Newsletters
March 2017 - Coal, Eastern Red Cedar, Flying Squirrel
WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES!
MARCH, 2017
“Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.”
- Cormac McCarthy
“Because the living environment is what really sustains us.”
- E. O. Wilson
FROM OUR READERS – News articles and features they found interesting
Wind installations belong well offshore. We hope they listen to this guy. Hoosac Wind “Farm” in Florida and Monroe, MA, has ruined one of the wildest and most beautiful areas of Massachusetts.http://northcountrynow.com/news/massachusetts-photographer-travels-st-lawrence-county-warn-officials-and-locals-concerning
Nature makes us happy. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/02/nature-fix-brain-happy-florence-williams/?google_editors_picks=true
Losing our pollinators. Now the rusty-patch bumblebee. Last one seen in Massachusetts was on Cape Cod in 2009. https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/rpbb/index.html
Social trees and an interesting forester.https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/world/europe/german-forest-ranger-finds-that-trees-have-social-networks-too.html?_r=0
Trump and coal. http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/319938-trump-signs-bill-undoing-obama-coal-mining-rule
Clean Coal is an oxymoron. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sean-spicer-white-house-clean-coal-environmentally-friendly-energy-donald-trump-a7570391.html
"CLEAN COAL” IS BACK IN THE NEWS - All too familiar to usFrom the White House: “The Trump Administration is also committed to clean coal technology, and to reviving America’s coal industry, which has been hurting for too long.”
Greater Fall River is an environmental injustice area here in Massachusetts that has long suffered disproportionately from extremely toxic and environmentally hazardous public and private industries, waste disposal facilities and noxious coal combustion for centuries. We have “been hurting for too long”!
High immigration, low-income employment opportunities and low-educational attainment all mean that communities like Fall River lack the organizational and political power to resist when toxic and polluting industry promoters come to town.
With the ill-sited, largest, dirty-coal-fired power plant in New England slated for closure later in 2017 and the filthy, defunct Montaup Power facility nearby, there have been many cockamamie proposals from scheming energy entrepreneurs to retrofit those power plants from burning dirty coal to burning all sorts of noisome things including “clean coal.” Billions of dollars from venture investors have been poured into this phony-baloney alchemy and even more billions of our tax dollars. Clean coal is neither economically viable nor pollutant free.
Coal can be turned into a liquid or gas, but what do you do with the pollutants you've removed in the process? You can't make them disappear by releasing them into the atmosphere or burying them in the ground.
GreatPoint Energy's clean coal “magic” tower in Somerset, Massachusetts.
We've a long involvement with the “Clean Coal promise”. These excerpts from some of our past e-newsletters:
2008 before filthy Somerset NRG (Montaup) realized it couldn't fool all of the people all of the time and finally quit trying.
Somerset NRG (formerly Montaup) says they want to use “plasma-gasification” to turn dirty coal into riches for themselves and more carbon dioxide and pollutants for you. Is that possible? Isn’t that somewhat similar to the plan alchemists had back in the Middle Ages?
Somerset NRG’s generating station was under orders to clean-up or shut-down by 2010. DEP gave them a permit to “gasify.” The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed an appeal to the DEP permit allowing NRG to proceed with their falsification …oops! … “gasification” plan.
Surprise, surprise! DEP Commissioner Laurie Burt …another in a long line of environmentally clueless …or told-what-to-do DEP Commissioners …denied CLF’s appeal. It looks like the next stop will be state court. Stay tuned.
More from another 2008 e-newsletter. Obama dumb as today's Trump?
“There is no reason why we can't invest in technology that captures and stores carbon emissions from coal plants underground.”
-Barack Obama
“We will invest in clean coal technology. We will lower the cost of energy within months, and we will create millions of new jobs.”
-John McCain
Think there’s any difference in these two guys? Seems BIG COAL doesn’t think so.
We’ve been down this road before. What a shame both presidential candidates are willing to squander scarce funds, that should be going towards developing true alternative energy sources, on past flawed technologies that will only profit their politically-connected promoters.
During the nineteenth century coal was first commercially “gasified.” Gas was baked from dirty coal in huge ovens to produce coal gas. Coal gas was piped to customers to burn for illumination, first in street lights and later in homes. The toxic waste from this process is still causing problems today.
Locally, coal waste from gas production in Fall River was dumped in the south end of the city and just over the state line in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Tiverton citizen activists have been relentless in holding those responsible for that pollution accountable.
With the discovery and transport of safer natural gas, coal gas was phased out.
Toward the end of World War II Nazi Germany, running out of resources but with considerable native coal, turned to catalytic conversion of that coal to run its war machinery. It was dirty, nasty, and could not be replicated on a large scale. They lost the war.
Desperate people do desperate things and with the high prices of oil and natural gas there is increased interest in repeating past attempts at turning coal into a gas or liquid. Right now there are hundreds of energy entrepreneurs and dirty coal tycoons chasing our tax dollars for start-up research and development projects attempting to turn coal into gas …and don’t think they’re not payingthemselves huge salaries in the process.
In Somerset, Dominion’s Brayton Point Power Station has teamed up with GreatPoint to attempt catalytic conversion of coal and other feedstocks. Somerset NRG’s facility (former Montaup Electric) is slated to begin attempting to gasify coal and other bio-materials (solid waste?) using plasma torches. Other alternative energy charlatans are dumping coal into pressurized liquefaction units, ceramic gasifiers and artificial lightning chambers.
It is doubtful any of these experimental processes will prove replicable on a large, economically viable scale and even if they should succeed, there is nothing that can be done to eliminate the vast amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) that will be produced by these methods.
CO2 sequestration is proposed by all these dirty coal folks to avoid releasing it into the atmosphere and thus exacerbating global warming. No sequestration projects have confirmed that this can be done on a wide scale.
In 1937 when Soviet coal gasification attempts failed, Stalin had the chief gasification scientists executed. Way to go Joe!
Time to stop the clean coal scam. Time for this country and the rest of the world to invest those “alternative energy” funds, now being wasted on the impossible task of trying to make dirty coal clean, on true alternative energy technologies.
In our little corner of the world, over the past ten years, Great Point, Ze-Gen, Quantum Catalytics, Somerset NRG, Texas Syngas, and a few others we’ve forgotten…have all been mentioned in various news articles touting their particular “clean” gasification-of-something-dirty process as the solution to our energy and solid waste problems. It appears to us, however, that what these companies are really interested in are alternative energy development dollars …your tax dollars and ours.
Remember Molten Metals back in the 1990’s? They said they could cleanly gasify anything in their “proprietary” catalytic reactors. Lots of gullible locals lost beaucoup bucks investing in that “research and development” gasification project until it went ...belly-up! Old Globe article, but still interesting especially if you were one of those scammed by Al Gore's Molten Metal friends.
Clean coal? No such thing.
An America First Energy Plan. Read the contradictory plan here
https://www.whitehouse.gov/america-first-energy
“For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.”
And,
“President Trump will refocus the EPA on its essential mission of protecting our air and water. Lastly, our need for energy must go hand-in-hand with responsible stewardship of the environment. Protecting clean air and clean water, conserving our natural habitats, and preserving our natural reserves and resources will remain a high priority. President Trump will refocus the EPA on its essential mission of protecting our air and water.”
WESTPORT – A Right to destroy farm land community?
If you ate today, thank a farmer.
Another agricultural field in once pastoral Westport about to sprout solar panels.
Destruction in the guise of altruism ...or government subsidies.
BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
Cedars are wonderful trees and the eastern red cedar is a wonderful tree, but it isn't a cedar.
It is a juniper. There aren't any native cedars (Cedrus is the genus) in North America.
Eastern red cedar is found from southern Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico and from the eastern edge of the Great Plains to the Atlantic. It is absent from south Florida.
Red cedar is a slow-growing early successional evergreen tree commonly found growing in old pastures, the upland edge bordering salt marshes, by the side of country roads and along highways in full sun. Unfortunately most of the old pastures in southeastern Massachusetts are now sprouting houses, or more recently solar panels, rather than red cedars.
A medium size tree, most red cedars around here are generally 20 to 40 feet tall. Under ideal growing conditions in rich, well-drained soil they may reach 80 feet in height. If not encumbered by surrounding vegetation they are usually pyramidal in shape with dense, dark green foliage almost to the ground leaving only a short section of the reddish-brown trunk visible.
Young red cedars have leaves different from those on older trees. As seedlings they have sharp, spiky leaves. After a few years the trees begin putting put out softer scale-like leaves arranged along the stem in pairs, each pair at right angles to the adjacent pair.
Red cedars are dioecious trees. Some are male and some are female. Male trees produce tiny yellowish-brown cones that open in March releasing their pollen to the wind. Once fertilized by the pollen the even smaller female flowers develop into blue, waxy, berry-like cones. Each cone usually contains two to three seeds.
The berry-like cones hang on the tree through the winter and a cone-laden female red cedar is an important food source for many seed-eating birds and small mammals. The seeds in the cones usually pass, unharmed, through the critter that ate them providing an easy method of seed dispersal. Red cedar foliage is so dense that it proves winter shelter and protection from predators to many song birds. Wintering robins, ruffed grouse and mourning doves are three species that commonly roost in red cedar on cold, winter nights.
Although a juniper, red cedar wood is fragrant like a true cedar. Light and fine-grained the aromatic tan sapwood to red heartwood repels clothes moths and other insects and has been used since colonial times in making “cedar” chests and closets. The natural aromatic oils also make the wood rot resistant and it is often used for fence posts. Red cedar wood was also used by Eastern Woodland Indians to make flutes and game calls. They also wove the fibrous bark into clothing, hats, mats and other utilitarian objects.
Before cheaper, imported wood and advanced manufacturing methods came along, red cedar was the preferred wood for making pencils. In 1837, after Harvard but before heading for Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau joined the family business making pencils out of red cedar heartwood.
Although common juniper (Juniperus communis) provides the traditional juniper “berry” used to flavor gin, red cedar may be substituted. Red cedar's aromatic oil is also used in various medicines and in aromatherapy.
Our common red cedar is a remarkable tree. Next time you walk by one, don't forget to smile and introduce yourself.
BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)
Photo – Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Old enough to remember Rocket J. “Rocky” Squirrel and his pal?
Rocky: “Hey Bullwinkle, we're in real trouble now!”
Bullwinkle: “Oh good, Rocky! I hate that artificial kind!”
Southern flying squirrels are common in forests and suburban woodlots here in southeastern Massachusetts that contain acorn and other nut trees. Rocky J. Squirrel ...or at least one of his kin ...could be living in your backyard, maybe even nesting in your attic eaves/soffits. Because they are strictly nocturnal, few people see or even know they are about.
Besides living around here in our neck of the woods, the southern flying squirrel is native in wooded areas throughout the eastern half of the country from Minnesota to mid-Maine down to Florida and the Gulf Coast states. They are also present in extreme southeastern Ontario, southern Quebec, extreme southern New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The southern flying squirrel also has disjunct populations in highland forests of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
Southern flying squirrels are 9 to 10 inches in length. The have thick, fluffy brown fur on back, sides and tail and greyish-brown on the head. Underside, from head to tail, is white. Eyes are very large and black, excellent for night vision as they glide about, navigating through the forest by utilizing the loose fold of skin between their extended fore and hind legs and using their broad tail as a rudder and brake.
Like other members of the squirrel family, flying squirrels eat nuts, seeds, fruits, buds and fungi. In the summer they add bird eggs and insects to their diet.
Flying squirrels live in hollow trees often utilizing old woodpecker nesting cavities. As mentioned above, they will also nest in attics. If available, they will also den in large, vacant bird houses if tree hollows are lacking. In winter, flying squirrels usually den communally to conserve energy and stay snug, warm and cozy.
Flying squirrels may have two litters between March and November. In early spring squirrel pairs mate and leave the communal den returning to their summer homes. Pregnant females move to a nesting den that they line with fur, leaves and grass. Forty days after mating one to six young are born. The mother squirrel raises the young by herself. In four months the young squirrels leave home to go in search of a den of their own. Home range for a flying squirrel is approximately 15 acres. The young will probably reunite with their parents and other kin when winter arrives and they all communally den.
Flying squirrels have many predators, but these tiny squirrels are quick and fast. In the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve they have to avoid hawks, owls, fishers, raccoons, opossums and weasels.
MARCH - SHAME ON THE MA DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND RECREATION (DCR)
Every so often a boat is discarded somewhere in the Freetown State Forest. As you can see, the nitwits often fail to remove the boat registration number. That should make it easy to trace the boat back to the last owner and prosecute the dumper. Rarely, if ever, does that happen. DCR is a dysfunctional agency in need of reorganization and new leadership.
SPRING WAITING IN THE WINGS – Arrives March 20 here in our neck of the woods at 6:29 a.m.
March is normally a cold, damp and windy month in New England, but rapidly lengthening days have flowers emerging, migratory birds returning, and local winter-averse critters that slept all winter waking up.
If on a walk in an area forest or woodlot this month watch for the following signs of spring arriving and listen for them too.
Blooming pussy willows, skunk cabbage, spicebush and coltsfoot.
Returning red-wing blackbirds, woodcock, wood ducks, hooded mergansers, tree swallows.
Up and out from hibernation woodchucks, spring peepers, chipmunks, spotted turtles, garter snakes, mourning cloak butterflies.
Hear the rushing water in upland brooks draining the thawing ground? The “peent” of male woodcock; the “clack, clack” of mating wood frogs; the reedy screech of courting red tail hawks; the territorial drumming of woodpeckers; hoot hooting of horned owls and the “who cooks for you” call of the barred owl.
The sun rises earlier and sets later. Light and warmth increase, spring is on its way and there is no stopping it now.
Click here to view our calendar.
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