Cover: Fire at Winston-Salem fertilizer operation exposes weaknesses and loopholes in state and federal regulations by Therese Vick- Georgia state House of Representatives honor Renee Cail with the 2022 Yellow Rose Nikki T. Randall Servant Leader Award
- Rev. Charles Utley spoke as part of U.S. Department of State’s Leadership Program
- Director’s Report: Fundraising during tough times by Kathy Andrews
- Environmental Injustices persist in Chapel Hill by Jason Torian
- BREDL seeks revamping of water quality standards for Mountain Valley Pipeline by Ann Rogers
- Sharon Ponton retires from BREDL
- BREDL welcomes Jason Torian as community organizer
Issue: Environmental Justice
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BREDL comments on DOE’s consent-based siting and federal interim storage
Mar. 07, 2022: Working in communities in the Southeast since 1984, we are well aware of radioactive waste initiatives going out to potential waste dump communities. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League was founded because of one such program, the DOE’s Crystalline Repository Project and interim Monitored Retrievable Storage Site. We have continually opposed such radioactive waste dumps wherever they are proposed, including Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Likewise, we oppose so-called consolidated interim storage schemes.
For decades, the transfer of liability from private hands to public entities has been the underlying factor driving nuclear waste site legislation. The assumption of this liability by the people via a government agency is a transfer of wealth from poor to rich. Therefore, we see no just application of informed consent to the imposition of a nuclear waste legacy lasting millennia.
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BREDL letter to President Biden regarding U.S. Nuclear Posture Review and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
BREDL requests President Biden to take action to have the U.S. adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to make the treaty a core element of his administration’s upcoming Nuclear Posture Review.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was overwhelmingly adopted in 2017 by 122 member states of the United Nations. The TPNW addresses the humanitarian and environmental impacts of nuclear weapons. January 22 marks the one-year anniversary of its entry into force, declaring nuclear weapons outlawed. However, the United States is not among the 86 nations who formally signed the treaty.
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Why do I need to be concerned with sustainable economic development?
Sustainable Economic Development is a term many recognize and few understand. The simplest and most commonly accepted definition comes from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. In the Bruntland Commission report, sustainable economic development is defined as “[development that]…meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In broader terms, sustainable economic development should improve the quality of life of employees and the community, while protecting public health and the environment.
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The League Line: Winter 2022
Cover: Virginia air board denies permit for MVP Southgate compressor station – MVP appeals decision by Mark Barker- Director’s Report: The people of Pamplico, South Carolina must rise up and fight Dominion Energy by Kathy Andrews
- Unity and support makes a difference for the needs of our communities by Charles Utley, BREDL Associate Director
- The 1,4 Dioxane Dilemma continues… by Therese Vick
- Update and next steps on Mountain Valley Pipeline by Ann Rogers
- “It took a while, but in the end we won.” by Lou Zeller, BREDL Strategic Advisor
- Ways to raise money for your chapter
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The League Line: Fall 2021
Cover: BREDL welcomes Kathy Andrews as new executive director- TVA retains ownership of the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site – Agency will not request any new licensing by Sandy Kurtz, BREDL Co-President
- The 1,4 Dioxane Dilemma by Therese Vick
- Roanoke County Supervisor takes action on MVP by Ann Rogers
- BREDL welcomes new chapter Coalition for a Clean Dan River Region by Julie Owen, CCDRR Director
- People vs. Fossil Fuels pictorial
- “In honor of a Code Red Warning, I Harken Thee” – a poem by Frank McManus
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Introduction to Strategic Planning by Bill Moyer
There is nothing mysterious or complicated about strategic planning. It is based on common sense. In its simplest form it can be summarized by four basic questions: What is our organization’s purpose? Where are we now, in relation to our purpose? Where do we want to be (at some point down the road)? And how do we get from here to there?
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BREDL sends letter to NC DEQ Secretary regarding June 30, 2021 discharge of 1,4 dioxane
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League urges the Department to consider the enactment of emergency, temporary, or permanent rules that require the following:
- Testing and analysis be performed after a spill has been reported/detected, including the recommended time frame for such testing.
- That water providers notify their users of discharges/spills immediately.
- Additionally, that water providers notify users immediately of any detection of unregulated chemicals, as well as detection of other contaminants that exceed the regulatory limit.
- The Department should post the results on the DEQ website and send out notices to their media/interested parties lists.
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Riverneck-Kingsburg Pipeline Project, Public Notice No. SAC 2019-01427
Dear Mr. Wenerick:
On behalf of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and its members in South
Carolina, I write to provide comments on Dominion Energy’s proposed Riverneck-
Kingsburg pipeline project, PN # SAC-2019-01427. These remarks will supplement the
comments filed today on our behalf by the South Carolina Environmental Law Project
(“SCELP”).In sum, we oppose the granting of the nationwide permit, NWP-12, for this project. Also,
we hereby request that an extension of the comment period be granted and that a public
hearing be held on this matter. -
Small pipeline, large worries for some S. Carolina residents – ABC27
PAMPLICO, S.C. (AP) — The land agent who arrived at Reatha Jefferson’s door in May, unannounced and unmasked in the middle of the pandemic, told her he was giving her one more chance.
The agent was there on behalf of Virginia-based utility giant Dominion Energy. He wanted to see if Jefferson would let Dominion run a new natural gas pipeline through the land her great-grandfather, a rural Black farmer, had bought more than a century ago in Pamplico, South Carolina.
Jefferson sent the agent away and in July, the utility served her with court papers in an attempt to use eminent domain to build the pipeline.