By Irene Burga

Nicoyia Hurt, EDF Oil and Gas Health Policy Intern, contributed to this post

Downtown Los Angeles with misty morning smog.

This month marks the one year anniversary since the residents in Imperial County California did something pretty amazing.

After experiencing some of the highest asthma hospitalization rates in the state, the community got together to launch the IVAN air monitoring project– a community website that provides real time air quality data collected from 40 different pollution monitors across the county.

Frances Nicklen said the air monitors make a huge difference to her community.

"The placement of these 40 air monitors throughout the Imperial Valley will be very beneficial so that the people can make educated decisions to protect their health and that of their families," she told the Comite Civico Del Valle. “We only have one valley, and we have to live here, and we need to make it a better place for all of our residents.”

As a result of the IVAN project, an entire community now has access to real-time pollution data that can identify the region’s largest sources of harmful emissions.

Even local air quality regulators are using it to help inform their policy decisions, demonstrating that community-led science projects can, and do, drive real change.

What’s next?

Several companies are now developing lower-cost air pollution monitors that can collect real-time air quality data 24-hours a day with more precision, and can detect a wider array of pollutants than ever – factors which can help propel better environmental controls. These technological advancements are incredibly encouraging, and – as is clear with the IVAN project – regulators, operators and community groups alike are taking advantage of this evolution in environmental technology.

Communities with poor air quality – like those in Los Angeles – appear to be on the verge of getting a new set of tools to help aid in pollution reduction.

Why Los Angeles?

In 2015, NASA used data from satellites and 14 separate ground-based pollution monitors to confirm high levels of methane (climate pollution) in the Los Angeles region. This reiterated the findings of other studies which found that previous estimates of air pollution have been too low, and oil and gas extraction may be releasing twice as much methane and other harmful pollutants than previously thought.

What these studies didn’t tell us however, is exactly which facilities the pollution is coming from, and how harmful these emissions are to communities living in this region.

That’s the gap new monitoring technology can help close.

Continuous air pollution monitors can provide real-time data about a vast array of pollutants at a much lower price than the traditional technologies. In turn, these monitors can alert local residents, governmental agencies and facility operators to problems about sites that may be emitting toxic gases.

Similarly, mobile technology (devices mounted to cars and airplanes) can collect regional information from a wide variety of sources, helping to pinpoint and aggregate information about problematic pollution. Together these technologies can locate problems at individual oil and gas sites, or uncover pollution patterns at the neighborhood level and identify hyper-localized hot spots.

New legislation demonstrates this information can and should be used to develop local air quality improvement plans. In short, better data can set the stage for new levels of engagement and influence change in a positive direction, and efforts are under way to make that happen.

There’s no denying that the oil and gas industry in California has supplied a huge amount of goods, services and money into the state’s economy. At the same time, it’s clear that leaks and poor environmental performance at oil and gas sites, especially where sites are located within a few feet of people’s homes and businesses, can drastically impact quality of life.

Fortunately, California’s technology boom has revolutionized the way we hail a ride or rent a home. If used appropriately, it can also help create a safer, cleaner environment.

Help Us Celebrate National Estuaries Week 2017 September 16-23 is National Estuaries Week! Learn more about events in your area and other ways to get involved at www.estuaries.org/national-estuaries-week. 1. What is an estuary? Estuaries are transition zones between fresh and salty waterbodies. Estuaries are bodies of water, as well the surrounding coastal wetlands, that are generally found where a river meets the sea – like the Mississippi River Delta. Because estuaries exist where two different types of waterbodies meet, they ...

The post Estuaries 101: 3 things to know about this important ecosystem appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

Help Us Celebrate National Estuaries Week 2017 September 16-23 is National Estuaries Week! Learn more about events in your area and other ways to get involved at www.estuaries.org/national-estuaries-week. 1. What is an estuary? Estuaries are transition zones between fresh and salty waterbodies. Estuaries are bodies of water, as well the surrounding coastal wetlands, that are generally found where a river meets the sea – like the Mississippi River Delta. Because estuaries exist where two different types of waterbodies meet, they ...

The post Estuaries 101: 3 things to know about this important ecosystem appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

By Richard Denison

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.

[Use this link to see all of our posts on Dourson.]

I’ve now examined dozens of papers and reports that EPA toxics nominee Michael Dourson and his firm, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), have published on chemicals over the past 15-20 years.  A remarkably consistent pattern of how Dourson conducts his paid work for the chemical and pesticide industries emerges from this examination.  I’ll use one example below to illustrate, but most or all of the steps I’ll describe have been followed over and over again.  

The example I’ll use relates to two herbicides, alachlor and acetochlor (collectively known as acetanilides), widely used in huge volumes especially in the Midwest.  The US Geological Survey reported that in 2015 about 2 million pounds of alachlor and more than 40 million pounds of acetochlor were used in agriculture annually. The USGS map images included here (click to enlarge) show where these substances are used, based on 2012 data.

Dourson’s work specifically addressed the degradation products of alachlor and acetochlor, which are frequently detected in ground and surface waters.  Except as otherwise noted below, the specifics I describe are recorded in documents posted on TERA’s webpage for this activity.

STEP 1:  The process typically starts with a company or industry that has a problem or a decision it wants to influence, e.g.:  a chemical has been spilled or is showing up in air or water monitoring; a facility permit is being reviewed; a government agency is doing a risk review of a chemical or updating a standard.  In this case, Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto, makers of the acetanilides, were facing growing scrutiny as the herbicides’ degradation products were being routinely detected in ground and surface water samples and regulators in states like Minnesota were reviewing applicable water standards.

STEP 2:  The affected company or industry group contracts with TERA to convene an “expert” panel or workshop or conduct a peer review of a government or industry assessment, research plan or other document.  TERA is hired to convene and manage the panel or peer review.  In this case, Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto hired TERA to run a workshop involving an “expert” panel that TERA was also to select.

STEP 3:  TERA appoints its own founder and President, Michael Dourson, to the panel, almost always as Chair of the panel.  This is a highly questionable practice:  While the selection of panels and peer reviewers is sometimes contracted out to “third parties,” the procedures used are designed to keep the entity identifying experts and managing panels and associated meetings at arm’s length from the experts themselves.  TERA makes no such effort:  In the acetanilides case, as in the great majority of other TERA cases, employees of Dourson’s own company appointed him (their boss) to chair the “expert” panel.

STEP 4:  TERA clears Dourson of any conflict of interest in his participation on the panel.  That is, employees of Dourson’s own company are the sole determiners as to whether or not their boss has a conflict of interest in the matter at hand.  Highly irregular, to say the least, an approach that presents its own conflicts of interest.  In the acetanilides case, TERA cleared Dourson to serve on the panel even though TERA had recently contracted with both Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto to “provide technical review on projects.”  This is not an isolated incident:  In numerous other cases, TERA or Dourson himself had recently worked for the very same company or industry group paying TERA to convene a panel or conduct a review in which Dourson participated, typically as Chair.

STEP 5:  Based on the workshop or review, Dourson and his colleagues write a paper for publication, sometimes involving other workshop or panel participants.  In the acetanilides case, the first 5 of the 9 authors on the paper (including Dourson) were TERA employees.

STEP 6:  The paper is typically published in the industry’s go-to journal, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.  I have blogged earlier about the large fraction of Dourson’s papers – well over half – published in this one journal, which has a longstanding reputation of being the go-to journal for both tobacco and chemical industry-friendly paper publishing.  The journal has been the subject of numerous exposés over the past 15 years regarding its close ties to the chemical and tobacco industries.  True to form, in this case, Dourson’s paper was published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.  It recommended water quality standards for acetanilide degradation products many times less protective than those in place in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Not all of these steps have occurred with every chemical.  Dourson’s work on the likely carcinogen 1,4,-dioxane, for example, paid for by PPG Industries, doesn’t appear to have relied on an intervening workshop or “expert” panel for cover, and instead went straight to publication of a paper, once again in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.  Not surprisingly, here too he argued for a far less health-protective standard, in this case about 1000-fold weaker than EPA’s level indicating an increased cancer risk.  It’s worth noting that state agencies in Michigan and New Jersey reviewed Dourson’s work on this chemical and found it sorely lacking on scientific grounds.

It is not only Dourson’s deep conflicts of interest that lead us to oppose his nomination, but also his questionable science and incessant claims of independence, when in fact his whole step-by-step enterprise has been set up to bend the science in support of the interests of his corporate clients.

When strident denial meets vivid reality, it creates a political storm, and that’s what we’re beginning to see.

When strident denial meets vivid reality, it creates a political storm, and that’s what we’re beginning to see.

By Jorge Madrid

California has made great progress rolling out programs intended to make clean energy technologies like solar power and electric vehicles more affordable for all Californians. However, if we are going to continue to lead the vision for what a clean energy future can look like, we still have a lot of work to do. These programs still need effective ways to reach low-income communities who are most impacted by pollution and climate change, and who oftentimes lack the resources and information to access them.

Enter Eastside Sol – the city’s first 100 percent solar powered arts and music festival. Eastside Sol celebrated its third anniversary this summer, with an event that has grown bigger and better every year. The event showcases zero-pollution energy and mobility programs for residents of the greater Eastside Los Angeles area ‒ wrapped in a fun, festive celebration of Eastside culture and community.

So what makes Eastside Sol so special?

Eastside Sol is a coalition effort led by, and for, communities most impacted by environmental harm from fossil fuels and economic inequality.

Our guiding premise is that communities on the Eastside of Los Angeles – and others like it across the state that are home to immigrant, working class, and people of color – have a strong sense of culture, history, and resilience in protecting their children and neighborhoods from harm. The movement to transition to cleaner forms of energy and transportation, and away from polluting fossil fuels, is part of this history.

Eastside Sol also seeks to honor the familiar – art, music, culture, community celebrations, urban sustainability, and resilience – while introducing new tech, like zero-emission cars and solar power.

With specialized knowledge of our own communities, and a passion to protect and create a better world for future generations, we’ve developed some creative approaches to highlight critical issues facing the community:

• Promotora networks have been a successful outreach and education model for generations and are particularly critical in reaching immigrant, low income, and hard-to-reach neighborhoods both in the U.S. and Latin America. Eastside Sol developed its own version of a promotora network to talk to neighbors in the weeks leading up to the event. Their goal was to increase community knowledge of clean energy technologies and how to use programs to access them.

• Zero Emission Vehicles are critical to cleaning up the air in our neighborhoods. California transportation causes nearly 70 percent of smog-forming gases and 40 percent of the state’s climate change pollution every year. Eastside Sol made zero emission vehicles a focal point of this year’s event, highlighting the environmental, health, and economic benefits. Typically these vehicles are considered too expensive or too intimidating to purchase. Our coalition partners set out to change this narrative and conducted their most successful test drive event to date, reaching over 150 residents who have low incomes and connecting them with incentives and rebates to make these cars more affordable.

• The Mobile Solar Cooling Center was designed and built by local youth, as an emergency response and extreme heat preparedness project for the neighborhood. Powered by donated solar panels, repurposed batteries, and other low-cost materials, this project highlighted the danger of heatwaves and power outages, and offered affordable solutions to off-grid mobile power. The project proved especially timely this month as record heatwaves caused power outages all over the city – heatwaves that are expected to intensify with climate change.

• The Verde (green) Zone was an urban oasis of free shade and fruit trees, herbs, and plants to take home. We featured composting demos, tutorials about home gardening and healthy eating, and allowed attendees to create and decorate planters with reused materials (salsa cans) for their homes. The practice of placing plants and herbs in reused containers is familiar to anyone who grew up on the Eastside, and a nice reminder that Eastside Sol combines the familiar with the new and high tech.

• Performers were intentionally selected to represent the intergenerational and inclusive community we want to build, one that honors our history and our future. Classical Mariachis, tribute bands to iconic performers, and a cumbia/rock-and-roll fusion act headlined the event. Eastside Sol was excited to feature QTPoC (queer and trans people of color) as performers and hosts, helping ensure that all community members felt welcomed and represented in our celebration.

As the day drew to a close, and all the partner organizations and volunteers cleared out after another successful event, it became clear that Eastside Sol was about much more than a clean energy future. It is the future we want to build together.

This post originally appeared on Huffington Post.

By Jorge Madrid

California has made great progress rolling out programs intended to make clean energy technologies like solar power and electric vehicles more affordable for all Californians. However, if we are going to continue to lead the vision for what a clean energy future can look like, we still have a lot of work to do. These programs still need effective ways to reach low-income communities who are most impacted by pollution and climate change, and who oftentimes lack the resources and information to access them.

Enter Eastside Sol – the city’s first 100 percent solar powered arts and music festival. Eastside Sol celebrated its third anniversary this summer, with an event that has grown bigger and better every year. The event showcases zero-pollution energy and mobility programs for residents of the greater Eastside Los Angeles area ‒ wrapped in a fun, festive celebration of Eastside culture and community.

So what makes Eastside Sol so special?

Eastside Sol is a coalition effort led by, and for, communities most impacted by environmental harm from fossil fuels and economic inequality.

Our guiding premise is that communities on the Eastside of Los Angeles – and others like it across the state that are home to immigrant, working class, and people of color – have a strong sense of culture, history, and resilience in protecting their children and neighborhoods from harm. The movement to transition to cleaner forms of energy and transportation, and away from polluting fossil fuels, is part of this history.

Eastside Sol also seeks to honor the familiar – art, music, culture, community celebrations, urban sustainability, and resilience – while introducing new tech, like zero-emission cars and solar power.

With specialized knowledge of our own communities, and a passion to protect and create a better world for future generations, we’ve developed some creative approaches to highlight critical issues facing the community:

• Promotora networks have been a successful outreach and education model for generations and are particularly critical in reaching immigrant, low income, and hard-to-reach neighborhoods both in the U.S. and Latin America. Eastside Sol developed its own version of a promotora network to talk to neighbors in the weeks leading up to the event. Their goal was to increase community knowledge of clean energy technologies and how to use programs to access them.

• Zero Emission Vehicles are critical to cleaning up the air in our neighborhoods. California transportation causes nearly 70 percent of smog-forming gases and 40 percent of the state’s climate change pollution every year. Eastside Sol made zero emission vehicles a focal point of this year’s event, highlighting the environmental, health, and economic benefits. Typically these vehicles are considered too expensive or too intimidating to purchase. Our coalition partners set out to change this narrative and conducted their most successful test drive event to date, reaching over 150 residents who have low incomes and connecting them with incentives and rebates to make these cars more affordable.

• The Mobile Solar Cooling Center was designed and built by local youth, as an emergency response and extreme heat preparedness project for the neighborhood. Powered by donated solar panels, repurposed batteries, and other low-cost materials, this project highlighted the danger of heatwaves and power outages, and offered affordable solutions to off-grid mobile power. The project proved especially timely this month as record heatwaves caused power outages all over the city – heatwaves that are expected to intensify with climate change.

• The Verde (green) Zone was an urban oasis of free shade and fruit trees, herbs, and plants to take home. We featured composting demos, tutorials about home gardening and healthy eating, and allowed attendees to create and decorate planters with reused materials (salsa cans) for their homes. The practice of placing plants and herbs in reused containers is familiar to anyone who grew up on the Eastside, and a nice reminder that Eastside Sol combines the familiar with the new and high tech.

• Performers were intentionally selected to represent the intergenerational and inclusive community we want to build, one that honors our history and our future. Classical Mariachis, tribute bands to iconic performers, and a cumbia/rock-and-roll fusion act headlined the event. Eastside Sol was excited to feature QTPoC (queer and trans people of color) as performers and hosts, helping ensure that all community members felt welcomed and represented in our celebration.

As the day drew to a close, and all the partner organizations and volunteers cleared out after another successful event, it became clear that Eastside Sol was about much more than a clean energy future. It is the future we want to build together.

This post originally appeared on Huffington Post.

By Jorge Madrid

California has made great progress rolling out programs intended to make clean energy technologies like solar power and electric vehicles more affordable for all Californians. However, if we are going to continue to lead the vision for what a clean energy future can look like, we still have a lot of work to do. These programs still need effective ways to reach low-income communities who are most impacted by pollution and climate change, and who oftentimes lack the resources and information to access them.

Enter Eastside Sol – the city’s first 100 percent solar powered arts and music festival. Eastside Sol celebrated its third anniversary this summer, with an event that has grown bigger and better every year. The event showcases zero-pollution energy and mobility programs for residents of the greater Eastside Los Angeles area ‒ wrapped in a fun, festive celebration of Eastside culture and community.

So what makes Eastside Sol so special?

Eastside Sol is a coalition effort led by, and for, communities most impacted by environmental harm from fossil fuels and economic inequality.

Our guiding premise is that communities on the Eastside of Los Angeles – and others like it across the state that are home to immigrant, working class, and people of color – have a strong sense of culture, history, and resilience in protecting their children and neighborhoods from harm. The movement to transition to cleaner forms of energy and transportation, and away from polluting fossil fuels, is part of this history.

Eastside Sol also seeks to honor the familiar – art, music, culture, community celebrations, urban sustainability, and resilience – while introducing new tech, like zero-emission cars and solar power.

With specialized knowledge of our own communities, and a passion to protect and create a better world for future generations, we’ve developed some creative approaches to highlight critical issues facing the community:

• Promotora networks have been a successful outreach and education model for generations and are particularly critical in reaching immigrant, low income, and hard-to-reach neighborhoods both in the U.S. and Latin America. Eastside Sol developed its own version of a promotora network to talk to neighbors in the weeks leading up to the event. Their goal was to increase community knowledge of clean energy technologies and how to use programs to access them.

• Zero Emission Vehicles are critical to cleaning up the air in our neighborhoods. California transportation causes nearly 70 percent of smog-forming gases and 40 percent of the state’s climate change pollution every year. Eastside Sol made zero emission vehicles a focal point of this year’s event, highlighting the environmental, health, and economic benefits. Typically these vehicles are considered too expensive or too intimidating to purchase. Our coalition partners set out to change this narrative and conducted their most successful test drive event to date, reaching over 150 residents who have low incomes and connecting them with incentives and rebates to make these cars more affordable.

• The Mobile Solar Cooling Center was designed and built by local youth, as an emergency response and extreme heat preparedness project for the neighborhood. Powered by donated solar panels, repurposed batteries, and other low-cost materials, this project highlighted the danger of heatwaves and power outages, and offered affordable solutions to off-grid mobile power. The project proved especially timely this month as record heatwaves caused power outages all over the city – heatwaves that are expected to intensify with climate change.

• The Verde (green) Zone was an urban oasis of free shade and fruit trees, herbs, and plants to take home. We featured composting demos, tutorials about home gardening and healthy eating, and allowed attendees to create and decorate planters with reused materials (salsa cans) for their homes. The practice of placing plants and herbs in reused containers is familiar to anyone who grew up on the Eastside, and a nice reminder that Eastside Sol combines the familiar with the new and high tech.

• Performers were intentionally selected to represent the intergenerational and inclusive community we want to build, one that honors our history and our future. Classical Mariachis, tribute bands to iconic performers, and a cumbia/rock-and-roll fusion act headlined the event. Eastside Sol was excited to feature QTPoC (queer and trans people of color) as performers and hosts, helping ensure that all community members felt welcomed and represented in our celebration.

As the day drew to a close, and all the partner organizations and volunteers cleared out after another successful event, it became clear that Eastside Sol was about much more than a clean energy future. It is the future we want to build together.

This post originally appeared on Huffington Post.

By Ben Levitan

Recently released documents from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggest that President Trump’s transition team considered — then decided against — dismissing EPA’s Inspector General.

Myron Ebell, who headed the transition at EPA for then-President-Elect Trump, emailed an EPA career staffer on January 13, 2017 that the transition team, “want[ed] to retain the EPA’s IG for the present.”

Ebell wanted to relay the information to the Inspector General “without any formal communication.” He went on to express a strong preference for delivering the message himself, rather than delegating to EPA career staff.

These documents were released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Myron Ebell’s stint leading the EPA transition was a brief departure from his usual job at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where his polluter-funded work aims to slash health and environmental protections and spread climate denialism. It is currently unclear why he — or any member of the Trump transition team — needed to reach out to EPA’s Inspector General for a conversation about job security.

Notably, Ebell’s January 13, 2017 email message was expressly hedged, indicating only that the Inspector General would be retained “for the present.”

For 30 years, dismissing Inspectors General has not been a normal part of presidential transitions. Only President Reagan — the first President to assume office after Congress created Inspectors General — did so, and he partly backtracked under intense political pressure.

Now, the Trump Administration has taken worrying steps toward undermining the integrity of Inspectors General across the federal government.

Congress created the position of Inspector General at federal agencies in order to conduct audits and to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

The statute creating the position provides that Inspectors General:

[S]hall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations. (emphasis added)

Congress has repeatedly emphasized the need for independent Inspectors General:

• A 2010 amendment to the Inspector General Act required the President to provide Congress with advance notice and explanation before removing an Inspector General from office.
• Congress further enhanced the role of Inspector General with the bipartisan Inspector General Empowerment Act of 2016.

Since assuming office in 2010, EPA’s Inspector General has pursued investigations under both President Obama and President Trump.

Subjecting Inspectors General to political pressure utterly defies the Congressional objective of independent oversight at federal agencies. It sets the stage for corruption and puts taxpayer dollars at risk.

Myron Ebell’s involvement in discussions about the EPA Inspector General’s employment status raises two pressing questions:

• Why was the EPA Inspector General’s job status ever in doubt among the Trump transition team?
• Why did Myron Ebell want to conceal his communication with the Inspector General?

The Trump Administration and Myron Ebell owe the public answers to these questions.

Recently released documents from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggest that President Trump’s transition team considered — then decided against — dismissing EPA’s Inspector General. Myron Ebell, who headed the transition at EPA for then-President-Elect Trump, emailed an EPA career staffer on January 13, 2017 that the transition team, “want[ed] to retain the EPA’s […]

The post New records just released under FOIA raise an important question: Did the Trump transition team consider dismissing EPA’s Inspector General? appeared first on Climate 411.

By Ben Levitan

Recently released documents from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggest that President Trump’s transition team considered — then decided against — dismissing EPA’s Inspector General.

Myron Ebell, who headed the transition at EPA for then-President-Elect Trump, emailed an EPA career staffer on January 13, 2017 that the transition team, “want[ed] to retain the EPA’s IG for the present.”

Ebell wanted to relay the information to the Inspector General “without any formal communication.” He went on to express a strong preference for delivering the message himself, rather than delegating to EPA career staff.

These documents were released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Myron Ebell’s stint leading the EPA transition was a brief departure from his usual job at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where his polluter-funded work aims to slash health and environmental protections and spread climate denialism. It is currently unclear why he — or any member of the Trump transition team — needed to reach out to EPA’s Inspector General for a conversation about job security.

Notably, Ebell’s January 13, 2017 email message was expressly hedged, indicating only that the Inspector General would be retained “for the present.”

For 30 years, dismissing Inspectors General has not been a normal part of presidential transitions. Only President Reagan — the first President to assume office after Congress created Inspectors General — did so, and he partly backtracked under intense political pressure.

Now, the Trump Administration has taken worrying steps toward undermining the integrity of Inspectors General across the federal government.

Congress created the position of Inspector General at federal agencies in order to conduct audits and to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

The statute creating the position provides that Inspectors General:

[S]hall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations. (emphasis added)

Congress has repeatedly emphasized the need for independent Inspectors General:

• A 2010 amendment to the Inspector General Act required the President to provide Congress with advance notice and explanation before removing an Inspector General from office.
• Congress further enhanced the role of Inspector General with the bipartisan Inspector General Empowerment Act of 2016.

Since assuming office in 2010, EPA’s Inspector General has pursued investigations under both President Obama and President Trump.

Subjecting Inspectors General to political pressure utterly defies the Congressional objective of independent oversight at federal agencies. It sets the stage for corruption and puts taxpayer dollars at risk.

Myron Ebell’s involvement in discussions about the EPA Inspector General’s employment status raises two pressing questions:

• Why was the EPA Inspector General’s job status ever in doubt among the Trump transition team?
• Why did Myron Ebell want to conceal his communication with the Inspector General?

The Trump Administration and Myron Ebell owe the public answers to these questions.

By Dick Munson

Last month, Facebook announced its new $750 million data center will be located in New Albany, Ohio, just north of Columbus.

Why did the social media giant choose this particular spot? Apparently, Facebook likes clean energy, stating, “The availability of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar and hydro, was critical to the decision.”

And Facebook isn’t clean energy’s only fan in Ohio. A new poll from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) shows that voters in the Buckeye State overwhelmingly support developing more clean energy – like efficiency, solar, and wind – over more traditional resources, like coal and natural gas. And perhaps surprisingly, even voters in coal country are on board, saying policies that promote renewable energy will benefit the state’s economy.

Encouraging results

Conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, the nation’s largest Republican polling firm, the TNC poll reveals strong statewide support for increasing the use of efficiency and renewable energy. When asked whether “as a state, Ohio should put more emphasis, less, emphasis, or about the same emphasis as it does now on producing domestic energy from each of the following sources,” voters vastly preferred the clean electricity options. The chart below displays the responses.

In Southeast Ohio, where coal customarily played a role in local economies, three-quarters of voters would like to see more efficiency and over half would like more of the state’s electricity to come from wind and solar. Moreover, over a quarter of Southeast Ohio voters prefer less emphasis placed on coal. And four-in-five voters in this region would like their elected officials to support policies that promote renewable energy.

Where policy differs

Clearly, Ohio voters recognize the economic benefits – like jobs and investment – that clean energy brings. According to TNC, “Poll respondents agree that state policies promoting renewable energy development in Ohio sends a clear message to investors that we are open for business.”

Voters across Ohio want their lives to run on more clean energy and less coal.

Yet, some state leaders want to halt the growth of renewables and energy efficiency. Last year, Ohio’s legislature tried to pass a bill that would have weakened the state’s clean energy standards and blocked investment. Fortunately, Governor John Kasich stepped in and vetoed the bill, vowing to protect jobs and the economy. Specifically, he was thinking of large tech firms – like Amazon and Google – who value operating on clean electricity. Facebook’s decision to locate its new renewable-powered data center in Ohio shows that Kasich was spot on.

Despite last year’s defeat, state lawmakers introduced legislation in early 2017 to weaken the clean energy standards – again. The bill passed the House and may be taken up in the Senate in the fall.

Voters across Ohio want their lives to run on more clean energy and less coal, and recognize this move will enhance the state’s economy. And by transitioning to low-carbon efficiency, wind, and solar, Ohioans will breathe cleaner air and live longer, healthier lives. We hope state legislators will follow Gov. Kasich’s lead and reject efforts to block clean energy growth. Why not give Ohioans what they want?

Photo credit: Karsten Wurth

By Dick Munson

Last month, Facebook announced its new $750 million data center will be located in New Albany, Ohio, just north of Columbus.

Why did the social media giant choose this particular spot? Apparently, Facebook likes clean energy, stating, “The availability of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar and hydro, was critical to the decision.”

And Facebook isn’t clean energy’s only fan in Ohio. A new poll from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) shows that voters in the Buckeye State overwhelmingly support developing more clean energy – like efficiency, solar, and wind – over more traditional resources, like coal and natural gas. And perhaps surprisingly, even voters in coal country are on board, saying policies that promote renewable energy will benefit the state’s economy.

Encouraging results

Conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, the nation’s largest Republican polling firm, the TNC poll reveals strong statewide support for increasing the use of efficiency and renewable energy. When asked whether “as a state, Ohio should put more emphasis, less, emphasis, or about the same emphasis as it does now on producing domestic energy from each of the following sources,” voters vastly preferred the clean electricity options. The chart below displays the responses.

In Southeast Ohio, where coal customarily played a role in local economies, three-quarters of voters would like to see more efficiency and over half would like more of the state’s electricity to come from wind and solar. Moreover, over a quarter of Southeast Ohio voters prefer less emphasis placed on coal. And four-in-five voters in this region would like their elected officials to support policies that promote renewable energy.

Where policy differs

Clearly, Ohio voters recognize the economic benefits – like jobs and investment – that clean energy brings. According to TNC, “Poll respondents agree that state policies promoting renewable energy development in Ohio sends a clear message to investors that we are open for business.”

Voters across Ohio want their lives to run on more clean energy and less coal.

Yet, some state leaders want to halt the growth of renewables and energy efficiency. Last year, Ohio’s legislature tried to pass a bill that would have weakened the state’s clean energy standards and blocked investment. Fortunately, Governor John Kasich stepped in and vetoed the bill, vowing to protect jobs and the economy. Specifically, he was thinking of large tech firms – like Amazon and Google – who value operating on clean electricity. Facebook’s decision to locate its new renewable-powered data center in Ohio shows that Kasich was spot on.

Despite last year’s defeat, state lawmakers introduced legislation in early 2017 to weaken the clean energy standards – again. The bill passed the House and may be taken up in the Senate in the fall.

Voters across Ohio want their lives to run on more clean energy and less coal, and recognize this move will enhance the state’s economy. And by transitioning to low-carbon efficiency, wind, and solar, Ohioans will breathe cleaner air and live longer, healthier lives. We hope state legislators will follow Gov. Kasich’s lead and reject efforts to block clean energy growth. Why not give Ohioans what they want?

Photo credit: Karsten Wurth

By Dick Munson

Last month, Facebook announced its new $750 million data center will be located in New Albany, Ohio, just north of Columbus.

Why did the social media giant choose this particular spot? Apparently, Facebook likes clean energy, stating, “The availability of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar and hydro, was critical to the decision.”

And Facebook isn’t clean energy’s only fan in Ohio. A new poll from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) shows that voters in the Buckeye State overwhelmingly support developing more clean energy – like efficiency, solar, and wind – over more traditional resources, like coal and natural gas. And perhaps surprisingly, even voters in coal country are on board, saying policies that promote renewable energy will benefit the state’s economy.

Encouraging results

Conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, the nation’s largest Republican polling firm, the TNC poll reveals strong statewide support for increasing the use of efficiency and renewable energy. When asked whether “as a state, Ohio should put more emphasis, less, emphasis, or about the same emphasis as it does now on producing domestic energy from each of the following sources,” voters vastly preferred the clean electricity options. The chart below displays the responses.

In Southeast Ohio, where coal customarily played a role in local economies, three-quarters of voters would like to see more efficiency and over half would like more of the state’s electricity to come from wind and solar. Moreover, over a quarter of Southeast Ohio voters prefer less emphasis placed on coal. And four-in-five voters in this region would like their elected officials to support policies that promote renewable energy.

Where policy differs

Clearly, Ohio voters recognize the economic benefits – like jobs and investment – that clean energy brings. According to TNC, “Poll respondents agree that state policies promoting renewable energy development in Ohio sends a clear message to investors that we are open for business.”

Voters across Ohio want their lives to run on more clean energy and less coal.

Yet, some state leaders want to halt the growth of renewables and energy efficiency. Last year, Ohio’s legislature tried to pass a bill that would have weakened the state’s clean energy standards and blocked investment. Fortunately, Governor John Kasich stepped in and vetoed the bill, vowing to protect jobs and the economy. Specifically, he was thinking of large tech firms – like Amazon and Google – who value operating on clean electricity. Facebook’s decision to locate its new renewable-powered data center in Ohio shows that Kasich was spot on.

Despite last year’s defeat, state lawmakers introduced legislation in early 2017 to weaken the clean energy standards – again. The bill passed the House and may be taken up in the Senate in the fall.

Voters across Ohio want their lives to run on more clean energy and less coal, and recognize this move will enhance the state’s economy. And by transitioning to low-carbon efficiency, wind, and solar, Ohioans will breathe cleaner air and live longer, healthier lives. We hope state legislators will follow Gov. Kasich’s lead and reject efforts to block clean energy growth. Why not give Ohioans what they want?

Photo credit: Karsten Wurth