Moving Susquehanna Valley Forward

I am only one, but still I am one

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Many of us in some quiet moment ask ourselves whether our life has had meaning or what our life has meant to this point. We are capable of looking back at our past and projecting our possible futures. This is a very human process. The search for meaning is an ongoing process. Some may look to books like Dr. Victor Frankel’s Man’s Search for Meaning. A Book that may provide a few answers to some. Even in the last year of my seventh decade I still don’t have any solid answers to these questions.

One thing that appears certain, whatever the meaning of life, is that in all of life’s many forms the greatest drive is the continuation of the species. While the human species is also driven to reproduce, we also seem to be driven to destroy ourselves and the life around us. Our actions and our actions alone now pose a threat to the future of our species and many of our fellow creatures. Through a combination of our ignorance, greed, thoughtlessness, selfishness, and laziness the life on this planet has entered the planet’s sixth major extinction period.

Ignorance of this fact is no excuse for not acting to protect future generations of our own kind and all other life forms. Life forms on which we are absolutely dependent. We are not the creators of life and have no right to be the cause of life’s destruction. We have developed a culture whose only goal seems to be the acquisition of more and more of everything. Our drive to acquire appears to be insatiable. We take no notice of the destruction that results from the production of ever more stuff in our personal quest of acquisition. We are busily laying up treasures which moth and rust corrupt. Chris Hedges has written

If I were to ask which has more value, a pound of gold or a pound of good soil, the probable choice of most would be the gold. Yet we can live and thrive without gold but life for us would be impossible without good soil. We are now heedlessly supporting a system of agriculture and economics which is destroying the planet’s fertility. Our country has already lost over a third of its topsoil. Every bushel of corn grown by this system results is the loss of forty-four pounds of top soil. We take fertile ground and bury under asphalt. Our industrial agriculture’s only goal is profit, not the long term health of the land. We us pesticides and herbicides so liberally that much runs off to poison or lakes and streams. Billions of pounds of animal waste adds to this toxic brew. We have created vast dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

We not only poison the soil with our vast array of readily available chemicals, we poison our own bodies. There is much debate over abortion in this country, but those fighting to end all abortions seem to be unconcerned about the toxic substances that enter these same embryos and fetuses. With little thought or testing we now subject the life of our planet with over 80,000 man-made chemicals.

Our corporations are amoral entities that pursue profits by externalizing as many costs as possible. They fight any attempt to prevent their polluting our air and water. If corporations really were people, they would be classified as psychopaths. They never feel guilt or remorse for their destructive actions. They do all they can to absolve themselves of responsibility. Ever hear any Wall Street bankers apologize for collapsing the economy? Monsanto now produces seeds for plants are really pesticides. We are all lab rats in the experiment on the safety of GMO’s. Chris Hedges has written “the mania for ceaseless economic expansion and exploitation has become a curse, a death sentence.”

It is a matter of observable fact that life is rapidly vanishing from the planet as a direct result of our actions. This is not speculation or a matter of opinion. It is an observable fact. It is we who are clearcutting the great rainforests on earth and the greatest diversity of life on the planet. We value cheap hamburgers more than life’s diversity. It is we who are stripping the oceans of the world of life far faster than they can recover. It is we who are causing desertification around the world. Our demand for every more beef has caused the destruction of hundreds of thousands rangeland acres.

The mere fact that there are environmental organizations makes a statement about the nature of our civilization and culture. Why would a sane culture need them? Environmental groups though they win a battle here and there are losing the fight to protect the planet. What I find most disturbing about the “big green” groups, many of which I am a member, is their failure to take on directly our type of capitalistic economic system which feels free to pollute and destroy the planet and is based on ever more consumption. These groups nibble around the edges but don’t want to offend any of their members by taking on the system.

Sooner or later the majority of the population may demand that we deal with climate change and all the other environmental issues we face. But will it be too late? Will we have passed so many tipping points so that we will not be able to stop the freight train of climate change, species loss, soil degradation, contamination of land and water, and the changing of the composition of our atmosphere?

I am asking you to take on the fight to preserve our biosphere and our species. I ask because I believe we have a moral obligation to posterity. The founding fathers often talked about posterity, but is something seldom heard from today’s politicians. They and our corporate leaders are only fixed on the next quarter’s profits and the latest stock market index. They only care about the accumulation of more wealth by the wealthy. A wealth accumulated by the exploitation of the planet and most of its people. Are we too comfortable with our life to take up this fight? Are we too concerned with the accumulation of more stuff? Are we too comfortable hiding in ignorance and denial?

I certainly don’t know the answers to questions for each individual, but it is clear where most of in our society stand. Unless there is a general demand from the population for action to protect our grandchildren and their grandchildren, our political leaders won’t act. They are too wedded to the powerful who are consumed with their wealth and power.

Edward Everett Hale wrote “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. ” Henry Thoreau wrote that we are a society of one, and so we can change our society of one now, we don’t have to wait for the whole society to change. So it is up to us to begin the change needed to protect the life of the planet and in so doing hope to change the society as a whole. We can take contentment in knowing that we have chosen to act, not in a selfish way, but in a way which is true and moral. We can think beyond ourselves and to those who will follow us.

To the deniers I leave you with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a leader of the underground church in Nazi Germany. “Folly is a more dangerous enemy to the good than evil. One can protest against evil; it can be unmasked and, if need be, prevented by force. Evil always carries the seeds of its own destruction, as it makes people, at the least, uncomfortable. Against folly we have no defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it; reasoning is no use; facts that contradict personal prejudices can simply be disbelieved- indeed the fool can counter by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied; in fact, he can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make him aggressive.”

Basic Rights, Basic Necessities

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“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all of the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

These are the words of Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.  Former state senator Franklin Cury was the catalyst and author of the amendment. Its intention, in Cury’s own words, was to establish “a legal right to a decent environment under the state constitution” and “effectively change the balance of legal power and give environmental quality (and the human race) at least an even chance in the coming years.”

The devastation our own area had experienced through the unregulated extraction of coal was Cury’s inspiration for the amendment.  Lifeless streams, orange with acid mine drainage, abandoned strip mines, mine fires and huge banks of culm deposited throughout the region…just some of the legacy we all still bear from the golden age of coal. How could the coal industry destroy large supplies of water and acres of land without consequence?

Fast forward several decades and now we are asking how the natural gas industry can be permitted to contaminate water supplies, deforest Penn’s Woods, pollute our air and contribute to the greatest calamity of our time…climate change?

In Pennsylvania, over 7,100 active wells exist. Each of these wells require 400 tanker trucks to carry water and supplies. In just the few years that the industry has been active, over 35.5 billion gallons of Pennsylvania’s fresh water has been combined with more than 284 million gallons of chemicals (including known carcinogens) and pumped into the ground.  There are numerous communities where residents can not or will not drink their water because of safety concerns.

During the production and distribution of natural gas, our air quality is also threatened through intentional and unintentional releases of methane. Methane has a 20 times more powerful impact on our atmosphere than carbon dioxide. For this reason, gas drilling not only depletes our ozone layer but also exacerbates climate change.

We have been afforded the constitutional right to clean air and water, yet communities in Pennsylvania are finding these very basic necessities of life threatened. Our constitution protects our public natural resources, yet nearly half of our state parks and forests are leased for drilling. The purity and aesthetics of our environment are safeguarded through this amendment yet, thousands of miles of pipelines traverse the state just beneath our forests, farms, rivers and communities.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) has filed a lawsuit in an effort to defend our state parks and forests, ensure the proper investment of Oil & Gas Lease Funds (OGLF) and fortify our environmental amendment.

Governor Wolf’s moratorium on any additional drilling in our state forests is a welcome policy change; if Corbett would have had his way, additional state lands would have been opened up for drilling in an attempt to satisfy budget shortfalls last year. Thankfully, PEDF’s lawsuit halted Corbett’s plans.

The lower courts have ruled against PEDF’s argument regarding OLGF but has reaffirmed the Department of Conservation & Natural Resources is ultimately responsible for the stewardship of our state parks and forests.

Our state constitution ensures the protection of our most basic rights–to breathe clean air and drink clean water. An individual’s constitutional right should trump corporate profits and should be upheld and protected, even if doing so is not the easiest path or even the most popular.

When does a constitutional right become a guaranteed freedom? When will our communities be free from water and air pollution? When will our state parks and forests be free of industrial infrastructure that threaten their pristine nature? When will our Commonwealth serve as a true trustee to our natural resources, safeguarding them for future generations?

It is up to us to ensure that these rights are taken seriously by our elected officials. Let’s stand together and tell our legislators and the governor that they must ensure the protection of these basic rights, our basic necessities.

Keystone XL: Pure Snake Oil

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The Republicans are pushing hard to build the Keystone XL Pipeline, a project of TransCanada that would transport Canadian tar sands oil through the heart of America to the Gulf of Mexico.  Yesterday marks the tenth time that the Republican controlled House has sought to override the Obama Administration and push through the controversial project.

The pipeline project is controversial because it unleashes the tar sands oil which sits beneath an impressive stretch of boreal forests in western Canada.  The extraction of this oil, which is mixed with tar and sand, will result in the destruction of this forest..but that is just the beginning of the story.

The extraction process itself is more energy intensive than any other form of fossil fuel extraction because the oil must be separated from the tarry mixture of sand and clay. In fact, while conventional oil produces 25 units of energy for every unit of energy invested in extraction, tar sands only produces 5 barrels of oil per barrel of energy invested. [1]

The extraction process also requires a great deal of fresh water. In fact, for every barrel of oil produced from the tar sands, the industry requires between .4 and 3.1 barrels of water. [2]

But it doesn’t end there. Because the boreal forest will be destroyed (and much of the wildlife that inhabits it, by the way), it will no longer be able to capture carbon. Boreal forests store twice as much carbon than any other ecosystem on earth. [3]  The extraction of the tar sands will make it extremely difficult to curb the impacts of climate change as more carbon is released and less is captured.

In addition to carbon, the extraction of tar sands releases “large volumes of pollutants into the air” which will impact the health of surrounding communities. [4] Add to that a report that suggests the carcinogens released by the process have been grossly underestimated. [5]

Since pipelines are certainly not infallible, what happens when a spill occurs. Just imagine…as difficult as the tar sands are to extract is as difficult as they are to clean up when a pipeline spill occurs. We now know this by experience.

On March 29, 2013, residents of a small town in Arkansas became very aware of the hazards of tar sands when an Exxon Mobile pipeline burst and released over 200,000 gallons of the tarry substance into their community. Residents soon began to notice health related issues including nausea, respiratory problems, fatigue and throbbing headaches.  [6]

Not coincidentally, residents of Marshall, Michigan also reported these same symptoms after an Enbridge Energy pipeline released over 800,000 gallons of tar sands into the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek. [7]

Long after the spill in Arkansas, the clean up continues and many residents still suffer from illnesses they feel are a result of the spill; many have moved away. Others banded together in a class action law suit against Exxon Mobil.

Pipeline spills are actually more common than Americans may think. Between 2008 and 2012,  U.S. pipelines (carrying primarily oil and natural gas) spilled more than 3.1 million gallons of hazardous liquids, on average, annually, according to data from the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. These spills, which could be attributed most commonly to corrosion and equipment failure, resulted in at least $1.5 billion in property damage altogether.

The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund was created in 1990 to ensure that taxpayers are not wholly responsible for subsidizing the clean up of oil spills. The trust fund is funded through a per barrel excise tax, penalties on the industry as well as transfers from existing pollution funds.  However, a loop hole exists since the establishment of the fund which exempts tar sands from being taxed because it is not a conventional oil; therefore, energy corporations transporting tar sands do not contribute to the clean up fund. [8]

To make matters worse, Republicans in their November 2014 vote to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, defeated an amendment that would have ensured that TransCanada would contribute toward the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. [9]

The proposed pipeline would weave through prime agricultural lands in the midwest and threaten home grown food supplies as well as one of the world’s largest sources of ground water in the world – the Ogallala Aquifer. [10] The Aquifer provides freshwater for roughly one-fifth of the wheat, corn, cattle and cotton in the United States and is the primary water supply for at least 1.9 million people. [11]

Republicans say they are pushing Keystone for the jobs and for oil independence. But when you look closely, the number of permeant jobs is wildly over estimated. In fact, the U.S. State Department estimates only 35 permanent jobs as a result of the project. [12] Also, the fact that the oil could be easily exported from Louisiana and sold on the world market challenges the Republicans’ claims that the pipeline will serve to bring lower energy prices here in America.

Are the Republicans (and the few Democrats) in support of this project beholden to the American people or are they beholden to the fossil fuel industry that will profit from this endeavor?  Consider this: those who voted in favor of Keystone XL in November received six times more in oil and gas contributions than those who opposed the pipeline. [13]

The costs are much greater to all of us if this pipeline proceeds. This project threatens our air and water, our climate, our communities, our farmland, individual landowner rights through government takings…and for what? For a project that will do very little to benefit America.

Perhaps the more important question is at what point do we say enough is enough. Because much of the easy pickings has been picked through, the tar sands represent the future of oil development – more energy intense, harder on our environment and costlier. When will we say that it is time to move on to safer, cleaner, more affordable energy solutions? When will we stand up to the fossil fuel industry and our corrupted leaders and take control of our future?  When will we consider the future of our children and grandchildren in our decision-making?

And when will we recognize real snake oil salesmen when we meet them?

Endnotes

[1] Nuwear, Rachel. “Oil Sands Mining Uses Up Almost as Much Energy as It Produces”, Inside Climate News, February 9,  2013. Available online at http://insideclimatenews.org/news/ 20130219/oil-sands-mining-tar-sands-alberta-canada-energy-return-on-investment-eroi-natural-gas-in-situ-dilbit-bitumen.

[2] Struzik, Ed. “With Tar Sands Development, Growing Concern on Water Use”, Environment 360, Yale University, August 2013. Available online at http://e360.yale.edu/feature/with_tar_sands_ development_growing_concern_on_water_use/2672/.

[3] Carlson, Matt, M.Sc., Jeff Wells, PhD, Dina Robers, PhD.  “The Carbon the World Forgot”, Boreal Songbird Initiative, 2009. Available online at http://www.borealbirds.org/announcements/carbon-world-forgot.

[4] Pembina Institute. “Oil Sands: Air Pollution”. Available online at http://www.pembina.org/oil-sands/os101/air-pollution.

[5] RT.com “Toxic carcinogens from tar sands oil production underestimated – report'”, February 4, 2014. Available online at http://rt.com/usa/keystone-oil-emissions-carcinogens-650/.

[6] Caplan-Bricker, Nora. “This is What Happens when a Pipeline Bursts in Your Town”, New Republic (November 18, 2013). Available online at http://www.newrepublic.com/article/ 115624/exxon-oil-spill-arkansas-2013-how-pipeline-burst-mayflower

[7] Frosch, Dan. “Amid Pipeline Debate, Two Costly Cleanups Forever Change Towns”, The New York Times, August 10, 3013. Available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/us/amid-pipeline-debate-two-costly-cleanups-forever-change-towns.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

[8] RT.com “Arkansas oil spill: Exxon reacts to tax ‘loophole,’ pledges ‘to cover all costs'”, December 23, 2013. Available online at http://rt.com/usa/arkansas-spill-exxon-cleanup-244/.

[9] ProgressIllinois. “U.S. House Approves Keystone XL Pipeline Bill”, November 14, 2014. Available online at http://www.progressillinois.com/news/content/2014/11/14/us-house-approves-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill.

[10] Mufson, Steven. “Keystone XL pipeline may threaten aquifer that irrigates much of the central U.S.”, Washington Post, August 6, 2012. Available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/keystone-xl-pipeline-may-threaten-aquifer-that-irrigates-much-of-the-central-us/2012/08/06/7bf0215c-d4db-11e1-a9e3-c5249ea531ca_story.html.

[11] Plumer, Brad. “How long before the Great Plains runs out of water?”, Washington Post. September, 12, 2013. Available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/12/how-long-before-the-midwest-runs-out-of-water.

[12] U.S. Department of State. “Keystone XL Project: Draft Supplemental EIS”, March 2013. Available online at http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205719.pdf.

[13] Bryner, Sarah. “Senate Keystone “Yea” Votes Took In Six Times More Oil & Gas Money Than Opponents”, OpenSecrets.org. November 19, 2014. Available online at http://www.opensecrets.org/ news/2014/11/senate-keystone-yea-votes-took-in-six-times-more-oil-gas-money-than-opponents.

Pipeline is hardly good news

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A proposed gas pipe line from northern Lycoming County to Snyder County has been announced by UGI Energy Services. They have promoted the project by saying it may create hundreds of new jobs.  While job creation may generally be considered a positive occurrence, we should consider all the possible consequences of any given construction project. I suspect most would not consider the creation of employment by organized crime a positive. A UGI Energy Service’s spokesman may think that the building of the Sunbury Pipeline is “good news for everyone,” but there are many who don’t consider it is good news.

There will be many who will be concerned for their safety with a large gas line near their homes. Just the other day there was a pipeline rupture and explosion in southwestern PA. Some of the residents in this area were evacuated from their homes for the second time in a year. How many people will think it is good news to learn a compressor station will be built near their home? Will those whose wells become polluted with increased fracking find this proposal to be good news? Will the hunter who finds his favorite area pockmarked with drilling pads celebrate the news? Will the mothers whose children become ill rejoice with the increased pollution from the fracking?

While everything about coal is dirty, natural gas creates its own set of problems. While it may burn cleaner than coal, it is anything but clean. Here is a summary of the pollutants that the proposed gas fired plant will produce: 2,950,000 tons of CO2, 320 tons CO, 182 tons NOx, 169 tons ammonia, 61 tons SO2, 47 tons sulfuric acid, 45 tons VOCs, 3.7 tons formaldehyde, 13 tons of other hazardous air pollutants. Don’t believe all those ads promoting “clean natural gas.”

Natural gas has been promoted as a “bridge fuel” to renewable energy to combat climate change. We don’t need this bridge because clean energy technology is already here. Prices for wind and solar energy have dropped drastically and have become price competitive in many areas. It is a great deal less expensive if you consider that we won’t have to pay for all the health related problems caused by our use of fossil fuels. The gas industry isn’t concerned about building plants for bridging any gaps. They want to be around for a long time.

Even on the issue of climate change we have found that using natural gas contributes to climate change as much or more than burning coal. Fugitive methane from production to delivery more than offsets any reduction of CO2 at combustion. In the first 20 years after release into the atmosphere, methane is one hundred times a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2.

We must end the use of fossil fuels as rapidly as possible. A study from Stanford University says we could do that as early as 2030. Ignorance, denial, and political ideology do not alter the demonstrable facts of climate change and its human causation. We can now produce energy cleanly and create jobs in the process. Yes, there is a lot of work still to be done, but clean energy production is increasing around the world. Denmark already plans to be off fossil fuels by 2050. Germany is a world leader in solar. Clean energy is increasing in this country despite of the efforts of the fossil fuel industry and their subsidiary called the Republican Party. Distortion and half-truths are their major weapons backed with millions of dollars.

Let’s not forget that the cleanest energy is the energy we don’t need. Waste is a part of our culture which we can greatly reduce. Efficiency gains have reduced our electrical consumption and offer great potential for future energy reduction. Maybe you don’t worry about fracking because it is not in your backyard, but that is a false premise. The earth’s climate system is in everybody’s backyard. No one is exempt from the destruction we are consciously creating for corporate profit and our convenience.

Mass Extinction in Man’s Hands

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We are now experiencing the sixth major extinction period on our planet. A fact confirmed by the scientific observation of the evidence.  A recent study by the World Wildlife Fund concluded that in the last 40 years alone, there has been a 52% loss invertebrate populations. Biologists estimate that extinction is now happening at least one hundred times faster than the natural rate and it may be as high as a thousand times faster. In a special report, the National Audubon Society has concluded that we will lose 314 bird species in North America by 2080 if current trends continue.

Many people, if they are aware at all of past mass extinction periods, think they occur rather suddenly. Even the fifth extinction period, which was caused by a meteor strike, didn’t happen overnight.  The greatest extinction period occurred during the Permian Period and was caused by massive volcanic eruptions in the area which is now Siberia. 95% of all life forms were lost in this period. In our human arrogance we forget that we are biological creatures totally dependent on a fully functioning biosphere. We are one of the creatures which will face extinction unless we get our act together.

Many scientists are now calling the present time in our earth’s history the Anthropocene because it is human activity which is the most dominate factor affecting the earth’s life and climate systems. The current extinction period has been set in motion by many factors: climate change, habitat destruction, consumerism, invasive species, an amoral economic system guided only by the quest profits, and over 80,000 chemicals in the environment. One species of vertebrates not in decline is the human species. These factors are all interconnected.

There is a considerable amount of evidence that human consumption of meat, dairy, and fish is the single most destructive of all human activities. Animal agriculture is the largest contributor to global warming, water pollution and depletion, habitat destruction, and erosion of our topsoil. Our over consumption of fish is putting over 70% of all fish stocks under threat.

Humans raise and kill 70 billion creatures for food each year which produce 89,000 pounds of waste each second. This amounts to 130 times more waste than human waste. Anyway you think about it, this is a lot of ….. stuff. Much of it ends up polluting our streams causing dead zones in places like the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. While cow burps play their share in producing the powerful greenhouse gas methane, all of this waste makes its contribution. An especially egregious contributor to this waste problem are concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO).

Animal agriculture makes the single largest use of the earth’s land area and the destruction of its soils and forests. 70% to 90% of grains raised in this country goes to feed animals. We could produce all the food we need with plants on far less land. Over grazing has transformed entire areas of rangeland with an estimated 700 million acres of destruction. Desertification is a world-wide problem. Our precious top soil is being washed and blown away. All the crops being grown for animal feed greatly increase pesticide an herbicide use. Livestock occupies 30% of the earth’s land mass. Slash and burn destruction of the rainforest to raise cattle is the leading cause of rainforest and species loss.

Not only is animal agriculture directly responsible for polluting water, it is also putting a tremendous strain on clean water resources. While we in the eastern part of the United States may not be conscious of the problem, the Western United States consists of much arid and semi-arid land. A great deal of the cattle raised in this country are raised in this area. The Colorado River is so over used that it never makes it to the sea. The vast Ogallala Aquifer is rapidly being drained mostly to grow feed for cattle. Vast quantities of water are needed to meet livestock’s direct needs, to grow crops to feed them, and to process and package. Each quarter pounder you eat requires 660 gallons of water.

There is a simple way to end this colossally destructive practice. Stop eating animal products!  We are morally responsible for the consequences of our behavior. We should consider the consequences of our decisions when it comes to our food choices. Willful ignorance and denial do not absolve one from that responsibility. We as individuals do not have to wait for society to change before we act because we each comprise a society of one. We are free to eat animal products, but freedom should be guided by responsibility.

Meat, dairy, and fish are such an ingrained part of our diets and everyday lives that changing from this destructive eating pattern may be difficult. Much of this pattern has been built on misinformation. The dairy, meat, and fish industries have long pushed the idea that meat and dairy should be part of a healthy diet. There is a great deal of evidence brings this into question. Many believe that we must eat meat to get needed protein, but we can get all the protein we need from a plant based diet. Beef cattle are natural vegetarians, yet produce all that meat. While giving up all animal products may require a great change, one can transition over time. Meatless Mondays are only a beginning, but it may be a way to start.

Many have come to the conclusion that if one wants to protect the planet for future generations, we must greatly reduce our use of animal agriculture. A change that will not happen overnight, but a change that will happen because of environmental destruction or a rational plan. We have the choice. The only question is if we are too selfish to make the change.