Virginia

Second VA Energy Conference: a time to spotlight the desire for renewables

October 7, 2011 by ArticleXI

The Virginia Sierra Club recently announced its intentions to attend the second Virginia Energy Conference, held by our dirty energy-loving governor, Bob McDonnell. The conference will be held on October 17-19 and anyone in favor of clean, renewable sources of energy for VA are encouraged to attend.

For all of his promises to the contrary, Gov. McDonnell has focused his administrations attention on bolstering VA's coal, gas, oil, and nuclear commitments to the exclusion of renewables.

We can of course discuss the political cronyism that's obviously taking place, but the more important issues are the human and environmental ramifications that a continued reliance on nonrenewable sources of energy will have in VA.

First, committing to more "domestic" sources of nonrenewable energy will almost inevitably mean higher rates of diseases and illnesses related to the increased domestic production of nonrenewable energy. That is, more Virginians will become sick or die.

Secondly, Virginia's various and invaluable ecosystems will take unparalleled "shocks" that may lead to their irreversible decline.

Virginia Uranium Inc: Good Land Stewards?

September 29, 2011 by ArticleXI

Cross-posted from Blue Virginia.

Here's a fabulously preposterous line from a full page ad released in the Danville Register and Bee on 9/28/2011 by Virginia Uranium Inc.:

For our company, stewardship of the land is more than a corporate principle; it is a deeply ingrained way of life that has sustained six generations of farmers, each striving to pass on this land in a better condition than they found it.

Better condition than they found it? How exactly do you dig up tremendous swaths of land and uranium ore and expect to leave the land "in a better condition?" Virginians in particular, and Americans in general, have seen this marketing game played before by natural resource pillagers, claiming on the one hand ideas of stewardship, intergenerational justice, and corporate social responsibility while kowtowing to the scriptures of capitalism. In effect, the consequence of the latter is a complete negation of the former, the complete dismissal of public-faced claims of stewardship.

Virginians should not and do not buy the land stewardship argument because it assumes that companies like Virginia Uranium Inc.

VA's rarest bird may be on its way to a sustained recovery from endangered list

September 27, 2011 by ArticleXI

Virginia's rarest bird, the red-cockaded woodpecker, may be able to rest a little easier after the Big Woods State Forest and Wildlife Management Area was officially christened with a ceremony by VA officials on Monday.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, Big Woods holds over 4,400 acres in Sussex County. Overall, it's VA's 21st state forest and 39th wildlife management area.

The Big Woods forest was bought from the Nature Conservancy, a national non-profit group, which also owns the adjacent Piney Grove Preserve.

Director of the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Bob Duncan, said his agency intends on placing artificial nests in mature pine trees to assist the woodpeckers in their recovery.

VA's rarest bird may be on its way to a sustained recovery from endangered list

September 27, 2011 by ArticleXI

Virginia's rarest bird, the red-cockaded woodpecker, may be able to rest a little easier after the Big Woods State Forest and Wildlife Management Area was officially christened with a ceremony by VA officials on Monday.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, Big Woods holds over 4,400 acres in Sussex County. Overall, it's VA's 21st state forest and 39th wildlife management area.

The Big Woods forest was bought from the Nature Conservancy, a national non-profit group, which also owns the adjacent Piney Grove Preserve.

Director of the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Bob Duncan, said his agency intends on placing artificial nests in mature pine trees to assist the woodpeckers in their recovery.

VA & U.S. Army Corp of Engineers announces ongoing tests for water quality improvements

September 22, 2011 by ArticleXI

Several agencies from Virginia alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced they will be simulating a storm event on the Jackson River by using the Gathright Dam near Covington.

The plan is to set up a controlled release that will test whether algae can be removed effectively as well as the water quality enhanced by undergoing simulations of storms that happen in late summer and early fall.

The simulation is part of a continuing study on the Gathright Dam's operations and surrounding marine life.

The flow of the Jackson River will be increased to 3,500 cubic feet per second. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers announced also that the water level downstream will increase up to 5 feet in some areas while remaining below flood level.

The results of these continuing studies should be interesting and will help pave the way for other states to improve their water quality and algae removals during "storm season."

Virginians often take it for granted that they'll have clean water when they need it. They might be right, but at the rate of potable water contamination at present, it may cost future generations considerably to turn their water into a drinkable form.