Slides shown during the Lopez Island Sustainability Collaborative Potluck/Pizza Fest, March 22, 2012. The slides are an output from the "Islands and Sustainability" class of Monterey Institute of International Studies, providing snapshots of the students’ visits and meetings with different community members and places around the islands as well as presenting some selected findings from that week.
For more info on the class and class project focusing on Lopez Island, go to: http://blogs.miis.edu/resilientcommunities/
Forum for discussion, news and updates by Islands Energy Coalition
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Graduates seek to find out how Lopez can be more sustainable
by Chom and Chris Greacen
What resources are required to sustain the economy and residents of Lopez Island and what would the future of Lopez look like if we were to continue “the business as usual” vs. to become more sustainable? These are the questions that a group of eleven graduate students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California is seeking to help our community find answers to.
A few Islands around the world have been in the forefront of humanity’s push for sustainability and lower resource consumption. Islands offer unique opportunities as “petri dishes” for global resource sustainability because boundaries are particularly easy to draw (they’re surrounded by water, after all) and because energy and other resources are typically higher in cost than on the mainland, increasing the relative attractiveness of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other home-grown options. While the Danish island Samso provides an amazing precedent on the energy front – from heavy dependence on imported coal electricty to 100% local renewable energy – there are as yet no populated islands in the USA that have achieved a zero-net energy goal. As Samso discovered, the switch to sustainability created a huge boon to the local economy, as the island is now a mecca for tourists interested in the environment. (We don’t mean to imply that Samso should be model for Lopez, but this example does illustrate some of the potential for sustainability working hand-in-hand with a thriving local economy).
The graduate students, taking a class taught by Lopez residents Chris and Chom Greacen, are working together on a hands-on class project focusing on Lopez Island. They will document baseline energy and resource consumption, and explore plausible scenarios for the future. The class has been meeting since early February with classes convened via internet video. Students are split into three groups, with the first focusing on electricity & heating, the second group on transportation, and the third on agriculture, food, water and waste. Their final report, to be completed in June, will be posted online on the Islands Energy Coalition website (http://islandsenergy.wordpress.com/).
The students will be on Lopez from 17 to 22 March gathering data, learning from Lopezians, and discussing initial findings. The class trip will culminate in a “Lopez Sustainability Collaborative and Potluck/pizza Fest” event at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts on Thursday 22 March from 5:30pm to 8pm.
The event will be family-friendly and interactive with multiple media and opportunities for all to participate in different ways. All are welcome. - those interested in or curious about our island’s future (or specific issues such as transportation, energy, food/agriculture, waste and materials) -- those who simply enjoy good food and good company.
Please bring a dish to share and your own table settings. We will provide Donna Hasbrouck’s famous cob-oven pizza.
Time is ticking on Cherry Point coal export terminal
By Sophie Williams
The Salish Sea may soon become home to the largest coal export terminal in North America. Tucked in the busy Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve between two oil refineries and an aluminum smelter, the Gateway Pacific Terminal will export 54 million tons of coal and 6 million tons of other dry bulk materials annually.
To build the Gateway Pacific Terminal, the Seattle-based company SSA Marine needs development permits from the Whatcom County Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. Before it can be permitted, the project must undergo a full environmental review, led by Whatcom County and the Washington State Department of Ecology, to provide the public and the permitting agencies with a clear understanding of its environmental, health and economic consequences.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a study of the projects impacts and the “reasonable alternatives” that could minimize its adverse effects. Reasonable alternatives could range from wetland mitigation to a recommendation of ‘no action.’ In this case, it’s worth keeping in mind that a much smaller export terminal was approved by Whatcom County in 1997, so ‘no action’ still allows SSA Marine to build at Cherry Point, albeit at only 15% of the cargo volume and with less than a third of the shipping traffic.
The first step of the EIS process is to determine the scope of the study. Scoping, which will begin for the Gateway Pacific Terminal in June of 2012, is a chance for the public, tribes, citizen groups, local government, and state and federal agencies to advocate for the impacts and geographic areas they want to be included. The State Environmental Policy Act requires that the EIS team consider environmental impacts from the source of material (the coal strip mines of the Powder River Basin) to its destination (Asia’s coal burning power plants).
Though the communities around Cherry Point may bear the brunt of the terminal’s environmental impacts, the San Juans will also feel its effects. Millions of pounds of coal dust will be lost from the terminal to the marine environment and the surrounding wetland every year. The 487 bulk carries visiting the terminal annually, among the largest in the world and many carrying upwards of 10,000 tons of bunker fuel oil, will add further pollution. Both bunker fuel and the hydrocarbons in coal dust are lethal to the eggs and larvae of many fish, including the herring that spawn at Cherry Point. Large ships also often carry invasive aquatic species in their ballast water, which could wreak further havoc on the marine ecosystem.
To make the terminal’s impacts on the San Juans part of the decision making process, our waters and waterways must be within the scope of the EIS. Take a hard look at the Gateway Pacific Terminal project proposal. If you have concerns, the EIS scoping is your chance to make your voice, and the voice of the islands, heard.
What can the Salish Sea gain from the Gateway Pacific Terminal, and what does it have to lose?
To be notified of actions by Whatcom County Planning and Development Services regarding Gateway Pacific Terminal, send an e-mail to pds@co.whatcom.wa.us with “GPT Subscriber List” in the subject line.
There is a pre-scoping meeting to explain the scoping process on March 20, 6-8pm, in the Bellingham High School theater, 2020 Cornwall Ave.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)