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The Cascade: The Great Falls Group Newsletter Spring 2013
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 Calendar |
Upcoming Programs--Everyone Welcome!
March 17: Go to the Movies with the Sierra Club Great Falls Group
March 18: Step It Up 2013 to Fight Climate Change, 7:00 p.m.
March 28: Activist Night: Battling Invasive Plants, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.April 25: Activist Night: Green Energy Corridor in Fairfax County, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. More information. |
| Great Falls Group at the Forward on Climate Rally |
 Forward on Climate Rally, Sunday, February 17, 2013On February 17th, more than 40,000 people gathered in Washington, DC, to tell President Obama to move Forward on Climate, starting with the rejection of the dirty tar sands pipeline. Members of the Great Falls Group braved the cold and wind to join with thousands of Virginians on the Mall near the Washington Monument. See photos on the Great Falls Group Facebook page. Find more photos and links to press coverage of the event on the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter's website. The President and the federal agencies he leads must take action to address climate change and reduce carbon pollution. President Obama needs senators like Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to support him in exercising his authority to address climate change with actions like rejecting the dirty Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and reducing carbon pollution from power plants. Find a link for contacting your senators on the Virginia Chapter's website.
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Natural Gas Consultant Speaks about Hydro-Fracking
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 | | A natural gas drilling site, © B. Mark Schmerling. |
When Jeffrey Brown, a principal with consulting firm Pangea Global with 30 years' experience in the natural gas industry, told his industry friends that he was speaking to the Sierra Club, they wanted to know why. He thought it would be fun, and he felt that all aspects of natural gas production from hydro-fracking of shale deposits should be aired. While it may not have been every speaker's idea of fun, the Great Falls Group certainly appreciated learning about the horizontal high-pressure hydraulic fracturing technology (hydro-fracking) and the industry's viewpoints.
The presentation began with a video illustrating how the hydro-fracking process allows for natural gas extraction by drilling horizontally through shale formations to access natural gas deposits that were inaccessible using prior drilling technologies. Detonation of small projectiles placed in the horizontal bores perforates the steel casing and the cement that bonds it to the rock. Hydraulic pressure is then applied to fracture the shale, allowing the formerly "trapped" natural gas to migrate into the wellbore for collection at the wellhead.
There are many large shale deposits throughout the globe, with enough reserves in the U.S. to provide about 100 years of total demand, including electricity. Due to the rise in the use of hydro-fracking, natural gas production is now booming. As supply has grown, prices have plummeted, and natural gas has been replacing coal for much U.S. power generation. Brown explained that because burning natural gas produces about half the greenhouse emissions of coal, natural gas is beneficial as a transition fuel, replacing coal until utility-scale storage technology supports renewable sources as a baseload energy source. Brown seemed content to postpone full reliance on renewable sources indefinitely, certainly for another 100 years, his estimate of the typical life of a gas well.
Audience Concerns
The presentation sparked many questions and comments from the audience. One major theme focused on the history of leaks of fracking fluids and natural gas that have caused water contamination, and whether leaks could be more effectively prevented. Attendees also wondered how horizontal fracking could be a good thing when it has been exempted (through the "Halliburton Loophole") from major environmental laws including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The gas-rich shale is located well below a relatively impermeable geological layer of rock. Brown explained that industry standards prohibit forces high enough to fracture outside the shale formation, thus a breach of the impermeable layer above should be impossible. Nonetheless, the extensive list of legal exemptions to long-existing environmental laws and the widely reported instances of methane leakage to the surface implicate accidental fracturing of impermeable layers as a consequence of horizontal fracking. While there were a number of questions over the adequacy of existing regulation for avoiding fugitive methane, Brown was clear that such incidents are unlikely and that adequate enforcement is important to the industry.
When asked whether regulating the cement casing on pipes would succeed in reducing leakage, Brown admitted that he was not familiar with past examples of leakage. He believes that the responsible players in the industry would welcome "sensible" regulation, but he prefers enforcement at the state level. He insisted that the large extraction companies take every precaution to avoid an environmental disaster because that would be harmful to the industry's reputation. Explaining that low-cost, high-risk competitors present the real risk to environmentally safe extraction, Brown said such "cowboys" would be the industry's "worst nightmare" should one of those operations cause an environmental disaster by accidentally breaching the impermeable formation.
What about Renewable Energy?
 The discussion shifted to renewable energy and when it could be available as a source of baseload power. Brown pointed to the current high price for wind and solar as one of two impediments to their wider adoption, but the audience noted, and Brown acknowledged, that the public costs of these externalities are not reflected in the market price of fossil fuels. Audience members expressed their concern for how market pricing fails to account for the costs to public health and the environment. Another attendee noted that market costs for renewable energy sources were steadily dropping thanks to technological advances and economies of scale. Brown responded by emphasizing another impediment faced by renewable sources--their intermittency. Acknowledging solar's useful role as a peak power source, he asserted that wind and solar cannot yet be used to meet the base-load requirements of the nation's 24/7 demand.
As the session ended, the audience expressed their appreciation for the presentation with enthusiastic applause.
Risky Practices
Obviously, we have strong disagreements over the risks and hazards of horizontal fracking and the size of the role natural gas should play in fueling the transition to a fully renewable energy economy. Gas wells that operate for 100 years, in combination with gas's current low price, will induce the infrastructure to hook us into a lengthy transition phase. The current low price also leads to excessive flaring at some production sites, such as the Bakken Formation in North Dakota, where widespread flaring is visible at night from space. The North Dakota government estimates the flaring constitutes 29% of the gas brought to the surface, which means the natural gas delivered to customers from Bakken has a greenhouse gas warming factor equivalent to 79% of coal, not the 50% that's often claimed for natural gas. Such practices add urgency for a carbon tax at the wellhead to ensure natural gas's potential as a transition fuel (through its lower carbon intensity per unit of heat generated) is more effectively used.
New Study on Wind and Solar
Questions about the cost and baseline reliability of wind and solar are addressed in a new study from the University of Delaware (UD), "Cost-minimized combinations of wind power, solar power and electrochemical storage, powering the grid up to 99.9% of the time." The study shows that by 2030, fossil fuels can be almost entirely replaced by wind and solar to provide reliable power at a comparable cost on the PJM network, which serves Virginia and 13 other states.
See a nighttime satellite image of the Bakken Formation flaring located in upper left.
By Ross Shearer and Linda Burchfiel
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Flex Your Grassroots Power!
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Grassroots Power comes in many forms--emails, letters, phone calls, questioning elected officials at town hall meetings, rallies-- and we in the Sierra Club need to use all of them. While we may not have money to persuade politicians to vote our way, we can use our Grassroots Power. And it works!
Take the well-funded campaign by Virginia Uranium, Inc. to lift the ban on mining and milling uranium in Virginia. They had buckets of money, and they handed it out generously with hefty donations to politicians' campaign funds, all-expense-paid trips to France and Canada to tour mines, and contracts for all the big lobbyists in Richmond. Lined up against all that money was Grassroots Power, including our Great Falls Group Activists. After learning about the issue at our Activist Night, and armed with a suggested script, our Activists either wrote letters to the editor to educate the general public about the reasons to keep the ban or called their legislators. Many had been hesitant about calling--worried that the aide would ask questions they weren't prepared to answer--but once they started, they learned that aides do not challenge callers, but merely take messages and thank them for calling. Some found it even easier to call from the Activist Night meeting in the evening after work hours when they could just leave a message. Thank you, GFG uranium activists, for the part you played in keeping the ban!
Consider joining us at our upcoming Activist Nights on March 28 and April 25 at the Oakton Library, 7:00-9:00 pm. In March we'll focus on efforts to restore woodlands and native plants, and in April we'll learn about the Green Energy Corridor which has been proposed for Fairfax County. Check out details in the articles below!
by Linda Burchfiel
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Green Energy in Fairfax County? Come to Our April Activist Night!
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Join our April 25 Activist Night at Oakton Library, 7-9 pm, to hear about the innovative green energy initiative called the "Green Energy Corridor" proposed for southern Fairfax County. It would use a mix of renewable energy--solar, geothermal, wind, recovered methane gas, and potentially thermal--and save county tax dollars by powering county facilities in the Lorton area. While some of the energy sources already exist, private industry would pay for the rest.
If opposition to this attractive deal still exists, we activists will be calling our supervisors to ask them to approve the Corridor.
Learn more about the Green Energy Corridor in the Summer 2012 issue of The Cascade. |
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Great Falls Group Goes to the IMAX
|  Great Falls Group members went to see "Flight of the Butterflies," an IMAX 3D movie showing at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, on Sunday, January 27th. The movie dramatizes the story of a Canadian scientist's 40-year search to find where the monarch butterflies go every year. With the help of citizen scientists across North America, he discovered a migration route that led to hundreds of millions of butterflies in the remote mountain peaks of Mexico. Stunning cinematography and 3D made for a captivating experience. Learn more about " Flight of the Butterflies." Before the movie, the group dined family style at the Oyamel Cocina Mexicana at 401 7th Street NW, Washington, DC. We sampled chef Jose Andres' delicious cuisine from appetizer to dessert before hurrying off to the IMAX theater. Back to Top |
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Fairfax County Sierra Club Representatives Needed
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Do you want to have your ideas on the environment in Fairfax County heard?
If we work together, we can accomplish many positive changes within our home in Fairfax County.
We are inviting Sierra Club volunteers who are interested in making a difference in each of the Fairfax County Districts to identify issues they have and meet periodically with their supervisors to find helpful resolutions.
A number of members have already started this process, and we would like to expand to other Districts. If we can get more members involved in the meetings and discussing common issues with the Board of Supervisors, we would have a better chance of accomplishing these changes. This is intended to be a non-political group.
You can find some of the previous issues discussed with the Supervisors on the Great Falls Group website.
We are planning a kickoff meeting or conference call with 1 or 2 representatives from each district to discuss a plan on how to accomplish this.
If you have visited your supervisor before, we would certainly like to hear about your experience.
If you would like to find out who your supervisor is and what district you are in, please visit the Fairfax County Neighborhood Mapping Tool, and enter your address.
Please contact Norbert Pink if you want to take part in this effort or if you have any questions.
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| Cats v. Wildlife |
 | | Purple Finch by Thomas G. Barnes |
For cat owners, it's no secret that cats are famous for leaving "gifts" at your doorstep after a trip around the backyard--perhaps a dead mouse one day or a bird or a chipmunk the next. Typical reactions involve a grimace or a sigh and a quick visit to the trash. Little do they know that their pet cats may be contributing to the deaths of billions of birds and small animals in the U.S. each year.
According to a January 2013 study published in the journal, Nature Communications, free-ranging domestic cats kill about 3.7 billion birds (15% of the total bird population) and 20.7 billion mammals annually. By contrast, 440,000 birds are killed by wind turbines each year, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service found.
Although the study suggests that a majority of the wildlife deaths are attributed to feral cats, these felines without owners are invasive--not natural to their habitat--and are descended from pets that were not spayed or neutered or were simply abandoned.
The study, led by Scott Loss of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, projected there are 84 million cats owned in the U.S. alone, and each cat kills between 4 and 18 birds and 8 to 21 small animals annually. The threat to wildlife is undoubtedly high.
Loss and his team found significantly higher estimates of the loss of these animals than previous studies. For example, an August 2012 University of Georgia study carried out in conjunction with the National Geographic Society estimated that free-ranging cats kill 4 billion wildlife animals per year. This research involved attaching video cameras to 60 cats and discovered that one-third of a cat's day is spent killing smaller animals.
 | | Bird Family by Thomas Bollinger |
In response to the impact on wildlife discovered through these studies, Gareth Morgan, an economist and environmentalist, has started a campaign against cats in New Zealand. His website, Cats to Go, urges cat owners to neuter their pets and abstain from adding any more cats to their households. He has even proposed that New Zealanders set up traps to catch stray felines to euthanize them.
There are certainly less drastic solutions to this problem in the U.S. One strategy involves keeping cats indoors. Many organizations advocate this approach, suggesting that indoor cats will be kept safe from harm (e.g., cars, diseases, attacks) while protecting wildlife from cats' natural predatory instincts.
The results of these studies demand that we begin reducing the extensive environmental impact while also keeping our pets happy. Cats are certainly much loved by their owners, and nature lovers also enjoy the healthy variety of wildlife around them. Together, we can find a positive outcome that people on both standpoints can live with.
We invite both nature lovers and cat owners to provide effective and safe solutions to this delicate but urgent and difficult issue. Please send your ideas and suggestions to Norbert Pink.
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Great Falls Group is on Facebook
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Like us on Facebook--Sierra Club Great Falls Group Page
http://www.facebook.com/GreatFallsVaSierraClubChapter We are looking for a lead Facebook Administrator. If you have a passion for the environment, time to volunteer, creative writing skills, and a Facebook account, you may be the person we are looking for to join our Facebook Team! You will not be alone--we are a TEAM and will all work together to manage the Great Falls Group Facebook page. If you'd like to help, contact Susan Bonney.
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Get Outdoors with the Sierra Club
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Sierra Club Potomac Region Outings (SCPRO) is a special activities group of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter. It organizes hikes and events year-round for the general public on behalf of the Sierra Club's Washington, DC, Chapter and the Maryland and Virginia Chapters' Washington-suburb groups. Volunteer leaders conduct the events, many of which include conservation, educational, or historical elements. For information about SCPRO and its upcoming events, visit the SCPRO Events website. To obtain a free calendar subscription, inquire about becoming a SCPRO outings leader, or get answers to other questions, write to info@sierrapotomac.org.
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Great Falls Group Executive Committee
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The monthly meeting of The Great Falls Group's (GFG) Executive Committee is usually held on the last Monday of the month, beginning at 7:30 p.m., and is open to all Sierra Club members. Contact Linda Burchfiel for meeting times and location.
Officers:
Chair Linda Burchfiel 703-506-4310 linda@lburchfiel.com
Treasurer Joe Apple 703-860-1254 Joe.Apple@comcast.net
Secretary Volunteer wanted
Committee Chairs:
Chapter Delegate Joe Apple 703-860-1254 Joe.Apple@comcast.net
Conservation Steve Bruckner 703-883-3622 sbruckner@cox.net
Membership Norbert Pink 703-264-7445 norbertsierra@aol.com
Education Volunteer wanted
Political Bob Pearson 703 690-3071 Bob_pearson@cox.net
Programs Susan Weltz s.weltz@yahoo.com
Outreach Susan Bonney 703-821-5587 sbonney001@aol.com
Communications Linda Brown sc.greatfallsgroup@gmail.com
Committee Support:
Webmaster &
Listserv Linda Stevens lnjstvns@aol.com
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Calendar
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Great Falls Group Programs:
Sunday, March 17, 3:30 - 4:40 p.m., Go to the Movies with the Sierra Club Great Falls Group
National Museum of American History, 14th and Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC
(Metro: Federal Triangle or Smithsonian)
Meet at 3:10 p.m. inside, in front of the theater, which is near the Constitution Ave. entrance. Look for the Sierra Club sign.
Join us at Environmental Film Festival's The Ends of the Earth--which is described as a voyage of adventure to the Alaska Peninsula, land of active volcanoes, rolling tundra, and the
largest bears on earth. This breathtaking documentary also explores the effects of climate change on wilderness and wildlife. Discussion with filmmaker John Grabowska follows. Then, have a snack with us at the cafeteria or nearby Teaism Restaurant.
Contact: Susan Weltz at 703-608-2471
Monday, March 18, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., Step It Up 2013 to Fight Climate Change
(Refreshments at 7:00 p.m.; program begins at 7:30)
Patrick Henry Library, 101 Maple Avenue, East, Vienna, VA 22180  Hear how you can be part of a global cultural movement demanding action on the climate crisis. Morris Meyer represents the Climate Reality Program, founded by Al Gore to ignite the moral courage in our leaders to solve the climate crisis. And he needs your help. The Climate Reality Project fights to break the dam of inaction and raise the profile of the climate crisis to its proper state of urgency. Come to stand up to denial, press for solutions, and spread the truth about climate change to empower our leaders to solve the climate crisis. Together, it is time to speak out. It is time to spread the truth about climate change so that we empower and inspire others to work toward solutions. Contact: Susan Bonney
Thursday, March 28, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., Battling Invasive Plants
(Refreshments at 7:00 p.m.; program begins at 7:30) Oakton Library, 10304 Lynnhaven Place, Oakton, VA
 Invasive plants are extremely detrimental to our local environment. Join us to hear an expert from the Fairfax County Park Authority's (FCPA) Invasive Management Area (IMA) Volunteer Program talk about the various types of invasive plants, how they harm native plants and weaken trees, and the effort under way to eradicate them. According to the FCPA, the extent and spread of non-native plant species have grown tremendously in the past several decades. Many of these non-native species have escaped from landscapers and nurseries and have invaded natural areas. They out-compete the local native species and turn healthy, diverse forests into monocultures of just a few non-native species. Known as invasive species, these plants are threatening the long-term health of our natural areas. FCPA understands this issue but needs help from concerned citizens to deal with it. Learn what you can do to protect our valuable and vulnerable natural areas. All are welcome!
Contact: Susan BonneyThursday, April 25, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., Activist Night, The Green Coridor(Refreshments at 7:00 p.m.; program begins at 7:30) Oakton Library, 10304 Lynnhaven Place, Oakton, VASee details in the story above. Come have fun. Eat pizza. Meet new people. Make a difference.
Contact: Linda BurchfielOther Events:March 12 through March 24, Environmental Film FestivalFilms will be presented at venues across the Washington, D.C., area. The 21st Anniversary Festival will present 190 documentary, narrative, animated, archival, experimental, and children's films at 75 partnering venues across our nation's capital. Festival highlights reportedly include the Washington, DC, premieres of acclaimed director Terrence Malick's new film, To the Wonder, an exploration of love featuring spectacular cinematography of the natural world--and A River Changes Course, winner of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for documentary, exploring the effects of globalization on Cambodia's environment and people. Most screenings include discussion and are FREE. The film schedule provides venues and ticket/ reservation information.
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The Cascade is published by the Great Falls Group of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. Beginning 2012, it is being published electronically. We reserve the right to edit all submissions, both editorial and advertisements. The views expressed are those of the authors and may not be those of the Sierra Club. Email articles, photos, questions, or comments to sc.greatfallsgroup@gmail.com.
Visit the Great Falls Group website.
Subscribe to our listserve at http://virginia.sierraclub.org/greatfalls/greatfallsnews.html
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Linda Brown, Editor
Sierra Club Great Falls Group, Virginia
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