The hypocrites are at it again, they shut down coal plants all over but the ones they use for them.
DC Power Plant Continues to Burn Coal, Environmentalists Fume
Washington, DC local residents and environmentalists gathered at a meeting room in a Methodist Church on Capitol Hill last Thursday to discuss their dissatisfaction with the Capitol Hill cogeneration plant.
The plant, which was completely coal fired for almost one hundred years, exclusively heats the capitol. However, since 2007, according to the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), the plant began to move from burning primarily coal to burning mostly natural gas--but not entirely. Coal is still burned at the plant, but the rate of its reduction is not fast enough for local environmentalists and lawmakers.
In March of 2009, anti-coal protesters blocked the gates of the nearly century old Capitol Power Plant for nearly four hours. No one was arrested. By May of that year, then Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D – CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D – NV) announced that the plant would switch over to natural gas as its sole energy source. The promise was made in large part as an effort from Democrats to limit carbon emissions in the nation’s capitol.
However, despite the Democratic leaders agreeing in 2009 that the AOC could still use coal in three particular circumstances, green advocates claim the the AOC is not doing enough to completely eradicate coal from the capitol plant.
In an e-mail statement to Breitbart News, the AOC wrote:
In 2009, the Architect of the Capitol worked with Leader Pelosi and Senator Reid to address the request that the Capitol Power Plant move away from using coal. With Congress’s support, the Architect of the Capitol has made significant investments and improvements at the Plant over the past several years. However, the Architect must maintain the capability to potentially use some coal to ensure that it can provide uninterrupted service to Congress, and outlined 3 instances when coal would need to be used:
- If there is an emergency and natural gas supplies are interrupted;
- Abnormally cold conditions place higher than normal demands on the Plant;
- Equipment outages or maintenance on the gas boilers require use of backup fuel.
The Leaders agreed to these terms, and since 2009, the Capitol Power Plant has worked within these terms, and has relied on natural gas as its primary fuel source. In addition, the AOC continues to provide information to the Leaders about annual fuel use at the Plant.Washington DC Councilman Tommy Wells sent a letter to Stephen Ours, Chief of the Permitting Branch of DC Air and Quality Division, to oppose "any permits that would allow the Capitol Power Plant to continue, and potentially expand pollution emissions." Wells references the Pelosi and Reid push to rid the plant of coal four years ago saying, "In 2009, positive steps were taken to reduce coal use at the plant. However, it appears many of those advances were undermined and coal use is as prominent as ever."
In Fiscal Year 2012, the Plant relied on natural gas for 92% of its energy needs. By comparison, in 2005, the Plant relied on natural gas 42% of the time.
The AOC has identified the construction of a cogeneration plant as the most environmentally and economically beneficial way to meet its goal to use natural gas 100% of the time, and Congress has been supportive of this project.
After more than 100 years in operation, significant investment is needed to replace aging infrastructure and to install new, energy-efficient equipment in the Plant, and implementing cogeneration will allow the Plant to discontinue the use of its 60-year-old, less energy efficient coal boilers.
The DC Chapter’s Sierra Club stated late last week that “recently, the Defense Logistics Agency solicited bids for 20,000 tons of coal for delivery to the Plant in 2013. This comes to more than 220,000 pounds of coal burned per day during heating season.”
The Sierra Club and Washington DC Councilman Tommy Wells claim the emissions from the portion of the plant will cause “significant health hazards to children in the area,” Wells said in his opposition letter to Ours.
Advocates for coal energy disagree, saying that governmental entities like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "exaggerate" coal energy's "health risks," and that the EPA "relies on dubious co-benefits to make the utility MACT rule look reasonable." The MACT standard is, according to the EPA, "a level of control that was introduced by Title III of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments."
In a letter, the AOC responded to complaints from environmentalists:
While the AOC has reduced coal use at the CPP over the past several years, it cannot cease using coal until the new cogeneration plant is constructed. As a result, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) secures a certain quantity of coal for the AOC should any of the three circumstances listed above occur.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/28/DC-Power-Plant-Continues-To-Burn-Coal-To-Dismay-Of-Local-Environmentalists
Army drill scares residents on Houston's south side
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The sight of Army helicopters and the sound of gunfire created a lot of concern Monday afternoon in one Houston neighborhood.
We received a lot of phones calls, Tweets and Facebook posts from worried neighbors, wondering what was going on.
SkyEye 13 HD was over the south side where at first look, it appeared there was a massive SWAT scene happening.
With military helicopters flying above her southeast Houston neighborhood, Frances Jerrals didn't know what to think.
"When you see this, you think the worst. When you hear this, you think the worst," Jerrals said.
And so, she passed along her concern.
"She told me 'don't come home it sounds like we're in a war zone. Guns, shooting, helicopters flying around the house,'" Isaac Robertson Jr. said.
The U.S. Army along with other agencies took over the old Carnegie Vanguard High School near Scott and Airport. There were armed men in fatigues, plenty of weapons and what many thought were real live rounds
"I felt like I was in a warzone." Jerrals said. "It was nonstop. I was terrified."
Turns out, it was a multi-agency training drill that Jerrals wished would have come with warning.
"They could have done a better job in notifying the neighborhood," Jerrals said.
The Army did not give any details of what the training is for. Some people we spoke to needed no explanation.
"If it's to protect our kids, I'm all for it," neighbor Glenn DeWitt said.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=897131
And an email from a friend asked a good question, if it is ok for them to have personal defense, but it is not for us?
Homeland Security Wants 7,000 AR-15s For “Personal Defense”
While the feds are busy trying to find ways to ban semi-automatic weapons for civilian use, they’ve been buying them for themselves. New York State Senator Greg Hall, a Republican, issued a press release last week bringing this issue to light
General Service Administration (GSA) request for proposal (RFP) on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security and member components such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking over 7,000 AR-15’s and matching 30 round clips.”
So, what’s the feds’ excuse? Well, these AR-15s are for “personal defense,” particularly for “use in close quarters.” Apparently, they’re really good for that. So, why can’t American “civilians” have them for personal defense use in close quarters as well? Because although all people are equal, some are more equal than others
Homeland Security continues to buy up all the ammo and guns while demonizing gun owners. They’ve already declared protests to be forms of low-level terrorism. So all those people marching in protest against gun control measures were committing low-level acts of terrorism according to DHS. But what about all those people protesting in favor of gun control? Those are just people exercising their 1st Amendment rights.
And the hipocracy of the majority of our elected and appointed officials only grows.
ReplyDeleteJust my opinion.
Jerry