk, from Castle Rock Lake, the Rock River, Lake Koshkonong, the Flambeau River, and most importantly, Lake Superior and the Great Lakes, which provide drinking water for 42 million people. A spill could devastate these waterways, and the jobs and economy that depend on them.
Tar sands oil is more carbon intensive than traditional oil—greenhouse gas emissions of tar sands oil are about 17% greater than the average barrel of oil on a life-cycle basis. We are already seeing the effects of climate change in Wisconsin. The drought and heat wave in 2012, followed by relentless rain and flooding last year give us a glimpse of what climate change could cost Wisconsin in the future, from our farms to our forests to our cold-water fisheries. More tar sands oil is the last thing our climate needs.
The deadline for commenting to DNR on Enbridge’s permit application is May 18, 2014: Mail your comments to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Air Management, ATTN: Don C. Faith, III, 101 S. Webster Street, Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, or email them to the address listed above.
Tars sands oil means more spilled oil: in order to extract the oil, it is mixed with chemicals, this makes it more acidic and leads to more ruptures and spills. Tar sands pipelines in the Midwest spill 3.6 times more per mile than traditional pipelines.
Enbridge’s track record is terrible: Since 1999, Enbridge has had 800 spills, including the very severe, very significant spill in the Kalamazoo River. The pipeline spewed tar sands oil for over 17 hours, before Enbridge realized it was leaking. The environmental damage to the wetlands, Kalamazoo River, and Talmadge Creek will likely never fully remedied. The full extent of public health effects will possibly never be known, but 320 homes had to be evacuated.
Enbridge is responsible for a number of spills in Wisconsin as well: In January 2007, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured, pouring more than 29,000 gallons of crude oil onto a farm field in the town of Curtis in Clark County. A month later, another Enbridge pipeline rupture dumped 176,000 gallons of heavy crude oil in a Rusk County farm field. In January 2009, Enbridge Energy Partners paid the State of Wisconsin $1.1 million to settle claims under Wisconsin’s waterway and wetland protection and storm water control laws. In July 2012 a farm field in Grand Marsh, Wisconsin was covered by at least 1,200 barrels of oil after an Enbridge pipeline ruptured there. Enbridge had to purchase a nearby home that a local resident described as being “covered in oil.”
Tar Sands oil poses a greater threat to our water resources: unlike traditional oil, tar sands oil is dense and does not float, so the way to clean it out of a river is unknown. Four years later, the Kalamazoo spill is still not cleaned up and the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Enbridge dredge the river. Clean-up costs will exceed $1 Billion.
Technology cannot properly detect or prevent a spill: a Natural Resources Defense Council investigation found that leak detection systems missed 19 out of 20 spills and 4 out of 5 of the larger spills.
The climate cannot afford tar sands oil: Tar sands oil is the dirtiest and most carbon intensive form of oil. The extraction process is incredibly carbon intensive and requires destroying the Canadian boreal forest, one of the largest carbon sequestration sources in the world, capturing twice as much carbon as the tropical forests. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions of tar sands oil are about 17% greater than the average barrel of oil on a life-cycle basis.
Source: WisconsinSierraClub.org
EARTH DAY ACTIONS – Madison, Wisconsin, and Washington DC
Madison, Wisconsin
As part of an organizing action of Global Climate Convergence and Wisconsin Wave, University of Wisconsin students, professors, teachers and other members of Madison area community marched down Madison’s State Street on the 44th Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22, 2014, with the purpose being to add to the public’s growing awareness and concern regarding the grave environmental threats and social injustices going on around them. The continuing and reckless mining and overuse of the earth’s valuable natural resources, often primarily for the profit of a few, was a common theme expressed at the march in posters and verbal forms. There was an overriding concern about the overuse of fossil fuels, metals, sand and gravel, to the great harm being inflicted upon the earth’s clean water and limited atmosphere, which are showing signs everywhere that they have reached the limit of sustainability for all of the earth’s future populations.
As reported in a April 23 article by Dana Kampa in The Daily Cardinal, titled “Madison environmental, social justice advocates converged on Earth Day” to “Protect our Water–Reject the Mines and Pipelines!”, mining in Wisconsin was cited as one of several significant environmental issues the protesters voiced concerned about.
Wisconsin used to be an environmental leader. It was the home of naturalist and writer Aldo Leopold; it was the first state in the country to ban the use of DDT as a pesticide on farmland; and it was the birthplace and home of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who founded Earth Day in 1970 and was instrumental in waking up the nation’s awareness of the damaging ecological, health and economic costs of air and water pollution and the need for tough federal and state laws and regulations to minimize it. The State of Wisconsin did just that in the decades that followed, maintaining and protecting its natural resources throughout the decades that followed.
But natural resource protection in Wisconsin took an about face in Wisconsin in November 2010 with the election of Republican Governor Scott Walker. After passage of a bill into law that allows for significant environmental degradation from ore mining in the state, an environmentally sensitive area of northern Wisconsin could ultimately become the home of the world’s largest open-pit iron ore mine. Wisconsin’s once strong environmental laws and regulations have been weakened, and environmentally conscious people throughout the state are rising up and taking notice.
The mine is proposed to be built by Gogebic Taconite and is currently undergoing review for development in the Penokee Hills, despite the fact that the mine would destroy a vast, water-rich ecosystem that President John F. Kennedy in 1963 called “a central and significant portion of the freshwater assets of this country” after his visit there.
The $1.5 billion mine would initially be close to four miles long, up to a half-mile wide and nearly 1,000 feet deep, but it could be extended as long as 21 miles. It lies in the headwaters of the Bad River, which flows into Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world. Six miles downstream from the site is the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose livelihood is threatened by the mine. Environmentally conscious citizens of Wisconsin are protesting, as evidenced by the Earth Day march in Madison.
The protesters also voiced strong concerns for the overall degradation being inflicted on Wisconsin’s landscape by frac sand mining, as well as the human health concerns which occur over time when people breath in silica sand fragments, and the noise and dust from the various digging, processing and trucking of the sand from the mining sites to drilling sites, located out-of-state, mostly in North Dakota. But student marchers also expressed major concerns about the overall future and well-being of the entire planet earth, as its oceans are warming, becoming more acid, while sea levels are arising, from melting ice and snow on land masses and due to the thermal expansion that occurs when water warms, and as the air at the surface continues its record warming. The adverse effects on people and animals from the increasing weather extremes associated with the warming (longer and more dangerous heat waves, worse flooding in some areas and larger areas of drought in others; more and higher coastal flooding with stronger and stronger storms); in other words, more devastation of human and animal life and real estate as the earth continues to heat up. Property and life insurance rates the world over are rising as a result.
The protesters began the march at Madion’s Monona Terrace building, which is Madison’s Convention Center (designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright), and marched past the Wisconsin’s State Capitol Building, and then down State Street, where they convened at the UW campus Library Mall.
At the mall, several speakers referenced the latest projections made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), citing numerous examples of recent environmentally injurious governmental decisions of late, not just by our own state senators and representatives in the Wisconsin Legislature, but by current Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker.
As most Wisconsinites know, Wisconsin has tens of thousands of individual and families living in poverty in the state, most who have been been able to just barely get by on the low income jobs they’ve been working up to now. Yet just this last November, the U.S. Congress voted to end the 2009 Recovery Act’s modest monetary increase in food share benefits (food stamps), by its failing to continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for poor individuals and families, cutting the funding source of the food budget for many thousands of Wisconsin individuals, families and their children on November 1, 2013. This action by our Congress resulted in a benefit cut for nearly every household receiving food share benefits. For families of three, the cuts amounted to $29 a month — November 2013 through September 2014, totaling a $319 for families of three for that period.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said that the cut amounted to “a serious loss, especially in light of the very low amount of basic SNAP benefits available”, and that “without the Recovery Act’s boost, SNAP benefits will average less than $1.40 per person per meal in 2014”. Unfortunately, it is individuals and families eligible for receiving SNAP funding – a large percentage who are Blacks of African and American descent who live in Milwaukee or Dane (Madison area) counties, as well as many thousands of rural preschool age children, and minority families who have children enrolled in public elementary, middle or high schools throughout Wisconsin – who were hurt the most by the November 2013 federal SNAP program cut. Studies show these are the times of human life that are most essential for the child to receive proper nutrition – when their bodies demand the largest amount of good food to grow properly and function well while in school as well as play. When children of any race are deprived of good, nutritious food in their preschool and school age years they are more likely to be more anxious and distracted in school and elsewhere, and they are thus more prone to act in ways get them into trouble in school and elsewhere.
Studies show that when deprived of good, nutritious food at a very young age (2 – 6 years of age), any child, regardless of their race or ethnicity, will be impaired for life as those years are key in proper brain development. When family poverty results in these young children being fed less than nutritious food, or not enough food, during the ages of 2 to 6 years of age, it saddles these young children with impaired mental capabilities, making it more difficult for them to succeed when they enter school, and ultimately reduces their ability to compete for good grades and reduces their chances of succeeding in school and the work place, which can increase their risk of getting into trouble with the authorities and land in prison. To generate this sequence of events for children of families having limited income, in a country as wealthy as the U.S., is an American tragedy of intolerable proportions. Yet, inflationary food pricing brought on by likely global-warming-caused drought in large portions of the western United States, southwestern California in particular, over the past 3 years, and the harsh political decisions affecting Wisconsin’s poor families by our Wisconsin political representative have made this situation worse, especially for the large African-American and Latino populations living in and around Wisconsin’s two largest urban areas – Milwaukee and Dane Counties in particular.
Many who marched this Earth Day (Tuesday) in Madison claimed that they were totally outraged by the fact our own U.S. Representatives and Senators in the Congress have hugely shirked their responsibilities as government employees and public office holders by their continued refusal to initiate or act on legislation to significantly bring down annual U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere, both by each individual state, as well as the country as a whole, and fund the development of community strategies to adapt existing and needed infrastructure to handle higher flood waters and drier and hotter condition affecting water supply and air conditioning during heat waves for those who can’t afford it; while creating alert systems and emergency response networking as extreme weather events become more extreme and potentially deadly,as is predicted in the coming decades due to human-caused global warming.
Not only is there now clear evidence of global warming, nearly everywhere, but studies also show the warming is likely to accelerate, the longer countries, such as the high carbon dioxide emitting, or those projected to become high annual greenhouse gas emitters: United States, Canada, China; India; Australia; European counties; Southeast Asia countries, Brazil, and many of the more prosperous South and Central American countries that rely heavily on the tremendous greenhouse gas emitting aviation industry, as well as the many countries having large numbers of military transport vehicles, ships and aircraft and who them on a regular basis, for training purposes and in war, and the very lucrative cruise and airline tourist industries, all who continue to fail at drastically cutting their annual GHG emissions, to the detriment of future decades.
Scientists the world over have already essentially issued a RED ALERT and sounded the alarm bells on the looming state, national and worldwide threats that are now becoming reality as rapid global warming becomes reality. Economists have reported that major industries which depend greatly on a stable climate are unlikely to prosper when they begin to experience heavy losses as they already have because of increasingly severe droughts, unusually fast and heavy rainfalls causing terrible flooding.
It is a fact that every time someone on the planet burns fossil fuels, whether the fuel is gasoline that gets burned up in a car or a lawn mower, ATV, boat jet ski, snowmobile; or if its diesel fuel for running a truck, train, bus or generator, or whether its aviation (jet) fuel from a plane; or natural gas, oil, propane or any other fuel source burned in one’s furnace; more carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere, where it mixes with the other GHG’s already present in the atmosphere.
During their march down State Street in Madison, participants chanted phrases such as “keep the oil in the soil, keep the coal in the hole,” “people power, not corporate power” and “beat back the frack attack, we’re gonna say no mine, GTAC” to promote their individual and collective goals.
Trudi Jenny, a 350 Madison member, said she thought the main message of the march was to “protect our waters.” She said she opposes climate disruption and pipelines.
“We hope that [people attending the rally] learn to become active in the climate change arena,” Jenny said.
Jenny also said she hopes people will write to their congresspeople about creating legislation to keep the planet healthy, promote a carbon tax and oppose a pipeline coming through Minnesota, and support divestment from fossil fuel industries.
Madison Action for Mining Alternatives member Carol Buelow said frack sand mines need more regulation, and bills altering iron mining regulation need to be repealed.
“I think people need to pay attention to the threats to our environment and do what they can to stop them,” Buelow said. “[Iron and frack sand mining] are very destructive to the environment, and they’re very poorly regulated, if at all. The state is doing a totally inadequate job of protecting the environment.”
Environmental advocate Brandi Browskowski-Durow, a public school teacher and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education graduate student, said she wants to see more environmental education in schools.
Browskowski-Durow added one of her biggest concerns about the frack sand mining industry is the development of silicosis, which is the accumulation of fine sand in the lungs.
“Right now, [the government is] allowing permits to be more lenient, especially in Wisconsin, and that’s not going to be good for future generations,” Browskowski-Durow said.
Self-described “raging granny” Rebecca Alwin said she thought the rally was a convergence of issues and uniting of progressive groups.
“Raging grannies typically don’t like walking this far, but I’ve got my good walking shoes on,” Alwin said.
Multiple peace marshals walked with the group to help the large group comply with the law and stay safe around traffic.
After the march, several speakers voiced their environmental concerns in a rally.
Federation of United Tribes spokesperson Larry Littlegeorge said he would like to see a complete stop to sand mine construction. He said he got involved when he heard about the potential creation of a 5,000-acre sand mine.
Littlegeorge connected his current concerns to Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act moving all Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.
“Now in 2014, we have another forced removal,” Littlegeorge said. “The Federation of United Tribes is commissioned by the elders and their beliefs to stand up and be accountable for the rights of Mother Earth and for the people who are not in harmony and balance with one another.”
Speakers then led a traditional Native American dance, encouraging people to join hands in a line that eventually converged in the center of Library Mall.
350 Madison spokesperson Beth Esser addressed climate change policy for future generations, specifically her children at the rally.
“Like every parent out there, I want so many wonderful things for their future, but most importantly, I want a healthy, vibrant planet for them to live on,” Esser said. “The time has come to move beyond changing light bulbs.”
Esser also spoke of the fossil fuel divestment program on UW-Madison campus.
“If it is wrong to wreck the planet, surely it is wrong to benefit financially from doing so,” Esser said. “Together, we can put people, planet and peace over profit.”
Finally, Carl Whiting spoke of the No Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance’s opposition to building a pipeline through the Midwest to transport crude oil with civil disobedience.
“It’s high time we all got together, celebrating our collective vision for a healthy planet and flexing our collective muscle,” Whiting said. “All of us here are deeply concerned about the future, and rightly so.”
A rally coordinator said despite the smaller-than-expected turnout, the positive energy of the crowd was encouraging and empowering.
More Info:
For more information about the Global Climate Convergence in Wisconsin, go to https://wisconsinwave.org/global-climate-convergence-wisconsin-0
Regarding Earth Day news in Washington DC, USA Today journalist Paul Singer, who gives weekly reports to Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Central Times” show on Congressional activities, said nothing special for Earth Day was happening there, and that Earth Day is seldom celebrated in the nation’s capital, as it is perceived mostly as an celebration only by Democrats.
Urgent Issues Wisconsin Legislature Ignored in 2014
1. Climate Change from Global Warming Due to Rising Greenhouse Gas Concentrations in the Atmosphere;
2. Poverty, Including Not Enough Funds for Nutrition and a Tolerance of a Low Living Standard for Wisconsinites in Need;
3. Income Disparities by Races, Sexes, Birth Location, and Other Factors Irrelevant Economic Potential
4. The Replacement of Wisconsin Wilderness Lands, Wildlife, Wetlands and Farmland with 4-Lane Highways, Freeways, Airport Runways and Taxi-ways; Big-Box Stores, Massive Parking Structures.
5. Facilitating Reconstruction of Self-contained Communities in Wisconsin, Complete with quality schools with well paid teachers, grocery stores, walkways, bicycle routes, mass transit stops.
6. The amount of acreage devoted to green space must be increased as much as possible.
January 2014 Was Fourth-Warmest On Record for Planet
This January was the warmest January since 2007, and the fourth-warmest in recorded history, according to NOAA data.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, which came out Thursday, found that the Earth was 1.17 degrees warmer this January than the average temperature dating back to 1880. The only other warmer January months were in 2002, 2003 and 2007. The southern hemisphere had the warmest January on record, and most of Africa, South America, Australia, Asia and Europe were much warmer than usual. The U.S. was one of the few places with very chilly temperatures, except for Alaska.
Scientists say decreases in Arctic sea ice due in part to man-made warming have lead to shifts in the jet stream this year that in turn brought the cold weather to the continental U.S. this winter (polar vortex).
Testimony on AB 1 to Assembly Jobs, Economy and Mining Committee, Regarding Governor Walker’s Proposed State Income and Property Tax Cuts
Following is the text of my public testimony for the Wisconsin Assembly’s Jobs, Economy and Mining Committee on Assembly Bill 1. AB 1 is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s proposed $406 million in property tax cuts and $98 million in state income tax cuts, which would both be returned to Wisconsin’s tax payers with passage of the bill.
I, Michael Neuman, attended the public hearing, held in room 417 of the State Capitol building, Madison, on February 5, 2014. The text of my testimony published below is intended to accompany the three documents I delivered for the committee at the hearing. This testimony also supports my statement of opposition to AB 1, which I submitted immediately prior to the hearing.
DOCUMENTS
A. “Financial Incentives to Reduce Total Driving, Flying and Home Energy Use”, by Michael T. Neuman, May 2000 (25 pgs);
B. Letter “To My Elected Governmental Officials RE: “PROTECTION FROM GLOBAL WARMING”, by Michael T. Neuman, Madison, Wisconsin, May 26, 2000 (1 pg. – cover letter attached to , above);
C. “EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, Conserve, NOW!, Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Other Environmental Costs by Offering Financial Incentives that Reward Less Driving, Flying and Home Energy Use”, by Michael T. Neuman, August 1, 2001 (6 pgs.).
TEXT OF TESTIMONY
Good afternoon. My name is Michael Neuman. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this bill, which would turn over hundreds of millions of state dollars to state taxpayers. The reason I oppose this action is because it simply gives the money to Wisconsin taxpayers rather than them having to earn the money back. A far better approach to returning this money to Wisconsin residents would be to create and fund a state program to offer the money back in the form of “positive financial incentives” which encourage state residents to DRIVE LESS ANNUAL MILES than the average miles driven (by individual or family) in the state; to avoid flying due to the massive volumes of jet fuel burned in flying; and to encourage household consume less fossil fuel energy that is derived from fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, compared to the average amount of energy used over the previous year by similar sized household.
The primary aim of this program, called “Conserve, NOW, Conserve Now ex sum is to substantially reduce Wisconsin’s annual quantities of greenhouse gases emitted from Wisconsin’s transportation and energy production sectors, which account for the two largest quantities of anthropogenic (human caused) greenhouse gas tons emitted on an annual basis.
Few people question that global warming is occurring anymore, and just as few still question if we humans could be causing it, despite that nine-eight percent of global warming scientists surveyed now say it is, that we are primarily responsible for the warming that has occurred so far. The reason is our burning of way too much fossil fuels for energy, particularly around the beginning of the 19th century. That is when human began relying on motor vehicle driving, flying by airplane, shipping, and the use of electricity in a big way, and these are all continuing to grow, worldwide.
Some cities, counties and states have already begun to plan for the changes in the climate that lies ahead, and the predicted potential for more dangerous extreme weather continues to be realized around the planet, and the potential for even worse weather extremes grows as the planet warms, the arctic ice shrinks, the permafrost regions thaw, glaciers recede, oceans levels rise, the destruction of the world’s carbon dioxide using tropical forests continue, while more people throughout world burn more and more fossil fuels, adding to the accumulation of more and more millions of tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere that surrounds the planet.
Many communities have already begun planning their infrastructure to accommodate “new normals” with global warming built into the assumptions. Dane County and Madison in Wisconsin both have begun that planning process. So has New York City and a number of other cities, counties and states in the U.S. The state of California has been also been engaged heavily in mitigation by actively attempting to reduce their greenhouse gases and rely more on solar and wind energy and mass transit.
Changes in Wisconsin’s climate are also inevitable, with heavier early winter and fall rains which tend to cause more flooding and hotter, more drought-like condition in summer (as in 2012). Our current and projected future greenhouse gas emissions under a “business as usual” economy and way of life are unsustainable. Current levels levels of fossil fuel burning have already led to more instability in the climate which leads to more dangerous, less hospitable environmental conditions for humans as well as animal life. The financial and human burdens and potential for loss of life will grow and become more threatening unless we invest in major mitigation that results in meaningful worldwide reductions of greenhouse gases and investments are made to adapt to the changes in climate today, rather than waiting for more weeks, months and years to pass, as has been done since 2000 when I first proposed “Concern NOW”, or “Positive Financial Incentives: An Environmentally Just Approach for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions” (blog post #7).
Despite that fact that 98% of the world’s scientists who have studied global warming conclude that it is, that the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere is already documented, and that global warming and extreme weather events have already has been occurring (Super Typhoon Haiyan; Super Storm Sandy, …) as well as disruptive changes to the climate (Southern California drought; Australia’s long heatwaves) have already been registered throughout the planet due to warming which threatens to worsen, further warming the earth’s atmosphere and added ocean warming and “acidification” (A certain percentage of the carbon dioxide that is emitted to the atmosphere gets assimilated by the oceans, making the oceans’ waters more acidic.) The combination of the warmer and more acidic ocean water is already destroying coral reef in many areas and depleting many other ocean species in various parts of the world.
The proposed financial incentives program, also called “Conserve NOW”, would not only lead to Wisconsin’s reduction of annual greenhouse gas emissions from the state, it would also lower the needs for capacity expansion of Wisconsin’s highway, airport, and utility infrastructure expansions, which would save billions of transportation and energy production dollars, in addition to reducing other pollutant emissions from fewer motor vehicles operating on the system and the avoidance of otherwise unavoidable impacts of infrastructure expansion construction and maintenance.
Because of the growing threats now being realized throughout the world as a result of global warming, I am proposing the financial incentives for driving less, or not at all, not flying, and using less than average fossil fuel derived energy in the home be TRIPLE the incentives proposed in my 2000 proposal, that the federal government fund two-thirds of the annual cost of the program, and that the state of Wisconsin fund the remaining third of the porogram, which I now call “Conserve NOW X3”.
We can ill afford to continue with “business as usual” as regards fossil fuel burning if we want to be assured that today’s children and children of the future living on this planet will not have to live with a growing fear of evermore probable and calamitous natural disasters. Instead of a maximum total of $7,600 for those who don’t drive, fly or use fossil fuel derived energy in their home, a maximum of $22,800 (3 times the previous maximum) could be earned by those who do the same (the amount get progressively less for those who do).
The $406 million the governor of Wisconsin proposes to return to state property taxpayers would be an ample amount to begin offering these incentives as not everyone who enrolls in this financial incentives program will earn the maximum amount.
For the federal share of this program, a good amount could come from the savings in avoiding sinking more federal funds in continuing to expand the state highway system in Wisconsin. Other funds could come from not continuing to exempt the airline industry from paying jet fuel taxes, and from having the airline industry fund federal aviation control employees (rather than the current system of having the U.S. taxpayers pay the salaries of 15,000 FAA flight controllers). Finally, an increase in federal gasoline and diesel taxes should also be considered to fund financial incentives for the American public to drive less. Until this type of program is enacted, Americans should consider voluntarily driving and flying less, and conserving on energy derived from burning fossil fuels, in addition to taking other steps they might consider that will help maintain and preserve the earth as a safe and hospitable place to live.
ALEC, State Legislators and the Spreading of the Lone Star Tick
Historically considered a southern and south-central parasite, the lone star tick is progressively expanding northward and eastward, creating new concerns for pets and people in these areas of the country. This tick, known for the white, star-like spot on the back of the female, is an aggressive biter and can transmit pathogen diseases to dogs, cats and people. Many Lone Star ticks were found for the first time in
Wisconsin in 2013.
“Lone star ticks become more and more widespread every year, as they continue to infiltrate states where they have never before been present,” said Michael Dryden, DVM, PhD, distinguished professor of veterinary parasitology at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, who is considered one of the nation’s foremost authorities on ticks that infect dogs and cats.
New data shows viable lone star tick populations today as far north as New York, Maine – even Ontario, Canada – and as far west as Nebraska. Traditionally found in southeastern and south-central states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas,Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas, the lone star tick now can be found throughout the northeast and north-central region in places like Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group funded by powerful fossil fuel interests including ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers, has made a bad habit of giving these funders a role in drafting “model legislation” that state lawmakers then introduce in their local legislatures—without any mention of the corporations’ involvement. According to ALEC’s guiding principles on energy policy, “Global climate change is inevitable.” It is true that some global warming is now inevitable, thanks in part to climate contrarian groups like ALEC that have long opposed attempts to reduce carbon emissions.
“The lone star tick is a very aggressive tick, and it actively seeks out people and pets to feed on,” said Michael J. Yabsley, MS, PhD, F.R.E.S, associate professor at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, College of Veterinary Medicine at The University of Georgia. “It’s one of the most common ticks that people find on themselves and their dogs, so everyone should take precautions – especially in the new areas of invasion.
Parasitologists like Dryden and Yabsley say the reason for the lone star tick expansion, which began about 25 years ago, is multi-faceted and complex, citing such factors as milder winters, suburbanization and the proliferation of white-tailed deer and wild turkeys — common hosts for lone star ticks. With deer and turkey populations increasing and spreading and more people moving closer to woodlands and wildlife, conditions are conducive for lone star tick proliferation and interaction with domestic animals and their owners.
Source: PR Newswire, June 2013
Ticks, including the lone star, are most active in the spring. It’s important, however, to remain vigilant year-round about protecting dogs from ticks. They go dormant during the winter but don’t die – even when there’s a hard freeze – and they can come out to feed on mild days.
“By the time you notice ticks on dogs, it’s often too late,” said Dryden. “All it takes is one bite.
Thousands Flying to Super Bowl XLVIII a Big Loss for the Planet
About 15 percent of the Super Bowl XLVIII crowd traveled to the game by private jet, according to Greg Raiff, chief executive of Private Jet Services Group in Seabrook, N. H.. And thousands more enthusiastic travelers flew to the big game using commercial airlines. Score this monstrosity event another big loss for our planet earth.
People who travel regularly by jet in the U. S. contribute many more tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than people who choose not to fly. A single round-trip flight from New York to San Francisco sends 2-3 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent gases per passenger to the atmosphere, where it remains upwards of 100 years . According to the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization, more than 6 billion people will fly in 2030, which is double the number of passengers flying in 2012.
The average American generates about 19 tons of greenhouse gases a year. The calculated average greenhouse gas emission per person, world-wide, is less than 5 tons a year.
Many hundreds of tons of potent greenhouse gases were emitted to the atmosphere as a result of recreational flying to Super Bowl XLVIII. Many more hundreds of tons of greenhouse gases will undoubtedly be emitted by jet airplanes taking passengers from all over the world round-trip to the Olympic Games in Russia, which begin next week. Those greenhouse gas emissions, too, will remain in the atmosphere a century or more, heating the planet.
Leaked TPP Texts Reveal a Bonanza of Special Rights for Corporations
All who care about preserving Earth for future Earthlings like us should call their representatives in the U.S. Congress and strongly recommend they object to the fast tracking this Pact for President Obama’s signature.
Environmental groups slammed leaked text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (TPP’s) draft environment chapter, published by Wikileaks on January 15, saying it is completely inadequate to protecting the planet’s oceans, forests or wildlife.
“If the environment chapter is finalized as written in this leaked document, President Obama’s environmental trade record would be worse that George W. Bush’s,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.
“Environmental protections are only as effective as their enforcement provisions, and a trade agreement with week enforcement language will do little or nothing to protect our communities and wildlife,” said Peter Lehner, executive director of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The environment chapter leak follows a line of leaked texts revealing a bonanza of special rights for corporations proposed for the TPP.
In December 2013, HuffingtonPost published leaked documents revealing that the United States was bullying other nations into accepting some of the worst expansions of corporate power proposed in any international agreement. A heavily-redacted memo summarizing countries’ negotiating positions on a variety of TPP chapters heading into the December 7-to-10, 2013 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial in Singapore showed that the U.S. was behind pushes for new powers for corporations in the investment chapter, financial services chapter, intellectual property chapter and others.
An earlier “cheat sheet”-style chart from prior to the November 2013 Salt Lake City Round of negotiations contained additional information about countries’ positions.
Leaked text of the TPP investment, intellectual property, regulatory coherence and drug formularies chapters, as well as annexes to the Technical Barriers to Trade chapter, first published by Citizens Trade Campaign in 2011 and 2012, had already revealed the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) pushing for a bevy of special rights for transnational corporations that would come at the expense of environmental protection, consumer safety and access to medicine.
An updated copy of the Intellectual Property chapter published by Wikileaks in November 2013 further helped to shine a light on this secretive pact.
Draft texts are said to exist for some 29 separate TPP chapters, but despite approximately four years of steady negotiations, none have ever been officially released for public scrutiny.
“Americans deserve the right to know what U.S. negotiators are proposing in our names,” said Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of Citizens Trade Campaign. ”In the absence of transparency on the part of our government, we have a responsibility to share what information we receive about the TPP with the public.”
One in 4 Veterans in the U.S are Homeless!
Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11% of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-07-homeless-veterans_N.htm
27. Media, Government and Religious Organizations Derelict in Duties to Inform Public of Necessary Actions to Take to Avoid Global Warming Catastrophe
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Some may have wondered why our mass media sources, including CBS, ABC, NBC, ESPN, FOX News, CNN, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), National Public Radio, the National Weather Service, as well as the many major national and local newspapers and local TV and radio weather forecasters, have refused to sound the alarm bells on global warming the past several years when it started to become fairly obvious that humans were causing the world to warm as evidenced by the faster melting of the polar ice and land glaciers, the rate that sea level was rising, and the poleward movement of the growing seasons, insect populations, and animal in America and elwhere were happening at the same time as greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere were rising., among other physical and biological changes,were all occurring
But all credible scientists are now admitting that catastrophic warming of the earth is underway and the resulting profound impacts on most of the world’s life systems has already been begun. They also say the warming will continue every day that people and businesses conduct “business as usual”, which is what the world’s fossil fuel companies and related corporations want everybody to do.
Despite President Obama’s speech to the graduating students at Georgetown University on June 25th this year, where unveiled his new policies to confront global warming – a transcript of the speech can be read at blog entry #18 – the. United States Congress and Wisconsin’s Legislature and Wisconsin’s state governor Scott Walker have been done virtually nothing to confront climate change in Wisconsin.
Every day we continue to live our lives as we did in the past, by engaging in activities that burn fossil fuels – in driving motor vehicles, in flying by jet airliner, in heating and cooling our homes, and in visiting places of business and/or recreation that cause the release of more and more volumes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, we add more “fuel to the fire”, so to speak, Earth and her ocean’s will become hotter and hotter, setting in motion an almost unthinkable cascade unintended consequences upon all of us and the generations that follows. It is shameful that our Wisconsin Legislature, our governor, and our governmental representatives in the House of Representatives, and the U. S. Senate have all failed to take meaningful major actions on this growing catastrophe and have continued acting as though things should be done “business as usual”
In 2000, I proposed a strategy to my elected governmental officials at the state and national level that would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Wisconsin. I believe it would have resulted in significant annual reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in Wisconsin’s transportation and energy use sectors. In doing so, it would likely have benefited all sectors and income levels. Individuals and families who drive less (or not at all), fly less (or not at all) and use less fossil fuel derived energy in their home on an annual basis see blog #7: “A Socially and Environmentally Just Program that Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions to the Atmosphere by Offering Financial Incentives that Reward Less (or no) Driving, Flying and Home Energy Use”, or click on the links below:
All Things Environmental 
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