Newsflash
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Good quotes from our own Todd Waterman near the end of this Knoxville News Sentinel article by Jamie Satterfield.
"Don't stop the fight against mercury pollution: Republican and Democrat to Trump EPA.” Senators Alexander and Carper opine for continued battle against mercury pollution (of which a principal source are coal-fired power plants). Read about it in the Nov 12 edition of USA Today.
"Sen. Alexander pushes for passage of Restore Our Parks Act . . .” by Mark Pace, Nov 16 Times Free Press.
TVA’s long-term contracts may be viewed as locking Southeast communities into dirty-energy deals. "Energy burdens in the Southeast are the worst in the nation, especially for low-income residents and people of color. Low-income residents of Memphis, for example, spend on average more than 13 percent of their household income on their energy bills. Despite knowing that the climate crisis will only make this burden worse, monopoly utilities in the region are blocking some of the most effective and affordable solutions – local clean energy and efficiency. “ See the full opinion piece by Daniel Tate and Greer Ryan in the Nov 19 opinion piece at Knoxnews.
Environmental agencies are critical of DOE plans for Oak Ridge cleanup. "The U.S. Department of Energy is attempting to weaken standards for remediation at the Oak Ridge Reservation Superfund site in Tennessee, two state and federal agencies say, fearing the changes could pose health risks to the public and threaten the environment." See the story in the Nov 19 Chattanooga Times Free Press article by Mark Pace.
"Volkswagen breaks ground on $800M expansion for MEB-based EV production in US; battery assembly plant also." Read about it in a Nov 14 article at greencarcongress.com.
Knoxville Receives Recognition for Propane Mower Fleet. (Oops - we missed this announcement about an award to Knoxville in October.) The city of Knoxville, Tennessee, was recognized as the 2019 Green Leadership City, a distinction awarded by the Propane Education & Research Council to one government agency in the United States each year. See details here.
Followup on Oak Ridge municipal government objections to the TVA’s proposed coal ash landfill. See the Nov 20 article by Ben Pounds in the Oak Ridger.
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper to co-sponsor the Green New Deal. "Cooper, D-Nashville, announced Thursday evening he will cosponsor the Green New Deal, a shift from his prior position that there were better pieces of legislation to address climate change.” Nov 21 Nashville Tennessean, by Natalie Allison.
Coal Knew, Too: A newly unearthed journal from 1966 shows the coal industry, like the oil industry, was long aware of the threat of climate change. UTK professor Chris Cherry found an article in an 1966 copy of the industry publication Mining Congress Journal with a passage by the president of Bituminous Coal Research Inc., acknowledging that "There is evidence that the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere is increasing rapidly as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels." The Nov 22 article by Elan Young appeared in the Huffington Post.
Broken climate records have become the new normal. "On Nov. 21, the Times Free Press reported that Chattanooga has broken 17 weather-related records in 2019. That's not normal. In 2018, Chattanooga saw only five such record-setting days.” See the Nov 30 opinion piece by Pam Sohn in the Times Free Press.
Related followup: See Part 2 of Pam Sohn’s discussion, relating to positive evidence in recognition of financial benefits of investments in sustainable energy. Part 2 was published on Dec 1.
SELC challenges TVA rooftop solar compensation plan. Basically, TVA is offering a grossly unfair rate to investors in rooftop solar projects. " . . . SELC maintains that 'TVA has failed to comply with NEPA,' and thus cannot end its previous solar compensation program until it issues a draft environmental impact statement that considers 'reasonable alternatives and takes a hard look at the effects of the proposal on the human environment. Seven other citizens’ groups signed on to SELC’s letter.' "
The Nov 27 article by William Driscoll appeared in PV Magazine.
45-year perspective on how global warming has affected one seabird species. Watch the short video (see web link below) about tiny Cooper Island, just off the north coast of Alaska - it witnesses the pace of climate change and it’s meaning for one seabird species. Cooper Island is located just off the coast of Alaska's North Slope, 25 miles east of Point Barrow. Thanks to Elle Colquitt for bringing this piece to our attention.
Find related info on Cooper Island in this link:
 Photo courtesy of Friends of Cooper Islands: The Black Guillemot.
Not so fast with a conclusion that natural gas usage decreases fossil fuel emissions. "In fact, natural gas use is growing so fast, its carbon dioxide emissions over the past six years actually eclipsed the decline in emissions from the falling use of coal, the researchers found.” Dec 3 article by Nicholas Kusnetz in Inside Climate News.
Are federal and state governments abandoning environmental safety? That’s the question posed by Pam Sohn in this Dec 8 Times Free Press opinion piece.
Nashville mayor John Cooper joins global environmental coalition of mayors. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a coalition of nearly 100 other cities around the world focused areon the Climate issue. The mayor indicated that his adminstration would look for opportunities to take other local initiatives for improving the local environment. The Nashville Sunrise Movement has asked Cooper to go further, specifically, "to declare a climate emergency, commit to public transit and affordable housing and get 'real action' from Tennessee Valley Authority." See the Dec 7 Tennessean article by Yihyun Jeong.
Carrier Corp. requests a variance from rules on wastewater. "Carrier, which has a manufacturing site in Collierville, wants to convert existing wells to injection wells and inject partially treated wastewater from the company’s Superfund site in Collierville into the aquifer." Shelby County Health Department denied the application, but an appeal is in progress. Protect Our Aquifer and the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, with assistance from the Southern Environmental Law Center, are against Carrier’s proposal and are asking that the Health Department decision be upheld. The Dec 10 article by Abigail Warren appears in the Daily Memphian.
See a related Dec 10 article in the Memphis Flyer, by Toby Sells.
Kroger's program to feed the hungry. "The grocery chain’s 'Zero Hunger | Zero Waste' program tackles America's massive problem of throwing away good food in a country where people go hungry." Read the article by Carmen Russell-Sluchansky at The Hill.
Read about other local events in Tennessee on the same day in our Chapter e-newsletter.
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