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Discussion of Austin Energy Governance Ordinance at City Council Abruptly Postponed Until May 23

May 9, 2013 by kaibawhite

Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell just postponed a major agenda item (#15), regarding an un-elected board taking over Austin Energy. Numerous citizens were planning to attend the council meeting tonight to express  concerns, and had gone out of their way to arrange their schedules to be there. The mayor completely removed the issue from discussion, not just from a council vote.

The disregard for citizens’ input and time is appalling. Perhaps the mayor’s move is simply a response to citizens having organized more effectively than special interest groups, such as CCARE, who haven’t been able to mobilize support for changing the governance of Austin Energy.

The ordinance may not have been ready for a vote tonight, but the mayor should have left the item open for discussion for the large number of citizens who have set time aside to be present tonight.

We hope that all the engaged citizens that planned on attending the city council meeting tonight will come to the meeting on May 23 and show the Mayor that the public won’t be silenced.

Please contact us with any questions on this issue:

Kaiba White, Public Citizen, kwhite@citizen.org, 607-339-9854 
Karen Hadden, SEED Coalition, karen@seedcoalition.org, 512-797-8481 

Posted in Austin Energy, Good Government | Tagged , , , , , , , , , |

In aftermath of West explosion, Legislature trying to gut compliance history considerations in industry license violations

May 8, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Smith’s Bill – HB1714 – Makes Perry’s Texas Even More of a Paradise for Polluters and is expected to be heard in the Texas House sometime on Thursday

Contact your representative (don’t know who that is . . . click here) and tell them to vote NO on HB 1714

On April 17th, an explosion at the West Fertilizer plant killed 15 people – mostly first responders, and injured hundreds more; that plant had been cited 5 times in 6 years by three enforcement agencies for failing to follow the law. Leaders of Texas’ environmental organizations called on state legislators to protect against the next environmental disaster by rejecting Rep Wayne Smith’s 1714 which would eliminate provision in Texas environmental law requiring more inspections and tougher enforcement for polluters who have poor record with the state or federal environmental agencies.

“Leadership needs to improve regulations, not weaken them further,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office.  The Texas Legislature will consider HB 1714 by Representative Wayne Smith (R-Baytown) in the Texas House that would further weaken the permitting and enforcement processes.”

“HB 1714, would eliminate enhanced inspections of companies that have a history of environmental violations at a time when it is clear that the state and its citizens would benefit from having more scrutiny of companies that violate their permits. This bill would also reduce public disclosure of the state’s evaluation of company compliance histories, making it even more difficult to distinguish the bad actors from the good actors.”

“While the facility at West, TX may have been too small to have qualified for the enhanced inspections as the law is currently written,” continued Smith, “it begs the question, should we be weakening this oversight rather than enhancing it in order to prevent these types of tragedies?”

Years of state budget cuts and lax regulations have left communities at risk.

“The West Fertilizer incident shows how badly the TCEQ has failed to protect Texans under Governor Perry’s ‘paradise for polluters’ administration,” said Karen Hadden, executive director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition.  The TCEQ failed to inspect the plant even after three state and federal agencies found five violations at that plant over the last six years. The plant was operating without the proper permits and failed to properly train their workers, label dangerous products or to develop a worst case accident plan.

“Texas has a program that is supposed to target companies that have poor compliance records with extra inspections. The West Fertilizer plant was “unclassified” – meaning the TCEQ didn’t take the time to look at the plant’s record. Had TCEQ inspected the West Fertilizer facility, we can only hope that they might have found the 270 tons of explosives at the site and 15 people might not have died.”

Budget cuts have real consequences. Over the last 4 years, funding for TCEQ has been cut back 34% and 295 employees have been laid off.

“TCEQ doesn’t have nearly enough inspectors for the number of facilities it is responsible for. Facilities are not routinely inspected and the agency’s response to complaints is far from adequate. In 2006, a nearby resident reported a gas leak at the West Fertilizer facility and it took the TCEQ 11 days to travel the 17 miles from Waco to West to follow up,” pointed out David Weinberg, executive director of the Texas League of Conservation Voters, and further illustrates TCEQ’s ineffectiveness.” (See westfertilizerinfo.com for TCEQ files)

As the events of the past two months have shown, the push to hasten the permitting process, weaken the regulatory oversight processes, and abandon due diligence and planning for both large and small industrial facilities has real life consequences.

Hadden said, “These disasters serve as a reminder of the necessity for strong and effective land use regulations, as well as proper enforcement systems to ensure public safety and prevent toxic releases into the environment.  Regulations that reduce the likelihood and size of industrial accidents protect workers, nearby neighborhoods and residents, and minimize the potential loss of life when accidents do happen, as they always will.”

“The Texas Legislature must act now to ensure existing and new regulations protect workers, communities and our state’s natural resources on which we all depend,” concluded Smith.

Contact your representative (don’t know who that is . . . click here) and tell them to vote NO on HB 1714.

Posted in Air Quality, Consumers | Tagged , , , , |

Tomorrow, President Obama is coming to Austin — Let’s greet him with a clear message: stop the Keystone XL pipeline!

May 8, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Join 360.org with a message to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline

RSVP on Facebook: facebook.com/events/167981560029199/

Here are the details:

  • What: Austin Tells Obama: No KXL!
  • When: Thursday, May 9 at 3:30pm
  • Where: Obama will be speaking at Applied Materials at 9700 US Highway 290 East. We are going to be meeting at Uncle Bob’s Self Storage- 9717 U.S. 290 Austin, Texas at 3:30pm and will try and get as close as possible to the event location.

Applied Materials is a technology company that makes solar panels. Obama will probably be speaking about clean energy and he needs to get the message that he cannot support a clean energy economy and also approve the Keystone XL pipeline, one of the dirtiest energy projects in the world.

President Obama already supported construction of the southern leg of Keystone XL through Texas and Oklahoma, but he has a chance to reverse course and make the right choice on the crucial northern leg of the pipeline. 350 organizers have met him at every one of his public events in the past few weeks — including overseas — help them keep the pressure on when he comes to Austin. We can’t let him talk about clean energy without speaking up about Keystone XL.

This is one of the best ways you can show the President that Keystone XL does not fit into a clean energy future. So, invite your friends and neighbors and co-workers, and take an hour to join tomorrow. Click here to RSVP!

Posted in Tarsands | Tagged , , , , , |

Right-to-Know Provisions Need to be Added to Common Carrier Bills Heard in Texas Senate State Affairs Monday

May 7, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Two bills were laid out in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday – SB 1625 by Senator Davis (D-Fort Worth) and SB 1637 by Senator Duncan (R-Lubbock).  Senator Duncan summed up the issues before the committee. He said the key issues include: who gets notice and how; whether hearings are to be held by the Railroad Commission- the State Office of Administrative Hearings; which courts review the decisions on common carrier status- the local courts or ones in Austin; what are the standards used to determine if someone is a common carrier and can the Railroad Commissioner adopt rules to fix the problems without legislation.

Julia Trigg Crawford, a Paris area landowner whose land was condemned and taken by the Keystone XL pipeline, which declared itself a common carrier, and was given the right through an eminent domain decision.  The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that in order for a pipeline company to take land, they must prove they really are common carriers, but to date Keystone XL has not proven they will carry anybody else’s product. Crawford’s land is threatened with imminent trenching for the Keystone XL pipeline even though she has appealed the court’s decision that Keystone XL is a common carrier and has the right to take her land.

Texas law ought to protect landowners from Big Oil, but today in Texas the Railroad Commission rubber stamps common carrier permits.  As a result, I am days away from having my land destroyed by the Keystone pipeline and poisons being pumped through my pasture,” said Crawford.

What’s upsetting to those of us who live along the path of these tar sands pipelines — no matter if they are new pipelines like Keystone or repurposed lines like the 35-year old Seaway and the 65-year old Pegasus — is that no one knows just how toxic these tar sands are and there isn’t a safety plan in place for residents or first responders should there be a spill,” noted Crawford. “Many of the toxic substances in these products are deemed ‘proprietary’ and therefore first responders haven’t had and won’t have the complete information they need to address an incident when a spill occurs unless the legislature acts. Saving the health of my community and my water is more important than a private company’s worries about the “proprietary” information of their product. This puts Texans and those who are here to protect us at risk.

There have already been three spills in residential areas: one along the Kalamazoo River in Michigan about three years ago, one in Arkansas last month, and a small leak in Ripley County, Missouri less than a week ago, a month after the same pipeline spewed thousands of barrels of crude in Arkansas. Almost three years and $850 million later, the Enbridge tar sands spill in Michigan is still not cleaned up. Witnesses told elected officials today that they should have the right to know what is in these pipelines before they are declared common carriers, are given the right to condemn Texans’ land, and travel through Texas backyards and water sources

Tar sands are far more toxic than conventional crude, and as a result of the recent Pegasus spill in Arkansas we now have a recipe for disaster with several tar sands pipelines threatening communities throughout Texas.  Tar sands crude contains a toxic mixture of more than 30 chemicals that can cause cancer, brain damage, and even death.  When tar sands crude hits water, it doesn’t behave like conventional crude.  The benzene and hydrogen sulfide go airborne necessitating the evacuations of nearby citizens due to possible exposure to dangerous neurotoxins, meanwhile the heavier bitumen in the tar sands crude sinks like a stone and essentially paves the river bottom, comment Rita Beving, a consultant to the 391 Commissions that have formed in several East Texas communities to either oppose the pipelines or to get additional information about the pipelines.

In Texas, the 65-year old Pegasus pipeline runs from Dekalb to Corsicana and then turns southeast to Nederland carrying tar sands crude.  The 36-year old Seaway line comes into Texas at Grayson County passing through the east side of Dallas and onto Freeport.  Seaway is now being surveyed to twin the existing line to double its capacity to carry tar sands for upgrading and refinement on the coast.  Finally, the new Keystone line is being trenched, entering near Paris in North Texas and coursing through the state to refineries in the Port Arthur/Houston area.

Public Citizen is proposing a few suggested amendments that would make for a far better bills.

  • Right to Know: Landowners and citizens have a right to know what is being carried in the pipelines going through their communities, farms, ranches and school yards.  We like Senator Davis’ language on this subject pg 5 section 111. 0122 9 (a) (3)   This provision should be expanded to include the chemicals used to dilute the materials such as tar sands in the pipeline and to refer citizens  to a website containing more information about the toxicity of the  substances.
  • Notice: Landowners should have the right to actual mailed notice about the decisions being made on common carrier status so they can decide whether to contest the decision in a timely manner. We prefer Senator Duncan’s language but think it should be expanded to include neighbors and others who might be affected if a spill were to occur
  • Hearings: Protestants have the right to a fair hearing in front of an impartial judge.  Time and again we hear from local landowners that the local district court judges, while sympathetic to their plight, tell them that they don’t believe they have jurisdiction, and these same landowners hear the same thing from the Railroad Commission   We prefer Senator Davis’ provision that requires the use of the State Office of Administrative Hearings. They will be far more mindful of landowners’ rights and more impartial than the Railroad Commission who sees part of its mission to be promotion of the oil and gas industry, but regardless Texans need to have a clear path to follow to address these issues.  We do have concerns about the 30 day time frame and would urge the bill to be modified to allow hearings in a SOAH regional office
  • Test for Common Carrier status: It is important that common carriers are really serving the common interest. Thus assuring that the common is not so affiliated with one company that they are not just a private pipeline is key. We prefer Senator Davis’ language.

Things to watch out for:

Conclusive Determination:  One of the divisive issues in the House debate has been over whether the Railroad Commission’s decision on the issue of whether a RRC decision on common carrier status is a conclusive determination for the purposes of a judicial proceeding.  What this section means is that a landowner or other affected party can’t challenge the common carrier status in a later court even if they never really got notice.  Farmers, ranchers and environmental groups have all expressed their concern about this provision as have Tea Party and liberal groups.  This is a major issue in the Julia Trigg Crawford appeal and in several other appeals as well. The committee’s decisions on the issue of who gets notice, how they get it and what kind of information about the contents will determine a lot about how contentious this debate will be.

Confidentiality: Senator Davis’ bill provides in two sections that the information about the common carrier application and the substances in the pipeline are confidential if specifically identified as such by the company. The presumption should be one of openness unless the company can prove that real harm will result from disclosure that outweighs the public right to know. We can see company after company claiming that their tariffs and customers are confidential and that the substances and the toxins used to dilute the tar sands are confidential.

Think it couldn’t happen? Ask the people whose health and homes were ruined in Mayflower or Kalamazoo. Ask the first responders how long they had to wait to get information on what was in those leaking pipelines. In both cases information was withheld and declared “confidential”

Citizens have the right to know when an application has been filed, right to effective mailed notice, a right to know if the applicant really is a common carrier with real customers and real tariffs or just a private pipeline and what’s in the pipelines so they may decide how to react to an application.

Contact the members of the Senate State Affairs Committee and your senator and ask them to require disclosure of the chemicals flowing through the pipeline that will be flowing through Texas land, perhaps even your backyard, as part of the notification process and before eminent domain proceedings can begin.

Senate State Affairs Committee Members: Duncan (R-Lubbock) – Chair / Deuell (R-Greenville) – Vice Chair / Ellis (D-Houston) / Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) / Huffman (R-Houston) / Lucio (D-Brownsville) / Nichols (R-Jacksonville) / Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) / Williams (R-The Woodlands)

Posted in Tarsands | Tagged , , |

Traffic noise and pollution may impact kids’ hyperactivity

May 4, 2013 by Citizen Carol

A story in MyHealthNewsDaily by Lindsey Konkel says, according to a new study from Germany, children who live near a noisy road may be at an increased risk of hyperactivity.  Those in the study who were exposed to the highest noise levels at home showed 28 percent more symptoms  of hyperactivity and inattention than kids exposed to the lowest traffic  noise levels.

A growing number of studies are showing that environmental stressors, such as noise and chemical pollution, may affect children’s behavior and mental health by impacting a child’s brain during important developmental periods, increasing levels of circulating stress hormones or disrupting a child’s ability to sleep and concentrate.  Previous studies have linked pollution from traffic exhaust to behavior problems in kids.

For those living near high traffic and pollution areas, such as the Port of Houston, this among other health impacts of such an environment, should be taken into consideration as the Port looks to expanding.

 

 

Posted in Air Quality | Tagged , , , |

Climate Change Denial vs. Science at Texas Legislature

May 2, 2013 by Editor

Just before Earth Day, the House of Representatives once again demonstrated its commitment to protecting the fossil fuel industries that fund many of the members campaigns instead of protecting the people of our state from the devastating impacts of climate change by passing HB 788. The bill requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to permit greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change, but would remove the agency’s authority to limit such emissions.

You might wonder “what’s the point?”  The point is to take control of greenhouse gas permitting for Texas facilities from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and place it in the hands of our state environmental agency – which has a much cozier relationship with industry.  While EPA may ultimately prefer that states take responsibility for such permitting, we hope they wouldn’t support such a ineffective system as is proposed in HB 788.

Adding insult to injury, the author of the bill, Representative Wayne Smith, took advantage of the opportunity to spread misinformation.  Smith stated, “…the terms ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ are based on an unfounded science,” claiming this language was struck to remove the politics from the bill.  His remarks epitomizes a legislature that continues to threaten the health and safety of the people it should protect through weakened environmental regulations.

In fact, removing language which has been in Texas’ Health and Safety Code for 22 years which gives TCEQ the authority to limit greenhouse gases put the politics in the bill and took the science out of it.  Governor Rick Perry is an avid climate change denier and may have influenced the drafting of HB 788.

This type of misinformation does a disservice to Texas citizens who must endure the harmful impacts of climate change, such as drought, wildfires, sea-level rise and more volatile weather patterns. These changes have already cost our state billions of dollars and numerous lives.  Climate change is happening now and given the big jump in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions last year, we’re probably in for more harmful impacts than many predicted just a few years ago.

Image

This graph compares increasing CO2 levels (dark line) to increasing average global temperature over the last century (blue and red bars).

Although our efforts to stop or amend HB 788 in the Texas House were unsuccessful and it was disheartening to hear Representative Smith’s comments, Earth Day brought a refocusing on facts.

The Committee on International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs held a hearing on Global Climate Change and Trade.  Attendance was sparse in the audience, but a stellar line-up of scientists, delegates, and business representatives took the witness stand to testify on the fact of climate change.

HB788 was mentioned in anonymous fashion as a bad greenhouse gas bill on several occasions.  But, the most glaring comments were directed at Texas’ lack of policy to address climate change.  Cynthia Connor, the Resource Security Policy Adviser for the British Consulate General in Houston spoke in serious tones.  Her message was that Texas has a responsibility to adopt climate change policies to protect $20 billion in Texas investments by UK-owned business, which are responsible for  70,000 jobs.

Almost all of the witnesses addressed Texas’ policy of climate change denial.  To their credit, most of the Representatives on the committee asked questions to confirm the scientific findings, how climate change affects Texas, and how our climate change policies compare to the rest of the modernized world.  The general consensus is that Texas lags far behind the rest of the world.  Texas fails to acknowledge the potential harms of climate change and ignores its responsibility to lead the nation in ethical energy policies as the top producer of oil and natural gas.

While these weren’t messages of hope, at least they were based in scientific facts and observations.  At least for a brief time, science was recognized in our state capitol.

We must each do what we can to reduce our personal impact and we must convince our elected officials that the time for climate change denial is over.

HB 788 is now being considered in the Texas Senate.

Email your Texas state senator to oppose HB 788 and protect Texas’ climate, economy and people.

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, Good Government, Texas Legislature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Foreign Ownership Could Halt Licensing of South Texas Project Nuclear Reactors

May 1, 2013 by Citizen Carol

NRC Says NINA Doesn’t Meet Their Requirements

STP US vs Foreign OwnershipOn Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told judges overseeing the licensing case for two proposed South Texas Project reactors that the applicant (NINA) is subject to foreign ownership control or domination requirements and does not meet the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act in this regard. This will help licensing opponents in the hearing that is anticipated this fall.

“This NRC notice is great for us as opponents of two proposed reactors at the South Texas Project,” said Karen Hadden, executive director of SEED Coalition, a group that has intervened in the licensing process, along with the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy and Public Citizen. “We hope that we’ll soon see clean, safe energy developed in Texas instead of dangerous nuclear power. We must prevent Fukushima style disasters from happening here.”

“Federal law is clear that foreign controlled corporations are not eligible to apply for a license to build and operate nuclear power plants. The evidence is that Toshiba is in control of the project and this precludes obtaining an NRC license for South Texas Project 3 & 4,” said Brett Jarmer, an attorney also representing the intervenors.

“Foreign investment in U.S nuclear projects is not per se prohibited; but Toshiba is paying all the bills for the STP 3 & 4 project. This makes it difficult to accept that Toshiba doesn’t control the project,” said Robert Eye.

Toshiba North America Engineering, or TANE, will assume exclusive, principal funding authority for the project, but they are a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba America, Inc, a Japanese corporation. Opponents contend that this makes them ineligible for licensing.

“National security and safety concerns justify NRC’s limits on foreign ownership and control of nuclear reactors,” said Karen Hadden, Director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition. “What if a foreign company was careless in running a U.S. reactor? International allegiances are known to shift. Our own reactors could become a weapon to be turned against us in the future and be used to threaten civilians in a war against the U.S. The NRC is right to protect against this possibility.”

“Even if the reactors are operated by the South Texas Nuclear Operating Company, they will get their orders from foreign owners. What if their concerns are more about cost-cutting and less about safety?” asked Susan Dancer, President of the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy. “Japanese investors would have us believe that they can come to America and safely build, own and operate nuclear plants, and that we should not concern ourselves with passé laws and regulations, but the recent Fukushima disaster has demonstrated the flawed Japanese model of nuclear safety and the lack of protection afforded the Japanese people. In such an inherently dangerous industry, the American people deserve protection through federal law, including that our nuclear reactors are controlled by the people most concerned about our country: fellow Americans.”

“Foreign Ownership, Control or Domination policy is spelled out in the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1954,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office.  “In Section 103d it says that no license may be issued to an alien or any corporation or other entity if the Commission knows or has reason to believe it is owned, controlled, or dominated by an alien, a foreign corporation, or a foreign government.”

The NRC interprets this to mean that these entities are not eligible to apply for and obtain a license. According to Commission guidance, an entity is under foreign ownership, control, or domination “whenever a foreign interest has the ‘power,’ direct or indirect, whether or not exercised, to direct or decide matters affecting the management or operations of the applicant.” There is no set percentage point cut-off point used to determine foreign ownership. The factors that are considered include:

  • The extent of foreign ownership
  • Whether the foreign entity operates the reactors
  • Whether there are interlocking directors and officers
  • Whether there is access to restricted data
  • Details of ownership of the foreign parent company.

For further information please visit www.NukeFreeTexas.org

To read the staff FODC determination letter, click here.

Posted in Nuclear | Tagged , , , , , , |

Texas Legislature Attacking Austin Democracy

April 30, 2013 by kaibawhite

While Austin City Council continues to move forward with an ordinance to transfer governing authority of Austin Energy from our elected City Council to an unelected board, Austin democracy is being attacked at in the state legislature as well.  Senate bill 410, sponsored by Senator Kirk Watson and Representative Paul Workman, would allow the city to establish an unelected board without a charter election, as our city charter calls for.

The issue of who should govern Austin Energy is important, but it’s also local in nature.  There is no need for state to amend Austin’s charter.  That is a right reserved for the citizens of Austin.  If the changes proposed by City Council are truly in the best interest of our city, that case should be made to the voters and decided upon at the ballot box. 

To have a state representative who doesn’t even live in Austin carrying a bill to change our charter is unacceptable.

The Austin City Charter was adopted by the people of Austin and the people of Austin approved a governance structure for Austin Energy that is accountable to the people through elections.

An unelected board won’t be directly accountable to the ratepayers and wouldn’t necessarily represent our values.  As we debate this issue in Austin the unelected board at San Antonio’s CPS Energy is slashing the rate customers with solar installations will receive for their energy in half without first consulting the public or the solar industry.  Austin Energy customers could be facing similar changes if we don’t act now to protect our rights.

SB 410 has passed the Senate and will be heard by the House Committee on State Affairs tomorrow.

Please consider attending the hearing and speaking against SB 410.

What: Hearing on SB 410 to change Austin’s charter to move Austin Energy governance to an undemocratic board without a vote by the citizens of Austin, as our charter requires.

When: 1:00pm on Wednesday, May 1

Where: John H. Reagan (JHR) building, room 140 – 105 W. 15th St., Austin, TX, 78701

Why: Because Austin Energy’s governance structure will impact decisions going forward, including on renewable energy and energy efficiency programs and rates.  This is the decision that will determine how other decisions are made.

You can register against the bill at the kiosks outside of room 140.  Even if you don’t wish to speak, registering against the bill would be helpful.  We hope you’ll consider saying a few words about the value of local democracy though.  Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes each.

SB 410 is anti-democratic and is one more example of the state government trying to interfere with Austin’s internal policies and governance.

We need your help to stop this bill.

Public opposition to SB 410 at Wednesday’s hearing may be the only thing that can ensure that our Austin representatives don’t let this bad bill move forward.

Please email Kaiba White at kwhite (at) citizen.org if you can attend the hearing at 1:00pm on Wednesday.

Posted in Consumers, Efficiency, Energy, Good Government, Renewables, solar, Texas Legislature, Utilities | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

Houston community leaders and residents discuss Port of Houston issues at Town Hall

April 26, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Hundreds of residents living near the Port of Houston attended a Town Hall meeting Thursday evening at Holland Middle School to learn about the changes coming to their communities with the expansion of the Port.

Residents filled the Holland Middle School auditorium to hear the preliminary results of neighborhood surveys and to share their concerns with local officials.

Residents filled the Holland Middle School auditorium to hear the preliminary results of neighborhood surveys and to share their concerns with local officials.

“For far too long, the voices of community members living with the health and safety impacts of the Port of Houston have been ignored in the decision making about the Port’s economic growth, routing of hazardous and heavy truck traffic, strategic positioning of pollution control devices, and disposal of hazardous wastes. The Healthy Port Communities Coalition was created in response to this void.” said Hillary Corgey, originally from the Houston area and representing Public Citizen at the meeting, “We seek to provide information and to give a voice to portside communities that have historically been left out of this decision making process as they organize to make their communities safer and healthier for all who live there.”

Preliminary results of Port Side Community Survey Released
The Coalition is currently conducting surveys in port-side communities to determine the full extent of port impacts on residents of these communities and to raise awareness about their causes. The preliminary results of this ongoing survey were discussed at the town hall.  Some notable early results include:

  • Port side community residents concerned about pollution from industries and port operations along the ship channel.
  • 61% concerned about ships and cargo equipment pollution.
  • 67% concerned about train and rail yard pollution.
  • 86% concerned about refinery and chemical plant pollution.
  • 82% concerned about 18 wheeler/truck pollution.
    • 89% concerned about local pollutions’ effects on their health and 54% of respondents do not have health insurance.
    • Cancer rates in these communities are more than 8 times the Texas average.
    • Children have twice the rate of asthma in these communities than other Texans.

The only good news, if you can call it that, while 54% of the respondents do not have health insurance, nearly 80% reported they have had a routine exam in the last two years.  What we don’t know is if this is high because of higher rates of disease.  Residents may have characterized more frequent trips to the doctor, the emergency room, or another clinic as “a routine” exam.

  • The survey also identified the need for job opportunities and job training.
  • 42% of households have an unemployed resident.
  • 81% said there is a need for job training.
  • 69% said there is not sufficient work in their area.

During the town hall, Patricia Gonzales, a mother of three from Pasadena and member of the Texas Organizing Project, spoke up saying, “All of my children have asthma, and after moving to Pasadena, I too have asthma.  We need to know what impact these changes will have on our health.”

“The Coalition is here to help port-side community residents speak with a unified voice on issues that affect their health and well-being,” said Adrian Shelley, Executive Director of Coalition member Air Alliance Houston. “These communities have borne the burden of Houston’s intense industrial development.”

Also attending the Town Hall meeting to listen to and address residents’ concerns were Bob Allen, the Director of Harris County Pollution Control Services Department, Marcus Woodring, Managing Director of Health Safety Security and Environment at the Port of Houston, Jerry Peruchini, chief of staff of Houston City Councilman Ed Gonzales, Edna Campos with Councilmember Melissa Noriega’s office, Rhonda Sauter of the Mayor’s Citizens Assistance Office, State Representative Mary Ann Perez, Linda Jamail with State Representative Ana Hernandez-Luna’s office, Marisol Rodriguez from Senator Sylvia Garcia’s office, and Myriam Saldivar from State Representative Armando Walle’s office.

“We recognize our constituents living near the port of Houston/ship channel area have to contend with issues not common to the rest of Houston and want to thank these residents for taking the time to make them known to us.  The survey will be helpful as we try to address the impacts of the port and its expansion on these communities; that’s why I’ve urged the Port Authority’s Chair to create a Community Advisory Board: said State Senator Sylvia R Garcia. “Such an advisory board would provide continuing communication and dialogue between the community and the Port’s leadership on this and other issues that impact all the Ship Channel area communities.”

The attendees were divided into groups to begin outlining the concerns of port community residents.

“We want to know what’s going on around us and how it will affect our everyday lives,” concluded Gonzales. “This town hall meeting is an opportunity for us to begin that conversation.”

“One of the recommendations posed to the residents living near the ports was to ask for community representation on the Port of Houston Authority Commission,” said Debbie Allen, a resident of Pleasantville and member of the Pleasantville Environmental Coalition. “While my neighbors in the community are concerned about local hiring for port jobs, job training for port jobs, environmental protection and access to healthcare, I believe representation on the Port Commission would give our communities a seat at the table so that we can begin addressing these issues.  One way this could be done is by putting this change into Representative Dennis Bonnen’s Port of Houston Authority Sunset Bill – HB 1642.”

###

The Healthy Port Communities Coalition is an open-ended collaboration that names among its members: Air Alliance Houston, Pleasantville Environmental Coalition, Public Citizen, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services and the Texas Organizing Project.

Ryan Korsgard reports on Houston’s Channel 2

Concerns over Port of Houston cancer risks

Houston Univision45 coverage

Amenazada la salud de los residentes del puerto de Houston   

Posted in Air Quality, Global Warming | Tagged , , , , |

As Country Honors West, Texas Victims in Memorial, Work Lies Ahead to Make Workers, First Responders, and the Public Safer

April 25, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Guest post by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards

Texas Plant Disaster Shows Fragmented System of Oversight

The specific cause of the West, Texas, fertilizer plant disaster is still being investigated, but one thing is clear: Tragedies like this shouldn’t happen in America. Our country can and should do more to prevent these kinds of tragedies from occurring, and businesses must be required to develop safety and emergency plans, said the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS), an alliance of groups working to protect and strengthen public protections. The victims of the tragedy at the West, Texas, fertilizer facility will be honored today in a memorial service in Waco, which President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend.

The fire and explosion last Wednesday at the West Fertilizer Company killed at least 15 people and injured more than 200. It demolished up to 80 homes and damaged other buildings nearby, including an apartment complex, a middle school and a nursing home.

“You’d like to think something like this could never happen, that there’d be tight oversight by some agency, but that’s not how it looks,” said Peg Seminario, director of Safety and Health for the AFL-CIO. “In reality, the regulation and oversight systems are often fragmented, so a small but potentially hazardous facility like this one in Texas can get what appears to be little scrutiny. There’s a lot we don’t know yet about what happened, but we do know there are gaps in the regulation and oversight systems. The president should provide leadership in coordinating the investigation and response from federal and state agencies.”

West Fertilizer filed an emergency response plan update in 2011 with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listing anhydrous ammonia on site, but did not indicate there was a risk of fire or explosion at the plant. And no one can explain the enormous quantity of ammonium nitrate (the substance used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995) that was on site but unreported to the Department of Homeland Security.

Local firemen and volunteers who rushed toward the facility represented the majority of the deaths from the incident, indicating that first responders may have been unprepared for the dangers of explosion. But the company was supposed to have a risk management plan developed and shared with local first responders. The law requiring such a plan – the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 – was passed in response to earlier tragedies.

Almost 10,000 facilities across the United States are storing or handling anhydrous ammonia, according to the Center for Effective Government’s RTK NET (www.rtknet.org). There is currently no way to determine whether these facilities have up-to-date risk management plans, and whether these plans have been shared with plant employees, residents of the surrounding community and local emergency personnel. The EPA does not require facilities to include ammonium nitrate in their risk management plans.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last inspected the West facility in 1985. But OSHA is generally only able to inspect facilities with fewer than 10 employees in response to a complaint or incident, and in 2011, the West plant reported only seven employees. Small facilities like this one scattered throughout the nation are “regulated” by a system rife with gaps in oversight, limited enforcement and unclear rules.

Loopholes that allow lapses in health and safety standards must be closed if we’re going to avoid future tragedies. Companies have to be required to create and register emergency plans and share this information with emergency personnel and the communities in which they operate.  And oversight agencies must have staff and resources to ensure this happens.

“As we mourn the human losses West has had to endure and grieve for the courageous people who rushed in to help, let’s commit ourselves to creating a system that prevents other communities from having to experience similar events,” said Katherine McFate, president and CEO of the Center for Effective Government and a CSS co-chair. “That would be a most fitting tribute to those who lost their lives in West, Texas, and other industrial accidents across the country.”

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The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards is an alliance of consumer, small business, labor, scientific, research, good government, faith, community, health, environmental, and public interest groups, as well as concerned individuals, joined in the belief that our country’s system of regulatory safeguards provides a stable framework that secures our quality of life and paves the way for a sound economy that benefits us all. For more information about the coalition, see: http://www.sensiblesafeguards.org/about_us

Posted in Global Warming | Tagged , , , , |

Keystone Opponents Say President Should Reject Keystone XL Based on EPA Findings

April 23, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Keystone XL opponents are asking President Obama to reject the tar sands pipeline based on the new EPA report that assessed “environmental objections” and found that the State Department’s analysis included “insufficient information”.

The State Department’s own Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) made the case that Keystone XL would provide no tangible benefits for the U.S.—and now the EPA’s comments highlight the serious risks that the pipeline would create for the U.S. and for the communities along the pipeline route.

EPA’s letter to Assistant Secretary Fernandez and Assistant Secretary Jones outlined serious concerns regarding missing information from the DEIS, namely:

  • Greenhouse gas emissions
  • Pipeline safety
  • Alternative pipeline routes
  • Community and environmental justice impacts

Per the two reports from his own Administration and the over 200 pages of comments on the DEIS submitted by opponents, President Obama has no choice but to reject Keystone XL because it is not in our national interest.

Posted in pipelines, Tarsands | Tagged , , , , |

Texas Refinery Explosion Came After Limited Federal Safety Oversight of Plant; U.S. Safety Budget Hasn’t Risen to Match Increase in Facilities

April 18, 2013 by kaibawhite

Statement of Keith Wrightson, Worker Safety and Health Advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

The West Fertilizer Company facility that exploded in a deadly blast Wednesday evening had not been inspected by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in at least 10 years. While we leave it to investigators to determine what exactly happened, we already know that this facility and ones like it operate with very little oversight, and that this is a problem.

Plant Explosion Texas

A fire burns at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas after an explosion Wednesday April 17, 2013 (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News)

Records show that the facility in West, Texas, owned by Adair Grain Incorporated, has not been inspected by OSHA in the past 10 years.

In the past five years, only two Texas facilities in the same classification – that produce fertilizer using ammonia – have been inspected by OSHA, records show. The agency, with a budget of roughly $568 million, lacks the resources to regularly inspect these types of facilities, including the many with high danger levels. Often facilities do not see an inspector for decades at a time.

While OSHA’s budget had increased slightly in the past several years, it was recently reduced yet again by budget , which means fewer inspectors to monitor facilities like the West Fertilizer Company. Small budgets also make it even harder for the agency to issue new safety standards. The agency’s budget is similar to what it was several decades ago, but the size of the economy – and the number and complexity of workplaces to inspect – has grown tremendously.

Though total occupational deaths are far lower today than they were decades ago, more than 4,000 workers still die every year on the job in the United States, most in incidents that could have been prevented. Last night’s tragic explosion in Texas is a reminder of the work still ahead to make our nation’s workplaces safer.

Devoting only a miniscule portion of our budget to protecting workers is a policy choice – and it’s the wrong one.

Contact: Ben Somberg (202) 588-7742 or Keith Wrightson (202) 454-5139

Posted in Budget, Safety | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |

Nuclear Power Plant Disasters Are Forever

April 17, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Two years after the earthquake and accompanying tsunami that resulted in three of the reactors melting down at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, nuclear engineers are still grappling with how to bring the facility under control.  This plant was heavily damaged and to date, no one has been able to repair it.  So it’s still badly broken and it is no wonder that power outages and water leaks continue to hamper the clean-up.

The United Nations atomic monitors, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), arrived at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant to review how contaminated water is being stored at the disaster site and assess decommissioning risks.  Their arrival was met with reports that a large amount of radioactive water had leaked from the plant.  The IAEA has made irregular visits to the Fukushima site since the March 11, 2011, disaster occurred. Their last visit was in December, 2012.

Currently, about 280,000 tons of highly radioactive water are stored at the Fukushima plant, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the company that owns the plant. That’s enough to fill about 112 Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to Bloomberg News calculations.

So here is how we got to that much radioactive water.  The reactor cores still have fuel inside that needs to be kept cool.  To cool the cores, Tepco has had to continuously bring in water from outside and pour it in.  That water flows down into the basement of the plant. From there, they pump it out, do an initial decontamination (they are able to remove some radioactive elements like cesium from the waste water, but other elements, like tritium, require more time to scrub) and store it.  Initially, they were storing the radioactive water in metal tanks on site, but these tanks have been filling up because groundwater has also been coming into the basements so they recently switched to reservoirs – really just earthen pits that have been lined with sheets of plastic. It is somewhere in this complex process that these leaks have occurred and right now they believe the reservoirs are leaking.  Here is a cleanup strategy as jaw-droppingly “maybe should have gone with something a bit less duct-tape home repair” short-sighted as the cleanup of the Pegasus Tar Sands spill in Arkansas with what appears to be paper towels that was ridiculed on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Colbert Report.

There are monitors around all the reservoirs, so they have pin pointed which ones are leaking, but they don’t know how much has leaked.  What we do know is that fish and mollusks within 12.4 miles of the Fukushima plant have surpassed baseline measures of radioactivity, according to Tepco’s  most recent environmental monitoring report published April 12. One specimen tested near the port entrance to Fukushima Dai-Ichi was 4,300-times more radioactive than what Japanese officials consider standard and may pose health risks.

Some say clean up is decades away, I say that is a nice fairy tale. Fukashima still has fuel inside, the spent fuel that was being stored above the reactors is still there, and no one can get to any of it right now. The area is just too radioactive. So they will have to wait for all the fuel to cool down and then figure out how to go in there and get it out.  It will be years before they can even open up the reactors. But the reality is that nuclear power plant disasters of this magnitude will take generations to clean up.

In six days we will commemorate the 27th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.  Only 2 miles away from the reactor, the company town of Pripyat, remains deserted and unfit for human habitation for hundreds of years to come.

Chernobyl sits inside a fenced area known as the Exclusion Zone. Radioactive remnants of the failed reactor continue to smolder inside a modern day sarcophagus, a concrete and steel encasement hastily erected after the accident. Leaky and structurally unsound, it now threatens to collapse, shaking loose enough radiation to cause a second disaster of similar magnitude. Work has already started on a new encasement, which will slide over the existing sarcophagus to seal in the remaining nuclear fuel. In the mean time desperate efforts are underway to shore up the sarcophagus to protect it from collapsing.

While our nation has avoided a disaster equal to these, our nuclear fleet of 104 reactors is an aging one, many of which are close to heavily populated areas of the country, and there is no absolute guarantee that the U.S. is invulnerable to a disaster of this magnitude.  We should all keep this in mind as nuclear plant after nuclear plant applies for a license extension that will go well beyond the expected life planned for these plants.

Posted in Nuclear, Nuclear Plants, Water | Tagged , , |

Texas Landowner to Testify Before Congress About Property Rights Abuses

April 16, 2013 by Citizen Carol

Julia Trigg Crawford, a Texas landowner fighting a legal battle with TransCanada over the rights to her family’s farm, will be in Washington on Thursday to testify in front of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice during a hearing on the Private Property Rights Protection Act. Ms. Crawford will be discussing her personal experience with the use of eminent domain by a foreign company, as it is being used by the Keystone XL pipeline.

The bill filed in the 112th Congress as H.R.1433 can be read here.

The hearing will begin at 9am ET on Thursday and may be covered on C-Span in case you want to catch Julia’s testimony.

Posted in Property Rights, Tarsands | Tagged , , , , , |

Tide Turning on Austin Energy Governance Ordinance

April 12, 2013 by kaibawhite

I was part of and witnessed an inspiring evening at Austin City Hall yesterday.  Engaged citizens came together to speak passionately about the importance of maintaining democratic leadership for Austin Energy, our city’s electric utility.

Many people talked about wanting the right to vote on a change in governance, about the importance of accountable leaders and about the need for multiple public hearings to discuss this important issue.  Others spoke about our utility continuing to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency and maintaining our commitment to assisting low income families with their electric bills.  The voices were many and varied and the process took hours.

And we made a difference.

Several important amendments were added to the ordinance that, if they remain, limit the powers granted to the unelected board and increase oversight by our elected City Council.  Councilwoman Laura Morrison continued to be our champion on the Council, but Councilmen Chris Riley and Mike Martinez also emerged as allies on numerous amendments to lessen the negative impact of establishing an unelected board.  I commend them on their willingness to listen to the public and make changes to address some of our concerns.  (It should be noted that Councilwoman Tovo was in China for City business, but has also stood by the people throughout this debate.)

There is still a lot of work to be done to eliminate the threat of an unelected board, but it’s clear that public participation does make a difference.  And that’s our fundamental point.  We, the people, wish to retain our direct access to and influence on those who govern Austin Energy.  An unelected board wouldn’t be accountable to the ratepayers.

Please visit CleanEnergyForAustin.org to stay informed over the next week.  Email me at kwhite(at)citizen.org to receive email updates.  This isn’t over yet.

I remember the feeling of community brewing

Of democracy happening

~Ani Difranco

Posted in Consumers, Energy, Good Government | Tagged , , , , , |

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