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HBG and Chapter Meetings

Note: Consult the HBG website Calendar for updates to our calendar. Questions regarding HBG events should be addressed to HBG Chair Jerry Thornton (gatwilcat@aol.com).

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Events and Actions

Day Hike in Laurel-Snow State Natural Area

Saturday, September 3
10:30 AM - 6 PM 
1098 Pocket Wilderness Rd #100, Dayton, TN 37321
 

Laurel Falls, Laurel-Snow Segment, Cumberland Trail. Photo copyright Ron Shrieves. Used with permission.
 
Hike with us along Richland Creek and Laurel Creek to the magnificent Laurel Falls in the Laurel-Snow State Natural Area just west of Dayton, Tennessee. This will be an out and back hike of about five miles with a vertical rise and fall of around 800 feet. The trail to Laurel Falls is moderately difficult and the boulders below the falls can be slick and difficult to navigate, but you do not need to go all the way to the foot of the falls to enjoy a view of it. This is a good hike for older children who have some hiking experience. 
 
Much of the trail to the falls follows an old logging and coal-hauling railroad pathway because this area was extensively logged and mined between the late 1800s and the 1940s. Along the way you will see an entrance to an abandoned underground coal mine and other stone and metal artifacts of the coal days. However, the landscape has recovered magnificently and the hardwood forest is now lush and mature. This trail is now an access point to the Cumberland Trail, which runs north and south from this trailhead. 
 
Signup Instructions: Contact Jerry Thornton, trip leader, at gatwildcat@aol.com 
 
REGISTER HERE 
 

TDEC Office of Energy Programs Hearing

Thursday, September 15
6 PM - 8 PM CDT
Sonny West Conference Center, Sections C, and D
Howard Office Building
700 2nd Ave. S, Nashville, TN 37210
(or virtual via Webex)
 
TDEC OEP will hold a public hearing regarding the utilization of the State of Tennessee's Year 1 allocation of $7,614,436 under the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program (i.e., Formula Grants to States and Indian Tribes for Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid) that is funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Additional information on the Program can be found by clicking on or copying the following URL to a web browser: https://netl.doe.gov/bilhub/grid-resilience/formula-grants In addition to providing an overview of this Program and various related compliance requirements, TDEC OEP will review the criteria and methods the State of Tennessee anticipates using to grant awards to eligible entities and potential approaches for distributing funding (e.g., formula grants and competitive grants).
 
Virtual Login Info: 
To access the meeting (doors open at 6:00 PM CST) or join anytime during the Q&A session or the formal public hearing, click on the link below: 
Webex link
Meeting ID: 2308 098 0439
Passcode: OEP091522


Paddle trip: Seven Islands State Birding Park to Cruze Landing, French Broad
Saturday, September 24th 9:30 AM - 6:00 PM

Seven Islands State Birding Park. Photo copyright Ron Shrieves. Used with permission. 
 
This go-with-the-current float covers an easy 5 miles, starting from the Seven Islands State Birding Park public access point on the French Broad River, to a public boat ramp at Cruze Landing (this will require a car shuttle setup among group drivers when we meet). Though far from pristine, this river does have some interesting sights, and a bit of wildlife. There may be some shoal water, but no whitewater. Basic canoe/kayak skills are required. We'll take our time exploring the shoreline for birds and other wildlife, and stop to eat lunch and stretch our legs on an island that is in the State Park. Sorry but we cannot provide boats, so if you need to rent a boat, you will have to contact a local outfitter and make your own arrangements for boats, paddles and PFDs. One-way drive, 20 miles. Pre-register with Ron Shrieves: 865-922-3518; ronshrieves@gmail.com or at this website.

Knoxville Drive Electric Week Festival

Saturday, September 24
10 AM - 3 PM
Pellissippi State Community College
10915 Hardin Valley Rd, Knoxville, TN 37933
 
The Festival will feature all vehicles that can be plugged in, and that a person can ride in or on: cars, motorcycles, eBikes, three wheeler FUVs (Fun Utility Vehicles) and electric scooters. You can see and compare a wide range of EV models in one place. Owners and auto dealers will have numerous vehicles for show and ride and drives throughout the day. Local dealers will bring models available in the Knoxville area. Knowledgeable KEVA members will be available to answer your questions throughout the day. There will be an information station, utility representatives, vendors (solar and other), and additional exciting electric alternatives.
 
RSVP here: https://driveelectricweek.org/event?eventid=3284 


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Environmental Newsflash

*** Note to readers about accessing these articles. Gift links provide a link that allows access for a single time, even if you have reached your limit.
 

More dangerous heat waves are on the way: See the impact by zip code. By mid-century, nearly two-thirds of Americans will experience perilous heat waves, with some regions in the South expected to endure more than 70 consecutive days over 100 degrees. John Muyskens, Andrew Ba Tran, Anna Phillips, Simon Ducroquet and Naema Ahmed, The Washington Post, August 15. 

Most of the Harvey Broome Group area will experience between 25 and 35 days of dangerous heat by the year 2053, according to the study. 
 

Tennessee Valley Authority Urged to Take Advantage of New Tax Credits From Clean Energy Bill: As U.S. House passes Inflation Reduction Act, credits can assist TVA in speedy transition off dirty power. Clean Up TVA Coalition Press Release, August 12. 

“ ‘Valley communities continue to face the brunt of fossil fuel volatility,’ said Amy Kelly, Tennessee Beyond Coal Campaign Representative of Sierra Club. ‘Skyrocketing prices and ever-intensifying storms put families at risk. More dirty energy is not the solution — it’s the fuel feeding this energy and climate injustice. TVA must press the accelerator on building a resilient, affordable, and renewable energy future.’ ” 
 

Now that Joe Manchin has saved the Democratic agenda, how should liberals think about him? By David Leonhardt, The New York Times, August 11, 2022. (gift link)

Did the intense criticism heaped on Manchin for defeating Build Back Better move him? Probably. But Manchin won as a Democrat in a state where Trump won by 39 points. 
 
“ ‘Having a Democratic senator in 2021 in a state like West Virginia — where neither Hillary Clinton nor Biden could crack 30 percent of the vote — is a remarkable bit of good fortune’ for Democrats, Hans Noel, a Georgetown University political scientist, has written.
 
“Without Manchin in the Senate, Biden’s presidency would look very different. The climate bill would almost certainly have failed. So would have the expansion of health care. Biden would also have a harder time getting judges and other nominees confirmed.
 
“Ultimately, Manchin is much more of a positive than a negative for Democrats. The party’s bigger problem is that it does not have more versions of Joe Manchin, because it struggles so mightily to win elections in heavily working-class regions outside major metropolitan areas.” 

Historic Climate Bill to Supercharge Clean Energy Industry: The climate and energy provisions of Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act would speed greenhouse gas cuts and put the U.S. on track to deliver the lion's share of President Biden's target for 2030. Ben LeFebre, Kelsey Tamborrino and Josh Siegel, Politico, August 7. 

 “The Inflation Reduction Act, which had appeared to be dead just weeks ago and now heads to the House of Representatives, would accelerate U.S. emission cuts and put the country on a path to reduce greenhouse gasses by 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, significantly narrowing the gap with the goal Biden set under the Paris climate agreement to cut that pollution by at least half by that date.
 
“The climate portions of the bill were far lower than the $550 billion originally envisioned as part of a broad $2.2 trillion bill a year ago, but they still represent the biggest investment in clean energy sources in U.S. history — about four times as large as the incentives contained in President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.” 
 

Carbon-Reduction Plans Rely on Tech That Doesn't Exist: Instead of scaling up renewable energy, researchers promote unproved ideas. Naomi Oreskes, Scientific American, August 1 (originally published in July 2022).

Naomi Oreskes says carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a fantasy promoted by the fossil fuel industry. Yet "the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed last year, contained more than $10 billion for efforts to develop carbon-capture technologies. In contrast, the act contained merely $420 million for renewable energy—water, wind, geothermal and solar."
 
Update: The Inflation Reduction Act includes tax breaks for CCS, or for non-tax entities like TVA, direct payments in lieu of them. 
 

National Park Air Tour Plans Late and Off-Course: First two overflight limits OKed; 20 behind schedule, most lack eco-reviews. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Press Release, July 26. 

 “In 2020, PEER won a court judgment requiring the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Park Service (NPS) to finally implement the National Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000, which requires regulation of park overflights to minimize noise and disruption in any park with more than 50 overflights a year. Despite this clear mandate, not a single such plan had been completed in the more than 20 years the law had been on the books.
 
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia set a deadline of August 31st of this year to complete air tour management plans for 24 national parks, ranging from Glacier to Death Valley to Hawaii Volcanoes, that are collectively subjected to more than 45,000 commercial air tours annually.”
 
Nearly all of the parks, including Great Smoky Mountains, are projected to miss the deadline. The Smokies’ air tour management plan was open for public comment last fall. Learn more about the Smokies plan here.  
 

TVA lags other utilities in the South in turning to the sun for power: Environmental group calls TVA a 'SunBlocker' for not pursuing more solar power, TVA says it is exploring many ways to decarbonize. Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press, July 19.

 “The Tennessee Valley Authority announced last week it is launching one of the biggest purchases of renewable energy for the future, but over the next five years, the federal utility is still projected to generate less than half as much solar power per capita as the average utility in the South, according to a study released Tuesday.
 
“In a new report on Solar in the Southeast, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy calls TVA a ‘SunBlocker,’ with the least amount of solar power generation, even though one of TVA's biggest distributors, the Knoxville Utilities Board, was recognized as the top ‘SunRiser’ for promoting the most additional solar power of any local utility in the region through 2025.
 
“Among the 13 major electric utilities in the Southeast, TVA ranks 10th in its current share of solar generating capacity at 121 watts per customer, or only one-fourth as much as the regional average of 484 watts per customer and only 8% as much as the regional leader, Duke Energy Progress in the Carolinas.
 
“Last week, TVA issued one of the nation's largest requests for carbon-free energy with a request for proposals for up to 5,000 megawatts of carbon-free energy [including new forms of nuclear power, hydroelectric units, pumped storage or battery projects] that must be operational before 2029.
 
“But TVA's most recent appeal for proposals for clean power were not included in the new Solar in the Southeast report, which tallied current solar installations and those planned to be online by 2025.”
  

This Pioneering Economist Says Our Obsession With Growth Must End. David Marchese, The New York Times Magazine, July 17. (gift link)

 "Without a continually rising G.D.P., we’re told, we risk social instability, declining standards of living and pretty much any hope of progress. But what about the counterintuitive possibility that our current pursuit of growth, rabid as it is and causing such great ecological harm, might be incurring more costs than gains?
 
" 'It’s a false assumption to say that growth is increasing the standard of living in the present world because we measure growth as growth in G.D.P.  If it goes up, does that mean we’re increasing standard of living? We’ve said that it does, but we’ve left out all the costs of increasing G.D.P.' 
 
" 'The failure of a growth economy to grow is a disaster. The success of a steady-state economy not to grow is not a disaster.' "
 

Read about other events in Tennessee in our Chapter e-newsletters.

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Can't donate now? Sign up for Kroger Community Rewards. Kroger donates a portion of what you spend to the Harvey Broome Group as long as you designate HBG as your preferred charity.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Kroger Community Rewards web page
2. Register (or Sign In if you already have an account.)
3. Enroll in Community Rewards (or Edit if you're already enrolled.)
4. Enter HBG's Community Rewards Number 27874.

That's it. Swipe your Kroger Card when you shop and know that you're helping protect your environment.

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