Monthly Archives: June 2015

EPA coal plant emission limits still in place during legal cost review

Justice Scalia never said the EPA emissions rule was struck down, rather the Supreme Court sent it back to a lower court to get a cost analysis from EPA. 300x305 Mercury, in Improving Air Quality in Georgia, by Georgia Power, 30 June 2015 Meanwhile, many of the emissions controls are already in place on coal plants (including Plant Scherer), other coal plants have closed or are closing, and investors are abandoning coal in droves. So what Scalia wants may or may not be impossible for EPA to deliver, but EPA actually already has helped sink dirty coal. Meanwhile, Georgia Power finally is helping the sun rise on Georgia. So the prognosis is good for less mercury in the Alapaha River.

Emily Atkin, ThinkProgress Climate, 29 June 2015, What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About The Supreme Court’s Mercury Pollution Ruling, Continue reading →

Supreme Court rules on cost against EPA coal plant emission limitations

The EPA should account for all costs before making a ruling on mercury or other coal plant emissions, according to a 5:4 majority of the Supreme Court. The dissenting minority points out not only are costs usually figured in during the follow-on process for specific limits, but that actual costs can’t even be computed without knowing those limits. So Coal Plant Scherer mercury in the Alapaha River can’t be limited without figuring all the costs first, says the SCOTUS majority, although EPA and the Court minority point to numerous well-known medical problems caused by mercury. Are profits for a few big utilities and coal companies more important than clean water and public health, especially now that there are cleaner, safer, faster-to-build, and less expensive renewable energy sources available in solar and wind power?

According to today’s SCOTUS ruling, Continue reading →

Burnt Church in Lakeland to Hotchkiss in Stockton –Chris Graham 2015-06-20

Alapaha River Water Trail Committee Chair Chris Graham went with a few friends down the middle section of this Blueway:

Which is roughly 12 river miles. It was amazing epic river trip. Continue reading →

Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources –Theodore Roosevelt

Thanks for sharing the letter from Pope Francis. I hope people sit up and take notice! As you pointed out in your post, with the quotes from MLK Jr., it is not the first time we have heard this. Here is an even older Quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
—Theodore Roosevelt

When are we going to listen.

cjm

Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail Committee members wanted by WWALS Watershed Coalition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail Committee members wanted by WWALS Watershed Coalition

Hahira, June 23rd 2015 – WWALS Watershed Coalition is pleased to announce the formation of the Withlacoochee River Water Trail (WRWT) Committee. With the Alapaha River Water Trail well on its way to completion, WWALS is ready to take on the Withlacoochee and Little Rivers. We are looking for people to take an active part in developing a recreational water trail for all to enjoy.

Chris Graham, Chair of the Alapaha River Water Trail, said:

“I feel I have accomplished a good deal in our area. Now that the Alapaha River Water Trail brochures are printed and WWALS is starting on the Withlacoochee River Water Trail, I feel it is time for someone in the Little River or Withlacoochee River watersheds to have an option to join the WWALS board to do something good for their river.”

WWALS has already started mapping and gathering information for the Withlacoochee River Water Trail,

/maps/withlacoochee-river-water-trail/

WWALS co-sponsors the “Big Little River Paddle Race” at Reed-Bingham State Park each spring on the Little River, a tributary of the Withlacoochee River. There is the potential for another paddle race on the Withlacoochee in the fall, and we’re looking for ideas for where and who wants to help.

Some of the benefits of a water trail include:

Continue reading →

First Withlacoochee River Water Trail Committee meeting tonight 2015-06-22

We just added another member to this committee, and we’re looking for more (see press release, for multiple committees, and for the WWALS board. If interested, please fill out the application form.

Withlacoochee River Water Trail Committee
Meeting Agenda
7:30 PM, Monday, 22 June 2015
by telephone
Contact Committee Chair Chris Mericle for details
mericle@gmail.com, 386-855-5096 cell, 386-938-5943 home

  1. Review Proposal that was accepted by the WWALS Executive Board for this new committee.
    Create a working document from the proposal: a blueprint for the water trail
  2. Discuss the water trail name:
    • Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail
    • or Withlacoochee River Water Trail
    • or something else?
  3. Review material on the WRWT web page (to be continued in further meetings)

-jsq

Board and Committee members sought by WWALS Watershed Coalition, a WATERKEEPER® Affiliate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Board and Committee members sought by WWALS Watershed Coalition, a WATERKEEPER® Affiliate

Hahira, June 20th, 2015 — From paddle races to opposing pipelines to building water trails for recreation, landowner protection, and economy, local nonprofit WWALS Watershed Coalition seeks additional members, committee members, and board members to extend advocacy for the watersheds of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little Rivers. Applications are now being accepted online for committee and board members to be elected at the July 8th Annual Meeting in Adel, Georgia, and anyone can pay for a membership at any time.

WWALS Secretary Garry Gentry of Tifton said:

“I have been involved with WWALS since almost the beginning and common sense says we need clean water and good stewardship of our planet to leave as a legacy for the next generation.”

Last month thirty people paddled and won prizes Continue reading →

This sister earth now cries out to us –Pope Francis

Pope Francis makes a religious, ethical, humane, scientific, and practical case Pope Francis at the Jordan River, ABC News for stewardship of this earth and its waters, with moral and ethical bases for “the choices which determine our behaviour”. His case does not require any reader to be Catholic or Christian, as the Pope integrates his faith with the science of an integral ecology. You don’t have to agree with everything he wrote (I don’t) to agree with the gist of it, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

“all life is interrelated”

Pope Francis’ letter to the world is long but well worth reading in full, and these excerpts I hope will encourage everyone to do that.

ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME, 18 June 2015, Vatican City. Continue reading →