Lions
and Tigers and Bears. Oh, My!
by
Ken Midkiff
Florida panther
Photos from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
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In a surprise move—a
surprise except to a few fearful residents in northeast Missouri—the
Missouri Conservation Commission acted to place the eastern cougar,
or eastern mountain lion, into the category of “extirpated”
(meaning that it is no longer here). Adding insult to injury, the
Commission also declared that recovery and repopulation of the mountain
lion was “undesirable.” Read
more... |
Springfield
Voters Approve Funding for New Coal Plant
Fight not over—appeal of air permit still pending
by Jill Miller, Sierra Club organizer
Local volunteers like Simon Mahan (Sierra Club Student Coalition)
poured their hearts and souls into this campaign.
Photo by Jill Miller |
Despite an intense,
hard-fought campaign involving local Sierra Club members and other
citizen groups, on Tuesday June 6, City Utilities of Springfield managed
to overturn the 2004 voter rejection of their plan to build an unnecessary
coal-fired power plant. We made a strong showing against incredibly
long odds, and the fight is not over.
Refusing to
accept “NO” from the voters, City Utilities and Springfield
City Council made sure the bond vote was scheduled as a single-issue
ballot during summer vacation time when such elections typically
have low voter turn-out. Only 18 percent of Springfield voters cast
ballots. CU and its supporters spent tens of thousands of dollars
on a cynically orchestrated media campaign to scare voters into
believing coal was Springfield’s only option. The final result
was 59 percent to 41 percent in favor of this costly coal plant
proposal. Read
more...
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Missouri Sierra Club Blocks Anti-Environmental Bills
by Roy C. Hengerson
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The 2006 session of the Missouri General Assembly ended on May 12
with a flurry of bills being enacted in the last hour or so. For much
of the session controversy reigned, between Democrats and Republicans
and even between Republicans, who are the majority party in both state
houses. The bitterest divisions did not center on the environment,
however the controversies affected the pace of legislation and also
the outcome in many cases. Read
more... |
Causes
of the Taum Sauk Reservoir Breach
by
Becky Denney
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On December
14, 2005, the Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir on top of Proffit Mountain
near Lesterville, Missouri ruptured, sending 1.5 billion gallons of
water down Proffit Mountain — severely damaging Johnson’s
Shut-Ins State Park.
The water washed away the
home of Park Superintendent Toops, his wife and three children washing
them across the road into a field. The children were hospitalized
but have recovered. Had campers been in the campground, they, too,
would have been washed away. The Taum Sauk Reservoir was a pumped-storage
hydroelectric plant which employed twelve people.
Read more...
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Church
Mountain — No Pumped Storage Reservoir
by Tom Kruzen
The flood
resulting from the AmerenUE owned and managed reservoir atop Profitt
Mountain has been well-documented. There are photos of the devastation
on the websites of Missouri State Parks and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park suffered severe damage, including
devastation of the public campground, re-channeling of the East Fork
of the Black River, heavy siltation of the fens, a boulder and re-bar
strewn valley, and the park superintendent’s residence was swept
away (along with the park superintendent and his family). The State
Park was closed for several months so that hazards could be removed
and is now open on a limited basis. The Shut-Ins – the main
attraction of the State Park – are closed to public access.
Read more... |
Controversy
Over Paseo Bridge Could Change How MoDoT Thinks
by Ron McLinden
You wouldn’t
expect an elegant but modest 52-year-old suspension bridge over the
Missouri River at Kansas City to set the stage for a major realignment
of how Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) thinks about
highways, but it just might happen.
At issue is a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for rebuilding
a three-mile segment of I-29 and I-35 (including the Paseo Bridge)
between Kansas City’s downtown highway loop and Armour Road
in North Kansas City, just across the river. The comment period for
the DEIS ended May 22. Read
more... |
Why
invest in Missouri’s Future?
by Melissa Blakley, Chapter Development Associate
The environmental
challenges we face in Missouri have grown in number and scope in recent
years. To meet these challenges, beginning in 2005, Missouri Sierra
Club leaders implemented an ambitious long-range strategic plan, that
is intended to fully fund the Club’s operations and conservation
priorities.
The plan
actually expands our reach and effectiveness in Missouri so that we
can continue our work to safeguard Missouri’s natural heritage
for generations to come. It identifies aggressive conservation priorities
and legislative goals, and provides for a new long-range sustainable
fundraising plan that will enable us to achieve our expanded vision.
The plan builds on the strengths of the Missouri Sierra Club—a
small staff multiplied by an active and engaged member base.
Read more... |
The
Summer of Our Discontent
by Tom Kruzen
Now that
we are beginning the summer swelter, several issues have persisted
and some have even festered.
Doe Run is up to their old tricks again. The Peruvian government just
granted Doe Run another three years to clean up. Government bends
to the corporate will. That also means three more generations of children
having to live with lead. Poisoning people in Herculaneum, Missouri
or in La Oroya, Peru is just not acceptable. Lead and other heavy
metals that Doe Run processes in these places are toxic to people—period!
Doe Run had promised to clean up in 1997 when it purchased the Peruvian
smelter. Nine years later, the people of La Oroya enjoy almost a total
lead-poisoned population and an ambient lead level 25 times higher
than allowed in the U.S. Read
more... |
The
Burden of Decisions
by Alan Journet, Conservation Chair, Trail of Tears
Group
|
Every decision
we make is fraught with the possibility of error. When we take the
car for service because the engine warning light is on, thinking the
warning light indicates danger rather than thinking it is just a gauge
malfunction, we could be wrong. If we conclude there is no danger
and continue driving, we could also be wrong. Such mistakes have been
codified in Decision Theory. If we take the car in when we really
did not need to, we have made a Type I Error. On the other hand, if
we keep driving when we should have heeded the warning, we have made
a Type II Error. Every time we make a decision, the possibility of
error looms before us. Read
more... |
The
Sierra Club’s New Interim Energy Policy
by Henry Robertson, Chapter Energy Chair
The reality of global warming is becoming more obvious by the day.
Ice caps and glaciers are melting faster; and now comes the horrifying
news of rapid coral die-off in the Caribbean, caused in part by the
same high ocean surface temperatures that fed Hurricane Katrina. Another
bad hurricane season is forecast, while inland we experience fierce
thunderstorms and tornadoes.
Some
of this is climate change and some of it is weather. Some changes
seem benign, like the earlier blooming of flowers and trees, but may
herald the disruption of ecosystems. The dinosaurs who insist that
we cannot live without fossil fuels are reduced to putting positive
spin on the undeniable truth. The Competitive Enterprise Institute
runs TV ads with the slogan, “Carbon dioxide. They call it pollution.
We call it life.” Yes, CO2 is life—if you’re a plant.
Read
more... |
Fifty
Degrees Below
Book Review by Jim Turner
The reality of global warming is becoming more obvious by the day.
Ice caps and glaciers are melting faster; and now comes the horrifying
news of rapid coral die-off in the Caribbean, caused in part by the
same high ocean surface temperatures that fed Hurricane Katrina. Another
bad hurricane season is forecast, while inland we experience fierce
thunderstorms and tornadoes.
Some of this is climate change and some of it is weather. Some changes
seem benign, like the earlier blooming of flowers and trees, but may
herald the disruption of ecosystems. The dinosaurs who insist that
we cannot live without fossil fuels are reduced to putting positive
spin on the undeniable truth. The Competitive Enterprise Institute
runs TV ads with the slogan, “Carbon dioxide. They call it pollution.
We call it life.” Yes, CO2 is life—if you’re a plant.
Read more... |
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Cool
Things to Do to Stop Global Warming
by Craig Volland, Chair of the Air Quality Committee
of the Kansas Chapter
Global
Warming is real
The urgency of the global warming problem can no longer be denied.
It could be a matter of life and death for our children and grandchildren.
We can do something about it before it’s too late. The quickest
and least costly way to address the problem is to reduce our use of
energy. This article attacks the most expensive and environmentally
damaging use of electricity.
Read
more... |
Sierra
Club Confronts Peabody
by John Blair and Wallace McMullen
Photo ©2006 John Blair
|
In early May, the
Sierra Club, Valley Watch of Indiana, and the American Bottom Conservancy
joined forces in St. Louis to challenge Peabody Energy at the corporation’s
annual shareholder meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Representatives
from Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia gathered
to demand accountability from the world’s largest coal company,
particularly concerning the giant Prairie State coal plant that Peabody
wants to build in southern Illinois.
Our multi-part strategy included a public forum of “stakeholders”
(everybody who is affected by Peabody’s corporate practices,
from pollution to property rights to workers’ rights), a rally
alongside Mineworkers and other labor representatives, and questioning
Peabody’s Board of Directors and CEO inside the corporate shareholder
meeting itself, where some formally presented a shareholder resolution.
Read
more... |
Stopping
the Coal Rush in Missouri
Setting the stage for a Clean Energy
Future
by Melissa Blakley
|
At a time
of rapidly changing energy policy, United States power companies are
rushing to build up to 120 coal-fired power plants, partly because
they want to get the permitting process started before planned and
potential regulations kick in for mercury and greenhouse gases. These
facilities, if built, will lock their regions into dirty energy for
the lifetime of a coal plant or 30–50 years. Once built, they
will effectively shut out the development of cheaper and cleaner renewable
energy alternatives. And, since there is currently no way to retrofit
coal-burning power plants to capture carbon dioxide (CO2), each plant
will add more global warming gasses to our atmosphere.
Read more... |
No
MO Coal
by Henry Robertson, Chapter ExCom
The United
States gets 52 percent of its electricity from coal— here in
Missouri it’s 83 percent. There’s been a lull in building
new coal-fired power plants for the last couple of decades, but suddenly
a whole new generation of the old smokers is in the works—over
130 proposed in the United States—just when we’re trying
to break in clean, renewable technologies.
And
that isn’t the half of it. China already burns twice as much
coal as the United States and is planning to add 550 coal-fired generating
stations by 2030. If there’s any truth at all to the predictions
of global warming theory, we can’t survive this onslaught.
Read
more... |
Ozark
Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Expo
Saturday,
July 29
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. vendors open
7 p.m. Entertainment follows until 11pm
Sunday, July 30
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. vendors open
The Expo
will include educational workshops conducted by experts in the field
and hands-on exhibits of renewable energy equipment. The Expo site
is a beautiful hilltop setting near Hermann, Missouri, an hour and
a half west of St. Louis. Read
more...
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