Nuclear? I don't think so

With global warming pretty much an accepted fact, energy policymakers on both sides of the political spectrum are looking for non-carbon alternatives to creating electricity. And while increasing the use of nuclear energy should be a last resort for anyone who cares about the environment because of the risks associated with nuclear waste disposal, whether underground in New Mexico or anywhere else for that matter but the moon, nuclear is gaining ground.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Dominion Virginia Power (the company lighting my home) said that it had chosen a nuclear generator manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (yep, related to the car company). If completed, the reactor would be third nuclear reactor owned and operated by Dominion in Virginia. In all, nuclear energy accounted for 35 percent of the power generated in the state in 2007. To be fair, even if Dominion did move ahead with the plant, it wouldn't come online for at least five years.

Nevertheless, currently when combined with coal at 45 percent, four-fifths of the state's electricity is generated by either the dirtiest fuel known to man, or possibly the most dangerous. Forget explosions and meltdowns. There is no doubt that the waste from nuclear reactors remains poisonous for, oh... thousands of years!

Nuclear is getting a boost these days because it basically doesn't emit green house gases, and won't contribute to global warming. In fact, nuclear has such great benefits that an exhaustive list can be found right on the Nuclear Energy Institutes's website. The site is so nice, with its crystal clear blue sky background, fluffy clouds and pristine, pine encircled lakes.

No photos of Chernobyl or Three Mile Island on this site.

But before everyone thinks that I believe that nuclear is all bad, I don't. It has a place in our energy policy. My issue is the rapid pace of its ascendancy on the list of the non-carbon alternatives to energy production. According to one report, President Obama has more than $50 billion of federal money budgeted to support the construction of new nuclear power plants. I'm sure that some of that is on the radar of Dominion Power.

Fewer than 20 percent of total federal energy subsidies go to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

But Virginia is forging ahead in trying to increase the deployment of renewable energy, especially wind. Next month, the Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative is holding a two-day conference down at James Madison University. Registration is affordable at twenty bucks for one day, and thirty dollars for the two day event. People interested in knowing what's been going on inside Virginia with respect to wind power generation will hear an earful.

Meanwhile, if you care about more balanced energy policy and taxpayer subsidy going to projects that won't make you glow in the dark if they mess up, then sign one of the zillion petitions online and get our Congress and President to make better choices.

Today's The Day

Someone said a long time ago that, "today is the first day of the rest of your life." For those of us who have been hoping for movement in Congress on climate change, we're in the midst of realizing the true meaning of that aphorism.

Senator's Kerry and Lieberman introduced their bill this week and voices on the left and right found it inadequate. The loud voices over at Fox called the bill a global power grab, while at least one the equally strident advocate voice on the other side is angry that the bill doesn't go far enough.

Today's the day.

We're here and consuming energy to support a lifestyle that we like, and around the world billions-- yes, billions -- of other people have the hope and are praying that they can have the life that we have here in the U.S. But those aspirations come with costs, and really no matter how much the climate skeptics want us to hop on their bandwagon, glaciers that have advanced and receded across our global landscape for a long time, are now retreating and not recharging at rates enough to sustain them because where the glaciers are, and where the rest of us are, is here on Earth and it's getting warmer.

Today's the day.

The Kerry-Lieberman (or is it Lieberman-Kerry?) bill tries to make a difference, but like most things out of Washington, the difference is on the margins when what we need is bold action. I have the blessed fortune to telecommute for work a couple of days each week. Actually, if not for out-dated ideas about personnel management, I don't have to be in the office much at all. All of us need to think about climate change and associated energy efficiency as essential, and how our usual way of thinking needs to change for our own greater good.

The green jobs pablum that comes out of Washington and state capitals also needs to be bolder. The so-called cash-for-caulkers program will make homes more efficient and put some people to work, but the long-term effect of it will be small. A "GI-Bill", Marshall Plan, full-court press or some other catch phrase is needed to make a real difference here.

Dealing with climate change by making better energy source choices (wind and solar, and having the guts to build the transmission delivery capacity from generating location to end user) today and realizing that the choices are investments in the future and not just current accounting entries for today, is critical.

Carefully debating the Lieberman-Kerry bill -- without the sound-byte hyperbole, or a jaundiced eye on the next election -- also is necessary. The bill's far from perfect, but today it's a place to start.

Today's the day.

(Photo Credit: First photo: Reardon, USGS, 2001; Second Photo, Stebinger, Glacier National Park Archives, 1914

Fed's Announce Chesapeake Plan

Virginia is one of a half dozen states and the District of Columbia that can claim the Chesapeake Bay watershed. News May 12 from the Environmental Protection Agency about plans to clean up and restore the Bay to its natural beauty is welcome.

The important thing is to hold the plans of the EPA, the Department of Agriculture and other federal and state agencies that have pledged to improve the bay to the letter. A day before the announcement by Administrator Jackson, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation announced that it had settled a lawsuit against the EPA because it claimed that the government was slow to move on previous promises.

It's critically important to note that previous promises, commitments, etc., never really amounted to much. In fact, various federal administrations have been smiling and promising in front of cameras about restoring the bay since 1972 when the Clean Water Act was passed, and more specifically since 1983 when the governors of the watershed states of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland met.

Depending on which advocacy group you ask, the results these past twenty years to clean and restore the Chesapeake are either dismal or abysmal.

The fact is, the Chesapeake Bay is a priceless natural resource, and the largest estuary system in the U.S. The streams and rivers that flow into it are the sources of fresh water for many residents in Virginia and Pennsylvania because the James, Potomac, Rappahannock and the Susquehanna. The Susquehanna provides about half of the fresh water that flows into the Chesapeake.

The bay and its sources are important. Period. Keeping them healthy is vital to the economy all along the Bay and its water sources.

Little Things; Paper Cups

This Saturday I'm running in a 5k near my house. The course will wind its way through a regional park and give the runners a chance to view some nature while they huff and puff. At about the two mile mark the tables will come out and lined up on each one will be rows of paper cups filled with water.

Ignoring for a moment how much water will be spilled and wasted on the ground (that's for another post), I wonder if the organizers of this race and other races realize the environmental effect of their events from all of these paper cups?

According to a post on the Mother Nature Network's website, about 58 BILLION paper cups are used each year. Not all of those are used by runners and walkers at the hundreds of events held each year, but enough of them are.

Why? Most runners use a reusable bottle of some kind when they're training. Why not use one during the race? A couple of years ago my wife and I entered a half-marathon in Richmond. We had reusable water bottles. Carrying the bottles the 13.1 miles didn't slow us down, and not having to jostle at the water table probably helped us by a minute or two.

Granted, to carry enough water to make it through a marathon could be difficult. But again, what do runners do when training? Some of the teams that sponsor runners have water stations along the training course, but even then, the runners frequently top of bottles held in their hands or attached to the waists.

Energy conservationists are making great strides in convincing consumers that doing little things -- swapping out incandescent bulbs, running dishwashers and washing machines while full instead of half-empty -- I think that it's time more of the races around Virginia and the country make a move and reduce the use of those little things, paper cups, and make a big difference on our environment.

Local

There are all kinds of movements popping up these days. One that I've been thinking a lot about lately is the push to "buy local." At its foundation, buy local folks encourage the purchase and enjoyment of fresh food, crafts and other things, that without looking at the labels you'd never know were grown or manufactured thousands of miles away. For example, I'm on my way to a conference in Phoenix and while packing glanced at the label of a shirt -- Bangladesh.

Bangladesh? According to the World Bank the country's about 56,000 square miles in total area, or about 10,000 square miles smaller than Florida. The country packs an amazing 162 million people in that space, or about half as many who live in the U.S. Oh, and its about 8,000 miles from Sterling, VA.

Definitely not local; and someone there made my shirt. A year or so ago, I heard about a book written by woman whose family tried not to buy anything made in China. While to me their quest was more of a lark, the problems they faced in finding things manufactured someplace else was tough, and illustrated a real truth: we get so much of our stuff from so far away.

But while trying to find things like tennis shoes or kids toys made locally may be difficult, this time of year there is no problem finding fresh produce and even meats. May 1 opens the Fairfax County Farmers Market, as well as other markets throughout Virginia.

Buying local produce has benefits across nearly all shades of green. For example, sustainabletable, a buy local advocate lists a range of environmental benefits from buying local, including boosts to the local economy, reduced pesticide use (and less runoff) and less fossil-based energy being used through shorter travel distances for your food.

Most people don't know this, but California is where most of our green stuff comes from (red stuff, too, like strawberries.) According to Beachcalifornia.com, ninety-nine percent of U.S. almonds, prunes, figs and walnuts come from California. I bought almonds a few days ago and never thought twice where they came from. A little closer than my Bangladesh shirt, but what's a few thousand miles once you get over 3,000?

Can I do without almonds? Sure. Should I? Don't know, but it certainly doesn't hurt to pause to think about the real cost of those almonds when I'm sprinkling them on my oatmeal -- or the cost of everything else that we buy -- on the environment .

Needs and Wants

There's a scene in one of the recent James Bond movies -- Quantum of Solace -- when James (played by David Craig) has his enemy right where he wants him. They're in the desert and the enemy has to get cross miles of open sand without any water. Bond flips the guy a quart of motor oil and says to his enemy that sooner or later he'll drink it, hoping that it will quench the aching thirst he'll surely feel beneath the hot sun of the Bolivian desert.

Bond's enemy is found dead and "M" or "Q" -- someone -- remarks that motor oil was found in the dead man's stomach.

With oil gushing from a pipe one mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico and a slick miles wide spreading across the sea to poison marine life along the U.S. gulf coast, I'm reminded of that scene from James Bond: oil or water; which is the most important?

In March, Virginia's governor answered the question when he urged the federal government to allow Virginia to sell offshore drilling rights enabling Virginia to become "The Energy Capital of the East Coast".

But that was before the giant gusher in the gulf coast. Surely, Gov. McDonnell would rethink his eagerness to possibly send an oil slick miles across wafting into the Chesapeake?

Nope. According to numerous news reports, the governor remains committed to offshore oil drilling. He thinks that we need the oil.

It's the jobs, you see. Offshore drilling will create thousands of jobs and bring in millions if not billions in new tax revenue. When you're the governor of a state facing at least a $4 billion revenue short-fall, you'd look everywhere -- even a mile under the ocean -- for new revenue. One thing, though; the drilling wouldn't begin for another few years, probably five, according to an Associated Press article.

And Mr. McDonnell will be long gone from the governor's mansion.

That's the thing with these kinds of plans: folks are never around to see them through. They're plans are potentially lethal legacies like land mines from wars long over. Oh, I'm not so naive to think that there shouldn't be long-range plans -- I have a 401k that I'd like to be around to spend.

But it just seems easy to make plans and promises of new oil tomorrow because people want the benefits of cheap oil today. If we drill and find more oil we'll be able to keep our fantasy alive -- that wanting to base our standard of living on a nonrenewable resource is OK. It's OK because those of us alive today won't have to worry about it, someone coming after us will. That's not long range planning; that's selfishness.

The oil that inexorably is flowing toward the Mississippi and southern U.S. coastline and threatening the livelihoods of fisherman who need the business from fish and shellfish to feed their families is incapable of caring that we want the oil to not reach the shore and the estuaries.

Virginia is a beautiful state and the more time that I spend exploring it, the more I appreciate its beauty. But Virginia's beauty will only remain if we keep it from being abused and polluted. It needs that. I want it.

See the recent story from the Washington Post.

Note. -- The Quantum of Solace plot revolves around a plan to take control of Bolivia's freshwater supply.

Shared Green

The other day I had reason to drive into Winchester, VA from my home in Sterling. I took Route 7 all the way. Climbing some of the hills heading west in my little four cylinder Kia Spectra sent the engine groaning and if I knew that I would be exaggerating I'd swear that a cyclist on one of the multi-thousand dollar carbon fiber jobs past me before I reached the crest. But I exaggerate -- I was passed by a lot of cars and beat up trucks.

But when I reached the top of every single one of those hills and could see the mountains in the distance, tree covered with low hanging clouds nearly touching their tops, I didn't care, and couldn't care that it was a struggle to get there. The view was great, and I had the opportunity to appreciate it.

I was on my way to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. The Food Bank distributes food in Loudoun, Fairfax and other counties. It even has a distribution center in Ashburn, VA. I guess the folks at the Blue Ridge didn't see the article a few weeks ago that said that Loudoun County was the richest county in the U.S. Numero Uno and top of the heap, according to no better measure of wealth than Forbes magazine.

There's a lot of green in Loudoun -- man made and natural.

And there's a lot of need, too. According to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, in 2009 more than 145,000 different people were served by the food bank. The Winchester section that includes Loudoun serced more than 25,000 people. Looks like an average income of $110,000 per household isn't shared by everyone.

Sharing. It's one of those lessons we learn in kindergarten. If we don't share, sooner or later teachers call our parents and eventually we have no friends. Most of us learn that lesson pretty quickly. It's one reason that the Food Bank exists. While it receives some money from the state and taps into federal programs, the bulk of what it provides to the tens of thousands of people it helps is because people share.

I've been thinking about sharing a lot lately when I think of the outdoors. And while I know I'm being a curmudgeon or worse, I've had the feeling lately that the outdoor enthusiasts just don't want to share too much with the rest of us.

For example, I picked up a copy of Blue Ridge Outdoors, a free magazine that is available at Eastern Mountain Sports, REI and even Sports Authority. One of the articles, "Mapping the Secrets" talks about places hikers have found and whether or not those hikers should reveal the whereabouts of their new found treasures.

Come again? Keep a place secret; you mean, not share? That's like keeping the ball that bounces highest to yourself and 'thump-rolling' the flat, dead one to your buddy who sleeps on the kindergarten mat next to you.

The same sentiment sort of appears in the May issue of Outside. Anyone who knows me well also knows that I think Outside is great. I've been reading it since Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Forget The New Yorker and Harpers, the best writing in English is inside the covers of Outside.

But lately as I've been drawn to the outdoors more by Outside's articles, I've noticed a "clique" kind of atmosphere. Forget that I could count the number of African-American faces on two hands with fingers to spare (I'm talking years of issues, not just a single copy), I mean to say that its writers, letter writers/readers seem to want to extol the virtues of the outdoors, but don't want too many other people around. Just those already in the club.

The May issue's feature State Secrets (there's that non-sharing word again) advises readers how to get off the beaten path, avoid the crowds, while still enjoying jaw-dropping views and crazy, near death-defying adventures. Granted, getting away from it all is one of the joys of hiking. I tell my friends that being outside, hearing no sound but the breeze, birds and beat of my heart after a steep climb is where I feel God closest to me. But everyone should have the chance to experience that feeling or something close to it.

Routes to new places should be revealed and those of us who appreciate the outdoors should invite as many people to share these things with us as possible. It's what we learned how to do in kindergarten a long time ago.