The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

Friday, January 21, 2005

Illinois PIRG : help prevent chemical disasters in the future

Dear Illinois PIRG supporter,

Last Thursday, nine people died and hundreds sought medical treatment after a train crash in Graniteville, South Carolina, caused a rail car to rupture and release deadly chlorine gas over the town. Thousands of people were evacuated, and many will not be allowed to return to their homes until Wednesday. This was the deadliest chemical railroad spill since 1978.

After tragedies like this, we must look to solutions that will prevent such a calamity from happening again. Luckily, there are simple solutions to protect our railways and communities from accidental releases of toxic chemicals. Replacing chemicals like chlorine with currently-available safer alternatives would drastically reduce the risk of another deadly chemical accident.

Please take a moment to contact your senators and ask them to support strong chemical security legislation. Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this email to them. We cannot allow another devastating accident to happen before we act to reduce the amounts of hazardous chemicals used, stored, and carried through our communities.

To take action, click on the link below or paste it into your web browser:

http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=456&id4=ES

Sincerely,

Rebecca D. Stanfield

Illinois PIRG Environmental Attorney

RebeccaS@illinoispirg.org

http://www.IllinoisPIRG.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.

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Side Bar Links

Illinois Renewable Energy Association site

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The AWEA's annual expo:
Global WINDPOWER 2004
McCormick Place
Chicago, Illinois, USA
March 28-31, 2004

I was there...
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Safe, healthy, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for farmers, good for you, and just downright good produce:

State-by-state directory of farmers' markets

I strongly encourage those seriously interested in learning about the technology, players, politics, and issues of Wind Energy to spend time browsing the American Wind Energy Association website. They are the premier industry trade organization and have extensive resources available.
(www.awea.org)

Alpha Solar
Clean energy generation systems for off-grid living and environmental impact reduction.

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GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine,
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or e-mail Earth Talk at earthtalk@emagazine.com.

OTEC News weBlog: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

The Green Ocean Project: Using solar energy to distill water for agriculture.

Other weBlogs by Daniel Stafford:

The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

*Spell Book*

Affirmation Station

Remembering Mom

Save Hotel Baker

Uncle Harold's Farm

The First Church of Healing The Earth

The Empty Hand

Why I Publish This Blog:

"One thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana,
and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine.
The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential.
Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you.
Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperature
differential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow.
Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the
way from the plains of Montana to put it to use.

The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact is
recognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousands
of them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it on
agriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The land
footprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuating
fuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drastically
based on fears or political whims. The potential gains are enormous. We've all seen the flow of good
manufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it's
more "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for us
right around here. Most of all, because we here in the Great Lakes region have the potential to have
a huge positive impact on U.S. energy industry emissions' contribution to global warming."