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EiJ Eastern North Carolina, USA Stakeholders: The Waterkeepers

tschuetz

This July 14th news article (Oglesby 2022) mentions the The Waterkeeper Alliance as a stakeholder group commenting on biogas projects:

Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental group, also criticized the general permit, calling it “woefully inadequate” and saying it fails to assure compliance with water quality protections required under North Carolina law.

Note that the case study for Calhoun County, Texas revolves around a clean water lawsuit against Formosa Plastics, led by a group of actvists associated with the Waterkeeper movement. See the essay The Waterkeepers Win.

EiJ Eastern North Carolina, USA Actions: Biogas permits

tschuetz

From a recent news article (July 12, 2022):

On July 1, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ)—the state’s environmental regulator—issued general biogas permits for swine, cattle, and wet poultry operations, allowing them to bypass individual water quality review and public hearing processes when installing an anaerobic digester on their lagoons. The permits are in effect until Sept. 2024.

[...]

The permits reduce communities’ ability to weigh in on individual projects and will fast-track biogas operations in the state. Environmental groups heavily opposed the draft released in February. 

See the first part of the article series here.

LA's Ocean Water

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The plan to discontinue three natural gas plants in Los Angeles is partly justified by pointing to the problems of relying on ocean water needed for cooling the plants. An overview of the various negative impacts of this process can be found here.

LA's Green New Deal

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In April 2019, LA's Mayor Garcetti has announced his vision for a "Green New Deal", with the goal to make the city carbon neutral by 2050. Earlier in February, he shared plans to stop renewing three natural gas plants. The GND is backed up by over 40 different groups such as Communities for a Better Environment, Earthjustice, C40 GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles, Pacoima Beautiful, and Sierra Club.

The list of targets for the GND reads as follows

  • "Building a zero carbon electricity grid — reaching an accelerated goal of 80% renewable energy supply by 2036 as we lead California toward 100% renewables by 2045.
  • Creating a Jobs Cabinet to bring city, labor, educational, and business leaders together to support our effort to create 300,000 green jobs by 2035 and 400,000 by 2050.
  • Mandating that all new municipally owned buildings and major renovations be all-electric, effective immediately, and that every building in Los Angeles — from skyscrapers to single family homes — become emissions free by 2050.
  • Achieving a zero waste future by phasing out styrofoam by 2021, ending the use of plastic straws and single-use takeout containers by 2028, and no longer sending any trash to landfills by 2050.
  • Recycling 100% of our wastewater by 2035; sourcing 70% of our water locally — a significant increase from our existing pathway; and nearly tripling the maximum amount of stormwater captured.
  • Planting and maintaining at least 90,000 trees — which will provide 61 million square feet of shade — citywide by 2021 and increasing tree canopy in low-income, severely heat impacted areas by at least 50% by 2028."