Michigan Legislature Wants to Penalize Solar Installations

The Michigan Senate has passed energy bills and while they are better than the originals bills including keeping net metering, they now include a “grid access charge” which could be used to make homeowner solar systems uneconomic.  The Senate energy bills now go to the Michigan House of Representatives.  Please contact your State Rep and let him or her know that a “grid charge” is a really bad idea.  It is a solar tax to discourage residential solar systems.  

See Michigan Energy Policy –Time for You to Act


2glrea.org/solar/mi-sun

One thing the election has showed us - we need MORE Solar Vigilance!  And so, we are conducting an AA SUN Membership Drive.  

Please use the Attached AA Membership Flyer to encourage BOTH Solar Users and Solar Stakeholders to join AA SUN.   

AA SUN Stakeholders Members can be schools that teach solar, Houses of Worship that support Creation Care, employers, elected officials, friends, the Hands-on-Museum, your social organizations, environmental organizations, businesses that sell related energy-efficiency products, car dealerships that sell electric vehicles that can be re-charged with solar PV, stores that sell Solar Lights and Portable Solar Charging systems, landscaping services, builders, architects, school teachers/ principals/superintendents/school board members, friends, family, etc.  

PLEASE help AA SUN help Ann Arbor meet OUR Climate Action Plan goals!

Mark H. Clevey

AA SUN Founder/Organizer    

JOIN Ann Arbor Solar Users Network (AA SUN)

SIERRA CLUB FILES PETITION TO EPA TO DECLARE GELMAN PLUME A SUPERFUND SITE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                          November 21, 2016
CONTACT:                                                                                               Nancy Shiffler, 734-971-1157, nshiffler@comcast.net

SIERRA CLUB FILES PETITION TO EPA

TO DECLARE GELMAN PLUME A SUPERFUND SITE

Conservation Group in Joint Action with Ann Arbor Charter Township 

and Scio Township  Requesting Federal Action from USEPA

[Ann Arbor, Michigan]: Ann Arbor Charter Township, Scio Township, and the Sierra Club – Huron Valley Group jointly filed a petition on November 21, 2016 requesting the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) conduct a Preliminary Assessment for the Gelman Sciences, Inc. (Gelman) Site to become a federal USEPA Superfund Site.  The petition can be found at goo.gl/3yWwzB.  

Wastewater disposal practices at the former Gelman plant located in Scio Township, near Ann Arbor, contaminated on-site and off-site groundwater with the known carcinogen 1,4-dioxane.  The dioxane groundwater plume, which currently is about four miles long and one mile wide, has polluted local lakes, creeks, residential drinking water wells, and a City of Ann Arbor municipal water supply well. 

The Gelman Site is under a 1992 Consent Judgment between the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Gelman Sciences, Inc.  However, the Petitioners believe that the court remedy and DEQ actions do not adequately protect public health.  

“Local governments and community groups long have worked with the DEQ on remediation options for the Gelman Site and a dioxane cleanup standard that protects human health and is consistent with EPA policy.  Unfortunately, DEQ has not demonstrated the capability or willingness to obtain a protective remedy in court that places the burden for clean-up squarely on the potentially responsible party,”  said Michael Moran, Supervisor, Ann Arbor Charter Township.

The dioxane plume continues to migrate in all directions with no effective off-site hydraulic control.  Numerous Scio Township and Ann Arbor Charter Township private residential drinking water wells are down-gradient of the plume in  east, west and north directions.  The City of Ann Arbor’s main drinking water supply comes from the Huron River at Barton Pond, which potentially could be impacted as the dioxane plume expands.  A large portion of the off-site dioxane plume is greater  than 1,000 ug/L, while the USEPA dioxane drinking water criterion is 0.35 ug/L (parts-per-billion) at a 1 in 1,000,000 excess lifetime cancer risk level. 

“Many Scio Township drinking water wells have been contaminated with dioxane, yet the DEQ and the Consent Judgment allow the dioxane plume to expand towards many more Township wells.  USEPA can do a better job of clean-up than the DEQ. ” said Spaulding Clark, Supervisor – Scio Township.  The group believes that the USEPA cleanup will be superior to the DEQ approach as USEPA will restore the polluted  aquifer to a drinking water criterion, provide a Contingency Plan for Barton Pond, provide alternative potable water supplies now to potentially impact homes, and utilize a scientifically sound drinking water criterion.  

The Gelman Site today is owned by PALL Life Sciences, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation, and there are no active plant operations.  Historically, the plant manufactured filter devices and used dioxane as a solvent.  It is estimated that 800,000 pounds of dioxane was used between 1966 and 1986 with most being discharged to soil, surface water, and groundwater through seepage lagoons, land spray irrigation, and direct discharges at the site.   

“The Sierra Club believes as in Flint, Michigan that due to lax DEQ enforcement, the USEPA is required to assist the local community with this large groundwater contamination which presents an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and the environment.” said Nancy Shiffler,  Chair of the Sierra Club, Huron Valley Group.

The group will continue to provide an opportunity for City of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Charter Township, and Scio Township residents that may be affected by the dioxane release from the Gelman Site to support their petition by electronically signing a supporting document.  The supporting document can be found at goo.gl/QyhFJz-.  

###

CONTACT:

Michael Moran - Ann Arbor Charter Township – Supervisor – 734-663-3418
Spaulding Clark - Scio Township – Supervisor – 734-369-9400
Nancy Shiffler - Sierra Club–Huron Valley Group – Chair – 734-971-1157

The Sierra Club is the nation’s largest grassroots environmental organization, with 2.4 million members and supporters nationwide, and over 80,000 of them in Michigan.

Solar Roadways recently unveiled its first public installation at a downtown plaza in a northern Idaho resort town

Solar Roadways recently unveiled its first public installation at a downtown plaza in a northern Idaho resort town - 150 square feet of hexagon-shaped solar panels that people can walk and bicycle on. The company is working on proving that the panels are strong enough and have enough traction to handle motor vehicles, including semitrailers. Solar Roadways has been testing the strength of its half-inch-thick glass by dropping 1-pound steel balls on it from a height of 8 feet, a standard test for concrete. So far, the tests have been successful.  The panels can currently be used for sidewalks, driveways and parking lots. Solar Roadways wants to set up a manufacturing facility for the glass panels as early as next year.

More details.

Interested in sharing solar experiences or information?  You can share on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/MiSolarUsers or send me a note to include in next week’s MiSUN Weekly.

John Sarver
2glrea.org/solar/mi-sun

The Sierra Club Huron Valley Group endorses the goals of AA SUN

The Sierra Club Huron Valley Group endorses the goals, principles and positions of the Ann Arbor Solar Users Network (AA SUN) and has joined AA SUN as a Stakeholder Member.


Here are AA SUN Newsletters to date:

• JUL-AUG 2016

• SEP-OCT 2016

• NOV-DEC 2016