Sunday, November 12, 2017

Just because Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says it, doesn't mean it is the truth.

November 3, 2017
By 

From warmer temperatures (click here) to more extreme weather, melting glaciers and rising sea levels, humanity is fundamentally changing the planet by pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, US government scientists said on 3 November in their latest assessment of climate science.

The average global temperature has increased by 1 °C since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the 600-page report says — adding that the last 115 years comprise “the warmest period in the history of modern civilization”. The analysis warns that temperatures could increase another 4°C by the end of the century, with dramatic consequences for humans and natural ecosystems....

The USA scientific brain trust, including students, are leaving the country. Americans should be ashamed of themselves to tolerate such alienation of scientists. All these Americans are part of the USA national security in finding methods to protect citizens with accurate information related to the climate crisis. They are leaving.

Lies about the climate crisis have to end and the truth told to end this exodus.

June 8, 2017
By Chris Weller

If you are an American scientist, student, teacher, or business person working on climate change solutions, France would love for you to stay awhile.

Following President Trump's June 2 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement — a multi-country pact that acknowledges global warming poses serious threats to humanity and the environment — the French government has created an outlet for people from all countries who still want to fight climate change.

The website is called Make Our Planet Great Again.

Researchers, teachers, and students can apply for a four-year grant that allows them to continue their studies or instruction, fully financed. The site also provides information on how to move to France by obtaining a work visa and residency permit....

McConnell needs to stop lying to Kentuckians.

October 9, 2017

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt (click here) told coal miners in Kentucky on Monday that he will move to repeal a rule limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from existing power plants, assuring them, “The war against coal is over.”

Speaking at an event in Hazard, Ky., with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Pruitt said his agency will publish the new proposed rule Tuesday.

“Tomorrow, in Washington, D.C., I’ll be a signing a proposed rule to withdraw the so-called Clean Power Plan of the past administration, and thus begin the effort to withdraw that rule,” Pruitt said....

The government in general needs to stop lying to the coal communities as they continue to bemoan the old industry. The retraining puts coal miners into good jobs. There is no job in the USA that is going to pay $60 to $70 thousand dollars again, especially in an industry laced with danger. If former coal miners are unhappy about the loss of their high pay, then join the rest of the country in demanding the return to good wages for work.

May 20. 2017

...The rate of production statewide in 2016 (click here) is the lowest since 1939, according to the report. In Eastern Kentucky, however, where quarterly production fell 21.6 percent, the production rate is the lowest since 1917.

That was near the end of a decade when the construction of railroads opened the way for explosive growth in the coal industry in Eastern Kentucky, with companies building wholly owned towns such as Lynch, Wheelwright and Jenkins for the workers needed to run their mines.

In Harlan County, for instance, the population tripled from 1910 to 1920, according to Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers, former University of Kentucky professor Ron Eller’s account of the industrialization of the Appalachian South....

Coal jobs have been destroyed over the years due to mechanization. Let's begin with 1937 and the invention of the coal shuttle cart. It was the beginning of the end of coal jobs. Employees probably believed the company was being good to them.
May 1997
...Safety was a major problem. In the early days, the detection of methane gas and low oxygen content was done, oddly enough, by the use of canary birds. Later on, the flame safety lamp was developed to detect a low percent of oxygen or an accumulation of combustible gas. The coal seams, then, were the thicker seams of coal which were mined by the proverbial pick-and-shovel methods. The coal roof supported the slate overhead and this was the roof support method prior to the use of mine timbers.
One of the typical working places for hand loading in those early days was where the rail was placed into the working face and a small mine car was installed. The coal was loaded by hand into the mine car. Any rock partings that existed were carved out and separated in the workplace before the coal was sent to a preparation plant. In later years, wood timbers were used for roof support. These consisted of vertical posts and what were called cross-bars were used to support the slate overhead. These methods were the best that were available at that time but still required much improvement.
Then, along came machinery which lifted these heavy wooden cross-bars to the roof and allowed the legs to be placed under these cross-bars to support the roof. The use of this heavy equipment for roof support became more sophisticated year after year. Heavy hydraulic equipment was developed and it diminished the amount of manual labor required. The timber, that was used in this method of roof support, required that many trees be cut. Handling the timbers was a tremendous job as was delivering them to the working place underground. At times, the weight of the slate roof, although supported by timbers and later, steel cross bars, was heavy enough to bend even the steel cross bars. When the slate would fall and a passageway was necessary, removing the slate became a difficult and challenging job. In the late 40's, steel roof bolts, which were similar to toggle bolts that you use around the house, replaced timbers. The steel bolts would penetrate the roof overlying rock. The laminated slate would be bound together by these roof bolts....

McConnell brags about 6900 coal jobs still in Kentucky. That is a minor amount of job compared to the new employment sector. It is an old argument because the majority of Kentuckians and Americans in general do not realize there will never be large numbers of employment in coal again. It is the sign of the times and Kentuckians, probably for the first time in awhile, are feeling the pain of low wages just like the majority of Americans.

I am sure China and other countries feel betrayed by the Trump White House for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. I wonder if they could sue the USA for that?

November 10, 2017
By Zhang Jianyu, Managing

As one of the earliest representatives (click here) of an international environmental organization working in China, I have witnessed the progress of environmental protection collaboration between the US and China in the past 20 years and witnessed many specific incidents that have given me a good understanding of the different roles played by each country and how they have changed over time.

In 1999, the Chinese Premier at that time – Premier Zhu Rongji, visited the US and signed the very first environmental protection memorandum of collaboration between the Chinese and US environmental protection agencies. This memorandum spurred 10 collaborative sub-projects and was also the first practical environmental protection collaboration since the signing of the technology collaboration memorandum in 1979. The first sub-project was the SO2 emissions trading program, which EDF participated in creating. At the same time, I had just completed my studies in the US and was heading back to China to participate in this exciting, US- China environmental protection collaboration....

....I had participated in the implementation of those policies and experienced first-hand how willing US colleagues were to share experiences and in return, how willing the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) was to learn from them. I will never forget when Ms. Cheryl Wasserman from the US EPA’s Compliance and Enforcement Bureau even enlisted her husband – who was working at EPA as well—to help record a remote training course on the top 10 characteristics of US environmental enforcement....

...Chinese companies are becoming more active on the global stage. On May 10, 2017, the CEOs from 30 multinational corporations, with EDF's support, issued a joint statement in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times urging the US government to stay in the Paris Agreement. For the first time in history, a CEO from a Chinese corporation – Mr. Zhang Yue from Broad Group was among them.

In the summer of 2017, California not only renewed  the AB-32 bill that was passed in 2013 to 2030, with the support of EDF, but continued to make efforts to expand its outreach. During California Governor Jerry Brown’s visit in June 2017, he was warmly received by President Xi. Prior to Governor Brown’s visit, he had expressed the interest in discussing with China the possibility of linking California ETS with China’s future national carbon market. EDF has been playing a bridging role in the formation of this initiative, and we hope to continue supporting both sides to fulfill their objectives....

Assembly Bill 32 Overview (click here)

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Global warming poses a serious threat to the economic well-being, public health, natural resources, and the environment of California. The potential adverse impacts of global warming include the exacerbation of air quality problems, a reduction in the quality and supply of water to the state from the Sierra snowpack, a rise in sea levels resulting in the displacement of thousands of coastal businesses and residences, damage to marine ecosystems and the natural environment, and an increase in the incidences of infectious diseases, asthma, and other human health-related problems.

(b) Global warming will have detrimental effects on some of California’s largest industries, including agriculture, wine, tourism, skiing, recreational and commercial fishing, and forestry. It will also increase the strain on electricity supplies necessary to meet the demand for summer air-conditioning in the hottest parts of the state. 

Vocabulary

Wastewater (click here) comes in three main types namely Blackwater, Graywater and Yellow water.

Blackwater

This is wastewater that originates from toilet fixtures, dishwashers, and food preparation sinks. It is made up of all the things that you can imagine going down the toilets, bath and sink drains. They include poop, urine, toilet paper and wipes; body cleaning liquids, anal cleansing water and so on. They are known to be highly contaminated with dissolved chemicals, particulate matter and is very pathogenic.



Graywater
This is wastewater that originates from non-toilet and food fixtures such as bathroom sinks, laundry machines, spas, bathtubs and so on. Technically it is sewage that does not contain poop or urine. Graywater is treated very differently from Blackwater and is usually suitable for re-use.

Yellow water 
This is basically urine collected with specific channels and not contaminated with either blackwater or graywater.

Sources of wastewater

Domestic Sewage
This includes all wastewater generated by home dwellings, public restrooms, hotels, restaurants, motels, resorts, schools, places of worship, sports stadiums, hospitals and other health centers, apartments and the like. They all produce high volumes of wastewater.

Non-sewage
These include water from floods (stormwater), runoff (rainwater running through cracks in the ground and into gutters), water from swimming pools, water from car garages and cleaning centers. They also include laundromats, beauty salons, commercial kitchens, energy generation plants and so on.
Wastewater is also generated from agricultural facilities. Water used for cleaning in animal farms, washing harvested produce and cleaning farm equipment.

The real danger facing most communities in the USA today is stormwater runoff. Flooding is happening in most states and communities around the USA. Planning for floods is a matter of reality and the safety of Americans come first. But, taking a look at wastewater and how it is handled is an important concept. I do believe when federal government flood maps (click here) are assessed when flooding unexpectedly occurs, they will be found to be incorrect. 

The federal maps are incorrect because the federal government never recognized the climate crisis. Those in FEMA and other US agencies required to use science and math are handicapped to realize the full understanding of the climate crisis to their work. As a result there are going to be floods in areas where the maps state they could never happen. I would think the insurance companies would sue these agencies demanding accuracy with additions of the climate crisis be included. 

NOT EVERY PERSON IN YEMEN IS A TERRORIST!

November 12, 2017
By Alia Allana

...The seeds of the epidemic were planted in 2015, (click here) when a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and backed by the United States joined the fighting in Yemen on behalf of the ousted president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who had been forced out by Houthi rebels. The rebels, who are backed by Iran, today control the capital, Sana, and most of the territory along the country’s Red Sea coast. Saudi Arabia imposed the most recent blockade after the Houthis fired a missile at Riyadh.

When the war began on March 26, 2015, workers on the night shift at a wastewater treatment plant in Sana watched Saudi jets bomb airplanes, runways and buildings at the adjacent international airport. A boundary wall was all that separated the airport and the treatment plant. The terrified workers took refuge in a nearby mosque.

The next morning all of the 26 employees of the wastewater treatment plant showed up for work. They knew if human waste wasn’t disposed of properly, waterborne disease could sicken hundreds of thousands.

The workers left the lights on at the plant hoping the coalition pilots would read it as a sign that the plant wasn’t a military target. “Little did we know that all of Yemen was a military target,” said an engineer at the plant, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety. On another night, the coalition bombed a crane at the plant.

On April 17, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition jets bombed the central electricity grid supplying Sana. The capital lost all electricity. The workers kept the plant running with diesel fuel. A week later, as the diesel began running out, they reduced operations to eight hours, to six, to two.

By late May 2015, the fuel was gone and the plant shut down.

Soon after the coalition imposed a naval blockade, ostensibly to prevent weapons from reaching Houthi rebels, reducing the supply of food, medicine and fuel to a trickle. Yemen imports more than 85 percent of its food and medicine, most of it by sea.

Coalition forces turned away or stopped ships heading for Yemeni ports for weeks. Fighting around ports such as Hodeida, the country’s largest cargo port, worsened shortages.

With the treatment plant out of power, wastewater flowed down canals and into the valleys around Sana. Dirty water spread over miles of farmland. Flies hovered above the raw sewage. Cucumbers, tomatoes and leafy greens grown in the contaminated water made their way to markets around Sana. Many cases of acute diarrhea were reported....

The USA local government can no longer look to the federal authorities for guidance, the cities and towns will have to hire consultants to be sure their air and water quality are safe.

It is interesting Pruitt's only affection for the USA EPA is the Superfund. See, his way of administering any protections for Americans is to allow the pollution to occur and simply clean it up afterwards. Pruitt wants to return to the days of the "Love Canal." Oops, time to clean up.

November 10, 2017
By Rachel Leven

Two dozen former and current employees (click here) at the Environmental Protection Agency describe dysfunction under Scott Pruitt.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt doesn’t hide his contempt for how the agency has been run, but does profess to care about one of its key programs: Superfund, which oversees the cleanup of the nation’s worst toxic-waste sites. In April, he toured a site in East Chicago, Indiana, contaminated with lead and arsenic, and told residents, “We are going to get this right.”

The following month, Pruitt — Oklahoma’s attorney general before he joined the EPA — tapped one of his former donors, banker Albert “Kell” Kelly, to find ways to accelerate and improve Superfund cleanups. Kelly started by consulting career staff members — often-knowledgeable officials who work at the agency regardless of who holds the White House. But then Kelly closed off the process, conferring with Pruitt to produce a final plan that altered or excluded many of the staffers’ suggestions. Gone, for example, was the idea that EPA officials be identified early on to lead discussions with communities on how contaminated land should be used after cleanup.

“We’re missing a huge opportunity to do something new and different with Superfund,” said one of two EPA employees who described the process to the Center for Public Integrity on the condition of anonymity.

What happened with Superfund is hardly an anomaly. Today’s EPA is wracked with internal conflict and industry influence, and is struggling to fulfill its mission, according to more than two dozen current and former agency employees. A few dozen political appointees brought in under the Trump administration are driving policy. At least 16 of the 45 appointees worked for industries such as oil, coal and chemicals. Four of these people — and another 21 — worked for, or donated to, politicians who have questioned established climate science, such as Pruitt and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

Career staff members — lawyers, scientists, analysts — are largely being frozen out of decision-making, current and former agency employees say. These staffers rarely get face time with Pruitt and frequently receive top-down orders from political appointees with little room for debate. They must sometimes force their way into conversations about subjects in which they have expertise....


Just one example of a city that cares about it's water and air quality.

October 24, 2017
By Kate Thurston

If you haven’t seen the renovations (click here) made to the City Wastewater Treatment Plant, it is something to see.

“Rushville Utilities has invested 7.3 million dollars in the City Wastewater Treatment plant in the last four years to get in compliance with Federal Mandates,” Utilities Director Les Day said. “These improvements to the Cities Treatment Plant will eliminate upwards of 50 million gallons of untreated wastewater from entering Flat Rock River annually. The Rushville Wastewater Treatment Plant is discharging the best quality of water into the Flatrock then anytime in prior years.”

The City of Rushville Utilities has hit a milestone in getting the utilities out from underneath an agreed order complaint filed in 2007 by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and the EPA.

“This complaint filed 2008 against the Rushville City Utilities by IDEM and the EPA, was due to Rushville’s Wastewater Treatment Plant on at least 10 times annually bypassed upwards of 50 million gallons of untreated wastewater, which would end up into Flat Rock River, this is considered a violation of the clean water act. Rushville is one of over 120 in Indiana alone faced with this same issue,” Day explained. “The main cause of these bypasses is during heavy rain events, the sanitary sewer system takes in excessive amounts of water that filters into underground piping that is deteriorated or has direct connections from storm drains. This combination of rain/wastewater ends up at the wastewater treatment plant which was only designed to take in sanitary sewer only, not the combination of rain water and wastewater.”...

Waste Water Treatment

3.1 The problem

The principal objective of wastewater treatment (click here) is generally to allow human and industrial effluents to be disposed of without danger to human health or unacceptable damage to the natural environment. Irrigation with wastewater is both disposal and utilization and indeed is an effective form of wastewater disposal (as in slow-rate land treatment). However, some degree of treatment must normally be provided to raw municipal wastewater before it can be used for agricultural or landscape irrigation or for aquaculture. The quality of treated effluent used in agriculture has a great influence on the operation and performance of the wastewater-soil-plant or aquaculture system. In the case of irrigation, the required quality of effluent will depend on the crop or crops to be irrigated, the soil conditions and the system of effluent distribution adopted. Through crop restriction and selection of irrigation systems which minimize health risk, the degree of pre-application wastewater treatment can be reduced. A similar approach is not feasible in aquaculture systems and more reliance will have to be placed on control through wastewater treatment.

Scott Pruitt doesn't care about Americans, except, their diluted reality in gross misinformation.

I suppose if one is looking for advisers for Public Relations in the face of burgeoning cancer dangers, some of these folks might even be helpful, but, for the profound purpose of the federal US Environmental PROTECTION Agency, their talents are simply over paid baggage.

Almost all of the 46 political appointees (click here) working at EPA previously worked for climate change doubters or industry
 Climate change doubter or company in industry regulated by EPA
Full résumé for appointee available on click
Appointee
Position
Key former employers

Scott Pruitt

Administrator
Oklahoma Attorney General


Senior Advisor for Operation and Implementation for the Administrator
Oklahoma Attorney General's Office


Chief of Staff
U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee



Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff
Koch Companies Public Sector


Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations
58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, K.P. Kauffman Co.



Assistant Deputy Administrator and Chief of Operations
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality


Director of Scheduling and Advance
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (Team Pruitt)



Special Assistant for Scheduling and Advance
Tulsa Area United Way


Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee



White House Liaison
58th Presidential Inaugural Committee (Donald Trump)


Nancy Beck

Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
American Chemistry Council


Senior Advisor
Oklahoma Attorney General's Office

Hayley Ford

Deputy White House Liaison
WealthEngine


Special Assistant to the Senior Advisor
58th Presidential Inaugural Committee (Donald Trump)



Senior Policy Advisor for Air and Radiation
U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, National Association of Chemical Distributors



Albert "Kell" Kelly

Senior Advisor to the Administrator
SpiritBank


Senior Advisor for Regional/ State Affairs
Oklahoma Strong Leadership Political Action Committee


Elizabeth Bowman

Associate Administrator for the Office of Public Affairs
American Chemistry Council


Strategic Communications Advisor
Marco Rubio for President


Policy Analyst to the Senior Advisor for Air and Radiation
U.S. Rep. James Renacci (R-Ohio)


Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of Public Affairs
Office of the President-Elect Donald J. Trump


Special Advisor for the Office of Public Affairs
Republican National Committee


Special Advisor for the Office of Public Affairs
America Rising, LLC, Donald Trump Presidential Campaign



Associate Administrator for the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations
Hess Corp., BP America


Deputy Associate Administrator
National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)




Deputy Associate Administrator
Then-U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas)


Deputy Associate Administrator
Donald Trump Presidential Campaign



Special Assistant


U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)







Special Assistant
58th Presidential Inaugural Committee (Donald Trump)



Special Assistant
Then-U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas), Competitive Enterprise Institute



Asssociate Administrator for the Office of Policy
Republican Attorneys General Association

Michael Dourson*

Advisor to the Administrator
Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (clients included American Chemistry Council)


David Harlow**

Advisor
Hunton & Williams LLP


Policy Analyst
ExxonMobil Corp.

Brittany Bolen

Deputy Associate Administrator
U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works


Senior Advisor to the CFO
KPMG LLP


Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Hogan Lovells US LLP (clients included BHP Billiton Ltd.)



Senior Deputy General Counsel
American Petroleum Institute


Deputy General Counsel
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (clients included Tesoro Corp.)



Deputy General Counsel
Baker & Hostetler, LLP (clients included Southern Co.)



Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development
U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee



Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management
Donald Trump Presidential Campaign


Senior Advisor
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality


Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water
HBW Resources (clients included General Electric)



‎Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategic Communications
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)


Senior Advisor to the Administrator
ASARCO, Inc., U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee