Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says U.S. EPA proposes to lowed NO2 emissions via tighter air quality standards.

U.S. EPA has proposed to revise the nation's nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air quality standard. The proposed changes to the NO2 standard reflect the latest science on the health effects of exposure to NO2, which is formed by emissions from cars, trucks, buses, power plants, and industrial facilities and can lead to respiratory disease.

EPA's proposed revisions apply to the primary NO2 standard and would:

• establish, for the first time, a one-hour NO2 standard at a level between 80 - 100 parts per billion (ppb),

• retain the current annual average NO2 standard of 53 ppb,

• add NO2 monitoring within 50 meters of major roads in cities with at least 350,000 residents, and
• continue monitoring of "area-wide" NO2 concentrations in cities with at least 1 million residents.

According to EPA, the proposed new standards and additional monitoring requirements would protect public health by reducing people's exposure to high, short-term concentrations of NO2, which generally occur near roadways. The proposal would also ensure that area-wide NO2 concentrations remain below levels that can cause public health problems.

Current scientific evidence links short-term NO2 exposures, ranging from 30 minutes to 24 hours, with increased respiratory effects, especially in people with asthma. These effects can lead to increased visits to emergency departments and hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses, particularly in at-risk populations such as children, the elderly, and asthmatics.

EPA first set standards for NO2 in 1971, establishing both a primary standard to protect health and a secondary standard to protect the public welfare at 53 ppb, averaged annually. Annual average NO2 concentrations have decreased by more than 40 percent since 1980. All areas in the United States are well below the current (1971) NO2 standards with annual averages ranging from approximately 10 - 20 ppb.

EPA will accept public comments for 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register. The agency will hold two public hearings in August 2009: one in Los Angeles and one in the Washington, D.C. area. EPA will provide details on the public hearings in a separate notice issued later this summer. EPA must issue a final decision on the NO2 standard by Jan. 22, 2010.

Details about the proposal: http://www.epa.gov/air/nitrogenoxides.

The proposed standard will impact Kentucky's coal-fired electric generating plants, and may require installation of new air pollution control equipment.

Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders congratulates Jim Hecker and Joe Lovett on 2009 William O Douglas Award from Sierra Club.

Jim Hecker, Public Justice's long-time Environmental Enforcement Project Director, has been named a recipient of the Sierra Club's 2009 William O. Douglas Award, which recognizes outstanding use of the legal process to achieve environmental goals, particularly those with national significance.

Jim will share the honor with Joe Lovett, executive director and a founder of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, for their determined and ongoing efforts to hold the coal mining industry in check for practices that wreak environmental havoc on land, water and air and endanger the health of people, animals and plant life in neighboring communities.

Under Jim's leadership, the Environmental Enforcement Project at Public Justice has taken the lead in challenging the coal industry's destructive mountaintop removal mining practices in Appalachia since 1998. At Public Justice, he has litigated over 30 citizen suits in 14 states under federal environmental statutes regulating clean air, clean water, hazardous waste, and coal mining. He and Joe have been co-counsel in a dozen such cases in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky.

Jim and Joe will receive their award at the Sierra Club's annual Volunteer, Honors and Awards Dinner in San Francisco on September 26.

Please join me in congratulating Jim for his extraordinary, tireless, and winning efforts on behalf of the residents and the environment of Appalachia.

Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders asks, "What is bottom ash from a coal-fired electric generating plant?"

Bottom ash is a coarse, granular, incombustible byproduct that is collected from the bottom of furnaces that burn coal for the generation of steam, the production of electric power, or both. Bottom ash is coarser than fly ash, with grain sizes spanning from fine sand to fine gravel. The type of byproduct produced depends on the type of furnace used to burn the coal.

Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders asks, "What is fly ash from a coal-fired electric generating plant?"

Fly ash is the finest of coal ash particles. It is called "fly" ash because it is transported from the combustion chamber by exhaust gases. Fly ash is the fine powder formed from the mineral matter in coal, consisting of the noncombustible matter in coal plus a small amount of carbon that remains from incomplete combustion. Fly ash is generally light tan in color and consists mostly of silt-sized and clay-sized glassy spheres. This gives fly ash a consistency somewhat like talcum powder.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Kentucky River Authority discusses state of coal ash ponds and coal slurry ponds in 2009 meeting minutes.

Did you ever wonder what is discussed in internal meetings about the safety and inspections of coal ash ponds and coal slurry ponds in Kentucky? Well, one such meeting was held by the Kentucky River Authority to discuss potential impacts on the Kentucky River basin from such ponds in February 2009. It is an interesting read.

If you are, take a look at the following link: http://finance.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/A25940D4-DF13-46CF-90C9-54C2C759567F/0/MTG143.pdf.

The discussion of ponds, inspections and safety factors begins at page 72 of the PDF copy of meeting minutes.

Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says U.S. may have much greater wind energy generation capacity than currently estimated.

This story in the New York Times says a Harvard University study shows that the U.S. could end up being the big leader in wind power. The link for the article is at: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/study-suggests-wind-power-potential-is-much-higher-than-current-estimates/

Among the findings in the NY Times article:

Using data from thousands of meteorological stations, the Harvard team estimated the world wind power potential to be 40 times greater than total current power consumption. A previous study cited in the paper put that multiple at about 7 times.

In the lower 48 states, the potential from wind power is 16 times more than total electricity demand in the United States, the researchers suggested – significantly greater than a 2008 Department of Energy study that projected wind could supply a fifth of all electricity in the country by 2030.

While remote regions of Russia and Canada have the greatest theoretical potential, the Harvard study pointed out that there are real gains to be made in high-emission nations, especially China, which has been rapidly constructing coal plants. “Large-scale development of wind power in China could allow for an 18-fold increase in electricity supply relative to consumption reported for 2005,” the Harvard study said.

The authors based their calculations on the deployment of 2.5- to 3-megawatt wind turbines situated either in accessible rural areas that are neither frozen nor forested, or relatively shallow offshore locations. They also used a conservative 20 percent estimate for capacity factor, a measure of how much energy a given turbine actually produces.

Study authors point out that other wind energy forecasts were based on 50- to 80-meter turbines. They say that turbines could be as large as 100 meters and based their estimates on the larger possible generators.

Attorney Sanders says NKU wins $1 million grant to improve information environment in rural Kentucky!

Northern Kentucky University has received a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant that will expand online paraprofessional library programs and provide scholarships and technology stipends to 50 library staff members working in the commonwealth's high-poverty rural areas.

NKU, which received $999,558, is one of 33 universities nationwide that received the grant, while 111 schools submitted proposals that totaled $63 million. The grant will enhance existing associate and bachelor's degree programs and provide scholarships which will increase the level of education and leadership among library staff in 50 targeted counties in eastern and far western Kentucky.

The programs will include Kentucky's compulsory online certification program, the online associate's degree at Bluegrass Community and Technical College and a new bachelor's completer program in library informatics at NKU. The programs are designed to provide a progression from basic certification through an undergraduate degree, both improving skills and knowledge on the job and readying students for pursuit of a master's degree in library science.

In western and eastern parts of Kentucky, counties are in the utmost need of professionally trained library practitioners. Almost one third of the directors of county librarians throughout Kentucky lack an undergraduate degree. Library directors in these regions are extremely dedicated and would benefit from the critical skills and knowledge provided by the program, positively impacting the level of service they can provide to their communities.

Most librarians in these areas do not hold degrees because of financial barriers and location barriers. The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant received by NKU seeks to address both of these hurdles by providing completely online programs, renewable scholarships and technology stipends that include laptop computers and Internet access.

Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says Duke Energy, LG&E and KU have high hazard coal ash ponds in state.

In response to an EPA information request on units handling wet or slurried coal combustion residues (“CCRs”), electric utilities have so far identified a total of 427 units managing slurried CCRs to EPA. The units are usually called coal ash ponds, bottom ash ponds, or waste ponds.

Forty-four (44) of these units at 26 different locations have been assigned a high hazard potential rating, using the criteria developed by the National Dam Safety Program for the National Inventory of Dams. Hazard potential ratings are generally assigned by the State Dam Safety officials. The 44 sites were spread across 10 states as follows:

North Carolina, 12 (Belmont, Walnut Cove, Spencer, Eden, Mount Holy, Terrell and Arden).
Arizona, 9 (Cochise, Joseph City).
Kentucky, 7 (Louisa, Harrodsburg, Ghent and Louisville).
Ohio, 6 (Waterford, Brilliant and Cheshire).
West Virginia, 4 (Willow Island, St. Albans, Moundsville, New Haven).
Illinois, 2 (Havana, Alton).
Indiana, 1 (Lawrenceburg).
Pennsylvania, 1 (Shippingport).
Georgia, 1 (Milledgeville).
Montana, 1 (Colstrip).

The infamous TVA coal ash dam in Kingston, TN is not included on the list. The "high hazard" label was self-assigned. TVA apparently did not consider its coal ash dam at Kingston quite hazardous enough to make the grade. It makes you wonder on the validity of this information.

CCRs consist of fly ash, bottom ash, coal slag, and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) residue. CCRs contain a broad range of metals, for example, arsenic, selenium, cadmium, lead, and mercury, but the concentrations of these are generally low. On the other hand, the overall volume of these wastes is absolutely enormous. If not properly managed, (for example, in lined units), CCRs may cause a risk to human health and the environment and, in fact, EPA has documented cases of environmental damage.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Commonwealth welcomes another giant industrial faming operation to western Kentucky.

Perfect Ocean Corporation is purchasing 100-acre tract in Christian County, Kentucky to raise fish on an industrial scale. Plans call for housing more than 1,000 large fish tanks plus an International Visitors Center. Perfect Ocean specializes in building and managing state-of-the-art above ground, indoor re-circulating aquaculture facilities.

The company uses vertically integrated solutions are capable of growing industrial-scale quantities of more than 20 of the world’s most popular fish species. When completed next year, this campus will constitute the largest indoor fish-cultivation facility in the world.

Its 55 million-pound output will be premium-priced Enviropure™ species -- all of which will be sold prior to harvesting to major users like hotels and restaurant chains, fast-food chains, cruise lines, grocery chains, re-packagers and other institutional buyers.

Perfect Oceans obtained a $5 million Kentucky Rural Economic Development Authority (KREDA) grant from Kentucky. The grant provides for a 15-year abatement of state income taxes as well as rebates to us amounting to 66% of the employee wage taxes.

Perfect Oceans is also preparing to file a Memorandum of Agreement and Inducement Letter with Christian County authorities to obtain $70 million in industrial development revenue bond financing. The plant expects to have 1,000 new jobs when fully staffed.