The moving life

Friday fracking video

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Op-Ed on the devastation of the wood pellet industry

Just looking at the hog industry alone, the sheer number of animals and the waste they produce here in North Carolina has created a water quality crisis that has crossed over into other industries that support tens of thousands of our fellow North Carolinians. Many fish in eastern North Carolina are no longer edible, and massive fish kills are becoming more frequent. Which leads us to what Steve Troxler is not: an environmentalist. So when he starts bandying around terms like "renewable" and "sustainable," it gets my antennas waving a little bit.

Using woody biomass in place of coal to fire the steam generators in power plants is relatively new. I had a debate with an N.C. State grad student several years ago about this very thing, and he assured me (because he had been assured) there was more than enough scruffy byproduct from land development to scratch this particular itch. I tried to explain to him the sheer volume needed would soon have us chopping down healthy trees to keep the supply flowing. I wish I had been wrong, but I wasn't.

Please hop the link and go read the whole thing at the Fayetteville Observer. The more traffic articles like this get, the more likely they will publish other opinions of a similar nature in the future.

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High Arsenic levels reveal dangers of de-watering

Of course, Duke Energy spokesbot sez "No big deal":

Scott said the water tested was contaminated with arsenic at a level four times higher than the surface water safety standard. Nearby neighbors were disturbed by the findings. "We are very concerned, and this is another reason why Duke Energy needs to full clean up all that coal ash,” said Deborah Graham.

Duke Energy said the findings are very misleading. "Elevated arsenic levels are located immediately near the permitted release area. If you sample a short distance away in the river arsenic levels are well within the appropriate standard and would pose no risk to people on the river,” said Duke Energy Spokesperson Erin Culbert.

Did you sample that water a short distance away, or is that just speculation? The "if" leads me to believe you didn't, or you would have said something like, "Samples taken a short distance away..." While everybody reading this is probably aware Arsenic is some bad stuff, the health problems associated with long-term exposure are numerous:

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Thursday News: Koch/Burr love affair sprouts

KOCHS TARGET N.C. TO BOOST VOTER OUTREACH IN SENATE FIGHTS (USA TODAY) -- The Koch brothers’ political network is ramping up its ground game in key states to help save the Republican Party’s majority in the Senate, as the GOP faces new threats in states such as North Carolina in the final push to Election Day. The Koch ad buys run through until Oct. 5, but officials have no plans to continue advertising after that date, Davis told reporters Wednesday.
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Pariah state

For months, Pat McCrory and the GOP leadership in North Carolina have been engaged in a game of chicken with college athletics in North Carolina. In the days following the passage of HB2, entertainers canceled concerts and businesses moved conventions. Pat McCrory and the GOP defiantly called them Hollywood elitists and blamed Charlotte for the […]
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A Referendum on Responsibility

You don’t have to be on the Left to agree that some outcomes are just bad. Wages should not grow at a too-slow rate. Infant mortality should never rise. Rivers shouldn’t be choked with poison, rural hospitals should not shut down, and a booming city shouldn’t lose $132,000,000 dollars in economic activity for a law […]
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