BREDL comments on Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement-Clinch River Nuclear Site Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technology Park

Mar. 19, 2021: Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League is in opposition to Tennessee Valley Authority going through with the construction, operation, and decommissioning of an advanced nuclear reactor technology park at the Clinch River Nuclear (CRN) Site in Oak Ridge, Roane County, Tennessee for the following reasons: A variety of negative environmental and human health impacts, there are no efficient and practical solutions for nuclear waste, small modular reactors and microreactors are not the future or cost effective, nuclear energy is a struggling industry, and energy demands are decreasing.


In this week's podcast:
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League Calls on Virginia and North Carolina Attorneys General to Aid Landowners Left in Limbo by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Mar. 15, 2021: Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has requested the Attorneys General of North Carolina and Virginia intervene on behalf of landowners who were forced to bow to "bullying and predatory" tactics used to gain easements for the now cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).


BREDL requests NCDAQ to deny air permit for proposed International Tie Disposal facility in Hamlet
This facility will bring a dubious, risky, polluting, and experimental process to another environmental justice community.

Mar. 03, 2021: This facility will significantly impact the ambient air quality of the surrounding community affecting public health. We are respectfully requesting that NCDAQ require AERMOD air modeling for ITD at least for the criteria pollutant of NO2. Our air modeling results indicate that the ITD facility has a high probability of exceeding the NAAQS ambient air quality 1-hr standard for NO2 - especially when adding the background concentration.


STOP THE PIPELINE - STOP THE INJUSTICE
A free online PUBLIC FORUM on natural gas pipelines in South Carolina.

This forum was held on Feb. 27, 2021. Below is a video of our forum.
Rev. Charles Utley, Forum Moderator
Featuring Guest Speakers:
Christopher Covington, multi-generation landowner, Pamplico SC
Rebekah Sale, Executive Director, Property Rights and Pipeline Center
Shelley Robbins, Energy and State Policy Director, Upstate Forever


BREDL Report: Union Hill: Real Property, Racism and Environmental Justice



Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and its Buckingham Chapter, Concern for the New Generation, released the report: "Union Hill: Real Property, Racism and Environmental Justice," which reveals a history of subversive policies, in Virginia and nationwide, which severely limit the ability for African Americans to build wealth.

The context for the study is Virginia 400, marking the history of the slave trade in the United States. From 250 years of slavery, 100 years of Jim Crow laws to the continued subversive policy of siting toxic polluting facilities in environmental justice and other marginalized communities, African Americans and those who live in poverty have been relegated to less than second class citizenship.



The LEAGUE LINE
Winter 2021 issue

Winter 2021

The League Line: Winter 2021 issue is now available online.

- Cover: Campaign victory! In big win for communities, coal ash disposal company drops appeal of Chatham, Lee County cases by Therese Vick
- "They didn’t give up" by Cathy Cralle-Jones , Law Office of F Bryan Brice Jr.
- EnvironmentaLee - Organized to win by Debbie Hall and Keely Wood
- Chatham Citizens Against Coal Ash Dump - Endurance prevails by Judy Hogan
- Coal Ash Campaign Timeline
- Coal Ash Campaign Photos
- Director's Report: The tears of things by Louis Zeller
- Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons - The beginning of the end - Halt Savannah River Site's return to nuclear weapons production by Charles Utley, BREDL Associate Director
- Tracing the muddy tracks of MVP by Ann Rogers
- Victory for clean air in Ashe County
- "Environmental Pains Bring Environmental Gains" - a poem by Renee Cail
- In Our Backyard Podcast - Season 2 begins
- BREDL Grassroots Mini Grant Program

BREDL welcomes these new chapters

Unicoi Clear (Unicoi Co., TN) - January 2021

Pittsylvania County Preservation League (Pittsylvania Co., VA) - July 2020

Protect Caswell (Caswell Co., NC) - March 2020

Madison County Clean Power Coalition (Madison Co., GA) - January 2020

Find a chapter near you

Coal Ash Disposition
The Alternative for North Carolina

BREDL's technical report which details the dangers of landfilling coal ash and recommends the proven saltstone technology for the coal ash at Duke Energy's fourteen power plants. The report entitled "Coal Ash Disposition: The Alternative for North Carolina," describes the saltstone technology which would encase the coal ash waste and isolate the toxins from the soil, air and water.

View BREDL Technical Report

RESOURCES

Reports

Report on Air and Noise Pollution Reveals Fatal Flaws in Permit for Proposed Buckingham Compressor Station
Dec. 14, 2016: The report, subtitled “Unfair, Illegal and Unjust,” concludes that the Buckingham County Planning Commission failed with respect to its legal obligation to ensure that the facility does not have a disproportionate impact on Buckingham’s African American community.

Noise from Mountain View Speedway Harmful to Boone Quality of Life
Jan. 21, 2016: The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League released a report on sound pollution and called on the Town of Boone to protect residents from excessive levels of noise from stock car races at the newly opened auto speedway on Roby Green Road. The report, "Noisy Neighbors–Sound Pollution in the High Country", reveals the hazards to mental and physical well-being of residents in neighborhoods near the track.

More Reports:

A list of our reports can be found on our BREDL Reports page.

Fact Sheets

Aug. 26, 2019: BREDL Fact Sheet on Versatile Test Reactors.

Updated Aug 2016 BREDL Fact Sheet - Proposed Buckingham Compressor Station, Buckingham County, VA

May 2016: BREDL Unequal Protection Fact Sheet The Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s Discriminatory Laws & Regulations

April 2016 BREDL Fact Sheet - Small Modular Reactors

Sept. 2015 BREDL Fact Sheet - Appalachian Materials, LLC Proposed Asphalt Plant in Glendale Springs, NC.

March 2014: BREDL Fact Sheet: "Don't Dump Coal Ash on our Communities"

More Fact Sheets:

A chronological list of Fact Sheets can be found on our BREDL Fact Sheets page.

Educational Tools

Salisbury Health Study
Download the Powerpoint Presentation

Bucket Brigade
Download the Powerpoint Presentation

Statistics for Action
Statistics for Action website


BREDL Partners with TERC
TERC is partnering with environmental action groups in twelve states to advance the quantitative literacy skills needed to understand and solve pressing environmental problems.
More about this partnership.

NoPipeline.net