TOXIC DISCONNECT: While calling for action on cancer cluster, Specter pushes project that would increase local cancer risk

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter held a meeting in Hazleton yesterday to call for action on behalf of local residents suffering from polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer that occurs at an unusually high rate in Schuylkill and Luzerne counties. But at another meeting held earlier that day, he called for construction of a waste coal-to-oil refinery in Schuylkill County -- a project that will significantly increase the carcinogenic burden on area residents.

The senator's clashing calls suggest a fundamental disconnect in his thinking. While the cause of the high PV rate has not yet been pinpointed, it's certainly safe to say that building a significant new source of toxic pollution will not help people already suffering from high rates of cancer and other chronic illnesses -- never mind the insult of using cancer victims' tax dollars to help pay for a project that will further damage their health.

Specter's meeting about PV took place at 4 p.m. yesterday at the Genetti Best Western in Hazle Township and involved about 20 local PV patients, physicians and public health advocates, the Pottsville Republican Herald reports:

The purpose of Monday’s meeting ... Specter said, was to get answers, and to map out a PV cancer cluster battle plan.

“I want to get a handle on this and develop an action plan to move ahead with a sense of urgency,” he said.

Among the strategies reportedly discussed at the meeting was research to examine similar health issues in West Virginia, another coal mining area that like Schuylkill County is also a center of heavily polluting waste-coal-burning power plants. In addition, there was discussion of investigating contaminants in the confirmed cluster area. Local oncologist Dr. Paul Roda will write up the "battle plan" and deliver it to Specter’s office by the end of the week.

But at the same time the senator is claiming he wants to help area residents who are suffering disproportionately from cancer, he's pushing a project that will increase his constituent's likelihood of getting the disease.

Interviewed after a town hall meeting held earlier yesterday afternoon at the Penn State Schuylkill campus, Specter told the Republican Herald that he wanted to boost Schuylkill's economy through government support of John W. Rich Jr.’s proposed waste coal-to-oil refinery in Mahanoy Township near Gilberton. The plant would be a new source of cancer-causing pollution in a county that already has a serious toxic pollution problem due to the numerous waste-coal-burning power plants. Schuylkill County has more of these dirty facilities than any other county in the nation.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has permitted Rich's refinery to annually release up to 99.9 tons each of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter, as well as 49.9 tons of carcinogenic volatile organic compounds, according to the Energy Justice Network. The facility would also dump into the air each year hundreds of tons of other health-damaging air pollutants -- including 38 pounds of mercury, a known carcinogen and neurotoxin.

Why is Specter pushing for a new heavily polluting facility despite the local area's serious health problems? Campaign finance records offer a clue. The Rich family is a generous contributor to the senator's campaign fund, having donated $10,200 to Specter in 2007 and 2008 alone, according to OpenSecrets.org.

"Coal makes us sick"

This isn't news for those of us from mining communities, but it's still nice to hear a politician say it:

League of Conservation Voters grades federal lawmakers on environmental issues

Casey earns perfect score; Specter's and Holden's are mediocre

The League of Conservation Voters has released its annual scorecard for 2007, evaluating federal lawmakers' voting records on environmental issues.

On the Senate side, the environmental advocacy group looked at votes on 15 matters ranging from oil subsidies to energy efficiency standards to liquid fuel derived from coal. The latter issue is of special interest to residents of Schuylkill County, where Waste Management and Processors -- a subsidiary of the Rich Family Companies -- is pushing for millions in taxpayer subsidies to build a waste coal-to-oil plant near Gilberton. Producing oil from coal or waste coal emits large amounts of toxic pollution as well as greenhouse gases.

Sen. Robert Casey (D) got a grade of 100 percent, voting the more environmentally sustainable position on every issue. His colleague, Sen. Arlen Specter (R), didn't do as well, earning only a 60 percent -- though that represents an improvement from previous scorecards where he earned grades ranging from a low of 28 percent in the 2003-2004 session to a previous high of 52 percent in 2001-2002. The issues where Specter differed with environmentalists in the latest evaluation were oil subsidies, clean energy standards, offshore drilling, oil refinery security, and the establishment of a commission to prioritize water resources projects.

On the House side, Rep. Tim Holden (D-17) did slightly better than Specter at 70 percent. Of the 20 issues considered, the ones where he parted ways with environmentalists were grasslands protection, farm subsidy reform, clean air, offshore drilling and family planning. The average score for Congress overall was 53 percent.

Holden and Specter also voted against the environment on the issue of liquid coal. It's not altogether surprising that they would do the bidding of liquid coal interests when you consider how much the Rich family alone has invested in their political campaigns. John W. Rich Jr. -- the man behind the local waste coal-to-oil plant -- and others connected with the Rich Family Companies have donated at least $20,800 to Specter, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics' OpenSecrets.org database. At the same time, they've donated a whopping $45,681 to Holden -- but nothing at all to Casey.

Rendell does bidding of polluting paymasters in Schuylkill County

During a press conference earlier this month, Gov. Ed Rendell expressed his enthusiasm for a waste coal-to-oil facility planned for Schuylkill County. The project near Gilberton would dramatically increase toxic emissions in an area already experiencing unusually high cancer rates that researchers believe are linked to environmental factors.

And Rendell doesn't just support the idea of private investors undertaking the project: He wants the very people who would be hurt by the plant's pollution to subsidize its construction, the estimated cost of which has more than tripled since the proposal was first unveiled. The Pottsville Republican Herald reports:

... Rendell was asked about the proposed $1 billion coal-to-liquid fuels project in Mahanoy Township, proposed by John W. Rich Jr., president of Waste Management and Processors Inc.

Rendell said he would be open to providing more funds to help put the waste coal-to-oil plant "over the top."

"Yes, that's a project that we would be very interested in," Rendell said.

Rich and other members of his family who do business together as part of the Rich Family Companies -- which include a local sewage sludge dumping operation, two waste-coal burning power plants, and a mining company -- are major political benefactors for Rendell, having contributed at least $68,000 to his political campaigns since 2001, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics' database. Those include contributions of:

* $8,000 on Nov. 14, 2001;
* $10,000 on Feb. 21, 2002;
* $10,000 on Aug. 6, 2002;
* $7,500 on Sept. 25, 2002;
* $10,000 on Oct. 30, 2002;
* $500 on Dec. 31, 2002;
* $1,000 on April 15, 2004;
* $1,000 on March 3, 2005;
* and a whopping $20,000 on Sept. 21, 2006.

If Schuylkill County residents suffering from cancer and other environmental illnesses want the governor to take action in their behalf, perhaps they'll have to come up with some campaign cash, too.

(Photo of John W. Rich Jr. by The News-Item via UltraCleanFuels.com)

An oxymoron is sponsoring tonight's Democratic debate on CNN:

The "clean coal" industry. This is "clean" as in the "ultra clean" waste coal-to-oil plant planned for Gilberton, which the state has permitted to dump to the air annually 99.9 tons each of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter; 49.9 tons of volatile organic compounds; 100 tons of ammonia; 38 pounds of mercury; and unlimited amounts of carbon dioxide. For more about the sponsorship and a Web form to weigh in with moderator Wolf Blitzer, visit ThinkProgress.org.

Tell the whole truth about China's coal-to-oil plans, Mr. Rich

The Hazleton Standard-Speaker recently reported on the Department of Energy's release of the environmental impact statement for the planned waste coal-to-oil plant in Gilberton, Pa. The story quotes John W. Rich Jr. of Waste Management and Processors, the firm building the plant, on the need to keep pace with China's race to adopt the technology:

"We're being outdone by the Chinese ... We're getting beat to the punch."

In another story about the Gilberton plant in today's Pottsville Republican Herald, about the opening of a 30-day comment period on the plant's environmental impact, Rich again holds up China as a model the U.S. should be following:

"The Chinese are taking up the market," Rich said. "It's a horrible situation. The most powerful country in the world is losing its standing."

In fact, China is actually considering canceling its coal-to-oil plans over concerns about high cost, low efficiency, massive greenhouse gas emissions, and intense water usage. I wonder why Rich doesn't mention that?

More on the Gilberton coal-to-oil EIS

Yesterday I posted some thoughts about the Department of Energy's recently released environmental impact statement for WMPI's planned waste coal-to-oil refinery in Gilberton, Pa. Despite documenting numerous environmental problems associated with building the plant, the EIS recommends that the project go forward with taxpayer funding. I received a response about my post from Mike Ewall with the Philadelphia-based Energy Justice Network and wanted to share it with my readers:

The Final EIS doesn't mean any sort of environmental approval. An EIS document can say that the plant will kill half of the county within the first year of operation and there would still be no requirements for the Department of Energy to do anything but give WMPI the $100 million for it. That's just the nature of the EIS process. The document being finalized doesn't mean that the plant is safe or wise to build, or that the document is even accurate or credible, for that matter. Don't expect changes to be obvious from the bold italicized wording in the document either. For example, they admit that their Draft EIS was lying when they claimed that the prison is a "sealed facility" (section 4.1.7.7.). This is admitted only by the fact that they took this language OUT after being challenged over it (but you won't find any cross-outs for deleted language in the Final EIS).

The Final EIS being out also doesn't mean that the plant will be able to get built with the $100 million that it enables them to get, since during the four years that we helped delay the EIS through our many comments, the price tag for the plant went up by $182 million -- more than they'd be getting because of the completion of the EIS. While it was $612 million, they had every penny covered by tax dollars in one way or another, but still didn't have the investors. Now that it's an $800 million plant (and probably more than that if they were to update their figures, since prices have continued to rise for many of their basic material needs), they have to go buying off some more politicians for the public handouts that the private sector won't put on the table.

Also, the EIS cover letter fails to mention the fact that citizens have the right to appeal the Final EIS. This can be done with or without a lawyer.

Environmental impact statement gives green light to Gilberton coal-to-oil project

Speaking of the horrors of coal, I recently received in the mail a big package from the U.S. Department of Energy, which I finally tore open the other night. Inside I found two fat spiral-bound documents -- together almost two inches thick -- that contained the final environmental impact statement for WMPI's planned coal-to-oil refinery in Gilberton, Pa.

After hearing numerous concerns about toxic emissions and greenhouse gas pollution that will be dumped from the plant into the local environment, the DOE is still proposing to go ahead and "provide cost-shared funding" for the project. In other words, to force you and me and all our fellow taxpayers to further enrich John W. Rich and further devastate the coal region's already fragile environmental health.

To add further insult to injury, the DOE's decision comes just as the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has confirmed the state's findings that residents of Schuylkill County and neighboring Luzerne County suffer from unusually high rates of polycythemia vera -- a rare blood cancer that's been linked to pollution from burning fossil fuels and petroleum refineries. Even more disturbing, several of the polycythemia vera clusters identified on an ATSDR map displayed at last Wednesday's public meeting appear to be very close to if not right on top of Gilberton (click on the maps below for larger images).

Though I'm still working my way through all the comments submitted about the coal-to-oil plant, I was struck by the remarkable story they tell about about the residents of the anthracite coal region, who in page after page of heartfelt testimony, e-mails and letters bear witness to their love of land and fellow man -- and to anger over the long history of the area's environmental abuse by corporate powers and the politicians they own.

This one is an excerpt from a handwritten letter submitted by Joan Chesonis of Shenandoah Heights, which I thought was particularly eloquent and to-the-point:

Northern Schuylkill County has been a dumping ground for decades with projects no others want in their area, i.e. landfills, prisons, and co-generation plants. Always using the You Need Jobs arguments, big business usually gets its way. The time to stop exploiting this area is long overdue.

And this is from from Geronimo Rafter, who attended one of the public meetings about the project and later send the DOE the following e-mail, which I have not edited because I thought it was powerful exactly as written:

HELLO I WAS AT THE SHENANDOAH MEETING AND EXPLAINED HOW RIGHT NOW THE WASTE FROM THE PLANTS ARE DUMPING RIGHT IN MY BACKYARD TEN TIMES THE AMOUNT ALLOWED IN THE AIR. SO BAD THAT IT EATS MY CLOTHES LINES UP AND EATS AT THE BRASS ON MY DOORS THE PROOF IS RIGHT IN MY BACK YARD AT THE LAST MEETING THEY SAID THEY WHERE GOING TO HAVE THE DOE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME AND SINCE THEN NO ONE HAS DONE ANYTHING. YOU PUT ONE OF THOSE MONITORS HERE AND YOU WILL GET A CORRECT READING. ALSO I READ THE DOE TOOK THE MONITOR OUT OF MAHANOY CITY WHY DO YOU NOT CHECK WHERE THE DUMPING IS GOING ON LIKE MY BACKYARD AND NOW YOUR GOING TO PUT FIVE MORE STACKS UP. MY WIFE LIVED HERE FOR A COUPLE YEARS AND GOT CANCER FROM THIS STUFF. DOES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS MEAN MORE THEN OUR LIFES AND WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DUMP ON THE POOR.

If you'd like to read the EIS, it will be available at the public libraries in Frackville (56 N. Lehigh Ave.), Mahanoy City (17-19 W. Mahanoy Ave.) and Pottsville (215 W. Market St.). It will also be available on DOE's National Environmental Policy Act Web site and on the National Energy Technology Laboratory's Web site. To get your own copy, you can contact Janice Bell at Janice.Bell@netl.doe.gov or call 412-386-4512.

PAC urges action against coal-to-oil

MoveOn, a national progressive political action and advocacy group, today sent out an e-mail asking members for their help in blocking highly polluting coal-to-oil projects like the one planned for Schuylkill County. The e-mail stated:

The idea of turning coal into liquid to fill our gas tanks should just be a bad joke. But because the coal industry pours millions into lobbying Congress every year, this joke could turn into a real nightmare.

The senate is about to vote on a big bill dealing with energy and the climate crisis. Massive subsidies for coal were defeated in committee. But we're not out of the woods yet, since one of the coal-friendly senators could sneak them back in again as an amendment just before the final vote.

Can you call your senators today to tell them to vote against liquid coal if it's added to the bill at the last minute?

The New York Times reported last month that King Coal is pushing hard for billions of dollars in taxpayer-financed construction loans for coal-to-oil plants, minimum prices for the new fuel, and big government purchases of the fuel over the next quarter-century.

Not only would such operations subject nearby residents to toxic emissions, they would also emit enormous quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Plans to capture those gases and sequester them underground have repeatedly run into technical difficulties.

If Hometown-area residents want to weigh in with their senators on coal-to-oil technology, they can call Sen. Bob Casey in Washington at (866) 802-2833 and Sen. Arlen Specter at (202) 224-4254.

But they shouldn't hold their breath while waiting for these politicians to oppose the plant. After all, Casey and Specter -- along with state Rep. Tim Holden (D-17th) -- rescued a low-interest loan for the plant earlier this year after the Bush administration canceled it. At the same time, Specter has accepted at least $12,000 in campaign contributions from the Rich family, one of whose companies -- Waste Management and Processors -- is behind the plant.

Politicians rescue loan for benefactor's waste coal-to-oil project

Three politicians who represent Schuylkill County in Washington have used their clout to conditionally reinstate a $100 million loan for a local facility that will convert waste coal into diesel fuel and home heating oil, the Associated Press reports.

Two of those politicians have taken tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from project president John W. Rich Jr. and members of his family, whose regional business empire is heavily invested in waste coal. However, those same politicians have failed to take action to protect the public from the considerable amount of pollution the facility will dump into the environment -- even though federal health authorities have acknowledged that area residents are suffering from high rates of diseases linked to environmental contamination.

U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and U.S. Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa.) announced the reinstatement of the loan to Waste Management and Processors Inc. on Friday, just weeks after President Bush's latest budget rescinded the money. The $800 million project has already received $47 million in state tax credits and a $7.7 million cost-share investment from the U.S. Department of Energy. The plant will also be exempt from state and local taxes through 2013, as it is planned for a Keystone Opportunity Zone.

Reports AP:

Under an agreement, the plant backers now have until the end of the year to secure funding for the facility before the loan is rescinded, according to the lawmakers.

Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman with the Office of Management and Budget, said the decision was reached after Specter arranged a meeting with the parties involved.

"At a time when our nation is grappling with energy security, we should be using every incentive and tool at our disposal to promote clean coal-to-liquid technology in the U.S.," Specter said in a statement.

Unfortunately, Specter repeats the same misleading propaganda disseminated by the Bush administration and Rich that the technology behind the project is somehow "clean." In fact, the plant would release enormous amounts of greenhouse gas pollution linked to global warming. It would also emit significant quantities of toxic chemicals into local communities that are already grappling with multiple sources of pollution, including dirty waste-fuel-burning power plants owned by the Riches. Reports Schuylkill Taxpayers Opposed to Pollution, a grassroots citizens group fighting the coal-to-diesel facility:

Air pollutants throughout the process would be emitted from the refinery's six stacks (five 200 foot stacks and one 300 foot stack) and from the storage tanks, which are expected to leak over one ton of diesel and naphtha each year. The state [Department of Environmental Protection] has permitted the refinery to annually release up to 99.9 tons each of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter (including up to 15 tons of sulfuric acid mist) as well as 49.9 tons of volatile organic compounds, 100 tons of ammonia and unlimited amounts of carbon dioxide and other unregulated pollutants. In total, the refinery would release hundreds of tons per year of health-damaging air pollutants, including 38 pounds of mercury.

Despite the obvious risk the plant presents to public health, Specter, Casey and Holden have failed to take any action to address the problem. That raises the question: Why would these politicians be so attentive to the Riches' interests, yet apparently so indifferent to the public interest?

One clue lies in campaign finance records, which show that the Riches contribute generously to both Holden and Specter. From the 2002 through 2006 election cycles, Rich family members donated at least $21,000 to Holden's campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets database. During the same period, the family donated at least $12,750 to Specter, and at least $67,000 to the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania. The database does not show any contributions from the Rich family to Casey, but it will be interesting to see if that changes now that the freshman senator has gone to bat for them.

It appears that the Riches' money means more to these politicians than the well being of their constituents. The voters should remember that come election time.

Bush budget scraps loan for coal-to-oil plant

President Bush's budget has left out a $100 million low-interest loan for the heavily polluting coal-to-oil plant planned for Schuylkill County, the Pottsville Republican reports.

Besides emitting a significant amount of toxic chemicals in communities already facing serious environmental threats, the facility is also expected to release an enormous amount of greenhouse gas pollution -- far more than originally estimated. The summary of an international scientific report released last week linked such pollution to dramatic and dangerous climatic changes already underway around the globe.

But area politicians have already sprung into action to save the project, which is led by local waste-coal-burning mogul and political contributor John W. Rich Jr., according to the paper:

"I've been on the phone all day trying to get an explanation for this," said U.S. Rep. T. Timothy Holden, D-17. "To redirect the money without explanation is unbelievable ... We were all blindsided."

Holden said he and U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Robert P. Casey Jr., D-Pa., have been trying to make appointments with the administration to discuss the sudden change of heart.

In a press statement released Monday on the 2008 budget, Specter said: "I am opposed to the president's proposal to rescind $100 million to fund the nation's first coal-to-diesel plant in Schuylkill County, which is vital for exploring and developing our nation's alternative energy sources. As a senior appropriator, I am sure the president's budget will be thoroughly revised in accordance with the constitutional provision which gives Congress the authority to determine spending levels."

Gov. Ed Rendell (D) also called for restoring fundings to the project in a Feb. 7 press release, repeating the oft-told lie that such heavily polluting technology is somehow "clean":

"The president, in his State of the Union address, promised to promote clean coal technologies and lead the charge for cutting America's reliance on oil, but his new budget instead cuts funding for a very promising solution to our energy needs," Governor Rendell said. "I am calling on the president to reverse course, keep his word and restore the funding for America’s first waste-coal-to-diesel plant."

Comments sought on coal-to-oil plant's CO2 emissions

Turns out the Department of Energy-financed coal-to-diesel facility planned for the Schuylkill County community of Gilberton is going to dump more global warming pollution into the atmosphere than the agency originally thought.

A lot more.

Last week, DOE announced that it was opening a 45-day comment period on a supplement to the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Gilberton Coal-to-Clean Fuels Project. It issued the supplement to correct an error in the original EIS that put atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions from the plant at 832,000 tons per year. As it turns out, DOE failed to account for the concentrated CO2 stream flowing from the facility's gas cleanup system -- a whopping 1,450,000 tons of CO2 for total annual emissions of 2,282,000 tons per year. To put that amount in perspective, consider that a recent study estimated global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in 2003 at just over 28 billion tons.

Because I submitted comments on the original EIS, DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory sent me a copy of the supplement, which is also available on NETL's Web site here. DOE reconsidered its original analysis after several commenters raised concerns about CO2. One of the those commenters -- the Natural Resources Defense Council -- wrote four letters and met with DOE officials to share concerns about the plant's emissions. The commenters succeeded in getting DOE to reconsider its original statement, the supplement says:

In considering these comments, DOE found that the annual rate of CO2 emissions reported in the Draft EIS included only the total quantity of CO2 that would be emitted directly from the proposed facilities. The reported quantity did not include a larger quantity of CO2 in a concentrated stream exiting the Rectisol unit that would also be emitted. It was previously anticipated that this stream would be sold; however, the industrial participant has informed DOE that the commercial sale of the CO2 would not occur in the foreseeable future, and therefore, all of the CO2 would be emitted to the atmosphere.

(For more on the Rectisol process, click here.)

The supplement also discusses the feasibility of carbon sequestration, or underground storage, which DOE says would entail either piping it to a site in Western Pennsylvania or into local unmineable coal seams, though it acknowledges the latter alternative couldn't accommodate the facility's lifetime CO2 production, estimated at 72 million tons. NRDC urged DOE to consider sequestration, noting that the Gilberton project is funded by the Bush administration's Clean Coal Power Initiative, which aims to develop low-emissions coal technologies. As NRDC Climate Center Policy Director David Doniger wrote in a Feb. 7, 2006 letter to DOE:

As the source of federal funds for the project, DOE is obligated to factor climate change considerations into its EIS for the Gilberton plant. The CCPI's goals of fostering commercially viable, environmentally acceptable technologies for coal generated energy cannot be met by ignoring the increased CO2 emissions from demonstration projects and NRDC submits this technology cannot be demonstrated to be commercially viable and environmentally acceptable without demonstrating application of [CO2 capture and storage] part of this project.

DOE's move to release a fresh accounting of the Gilberton project's climate impact comes as sustainable energy advocates are asking Congress to slash funding for its coal technology research; that would spell disaster for the Gilberton project, which is heavily dependent on government subsidies. In a Dec. 27 letter delivered to Congressional leaders, more than 100 representatives of various business, consumer and environmental organizations asked that federal energy research and development funds be shifted away from fossil fuel and nuclear power programs toward initiatives supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency. Among the programs they specifically asked Congress to cut was the Clean Coal Power Initiative, which got $50 million in Fiscal Year 2006.

DOE invites interested parties to submit comments on the supplement during the 45-day comment period that begins tomorrow, Jan. 16. Comments may be mailed to Janice L. Bell, NEPA Document Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, M/S 58-247A, P.O. Box 10940, Pittsburgh, PA 15236. They can also be faxed to 412-386-4806 or e-mailed to jbell@netl.doe.gov.

For more information about the Gilberton project from the company promoting it (Waste Management and Processors Inc., headed by local waste-coal baron John W. Rich Jr.), visit www.ultracleanfuels.com. For more from Schuylkill Taxpayers Opposed to Pollution, which is fighting the project, visit www.ultradirtyfuels.com.