C-Power.Org +
FightEthanol.com
By C-Power: Citizens Protecting Our Water/Air from an
Ethanol Refinery
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May
9, 2008
May
7, 2008
May
3, 2008
April
28, 2008
Corn
Ethanol Refineries = Injustice by the Wealthy!
May
Time Magazine article regarding food shortages. See Fix #2.
Lancaster Solid Waste Management didn’t have
their way with Conoy Township residents and now want to change the zoning of
their property because of “obstructionist tactics”. If LSWM doesn’t get their
way, they said they could reduce the township hosting fees by 60%. Should that be considered as a threat to the
community from a Municipal Authority?
Why in the world would Lancaster Biofuels want
to partner with LSWM now knowing of LSWM disgusting management ethics? They
think and work as if they are the Kings of the County and all Townships
within, and we, their pawns, live in their eminent land and must obey. Read more of James Warner’s tirades in the
attachment below.
LancasterOnline.com:News:Will ethanol debate change Conoy
zoning?
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Did Secret Donations Seal Deal? Who can you trust?
Supervisors Mohr and Strickland negotiated
$450,000 of pledges prior to their approving the very controversial ethanol
refinery; all action was done in secret and deliberately held from the public.
LancasterOnline.com:News:Did
secret donations seal ethanol plant deal?
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What did Stephen Mohr, Robert Stickland and John
Shearer do?
At the March
13th meeting, the Conoy Township Supervisors voted 3-2 to accept
Lancaster Biofuels Conditional Use Application.
Basically three
above mentioned supervisors ignored: the requirements stated in the township
ordinance, their consultants recommendations, their own Planning Commissions
comments and recommendations, township citizen’s petition (631 people asking
for a denial) and all of the NO Ethanol Refinery signs located in yards across
the township.
Mohr,
Strickland and Shearer certainly did not vote for “What was for the good of the
township”, nor did the vote for the Health and Welfare of the Township
citizens. They had to be absolutely blind to the requirements written in the
ordinance that two of the three
approved and signed.
Stephen Mohr,
Bob Strickland and John Shearer must have had some other reason to vote
yes to approve an obviously unacceptable conditional use requests.
However, Gina
Mariani and Clyde Pickel did used their good sense and intelligence and voted
NO because they read and understood the ordinance. They listened to testimony
and consultants and they publicly shared their concern for the environmental
impact resulting from an ethanol refinery; something that Lancaster Biofuels refused
to address during the entire conditional use hearing.
Thank you,
Gina and Clyde for doing your job!
For more
information on the “conditions” that Mohr, Stickland and Shearer approved but
what others would call “solded out the pubic”, click the link below.
Lancaster Biofuels - Signed Decision.pdf
631 Conoy Township
Residents Sign the Petition
For 12 wintry days in
February, volunteers went door-to-door with a petition against the ethanol
refinery. The statement on the petition
was:
“I am opposed to the
Supervisors approving the ethanol refinery, especially because Lancaster
Biofuels refused to provide adequate up-front information on odors and stack
emissions.”
For a small community, 631
signatures is a large response. Here is
an important comparison:
631 people signed the petition.
687 people turned out to vote for Conoy Township
Supervisors on May 16, 2006.
(This was
the largest turnout in the last four primaries.) Source: Lancaster County Board of Elections.
The 44-page petition was submitted to the Conoy Township Supervisors on February 21st & 22nd, with a request that they deny the Lancaster Biofuels application.
Ethanol Hearings are closed – Lancaster
Biofuels arrogantly ignores township ordinance
Within the boundaries of the
ordinance, Lancaster Biofuels has failed to show “evidence provided or
supported by certified professionals in compliance with the following criteria:
- “Detailed description of the nature of onsite
processing operations”
- “Identify & quantify, to the extent the,
impact is quantifiable, all environmental impacts”
- “Identify specific measures that it will employ
to mitigate or eliminate noise, vibration, dust, particulate emissions,
sulfur & nitrogen oxide emissions, volatile organic compounds,
hazardous air pollutants, smoke, odor, toxic matter….”
- “Will demonstrate that the proposed use will at
all times comply with the PA Department of Environmental Protection”
- “Shall submit odor control & response plan”
- “Shall submit a Water Feasibility Study provided
by a qualified hydro geologist”
The ordinance has not
changed! It remains exactly the same as when Supervisors Mohr, Strickland and
Fuhrman signed it on April 8th, 2004.
As a result of Lancaster
Biofuels failures, the township supervisors must deny any approval without
conditions, due to their complete absence to show evidence of competence to
township residents.
Lancaster Intelligencer
Journal Report: LancasterOnline.com: News :
Ethanol plant hearing ends in Conoy Township
Ethanol Bust – Fortune Magazine has a better view than
Lancaster Biofuels
The
end of the ethanol boom? - Feb. 28, 2008
“Dumb Governors + Ethanol = Food Inflation”
Ethanol Mandates Driving Up
Food Prices
Watertown
Daily Times | Ethanol mandates driving up food prices
Corn Can’t Save Us:
Debunking the Biofuel Myth
Corn
can't save us: Debunking the biofuel myth
Richard Branson has admitted ethanol may have been
a mistake financially and environmentally
He said “You have a situation where in America a
lot of land is being put aside to create ethanol. But there are countries in
the world like Africa…Mozambique where they’ve got sugar plantations lying
wasted doing nothing, where, per acre, you can create seven times as much fuel
as the land that’s being put aside in America.
Will Branson now withdraw as partner to India billionaire
Vinod Khosla and his ethanol-development company, Cilion Inc.?
Cilion = Financial backer to Lancaster Biofuels.
Click to see video:
Gristmill: The
environmental news blog | Grist
PA Un American Bio-Whoppers
What do you call it when
politicians repeat the transparent, self-serving hype of subsidy-dependent
biofuel industry?
Answer = Pennsylvania
For Example: “Because biofuels can be produced from crops
that can be grown locally, its production supports local biofuel crop farmers,
keeping energy and agriculture dollars in Pennsylvania, Secretary
McGinty said. All of this contributes to a healthy state economy and provides
energy self-sufficiency, reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”
1. The above quote truthfully indicates that biofuels
CAN be produced from crops that CAN be grown locally in PA. It omits, however, that PA is a corn-deficit
state and use MORE than it grows. Also unmentioned are the words “taxpayers”
and “subsidies.”
2. Since making the above statement in 2004, PA Dept of
Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen Mcginty has been going around the
state promoting the production of taxpayer-subsidized corn biofuel that, as she
should know, does the opposite of what’s claimed. It takes dollars OUT of the state, first to buy the corn.
3. McGinty also goes around PA supporting expensive
smoke stacked, US water-thirsty, and US taxpayer-money-hungry ethanol
distilleries being planned by foreign profiteers – including billionaires from
India, England and Russia. Millions of state and federal dollars handed to
these or to any other taxpayer-subsidized, PA-polluting foreigners drains money
out of not only state taxpayer pockets but also out of taxpayer pockets across
the U.S.
4. One expert after another agrees there’s not enough
land in all the U.S. to grow anything but a fraction of the energy we use.
Misrepresenting that – to taxpayers who get handed an enormous bill – as
contributing to a healthy economy and providing energy self-sufficiency is both
costly and cruel.
5. One expert after another agrees that more imported
fossil fuel is consumed producing biofuel than it in fact replaces.
Misrepresenting that – to taxpayers who get handed an enormous bill – as
reducing anyone’s dependence on foreign oil is costly, cruel, and idiotic.
6. Improperly diverting U.S. taxpayer money for anything
is un-American.
7. Following 9/11, making U.S. taxpayers pay to be not
less – but more – dependent on foreign oil is worse than costly, cruel, and
idiotic. It’s offensive, money-driven politics at its most unforgivable,
un-American worst.
8. The biofuel industry is addicted to lies and to
taxpayer subsidies. It’s time to wean
them off both.
R.W.
PA Governor Ed Rendell goofs up again!
Yes, the Governor during his
budget address said that the ethanol plant planned for construction in Coney
Township is Ready To Go. Hmmm,
Fast Eddie must be washing those Philly cheese steaks down with Mr. Obetz’s
Sethanol.
First Mr. Governor, you
really need to get it right, it is Conoy Township (focus on the second
o) and the ethanol refinery isn’t even close to being Ready to GO. Who is feeding you this nonsense?
The Conoy Township Planning
Commission made their recommendation to the Board of Supervisors which firmly
explains that Lancaster Biofuels has not complied with the Township
Ordinance. They have NOT complied! They are out of compliance on air emissions,
odors and others items. And, per the news media interview with Mr. Obetz,
Lancaster Biofuels will write their own set of conditions.
How about that for
arrogance; Lancaster Biofuels will be telling us what they are willing to do,
not agree with the specific criteria fully documented in the ordinance. Mr.
Obetz and his partners have little respect for the citizens and township
management by deliberately ignoring township rules and regulations. See attached below.
“We can’t endorse this proposal
because we deem the application to be incomplete….I’m very disturbed that we
haven’t gotten some of this information...If we endorse the recommendation the
way it is written, we are condoning the applicant’s failure to comply with the
ordinance.”
LancasterOnline.com:News:Ethanol plant plan called 'incomplete'
Govt. Report
Comparing Performance of E85 and Gas
Click on the web link to
view the difference between the two types of fuels that power vehicles and make
your decision. The E85 vehicles get less miles per gallon and have a higher
annual cost to operate. Now there is a
bargain. This news comes directly from your government that is giving 51 cents
of your tax dollars to refineries for every gallon of ethanol that is
produced. Who are the winners? Not the consumer, we are getting fleeced by
the ethanol industry and their lobbyists.
Stop the nonsense by contacting your state and federal leaders.
Search for Cars that don't
need gas
Don’t Rely on
Cellulosic Ethanol – Lawmaker says it is a decade away
Another item that Seth Obetz
and Herbie Flosdorf just don’t want to share.
Why are the stalling? Good
business people don’t act this way.
Watch him and his buddy from
the Solid Waste Management Authority, Jim Warner. Obetz hasn’t been willing to
comply with the Conoy Township Ordinance and he will not be willing to tell the
real ethanol truth.
Lawmaker
says cellulosic ethanol a decade away | Reuters
Cellulosic Ethanol is a
BUST, read on: Cellulosic
ethanol: It might be a bust | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist
Biofuels losing popularity among experts
Biofuels
Losing Popularity Among Experts
The Ravages of
Ethanol
The
ravages of ethanol - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Studies deem biofuels a greenhouse threat – The
New York Times
Biofuels
Deemed a Greenhouse Threat - New York Times
Ethanol comes up short
on MPG
This is just what Seth Obetz
and his snake oil buddies don’t want you to know. Pay the same price at the
pump for fuel that is 10% ethanol mix and find out your vehicle doesn’t go as
far. What a ripe-off. Read more by
clicking the link below:
LancasterOnline.com: News :
Ethanol comes up short on MPG
Wandering into Ethanol Purgatory
Intelligencer Journal,
Lancaster, PA
Letter to the Editor
Friday, December 28, 2007
In recent months we have
heard the call for ethanol production as the answer to our gluttonous use of
foreign oil. Here in Lancaster County, once prided as the bucolic agricultural
county, ethanol is being pushed by agribusiness interest who want to build a
large ethanol plant on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Conoy Township.
Study after study warns us
that not only is the production of ethanol questionable with its possible
negative effects on both human and animal populations as well as the
environment in the immediate vicinity of a plant, but that the race to produce
ethanol already is having negative impact on our wallets.
Our blind jump to board the
ethanol train could actually produce the opposite effect on working families,
not only in Lancaster county, but across the United States.
A recent report by Iowa by
Iowa State University found that the average American is now spending $47 more
since summer because of the national push for ethanol. Because the production
of ethanol requires tremendous amounts of corn or other crops such as soybeans,
our own food production has been directly impacted. A recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times reported corn prices
are up 50 percent and could jump another 30 percent in the coming year. Any
food for human consumption from grains to meat will have to absorb the higher
prices in its own manufacturing.
Guess who will pay for those
higher costs? And, since more corn will be needed to feed large ethanol plants,
more acreage from other crops could be taken up. More fertilizers and
pesticides would be used with damaging runoff finding its way into water
supplies. All for an additive that is actually dirtier than the original
gasoline it’s added to.
We once were a nation based
on forward thinking and creative problem solving with sensitivity towards
efficiency. Instead, we have become a nation of consumers paying whatever the
going rate is for our products, all at the whim of big corporations. Ethanol is
just one more example. It is not an
efficient way to produce our energy.
According to an article in
the New York Times, residents in the Midwest, where corn is king, are starting
to complain about ethanol plants and their locations near populated areas. We have reached a critical point in our
society. Coal, gas and oil prices have all suddenly spiked after years of
relative stability. Mike Ewall of energy Justice has compiled this sudden
upward trend in easty-to-understand charts at www.energyjustice.net/peak.
What we really need is more
research and investigation into clean renewable resources for our fuel, like
electric and solar, resources that will give back for years to come.
Brad Stroman, Mount Joy, PA.
Ethanol Downside
ETHANOL
DOWNSIDE: Hazards exist
As the conditional use
hearings for Lancaster Biofuels' proposed ethanol refinery continue across the
river from Hellam Township in Bainbridge, it has become clear that Lancaster
Biofuels president Seth Obetz has accepted without question the ethanol's
industry's misinformation that ethanol is a clean, renewable alternative energy
that is good for the environment and makes us independent of foreign oil.
Quite
the opposite is true. During production, ethanol generates nitrogen oxide,
carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, cancer-causing volatile
organic compounds and toxic bioaerosols that seep deep into lung tissue and
cardio-vascular systems.
Those
hazardous air pollutants are now allowed to be released in greater quantities
since the Environmental Protection Agency relaxed its air emission standards in
July to make it easier for ethanol plants (even those with thermal oxidizers)
to comply with regulations.
According
to scientists, biofuels are emitting more greenhouse gases than originally
thought. While ethanol used as fuel may reduce tailpipe carbon monoxide
emissions, it increases VOC's and smog -producing nitrous oxides which are 300
times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping greenhouse gases.
Because ethanol is so corrosive, it must be
transported by truck or train (rather than piped) to its destination, and there
are now an increasing number of accidental spills in which ethanol has
devastated rivers and groundwater.
Plus,
the reliance on a mono-crop such as corn eventually destroys soils, generating
the use of even more pesticides and herbicides that end up polluting our water
and creating dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay.
Finally,
because of its inefficiency, ethanol continues to rely on billions of dollars
in tax-payer subsidies and incentives at every level of production. Obetz needs
to expand his reading beyond the reports produced by the ethanol industry.
Pat
Lemay
MILLERSVILLE
James B. Meigs,
Editor-in-Chief of Popular Mechanics:
“America needs smart alternatives to oil. It’s too bad
politicians are pushing the wrong alternative.”
The
Ethanol Fallacy - Op-Ed - Corn Biofuel Production Hype in Washington - Popular
Mechanics
Biofuel mandate a mistake
Report: Ethanol industry's job impact overstated /
QCTimes.com
The recent
energy bill. . . will cost lots and do nothing
http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=779
Ethanol = Environmentally and Economically Indefensible
'Venture socialist' didn't sign up for it
Actions – Contact the Elected officials in
Lancaster and York Counties
- Contact your State and
Federal legislators and insist that your tax dollars not be spent on an
industry that further pollutes our environment and adds little value to
future oil independency.
- Tell them that you do
not want any of your tax dollars or any state energy funding given to Lancaster Biofuels for an ethanol refinery in Lancaster County. There is already TOO much pollution in
our areas.
- Send our Fight Ethanol
message by calling or emailing:
Conoy Township
Management
Supervisors: Stephen
Mohr, Chairman
Robert
Strickland
Earl
Fuhrman
Gina
Mariani
Clyde Pickel
Zoning Officer: Chuck
Emerick
Solicitor: Mathew Creme
Planning Commission: James Brandt, Chairman
Contact Information:
Steve Mohr Robert
Strickland Clyde
Pickel
114 Race St. 2039
Stonemill Drive 192
Falmouth Road
Bainbridge, PA 17502 Bainbridge, PA 17502 Bainbridge, PA 17502
Gina Mariani John
Shearer
Box 265 228
South Second St
Bainbridge, PA 17502 Bainbridge, PA 17502
Matthew Crème
Nikolaus & Honenadel
212 N. Queen St
Lancaster, PA 17601
Township Biofuel Ordinance: Ord re Renewable Fuel
App.pdf
All citizens and especially
people with standing for upcoming conditional use hearings must read and
understand the ordinance in order to appropriately address the applicant’s
testimony. To meet the hearing conditions, questions must apply to the
ordinance.
Who’s Who at Lancaster
Worley & Obetz, Seth
Obetz – a fuel oil and gasoline distributor located in Lancaster County
Zymolotec, a partnership of:
Ron
Kreider, Kreider Farms – a dairy & poultry farms in the region
Andy
Jones, Performance Industries – entrepreneur and venture capitalist
Dan
Hobson, Performance Industries – entrepreneur and venture capitalist
Art
Mann, Sr., Donsco, Inc – local foundry executive
Herb
Flosdorf – consultant
Cilion – a new
California-based ethanol developer. Primary investors include billionaires
Vinod Khosla and Richard Branson.
Who’s Who at
Lancaster Solid Waste Management Authority
Lancaster Solid Waste
Management Authority is the agency that requested rezoning of their land,
adjacent to the incinerator, to be rezoned from agricultural to heavy industry
for specific alternative fuel purposes.
The Conoy Township Supervisors quickly reacted to the request and
forcefully pushed the zoning change through the system even ignoring public
response and challenge.
It was Lancaster Solid Waste
Management Authority’s action that has attracted ethanol developers to
Lancaster County.
James D Warner – Executive
Director of LSWMA
Web site for LSWMA = http://www.lcswma.org/
List of LSWMA Directors = http://www.lcswma.org/directors.asp
Citizens Advisory Committee
for LSWMA = http://www.lcswma.org/advisoryCommity.asp
Other Web sites:
www.energyjustice.net/ethanol/factsheet.html
www.fingerlakesfuture.blogspot.com/indes.html
Mayfield, PA's No Ethanol website
The Ethanol
Dead Zone. Will this
happen to the Chesapeake Bay?
The
map listing all Ethanol Refineries in the U.S.
The C-Power Team is very concerned about increasing
emissions, foul odors, fire risks, safety & security, vehicle and train
traffic, noise, water use and the potential for a major issue with the geology
at the site. Our health and welfare is
at risk, don’t let this happen. As the meetings begin to come to conclusion,
plan to attend and show your support – Say No to Ethanol.