Please Note: This is my OPINION and I claim my constitutional right to free speech!August 28, 2012
I just heard Governor Otter if Idaho talking with Mike Huckabee at the RNC in Tampa. Governor Otter talked about the mercury contamination caused by the forest fires there. I asked him if the fire didn't all evaporate in the fire... and then realized that I'm not the brightest light bulb on the block. Of course, there will be residual mercury in the partially combusted material as well as heated material. (Remember? Heat cinnabar, mercury separates out.) Heat trees, mercury separates out? This tells me that putting out a forest fire with water will contaminate the waterways... hmmm... So, as my mercury contaminated mind continues to churn, this tells me it is better to cut the forests down, turn them into lumber, coat them with resins to keep the mercury from evaporating too fast and when we're done with the lumber, burn it completely to get the mercury into the air where it can distribute itself globally to keep earth's concentrations below toxic levels at any one point.
June 27, 2012. Land of Smoke
I just heard from a friend of mine that the Los Angeles area was called the Land of Smoke because of the smog that rested in the area. The smog back then was caused by terpenes being emitted by conifers in the area.
Tie this phenomenon with the air flows along the mountains and we have a massive amount of natural smog producers along the way.
So, how much do the smoke stacks in Tennessee and surrounding states actually contribute to the haze seen in the Appalachians? Why do they call the biggest park in Tennessee the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Another west facing mountain range?
Smog or fog? Hazy any way you look at it. It is easy to relate haziness with smoke, when in actuality it is fog.
June 25, 2012 At least Senator Lamar answered my last email and did it professionally. He's got to be a good guy... but, mislead.
Here's my response to the email he sent me today... My response, first, Senator Alexander's response second.
Senator Alexandar,
The Tennessee Central Valley is a collection point for pollutioncoming from California and all points WEST.
The wind coming off of the Pacific hits the Rocky Mountains andfinds its path of least resistance either to the North, or South. Theseair flows cause a “whirlpool” over Tennessee, particularly over the TennesseeValley that collects smog and other nasties and concentrates it.
So, the claim that it is all Tennessee and surrounding states isnot right.
Thank goodness that the weather patterns flow towards the east.
Yes, I am concerned about the hazards of pollution. I alsoquestion the fertilizing effect of the smoke stack effluent. We have toget nutrients back to the surface of our planet, too… otherwise… no crops.
We live in a Mexico City situation.
What happens to the particulates collected from the smokestacks? Is it dumped into a landfill? Are we wetting our own bed?
I am a strong proponent of allowing nature take care of oureffluent.
I am also a strong proponent of not allowing unethical companiesto dump their toxic wastes into our air and waterways.
I just question the mercury risk. It is a highly reactivemetal and the best way to keep our whole planet clean is to allow it todisperse, react, and have most of it sink to the bottom of the ocean.
How much of the mercury from current smokestack effluentactually ends up in our food? How much of the mercury in Tennessee’swaterways is naturally occurring? How much of the mercury in ourwaterways actually comes from the smokestacks?
I would think we should know it before we spend millions ofdollars solving a 10 cent problem.. We have other things to worry about.
National Geographic seems to show that life is abundant on ourearth. After “millions” of years of volcanoes spewing toxic metals ontothe surface of our earth before life began, how did life begin? (Theatheist’s viewpoint.) or why did God include toxins in his creation? Itend to not want to disrupt God’s plan.
Eric
June 25, 2012
Mr. Eric Miller
985 Slaydenwood Road
Vanleer, TN 37181-5320
Dear Eric,
Thanks very much for getting in touch with me and letting meknow what’s on your mind regarding the Environmental Agency’s MaximumAchievable Control Technology regulation (also known as the ‘mercury rule’) forutilities.
Over the years I have learned that cleaner air means betterjobs as well as better health for Tennesseans. That’s why I will vote touphold a clean air rule that requires utilities in other states toinstall the same pollution controls that TVA already is installing on itscoal-fired power plants.
TVA alone can’t clean up our air. Tennessee is borderedby more states than any other state. We are surrounded by our neighbors’smokestacks. If we want more Nissan and Volkswagen plants, we will haveto stop dirty air from blowing into Tennessee.
Here’s why: The first thing Nissan did when it came toTennessee in 1980 was to apply for an air quality permit for emissions from itspaint plant. If Nashville’s air had already been too dirty to allow theseemissions, Nissan would have gone to Georgia, and auto jobs wouldn’t makeup one third of Tennessee’s manufacturing jobs today.
Every one of Tennessee’s major metropolitan areas isstruggling to meet standards that govern whether industries can acquire the airquality permits to locate here.
I once asked Sevierville Chamber of Commerce leaders to nametheir top priority. The answer? Clean air. East Tennesseans knowthat 9 million tourists come each year to see the Great Smoky Mountains—not theGreat Smoggy Mountains. They want those tourist dollars and the jobs theybring to keep coming.
Despite progress in air quality, the Great Smokies still isone of the most polluted national parks. Standing on Clingman’sDome, you should be able to see 100 miles through the natural bluehaze. Yet on a smoggy day you can see only 24 miles.
We have 546 Tennesseans working in coal mining according tothe Energy Information Administration, and every one of those jobs isimportant. There are also 1,200 Tennesseans who work at the Alstom plantsin Knoxville and Chattanooga that will supply the country with pollutioncontrol equipment required by this rule. Every one of their jobs is important,too.
Of the top five worst U.S. cities for asthma, according tothe Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, three are in Tennessee: Memphis,Chattanooga and Knoxville. Nashville dropped out of the topten only last year.
Because of high levels of mercury, health advisories warnagainst eating fish caught in many of Tennessee’s rivers and streams. Nationally, mercury causes brain damage in more than 315,000 children eachyear, according to the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. Half of U.S. manmademercury comes from coal-fired power plants. The new rule requiresremoving 90 percent of this mercury.
The rule also controls 186 other hazardous pollutantsincluding arsenic, acid gases and toxic metals. Utilities have known thiswas coming since 1990 because these pollutants are specifically identified infederal law. An added benefit is that the equipment installed to controlthese hazardous pollutants also will capture fine particles, a major source ofrespiratory diseases.
While some have said this rule is anti-coal, I say that it ispro-coal because pollution control equipment guarantees coal a future in ourclean energy mix. Long term, TVA will be able to produce at least one third ofits electricity from clean coal plants. The rest will come from evencleaner natural gas and pollution-free nuclear or hydropower.
This new equipment will add a few dollars a month toresidential electric bills. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates a 3percent increase nationwide. Because TVA already has committed to install thepollution controls, its customers will pay this with or without the rule.
To reduce these costs, I have introduced legislation to allowsix years to comply with the rule, as many utilities have requested. Ihave also urged President Obama to exercise his existing authority to allow allutilities six years to comply with the rule.
Ever since Tennesseans elected me to the United States SenateI have worked to clean up our air, because I know that not doing so jeopardizesour health as well as our opportunity to be one of the nation’s leading statesfor auto jobs and tourism.
I’m glad you took the time to get in touch with me, and I’llbe sure to keep your comments in mind as clean air and clean coal is discussedin Washington and in Tennessee.
Sincerely,
Lamar
June 23, 2012 - ALEXANDER LAMAR DID IT!
He is now part of the responsibility for our electric bills going up and job losses.
HE WILL NOT GET MY VOTE... Sent him a "nasty"
We need to elect representatives who can THINK!
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TODAYS ADD ON and EDIT .... FOUND IT! June 13, 2012
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES.... The Cure is Worse Than the Disease
I thought I'd add to this post a question I asked an environmental professor.....
I’ve always had this question regarding water resources,especially rivers and groundwater.
The easiest way for me to present my question is to considerthe Grand Canyon, where the Rio Grande cuts through layers of strata as itfound its way to the ocean.
Each layer of strata represents an event, be itbio-deposited limestone, to layers of lava, volcanic ash, etc.
Each layer has its burden of toxic chemicals that end up inthe water as it traverses downhill.
The same transport occurs in our groundwater.
Why does life exist on our earth when there are so manynatural sources of pollution being introduced into our water resources?
My premise is that natural cycles ameliorate toxins in manyways. Mercury is toxic but reacts easilyinto less toxic compounds.
However, there are places where there is an excess of onereactant relative to another.
Case in point… California’s Central Valley. There is a deposit of cinnabar that bordersthe whole western edge of the Central Valley.
Tied in with the insult of poor mining practiced during theCalifornia Gold Rush where mercury (which was obtained from the deposit ofcinnabar) was used and discarded into the watershed with abandon.
I believe there are toxic levels of mercury in the foodproduced in our nation’s breadbasket because of the imbalance of available (depleted)mercury reagents.
Mercury occurs naturally in other parts of our country andthe world. For example, Trout Lake innorthern Wisconsin.
Why is life possible on this planet unless there are naturalprocesses that clean the surface of our earth?
Coal fired power plants have been identified as sources ofmercury in their effluent that is distributing mercury uniformly over thesurface of the earth… a major concern. This tells me that coal deposits are Superfund sites.
Now coal is compressed/heated biomass. This tells me that plant life on earth is anagent in concentrating mercury on the surface of our planet. (i.e. roots transport subsoil mercury to thesurface and concentrates in the above soil biomass. (Mercury accumulates as it goes up the foodchain.. little fish = safe levels ofmercury, big fish = toxic concentrations of mercury.
These thoughts bring me to the question as to why we want todisrupt the natural process of mercury distribution by insisting that coalfired power plants be retrofitted with mercury capturing devices, which resultsin high concentrations of captured mercury that needs to be dealt with… i.e.trading one superfund site for another.
It seems to make more sense to allow coal fired powerplantsto spew out all of its effluent into the atmosphere, where toxic carboncompounds can be broken down by UV, and mercury distributed evenly over thesurface of the earth. The 60%+ surfaceof this planet is covered with water contains many chemicals and available biomassthat absorb the toxic mercury metal and sinks these concentrations to thebottom of the ocean where they are subducted under continental plates. I feel this allows us to make sure we nolonger “wet our own bed” by collecting these and concentrating them in oneplace.
Lava soil is full of mercury, and eating food grown on richvolcanic (high mercury content) soil is not a good idea.
So, at the end of the day… allowing natural processes toameliorate toxic levels of pollutants and heavy metals might be the best way todeal with contamination of waterways… (I am not advocating for industrialpollution that overwhelms the natural environment (Lake Erie), but remediationbe dealt with using a natural perspective.
TODAYS ADD ON and EDIT .... FOUND IT! May 30, 2012
Check this out!
Insane people don't know they are insane...
If you understand where the cinnabar (mercury ore.) comes from, and the mercury contamination going through California's Central Valley (a major breadbasket for the U.S.), food chain there, and where a lot of crazies and Marxists and radical environmentalists come from (San Francisco anyone?) we can understand why we cannot understand their beliefs, practices, and extreme behaviors. They're NUTS!
There are other natural and man-made deposits throughout the U.S. So, I might be crazy too!
What was the behaviors of the "Mad-Hatters"?
More later...
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I am changing this post for several reasons... 1) I originally posted this article after Senator Bob Corker said on a radio show that we have to stop Lamar Alexander from not supporting the passing of a law that would repeal a new ruling by the EPA that would place even more financial burden onto fossil fueled power plants. So, I did and blasted this post at great risk.
2) Now I hear on the radio that Senator Corker and Lamar Alexander has an alliance going on some other Senatorial effort.. (what is this tellin' me???)
Since I've done my damage, I will now change this post to elaborate on the reasons why we shouldn't mess with mother nature..
This post is still geared toward the
ring in their noses ENVIRONMENTAL LEFT who have it all wrong regarding pollution and global warming.I read the suggested petition on
WarOnCoal.com that describes some of the
stupidity existing in Washington today regarding coal fired power plants.
http://action.americancommitment.org/6675/vote-yes-on-sj-res-37-to-stop-epas-war-on-coal/ submitted by
Phil Kerpen, one of the few intelligent people left in this world .
Today's ADD ON and EDIT (May 29, 2012)
For as long as man has been on earth, there have been several heating and cooling cycles, some caused by massive eruptions of volcanoes.
Volcanoes have been erupting for billions of years, and each time they erupt they spew out all kinds of nasties, like mercury, heavy metals, sulfides, sulfates, etc...
You would think the surface of our earth would be uninhabitable, but looking at any Nature program, you can see that is not the case.
So, what happened to all the volcanic pollution? Why has life flourished all these years in spite of the "buildup" of harmful chemicals?
Again, as iterated below, nature has a way of cleansing itself, including the pollution spewed out by volcanoes.
You've heard about the rich lava soil that grows lush vegetation. This tells me that volcanoes are good to have around, because they are a source of nutrients. (Although, rich lava soil does have a lot of mercury in it.)
Yet, we can still grow food that is safe. Why? Where did the mercury go? (Answer: Chemistry and physics of our earth.)
So, let's not get all excited about global pollution, let's get excited about controlling the concentration of our own pollution where we live.. (Los Angeles, Mexico City Basin, Tennessee Valley, that are geographical catch-basins for pollution.)
I still think it is best that we burn all the coal and natural gas around to help get rid of concentrations of toxins and get rid of the worst "global warming" gasses by burning them up and letting nature handle the cleanup. (I think global warming is more of a hoax, a story "spun" by special interest groups that want some kind of advantage over others.)
If we try to capture the poisons before they get into the atmosphere, we'll just make another Superfund cleanup site. Let's leave things alone before we have more unforeseen and unintended consequences.
Enough... Now I have to study where cinnabar is located in Oregon and California, two major producers of mercury are in these states. If California and Oregon are mercury toxic, I might be able to understand the insanity that goes on there. (And here I thought the insanity was an artifact of the LSD generation running things in Washington.)
Pertaining to this issue... Coal Fired Power Plants.
- Isn't coal made from trees? Are trees also our enemy? (Maybe we should cut them all down before they concentrate all the mercury they imbibe and turn into "nasty" coal.)
- What happens to the coal after it's burned. Don't all the "toxic" gasses from the smoke stacks get dispersed into our atmosphere where it is diluted to non-toxic levels?
- Doesn't the high concentrations of Ultra Violet light in our upper atmosphere break down the toxic organic chemicals into more benign molecules?
- Doesn't the rain bring the remaining toxins back down to the surface of our planet where most of it falls on our oceans? (70.9% of the surface area of Earth.)
- 5) Doesn't the food chain in our oceans concentrate the toxins? (Big fish/high mercury content, little fish/low concentration)
- Doesn't plankton suck carbon dioxide, other "pollutants" and nutrients out of the water only to die and sink to the bottom of the ocean to eventually turn into limestone?
- Don't a lot of rivers flow into the ocean? Don't they cut through layers of strata to get there (Grand Canyon) Doesn't each layer contain various levels of toxins?)
- Isn't our soil cleansed of a lot of toxins by the rain that eventually ends up in our water table (strata) and rivers which go to the ocean?
- Aren't buried nutrients (Nitrogen/Phospherous/Potassium etc.) brought back to the surface by these processes?
- Has anyone studied the nutrient level of the emissions from coal fired electric plants?
- How does the nutrient cycle work? Don't we need to recover nutrients buried by the plankton (and trees/coal)? Where do nutrients come from?
- As far as Superfund sites? Yes, they ARE nasty. And it is good for our human race to deal with them and incarcerate the bad guys responsible. But, at least we know how to recognize them and deal with them.
I say this... we humans are a tiny fraction of what "pollutes" this world. No matter what we do, we cannot affect environmental cycles in any way except locally where they can be noticed.
My conclusion about coal fired electric plants. THEY ARE GOOD FOR OUR
ENVIRONMENT and We Should Have more of them....
Coal fired electricity generating plants help disperse heavy concentrations of mercury in the coal to non-toxic levels. (i.e. coal seams are superfund sites that are cleaned up by burning them up.) They help release plant food (carbon dioxide) which the plants turn into oxygen for us to breath. They turn methane into a more benign "greenhouse" gas.
RILED = RANTS = Poor English
We are part of the ecosystem. Species come and go, and we humans will come and go... Let's live with the ecosystem, not against it, because we will lose, regardless.
I hope you all get my point.
P.S. Remember Glen Beck's Tea Party Convention in Washington? You know the one.. where, when everyone left, the place was spotless. Do you remember when the Lefties tried the same thing and trashed the area with litter? Seems to me that big pile of trash floating in the middle of the Pacific is a result of Leftie's doing their trashing (as always.) Let's take all of their solar panels and noisy wind turbines and put them on drone rafts which concentrate all the floating debris into one area that is economically feasible to mine for recycling. The drivers of the drone rafts can be the radical environmentalists, they should drool for the chance to clean up the environment... DonCha Think?
References:
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(http://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/)Overpopulated? I Think NOT!
