Shutdown of coal-fired power plant results in significant fetal health improvement in downwind areas

Science News

from research organizations

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Date:

December 21, 2017

Source:

Lehigh University

Summary:

First study to show fetal health improvement as a result of a coal-fired power plant shutdown due to direct federal level regulation on single pollution source finds 15 percent reduction in likelihood of having a low birth weight baby and 28 percent reduction in likelihood of a preterm birth in areas downwind of the power plant.

     

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moves to dismantle the Clean Power Plan touting a return to "cooperative federalism," the results of a new study focused on the downwind impact on fetal health of emissions from a coal-fired power plant, which is located on the border between two states, highlight policy gaps engendered by state-level regulation of air pollution.

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Michigan leaders have tunnel vision on Line 5

Jim Olson is founder and president of FLOW (For Love of Water), a Great Lakes water law and policy nonprofit organization.

When we think of “tunnel vision” we think of narrow-mindedness, myopic thinking, or the horses at the start of the Kentucky Derby with blinders, eyes fixed straight ahead on only one option ‒ a one-way, no-return, single track. Applied to the words and actions of our state’s leaders over the last several years to remove the catastrophic risk to the Straits and the Great Lakes from Enbridge Line 5, the phrase could not be more accurate. While putting up the façade of leadership on Line 5, our leaders have in complicity narrowed the alternatives for Line 5 to a new replacement line or tunnel in the Straits.

It started with the rupture in 2010 of Enbridge’s Line 6b that crosses southern Michigan from Indiana to Sarnia, Canada, spilling a million gallons into the Kalamazoo River and costing more than $1 billion in cleanup so far and untold harm to the river, residents, and quality of life. Nearly everyone in Michigan saw the video clips of the black tar balls and ooze, dead fish and waterfowl, the largest oil spill into inland waters in our country’s history. The disaster triggered a number of questions, not the least of which was to look for other aging crude oil pipelines that cross the waters of Michigan. The answer came as a shock – 64-year-old Line 5, a 645-mile long line from Wisconsin across the UP, and, there it was, right there on the Public Service Commission’s (“PSC”) map, in the Straits of Mackinac, then down through Northern Michigan’s to near Port Huron, under the St. Clair River and into Canada. 

‘If you seek a pleasant peninsula...’ 

Governor Snyder responded that there was nothing Michigan could do about Line 5, because the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction and control over Line 5.

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Michigan Chapter Update 12.17.17 - State Panel Calls for Shut Down of Line 5

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GOOD Vote on Line 5 at MI Pipeline Safety Advisory Board today

The Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board today backed in passing three resolutions brought by the enviro and public interests today when all the state officials, Enbridge and Marathon reps on the Board abstained from the votes.  They failed to study their own bylaws/meeting protocols and we caught them when they thought that the measures failed because there was a majority of abstentions. Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Conservation Chair and former Director of the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club, was able to track down they meeting guidelines, which cite Roberts Rules, and found that Robert Rules says that abstentions don't count toward the vote, just to the quorum.  It was lovely to have about half the Board be stunned that the Board passed these resolutions.

Here are some stories on it, and NWF's and Oil and Water Don't Mix's statements:

Washington Post: Michigan panel urges temporary shutdown of Mackinac pipeline

MLive.com: Pipeline board advises Line 5 shutdown until repairs are made

Detroit News: State pipeline panel to Snyder: Halt Line 5 for now

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 11, 2017

Contact: Drew YoungeDyke, National Wildlife Federation, 734-887-7119, youngedyked@nwf.org

Pipeline Safety Advisory Board Passes Resolutions Calling for Temporary Shutdown of Line 5

LANSING, MI --- Members of Michigan’s Pipeline Safety Advisory Board (PSAB) passed formal resolutions - including a temporary shutdown of Line 5 - today at their quarterly meeting urging the State of Michigan to amend its agreement with Enbridge on Line 5, which Governor Snyder signed without consulting the PSAB in November. 

The resolutions call for a shutdown of Line 5 until the entire line is inspected for protective coating gaps and all gaps are filled, and modify the definition of “adverse weather conditions” to a higher standard than eight-foot waves, which triggered a temporary shut down last week. An additional resolution calls for the state to more fully study Michigan’s needs from Line 5, including alternatives that focus on the needs for Michigan over the business interests of Enbridge. 

“These resolutions seek to strengthen the agreement the Governor signed with Enbridge so that it actually does what it purports to do: provide a path forward for determining the future of Line 5 while protecting the Great Lakes,” said Mike Shriberg, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center and a member of the Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, who co-sponsored the resolutions. “While the few services Line 5 provides to Michigan have been shown to have feasible alternatives, there is no substitute for the Great Lakes and our way of life.”

On November 27, Governor Rick Snyder announced an agreement with Enbridge to study a tunnel replacement for Line 5, one of the alternatives included in a state-commissioned alternatives analysis released just a week before. The Pipeline Safety Advisory Board was not consulted in the agreement, which included a trigger for a temporary shutdown of flow through the pipeline in “adverse weather conditions,” defined as when waves reached an average of eight feet. While those conditions were met last week, the resolutions urge that definition to be modified to three feet and include ice cover and other conditions when the Coast Guard would be impeded from an oil spill response. 

All three resolutions, introduced by Mike Shriberg, R. Craig Hupp and Jennifer McKay, were passed by the Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, with support from the sponsors, as well as Homer A. Mandoka and Chris Shepler, and the rest abstaining. There was one “no” vote on the resolution to temporarily shut down Line 5 until coating gaps are repaired. Resolutions adopted by the PSAB are advisory and not binding upon the state. 

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Drew YoungeDyke Communications Coordinator National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center 734-887-7119 www.nwf.org Uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world

____________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, Dec. 11, 2017

Contact: Sean McBrearty, Oil & Water Don’t Mix, 616-516-7758

Statement from Oil & Water Don’t Mix on Pipeline Safety Advisory Board Meeting

LANSING – Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for Oil & Water Don’t Mix, issued the following statement on today’s meeting of the Pipeline Safety Advisory Board:

“The Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, led by members representing Michigan businesses, communities and Tribes, took a promising step forward today by acknowledging the 64-year-old Line 5 pipelines are unsafe to operate, and we look forward to continuing to work with all PSAB members, Attorney General Bill Schuette and Governor Rick Snyder to shut down these dangerous, outdated pipelines as soon as possible.” 

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Oil & Water Don’t Mix is a broad campaign of businesses, organizations and citizens across Michigan who are working to keep oil out of our Great Lakes by shutting down the dangerous, 64-year-old Line 5 Pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac. The campaign fights for clean water and air, Indigenous rights, reducing pollution, sustainable economies and protecting sporting, tourism and jobs that are dependent on our water and Pure Michigan way of life. Learn more at www.oilandwaterdontmix.org. 

Detroit air pollution disproportionately affects African-American children

By MICHIGAN RADIO NEWSROOM & CATHERINE SHAFFER 

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  Marathon's Detroit Oil Refinery, the only oil refinery in Michigan. The activities here have been linked with increased rates of cancer in surrounding neighbourhoods.

  NATHAN BISHOP

Detroit ranked tenth on a list of worst metropolitan areas in the U.S. for asthma attacks in African-American children due to oil and gas exposure. That’s according to a new study, “Fumes Across the Fence-Line,” released by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Clean Air Task Force, and the National Medical Association. 

African-American children in metro Detroit suffered 2,402 asthma attacks and missed 1,751 school days due to asthma per year. Dallas-Fort Worth topped the list with 8,059 asthma attacks and 5,896 school days missed among African-American children. Other cities on the list were Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Chicago.

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Residents at Downriver public forum overwhelmingly oppose Enbridge Line 5’s future

Sierra Club member Ed McArdle's photo and comments in this article:

• By Alex Franzen For The News-Herald
 
• Dec 8, 2017 Updated Dec 8, 2017
   

Thad Shumway (left), president and owner of North Bay Energy, spoke in favor of Line 5, while Melvindale resident Edward McArdle opposes it. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Thad Shumway, president and owner of North Bay Energy, a natural gas marketing company in Traverse City, delivers a public comment at the session. Shumway said he wants the pipeline to remain in commission. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Melvindale resident Edward McArdle listens to comments on the final version of the Enbridge Line 5 Alternatives Analysis report after speaking at the state of Michigan’s first public feedback session Dec. 6. McArdle said the only real option is to shut the pipeline that travels through the Great Lakes. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Heidi Grether, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (left); Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan DNR; Tracy Kecskemeti, southeast Michigan district coordinator for the MDEQ; Valerie Brader; executive director of the Michigan Agency for Energy; and Robert Reichel, first assistant attorney general for Michigan, listen to the public comments. Alex Franzen – For The News-Herald

Michiganders voiced their concerns on the future of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline at a public comment session Wednesday night in Taylor.

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Wind Power: A Tale of Two Regions

William S. Becker, Contributor

Energy & Climate Policy Expert

12/06/2017 05:41 pm ET Updated 1 day ago

JENNY HAGER, NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Ten years ago, one of the nation’s largest electric companies received an unexpected Christmas present from Mother Nature. On Christmas Eve, wind speeds became so powerful that the company’s wind turbines generated electricity equivalent to that from an average nuclear plant. The turbines were spinning out so much power that the company — Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy — could not use it all. It shifted the excess electricity to another region. 

Since then, Xcel has become one of the nation’s most aggressive producers of wind energy, a source of pollution-free power for its 3.3 million electric customers. 

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Spartan Sierra Club proposal to decommission Line 5 passed by Associated Students of MSU

Michigan’s Line 5 agreement with Enbridge is just more can-kicking

DECEMBER 3, 2017 BY ANDREW HELLER 26 COMMENTS

There are, at minimum, three major red flags in Gov. Snyder’s announcement this week of a deal with Enbridge over its 64-year-old Line 5 oil and gas pipe running beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

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Michigan Chapter Update 12.3.17 - Enbridge Snyder Deal on Line 5 Bad for Michigan

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Michigan hunters don’t need more deer

November 15, 2017 Marvin Roberson 

By any rational metric, the number of deer in Michigan is far too high. However, there is one irrational measure of deer numbers which says that we need more deer. This is the metric used almost exclusively by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources when managing for deer.

Consider these numbers:

Michigan averages almost 50,000 car-deer crashes every year, including over 1,200 injuries and 14 deaths. This makes deer the most dangerous animal in the state, and the most significant road hazard after drunk driving.

Deer cause millions of dollars in crop damage every year in Michigan, making deer the most expensive farm pest in the state. Some crops can lose up to 10 percent to deer annually.

In the winter, deer eat many forest species in damaging amounts. As a result, Michigan is no longer regenerating major components of our forests in any meaningful amount, including cedar, hemlock and Canada Yew, not to mention many herbaceous species.

How does the Michigan DNR, the agency charged with managing wildlife in the state, respond to this major loss of property and life which result from high deer numbers?

Read more ...

Marvin Roberson is a forest ecologist for the Sierra Club, Michigan’s largest and oldest grassroots environmental organization. He lives in the U.P.

Michigan Chapter Update 11.19.17 - December critical for Shutting Down Enbridge Line 5

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Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority Opposition ot Placing an Oil Pipeline in Trenches or Tunnel Beneath the Straits of Mackinac

Enbridge Line 5 saga imperils Michigan business

Daniel Howes, The Detroit NewsPublished 11:58 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2017

(Photo: Detroit News file)

Michigan business should pay closer attention to Enbridge Energy Partners LP’s rolling disclosures about missing coating on its Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac.

The corrosion represents far more than an environmental threat to the Great Lakes state, arguably the chief custodian of 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. A rupture at the heads of lakes Huron and Michigan could have major implications for automakers and utilities, health care companies and airlines, agriculture and “Pure Michigan” tourism.

“The state’s business community needs to get serious about the risk this poses to them — and they simply haven’t,” Patrick Anderson, CEO of the East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group, said in an interview Wednesday. “Many of our largest businesses face risks they can’t quantify.

Read More ...

Michigan Chapter Update 11.5.17 - Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Construction of NEXUS Pipeline

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Michigan bill looks to clarify tax exemptions for distributed generation projects

WRITTEN BY Andy BalaskovitzOctober 26, 2017

PHOTO BY

64MM / Creative Commons

A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers introduced a bill last week that aims to clear up confusion over tax collections for small-scale distributed generation projects.

Read more ...

Fish farm on Au Sable River 'clearly violates' law, judge says

By John Agar

jagar@mlive.com

Garret Ellison | gellison@mlive.com

GRAYLING, MI - A judge questioned the use of public property for a private fish farm on the East Branch of the Au Sable River.

Anglers of the Au Sable River filed a lawsuit against Harrietta Hills Fish Farm - which operates an old state fish hatchery - alleging that it pollutes the downstream fishery with fish waste and uneaten food.

Crawford County Circuit Judge George Mertz said that Anglers of the Au Sable River has no legal standing to challenge alleged violations of public-use restrictions and deed restrictions. Only the state has the right to sue - not a private citizen or group.

But, he said: "This Court would find that there is no question of fact that the operation of a private commercial fish farm clearly violates the statute and the deed restrictions. ... (I)t is clear that the intent of the state in granting the property to the County was that it remain open and used for the benefit of the general public for recreating, fishing, and historical purposes.

Read more ...

Take action to Protect Michigan From Trump's Attack on the Environment! - Michigan Chapter Update 10.15.17

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Au Sable River Hatchery Challenge Update - Michigan Chapter Update 10.1.17

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GALLERY: Lake Erie algae ashore in Point Place

How advocates helped lead Michigan’s capital city to a future without coal

Midwest Energy News

The impending closure of the Otto E. Eckert coal plant is one factor guiding Lansing, Michigan's utility planning process.

WRITTEN BY Andy Balaskovitz

PHOTO BY

Jeff B. / Creative Commons

Nearly 10 years ago, the municipally owned Lansing Board of Water & Light floated plans for a new $1 billion coal-fired power plant to replace an aging coal plant just south of the capital city’s downtown.

While utility planning for the future looked quite different then, the proposal was met with swift backlash from many in the greater Lansing community who saw coal as a step backward. The BWL also wasn’t alone among Michigan utilities at the time planning a future with more coal.

Based on public pressure and years-long community engagement, the BWL ended up building a 100 megawatt (MW) gas-powered cogeneration plant to effectively replace the 375 MW Eckert Plant.

But less than 10 miles west of Eckert, the BWL owns another coal plant, the 160 MW Erickson Plant. Over the years, Erickson — completed in 1973 — had a less defined future with vague, moving targets of when it might be closed down.

By early 2014, though, the Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club had been looking into the two plants, finding a long history of self-reported air pollution violations. This provided an in-road for action, according to the group, which issued a notice of intent to sue the BWL in March 2015 over more than 3,500 self-reported violations at the two plants between 2009 and 2013.

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Citizen Lobby Day, October 4 - Michigan Chapter Update 9.17.17

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The Great Nutrient Collapse

The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention.

By HELENA BOTTEMILLER EVICH

 

09/13/2017 05:03 AM EDT

Irakli Loladze is a mathematician by training, but he was in a biology lab when he encountered the puzzle that would change his life. It was in 1998, and Loladze was studying for his Ph.D. at Arizona State University. Against a backdrop of glass containers glowing with bright green algae, a biologist told Loladze and a half-dozen other graduate students that scientists had discovered something mysterious about zooplankton.

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Enbridge's new pipeline across northern Minnesota not needed, state says

Enbridge disagrees with Minnesota report saying Line 3  is no longer needed. 

By Mike Hughlett Star Tribune

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 — 9:25PM

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