Sierra Club Capital Group back with monthly meetings

The Capital Group of the Sierra Club (Wake County) has restarted monthly meetings. The first meeting will be held on Thursday, May 20, 2010. The meeting will be a presentation about the proposed Dix part with Gregory Poole and Bill Padgett, and will be at 7 pm at the Uniterian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh, 3313 Wake Avenue, Raleigh.

Future meetings will be about greenways and trails, water quality and availability, solar energy, and other environmental subjects.

All meetings will be at the same locations and will be held on the third Thursday of each month.

Support for Drilling Decreases in NC

A recent poll by Public Policy Polling about the attitudes of North Carolina residents toward off the coast of NC showed a significant drop in support since the recent accident in the Gulf of Mexico. In April, before the accident, 61% of NC residents approved of drilling off the NC coast, while 26% were opposed. By May 10th, after the accident, the support dropped to 47%, with 38% opposed.

Although support has decreased, it is still surprising that even after the Gulf accident more people support off shore drilling than oppose it.

For more information, click here.

Obama supports off shore drilling

President Obama has announced support for drilling for oil off the coasts of many states, including North Carolina, according to a story in today’s New York Times. The decision is sure to draw praise from many in the oil industry but criticism from people in environmental groups.

If there is an oil spill that affects the coast of North Carolina, the result could devastate both the fishing industry as well as the tourism industry in NC. Many of the elected leaders and candidates for office in NC have vowed to fight against drilling in North Carolina’s waters.

Is Our Drinking Water In Danger, Saturday, 2/27, 9:30 a.m.

The Capital Group is sponsoring a public education forum that will focus on pollution in Falls Lake, one of our key sources of drinking water. Water experts will outline the challenges facing this major drinking water supply and offer greater insight to potential solutions that could be presented in the Falls Lake Rules Process. Come learn why stormwater runoff is a key problem for our drinking water and how you can make a difference! A rain barrel door prize will be awarded to a member of the audience compliments of Rainwater Solutions!

Raleigh taking nominations for environment awards

The City of Raleigh is now taking nominations of individuals and organizations for the Environmental Awards Program. To be eligible, and individual must be a resident of Raleigh or its extra territorial jurisdiction (ETJ); an organization must operate withing Raleigh or its ETJ. Information about the awards and the 10 award categories can be found here. An on-line entry form can be found here.

Possible problems with transit

Ann, one commenter on my last post, on benefits of public transportation, pointed out that in order for public transportation to improve the environment people must get out of their cars and take transit to work or other destination. If people continue to drive cars rather than taking the bus or train, the transit program will not aid the environment.

Richard P. predicted (to paraphrase) "if you build it, they will come". Specifically, he asked why someone would want to drive a car, pay for gas, etc. when they could take transit.

I agree that transit make sense. I take the bus or train whenever I can. However, many people still want to stay in their cars. They always have an excuse - they are too busy to wait for the next bus, they need more flexibility, etc.

However, if the bus or train to not go near a person's destination, there is no reason for that person to use the bus or train.

It is important that the transit system being designed for Wake County provide acceptable service for as many people as possible. Buses will need to go to most of the job locations and by as many houses as possible.

The environmental benefits depend upon a transit system that succeeds to get a large number of people out of their cars and onto public transportation.

A benefit of public transportation

One way that more public transit will help to improve the environment is the reduction in gasoline used to power personal cars and the reduction in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, produced by cars. Buses, of course, burn oil and produce carbon dioxide. But, compared to personal cars, they produce far less per person, assuming that more than a very few people are on the bus.

Light rail will produce even less pollution and consume less energy per person.

A less obvious way that public transportation reduces pollution and gasoline consumption is the reduction of road congestion. Cars burn gasoline and produce pollution while waiting at an intersection or waiting to turn onto a busy street. If congestion is reduced by drivers giving up their cars for a bus or train, oil consumption and production of CO2 and other pollution will be reduced.

Transit - Good for the environment?

We have heard much, particularly in the Triangle, recently about transit. The NC General Assembly has passed legislation that will allow the Triangle counties (Wake, Durham, and Orange) to increase sales tax by one/half cent per dollar to provide for light rail and bus service. Many of us in the environmental community were in favor of the enabling legislation. The next step is for the county commission to place a transit and tax proposal on the ballot (during a regular election) and for the people to approve the proposal. Many people assume that all of us in the environmental community will support the adoption of the tax and the transit enhancements. Maybe… but maybe not.

Public transportation does offer advantages over cars. The light rail and even the bus will produce far less pollution and green house gases than cars (per passenger mile). Less oil will be imported.

However, the savings from public transportation only works if people use it. To clean the air people must stop driving their car and start using the transportation for at least some of their travel. Will they?

If there were no cost to the proposal, it would be a no-brainer. But it does cost money. Would it be better to use this money to provide incentives for other forms of energy conservation?

In coming posts on Conserve NC we will look at some of the details of the transit options and how they will benefit the environment.

Sierra Club Slient Auction and Wine Tasting

I look forward to seeing everyone Sat October 17 from 5:30pm-9pm at Cafe Helios, located at 413 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, for The Capital Group Sierra Club's Silent Auction and Wine Tasting! Twenty dollars at the door gets you fun, food, wine, prizes, and the chance to bid on great local products and services.

All proceeds will benefit the Capital Group's Inner City Outings program. RSVP today at www.nc.sierraclub.org/capital/auction/rsvp.asp to support our local inner city children and enable them to experience nature and the Great Outdoors.

Please bring cash or checks only, as we are unable to accept credit cards.

The Sierra Club still needs help the day of the auction! If you're interested in volunteering to help the day of the event, please contact Sharon Hazouri at vicechair-cg@sierraclub-nc.org.

Paper or Plastic

The very familiar grocery store checkout question is “paper or plastic?” The correct answer, as we all should know, is “neither – got my own bag”. That is, we should bring our reusable bags. However, we will still sometimes go to the store and not have a bag. So the question is still “paper or plastic?”

The answer is not so obvious and may be surprising. Let’s consider the various environmental problems of bags and how plastic and paper bags compare. I have taken information from an Environmental Literacy Council article (www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/1268.html).

Energy
According to the article, plastic bags take less energy than paper bags to manufacture. Much of the energy of paper manufacturing is in the pulping stage, in which fiber from trees is cooked in a mixture of chemicals to turn it into paper stock.

Transportation
Plastic and paper have to be transported from the plastic plant or paper mill to the bag manufacturing plant. The bags then have to be transported to the stores. Paper is heaver and takes more room than the equivalent amount of plastic. According to Environmental Literacy, it takes seven times as many trucks to transport paper compared to plastic bags.

Disposal
One assumed advantage of paper bags is that they will degrade when exposed to moisture and air. However, in a properly designed and operated landfill nothing degrades. And even if paper bags did degrade, they would not simply go away. When a pound of paper degrades, there is still a pound of degraded paper taking up room in the landfill.

Compared to paper, plastic bags take up less space in a landfill than paper.

Plastic does have two problems, however. First, if plastic bags get into the sounds or ocean, fish and other aquatic animals may choke on them. Second, plastic bags are light weight and can blow in the wind, often landing in trees where they will remain for days. Paper bags, being heaver, will usually just lie on the side of the road.

Plastic bags should not be used on the beach or around sounds, Even if you intend to take the bag home with your trash, a gust of wind may still take it away. Also, if you have a habit of tossing your used grocery bags out of the car window, please use paper. But if you use your grocery bags as garbage can liners or other purposes, plastic is best.

The best way to carry groceries is reusable bags. Most grocery stores sell them, and they are easier to carry than either paper or plastic. But if you find yourself at the store without your reusable bags, it is best to get plastic bags and to be sure to reuse the bags for garbage cans or other uses. And do not use plastic near the beach.

General Assembly "Long Session" Over

The General Assembly has adjourned and gone home. They will not be back in session until May 12, 2010 when the "short session" begins. Our legislature meets every odd numbered year for the "long session" that starts at the end of January and usually lasts until mid-summer of that year. Every even year they meet for the "short session" that lasts from mid May until late summer.

There have been environmental victories and losses. In addition to the good and bad bills that were passed, many bills, good and bad, were not acted on.

A few of the highlights of this year's session are:

Falls Lake Protection
SB 1020 will instruct the Environmental Management Commission to give credit to government and owners for certain protective measures taken before the rules are adopted. It will impose, by law, certain protections for the lake before the EMC adopts the permanent rules. It will also extend the deadline for the Department of Environmental Resources to write the permanent rules from July 1, 2009 until January 15, 2011. It has been approved by both Houses and will be presented to the governor for her approval.

Energy Conservation Incentives
HB 512 will provide tax incentives for the use of geothermal heat pumps and extends the sunset of other energy conservation incentives by five years until January 1, 2016. It has been approved by both Houses and will be presented to the governor for her approval.

HB 1389 will allow authorize cities and counties to establish loan programs to finance the installation of renewable energy sources or efficiency improvements that are affixed to buildings. This bill is often known as the "Cities First" bill. It has been approved by both Houses and will be presented to the governor for her approval.

Transit
HB 148 will allow Triangle and Triad counties to raise sales tax by 1/2 cent and allow other counties to increase sales tax by 1/4 cent to provide for rail and bus transit. The bill has been passed by both the House and Senate and presented to the Governor for her approval.

The result of other actions with environmental consequences will be covered later.

Wind Power

One issue that divides the environment community is wind power. We need more renewable energy to replace the use of coal. On that almost everyone agrees. One source of renewable energy is wind power. However, there are serious environment consequences to the use of wind turbines.

The most well known and discussed problem is bird strikes, when the blade of a turbine strikes a bird. While that remains a problem, particularly in areas where bird migration paths will cross a line of wind turbines, it is much less of a problem than before because modern wind turbines are designed to use slower turning blades, and the structures do not have parts that would allow birds to perch.

A less well known and studied problem is the effect on bird habitat. One of the most attractive locations for wind turbines is mountain ridges in the western mountains of NC. However, many of these same ridges are used by raptors and other birds which make use of the updrafts to soar along the ridge looking for food. Much more needs to be learned about the effect of the wind turbines on these birds. Will they coexist with the turbines or will they seek other areas for their soaring and hunting.

Another area that has the sufficient wind is the coastal sound area of eastern NC. However, it is also an important area for birds. There are birds that fish in some areas of the sounds and roost on shore nearby. If a line of wind turbines is between the fishing area and the roosting area, the birds may move to a different, less desirable, area. Again, this needs more study before we allow wind turbines in our sound areas.

We do need more renewable energy. However, it is estimated that, fully developed, wind turbines in the mountain areas will produce only 800 MW of power when the wind is blowing. That much power will require at least 400 wind turbines. And the wind doesn’t always blow, even in the mountains. By comparison, some of the newer coal fired power plants produce over 2,000 MW, even when the wind doesn’t blow.

We certainly support the increased use of non-polluting renewable energy. Wind will supply some of our renewable energy. However, before we rush to site wind turbines on mountain ridges, coastal sounds, or other sensitive areas, we need more study of the effects on wildlife.