Water Issues to be Discussed
“Urgent Water Issues” will be the topic addressed by Bill Murray, (who works with CFRW and has an extensive background in resource management, ) at the Lunch With League to be held March 20 at Pilot House Restaurant, 11:30 a.m. The League of Women Voters of the Lower Cape Fear has had strong interest in environmental issues and especially in the present situation with our water supply and quality. Order lunch from a limited menu before the presentation. The public is invited, no reservation necessary.
Audrey Albrecht
Web Site Launch- Cape Fear CAN
Welcome to the Cape Fear Climate Action Network web site. Cape Fear CAN hopes you will use this site as a resource for your involvement regarding climate change issues in the Cape Fear region.
Sierra Club Hosts NC Coastal Land Trust Speaker
Camilla Herlevich, Executive Director of NC Coastal Land Trust, will be the featured speaker at the next meeting of the Sierra Club’s Cape Fear Chapter on March 6.
Sierra Club meets at the Cape Fear River Watch Environmental Education Center at 617 Surry St.
The formal meeting starts at 7:30pm, but come at 7:00 for coffee and cookies.
Water Quality, Oysters & Pender County
On Wednesday, March 12, Troy Alphin, Senior Research Associate in the Benthic Ecology Program at UNCW’s Center for Marine Science, will speak to PenderWatch at the Hampstead Library at 7:00pm. Alphin has been working with PenderWatch projects involving water quality testing, oyster spat set studies and possible oyster restorations in open and closed waters. He will speak on the importance of community involvement in assessing ecosystem health – with a focus on oysters.
PenderWatch welcomes visitors to their meetings.
New and Used Gear Sale
Our friends at Adventure Pathways ask us to remind everybody of their upcoming New and Used Gear Sale at Halyburton Park on March 8 from 9am – 11am.
Looking for a used kayak or backpack? Have you updated your gear supply and are looking for a good home for your old gear? This is a great opportunity to sell or purchase gear for yourself or for a friend. Vendor fee is $5 for individuals and $15 for businesses. George “Tin Man” Andrews will be selling his famous Mama’s Kitchen cooksets and Mapdannas, and local kayak retailers will have some new and used kayaks, paddles and PFD’s for purchase. Call Andrea at 341-0836 for more information or complete a vendor application at www.adventurepathways.com and mail in with your vendor fee.
The Poster is Here, The Store is Open – Coincidence?
Cape Fear River Watch’s 2008 Poster has arrived. Look for it around town; it’s stunning. If you’d like a copy of your own (or two, or six) you can come in and purchase one at our Environmental Education Center at 617 Surry St., or, through the magic of the internet and the power of the credit card, you can now order one through the Cape Fear River Watch Online Shop.
You can also pay for your new or renewed membership on the same page. Members receive a discount on all Cape Fear River Watch merchandise. No time like the present.
March First Saturday Seminar
Janet Davidson, an historian with the Cape Fear Museum will be the featured speaker at March’s First Saturday Seminar. Dr. Davidson will speak about the changing role of the river in Wilmington’s development over the years in a presentation entitled “Wilmington’s History: A River Runs Through It.”
Before coming to Wilmington and the Cape Fear Museum in 2005, Dr. Richardson was an Historian and Curator at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. She is also the author of various scholarly books and articles, most recently serving as co-editor of The Business of Tourism: Place, Faith and History.
Catfish Jam in Castle Hayne
Cape Fear River Watch is hosting a Catfish Jam by the river in Castle Hayne on February 23. This is an evening of fun for all ages at the Community Building at Riverside Park off US 117. (See a map)
The fun kicks off at 5:30 with Captain Tim telling stories of pirates on the Cape Fear, continues with a band at 6:30, firedancers and jugglers at 7:30 and ending with a half hour or so of ghost stories at full dark
Cost is $5 at the door. River Watch will provide snacks and soft drinks. If you don’t have fun you’re just not trying. (View/print the flier)
Recycle Those Ink Cartridges! Keep Those Cell Phones Out Of The Landfill!
CFRW’s very own Joanna the Intern has been busy setting up recycling boxes around Wilmington where people can drop off old cell phones and used ink and toner cartridges. By dropping off your high tech recyclables at one of these stations you can help the environment by reducing the amount of material in the wastestream, keeping potentially toxic materials out of landfills (you do not want to know what kinds of heavy metals are used in those cell phones), and raising a few dollars for Cape Fear River Watch program activities. (Not a huge number of dollars, but it helps keep the lights on)
There are currently 5 drop off boxes. Refer to the map below to find the one nearest you. If you’d like to host a drop off box in your business, e-mail Joe Abbate.
D.C. CIRCUIT COURT DECLARES EPA’S MERCURY RULE ILLEGAL
Irvington, New York (February 8, 2008) — In a complete victory for public and environmental health, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today invalidated a pair of EPA rules that would have allowed coal-fired power plants to overwhelm waterways, fish and communities with harmful levels of mercury for decades to come. The Court found EPA’s 2005 rules removing power plants from the Clean Air Act’s list of toxic sources and creating an anemic “cap and trade” regulatory scheme to be in violation of the Act.
Waterkeeper Alliance, as part of a coalition of a number of public health and environmental groups, fourteen states and dozens of Native American tribes, launched its challenge of EPA’s mercury rules over two years ago. Today, the Court, in striking down EPA’s actions, found that the Bush Administration’s explanation for delisting power plants “deploys the logic of the Queen of Hearts, substituting EPA’s desires for the plain text of (the Clean Air Act.)”
Power plants, the largest source of manmade mercury in the country, spew 48 tons of the dangerous neurotoxin into the air each year, while a single gram – 1/70th of a teaspoon – of mercury per year is enough to contaminate a 25-acre lake to the point that fish are unsafe to eat. EPA estimates that as many as 600,000 babies may be born in the United States annually with irreversible brain damage because pregnant mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish. Mercury risks also include delayed developmental milestones, reduced neurological test scores, and cardiovascular disease. Nearly one-third (32 percent) of America’s lakes and nearly one-fourth (24 percent) of our rivers were subject to advisories for mercury contamination in 2003.
Despite the devastating impact these emissions are having on the environmental and human health of the nation and clear mandates under the Clean Air Act, EPA has steadfastly refused to regulate power plant mercury pollution, instead coming up with a non-control plan that allowed the energy giants to continue emitting significant amounts of mercury. “These rules represented what was perhaps the biggest sellout to industry in the history of EPA,” said Waterkeeper Alliance Legal Director and attorney on the case, Scott Edwards. “It’s a real tragedy that we’ve had to spend two years getting this industry-scripted scheme struck down while energy companies continue to poison our children with mercury.”
With EPA’s delisting action declared illegal, the Agency is now obligated to develop “Maximum Achievable Control Technologies” standards for power plant mercury emissions. Several U.S. Department of Energy studies conducted over the past few years have demonstrated that upwards of 90 percent of power plant mercury emissions can be eliminated using affordable and available reduction technologies.
“This is a very positive ruling, but we should not forget that no matter how much this industry reduces mercury emissions, coal will never be clean,” added Waterkeeper Alliance President Steve Fleischli. “From mining to burning to toxic ash, ’clean coal’ is a sham, a dangerous diversion at a time when we must move our national energy strategy to sustainable, renewable energy sources.“
See the opinion
A Quick Summary by John Suttles
John Suttles is a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
In a unanimous three judge decision, the Court held that EPA improperly removed coal-fired power plants from the hazardous air pollution source list and vacated EPA’s “Delisting Rule.” The Court further held that its decision invalidating EPA’s Delisting Rule by necessity also: (1) reinstates EPA’s December 2000 “appropriate and necessary” finding and listing decision; and (2) invalidates the Bush Admninistration “Clean Air Mercury Rule.”
So, what happens next? The Clean Air Act requires EPA to develop within two years hazardous air pollution emissions standards (Maximum Achievable Control Technology or “MACT” standards) reflecting the best level of hazardous air pollutant control technologically achievable; sources then have three years to comply. In the interim while EPA develops MACT standards, any proposed new oil- or coal-fired power plants would have to perform and comply with a case-by-case MACT analysis and achieve a level of pollution control at least equivalent to the best controlled similar source–i.e., the maximum reduction of hazardous air pollutants achievable by the best technology. To put this into perspective, the Court’s decision vacating EPA’s Delisting Rule requires the roughly 120 new coal-fired power plants currently proposed in the U.S . —including Cliffside—to comply with case-by-case MACT requirements.
This is a great victory for people’s health and the environment nationally and, particularly, in the Southeast
Federal court ruling will send Cliffside air permit back to the drawing board for more stringent mercury controlsSELC’s News Release on Feb. 8 Court Decision
Washington, D.C,. — A federal court ruling today will require the N.C. Division of Air Quality to re-evaluate Duke Energy’s plans to control mercury at the utility’s recently permitted Cliffside unit. The D.C Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that EPA violated the Clean Air Act when it removed oil- and coal-fired power plants from the list of hazardous air pollution sources that are subject to the Act’s most stringent air pollution controls. As a result, air permits for new coal plants such as Cliffside must be based on a case-by-case analysis of the maximum available control technology for mercury and other hazardous air pollutants.
The N.C. Division of Air Quality (DAQ) issued a final air permit for the new Cliffside unit just last week, on January 28 that allows the new Cliffside unit to emit 133 pounds of mercury each year. In January, SELC notified DAQ of the anticipated federal decision and urged the Division to consider these expected mercury regulations when developing its final permit.
However, DAQ’s permit does not require a case-specific analysis of maximum available control technology (MACT) for mercury, and the permit does not require Duke to install mercury-specific pollution control equipment. The D.C. Circuit’s ruling means that DAQ must rescind the final Cliffside air permit, go back to the drawing board to conduct a case-specific MACT analysis, and issue a revised draft permit for public comment before finalizing a new permit.
Because mercury is classified as “hazardous,” the Clean Air Act requires EPA to identify its sources and develop the most stringent standards to control emissions from those sources. The court ruled today that EPA acted illegally when it took power plants off the list of hazardous pollution sources when issuing its Clean Air Mercury Rule.
Released in May 2005, the federal Clean Air Mercury Rule exempted power plants from the most stringent Clean Air Act requirements to control mercury and instead instituted a flawed “cap and trade” scheme, which allows facilities to trade mercury pollution credits with other less-polluting power plants. As a result of the D.C. Circuit’s ruling today, EPA and the states must now develop tougher regulations to control mercury and other toxic pollutants from new and existing power plants, the leading source of mercury pollution in the country. Today’s ruling could result in a 95 percent or greater reduction of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants
Mercury emitted from power plants deposits in water bodies, where it is converted to its most toxic form, methylmercury. Methylmercury exposure from eating contaminated fish is linked to permanent damage to the central nervous system.
Developing fetuses, breast-fed infants and children exposed to methylmercury are at risk for lowered intelligence and learning disabilities. Adults exposed to even low amounts of methylmercury also may be at higher risk for altered sensation, impaired hearing and vision, and motor disturbances. EPA estimates that as many as than 600,000 children are born each year with unhealthy levels of methylmercury in their bodies. Despite this figure, EPA adopted the flawed mercury rule ignoring the counsel of its own Children’s Health Public Advisory Committee and thousands of health professionals nationwide.
