June 7, 2007
Lehighton Times News www.tnonline.com

Dear Editor:

What a difference a month makes! Last month, Schuylkill County Commissioners Frank J. Staudenmeier and Robert S. Carl, Jr. celebrated the 4.4 percent county jobless rate in March as evidence of the success in their county economic development efforts. It should be pointed out that they were actually celebrating a shrinking workforce.

This month, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry reported the unemployment figures in Schuylkill County rose to 5.2 percent in April, an increase of 0.8 percent since March. Now, Staudenmeier and Carl are claiming that employers are still in need of workers and that the numbers reflect only normal fluctuation at or near full employment.

Carl said "We're going to have these numbers moving around" and that county officials would become concerned if the numbers began creeping back towards 8 or 9 percent. Staudenmeier said "The jobs are out there" and insisted that major employers are still having difficulty finding an adequate workforce.

On April 6, 2007, a newspaper article reported that the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Hometown had received more than 2000 applications for the 280 jobs available. The average starting salary for these jobs would be $10.23 per hour.

The facts show me that there are many more people looking for jobs in Schuylkill County than the commissioners believe and that at least one major employer was not having any difficulty finding an adequate workforce.

We need to have the politicians stop taking credit for anything good that occurs and distancing themselves from anything bad that happens. We need to have our elected officials go out into the communities and find out what are the concerns and problems of the people. We do not need clueless politicians running the county.

Dr. Dante Picciano
Tamaqua

Monday, June 11, 2007

Sue Sturgis
www.hometownhazards.com/labels/coal-to-diesel.html

MoveOn.Org, a national progressive political action and advocacy group, today sent out an e-mail asking members for their help in blocking highly polluting coal-to-oil projects like the one planned for Schuylkill County. The e-mail stated:
The idea of turning coal into liquid to fill our gas tanks should just be a bad joke. But because the coal industry pours millions into lobbying Congress every year, this joke could turn into a real nightmare.

The senate is about to vote on a big bill dealing with energy and the climate crisis. Massive subsidies for coal were defeated in committee. But we're not out of the woods yet, since one of the coal-friendly senators could sneak them back in again as an amendment just before the final vote.

Can you call your senators today to tell them to vote against liquid coal if it's added to the bill at the last minute?
The New York Times reported last month that King Coal is pushing hard for billions of dollars in taxpayer-financed construction loans for coal-to-oil plants, minimum prices for the new fuel, and big government purchases of the fuel over the next quarter-century.

Not only would such operations subject nearby residents to toxic emissions, they would also emit enormous quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Plans to capture those gases and sequester them underground have repeatedly run into technical difficulties.

If Hometown-area residents want to weigh in with their senators on coal-to-oil technology, they can call Sen. Bob Casey in Washington at (866) 802-2833 and Sen. Arlen Specter at (202) 224-4254.

But they shouldn't hold their breath while waiting for these politicians to oppose the plant. After all, Casey and Specter -- along with state Rep. Tim Holden (D-17th) -- rescued a low-interest loan for the plant earlier this year after the Bush administration canceled it. At the same time, Specter has accepted at least $12,000 in campaign contributions from the Rich family, one of whose companies -- Waste Management and Processors -- is behind the plant.

Labels: coal-to-diesel

Posted by Sue Sturgis at 3:39 pm 0 comments

Sunday, June 17, 2007

A recent article in the Pottsville Republican & Herald (June 15, 2007) reported that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), part of the federal Department of Health and Human Resources, is completing a study on the incidence of polycythemia vera in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties. Polycythemia vera is a rare bone marrow cancer. The article story indicated that the three-county region being investigated might be expected to see five cases of polycythemia vera per year or 25 cases over five years instead of the 97 cases actually reported from 2001-2005.

These results indicate at least two things to me. First, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) failed twice to detect an almost quadrupling of the incidence of polycythemia vera in this area. The PA DOH issued reports on September 20, 2004 and January 18, 2006. The later report stated only that "The incidence of polycythemia vera was significantly elevated in Luzerne County, but rates for the individual zip copes were not significantly higher, indicating that no single area was at greater risk." We had to get the ATSDR in here to confirm the obvious.

The PA DOH attributed any increases in the incidences of cancer that did appear in its two studies to life style, specifically smoking and diet. The PA DOH was partially correct. The increases can be attributed to life style but in these studies the life style relates to living in an area contaminated with imported hazardous wastes and to being exposed to a toxic chemical soup.

Second, an article in the Reading Eagle (April 11, 2007) reported that a state representative stated "the state was responsive to community concerns." Any state representative who believes that the Pennsylvania Department of Health or the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has been responsive to community concerns is not doing a very good job representing the people in his district.

The government should be responsive to the needs of its citizens. It should not be acting to protect industry. Remember, it is the Pennsylvania Legislature that created these state agencies and that controls their purse strings. The Legislature allows these agencies to function the way that they do. It is time for us to hold the feet of our elected officials to the fire and demand a compete and thorough investigation into past and present dumping of contaminated, hazardous and toxic wastes in the three-county region and into the resulting adverse health effects.

June 23, 2007

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) is asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop its plan to dump Delaware River sludge in a nature park in New Jersey http://www.ens-newswire.com. The Corps wants to dump the sludge in the 250-acre Palmyra Cove Nature Park.

In a letter dated June 14, 2007, Senator Lautenberg wrote to the Corps "This park is an exceptional natural resource and I urge you to immediately withdraw all plans to deposit dredge material here." He also wrote "The Army Corps’ proposal to dump dredge spoils in this park would be devastating and the environmental impact of these spoils would be enormous."

The senator is correct. This isn’t rocket science. The sludge is a contaminated, hazardous, and toxic mixture of a century’s worth of industrial and municipal wastes. When the sludge was dumped in the Atlantic Ocean, it killed the fish.

According to the Corps’ own study, dredge material from the Delaware River contains at least 128 different contaminants, including thallium, cadmium, antimony, beryllium, lead, selenium, mercury and arsenic. Numerous organic toxins were also found in samples taken for the study (Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project, Sediment Quality Testing, www.nap.usace.army.mil).

No one, well almost no one, wants this garbage. In order to get rid of the waste in the least expensive way, the Army Corps pays people to take it. A responsible Corps would spend more money and properly treat the sludge. The treated sludge could then be used safely.

Don’t worry Senator Lautenberg. You can ask the Corps to send this contaminated sludge to Pennsylvania. On February 17, 2005, the Hazleton Standard-Speaker reported that Hazleton, Pennsylvania Mayor Lou Barletta stated "The science we’ve seen says it’s perfectly safe…." What science, Mr. Mayor? The mayor’s science is based on the dollar. Hazleton will be getting $1.25 per cubic yard of the sludge dumped in the city (http://www.standardspeaker.com). If the sludge is so good, why is the Corps paying Hazleton to take it?

Mayor Barletta also stated that the Delaware River sludge was, in effect, "reconstructed virgin dirt" and that "After it’s processed, you could almost eat it." Bon appetite, Mr. Mayor.

Don’t allow money-driven politicians to dump this garbage in your communities. Pennsylvanians should just say "No." Science and common sense demand proper processing and disposal of this contaminated, hazardous and toxic waste.

June 30, 2007

A recent article in the Pottsville Republican-Herald caught our attention. The story appeared June 28, 2007 and was entitled "Federal money will fund mine reclamation project" www.republicanherald.com.

This story was filled with more propaganda than the proverbial Christmas turkey. Don’t get us wrong; we are not criticizing the reporting which was fine. We are criticizing the government propaganda that makes the importation and dumping of chicken, duck, etc. manure in Schuylkill County sound like an innocuous mine reclamation project.

The article reports "A $212,048 federal grant will fund a project seeking to use composted poultry manure for mine reclamation and in the process of growing grass for biofuel." First, we note that a federal grant is taxpayer money that doesn’t have to be repaid. Second, "composted poultry manure" is not as misleading as saying "biosolids" instead of sewage sludge but it is a nicer way of saying chicken and duck waste or manure. Third, the use of grass for making ethanol has a way to go before it is feasible on a commercial scale. In short, this is free money for a pie in the sky project.

The articles continues "State conservationist Craig Derickson said the project will aim to transport excess poultry manure from the Susquehanna River Basin into the county for use in nutrient-deficient mine lands." Translation: They are going to send chicken and duck manure to Schuylkill County and dump it in the mines.

I love the expression "nutrient-deficient mine lands." Some bureaucrat had to stay up all night to come up with that one. What he is saying is that grass won’t grow on the reclaimed mine lands so they are going to dump the manure there in hopes that it will support the growth of grass.

Finally, the article states "The funding was awarded to the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, formed in 1970 as a source of environmental information for individuals, organizations, government and industry." The Pennsylvania Environment Council (PEC) is referred to by true environmentalist as an Astroturf environmental group, that is, it is artificially green. PEC is an industry group posing as an environmental group. The board of directors for PEC www.pecpa.org is comprised of industry representatives, lawyers and lobbyists and looks like a "Who’s Who in Dumping."

This project is just another way of dumping waste in Schuylkill County under the guise of mine reclamation. Call it what it is – waste disposal, not mine reclamation. To date, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) has proposed using animal waste, construction and demolition waste, sewage sludge, dredged sludge, fly ash, cement kiln dust and lime kiln dust for mine reclamation in the county. Has the PA DEP missed any waste? Is there any waste that cannot be "beneficially used" for mine reclamation? Is nuclear waste next?

Schuylkill County has been targeted as the dumping grounds for Pennsylvania and the newspaper article shows that more dumping is planned. If you want to help stop this continued onslaught of dumping in the county, write or call your state representatives and demand that they do something in Harrisburg to stop this poisoning of Schuylkill County.