MORE NEWS, 1-9 (FROM COAL ASH SPILL GROUND ZERO—URGENT; DISASTERS IN WAITING; BREAKTHROUGH IN WIND; TEXAS SOLAR TO BRAZIL’S HOSPITALS)

FROM COAL ASH SPILL GROUND ZERO—URGENT
PLEASE FORWARD OUT FAR AND WIDE TO ALL LIST, EMAILS, FACEBOOKS, MYSPACES
Chris Irwin, January 6, 2009 (Energy Justice Network)

We (UMD) found out from the expert that we had come speak to last weekends community meeting that there is a window. After around 27 days the arsenic leaves urine. A lab said they could do this an other heavy metal testing. At first the cost was 700 per person--but they brought it down to 500 to help.

We had 50 people sign up for testing.

One of our volunteers (Bonnie) just called me in tears. She said "look, I am calling and people are sick, some are so sick that their families are there and answering the phone for them. The ones that know us are telling us the truth--they just lost their land value, there health and some of them everything and there is no way they can come up with that kind of cash.

We have sick families who cannot pay for the medical testing they need. People who drank out of wells and springs for DAYS while TVA told them to just boil their water.

If anyone happens to have 500 bucks we can get at least some of the sickest tested. We don't want to touch a dime you can pay the clinic doing the testing directly. They are taking blood, urine, nail clippings, fecal, hair follicle for heavy metal and arsenic screening.

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Here is what Bonnie wrote.

"Chris,

I need your help to get funding for the people of Harriman to have the toxicity testing done this Thursday, January 8th. I have spent the day calling people who signed up to get info about the heavy metal testing and it is breaking my heart to have to tell them that they will be required to pay $500 up front and then try to get reimbursed from their insurance companies. These people are telling me they feel sick, they are worried about their children, and some are not available because they are laying down and not feeling well. I had several people tell me they can't get the letter I emailed about the testing because they are homeless right now because of the TVA disaster.

The people that don't know me are saying thank you for the information and hanging up and the people that I have established a relationship with are saying "are you crazy I don't have an extra $500 laying around and my lab testing deductable is $700 so I will never get reimbursed for this test."

Please look for funding so I can tell these people something other that we are providing an opportunity to them that will just be one more big financial burden.

Please help,
Bonnie "

I am sending this out to every listserve, myspace, facebook--everywhere I can.

If you can help call Bonnie at 865 454-3215
Bonnie Swinford" bswinford1@yahoo.com

(See also United Mountain Defense and TVA Coal is Killing Tennessee)


DISASTERS IN WAITING
Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation
Shaila Dewan, January 6, 2009 (NY Times)

“The coal ash pond that ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee last month was only one of more than 1,300 similar dumps across the United States — most of them unregulated and unmonitored — that contain billions more gallons of fly ash and other byproducts of burning coal…

“…most of these dumps, which reach up to 1,500 acres, contain heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be a threat to water supplies and human health. Yet they are not subject to any federal regulation, which experts say could have prevented the spill, and there is little monitoring of their effects…

“…coal ash is used throughout the country for construction fill, mine reclamation and other “beneficial uses.” In 2007, according to a coal industry estimate, 50 tons of fly ash even went to agricultural uses, like improving soil’s ability to hold water, despite a 1999 E.P.A. warning about high levels of arsenic. The industry has promoted the reuse of coal combustion products because of the growing amount of them being produced each year…

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“The amount of coal ash has ballooned in part because of increased demand for electricity, but more because air pollution controls have improved. Contaminants and waste products that once spewed through the coal plants’ smokestacks are increasingly captured in the form of solid waste, held in huge piles…near cities like Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Tampa, Fla., and on the shores of Lake Erie, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River.

“Numerous studies have shown that the ash can leach toxic substances that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems in humans, and can decimate fish, bird and frog populations…

“ ‘Your household garbage is managed much more consistently’ than coal combustion waste, said Dr. Thomas A. Burke, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health…”


BREAKTHROUGH IN WIND
Tilting At Wind Farms
January 7, 2009 (Science Daily)

“A way to make wind power smoother and more efficient that exploits the inertia of a wind turbine rotor could help solve the problem of wind speed variation…

“...Despites its deficiencies, a report from the US Department of Energy suggests that installed wind energy capacity could reach 300 gigawatts by 2030 to meet a fifth of the US electricity demand.

“…Asghar Abedini, Goran Mandic and Adel Nasiri at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Power Electronics and Motor Drives Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, have devised a solution to the electricity grid susceptibility to changes in wind speed.

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“…Simply put, they have created a braking control algorithm that adjusts the rotor speed so that when incoming wind power is greater than the average power, the rotor is allowed to speed up so that it can store the excess energy as kinetic energy rather than generating electricity. This energy is then released when the wind power falls below average.

"This approach, the team explains, precludes the need for external energy storage facilities such as capacitors and the additional infrastructure and engineering they entail. Their method also captures wind energy more effectively and so improves the overall efficiency of wind farming potentially reducing the number of turbines required at any given site…”

(Wind Power smoothing using rotor inertia aimed at reducing grid susceptibility)


TEXAS SOLAR TO BRAZIL’S HOSPITALS
Sunrise Solar tapped for alternative energy project in Brazil
January 7, 2009 (San Antonio Business Journal)

“Sunrise Solar Corp. has been selected to provide solar power resources to four major hospitals in Brazil. The project is part of a multimillion-dollar alternative energy development initiative by Brazil…

“ ‘We look forward to increasing our project base in Brazil through the development of solar resources for these important facilities,’ says Eddie Austin, chairman and CEO of Sunrise Solar Corp. ‘These hospitals expect to significantly reduce their dependence on traditional electric power by generating solar power at their facilities.’

“…Sunrise Solar (OTCBB: SSLR) is a San Antonio-based company that commercializes and distributes solar energy technologies and equipment. The company is seeking major international projects to expand its footprint beyond the United States.”