Citizens' Daily Lobby

Thanks to those who took the time to go to Atlanta and voice their opposition to new coal-fired power plants in Arkansas!

May 26, 2011
 
Contact:                                                                                                                     
Lev Guter                                                                                                        
Sierra Club Associate Organizing Representative                                              
Cell:  (941) 779-3337                                                                                     
 
Concerned Arkansans Advocate for Public Health at Atlanta EPA Coal Hearing
Citizens descend on Atlanta to advocate for historic mercury and air toxics protections
 
Atlanta, GA- On Thursday, May 26, concerned citizens, including mothers, students, medical professionals and faith leaders flocked to Atlanta to support the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed mercury and air toxics standard.  The Atlanta EPA public hearing is the sole hearing in the South, with the only other two nationwide hearings taking place in Chicago and Philadelphia.
 
Rel Corbin, a long time Sierra Club volunteer who made the 1,000 mile round trip drive from Little Rock stated that, “Toxics that come out of coal plant smoke stacks affect all living things, and we cannot keep on concentrating these poisons in our air and water and expect to get away with it.  I thought that we were supposed to be stewards of this Earth.”
 
Currently, there are no national limits on the amount of mercury and air toxics that power plants spew into the air, even though according to the EPA, coal plants are the largest human-caused source of mercury air emissions. (http://www.agfc.com/fishing/Pages/MercuryAdvisories.aspx).  Mercury emissions fall into streams, where they bioaccumulate as methylmercury in wildlife and fish.  Mercury exposure can cause serious neurological and developmental problems in children, babies and developing fetuses. 
 
Lev Guter, Associate Organizing Representative stated, “The only way we are going to move beyond coal and towards a renewable energy economy is if we realize the true cost of dirty fossil fuels.  The true public health tolls of coal come in the form of asthmatic children and pregnant mothers who fear that eating fish will damage their babies’ chances of leading healthy and productive lives.”
 
The EPA’s proposed federal standard, if finalized, would for the first time in the nation’s history reduce mercury emitted from coal power plants.  The protections would reduce coal plant mercury emissions by 91%, hydrochloric acid by 91%, soot by 55%, and the EPA estimates that 17,000 premature deaths would be avoided each year.  The standard would also prevent 120,000 cases of asthma.
 
Arkansas coal plants spew out thousands of pounds of mercury each year, and mercury contaminates more than six million acres of freshwater lakes and 46,000 miles of streams across the United States.  Arkansas currently has no state level mercury protections on coal plants.  Arkansas power plants Independence, White Bluff and Flint Creek together emit more than 1,200 lbs of mercury every year.

Not only does Tim Griffin find his own pension to be unnecessary, he’s also looking hard at yours, if you happen to work for the public.  In passing up his future Congressional pension, he noted that taxpayers already pay too much for government.  ”I would add that during these times of record deficits and debt, we are duty bound to reassess the sustainability of taxpayer-funded pension programs, and I plan to be a leader on this issue.”

Unlike your average public-school educator, fireman, policeman, or postal service worker, Mr. Griffin can probably afford to make this sacrifice.  The Center for Responsive Politics reports an income of $497,810 for Mr. Griffin in 2009. He plans to term-limit himself, so he should have plenty of working years left once he leaves Congress to fund his retirement through the private sector.  What he’s calling for however, is an end to or restriction of pensions for those who give their entire working life to the greater public good, and who do not make enough income to independently fund their retirement.

Seen in another light, the gesture is even more sinister.  Salary and pensions for members of Congress exist so that service in Congress will not be limited to those who can afford to give up their jobs for years at a time.   It’s a mechanism to help equalize the playing field for the little guys.   Mr. Griffin is advocating putting Congressional service out of reach for most of us.

If only Mr. Griffin had limited himself to graciously declining to accept a pension, due to his own privileged position in society and earning potential,  his move would be laudable.  In making the gesture a platform for his own and his party’s anti-public service platform, he betrays the deeply rooted cynicism that really motivates him.

If you think home-schoolers and those who send their kids to private schools should get state funds, you’ll love HB2011, sponsored by Jon Hubbard (R).   This bill will give 1/2 of the per student funding to the resident school district and 1/2 as a “scholarship” to the student.  It is unclear where the money for this scholarship would come from, but it is clear that state money would be diverted from public schools to private schools and homeschooling parents under this bill.  This is yet another attempt at a voucher system here in Arkansas.  This follows the introduction of a bill  (HB1030) to divert income tax monies to private schools by giving a deduction for tuition.

HB2011 has been referred to the House Education Committee.   Please write or call the members of this committee and speak out against this bill.   Defunding public education is not the way to keep America great.

If you can’t make it to the capitol this morning, please write or call the members of the House Insurance and Commerce Committee and speak out against HB1895.  Here are some good reasons to oppose this bill, forwarded from Lev Guter at the Sierra Club.

NO on HB1895 to revise CECPN and CCN Statutes

 HB1895 would retroactively strip the courts of their power and jurisdiction over CECPN procedures, including on Turk plant

 This bill was drafted by SWEPCO and is designed to retroactively push through the Turk coal plant proposal in the Arkansas Legislature because the utility is losing in the courts

 1.  HB1895 would strip the Courts of their CECPN jurisdiction as well as the public’s right to comment at a public proceeding.  The bill is an attempt to overturn the Arkansas Supreme Court’s unanimous decision that invalidated Turk’s Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need (CECPN).

            a.  The Arkansas Court of Appeals and the Arkansas Supreme Court both unanimously

held that the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC) improperly granted SWEPCO a CECPN because the PSC split the hearings into two separate proceedings instead of looking at all of the evidence, including need, alternatives and environmental impacts in one hearing, as the current law requires.

                       b.  HB1895 would retroactively change current law so that a PSC’s finding of “Need”

would be done in a non-CECPN proceeding.  If the legislature were to pass this bill, the law would change so that SWEPCO would be permitted a private proceeding with no public notice, the exact procedure that the Arkansas Supreme Court said is illegal under current law.

 2.  HB1895 would change existing law that is currently the subject of pending litigation in front of the Arkansas Supreme Court.  SWEPCO, a party to a pending lawsuit on Turk, is attempting to change the law right in the middle of a court case to suit its needs.  The average citizen in a lawsuit does not have that influence and power, and nor should SWEPCO. 

             a.   One of the questions currently before the Arkansas Supreme Court is whether

Turk can claim an exemption to the PSC’s jurisdiction by applying for “merchant plant” status after SWEPCO has already applied for a CECPN which was then invalidated by the Arkansas Supreme Court.  HB1895 is an attempt to prevent the Arkansas Supreme Court from resolving this issue by outright changing the law to allow the PSC to exempt Turk from the PSC’s jurisdiction as a “merchant plant” and by preventing any court from enforcing the CECPN law.

3.  HB1895 would be retroactively applied to the pending Turk court cases.  Make no mistake about it- SWEPCO’s bill would apply retroactively, serving as a back door method of completing the contested Turk coal-fired power plant.

             a.   HR1895’s Emergency Clause in section 13 would clear the way for currently

proposed utility plants by making sure that the bill has “both retrospective and prospective application.” 

                   b.   Calling the bill’s fundamental changes “clarifications” is a less obvious,  underhanded

way SWEPCO is attempting to make the new provisions retroactive; i.e. enabling SWEPCO to argue that this new law did not change anything—it only “clarified” what the legislature meant to do 35 years ago.  But as explained above, the bill makes sweeping, substantial and fundamental changes to current law.  SWEPCO does not need the law “clarified,” the Supreme Court has already done that—SWEPCO needs to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision.

Arkansas Citizens First Congress is hosting a Rally for Green Jobs and legislative breakfast at the Capitol this Thursday, March  10.

Come to the Capitol Thursday to support green jobs and clean energy economic development!
Green Jobs Rally!
Thursday, March 10th
12:30 pm  to  1:15 pm

Steps of the State Capitol
 

A rally of public support for the new clean energy economy and the potential for green jobs creation from enabling legislation for Arkansas.

Don’t miss breakfast with your legislators Thursday morning! From 7:15 to 8:45 at the Capitol Hill Building (across 4th street from the Capitol). Former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Former Colorado Energy Office Director Mr. Tom Plant will share their vision for the new clean energy economy and green jobs creation, and you can talk to your legislators about supporting clean energy legislation.

At 10:00, the Senate Insurance and Commerce committee will consider SB516, the PACE bill, which will allow property owners to voluntarily borrow money for investments in energy conservation improvements or install clean renewable energy options to power their property. Find out more about PACE, and come to the hearing to show your support!

After the rally, there will be a meeting to recap the main themes of the day’s discussions, and plan next steps for clean energy economic development. The meeting will be from 1:30 to 2:15 in room 272 of the Capitol.

Last week the Sierra Club alerted us to an attempt by SWEPCO to ram through legislation that will make it easier for the company to get permits for coal-fired power plants, including the Turk plant in Hempstead County.     HB1895 was introduced on March 4, 2011, and it will be taken up by the House Insurance and Commerce Committee tomorrow morning.  

This bill would amend the current law requiring all utilities to obtain a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need through the Public Service Commission to allow utilities  to get an exemption from the requirement by selling their generated power on the wholesale market.   It’s a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent recent court rulings against the Turk plant.  As such, the bill is bad enough that even our usually hedging and reticent Gov. Beebe has come out against it.

Now is the time to get involved by writing or calling the members of the House Insurance and Commerce Committee and voicing your objections.   Help is also needed in getting discussion of the bill delayed until more interested citizens and other parties can participate.    The Committee will meet tomorrow at 10:00am at the Capitol, room 149.  The Sierra Club will have representatives on site to take signatures requesting the discussion of the bill be delayed.  Please come out and show a strong public opposition to this corporate-shill of a bill.

Lev Guter from the Sierra Club has alerted the Lobby to an upcoming attempt by SWEPCO to circumvent recent court rulings in their battle to complete the Turk coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County.

Giving an educational expense income tax credit for grades K-12 is tantamount to public support of private schools.  It’s a voucher disguised as tax relief.   All the credit for this transparent attempt to undermine the Arkansas public school system goes to Rep. Altes.     HB1030 will provide credit for 25% of tuition, books and related educational expenses at any school.

If this bill were really about tax relief, the credit would be given for college tuition, too.

This week, the AR House Agriculture, Forestry, and Economic Development Committee is set to review a bill that will substantially change the veterinary practice act and could have wideranging consequences for the welfare of farm animals in our state.  The bill, HB1055, will allow non-veterinarians to perform fee-based veterinary acupuncture, chiropractic, and equine dentistry.  Acupuncture and chiropractic require extensive knowedge of anatomy, and non-veterinarians, even human practictioners, do not have the requisite knowledge to adequately perform  these treatments.  In addition, the bill specifically designates castration, dehorning, pregnancy checking, and artificial insemination, vaccination, and other services to be performed by the lay public.   Because most of these procedures require  surgical and medical training or advanced technical skills, allowing those not trained in professional veterinary school to perform these acts will certainly endanger the welfare of our food animals.  Make no mistake, food animal welfare is also a public health issue, and putting these valuable animals into the care of non-licensed lay people could have far-reaching, negative consequences.   For these reasons, and because such an act would turn procedures that veterinarians have mastered after years of training and experience over to the non-licensed, the Arkansas Veterinary Medical Association is strongly opposed to this legislation. 

It is true that there is currently a shortage of food animal veterinarians.  The answer is not to turn the field over to the untrained.  The answer is to fund more positions and residencies in food animal medicine at veterinary schools.  Incentives to make the field more attractive in terms of lifestyle and salary would also help.  What will not help, and, indeed, will have the opposite effect, is to threaten the practice of the few veterinarians who have accepted the challenge of keeping Arkansas’ livestock healthy.

Health Care for America Now and Organizing for America are hosting a joint press conference at the State Capitol Rotunda tomorrow, January 18 at 1:00pm to voice support for health care reform.  Sen. Boozman is a cosponsor of the bill to repeal the health care reform act, and all 4 of our Congressmen have indicated that they will vote for repeal.    Please come out if you can, and let them know that health care reform must stand! 

Arkansas Consumers Ask Congressional Delegation
To Side With Hard-Working Families,
Not Big Insurance Companies
 
Little Rock, AR –  Health Care For America Now (HCAN), Organizing for America, labor unions, community groups and faith based organizations, will hold a press conference calling on Tim Griffin and Arkansas’ Congressional delegation to vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act which protects consumers from the worst insurance company abuses.  The leadership of the US House of Representatives postponed an earlier vote on the repeal measure because of the tragic events in Arizona.  The vote has now been scheduled for this coming week.
 
Arkansas consumers who will benefit from the numerous protections in the new law will urge Arkansas’ three new Representatives to take the side of consumers who are struggling to keep their families insured and healthy instead of the big insurance companies that want to roll back the ACA provisions requiring fair treatment of their customers.
 
WHO:  Health Care for America Now, Organizing for America and other organizations
 
WHAT:  Press Conference in Support of the Affordable Care Act
 
WHEN:  Tuesday, January 18, 1:00 PM
 
WHERE:  Rotunda, Arkansas State Capitol
 
###
 
Health Care for America Now is a national grassroots coalition of more than 1,000 organizations in 46 states representing 30 million people. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.
 
Organizing for America (OFA) is a grassroots project of the Democratic National Committee.  OFA’s network of volunteers and staff is actively working in all 50 states to promote the President’s proposals to strengthen America’s middle class by creating jobs, passing health insurance reform, building a clean energy economy, improving education, and reining in the excesses of Wall Street.