MIDWEST POWER PLANTS MAY BE KILLING YOU. A Brookhaven National Laboratory and Carnegie-Mellon University study, now under preparation, states that because of prevailing weather patterns, the pollution from Midwestern power plants is ten times more harmful to Easterners than to Midwest residents. The study further states that 21,000 people east of the Mississippi die prematurely each year as a result of this pollution ... and that 35,000 may die each year by 2010, if President Carter's coal conversion plan is implemented.
THE SOLAR INDUSTRY IS BECOMING MORE STABLE, according to a Federal Energy Administration survey of collector manufacturers. FEA says that new manufacturers comprised only 34% of the total in late 1976, versus 50% in mid-1976 ... and that in the second half of '76, only 18% of U.S. collector makers stopped production, compared with a shutdown rate of 28% for the first half of that year.
NEED COAL? START YOUR OWN MINE. When coal became scarce in Knotts County, Kentucky a year and a half ago, county residents formed Citizens for Social & Economic Justice (P.O. Box 473, Hindman, Ky. 41822) . . . a group that-in turn-founded the Knotts County Benevolent Coal Company. Today, the KCBCC employs between five and nine full-time workers at $6.25/hr., produces 125 to 300 tons of coal per day from a small mine, and sells that coal to local residents for $12 per ton ... about half of what they were paying two years ago.
THE TEXAS ELECTRIC SERVICE COMPANY HAS BEEN ORDERED TO PAY A LONE STAR COUPLE $105,000 for loss of value of their land caused by the "fear of a nuclear accident". The utility-which had condemned 7.7 of the couple's 350 acres-planned to ship radioactive wastes (via rail) across their property. The landowners took their case to court, arguing that the marketability of their acreage was ruined ... and the court agreed.
ATMOSPHERIC C02 LEVELS ON THE RISE. Rapid worldwide combustion of fossil fuels has led to a 5% increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere since 1959, according to a recent study by the National Academy of Sciences. The study warns that if C02 levels are allowed to continue to rise, the earth's average temperature will-by the year 2150-increase by 11OF ... leading to a warming of ocean waters, partial melting of the polar ice caps, poleward movement of agricultural zones, and (possibly) increased desertification.
REDDY COMMUNICATIONS the utility consulting firm that owns the Reddy Kilowatt trademark-is suing the Environmental Action Foundation (724 Dupont Circle Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20036) for alleged "trademark infringement" and "unfair competition". EAF has been using a light-bulb and lightning-bolt stick figure in unflattering poses to illustrate its criticisms of electric utilities.
INSULATION RIP-OFF IN THE OFFING? National Association of Homebuilders spokesperson Richard Kuchnicki says that the widespread push for increased insulation "probably will drive [insulation] prices up quite a bit" and warns that the three large companies which now dominate the fiberglass insulation market may reap windfall profits. Insulation prices have risen 55% in the last four years alone.
BIG APPLE TO RECOVER BIO-GAS. New York City's Solid Waste Task Force has applied for federal and state funds to "drill" for methane at the city's landfills, according to a report in People & Energy ($10/12 issues from 1757 "S" St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009). If NYC's garbage were to provide proportionately the same yield of bio-gas as similar projects now underway in California, $15 million worth of methane could be "harvested" by the city each year.
CLAMSHELL ALLIANCE MUSICIANS PAT DECOU AND TEX LAMOUNTAIN (both of whom were among the 1,414 demonstrators arrested at the Seabrook, New Hampshire protest last May 1) have written two songs"No Nukes (Hanging Tree)" and ''Karen Silkwood "which are now available on a 45-rpm record. To obtain your copy, send $2.30 per disc (plus 10c sales tax if you're a Massachusetts resident) to No Nukes Record, 94 N. Leverett Rd., Leverett, Mass. 01054. Proceeds go to the Clamshell Alliance (a federation of East Coast antinuclear groups).
JACOBS TO RETURN: A New York Times News Service story quotes wind energy pioneer Marcellus Jacobs as saying that he is reactivating the old Jacobs Wind Electric Company and has plans to market a new windplant "sometime next year Cleveland's WJW-TV (channel 9) has INCORPORATED A "SOLAR ENERGY INDEX" INTO ITS NIGHTLY NEWS. The station obtains three-digit pyranometer readings from NASA's Lewis Research
Center .... Spain has recently RAISED GASOLINE AND FUEL OIL PRICES 20%, the result being that Spanish petrolat $1.65 per gallon-is now among the highest priced in Europe .... The U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration has created a special OFFICE OF CARBON DIOXIDE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS RESEARCH to study the possible effects on the environment of increased C02 production by man .... Solar Energy Digest ($28.50/12 issues from P.O. Box 17776, San Diego, Calif. 92117) reports that Sensor Technology, Inc., 21012 Lassen St., Chatsworth, Calif. 91311 is offering a SOLAR-CELL-POWERED ATTIC FAN THAT COMES ON ONLY WHEN THE SUN SHINES. Cost: "about $150 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission admits that there have been no less than 176 UNAUTHORIZED ENTRANCES INTO U.S. NUCLEAR PLANTS SINCE 1975. A General Accounting Office study recommendsaccordingly-that nuke plant guards be given authority to "shoot to kill".
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