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* Sierra Club May 23rd Meeting Focuses on Politics

May 15, 2012 by Bill Gupton, Group Chair

“Every person in this country who cares about democracy should care about this work.” – Ed Schultz

Mark your calendar for May 23rd because this is a program that you don’t want to miss! In addition to conservation, outings, green events and other updates, we have a great two part program.

Ken Brame, chair of the Sierra Club National Political Committee, will speak about the importance of the upcoming elections at the national, state and local level.  His talk will include tips on fundraising and how best to provide support for candidates. Brame is a resident of Asheville, NC.

The club will also screen Koch Brothers Exposed: the Film, a Brave New Foundation production by Robert Greenwald. The 90 minute documentary exposes the Koch Industries’ KochPAC campaign contributions and the various entities the brothers have endowed to spread their anti-regulatory message. For more information about the film, visit http://www.kochbrothersexposed.com/.

 

The meeting will be held in the Mahlon Adams Pavilion at Freedom Park, our usual location at 2435 Cumberland Avenue, Charlotte.  Pizza will be served at a social time beginning at 6:30 p.m.  The meeting begins at 7.  The meeting is free and open to the public and you do not have to be a member to attend. For more information or to RSVP for refreshments contact sierraclub.centpiedchair@gmail.com.

 

P.S. Bring a friend or two for a fun and informative eveneing. See you there!

Posted in Conservation, Meetings, Politics | Leave a Comment »

* Sustainable News from Sustain Charlotte

May 7, 2012 by Bill Gupton, Group Chair

This is a repost of the recent Sustain Charlotte newsletter. Some great news and happenings to keep you updated!

Sustain Charlotte Encourages Green in the Queen City

The nonprofit’s First Annual Community Sustainability Awards recognized 70 Charlotteans who are keeping the city green. Twelve people from that esteemed group received awards in categories including air quality, food and social equity. About 200 attended the event, which was sponsored by Wells Fargo & Co., UNC Charlotte and Packard Place, among others. Tickets were open to students, nonprofits and the organization’s members and nonmembers. Sustain Charlotte’s board of directors, volunteers and members voted for the winners. Learn More

Sustain Charlotte: Shifting the Region’s Focus on its Future

“Tree loss is one symptom when a community is not thinking sustainably,” Binns said. He began to look into policy choices that led to short-term thinking, air quality changes and shifts in vehicle miles traveled. The numbers were not good and were headed in the wrong direction. It was then that the sketches of Sustain Charlotte began to appear. Learn More

Sustain Charlotte Asked to Present to Charlotte City Council’s Environment Committee

City Council’s environment committee — led by new council member John Autry — heard presentations Monday from Shannon Binns, executive director of Sustain Charlotte, and Helene Hilger, director of the Infrastructure, Design, Environment and Sustainability Center at UNC Charlotte. Binns walked the group through how other cities crafted policies for limiting the environmental impact of government functions. Learn More

ALA Report: Charlotte’s Air is Cleaner, But Still Gets an ‘F’

The Charlotte metropolitan area’s smog problem places it 18th worst among U.S. cities, the American Lung Association said in its annual rankings, improving from 10th worst the past two years. The ranking is for ozone, or smog, an invisible gas that in the Charlotte area comes from vehicle tailpipes, power plants and industrial emissions.  Learn More

Environmental Prep: Teaching the Next Generation to Take the Lead

Brian Kasher is being recognized as a Champion of Change for his innovative energy priorities and sustainable living practices making a greener community a possibility in any American city or town.The key strategy and tactic number one of the CMS going green initiative is engagement of all stakeholders.Through collaboration and teamwork the CharMeck region continues to make strides in environmental protections and improvement. Learn More

Meck’s State of Environment Report Online

Mecklenburg County staff has updated their biennial environmental report with a shorter, color-coded version that’s now online. It’s worth a read by anyone interested in the air we breathe, the water we rely on and the land under us. Learn More

NC Poll Finds Support for Renewable Energy

North Carolina residents overwhelmingly support renewable energy, including legislation that would let independent power generators sell directly to customers. The poll found strongest support for solar energy, at 89 percent, natural gas at 84 percent, and offshore wind energy at 76 percent. Support for nuclear power came in at 57 percent and for coal-fired electricity at 56 percent, with 32 percent opposed to both. Learn More

Charlotte Ranked 17th Among Top 25 US Cities for Energy Star Buildings

The Charlotte-area saw 130 buildings achieve Energy Star certification last year for a total of 25.1 million square feet of floor space. EPA estimates the building owners and tenants here will save an estimated $14.7 million in aggregated energy costs as a result of greening the properties. Learn More

On Earth Day, Anne Springs Close Greenway Shares Expansion Plans

It’s not a path, but 2,100 acres of forest, trails and lakes on a tract shaped like a horse’s head. The greenway will expand its summer day camps, open an outdoors adventure center and add a full-time naturalist to lead hikes. Trail signs will be updated. Learn More

LYNX Blue Line Extension Project Celebrates Major Move Forward With Dedicated State Funding

The State Full Funding Grant Agreement will provide 25 percent of the funding for the LYNX Blue Line Extension from Center City Charlotte to the UNC Charlotte campus. The 9.4-mile alignment would run from Uptown Charlotte to the UNC Charlotte campus and include 11 light rail stations and four parking facilities. Construction of the $1.16 billion BLE Project is scheduled to begin fall 2013 with operational service expected in 2017. Learn More

New Habitats for Fish and Osprey at Lake Norman

The nonprofit N.C. Wildlife Federation led the initiatives in an ongoing effort to build habitat for wildlife, both fish and birds of prey.The boulders are intended for catfish, spotted and largemouth bass and other prized catches at the bottom of North Carolina’s largest lake. Learn More

Mrytle Beach Woman Lives Life of Less Stuff

Cynthia Swanson Powell decided she was going to try not to buy anything new if it could be found used.“It’s not like I’m changing the world or anything,” she said. “But I’m changing it for me in a way because I’m proud of myself for thinking about things and for being able to do it.” Learn More

Upcoming Events

May 10
Green Drinks Charlotte

5:30-8:30pm @ Harvest Moon Grille at the Dunhill Hotel (235 N. Tryon St.) Where Charlotte’s environmentally minded individuals, businesses and non-profits meet to network and work together to make a difference in the world. Featuring light app’s sourced from sustainable farms, drink specials, and validated parking in the Dunhill Hotel parking garage (enter from Sixth Street). The guest speaker will be Charlotte Clean and Green. Check It Out
May 11
Hats Off to Parks! Luncheon

11:30am – 1:00pm @ Freedom Park (1900 E. Blvd). All proceeds from this 2nd Annual fundraiser organized by Partners for Parks will go towards improvements at Clarks Creek Nature Preserve.  Check It Out

May 15
New South for the New Southerner: Eating Local

5:30pm @ Levine Museum of the New South (20 E. 7th St.) Learn about local food and farming, in history and today! Eating local – it’s an idea rooted in history whose time has come again. Cassie Parsons of Grateful Growers Farm/Harvest Moon Grill and County Extension Agent Kristin Davis talk about the locavore farming/eating movement in the Charlotte region. Hosted by Levine Museum historian Dr. Tom Hanchett. Free for Museum members, $10 for non-members. Includes program, wine and a Southern buffet dinner from Mert’s Heart & Soul. Reservtions required. RSVP by calling 704.333.1887 ext. 501 or rsvp@museumofthenewsouth.org
May 19
5th Annual Charlotte Clean & Green Festival

10-4pm @ Little Sugar Creek Greenway (4th Street Entrance) They’re partnering with Mecklenburg Park and Recreation to host the FREE festival and are excited about the new space and opportunities it brings! They’ll be expanding our Hands-on Learning Tent, offering more children activities, excellent local food and many fabulous vendors will be on hand to introduce you to local and sustainable products and businesses. Check It Out

May 23
Sierra Club Meeting

6:30-8:30pm @ Mahlon Adams Pavilion at Freedom Park. The program is free and open to the public and you do not have to be a member to attend. Free parking is available. Check it Out

Posted in Charlotte, Conservation, Events, Meetings, Volunteer | Leave a Comment »

* US Banks Risk Public Health and Climate by Financing Coal

May 7, 2012 by Bill Gupton, Group Chair

This past week the Sierra Club and the Rainforest Alliance Network released a report “Coal Finance Report Card 2012″ that highlights the “Filthy Five” – the top 5 largest financiers of the US coal industry.

The list counts the number of transactions each bank had with the dirtiest coal-burning utility companies and the largest mountaintop removal mining companies between January 2010 and March 2012. Bank of America was found to be the number one worst bank for financing of coal with 44 transactions. JP Morgan Chase was number 2 with 42 transactions, followed by Citi with 40 transactions, Morgan Stanley with 33 transactions, and Wells Fargo with 26 transactions.

Read the Sierra Club press release below and click on the link to read the full report. If your bank is on the list, let them know that you oppose this policy. Chose a bank or credit union that does not support some of the major polluters in the US. Tell your friends and neighbors. Join others in letting these banks know that they will be held accountable for these policies. For additional information, see the Sierra Club Policy on Civil Disobience.

P.S. You just might have heard or read about the May 9th Bank of America, a.k.a. “Bank of Coal” shareholder meeting. There are 3 marches starting at 8:00 AM which will begin at 3 different locations and then join together to march to the shareholders meeting:

Occupy Charlotte, other Occupiers, labor activists, and others in the march are leaving from 600 E Trade St.

“Worker’s Rights! Corporations Out of Politics: Pay Your Taxes Not Your Lobbyists!” [The other marches are “Housing Justice Now!” — leaving from the Bank of America at N Tryon and 9th St.

“Stop Funding Coal and the Militarization of Our Communities!” — leaving from The Green (the park across the street from the Duke Energy building)

For Immediate Release:
May 1, 2012

Contacts:
RAN: Kerul Dyer: 415-866-0005, kdyer@ran.org
Sierra Club: Eitan Bencuya, 202-495-3047, eitan.bencuya@sierraclub.org

US Banks Risk Public Health and Climate by Financing Coal

RAN and Sierra Club Detail the “Filthy Five” Banks in third annual “Coal Finance Report Card”

Washington, D.C. – Today Rainforest Action Network and the Sierra Club released the Coal Finance Report Card 2012, their third annual ranking of the largest financiers of mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power plants.

The report (PDF) looks at the stated policies for mountaintop removal and coal financing from each of the largest US Banks and assigns a letter grade to how well they uphold these policies based on investments, transactions and ownership of coal mining and coal burning utility companies.

Summary of bank coal policy grades:

Bank

Mountaintop Removal Grade

Coal Fired Power Plant   Grade

Bank of America

C-

D

Citi

C-

D

GE Capital

D

D

Goldman Sachs

F

D (Cogentrix) / F (Other)

JP Morgan Chase

D+

D

Morgan Stanley

C-

D

PNC

C-

F

Wells Fargo

D

D

In addition, this year’s report debuts the “Filthy Five” — the top 5 largest financiers of the US coal industry. The list counts the number of transactions each bank had with the dirtiest coal-burning utility companies and the largest mountaintop removal mining companies between January 2010 and March 2012. Bank of America was found to be the number one worst bank for financing of coal with 44 transactions. JP Morgan Chase was number 2 with 42 transactions, followed by Citi with 40 transactions, Morgan Stanley with 33 transactions, and Wells Fargo with 26 transactions.

“The largest banks in the country, including Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo, received failing grades today as the lead financiers of the coal industry. These banks are the ATMs for a dirty industry that is bad for health and bad for business,” said Amanda Starbuck, Director of Rainforest Action Network’s Energy and Finance Program. “Coal is the ultimate subprime investment for the climate. We cannot solve climate change if banks continue to prop up this risky and outdated industry. When it comes to protecting our air and drinking water, the health of our communities, and our climate we don’t grade on a curve.”

The report sheds light on how banks with household names are complicit in polluting our air and destroying our natural resources. Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive process where mining companies blow the tops off mountains to reach a seam of coal. This practice has damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 miles of streams and threatens to destroy 1.4 million acres of mountaintops and forests by 2020. In addition, the mining practice destroys Appalachian communities, the health of coalfield residents and any hope for positive economic growth.

Meanwhile, not only is coal burning responsible for one third of US carbon emissions — the main contributor to climate disruption — but it is also making us sick. Coal pollution is responsible for 13,000 premature deaths every year, more than $100 billion in annual health costs and over 200,000 asthma attacks annually. Pollution from coal-fired power plants leads to smog, which can cause chest pain, coughing, and breathing difficulties and can make conditions like bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma worse or even fatal. Today two out of every five U.S. families live in places with unsafe air.

“These banks are financing a coal industry that is threatening our health, our mountains, and the future of our planet,” said Mary Anne Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Protecting the health and safety of our families is everyone’s responsibility — including those that fund destructive and dangerous coal mining and burning. We hope this report card helps draw attention and scrutiny to those who are bankrolling some of the biggest polluters in our country.”

Through this report, RAN and the Sierra Club point to where banks are failing as energy and climate leaders. However, both organizations maintain a strong commitment to work with the companies so they may adopt and implement meaningful policies on coal.

To view the full report please visit: http://ran.org/coal-finance-reportcard-2012

###

Rainforest Action Network runs hard-hitting campaigns to break North America’s fossil fuels addiction, protect endangered forests and Indigenous rights, and stop destructive investments around the world through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. For more information, please visit: www.ran.org

The Sierra Club is the largest grassroots environmental organization in the country, with over 1.4 million members and supporters. For more information about the Beyond Coal campaign, visit www.beyondcoal.org .

Posted in Beyond Coal, Coal, Duke Energy, Take Action | Leave a Comment »

* Cancer patient questions Duke CEO about local coal plant

May 6, 2012 by Bill Gupton, Group Chair

This is a must see video!

Watch Jim Rogers dance around the issue. Utility companies have been denying the impact of coal ash and coal ash pond leakage by saying that there is no direct link. Would Duke Energy Corporation fund a cancer cluster study? Of course not! They might find out some facts that they don’t want to know about.

Thanks to Mountain Island Lake residents Sara and Anna Behnkefor for speaking out.

Stay tuned for more on Riverbend coal ash toxic coal ash ponds.

May 3, 2012

By Jason Stoogenke

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —

Duke Energy is closing some of its older, dirtier coal plants.  Riverbend Steam Station, in the Mountain Island Lake area, is on the list.

But, for some, it’s not soon enough.

Sara Behnke can see Riverband from her window.  She never really paid much attention until a few years ago, when she found out she had cancer.

“It’s been … tough,” she said.  “I can’t help but wonder, did this have some connection and what is living near this doing to my kids?  What’s it doing to our community?  What’s it doing to our drinking water?”

So on Thursday, she went to Duke Energy’s shareholder meeting and asked CEO Jim Rogers point blank what

Duke plans to do about the plant and the coal ash it creates.  Then her daughter, Anna, read Rogers a handwritten letter.  She told Eyewitness News she wrote it herself.  After all, she knows more about cancer and coal ash than most 11-year-olds.

“At dinner, we have discussions about it a lot,” she said.

When Eyewitness News asked Rogers about the plant, he said Riverbend isn’t causing health problems and that Duke follows the law.  When asked why Duke doesn’t play it safe and line the ash ponds to make sure nothing leaks into the soil or water, Rogers said, “There’s been no evidence that there’s any leakage between those ash ponds and any occurrence of any cancer or any other ailment.  But if there was, and we saw that that was true, of course we would line them in a heartbeat.”

Rogers also said Duke plans to close Riverbend as early as three years from now.

“They’ve been saying that for a long time,” Behnke said.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/cancer-patient-questions-duke-ceo-about-local-coal/nNQnq/

Posted in Beyond Coal, Coal, Duke Energy | Leave a Comment »

* Every Vote Counts

May 2, 2012 by Bill Gupton, Group Chair

Vote.

Tell your friends to vote.

Tell your neighbors.

Ever vote counts in a low turn out primary!

 

VOTE!

Posted in Conservation, Politics, Take Action | Leave a Comment »

* Coal Ash Pond Dangers in NC

May 2, 2012 by Bill Gupton, Group Chair

Are coal ash ponds a danger to our environment and health?

Read the reports below and then watch the video about the coal ash pond near Asheville.

After you do ask yourself, “Should I be concerned about the two HIGH HAZARD, unlined, aging Riverbend coal ash ponds on Mountain Island Lake that are upstream of the Charlotte drinking water intake?” Let me know if the answer is yes.

All North Carolina coal ash ponds are leaking toxic pollution to groundwater

EPA and North Carolina need to step up coal ash regulation, enforcement

 

Posted in Beyond Coal, Coal, Conservation, Duke Energy | Leave a Comment »

* Duke Energy and NC DENR Pull Out of Coal Ash Forum – Program Canceled

April 29, 2012 by Bill Gupton, Group Chair

 

The Sierra Club has learned that Duke Energy Corporation and the NC Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (NC DENR) have pulled out of the May 3rd Coal Ash Forum. In a voicemail message from the forum sponsor, the Sierra Club was told that Duke Energy Corporation and NC DENR have decided that there would not be “an opportunity to exchange ideas” because a citizen rally was scheduled prior to the meeting. We find this response unacceptable.

We are extremely disappointed that Duke Energy Corporation, our regulated electrical monopoly, is unwilling to give their ratepayers and the community an opportunity to learn about the Riverbend coal ash ponds and to ask questions. We are especially disturbed that NC DENR, a public governmental agency, chose to withdraw from the forum rather than have a public conversation with the citizens that they are supposed to protect. We would hope that Duke Energy Corporation and NC DENR will reconsider that response and that a forum can be rescheduled as soon as possible.

The Sierra Club wishes to thank the Gaston County Quality of Natural Resources Commission (QNRC) for identifying that the Riverbend coal ash ponds are a major environmental and safety issue for the community and for scheduling the Coal Ash Forum.

Additional information will be provided as available.

Posted in Beyond Coal, Coal, Duke Energy, Events, Nuclear, Take Action | Leave a Comment »

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