Tube City Almanac

July 28, 2004

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Category: default || By jt3y

I've gotten put on some bizarre email lists lately. For a long time, I was getting LaRouchie mailings; I administered several severe beatdowns to the person who was sending them, and they seem to have stopped. (Maybe telling them that I was a member of the Trilateral Commission and a close personal friend of Queen Elizabeth II did the trick.)

I keep trying to get off of the mailing list of the Ayn Rand Institute --- boy, are they barking up the wrong tree --- but without success so far. I'm content now to filter their emails directly into the trash.

Recently, some bright PR whiz emailed to ask if Tube City Almanac wanted a review copy of his client's new book. Um, you realize this isn't a real newspaper, right? That would seem to be painfully obvious. If you're still interested in sending free books to me, I'll take 'em: P.O. Box 94, McKeesport 15134. (I need new stuffing for the seats in the Diplomat, anyway.)

Occasionally, I actually get an emailed press release that's actually relevant (perish the thought) to the Mon-Yough area. I got one overnight from Greenpeace; apparently, the Greenpeacers staged a protest this morning at the old Duquesne Light power plant (now owned by Orion) in Elrama:

Highlighting the deadly impacts of coal-fired power plant emissions on the residents of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan region, Greenpeace today installed 3-foot crosses for every one of the 563 people who die prematurely from power plant pollution every year. The crosses were installed in the Elrama Little League baseball field, just across the fence line from the Elrama power plant. The installation was the first stop on a Greenpeace tour of some of the area's dirtiest power plants.


It's a wonder they didn't have freakin' heart attacks on the way to Elrama, assuming they had to drive through the stench at the chemical plant in West Elizabeth. I would think the odor near the Shop 'n Go would be an environmentalist's nightmare. But the Greenpeace press release continues:

"Each cross on the Elrama ball field represents a life cut short by power plant pollution," said Chris Miller, Greenpeace Clean Energy Now! Campaigner. "These deaths could have been prevented by moving away from dirty power plants like Elrama and investing in clean energy like wind and solar, which have no negative health impacts and emit no global warming pollution."


There's more, but I'll chop it off to interject a comment: Hey, Chris? Have you ever spent any time in Western Pennsylvania? Wind and solar? Lately, it's been raining so much that I'm growing webbed feet. The attendants at the parking lot I use are tying life preservers to the cars. Suggesting that Western Pennsylvania should convert to wind and solar power is worse than ignorant; it's lunacy.

And what's the real motivation of this morning's stunt (which I haven't been able to independently confirm):

Instead of prioritizing investment in pollution-free renewable energy, the Bush administration has systematically weakened clean air laws by allowing coal-fired power plants to continue to release tons of pollutants into our air and waterways.


Oh, that's right, it's an election year.

You know one technology that generates lots of electricity and creates virtually no air or water pollution at the power plant? Nuclear energy.

Here's Greenpeace's stand on that:

Safe nuclear power is a myth. Greenpeace is campaigning to end nuclear power, reprocessing and waste dumping.


Tell that to the Canadians and the French, who have been operating safe nuclear power plants for 30 years. But I see where you're going with this: Nuclear power is bad. Coal fired power is bad. Wind is good, according to you (well, wind isn't so good if you're a migratory bird) but we know that wind turbines won't generate enough power in, say, the Mon Valley to replace the Elrama power plant. Also, good luck trying to get a wind turbine farm past your local township zoning board ("You want to build 100 whats?" "No, watts! Ha ha!").

Solar power is good, according to you, but you don't want anyone to build disposal plants to get rid of cadmium, mercury and arsenic, all of which are byproducts of making solar cells. Oh, and even the dimmest light in the Greenpeace cluster should realize that solar cells are almost useless in Western Pennsylvania for days or weeks at a time.

And that leaves us with what, exactly? Bicycle power? I'm sure Greenpeace's PR people were pedaling frantically to churn out those emails this morning.

They're peddling something, all right. It's hypocrisy. Everyone wants the conveniences of modern life --- cheap electricity, sanitary food containers, quick transportation, cellular phones --- but no one wants to accept that we need chemical plants to make the plastic for the cell phones, and the cell phones need cell phone towers, and the towers need electricity from the power plants ... the list goes on and on.

Come to think of it, boy, I sure hope that Greenpeace's PR people weren't using cell phones and laptops this morning --- they rely on nickel-cadmium batteries, and everyone knows how dangerous heavy metals are.

I'm not endorsing air pollution by any means. The Elrama plant is a fairly notorious offender, according to people who live nearby. For a while, its owners were paying $3,000 per month in fines because the air pollution control equipment that was supposed to be operating there hasn't been working. But it's not enough to just bash something without proposing any workable solution.

In any event, I should be grateful to Greenpeace for giving me something to write about this morning. Otherwise, I'd be stuck blabbering about Teresa Heinz Kerry again, and Lord knows, nobody wants that.

Oh, and I guess I can expect the next Greenpeace press release to be sent to me at about the same time hell freezes over (no doubt as a result of global climate change).

Story Update: The arson investigation that has targeted several young volunteer firefighters in the Mon-Yough area is getting worse and worse. Five volunteers, including two from Citizen's Hose Co. No. 1 in Glassport, have now been charged with multiple counts of arson and related crimes.

Citizen's Chief Wayne Lewis told Brandy Brubaker of The Daily News that firefighters themselves were victimized: "Many of our firefighters have dedicated a lifetime of work to uphold the image of a firefighter."

Indeed, although no one was killed during any of the alleged arsons, one Glassport firefighter was seriously injured fighting one of the blazes, according to Brubaker. And two of the people charged with arson are also accused of stealing fire department equipment and selling it at the flea market.

Lewis put it best in the News: He said he feels betrayed.






Your Comments are Welcome!

Hey, Chris? Have you ever spent any time in Western Pennsylvania? Wind and solar? Lately, it’s been raining so much that I’m growing webbed feet. The attendants at the parking lot I use are tying life preservers to the cars. Suggesting that Western Pennsylvania should convert to wind and solar power is worse than ignorant; it’s lunacy.

And what’s the real motivation of this morning’s stunt (which I haven’t been able to independently confirm):

Instead of prioritizing investment in pollution-free renewable energy, the Bush administration has systematically weakened clean air laws by allowing coal-fired power plants to continue to release tons of pollutants into our air and waterways.

Oh, that’s right, it’s an election year.

You know one technology that generates lots of electricity and creates virtually no air or water pollution at the power plant? Nuclear energy.

Here’s Greenpeace’s stand on that:

Safe nuclear power is a myth. Greenpeace is campaigning to end nuclear power, reprocessing and waste dumping.

Tell that to the Canadians and the French, who have been operating safe nuclear power plants for 30 years. But I see where you’re going with this: Nuclear power is bad. Coal fired power is bad. Wind is good, according to you (well, wind isn’t so good if you’re a migratory bird) but we know that wind turbines won’t generate enough power in, say, the Mon Valley to replace the Elrama power plant. Also, good luck trying to get a wind turbine farm past your local township zoning board (“You want to build 100 whats?” “No, watts! Ha ha!”).

Solar power is good, according to you, but you don’t want anyone to build disposal plants to get rid of cadmium, mercury and arsenic, all of which are byproducts of making solar cells. Oh, and even the dimmest light in the Greenpeace cluster should realize that solar cells are almost useless in Western Pennsylvania for days or weeks at a time.

And that leaves us with what, exactly? Bicycle power? I’m sure Greenpeace’s PR people were pedaling frantically to churn out those emails this morning.

They’re peddling something, all right. It’s hypocrisy. Everyone wants the conveniences of modern life —- cheap electricity, sanitary food containers, quick transportation, cellular phones —- but no one wants to accept that we need chemical plants to make the plastic for the cell phones, and the cell phones need cell phone towers, and the towers need electricity from the power plants … the list goes on and on.

Come to think of it, boy, I sure hope that Greenpeace’s PR people weren’t using cell phones and laptops this morning —- they rely on nickel-cadmium batteries, and everyone knows how dangerous heavy metals are.

I’m not endorsing air pollution by any means. The Elrama plant is a fairly notorious offender, according to people who live nearby. For a while, its owners were paying $3,000 per month in fines because the air pollution control equipment that was supposed to be operating there hasn’t been working. But it’s not enough to just bash something without proposing any workable solution.

In any event, I should be grateful to Greenpeace for giving me something to write about this morning. Otherwise, I’d be stuck blabbering about Teresa Heinz Kerry again, and Lord knows, nobody wants that.

Oh, and I guess I can expect the next Greenpeace press release to be sent to me at about the same time hell freezes over (no doubt as a result of global climate change).

Story Update: The arson investigation that has targeted several young volunteer firefighters in the Mon-Yough area is getting worse and worse. Five volunteers, including two from Citizen’s Hose Co. No. 1 in Glassport, have now been charged with multiple counts of arson and related crimes.

Citizen’s Chief Wayne Lewis told Brandy Brubaker of The Daily News that firefighters themselves were victimized: “Many of our firefighters have dedicated a lifetime of work to uphold the image of a firefighter.”

Indeed, although no one was killed during any of the alleged arsons, one Glassport firefighter was seriously injured fighting one of the blazes, according to Brubaker. And two of the people charged with arson are also accused of stealing fire department equipment and selling it at the flea market.

Lewis put it best in the News: He said he feels betrayed.
- July 07, 2014



Nice to have a fellow fighter in the struggle against Greenie inanity.

Some months ago one was working the shopping centre in Claremont, Western Australia – buttonholing people and telling him about the evils of nuclear power, including wastes which remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years.

For some reason he did not approach me, so I went up to him. I asked if he had gone to university. “Of course I did!” “Did you take physics?” “Of course I did!”. “Then you must have slept through the session on half-life.”

“What do you mean?” “Well, if something still radioactive after a hundred thousand years, it isn’t very radioactive now. If it is dangerously radioactive now, it certainly won’t be in 3000. That’s what half-life is all about.”

Needless to say, he came back with the Greenie’s utlimate argument: “But that’s not the point!”

My debates with Greenies always end with that crushing phrase.

Regards,

Tom Lwson
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