Toxic coal ash spews into air, water in North Carolina, a national disaster

Carol Forsloff----The environmental problems impacting various parts of the world are highlighted by people who call attention to them for public support that can create change.  In this case, the Sierra Club is asking for folks to recognize the serious environmental concerns in North Carolina where damage from closed coal tar plants contaminants are ruining the lakes and rivers, just as is occurring in other parts of the globe.

The Sierra Club reports that for the last six days toxic coal ash has been flowing significantly into North Carolina's Dan River.  They say it is "turning the water into "gray sludge" and leaving layers of toxic muck on the river banks."

How does this occur?   It is explained further in a press release from the Sierra Club as this:  "Ash from coal-burning power plants is full of toxic heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, and lead -- that the coal companies then dump in pits and ponds, with no plan for safe disposal or cleanup. In fact, the coal plant that dumped this toxic waste in North Carolina isn't even operating anymore. They just left their toxic waste sitting by the side of the river -- because they could. "

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are asking for the Environmental Protection Energy to take action to protect communities from the toxic waste that comes from coal companies, even those that have closed.  We are told there are 1,100 coal companies nationwide that are close to communities where the ash flies over in clouds around homes.  The EPA is said to be "sitting on a national safeguard that could have prevented this disaster and that would end open pits, the leaking ponds, and the abandoned toxic waste."  But there have been delays in putting any of these safeguards into action.

Other groups are referring to what is happening in North Carolina as a national disaster.  The National Resources Defense Council staff has expressed its concern about this by providing details about what has happened in this latest environmental calamity.  What they describe is the results that have come from an unlined coal ash impoundment  at the closed North Carolina power plant that broke and has spewed 82,000 tons of coal ash into the air and water.

The health consequences for the citizens of these regions where coal ash flies into the air from coal companies that also don't use safe disposal methods for waste products containing toxic metals and chemicals can be grave, according to research conducted by Earthjustice and Physicians for Social Responsibility.  The contaminants can cause cancer and lung problems as well as contributing to the atmosphere's overall problem of air pollution, with a growing number of health problems linked to this pollution as a result.

Coal companies exist in every state throughout the United States and other areas around the world, with the concern that the health of citizens is impacted by lack of regulations and community safeguards coupled with the irresponsibility of the coal companies that can create devastating health  consequences for people now and in the future.

Chevron indicted for polluting Amazon, oil disasters that threaten life

Oil pollution in Ecuador

“My mother died from your cancer.  You killed my mother.”  The man fought back tears as he spoke with John Watson, CEO of Chevon about the world’s greatest oil disaster.

The painful experience of Servio Curipoma is an illustration of the pain many people have suffered in San Carlos, Ecuador.  Curipoma is a father, and he made a journey to speak with the head of Chevon to tell him of the terrible consequences to his small town that was ravaged with Chevron oil pollution.

Years ago the world’s largest oil spill occurred in Ecuador and the townspeople of San Carlos continue to experience tragedy as a consequence of the 18 billion gallons of spillage into the Amazon.  Thousands of people were left to suffer from cancer and children born with birth defects.  It has been a losing battle, these simple farmers and other townspeople fighting the giant resources of Chevron, that continues to deny any responsibility for what happened.

The Sierra Club is petitioning the US Senate to investigate Chevron and end the corporate greed they say causes these disasters.  The message from this environmental organization to President Barack Obama is to work towards ridding the world of fossil fuels and their subsequent dangers.

CBS News also has reported that the break in an open pipeline that caused an oil spill in Ecuador now threatens Brazil and Peru.  The beautiful region of the Amazon is now contaminated in many places by oil.

In 2011 a court in Ecuador ruled against Chevron.  The company was consequently ordered to pay $18 billion in damages, but Chevron continues to contest the ruling, arguing it has never operated in Ecuador and that Texaco stopped operations 21 years ago, remediating an pollution it had caused.

Yet the oil seeping into the Amazon continues, even as it is said 80,000 people have contaminated drinking water.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has indicted Chevron for the oil spill that began 30 years ago.

Obama faces serious decision over a different kind of war

Carol Forsloff---While the world waits for decisions about Middle Eastern conflicts, facts indicate that in the United States and Canada there is a real disaster in the making, that has raised serious concerns sufficient for President Barack Obama to declare his concern about crossing a red line that could cause both countries serious and perhaps permanent problems. It is a different kind of war.

[caption id="attachment_4044" align="alignleft" width="222"] President Barack Obama[/caption]

Michael Marx makes a case against a situation that can create disastrous results for the United States, he tells us,  even as President Obama's own assessments of the problem have provoked the President to say he would block any efforts to complete a project if it would “significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

Marx is the Sierra Club Beyond Oil Campaign Director who tells us about the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline and why citizens should rally support against it. The Sierra Club, an activist group dedicated to environmental issues, tells us the oil companies are using a report from the US State Department that significantly underestimates the damage the pipeline could cause. In fact evidence shows the project could make a major impact on the environment and climate.

The report referred to by Marx was written, he maintains, by a member of the American Petroleum Institute and ignores the facts from scientists and industry analysts. He is asking citizens to respond vigorously to reveal the flaws in the oil industry-funded report and reminds people that “President made it clear he won't approve the pipeline if it harms the climate.” President Obama has yet to make a final decision on moving forward with the pipeline project that is poised to make oil transfers through the pipeline that could create considerable collateral and specific damage.  The Sierra Club asks citizens to sign a petition to tell Secretary of State John Kerry not Obama not approve the Keystone XL pipeline project.

The Center for Biological Diversity stands with the Sierra Club in expressing its concerns about the Keystone XL pipeline. It points to this example as one that reveals the seriousness of the problems created by this type of project, citing facts about Keystone I is said to have leaked 14 times since its beginning in 2010, with one spill dumping 21,000 gallons of tar-sands. Other spills have polluted the Kalamazoo and Yellowstone Rivers from hundreds of thousands of gallons containing oil that has spilled into the waters.

What other damages could occur are underlined by The Center for Biological Diversity that include greater emissions of greenhouse gases that could increase risks of climate change, pollution of drinking water from oil spills, and the threats to wildlife.

The Institute for 21^st Century Energy declares the Keystone XL pipelines to be advantageous for energy development, that it will produce more oil and is not a major contributor to environmental pollution. The organization declares: “The proposed TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline will allow the United States to access safe, reliable, and affordable energy supplies from Canada, and reduce our need to import crude oil from less stable countries and regions of the world. In addition to improving the nation's economic and energy security, during it's building phase the proposed project will provide approximately 20,000 badly needed manufacturing and construction jobs, and contribute an estimated $20 billion in benefits to the U.S. Economy.”

President Obama is at the apex of a major decision that could affect much of the United States, even as it could produce more energy. The energy companies clamor for citizen support for the Keystone XL pipeline even as environmental experts underline the horrific consequences that could imperil citizenry, the lands upon which folks live and work and the environment and wildlife that are at the mercy of man's decisions.

Both sides in the debate about the Keystone XL pipeline are asking citizens to sign petitions asking Obama to make the right decision.

'Historic' Washington rally scheduled on climate change

Carol Forsloff ---More than a dozen years have passed since scientists underlined the importance of taking action on climate change and mentioned that within a few years of that time, it might be too late. Even so, activists are putting together a major rally referencing the need for the world's leaders to finally pay attention to what many intimate is the gathering storm of climate change.

In an email message this morning, a writer wrote of the freezing weather in Russia at  fifty degrees below zero, a level of temperature which has created significant problems for the people. An example used is the traffic lights in the city of Yakutsk aren't working anymore. At the same time, the world scientists report that worldwide the temperatures were the hottest on record. Weather patterns are extreme, as demonstrated by Russia's frigid temperatures, the heat in many parts of the United States in the summer of 2012, and the terrible storms, such as Hurricane Sandy, that left thousands homeless and caused devastation along the country's eastern seaboard.

A climate rally is anticipated to bring thousands of individuals to Washington on February 17 to generate pressure on the nation's leaders to support those activities designed to mitigate climate problems. One of those issues has to do with the tar sands project, with the pipeline from Canada that some tout as the solution for the energy crisis. The Sierra Club hopes to send a message to President Obama that the time to act is now, asking him to veto the tar sands project and another proposed ventures the organization maintains could create even more serious problems for the world's environment.

Researchers point out that scientists in the path used to believe that climate change took place slowly, which was the belief through much of the 20th century. However, circumstances in the past 20 years have created alarm in the scientific community, along with dire warnings. It was only 1995 when a strong consensus statement came from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, representing views of nearly all the world's climate scientists. And what these scientists reported was that climate change could take place even more rapidly than previously thought and that "surprises" were possible.

It is those "surprises" that worry activists and scientists, as the rally organizers point out it is important for ordinary citizens to ask world leaders to take action by making decisions that will reduce the negative impact on global climate.