Just how bad is George Allen?--One more reason to Vote for Tim Kaine

Originally posted by: glenbesa on Article XI: To Preserve and Protect on Sat Oct 20, 2012 at 15:55:53 PM EST:

If you didn't live in Virginia when George Allen was Governor you may not understand just how anti-environmental he is. In the US Senate he had an abysmal record but those were only votes. 

It was as Governor where George Allen demonstrated his utter contempt for environmental laws. Right after he was sworn in as Governor, he gutted the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Allen, bringing in what we then caused "wise users" at the time to run this key environmental agency is today's equivalent of putting the Tea Party in charge. There were mass firings and mass resignations of agency staffers who refused to follow orders to ignore pollution violations. 

Allen also interfered with an on going EPA lawsuit against Smithfield Foods for water pollution. The CEO of Smithfield at the time, Joe Luter, gave Allen a $100,000 campaign contribution and after Allen was elected he had the state intervene in that EPA lawsuit, effectively neutralizing federal action against Smithfield. As unethical as this may sound, it apparently is not illegal in Virginia where there is no limit on campaign contributions. 

The Allen Administration even lied to the US EPA about the status of data collected on toxic emissions. When the EPA sought the toxic pollution data from the state, the response was that they did not have it, all the while it was actually locked in safe at the DEQ. 

If elected to the US Senate, George Allen will continue his war against the environment, attacking EPA funding and regulations and voting as he has before to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. We must not let this happen.

Coarse Cracked Corn stands in total agreement with this post. Returning George Allen to the United States Senate would be as disgusting as allowing mountain top removal coal mining in Shenandoah National Park.

Clean water and green jobs

Governor Tim Kaine announced that loan agreements and contracts for 35 water quality projects are in place to use some $77.7 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The projects, which are found all across the state, will improve facilities treating wastewater thereby helping to clean up Virginia's streams and rivers. Of course, building and renovating these facilities will create jobs and help stimulate local economies, too. Good news on several fronts. Among the projects:

• Wastewater reuse projects in Fairfax will reduce nasty discharges into the Chesapeake Bay by 580 million gallons per day.
• Projects in Lynchburg will move forward several projects eliminating raw sewage discharges at two points into the James River. How is such dumping allowed?
• Richmond will get funding to help move forward on a sewer overflow project.
• Communities in southwest Virginia will get funding to provide sewer service to areas with failing septic systems/drainfields.

The best managed state in the nation was very efficient at moving the paperwork forward so these projects can begin sooner rather than later - only Minnesota finished the process quicker. That is good news for cleaning up our waters and for desperately needed jobs. To the Department of Environmental Quality - Great Job!

Play it again... and again

The Department of Environmental Quality just released the Virginia Annual Recycling Report that contains a mixture of good news, not so good news, and some so-so news. Statewide, Virginians recycled/reused 3,661,027 tons of material out of a 9,542,428 tons of solid waste generated, or about 38.5%. (see the report for details of the calculations). While to some that may sound pretty good, after a couple yeas of positive increases, the percentage rate has been flat since 2006.

No surprise that recycling rates are generally a few percentage points higher in urban/suburban areas where curbside recycling is available and lower in rural areas where folks have to take recycling to collection points. Rural curbside isn't cost effective and the long routes burning fuel would probably be more damaging to the environment than the lower recycling rates. Kudos to the Greater Richmond area that topped 50% for the second year and to Fredericksburg that got very close. On the flip side are places in our region like Botetourt Co. that only managed a 13.1% recycling rate. Caroline Co. earns my "Who Gives a Crap About the Environment" award for a dismal 10.4% rate.

In the CCC region, the rates are okay, but could certainly be better - Rockingham is 26.5%, Harrisonburg is 28.3%, and Augusta/Staunton/Waynesboro combined is 27.6%. But, Rockbridge, Lexington, and Buena Vista do a great job - 39%. Maybe other localities ought to recycle some of Rockbridge's ideas for boosting participation!

Perhaps recycling/reusing rates are actually higher than the DEQ numbers indicate? For example, plastic and oil recycling are available in my county but not convenient to where I live. So, I take oil to stores, like Advance Auto, where I buy it and take most plastic to a commercial recycler not located in my county. I also take high value aluminum to the commercial recycler - at least it pays for my gas to get there. Wood from projects and limbs from pruning are used as kindling in our efficient Jotul stove (I'm always amazed at the perfectly good firewood that is dumped at the landfill). We compost. Are those numbers factored in the DEQ statistics?

Recycling offers so many advantages - conserving resources, saving landfill space (tax $), and in cases like aluminum real production cost savings - it amazes me that everyone is not on board. But, I frequently see folks tossing card board, paper, cans, etc. that - with about 20 steps - could go into the recycling bin. I bite my tongue figuring that is better than a whoopin', but always wonder what whack on the side of the head it will finally wake these hardheads up.

The folks in Rockbridge probably have some great suggestions to boost rural recycling, but here are a few of mine:

• KISS - keep it simple stupid. Forcing folks to do an inordinate amount of separating things like different types of paper probably means less recycling. My county accepts mixed paper and mixed glass - a good thing.
• Make it convenient - recycling needs to be available at all waste disposal sites across the county. I my case it generally is, but plastic and used oil for example, is only accepted at the landfill.
• Set the example - all government offices and schools should recycle on-site. The cost and manpower of collecting recycling from schools should be bore by the locality, not by the schools. Many teachers encourage recycling but a school-wide emphasis from grades K through 12 would send a strong message to families.
• Rural or not so rural - most of our "rural" counties have larger subdivisions, small towns, and suburban areas that, if they aren't doing it already, could benefit from efficient curbside recycling.

Thirty-eight percent statewide is good, and slightly above the 33% nationwide average, but we ought to be shooting for 50%! And when we get there... 60%. We'll never achieve zero waste, but my personal experience and common sense tells me that 75% or more is quite doable. It is a matter of will, of leadership, and of the common good.

Down by the river

President Barack Obama and Governor Tim Kaine called on us to honor the memories of the precious lives lost on September 11 by participating in service to our communities. There were many great opportunities to volunteer and to make a positive difference for our neighbors, the environment, school kids, and the entire community.

I joined a group of about 50 folks working to clean up South River from Waynesboro to Port Republic. Organized by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries the cleanup included participants from the Department of Environmental Quality, Trout Unlimited, JMU, Riverfest, and others who enjoy fishing and canoeing on Shenandoah Valley rivers.

It all got started in Waynesboro about 9:00 AM with coffee, juice, ham rolls, donuts, and fruit. Teams had been preassigned, maps were distributed, safety was discussed, and groups set out to clean up their own stretch of the river. Some worked on foot, walking the banks in the city. Others headed out to unload canoes, set up shuttles, and get their paddles wet.

Late summer water levels are low and we all knew we'd have to do a good bit of walking. Still, there were some riffles that added a little fun to the experience and, after a cool wet week, the weather fully cooperated with sunny skies and temps in the low 70s - couldn't have been better.

My group worked a three mile section of the river with a couple canoes, a nice size inflatable, and a kayak. Good thing we had all the flotation because, as you can see in the pictures, we hauled out a lot of stuff that has absolutely no business in any river. In addition to several huge trash bags of bottles, cans, and other consumer items carelessly tossed out by *#@^%&! idiots, we retrieved about a half dozen tires, lawn furniture, barrels, tanks, pipes, and other debris.

Larger items that will be recycled or reused.

Our team looks over bags of trash, tires, and several heavy items that made it necessary to pull canoes through shallow sections.

Thanks to everyone who organized the South River cleanup, thanks to the Riverfest folks who provided nourishment as we embarked, and thanks to the trash haulers who picked up the mountains of junk at designated points and took it to the Augusta County landfill (which forgave tipping fees for the event).

So, South River is much cleaner than it was just 24 hours ago. On to North River, Middle River, the South Fork of the Shenandoah - how many miles of rivers flow through the Shenandoah Valley? Next time you are floating along a river, fishing from a bank, or even walking along a road, take a small trash bag with you and pick up the evidence of some careless and uncaring person who passed by before you. If everyone picked up just a little....

UPDATE: The dump truck tipped the landfill scales a 1.75 tons not counting 117 tires that were pulled from the river!!! Also retrieved were 15 shopping carts, four car batteries, a computer monitor, and a toilet. The good news is that South River is so much cleaner. The bad news is there are people out there who are still trashing our beautiful valley.