Cluster of Power Plants in Brandywine
4 existing and 1 proposed
Public HEARING, August 17, 2015 • Brandywine, MD • Volunteer Fire Department • 7:00 PM
Brandywine
Where the Farms, the Preservation and Conservation Land Uses have been changed and no longer called the Rural Tier. Community residents are of the opinion that Brandywine has become an industrial environmental sacrifice zone.
Mission
An Alliance for Environmental Justice that’s working towards an Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Soil environment protecting our resources for the Future of our kids.
Statement of Concern
Natural gas (and oil) power plants add dangerous pollutants
to the air that seriously impact the health of people within a ten-mile radius,
with children and the elderly most susceptible. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has linked air pollutants with cancer, heart disease,
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, respiratory symptoms,
reproductive issues and birth defects.
We are of the opinion that the North Keys and the Panda Mattawoman proposed project gas power plants will also create water problems, both in sourcing and disposal. When operating on natural gas, it can consume 58,000 gallons per day; in oil mode, can use 1,000,000 gallons per day. We believe that consuming such a large amount of water could disrupt our aquifer and cause water shortages. This does not include the Quarry Mines, Surface Mining Plants that consume massive about of water.
We ask for legislation that pertains to a Department of Energy pledge with a 20/20 program: 20% of its energy coming from renewable sources by the year 2020. We are currently at 3%. The construction of the power plant will not contribute to this goal. The plant is also unnecessary, based on Forecast Reports that concludes electric generation supply will be adequate through 2022.
Various constituencies in opposition of the plant are in the process of assessing all options available to attempt to stop this plant from being constructed. In the weeks ahead they will be looking to the vast numbers of supporters who have expressed their opposition to the plant in joining together to continue the effort of looking at the environment disparity aspect.
We are of the opinion that the North Keys and the Panda Mattawoman proposed project gas power plants will also create water problems, both in sourcing and disposal. When operating on natural gas, it can consume 58,000 gallons per day; in oil mode, can use 1,000,000 gallons per day. We believe that consuming such a large amount of water could disrupt our aquifer and cause water shortages. This does not include the Quarry Mines, Surface Mining Plants that consume massive about of water.
We ask for legislation that pertains to a Department of Energy pledge with a 20/20 program: 20% of its energy coming from renewable sources by the year 2020. We are currently at 3%. The construction of the power plant will not contribute to this goal. The plant is also unnecessary, based on Forecast Reports that concludes electric generation supply will be adequate through 2022.
Various constituencies in opposition of the plant are in the process of assessing all options available to attempt to stop this plant from being constructed. In the weeks ahead they will be looking to the vast numbers of supporters who have expressed their opposition to the plant in joining together to continue the effort of looking at the environment disparity aspect.
The Executive Community Citizens Board(ECCB) is a permanent
standing committee of the Brandywine| TB Southern Region Neighborhood Coalition
located in Brandywine Maryland, 20613. The ECCB assertion, in part, states that
the "effects” on the natural environment; ecological integrity and
balance; public health and safety; scenic, historic, and recreational values;
forests and parks; air and water purity; and fish and wildlife are
disproportionate either alone or cumulatively with other effects when compared
to public benefit. Even if the Power Plant is not in conflict with policies of
the State of Maryland concerning “effects” of such there are sufficient reasons
As we move forward in evaluating the environmental disparity we urge our governmental agencies to propose strong standards to minimize methane pollution from new and
modified sources in the oil and gas industry and also provide a solid
foundation for required standards reducing methane emissions from a broad range
of existing sources. Comprehensive and rigorous methane standards covering, at
a minimum, the sources currently subject to VOC standards as well as those
examined in the five 2014 EPA white papers will deliver important public health
and environmental benefits. Effective curbs on methane emissions from new,
modified, and existing sources are critical to provide much needed clean air
protections to local communities, to meet EPA’s obligations under the Clean Air
Act, and to meet the administration’s international climate goals.
The
ECCB is uniquely situated to evaluate and advise about the potential impacts of
the Project. The ECCB is still in the process of evaluating all concerns of the
community related to the missions and operations that may be impacted by the
Project. As such, the concerns are not an exhaustive list. The ECCB will
supplement its concerns as information becomes available and in the event any
additional impacts are identified.
- The cumulative effect of methane leaks before
burning makes natural gas more climate-unfriendly than coal. Every
independent study of gas-field methane emissions has corroborated this
fact, including those from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Purdue University, and the Cornell University
research team that was the first to explore the climate impacts of natural
gas and shale gas production.
- Traffic Concerns (Brandywine Road Club) and
emissions
- Truck Traffic (over 1500 truck trips)
- We deserve our Clean Air, Water and Land
(soil).
- Flammable, toxic, and a potent greenhouse gas;
Mixed with: Acid, Corrosive inhibitor, Bactericides, Friction reducer,
Iron control, and Scale inhibitors which end up in the wastewater and
drilling slurry; erodes Air, Soil and Drinking water Quality
- Environmental and public health hazards are
serious and irreversible
- Pipeline drilling uses millions of gallons of
water/creates adverse environmental consequences to farms food chain,
citizen’s communities and conservation land
- At risk of possible rupture and explosion
causing loss of life and property damage
- Accelerates Climate Change
- Erodes property values and impact consumer
mortgages and insurance.
- Stresses local communities resources and
damages infrastructure
- Subverts needed investments in carbon-free
fuel alternatives
- Wealth and income shift from 95% to 5%
- Along with the other environmental disparate
industrial uses in the Brandywine such as Aggregate Surface Mining, Fly
Ash, Lagoon Sludge Fields pollution
- The percentage of Distribution of the
Environmental Burdens of impaired or threats to the environment in the
Brandywine area are in the 90% to 100% for health risks, exposure,
emissions, and major chemical releases or waste generation.
- Cooling Tower Are Total Dissolved Solid (TSD)
levels in the cooling tower water expected to exceed the assumed average
with regularity and is there a significant difference in PM emissions from
the cooling tower complex using maximum TDS levels versus average TDS
levels?
- Ammonia Emissions Mattawoman's estimated
ammonia emissions (198 tpy) are approximately five (5) times higher than
Maryland's largest point source ammonia emitter in the 2011 version 1 NEI.
These emissions are also significantly higher than reported ammonia
emissions for comparable facilities in the NEI and reported emissions in
PA DEP's eFACT site.
- The proposed site boundary must have adequate
public access controls to qualify as an ambient boundary for modeling
purposes. (Brandywine Road Club inefficiencies).
In
closing it’s been brought to the attention of the ECCB that the emissions for
Brandywine seem very high given the nature of the source. The off-site
inventory should, in our opinion, reflect limits during normal base-load
operations. CO modeling completed by PPRP indicate the proposed Mattawoman
facility exceeded the 1-hr CO SIL when the combustion turbines were in startup
modes.
The
residents of Brandywine shouldn't have to trade their safe drinking water,
clean air, climate, health or communities for energy.
First,
notice to the BTB Coalition was around May 20, 2015 therefore limiting the
chance for meaningful input was and has been grossly inadequate.
The BTB
Coalition mission is that we focus on providing a clean energy future –- one
centered on clean, safe, renewable sources of power, used efficiently, that
ends our dependence on fossil fuels as quickly as possible. Energy efficiency
and renewable energy must be our country's top energy priorities because they
are the quickest, cleanest, and cheapest solutions to global warming and other
pollution problems.
Although
burning natural gas can reduce harmful pollution when it displaces coal in
power plants, the extraction of both coal and natural gas is currently
resulting in public health threats and climate change pollution. The full
extent of those threats from natural gas extraction remains largely unknown and
ongoing study indicates substantial concerns and major uncertainties. To the
extent near-term use of any fossil fuels continues, we must curb emissions of
harmful pollutants and implement strong safeguards for production and use of
all fossil fuel energy sources to minimize risks to our health and environment.
The
ECCB would greatly appreciate the Maryland Public Service Commissions leadership
in protecting public health and addressing harmful pollution. We urge you to
establish protective safeguards addressing methane pollution from new and
modified sources in the natural gas sector, including the standards that will
establish a strong foundation for required actions to address methane and other
harmful emissions. Priority actions should include:
Putting
sensitive lands and watersheds completely off limits to oil and gas production;
- Curbing air pollution across the entire
system, from drilling and production to distribution, by setting strong
clean air standards that minimize methane leakage and prevent dangerous
smog-forming and cancer-causing toxic air pollution;
- Mandating the strongest well siting, design,
construction, and operation standards and other drilling best practices;
- Protecting the landscape, air, and water from
pollution by closing clean air, clean water and safe drinking water laws
loopholes, reducing toxic waste and holding toxic oil and gas waste to the
same standards as other types of hazardous waste, funding robust
inspection and enforcement programs, and requiring that oil and gas
companies post adequate bonds or other financial securities;
- Mandating full public disclosure of
information regarding chemicals used in fracking;
- Prioritizing renewables and efficiency to
replace fossil fuels;
- Ensuring full transparency and public
participation in permitting and regulatory processes associated with oil
and gas development, and allowing citizens to bring enforcement actions
against lawbreakers; and
- Allowing communities to determine their own future by restricting fracking through comprehensive zoning and planning
In
January, President Obama administration took an important step by committing to
a suite of actions to reduce harmful methane emissions from the oil and gas
industry, the largest industrial source of this pollution. These protections
are urgently needed for the health of our communities and families.
The BTB
Coalition mission is to ensure that citizen’ rights to oversee their
communities are not diminished in the regulations in exercising ones first
amendment their right to enforce and defined local legislation ordinance
against drilling companies protecting our right to be heard. Maryland should
enact a fracking law, such as the Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act, which
ensures citizens’ rights to public hearings concerning proposed permits, to
appeal permits that are granted, and citizen enforcement against violations of
law or permit. The law should also impose bonding and insurance requirements to
hold drilling cause and more.
It is
urgent that the Maryland Public Service Commission takes immediate protective
action for the health of our communities and families. The Brandywine community
has the right to limit oil and gas development locations, including prohibiting
such development entirely along with community efforts we will continue to
champion in our effort to protect public health and pass a permanent moratorium
on fracking in lue of the limited moratorium so the state can study the risks
and impacts and determine whether—and if so, how—communities can be protected.
In the meantime, we are working with our government agencies to ensure
that regulations are as strong as possible to protect residents who are exposed
to fracking now.
In
closing, and well stated “Rising sea levels. Raging storms. Searing heat.
Ferocious fires. Severe drought. Punishing floods. This is what climate change
looks like. It threatens our health, our communities, our economy, and our
security. It is the greatest environmental threat of our time.
Please Voice Your Opinion
