Category: environment

what is in a name?

global warming
In 1980, Dominion Resources, Inc., was incorporated as the holding company for VEPCO. For us ratepayers on the ground Virginia Electric and Power Company became Dominion.


transporting fracked gas
Dominion came through the Woolen Mills recently, whacking trees. Line maintenance. They provide the power that I post by here. But what is the price of the power?


North Anna, James
Is it possible for a monopoly to be true to its place of origin? To care about cultural and natural resources? To care about the environment? Here recently, the corporation has been in the news, often. From the outside they’ve been acting more like the Dominator than the Virginian. Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Transmission lines over the James River. New nuclear facility on a faultline.


political clout
Yesterday, people from across Virginia came to speak to the dominator. To date, there is little indication that Dominion has ears.

where is the light switch?

CHO Mayor Huja silhouette
The City of Charlottesville is a quarter finalist in the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a nationwide competition for small-to-medium sized
communities to compete to win a $5 million grand prize by saving energy.
The Council meets tomorrow afternoon for a budget work session.

While operating 6016 streetlights, the City doesn’t appear to have an IES certified individual (Illuminating Engineering Society) on staff.
Who is in charge of the lighting? Who directs spending in this arena to make sure we get best lighting for dollars spent?
Who knows how many dollars are spent on lighting?
There are forms available to request the addition of streetlights, drop lens, highway-style fixtures, but
no one knows where the light switch is, where the form is to request the removal of lighting.
We submitted a dark-skies petition in 2000 trying to reclaim the night..
Someday…
(read Janis Jaquith’s essay “Turn Off The Lights”)

Paulownia tomentosa

Paulownia_tomentosa
Summer in the City.

It is tolerant of pollution and it is not fussy about soil type. For this reason it functions ecologically as a pioneer plant. Its nitrogen-rich leaves provide good fodder and its roots prevent soil erosion. Eventually, Paulownia is succeeded by taller trees that shade it. It cannot thrive in the shade of other trees.
Paulownia is in honour of the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia, with tomentosa being derived from the Latin meaning ‘covered in hairs’–Wikipedia

boring technology


I always call Miss Utility before I dig. Calling Sister Utility is the law. I don’t know anyone who has ever been arrested, but the State, the County, the City, they all make pretty clear:

Failure to notify Miss Utility before you dig could make you liable for the cost of any repairs should you damage a utility service.

In the picture above a concrete sanitary sewer main runs right to left, downhill, beneath Chesapeake Street in Charlottesville Virginia, headed for the sewage plant.
Also pictured, a half inch diameter, high pressure gas line running from seven o’clock to one o’clock, overtop the sanitary sewer.
Also pictured, the damage that resulted when the HDD (horizontal directional drilling) operator inadvertently steered the drilling rig through the sewer.

The benefits of drilling, no trench, less erosion, it is minimally invasive street surgery. The problem, no laparoscope.

Our City is actively pursuing inflow and infiltration of rainwater into the sanitary sewer. They cruise pipes with video cameras, find and fix damaged pipe.

nineteen

albemarle square lone shade tree
It was a Republican president who drove the largest expansion of parkland ever (YAY! TR! Teddy!). It was a Republican who started up the EPA.

How many Republicans can you fit under a single tree in a parking lot? At least nineteen.

When did it become a bad thing in the Republican mind to be an environmentalist?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.[2] The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.– Wikipedia