Digging on Delaware continues, so do disputes
Dredging is well under way on the Delaware River, but even as the controversy continues so does the digging. Continue reading
Friends:
March 16th is “ Freedom of Information Day.” This week is also “Sunshine Week.”
Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) says:
March 16, 2010
Hon. Collin O’Mara, Secretary
Delaware DNREC
Regarding: Coastal Zone Act status decision application of FCC Environmental
I had a small involvement in the DNREC “subcommittee” of Markell’s transition team. Â For the most part, this was controlled by Guy Marcozzi, President of Duffield Associates, one of Delaware’s most aggressive developers’ consulting firms. Â The nominal head of the subcommittee was Debbie Heaton of the Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy. Â Heaton openly connived with Marcozzi to diss environmental concerns.
The transition reports rightfully should have been public documents and I pushed a bit for them to be posted. Â As far as I know they never have been; not surprising considering the secretive tendencies Markell’s administration has shown since the election.
In any case, the document  below was contributed by me.  I don’t know if it was included in the final report.
(email to DNREC transition team subcommittee) Continue reading
Friends: These days we are being bombarded with propaganda on this matter. Alas, most of it reflects primarily the views and desires of the insurance industry, and has little if any informative value. This piece by long-time Philadelphia-area writer Dave Lindorff is clear and sensible. We can’t hope to make good decisions without being able to envision them and take them seriously.
Thursday March 18, 2010
“Hazardous Chemicals in Health Care, A Snapshot
of Chemicals in Doctors and Nursesâ€
The CDC’s National Biomonitoring Program, the National Report
on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, and Physicians
for Social Responsibility’s biomonitoring study, will be discussed.
Speaker: Holly Carpenter, BSN, RN, is a Senior Staff Specialist
for the American Nurses Association’s Center for Occupational and
Environmental Health. Continue reading
From CODEPINK:
Bridges are all about connection. About bringing together people and lands that would otherwise remain separate, sometimes even in opposition. Peacework is all about building bridges, finding fresh and deep connections (something that women are especially good at!)
This Monday, March 8, for International Women’s Day, we are banding with Women for Women International as part of their Join Me on the Bridge campaign. Women will be joining in solidarity on bridges around the world to demonstrate how women have the power to say no to war and build bridges of peace and justice. When you join together on a bridge in your community, you are connected to the women of Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, Bosnia Kosovo, and beyond.
“For environmental groups to take funding from the very people who are destroying the environment is preposterous–yet it is now taken for granted.”
Friends:
As you know, BASF saw the light and withdrew its proposal for an incinerator in Newport, DE. (See the official BASF announcement. BASF didn’t return calls from Green Delaware.)  This was an important success. (But have you noticed the media blackout except on Al Mascitti’s show?) The next steps are to (1) stop a “electric arc furnace” incinerator scheme in Wilmington, (2) strengthen and update Delaware’s ten-year-old laws on incineration, and (3) get a serious “zero waste” program going in Delaware. Continue reading
From: Michael E Heltzer [mailto:michael.heltzer@basf.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 1:28 PM
Subject: Statement from BASF
BASF and Intrinergy have mutually agreed to terminate the energy supply agreement that we signed in April of 2008, thus ending the project to develop a combined heat and power system for our Newport, Delaware site using biomass fuel. We continue to believe that it is important to explore alternative energy options that are cost effective and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels; however it is not feasible at this time. Ciba, and now BASF remains firmly committed to Responsible Care
Michael E. Heltzer
Government Affairs Manager
BASF Corporation
100 Campus Drive
Florham Park, NJ 07932
Phone:Â (973) 245-6035
E-mail:Â michael.heltzer@basf.com