BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE www.bredl.org
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
BREDL Safe Energy


BREDL Safe Energy Campaign


People For Clean Mountains Urges Moratorium
on Biomass Facility

People For Clean Mountains (PCM) has called on Transylvania County Commissioners to enact a moratorium for 18 months on any further development of the proposed Penrose biomass facility.
“There is an emerging body of evidence that a facility like the one proposed can pose significant public health risks while also hurting the county’s economic recovery and development,” says Danna Smith, a PCM volunteer.

PCM Press Release | DRAFT Moratorium
The Asheville Citizen-Times April 30, 2013 story: Group seeks halt to biomass plant



BREDL Fact Sheet: Penrose Biomass Technology
Brevard, NC

An application has been submitted to the North Carolina Utilities Commission by RD-Penrose 1, a subsidiary of RENEWable Developers, LLC for a certificate of convenience and public necessity for an electric generating plant near Brevard, NC. If approved, the plant would use up to 100 tons per day of household trash and wood waste to generate up to 4 megawatts of electricity.

BREDL Fact Sheet



Rally Notice: Duke Shareholder Meeting on May 2
Rally, Press Conference, and Ratepayers’ Stakeholder Meeting

Duke Shareholder Meeting on May 2
Rally, Press Conference, and Ratepayers’ Stakeholder Meeting
526 S. Church Street Charlotte, NC 28202
(old Duke Energy headquarters)

Duke Energy: Ratepayers Oppose Serial Rate Hikes
Ratepayers from across Duke Energy’s service area will convene at the company’s Annual Shareholder Meeting on Thursday, May 2nd to add their voices to the discussion and to hold a community teach-in outside.

More Details: Rally Flyer



BREDL Fact Sheet - North Star Jefferson biomass and tire burner
proposed for Wadley, Georgia

Used tires are a dirty fuel. Up to 20% of the power from the proposed facility in Jefferson County would be provided by scrap tires. Even with pollution control devices in place, burning tires create toxic air pollution.  

BREDL Fact Sheet



BREDL Chapter Leaders testify at
NC Utilities Commission Hearing

February 28, 2013: Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League chapter leaders Julius Kerr and Laura Sorensen testified at the North Carolina Utilities Commission hearing in Charlotte. They joined the chorus of opposition to wasteful, costly pollution generators and money sinkholes proposed by the electric utility companies. For example, the League revealed that to date Duke Energy has reported over $300 million in spending on its proposed Lee Nuclear Station in South Carolina with no license approved or construction started.

BREDL Press Release | NCUC WSLee Expenditures Report
Julius Kerr Testimony | Laura Sorensen Testimony



North Carolina Integrated Resource Planning

Feb. 11, 2013: The general statutes of North Carolina which require the analysis of the long-range need for electricity and least-cost considerations (NCGS 62-110 and 62-2) compel the Commission to require a full cost accounting of all electric generation sources. However, Duke Energy, Progress Energy and Dominion Energy are pursuing most-cost energy policies which are both expensive and reckless.

More Details: BREDL Comments | BREDL Slide Presentation | BREDL Article



NCUC Tries to Silence Affected Communities
League Launches Multi-State Campaign
to Stop Biomass Incineration

Aug. 28, 2012: Today residents of communities targeted for waste-burning power plants were denied the right to speak at the North Carolina Utilities Commission hearing in Raleigh. The denial sparked charges of bias and injustice from the silenced groups. The Commission, convened to consider deadlines affecting animal waste power generators, did grant electric utilities and poultry, pork and energy groups the opportunity to testify.

Read BREDL Press Release | Read BREDL's Lou Zeller's Testimony | Read WACE's Dr. Michael G. Noll's Testimony



BREDL comments on the proposed air permit for
North Star Jefferson Renewable Energy in Jefferson County, GA

March 23, 2012: It would be a classic case of environmental injustice if the State of Georgia were to permit a facility which emits excessive levels of toxic air pollution in Wadley. Compounding the injustice, burning wood and scrap tires to produce power in the 21st Century is such a bad idea that it beggars description. The prospect of a few jobs need not and must not sacrifice the health of our communities.

Read BREDL March 23 Comments | Read BREDL March 8 Comments



The League's Therese Vick named
"Biomass Buster of the Month"

March 6, 2012: Therese Vick, a BREDL community organizer, has been named "Biomass Buster of the Month" in the March 2012 edition of the Biomass Monitor. The Biomass Monitor is the monthly newsletter of the Biomass Accountability Project. Check out Therese on page 2.



BREDL comments on the proposed air permit for
North Star Jefferson Renewable Energy in Jefferson County, GA

The burning of wood and tires to produce power is an ill-considered idea; tires should not even be considered to be biomass and the residents of Jefferson County, Georgia do not deserve an additional, unnecessary source of toxic air pollution imposed upon their community.

BREDL Fact Sheet | BREDL Comments on proposed air permit



BREDL Statement on Hydrofracking

"The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League opposes shale gas extraction, also known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” Describing natural gas as a solution to America’s fossil fuel dependency is misleading and ignores real solutions like conservation, as well as truly clean energy like wind and solar power. Hydrofracking is fraught with environmental, public health, and economic problems. The extraction of the gas from the shale uses toxins injected underground, and releases radium, methane and radon gas which contaminate air, land and water. The gas industry has ignored community concerns and paved its way with campaign contributions and bully tactics, which has resulted in human misery, contamination, foreclosures and lawsuits. North Carolina’s public health, quality of life, and environment must not be sacrificed to this practice and the dirty money which comes with it. There is too much at stake."