Activists, Riverkeeper: JEA, Utility Industry Distorting Facts

Environmental, state and local activists are taking a stance against JEA and other utility organizations that have criticized President Obama's plan to cut the nation's power plants' pollution, calling his proposal a "good start" to helping rid waterways and air of dirty technology's effects. St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman has said that JEA, as well as industry lobbyists, are "working overtime to distort the facts," scaring the public while undermining the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule, adding, "...[C]oal-fired power plants are the largest source of toxic water pollution in the United States," The Florida Times-Union reports.

Bud Para, JEA's chief public affairs officer, said, "JEA's coal plants are not the coal plants Lisa's referring to," adding that JEA's coal-powered modern plants comply with federal regulations.

While Florida utilities, including JEA, have invested in other sources to generate electricity, coal remains a major source of fuel, with coal being used to generate "about 65 percent" of JEA's power this year.

The EPA's proposed rule aims at a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, according to the Times-Union article.

In an earlier Florida Times-Union article ("JEA: Obama's pollution reduction plan 'most disruptive energy policy in modern times'"), JEA stated that President Barack Obama's proposed plan would adversely affect Florida's economy and strip utilities of needed fuel flexibility. JEA added that the proposed rule is "the most disruptive energy policy proposal in modern times" and that the EPA's goal "would quickly render coal-fired power plants obsolete."

JEA (formerly Jacksonville Electric Authority) currently owns and operates an electric system, as well as a water system, according to the JEA website.

To read The Florida Times-Union articles further, check out "Riverkeeper: JEA, utility industry distorting facts on President Obama's pollution-reduction plan" and "JEA: Obama's pollution reduction plan 'most disruptive energy policy in modern times'".

U.N. Study: Ozone Layer Shows Sign of Recovery

After years of depletion, the ozone layer surrounding the earth is showing "its first sign of recovery," according to a United Nations study. Experts said it was largely due to global action, including a 1987 ban on man-made gases, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

While the study also showed that the ozone hole over the Antarctica has also stopped growing, it is expected to be "about a decade" before it starts to shrink.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol banned or phased out chemicals that deplete the ozone layer, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); these were once widely used in spray cans and refrigerators.

To read the Orlando Sentinel article in its entirety, click here.

BP About Claims Administrator: 'Court Should Replace Him'

BP Plc has asked a U.S. court to fire the lawyer in charge of paying out compensation to those affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, stating that the lawyer had not disclosed an alleged conflict of interest. The motion, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, states that attorney Patrick Juneau advocated for claimants before being appoint by the court to run the claims program, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

This was the latest in a series of challenges filed by BP, claiming that Juneau had "been too generous and liberal when approving claims," the Orlando Sentinel article states.

While BP originally expected the class-action settlement to cost $7.8 billion, it has since said that the uncapped program "could cost $9.2 billion and that this amount could grow."

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Cancers at PA Prison Blamed on Coal Ash

A high cancer rate among prisoners at the State Correctional Institution Fayette in southwestern Pennsylvania has been linked to a nearby coal ash dump, according to a report. The report, released by the Abolitionist Law Center and the Human Rights Coalition, also advised that the correctional facility should be closed down, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

From 2010 through 2013, eleven prisoners died of cancer, and six others were diagnosed with cancer at SCI Fayette. Only two other Pennsylvania prisons have a higher inmate death rate than SCI Fayette; both of those prisons have high geriatric populations. The investigation found that the "coal ash was the most likely cause of the inmate cancers as well as other illnesses at the facility.

Coal ash, a residue of burning coal in power plants, was used extensively in Pennsylvania during the 1960s and '70s. Its carcinogenic components include lead, arsenic and mercury.

The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm based in Pittsburg while the Human Rights Coalition is a national prison reform group.

To read the entire Orlando Sentinel article, click here.

Obama Signs Sen. Nelson's Bill For Toxic Algae Research

President Barack Obama has signed a bill that would allow $82 million for research in controlling the outbreak of toxic algae. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, sponsored the bill which amends the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998. Nelson said that it would "help battle the algae that's been choking off life in Florida's waterways," according to The Palm Beach Post.

To read more about it, click here.

Endangered Everglades Birds' Numbers Climbing

An endangered species of bird known as the Everglades snail kite appears to growing in number, signaling hope for both the species as well as the River of Grass in which it lives. While the snail kites had numbered 3,600 as recently as 1999, the numbers had dropped to a mere 800 in 2008, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. The bird of prey feeds primarily on apple snails, which lay their eggs just above the water line.

Between recent droughts and floods, along with manmade manipulations of the water flows and level, the next generation of snail kite food is at risk. Fortunately for the finicky species, a new snail is invading the Everglades. While the new non-native snail is not seen as a threat to the Everglades' ecosystem, it has provided "a more steady food source" for the snail kite.

To read more of the Sun-Sentinel article, click here.

Savannah River Third Most Toxic In Nation

The Savannah River (Savannah, Georgia) has been called "the third most toxic in the United States" by a nonprofit research and policy center following a report that showed more than 4 million pounds of toxic discharge were released into the river in 2010. The report, released Thursday by Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center, also stated that more than 10 million pounds of toxic chemicals had been dumped into Georgia's waterways in 2012, making it the eighth worst state in the nation. The report showed that Augusta's DSM Chemicals North America Inc. was the state's biggest polluter, dumping "more than 4 million pounds of the toxic pollution" into the Savannah River, according to The Florida Times-Union.

The Lower Ohio River-Little Pigeon River, which runs through Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, and Virginia's New River were the only watersheds found to have higher volumes of toxic pollution than the Savannah River.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Judge Allows Arkansas Case Against Exxon To Proceed

A U.S. district judge has rejected a request by Exxon to have a lawsuit over a pipeline spill in Arkansas dismissed, thereby allowing the lawsuit to move forward. Federal and state attorneys had sued Exxon Mobil Corp. over the March 2013 Pegasus oil pipeline burst in Mayflower, Ark. The rupture sent an estimated 210,000 gallons of Canadian diluted bitumen into a nearby neighborhood and cove, according to the Miami Herald. The lawsuit seeks penalties that could dwarf the $2.66 million proposed fine set by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration.

To read the Miami Herald article in its entirety, click