Tag Archives: Power station

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Help protect the public from toxic air pollution ~~ a repost from 2011


Toxic air pollutants from power plants—mercury, lead, arsenic, and others—are linked to health problems such as cancer, heart disease, neurological damage, birth defects, asthma attacks, and even premature death. Mercury, for example, is a potent neurotoxin that poses a threat to fetal and infant brain development. And coal plants are far and away the greatest source of mercury air emissions in the United States.

Shockingly, there are currently no national limits on the amount of mercury and other toxic pollutants that power plants can spew into the environment. This gap in our public health protections is all the more disturbing since the Clean Air Act required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to start regulating toxic pollutants more than two decades ago. Thankfully, in mid-March, the agency finally proposed a mercury and air toxics rule, which will limit hazardous air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants.

Even though the new standards are affordable and would deliver enormous health benefits, some energy companies and their allies in Congress are already working to block or weaken them.

The EPA is now accepting comments on its proposed mercury and air toxics rule. The agency needs to hear from concerned citizens like you, who want a strong rule that protects the public from these dangerous pollutants.

Take Action Today!

Sincerely,

Kate Abend

National Field Organizer

UCS Climate and Energy Program

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

We ~~~ have a moral obligation to deal with climate change:


Republicans (and a few Democrats) may have killed the president’s plan for a comprehensive climate change bill in 2010, but he made clear during his second inaugural speech that we have a moral obligation to deal with climate change:

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

During a long and wide-ranging speech today, the president laid out the moral, economic, and scientific case for tackling the problem and the latest steps his administration is taking to address it.

(You can watch the entire speech HERE.)

The major elements of the president’s plan include carbon pollution limits for new and existing power plants, an increase in renewable energy generated on public lands, enhanced fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles, a variety of energy efficiency measures, and both domestic and global cuts in super pollutants like HFCs, and an expanded commitment to international leadership on a wide variety of climate-change related issues.

(You can read the entire plan HERE.)

The president took climate deniers and other opponents of action to task:

We don’t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society.  Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it’s not going to protect you from the coming storm.

As it turns outs, even the Flat Earth Society, which actually believes the Earth is flat, thinks climate change is caused by human activity. This puts the Flat Earth Society ahead of many conservatives when it comes to acknowledging the reality of our warming planet.

The speech concluded with a call to action to all Americans:

What we need in this fight are citizens who will stand up, and speak up, and compel us to do what this moment demands.

Understand this is not just a job for politicians.  So I’m going to need all of you to educate your classmates, your colleagues, your parents, your friends.  Tell them what’s at stake.  Speak up at town halls, church groups, PTA meetings.  Push back on misinformation.  Speak up for the facts.  Broaden the circle of those who are willing to stand up for our future.

Convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution.  Push your own communities to adopt smarter practices.  Invest.  Divest.  Remind folks there’s no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth.  And remind everyone who represents you at every level of government that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote.  Make yourself heard on this issue. 

BOTTOM LINE: We have an obligation to our children and future generations to tackle climate change and the additional steps the president announced today will put the U.S. in a position of global leadership to solve the climate crisis.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Union of Concerned Scientists


A Huge Show of Support for the Power Plant Standard The Environmental Protection Agency received more than 2.3 million comments in support of the carbon pollution standard, breaking its previous public comment record by leaps and bounds. Thank you for making history with us.

You Made History! The EPA Received a Record-Breaking Number of Comments in Support of the Carbon Pollution Standard

 

We all understand that carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels—the gasoline in our cars and coal in our power plants—are contributing to global warming. With so much of the country undergoing drought, heat waves, and other weather extremes, many are asking if climate change is playing a role.

The latest science studying extreme weather events over decades indicates strong evidence for links between climate change and extreme heat, intense precipitation, and droughts. It’s clear that the time for climate action is now.That’s why I’m so excited to say that, with your help, more than 40,000 UCS supporters submitted comments in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed standard to reduce carbon pollution from new power plants.

Not only did UCS surpass our goal of 40,000 comments, but together with a broad coalition of public health, environmental, labor, faith, and other organizations, we made history and broke a record! More than 2.3 million citizens across the country submitted comments to the EPA in support of the carbon pollution standard.

This is the most comments the EPA has ever received on a proposed standard, and demonstrates the widespread public support for the EPA’s efforts to protect our health and clean up dirty power plants. In addition, UCS staff and members of the UCS Science Network—including doctors, nurses, and economists—testified in support of the standard at hearings in Chicago and Washington, DC. We also released a letter from 372 public health professionals who back the EPA’s efforts to address climate change.

This was truly an unprecedented showing of support for action to limit carbon emissions from power plants. Now, we’re ready for the next step.

We expect the EPA to finalize its standard for new power plants this year and then to follow up with similarly strong standards to limit carbon pollution from existing power plants—like our nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal fired power plants—which accounts for about 40 percent of our global warming emissions.

Unfortunately, some lawmakers have already announced that they plan to introduce legislation to block or delay this historic standard as soon as it is finalized this year. But I know I can count on you to help defend the EPA’s standard from congressional attacks in the coming months.

Thank you for helping make this a big success! The EPA has heard loud and clear that the country is ready to meet the climate challenge—and that this is only the first, small step towards protecting our health and the environment from the impacts of global warming.

Sincerely,

Chrissy Elles Outreach Associate UCS Climate & Energy Program

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Thanks for standing up to big polluters and saying NO to new carbon pollution …Kevin S. Curtis, Climate Reality


Thanks for standing up to big polluters and saying NO to new carbon pollution.

You sent a message supporting a historic limit on carbon pollution in the U.S. It will bring us one step closer to solving the climate crisis. As of today, we and the rest of the environmental community have sent the EPA a record-breaking 1.5 million comments supporting the proposal.

But we’re not done yet. If we want to make an impact, we need everyone to get involved.

Share our petition with your friends and family. Post it on your Facebook page and on your friend’s Facebook page. Tweet it!

Ask your friends to give carbon the finger.

Some days it seems impossible to make progress – but not today. Today there is something you can do. Ask your friends to join you in sending a message to our leaders: No new carbon pollution in the United States.

http://forms.climaterealityproject.org/share-the-standard

Thanks again,

Kevin S. Curtis  Chief Program and Advocacy Officer  The Climate Reality Project

Thanks for standing up to big polluters and saying NO to new carbon pollution.

You sent a message supporting a historic limit on carbon pollution in the U.S. It will bring us one step closer to solving the climate crisis. As of today, we and the rest of the environmental community have sent the EPA a record-breaking 1.5 million comments supporting the proposal.

But we’re not done yet. If we want to make an impact, we need everyone to get involved.

Share our petition with your friends and family. Post it on your Facebook page and on your friend’s Facebook page. Tweet it!

Ask your friends to give carbon the finger.

Some days it seems impossible to make progress – but not today. Today there is something you can do. Ask your friends to join you in sending a message to our leaders: No new carbon pollution in the United States.

http://forms.climaterealityproject.org/share-the-standard

Thanks again,

Kevin S. Curtis  Chief Program and Advocacy Officer  The Climate Reality Project

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Reducing greenhouse gas pollution … Gabe Wisniewski, Greenpeace


Reducing greenhouse gas pollution is one of the most urgent things for our government to do.

Tell the EPA we need stronger rules to protect us from climate change.

The effects of climate change are everywhere. Historically warm winters, killer heat waves and droughts, and 100-year storms have hammered our country in recent years.

Still, power plants in the US are allowed to spew unlimited carbon pollution, which is driving us closer to runaway climate change.

President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finally proposed the first ever rule to change this. Unfortunately, to be as effective as possible, this rule needs to be strengthened significantly. 

WWW.Greenpeaceusa.org

The rule — known as the Carbon Pollution Standard — limits the amount of carbon pollution that new coal-fired power plants are allowed to emit. Unfortunately, the rule is full of loopholes and applies only to new power plants that are unlikely to be built in the first place. The rule does nothing to reduce carbon pollution from existing sources.

The EPA is now accepting public comments. This is your chance to let the EPA know you want the loopholes closed, the rule finalized and for them to get to work on limiting the coal fired power plants that actually exist.

Tell the EPA: We need strong legal limits to protect us from existing and future sources of carbon pollution.

Coal-fired power plants are the largest single source of carbon pollution in the US. If we don’t put a limit on the amount of climate change causing pollution they are allowed to spew into the air then things are only going to get worse.

WWW.Greenpeaceusa.org

Greenpeace and other groups have been working in communities across the country to close down these dirty old plants and stop new ones from being built altogether. We’ve been extremely successful, but we need a strong ruling from the EPA on this issue to fully address climate change.

Americans, have an important role to play in the final outcome of this rule. Almost 200,000 Greenpeace supporters have already submitted their comments to the EPA. Take a minute and add your voice to that list.

Tell the EPA: We need strong legal limits to protect us from existing and future sources of carbon pollution.

WWW.Greenpeaceusa.org

Sincerely,

Gabe Wisniewski
Greenpeace USA Coal Campaign Director