By Tom Means, tommeans@cfra.org, Center for Rural Affairs

Wind power is the future. It's the most cost-effective source of renewable energy, and is starting to undercut fossil fuels. Power from conventional coal costs $68 per megawatt-hour, while wind power in high resource areas cost $65 per megawatt-hour.

Supplies of coal and oil dwindle each day, but there will always be wind. And since wind will always be there, it isn't subject to the type of supply-side market fluctuations that exist for fossil fuels.

Moreover, coal has serious underlying environmental implications. The combustion of coal is required for it to be used for energy, and this combustion releases multiple tons of carbon dioxide and other gases, which contribute to respiratory diseases and climate change.

Combustion of coal exceeds both natural gas and crude oil in its emissions.  Although some of these emissions can be reduced through technology, they are proven to create serious health problems in areas where they are emitted excessively.

The only environmentally unfriendly thing about wind is its effect on birds and their migration. Cars, glass, cats, and pesticides all make far greater contributions to bird mortality than windmills. Wind companies are working to further minimize this impact.

Global energy consumption is on the rise, wind power even more so. Thirty-five percent of all new U.S. generating capacity added in the last 4 years was wind. The energy, jobs and environmental benefits of wind hold great promise, not just for the rural Midwest and Great Plains, but for all of America, rural and urban alike.

 

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The Center for Rural Affairs was established in 1973 as an unaffiliated nonprofit corporation under IRS code 501(c)3. The Center for Rural Affairs was formed by rural Nebraskans concerned about family farms and rural communities, and we work to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities.

On Saturday, December 10TH at 10:00 A.M. the Wapsi River Environmental Education Center will be hosting a natural wreath program. Come learn how to use natural items to make beautiful seasonal wreaths.  Grapevines, pinecones, evergreen cuttings, seeds, nuts and berries can add a touch of the outdoors to anyone's decorating needs this season.  Please call to register, as space is limited to 12 participants ~ (563) 328-3286.

The Wapsi River Environmental Education Center can be found 6 miles south of Wheatland or 1 mile northwest of Dixon, Iowa by taking County Road Y4E.  Then turn north at 52nd Avenue and follow the signs for about 1 mile.

Environmental News

 

 

(Kansas City, Kan., Nov. 7, 2011) - EPA officials will attend the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk event at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, Nov. 10.

 

Interview topics include regulatory updates on air and water quality programs, animal feeding operations, nutrient management and pesticides.

 

WHAT: National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention and Trade Talk

 

WHEN: 7:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011

 

WHO: Karl Brooks, Regional Administrator; Josh Svaty, Senior Adviser; and Kris Lancaster, Agricultural Public Affairs Specialist

 

WHERE: Booth 74, Westin Crown Center, 1 Pershing Road, Kansas City, Mo.

Biographies of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Booth 70 Staff

Karl Brooks serves as the Regional Administrator for EPA Region 7. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and reports directly to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. His responsibilities include supervising environmental programs in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and nine tribal nations. Brooks practiced trial and appellate law for a decade. He was elected in 1986 to the first of three terms in the Idaho Senate. Retiring from elective politics, from 1993 to 1996 he served the Idaho Conservation League as executive director and legislative liaison. Since earning his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and joining the faculty in 2000, he has taught American environmental, political, and legal history as well as environmental law and policy.

Josh Svaty is a senior adviser to the Region 7 Administrator. He is the fifth-generation of his family to farm in Ellsworth County, Kan. The Svaty farm is a diversified operation that includes wheat, milo, soybeans, corn, sunflowers, a cow/calf herd and sheep. Svaty served as the State Representative of the 108th District in Kansas for seven years. His committee assignments included the committees for Energy and Utilities, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the joint committee on Energy and Environmental Policy. Svaty later served as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. In this position, he managed a $27 million budget, a 380-employee workforce and statutory duties for 17 programs. He holds a B.A. from Sterling College in Sterling, Kan.

Kris Lancaster is an EPA spokesperson responsible for agriculture, pesticides, renewable fuels, water and wetland issues. His past agricultural employment includes serving as a licensed grain inspector, agricultural adviser to the chairman of the Missouri House Agriculture Committee and to two members of Congress, a farm real estate broker, a federal crop insurance broker and a negotiator of agricultural leases for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His family owns a corn and soybean farm in Scotland County, Mo. Lancaster has 28 years of media relations experience and serves on Region 7's Agriculture and Renewable Fuels Team. He graduated from Central Missouri State University and completed an advanced sciences program at Park University.

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(Kansas City, Kan., Nov. 1, 2011) - Anyone along the Mississippi River will see the steady-moving push boats moving along America's inland waterways, carrying commodities from as far north as St. Paul, Minn. to ports as far south as New Orleans, La.  Push boats run 24 hours a day, seven days a week moving goods to markets at inland ports along the river.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a $494,978 grant to Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission (SEMO RPC) to replace engines on a push boat operated by SCF Marine.  The boat's old engines are from 1953 and 1960, decades before emission standards went into effect.  The new engines will meet EPA Tier II standards, resulting in reduced health impacts for port workers and communities along the Mississippi River.  The EPA grant is part of a $1 million project.

The Tier 2 vehicle and gasoline sulfur program is part of a series of major initiatives that reduce emissions from passenger vehicles, highway trucks and buses, and nonroad diesel equipment. The result will be reduced emissions, cleaner air, and improved human health.

SEMO RPC is also working with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to reduce emissions on trash haulers and switch locomotives in southeast Missouri.

EPA has awarded $50 million for clean diesel projects as part of its ongoing campaign to reduce harmful emissions in the air and better protect people's health. These efforts will replace, retrofit or repower more than 8,000 older school buses, trucks, locomotives, vessels, and other diesel powered machines. Reducing emissions from existing diesels provides cost-effective public health and environmental benefits while supporting green jobs at manufacturers, dealerships and businesses across the country.

Diesel engines emit 7.3 million tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 333,000 tons of soot annually. Diesel pollution is linked to thousands of premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and millions of lost work days. While EPA's standards significantly reduce emissions from newly manufactured engines, clean diesel projects funded through these grants will work to address the more than 11 million older diesel engines that continue to emit higher levels of harmful pollution.

 

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