Activist: This area among worst for CO2 pollution
Self-described ‘regional radical’ says people can act CANNELTON — Indiana is the worst state in the nation for carbon-dioxide emissions from coal, self-described environmental “radical” John Blair told the approximately 45 people who gathered April 3 in the Cannelton Community Center to hear him speak. Additionally, he said, this area of Indiana is a contender for worst of the worst.As bad as the situation is, however, Blair’s presentation came amidst several significant developments in the environmental realm, and he said people can take steps to mitigate the threat.
Regulation of the earth’s temperature occurs through a natural balance, he said in defining the “greenhouse effect” said to be behind global warming. “The sun shines, and warms the land and water. The rest of the (sun’s) energy is bounced back into space.”When the atmosphere becomes thick with pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sunlight can be prevented from escaping the atmosphere, and its heat builds up. Large areas of ice melts, raising sea levels. In a worst-case scenario, a 20-foot sea-level rise worldwide would put all of Miami and most of New York City under water. “I won’t say it’s going to happen,” Blair said, “but we need to do something.”The United States’ population comprises only 5 percent of the world’s inhabitants, but this nation emits 20 to 25 percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, he said. “We live in the largest concentration of coal-fired power plants in the world. They burn 67 million tons of coal per year. In this valley, we sit with three of the largest 10 coal-fired power plants in the world.”That might be easier to accept if burning coal resulted in the efficient production of electricity. The energy needed to transport coal to power plants, Blair said, and the distances the power is sent once it’s produced make it an incredibly inefficient resource. The American Electric Power plant at Rockport, for example, gets coal from Wyoming and transmits the power it produces to Fort Wayne and South Bend.
“Coal is inefficient,” Blair said. “It takes about 10 percent of the energy in coal just to get it here.”Approximately 35 percent of the remaining 90 percent of the mineral’s energy is captured in its burning, he continued, resulting in about one-third of its original potential, and transmission to Fort Wayne saps another 7 percent for every 100 miles of the 300-mile trip. Little of the original potential energy remains when it reaches an electric device, he said. If it goes to an older appliance operating at less than 100-percent efficiency, the waste is even greater.Mike Brian, corporate communications manager for Indiana-Michigan Power, an AEP subsidiary running the Rockport plant, said Friday low-sulfur coal from Wyoming was chosen before the plant was built because “it’s better for the environment and cheaper, keeping the cost of energy lower.” The alternative was installing costly “scrubbers.”He also confirmed the loss of energy potential in burning coal, saying the material is converted into thermal, then mechanical, then electrical energy, and said, “there are some line losses” in transmitting electricity to Fort Wayne.He stressed, however, his company prides itself on keeping costs down while protecting the environment. AEP is pioneering technologies such as converting coal to a gas before burning it, which would allow emissions to be captured before it’s burned, and the “sequestering” of carbon dioxide underground.Part of the energy lost in the burning of coal dissipates as heat that could be put to good use, Blair said. If greenhouses were built around power plants, and the heat used to warm them, energy would be saved, jobs would be created and produce could be purchased locally year-round.“We’re bringing tomatoes from Chile in the winter,” he explained. “They’re put on a truck, then a ship, then a truck or train to go to a warehouse, then to a grocery store. I would bet 5 pounds of carbon dioxide are created so we can have that 1 pound of foul-tasting tomato.”Wind as an energy resource has gone untapped in Indiana, according to Blair. Areas to the north of the Ohio River Valley in Indiana have a potential of producing 40,000 megawatts of wind energy, he said.Indiana Michigan Power announced April 4 it would participate in an AEP request for proposals for tapping up to 100 megawatts of wind energy to serve its customers in Indiana and Michigan.The RFP is the first step toward AEP’s goal of adding 1,000 megawatts of new wind energy by 2011 as part of its comprehensive strategy to address greenhouse gas emissions, according to a company news release.The day before Blair’s Cannelton visit, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency must begin regulating carbon-dioxide emissions unless it can prove that global warming causes no harm. The EPA ruled four years ago carbon dioxide could not be regulated as a pollutant, according to an Aug. 29, 2003, Knight Ridder News Service report.Four days after the Supreme Court ruling, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a 1,572-page report, prepared by more than 200 scientists, asserting the earth's climate and ecosystems “face inevitable, possibly profound, alteration” by the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases, according to a New York Times report. Officials from more than 120 countries, including the United States, endorsed a 21-page summary of the IPCC report, the Times noted.The IPCC announced a consensus in February that global warming is a real threat and is caused by man.A photojournalist, Blair introduced himself as an instigator of an action committee formed in 1977 when a nuclear-waste dump was proposed for the Branchville area. The proposal was “beat back,” he said, after a courthouse rally demonstrated opposition to it.Environmental news and examples of Blair’s photography can be found at www.valleywatch.net, the Web site for an organization formed in 1981 in response to environmental threats in this area. At that time, “I became the region’s radical,” he said.Blair supports some proposals for alleviating pollution and rejects others. A “cap and trade” plan would require reductions and limit emissions by one company and allow it to buy credits from another that’s under its emissions limit.“I’m not a huge fan,” Blair said of that proposal. Sulfur-dioxide emissions were supposed to be reduced 50 percent by 2005. They were reduced by 35 percent, he said.Conservation measures encouraged for years can go a long way to cutting pollution, Blair said, noting, “I haven’t used my air conditioner in four years. It may require some sacrifices. Get off your butt and turn off a light.”The solution is not that simple, but will require a combination of actions, he added. They can include talking to elected representatives, which could lead to another period like the one surrounding the original Earth Day in 1970, when “a lot of good legislation was passed in about eight months,” he said.“Maybe by 2050 we can sit back and applaud a new world.”
Regulation of the earth’s temperature occurs through a natural balance, he said in defining the “greenhouse effect” said to be behind global warming. “The sun shines, and warms the land and water. The rest of the (sun’s) energy is bounced back into space.”When the atmosphere becomes thick with pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sunlight can be prevented from escaping the atmosphere, and its heat builds up. Large areas of ice melts, raising sea levels. In a worst-case scenario, a 20-foot sea-level rise worldwide would put all of Miami and most of New York City under water. “I won’t say it’s going to happen,” Blair said, “but we need to do something.”The United States’ population comprises only 5 percent of the world’s inhabitants, but this nation emits 20 to 25 percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, he said. “We live in the largest concentration of coal-fired power plants in the world. They burn 67 million tons of coal per year. In this valley, we sit with three of the largest 10 coal-fired power plants in the world.”That might be easier to accept if burning coal resulted in the efficient production of electricity. The energy needed to transport coal to power plants, Blair said, and the distances the power is sent once it’s produced make it an incredibly inefficient resource. The American Electric Power plant at Rockport, for example, gets coal from Wyoming and transmits the power it produces to Fort Wayne and South Bend.
“Coal is inefficient,” Blair said. “It takes about 10 percent of the energy in coal just to get it here.”Approximately 35 percent of the remaining 90 percent of the mineral’s energy is captured in its burning, he continued, resulting in about one-third of its original potential, and transmission to Fort Wayne saps another 7 percent for every 100 miles of the 300-mile trip. Little of the original potential energy remains when it reaches an electric device, he said. If it goes to an older appliance operating at less than 100-percent efficiency, the waste is even greater.Mike Brian, corporate communications manager for Indiana-Michigan Power, an AEP subsidiary running the Rockport plant, said Friday low-sulfur coal from Wyoming was chosen before the plant was built because “it’s better for the environment and cheaper, keeping the cost of energy lower.” The alternative was installing costly “scrubbers.”He also confirmed the loss of energy potential in burning coal, saying the material is converted into thermal, then mechanical, then electrical energy, and said, “there are some line losses” in transmitting electricity to Fort Wayne.He stressed, however, his company prides itself on keeping costs down while protecting the environment. AEP is pioneering technologies such as converting coal to a gas before burning it, which would allow emissions to be captured before it’s burned, and the “sequestering” of carbon dioxide underground.Part of the energy lost in the burning of coal dissipates as heat that could be put to good use, Blair said. If greenhouses were built around power plants, and the heat used to warm them, energy would be saved, jobs would be created and produce could be purchased locally year-round.“We’re bringing tomatoes from Chile in the winter,” he explained. “They’re put on a truck, then a ship, then a truck or train to go to a warehouse, then to a grocery store. I would bet 5 pounds of carbon dioxide are created so we can have that 1 pound of foul-tasting tomato.”Wind as an energy resource has gone untapped in Indiana, according to Blair. Areas to the north of the Ohio River Valley in Indiana have a potential of producing 40,000 megawatts of wind energy, he said.Indiana Michigan Power announced April 4 it would participate in an AEP request for proposals for tapping up to 100 megawatts of wind energy to serve its customers in Indiana and Michigan.The RFP is the first step toward AEP’s goal of adding 1,000 megawatts of new wind energy by 2011 as part of its comprehensive strategy to address greenhouse gas emissions, according to a company news release.The day before Blair’s Cannelton visit, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency must begin regulating carbon-dioxide emissions unless it can prove that global warming causes no harm. The EPA ruled four years ago carbon dioxide could not be regulated as a pollutant, according to an Aug. 29, 2003, Knight Ridder News Service report.Four days after the Supreme Court ruling, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a 1,572-page report, prepared by more than 200 scientists, asserting the earth's climate and ecosystems “face inevitable, possibly profound, alteration” by the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases, according to a New York Times report. Officials from more than 120 countries, including the United States, endorsed a 21-page summary of the IPCC report, the Times noted.The IPCC announced a consensus in February that global warming is a real threat and is caused by man.A photojournalist, Blair introduced himself as an instigator of an action committee formed in 1977 when a nuclear-waste dump was proposed for the Branchville area. The proposal was “beat back,” he said, after a courthouse rally demonstrated opposition to it.Environmental news and examples of Blair’s photography can be found at www.valleywatch.net, the Web site for an organization formed in 1981 in response to environmental threats in this area. At that time, “I became the region’s radical,” he said.Blair supports some proposals for alleviating pollution and rejects others. A “cap and trade” plan would require reductions and limit emissions by one company and allow it to buy credits from another that’s under its emissions limit.“I’m not a huge fan,” Blair said of that proposal. Sulfur-dioxide emissions were supposed to be reduced 50 percent by 2005. They were reduced by 35 percent, he said.Conservation measures encouraged for years can go a long way to cutting pollution, Blair said, noting, “I haven’t used my air conditioner in four years. It may require some sacrifices. Get off your butt and turn off a light.”The solution is not that simple, but will require a combination of actions, he added. They can include talking to elected representatives, which could lead to another period like the one surrounding the original Earth Day in 1970, when “a lot of good legislation was passed in about eight months,” he said.“Maybe by 2050 we can sit back and applaud a new world.”
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