Big Thank You to Gov. Purdue--No to Fracking, etc.

Environmental Coalition Praises Governor Perdue For Vetoing GOP-Backed Bills That Would Have Hurt North Carolina's Environment and Economy


Coalition includes: Clean Water for North Carolina, Environment North Carolina, Environmental Defense Fund, North Carolina Coastal Federation, NC Conservation Network, NC League of Conservation Voters, NC Sierra Club, NC Wildlife Federation, Southern Environmental Law Center, Western North Carolina Alliance and others.

Governor Perdue’s historic vetoes of S 781 and S 709 are to be commended. The 2011 session of the N.C. General Assembly has carried out a relentless assault on the environment, and Governor Perdue understands that. The legislature has attacked environmental safeguards, land conservation, financial incentives for the wise management of our natural heritage, and even environmental education. We applaud the Governor for standing up to these assaults.

S 781, Regulatory Reform Act of 2011, would have handcuffed state agencies from creating environmental protections for North Carolina’s air and water. By vetoing S 781, the Governor recognizes that North Carolinians overwhelmingly support keeping or strengthening N.C.’s environmental safeguards.

S 709, Energy Jobs Act, would have put North Carolina’s thriving coastal tourism economy at risk, in search of elusive offshore drilling revenues. The bill would have also pushed North Carolina to begin hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas, a dangerous process which contaminates groundwater and has caused devastation in other eastern states.

Also, a copy of the letter submitted to the Governor asking for the veto of anti-environmental bills, which contains a complete listing of all 33 groups, can be found at: http://www.wral.com/asset/news/state/nccapitol/2011/06/21/9758002/Env_veto.PDF

For More Information

Clean Water for North Carolina -- Hope Taylor, 919-401-9600, hope@cwfnc.org

Environment North Carolina -- Elizabeth Ouzts, 919-833-0015, elizabeth@environmentnorthcarolina.org

Environmental Defense Fund - Jane Preyer, w 919-881-2912, c 919-740-6727, jpreyer@edf.org

North Carolina Conservation Network - Brian Buzby, 919-247-3617, brian@ncconservationnetwork.org

North Carolina League of Conservation Voters - Dan Crawford, 919-839-0020, dan@nclcv.org

N.C. Wildlife Federation --Tim Gestwicki, 704-332-5696, tim@ncwf.org

N.C. Sierra Club --Molly Diggins, 919-919-833-8467, molly.diggins@sierraclub.org

Southern Environmental Law Center - Derb Carter, 919-967-1450, derbc@selcnc.org

Western North Carolina Alliance - Julie Mayfield, 828-258-8737, Julie@wnca.org

Call the Gov. Today re Fracking/Offshore Drilling Bill

Last chance to have your voice heard on VETO of S709 — Deadline tomorrow!

As tomorrow's decision deadline approaches, we still need as many people as possible to make their voices heard on Senate Bill 709 (promoting offshore oil, fracking and bad energy policy), and S781 (makes new protective rules essentially impossible, gutting current rules by endless cost-benefit analyses)! Please call again or for the 1st time, and urge friends and family to do the same. The veto of these bills is truly vital to our environment and quality of life in NC.

Call 919-733-2391 or email governor.office@nc.gov today!

Lawmakers Seek Inquiry of Natural Gas Industry
Federal lawmakers are calling on agencies to investigate the natural gas industry and whether the picture that has been painted accurately reflects the reality of projections. State and Federal concerns about the financial and environmental impacts sparked the inquiry. Five companies have been subpenaed including Talisman and Chesapeake Energy. Supporters of natural gas sent a letter signed by a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers to President Obama calling on him for continued support of natural gas development.
EPA Fracking Study to Focus on Five States
The Environmental Protection Agency will focus its national study of hydraulic fracturing on seven areas in five states. Five of these research projects will take a forensic approach, retroactively investigating places where drilling has already occurred and where contamination has been alleged (including sites in North Dakota, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Colorado). At two additional sites—in DeSoto Parish, La., in the Haynesville Shale and a separate site in Washington County, Pa.—the EPA will attempt to observe and measure the changes drilling brings to an area as it happens.

Worst Drought in More Than a Century Strikes Texas Oil Boom

The water crisis in Texas, the biggest oil- and gas- producing state in the U.S., highlights a continuing debate in North America and Europe over the impact on water supplies of an oil and gas production technique called hydraulic fracturing. The worst Texas drought since record-keeping began 116 years ago may crimp an oil and natural-gas drilling boom as government officials ration water supplies crucial to energy exploration. Environmental groups are concerned the so-called fracking method may pose a contamination threat, while farmers in arid regions like south Texas face growing competition for scarce water.

Division Street at Cameo Theatre, June 18

SATURDAY, June 18, 11:00 am
Sustainable Saturdays Film Series

Division Street

CAMEO Art House Theatre, 225 Hay Street, Downtown Fayetteville

$6 per person, $5 for Cameo & Sustainable Sandhills members. Tickets sold the day of the event only.
Join Sustainable Sandhills this Saturday for our final showing of Divison Street as part of our Sustainable Saturdays Film Series.
Stay after the film to hear Maurizia Chapman, Transportation Planner with the Fayetteville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO) speak about the region’s bike and pedestrian efforts & existing and proposed greenways. Also, Brenda Johnson, Green Growth Planner with Sustainable Sandhills, will give a brief presentation on local wildlife and habitat fragmentation.

Reminder: GASLAND, June 15, Sunrise

GASLAND – The controversial documentary that has polarized America
Award-winning documentary "GASLAND" at the Sunrise, Southern Pines, Wednesday, June 15, at 7:00 PM. $7.
There is a natural gas drilling boom sweeping across the United States, and it is about to reach Lee County and northern Moore County. Geologists believe that there is a major sub basin of natural gas that extends from Granville County above Durham southward through the Sanford area and into Moore County to the vicinity of Carthage.
Energy companies want to use a highly controversial method of drilling to extract this gas, which is known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Fracking involves vertical as well as horizontal drilling and the pumping of huge amounts of water and chemicals into the shale rock to break up the rock and release the natural gas.

Horizontal drilling is currently illegal in North Carolina, but two bills currently being considered in the General Assembly would overturn this restriction.

This film dramaticcally shows the potential dangers of fracking to the environment and expecially to groundwater.
In order to provide a balanced view of the issues raised, a distinguished panel will discuss pros and cons, and questions will be addressed.

"Gasland", Sunrise Theatre, June 15, more on Fracking in Moore Co.

Save Our Sandhills will be the primary sponsor for the showing of the dramatic documentary film "Gasland" at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines on Wednesday, June 15, at 7:00PM. This film deals with the potential dangers of hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method of drilling for natural gas. Other sponsors will be Sustainable Sandhills and the Sandhills Area Land Trust.


As most of you know by now, there is a natural gas drilling boom sweeping across the United States, and it is about to reach Lee County and northern Moore County. Geologists believe that there is a major subbasin of natural gas that extends from Granville County above Durham southward through the Sanford area and into Moore County to the vicinity of Carthage.

Energy companies want to use a highly controversial method of drilling to extract this gas, which is known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Fracking involves vertical as well as horizontal drilling and the pumping of huge amounts of water and chemicals into the shale rock to break up the rock and release the natural gas. Horizontal drilling is currently illegal in North Carolina, but two bills currently being considered in the General Assembly would make it legitimate.
As noted above, Save Our Sandhills will be the primary sponsor for the showing of the nationally acclaimed film "Gasland" at the Sunrise Theater on Wednesday, June 15, at 7:00PM. Admission is $7.00. This was an Oscar nominated documentary and a prize winner at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. This film exposes in a dramatic fashion the potential dangers of fracking to the environment and expecially to groundwater. The film itself, with dramatic footage of tap water being ignited with a match, is highly controversial and we will try to have panelists who will provide a balanced view of the issues raised by the film.

SS movie, Division Street, June 4, Fayetteville

Sustainable Sandhills Sustainable Saturdays Film Series

Division Street

SATURDAY, June 4th and 18th, 2011, 11:00 am
CAMEO Art House Theatre, 225 Hay Street, Downtown Fayetteville
$6 per person, $5 for Cameo & Sustainable Sandhills members.
Tickets sold the day of the event only.
Join Sustainable Sandhills for the first showing of Divison Street as part of our Sustainable Saturdays Film Series.
Stay after the film to hear Maurizia Chapman, Transportation Planner with the Fayetteville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO) speak about the region’s bike and pedestrian efforts, existing and proposed greenways, the East Coast Greenway, and transportation and wildlife crossings. Also, Brenda Johnson, Green Growth Planner with Sustainable Sandhills, will give a brief presentation on local wildlife and habitat fragmentation.

Movie, May 22, from Sustainable Sandhills--About Honey Bees' Plight

Vanishing of the Bees

Sunrise Theatre, 250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines

SUNDAY, May 22, 2:30pm

$7.00 general admission

More on Fracking in NC

Let's get educated on fracking.

May 7, Saturday Night Live Musical, Sou. Pines.

Saturday Night Live Musical Program, May 7, 7:00 pm
Southern Pines Primary School Auditorium
Master of Ceremonies:  Mitch Capel "Gran-daddy Junebug"
The best in Gospel and Jazz Music, Featuring

The Multi-Talented Murphy Family
Walter Hill on Drums
Jeffrey McKoy - Keyboard
The Sensational 6 year old Gospel Singer, Zakayia Morrison
Constance Williams - Gospel
Ann McMillan - Gospel
The Mellow Tones
Joeli Baldwin - Jazz

Meet some of Moore County's Top Teen Achievers
Sponsored by the Southern Pines Land And Housing.com
A fund raiser to address sub-standard housing condition in Southern Pines
Program will be video-recorded for TV

Tickets: $10.00 donation tax deduction
Contact: Fred Walden @ West side Garage 910-692-1664, James Moore 692-2639 and Simon Funeral Home 692-3701

The Unforeseen, Apr. 28, Civic Club, Sou. Pines

SAVE OUR SANDHILLS WILL SHOW GRIPPING DOCUMENTARY ON

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT AND SPRAWL

On April 28, Save Our Sandhills will show the breathtaking documentary The Unforeseen, which was produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford. This film questions what we – as members of communities around the country – are willing to sacrifice in the name of growth.

This 90-minute film depicts the transformation of thousand of acres of pristine hill country in Austin, Texas, into suburban development by an ambitious real estate developer. In the process, a nearby natural spring is threatened, community conflict ensues, land is devastated, and lives are ruined. The Unforeseen, beautifully crafted, explores in-depth all sides of this politically-charged situation, showing the effects of development and sprawl on landowners, developers, and members of the community.

This same struggle is playing out in cities and towns across the United States and, at this moment, it is playing out in Moore County, particularly in Area A, which is the fastest growing area in the county. Moore County has had – and continues to have – controversy surrounding projects known as Stonehill Pines, Dormie Club, Pine Forest, Pine Needles, and Tyler’s Ridge. The question this film poses, “What are we willing to give up in the name of growth?” is not rhetorical. It is based in a reality that we must ponder. What do we envision Moore County to become in the future? Will it resemble “Everywhere USA?” or will it continue to have the charm and ambiance that has brought people to visit and settle here for years?
Join us for an informative and provocative evening; refreshments will be served. We will meet Thursday, April 28 at 7 PM in the Southern Pines Civic Club at the corner of Ashe Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. All are welcome.

5% Day for Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc., Raleigh

Great News! The Whole Foods Market in Raleigh on Wade Ave. has named CFSA the recipient of one of their 5% Days! Five percent of all sales on Tuesday, April 26th will go to benefit CFSA's work to support local, organic food and farming!
If you're in the neighborhood that day, please stop by and pick up a yummy treat (all food purchased for a good cause is calorie free!) or better yet, save your grocery shopping trip for that Tuesday and stock up!

Development and Urban Sprawl, movie, April 28, Sou. Pines

SAVE OUR SANDHILLS WILL SHOW GRIPPING DOCUMENTARY ON

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT AND SPRAWL

On April 28, Save Our Sandhills will show the breathtaking documentary The Unforeseen, which was produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford. This film questions what we – as members of communities around the country – are willing to sacrifice in the name of growth.

This 90-minute film depicts the transformation of thousand of acres of pristine hill country in Austin, Texas, into suburban development by an ambitious real estate developer. In the process, a nearby natural spring is threatened, community conflict ensues, land is devastated, and lives are ruined. The Unforeseen, beautifully crafted, explores in-depth all sides of this politically-charged situation, showing the effects of development and sprawl on landowners, developers, and members of the community.

This same struggle is playing out in cities and towns across the United States and, at this moment, it is playing out in Moore County, particularly in Area A, which is the fastest growing area in the county. Moore County has had – and continues to have – controversy surrounding projects known as Stonehill Pines, Dormie Club, Pine Forest, Pine Needles, and Tyler’s Ridge. The question this film poses, “What are we willing to give up in the name of growth?” is not rhetorical. It is based in a reality that we must ponder. What do we envision Moore County to become in the future? Will it resemble “Everywhere USA?” or will it continue to have the charm and ambiance that has brought people to visit and settle here for years?
Join us for an informative and provocative evening; refreshments will be served. We will meet Thursday, April 28 at 7 PM in the Southern Pines Civic Club at the corner of Ashe Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. All are welcome.

Backyard Chicken Care, April 9, Sanford

BACKYARD CHICKEN SCHEMES

Instructor: Judy Hogan, Hoganvillaea Farm, Moncure
April 9, Saturday, 9 AM-4 PM. CCCC, Sanford, Civic Center and Hoganvillaea Farm. Cost $29.00 for the day.

Farmer Hogan will introduce students to backyard or urban chicken care: appropriate facilities, chick care, nutrition, litter management, laying, egg sales, and killing as needed. We begin in Sanford and then move to Judy’s Moncure farm in the afternoon to see her flock.

With limited space and experience, plus a sense of humor, raise a small flock of happy chickens. Hogan shares her learning curve on basics, chicks to healthy eggs and meat. Topics include: Everything wants to eat chickens, Spoiling your chickens and why, Outwitting your not so dumb chickens.

Students will gain confidence in starting and maintaining their own small backyard chicken flock, have a handle on potential problems, solutions, and additional resources.
Judy Hogan of Hoganvillaea Farm is a sustainable farmer whose main goal is self-sufficiency and growing her own food. She began raising White Rock chickens in 2003, and she sells extra eggs, vegetables, fruit, herbs to restaurants and individuals. She’s a member of Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. A published poet, free-lance writer, and creative writing teacher, she lives in Moncure near Jordan Dam.
For more information: Judy Hogan, (919) 545-9932
To enroll: Lee County Continuing Education, CCCC. (919)775-2122, x7793

Carbon Nation Showing April 2 and 16, Fayetteville

Sustainable Sandhills Sustainable Saturdays Film Series

Carbon Nation

April 2 and 16, 2011,  11:00 am

CAMEO Art House Theatre, 225 Hay Street, Downtown Fayetteville

$6 per person, $5 for Cameo & Sustainable Sandhills members. Tickets sold the day of the event.
“A high energy film about real life American renewable energy success stories. No pie-in-the-sky projects here - everybody's sleeves are rolled up and work is underway!” – Jon Parsons, Executive Director of Sustainable Sandhills
Join Sustainable Sandhills this Saturday for the next installment of our Sustainable Saturdays Film Series. Carbon Nation is a feature length documentary about climate change solutions. Even if you doubt the severity of the impact of climate change or just don't buy it at all, this is a compelling and relevant film that illustrates how solutions to climate change also address other social, economic and national security issues.

Coastal Groins update

Coastal Federation and Locke Foundation Agree:  Groins Should Require Local Vote

Property owners in communities considering building a jetty, called a groin, to control beach erosion should be allowed to vote on the project or on any increases in local taxes that will be used to pay for the structure.
The N.C. Coastal Federation, the state’s major coastal environmental group, and the John Locke Foundation, the most influential conservative think tank in North Carolina, are urging the N.C. House of Representatives to add the requirement of a local referendum to a groin bill it’s considering. The bill would allow jetty-like groins to be built at inlets to control erosion and to protect private property. Such structures are currently illegal in North Carolina because they increase erosion elsewhere along the beach.

"This is a bad bill,” said Todd Miller, the executive director of the federation. “But if the legislature wants to allow these destructive piles of rock to be placed on our beaches, local taxpayers should get a say in whether they want to pay for them.”

These small jetties can cost as much as $10.8 million to build, according to a state study, and as much as $2.25 million to maintain each year.
"The best way to protect local taxpayers is to maintain the current ban on terminal groins,” said John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation. “Short of that, local taxpayers should be allowed to vote on the issue before their community builds a terminal groin. Without a vote, taxpayers will have no voice and no choice but to pay a bill they don’t want and can’t afford for years to come."
The N.C. Senate, concerned about the possible cost to state taxpayers, amended the bill it eventually passed and sent to the House to include a requirement that the N.C. General Assembly must approve any appropriation for a groin, rather than allow the money to hidden in the state budget.
“The legislature gave some protection to state taxpayers by requiring a direct vote on any state appropriation,” Miller said. “Local taxpayers need to same sort of protection.”
The House is expected to take up the bill in the next few weeks.

Legislative Update, NC League of Conservations Voters

Legislative Watch: Dismembering DENR; Turning Off the Green Lights; Hot Rail

Outrageous attacks on past environmental gains continue in the General Assembly.

Dismembering DENR: The N.C. Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is our state's primary executive agency for implementing state laws and programs managing natural resources, and protecting clean air and water and public health. As such, it is the natural lightning rod for those politicians who do not believe in supporting any of those missions. That opposition is now manifesting itself in the open hostility of bills which would cut away key sub-parts of DENR and send them to other agencies. Last week saw the filing of SB 388, "Transfer Forestry & Forestry Council to DACS", joining the previously filed SB 229, "Transfer DENR Soil & Water to DACS". These bills would remove the forestry management and soil erosion control agencies from DENR and send them to the state Agriculture department, which is run by the independently elected Agriculture Commissioner instead of the governor. (The Ag department has traditionally been regarded as more firmly controlled by the agribusiness lobby and hostile to most environmental regulations.) Other proposals would cut away still other offices from DENR and send them to Commerce or the Wildlife Resources Commission. Commenting on these moves, Rep. Joe Hackney (D-Chatham) told the Raleigh News & Observer, "What I perceive is a generalized attack on all parts of DENR. There are some people who want to dismantle it and reduce it to little or nothing. There are others who want to neuter its regulatory side, which the public will not like. The public places a high value on clean water and clean air."

Turning Off the Green Lights: Meanwhile, the opponents of expanding North Carolina's use of renewable energy sources in the generation of electricity are weighing in through HB 431, "Repeal Senate Bill 3 of the 2007 Session". SB 3 (2007) contained both good (i.e., REPS) and bad (i.e., CWIP financing) provisions, but it's on some groups' hit parade today because of its good points: It directs that electric utilities produce a minimum percentage of their electricity from renewable energy resources. Anti-environmental policy groups like the John Locke Foundation have an abiding disdain for green energy, and continue to wail that the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (REPS) will raise electric rates (without contributing to their friends in the oil and nuclear industries). It's uncertain how far HB 431 will progress, since even the power companies now support the 2007 SB 3 as adopted, and have entered into a number of power-purchase contracts from renewable energy sources as a result.

Hot Rail: Rail has become the energy-efficient transportation system that anti-environmentalists love to hate. Incredibly, a Mecklenburg County legislator (Rep. Ric Killian, R-Mecklenburg) has filed a bill (HB 422, "No High-Speed Rail Money from Federal Gov't.") which would turn back a federal grant which includes $152 million now slated to improve rail safety and efficiency in his home county. That's how much of the total grant of $461 million in high-speed rail-enabling track and intersection improvements is targeted for improvements in Mecklenburg. The rest would go to improving track and addressing rail/street intersection problems across the Piedmont between Charlotte and Raleigh. The excuse for this anti-rail money madness is that high-speed rail would cost tax money to maintain on an ongoing basis. However, does anyone wish to bet that Rep. Killian would be...ahem...tarred & feathered & ridden out of town on a rail...by his constituents if he introduced legislation to turn down Charlotte beltway funds on similar grounds? The hypocrisy involved is staggering. Twelve other Representatives (all Republicans) have signed on to this legislation, which would cost North Carolina up to an estimated 5,000 construction-related jobs at a time when the state's unemployment rate exceeds 9%. The bill is scheduled to be heard in the House Transportation Committee tomorrow (Tuesday, March 29) at noon.

Regulatory Watch: Speak Up for Public Health and a Clean Environment

Two weeks ago CIB advised our readers of a series of so-called "regulatory reform" hearings planned as a means of generating support for stripping clean air and water protections off the rulebooks in North Carolina. Those hearings kicked off last week, and they continue this afternoon in Guilford County.

The good news is that opponents of environmental quality have not had the public stage to themselves thus far. At the first hearing in Wilmington on March 11, supporters of environmental quality were also present in force and spoke eloquently. According to the Wilmington Star-News, area resident Laura Parks kicked off the public comments by reminding committee members, "When you seek to weed through these regulations, know that we also rely on regulations to protect us...We may not be a business, just operating the business of our homes."

Environmental allies cannot afford to rest, however. Several additional hearings are planned by the "Joint Regulatory Reform Committee", including one today (Monday, March 28) from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Jamestown campus of Guilford Technical Community College, 601 High Point Road, Jamestown NC. Speakers will have up to two minutes to address the committee. Sign-up to speak begins at 12:30 p.m. Those who cannot attend can send comments to the committee care of regreform@ncleg.net.

Supporters of protecting clean air and water and public health are being called upon to stand up at these hearings to defend the laws and programs which protect our health and environment. Time and place details for the remaining public hearings (April 4, Winterville; April 15, Flat Rock; and April 21, Raleigh) can be found here: http://www.ncleg.net/documentsites/committees/jointregreform/Joint%20Regulatory%20Reform%20Meeting%20Schedule.pdf.

According to U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group), 108 million Americans live within 50 miles of one of the 104 operating commercial nuclear power plants in the United States. How many of them have received any information on emergency response or evacuation alternatives in the event of radiation releases similar to those taking place in Japan now?

Fears also continued to grow regarding the risk of further radiation leaks from spent fuel rods stored in pools outside the damaged reactors. In Japan as in the United States, tons of highly radioactive waste are stored in pools near but outside the reactor buildings. In the United States, almost 72,000 tons of these spent fuel rods are in temporary storage on plant sites, with more than three-quarters of the waste still very hot and sitting in water-filled pools for cooling. The amount of this intensely radioactive waste, which will remain toxic for tens of thousands of years, is currently growing in the U.S. at a rate of about 2,200 tons per year. When pools with the hot spent fuel are not kept filled with water, the residual heat of the rods can melt their casing and release highly dangerous radioactive isotopes to the environment. There is substantial concern that such releases already may have occurred in Japan.

Campaign Watch: Early Attacks Begin Against Environmental Ally

With the 2012 election year still nine months away, an automated telephone call attack campaign has already been launched against environmental ally U.S. Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC13). Miller's Congressional district is considered a likely target of redistricting efforts this year to reduce his support in 2012. In preparation for the expected campaign targeting Miller, the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has initiated recorded calls to voters in the 13th District accusing Miller of supporting policies to raise gas prices. The calls implicitly refer to Miller's support for common-sense restrictions on offshore drilling. Miller responds that "according to the Bush Administration's Department of Energy, opening our entire continental shelf to oil drilling without regard to any environmental concern would not lower the price at the pump [for gasoline] at all. No amount of chanting 'drill, baby, drill' is going to change all that."
Education & Resources: Chances to Support Rail Transit
Finally this week, we note that residents of the Research Triangle region will have an opportunity to support development of its local, energy-efficient rail and bus transit system at four public workshops this week (March 28, 29, 30 and 31). For details on when, where, and how, see www.ourtransitfuture.com.

Food Matters Showing Feb. 4, 7:00, Raven's Wing

Food Matters is a feature length documentary film informing you on the best choices you can make for you and your family's health. In a collection of interviews with leading Nutritionists, Naturopaths, Scientists, M.D.'s and Medical Journalists you will discover...
How to use food as medicine

Who needs vitamins?

Is organic better?

How safe is our food?

Natural treatments for lowering Cholesterol

Foods that fight Anxiety and Depression

Natural therapies for Cancer
Which drugs might do more harm than good
The best ways to detox, lose weight and keep it off

[Also:  potluck at 6:15, meditation at 5:30, yoga with Mark at 4:00]

Jan. 27 lecture, Endangered and Rare Species, Ft. Bragg, Camp McCall

SAVE OUR SANDHILLS SPEAKER DISCUSSES ENDANGERED AND RARE FLORA AND FAUNA ON FORT BRAGG AND CAMP MACKALL

On January 27, Save Our Sandhills will host Beth Evans, a Certified Wildlife Biologist, to speak about Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall’s commitment to endangered species. Both military installations are located within the rare longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem. Less than 3% of the original 92 million acres of this ecosystem still exist. This ecosystem, dependent on fire maintenance, supports a wealth of flora and fauna populations, many of which are endangered or rare.
Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall contain 23 vegetative community types with over 1,200 plant species, approximately 200 bird species, 51 reptiles, 44 amphibians, 41 mammal species, and over 50 known aquatic species. Among these species, 5 are federally endangered; namely, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Saint Francis Satyr Butterfly, American Chaffseed, Rough-leaved Loosestrife, and Michaux Sumac. Overall, 48 species are considered rare. A few rare species of flora, such as the Sandhills Lily and Sandhills Pixie Moss are on the Army’s Species at Risk list, and could potentially impact military training if they become federally listed. Some rare fauna species, such as the Gopher frog, Eastern Salamander, Northern Pine Snake, Southeastern Bat, and Rafinesque Big-eared Bat are also being studied for their survival and management requirements.
Of the 5 federally endangered species, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW), listed in 1970, was declining through loss of habitat by fire suppression, forest management practices, and urban development. In 1990 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Jeopardy Biological Opinion and recommended specific military training restrictions, monitoring, surveys, and habitat restoration in order to stem the decline. In 1992 Fort Bragg biologists began monitoring the RCW population, provided cavity enhancement, worked on habitat restoration, and placed protective measures around cavity trees. And in 2005, Fort Bragg succeeded in reaching its goal of 350 breeding pairs with assistance from the Sandhills Conservation Partnership and was able to reduce training restrictions by 50%. The Saint Francis Satyr Butterfly, listed in 1995, was thought to be extinct. It has been rediscovered, however, and is being studied by Fort Bragg biologists and university researchers in order to understand its survival requirements and to manage its habitat. The 3 federally listed plants, American Chaffseed (listed in 1992), Rough-leaved Loosestrife (listed in 1987), and Michaux’s Sumac (listed in 1989), are found in open uplands and in wetland ecotones. The areas in which these plants are found are monitored and managed by midstory removal and frequent fire.
Beth Evans will identify these 5 federally endangered species, and will discuss their life histories and their management requirements. She will also highlight a few other rare species in our globally rare longleaf pine ecosystem of the Sandhills. Evans received a B.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Vermont in 1990. Subsequently, she served as a Research Assistant at Eglin Air Force Base in northwest Florida, surveying RCW cavity trees and becoming a member of one of the first teams to initiate banding of these endangered birds. Evans has been with the Fort Bragg Military Installation since 1993, working her way up from Biological Science Technician to Certified Wildlife Biologist. She monitors and surveys Fort Bragg’s endangered and rare flora and fauna species, and is involved with all aspects of protection and habitat restoration. Nevertheless, the majority of her work pertains to the RCW. Evans also participates in the NC Sandhills Conservation Partnership and the NC Chapter of the Wildlife Society, and conducts educational presentations to military personnel and the general public.

Join us for an informative and interesting evening; refreshments will be served Thursday, January 27 at 7 PM in the Southern Pines Civic Club, corner of Ashe and Pennsylvania.

Hearing, Jan. 18, Pine Forest PUD

PLEASE ATTEND THE PINE FOREST HEARING JANUARY 18, 6:00, County Courthouse, Carthage


After months of quiet, the Pine forest proposed PUD slid its rezoning application through the Planning Department quietly during the last days of December. In order for this rezoning to take place, a water agreement (whereby the developer would pay $3 million for water line work) was to have been worked out by the county and developer. Evidently the water agreement is in place, but details are not forthcoming until the hearing. Withholding information like this is unheard of, and its legality could be questioned.
What is Pine Forest
Pine Forest is a huge project. It is 1,799 acres, of which 1,623 are being requested to be rezoned. This includes Nicks Creek, ultimately part of Carthage’s’ water supply, which runs through the middle of the entire property from west to east, with small tributaries feeding it throughout the property. In all, a great deal of wetlands abound, all of which are crucial to the welfare of birds and other wildlife, as well as to rare and unusual native plants.
The two largest functioning longleaf pine forests in North Carolina – Fort Bragg and the Sandhills Gamelands preserve – are both public lands that will remain protected. However, Bruce Sorrie, a botanist with the NC Natural Heritage Program, advises that this 1,799-acre tract is one of the two largest privately-owned functioning natural longleaf pine forests remaining in the North Carolina Sandhills. This property is in Moore County and has the greater biodiversity of these two remaining large tracts. It has a Sandhills lily population, other rare plant and animal species, and is the foraging area for red-cockaded woodpeckers, according to Jay Carter Associates. This property has not only state significance, but also national significance.

What is Planned
Planned are two separate communities – a resort hotel and residential community with a neighborhood retail center, as well as a gated residential community. These communities will include:
· Up to 890 residential and/or hotel rooms (with up to a maximum of 300 hotel rooms)
· 2 championship golf courses
· A golf short course
· Golf clubhouses for each course
· A resort spa, conference center, and fitness center
· A retail and office center
· An on-site wastewater treatment plant for use by Pine Forest and the nearby Dormie Club

What Is at Stake
· Water Where is water to come from within a 15- to 20-year timetable for total buildout? Who is to pay for this development’s water? If water is to come from other counties, will it still flow during droughts?
· Herbicides and Pesticides How will herbicides and pesticides be kept from seeping into Nick’s Creek? This project is in Watershed 3, and the waterways, with their floodplains, are in jeopardy. The chemicals used for both lawns and golf courses will eventually also have disastrous consequences for humans and nature alike.
· Traffic How will traffic be handled on local roads? The cumulative effect of Pine Forest and other projects proposed for this area should be taken into account. Three development projects are currently planned: Stonehill Pines (1,050 homes), Dormie Club (250+ homes), and Pine Forest. At present, at least 2,100 homes would be built in these developments. The planning rule of thumb is 10 trips per day per home. This totals 21,000 more trips a day onto the local roads, including Route 211. The cumulative effect of these proposed developments and the additional school traffic of buses and cars from the new West Pine Middle School (whose entrance is only ½ mile east of Pine Forest on Route 211) will be staggering. Route 211 is scheduled to start construction on widening from 2 lanes to 4 lanes by 2012. The widening will be between Route 73 and the Pinehurst traffic circle. Nevertheless, with new schools, new developments, and new hospital facilities all either proposed or under construction, the planned road infrastructure does not appear adequate for future needs. In fact, traffic volume at the traffic circle in Pinehurst already often functions at a low level.
· Costly Infrastructure Problems Raise Taxes All these new homes may necessitate more schools and additional services. Traffic will back up farther at both ends of the widened Route 211 because of the cumulative effect of these projects. Increased accidents could jeopardize the safety of school children, parents, teachers, and school administrators along with residents of nearby communities; and jammed traffic lanes could prevent emergency vehicle access.
· The Wastewater Treatment Plant What are the real facts concerning the wastewater treatment plant – its safety, odor, maintenance? In Cumberland County, documented problems have occurred. Other counties have had such terrible experiences that they now prohibit their use. Moore County Public Works has only a draft of conditions and standards, and it has no experience with private systems which could be turned over to a homeowners’ organization to operate. Will this really provide enough water for all the golf courses, common areas, and lawns at Pine Forest and the Dormie Club? Could water contamination be an issue?
· Loss of Habitat for Flora and Fauna With so much area allotted for houses, businesses, roads, and golf courses, how will animals have corridors and native plants flourish?

What to Do
In the fall of 2009, Save Our Sandhills voted to resist this PUD. We have an attorney helping us challenge this, and have a list of supporting speakers. Attending the meeting is essential. Numbers are important. It is not necessary for you to speak. The Board of Commissioners needs to see that a large number of citizens are concerned with this project. A project of this size is a small city, and will catapult Moore County from a rural area into an urban area with all its inherent density problems.
County Courthouse, Jan. 18, 6:00, Carthage

Response to Shooting in AZ

Gabby's Gift by Martha Sterling-Golden on Saturday, January 8, 2011

I am a well of anger. So angry that it scares me. I am trying to find some semblance of the America I knew, flawed though she was, but beautiful at the same time. She aspired to perfection. It is a bitter irony that Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic from Arizona, should pay the price, along with 18 other victims, including a dead nine year old girl. Rep. Giffords supports gun rights.

I met “Gabby” when she came to the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University (WCSY) in 1999, and I was there as an alumna to moderate a panel. She was making the rounds of the various political training programs in preparation for a run for the Arizona State House. She spoke with deep affection for her family and her home state, and shared funny stories about running her family’s sizable tire business and riding a motorcycle around the desert. She was a star in her class.

Gabby won her election, and was invited back as a speaker. She served on our board until her election to Congress. Always, Gabby was full of optimism and excitement about the future for Arizona and America. She’s an American girl.

So, on the morning of January 8th, 2011, a beautiful Saturday morning in Arizona, Gabby was out doing what she loved to do: listen to the people she served. A young man, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, allegedly ran toward Gabby Giffords and started shooting. Once she was hit, it appears he continued to spray the crowd with fire from an automatic weapon until he had accumulated 19 victims. He emptied two clips. I waited until I had seen for myself the image captures of his social networking sites. This young man didn’t cite Jodie Foster or Charles Manson as his “inspirations”; he cited Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.

At his first press conference after the incident, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said, “It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. That’s the sad thing about what’s going on in America, pretty soon we’re not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people willing to subject themselves to serve in public office,” Dupnik said, “vitriol might be free speech, but it's not without consequences."

For months, Sarah Palin featured a number of Democratic incumbent politicians on a gun-site riddled target map she called a hit list of Democrats. “Don’t retreat, reload!” she shouted with smiley-faced enthusiasm, and Rush chimed in with “Oh yeah, (Giffords) is on my political hit list too!” Fun! Except, in the words of an eloquent and anguished young man at a vigil in downtown Tuscon, “It isn’t funny.” He looked up and out and asked, “Why, ask yourself, why do you want power; what is it for?” That’s a good question.

Once upon a time in America, it was considered worthy to argue for what one believed in, and one presented those beliefs in a well-reasoned argument. People disagreed, but they didn’t call one another cowards or traitors or Fascists or Nazis. Now, it’s about bullies. Bullies who no longer have the Fairness Doctrine to answer to, and so they can say whatever they want and call it fact, and a lazy American public takes it as such. We sit, in stupor, in front of our television sets and computers and soak up whatever we agree with and damn the rest. All Republicans are Christian dominionists and all Democrats are godless traitors.

I am tired of you all. I will never believe that all Republicans are bad people, and unfortunately, I know that not all Democrats are good people. Although I am a liberal Democrat, I don’t watch Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. I take no comfort in the “echo chamber.” My teachers taught me to gather information from a variety of sources, and to reason out what I believed about it.

The rising level of hatred and mistrust in this country, which has really been growing since the Nixon impeachment and bloomed during the Clinton years, has finally taken over, completely overwhelming anything which might reasonably be described as civilized public discourse.

Tonight, people lay dead and dying in hospitals all over Tuscon, and one of them is my friend, Gabby Giffords. Another is a nine-year-old girl. Still another a judge. The rest are aides, shoppers, and townspeople. And for what? Because a young man with a skewed mental state heard the call one too many times? Even as the Washington Post updates their coverage, lunatics are smearing toxins over the page:

“I think there's something up here. This doesn't make sense that the Dems are getting death threats i.e. the 2 packages exploding and now this. Yes, they'll want to take away our guns, but thats the least of our worries. This almost sounds like an inside job by the dems or worse men in back rooms. Everyone knows that this country is on the verge of civil war or a revolution, either way, sometimes you gotta nudge things along. I think this is the beginning of whatever is to come, but I hope I'm wrong. http://thelibertarianblogs.com/ Posted by: TheLibertarianBlogsDotCom  January 8, 2011 9:41 PM   Report abuse”

This is exactly the kind of thing that drives marginally tethered people over the edge. It isn’t rhetoric, it’s incitement. Are we citizens or bullies? And when did it become acceptable in American society to encourage violence against one another? This sort of anonymous “speech” should not be tolerated another moment in this country. Anonymous posts on newspaper and television web sites should end, and if the sites can’t figure it out, stop the comments altogether. Letters to the editor require contact information; why should it be any different for online news?

To my Democratic friends, I will ask you to hold a little while, even as I have been so nearly over the wall myself, to see how things play out. To my Republican friends, and you know who you are; it is past time for you to ostracize the worst offenders; to stand the hell up and say, “Enough.” Otherwise, you make yourselves accomplices to this heinous degradation and violence. For the love of God, reach out that we may reach back.
I have no idea what news we will wake to; whether Gabby will still be alive, or whether she will ever recover enough to have a life with her husband, Mark, who is an American astronaut. What I do know is that we must take something better away from this mess than we brought to it. We can hate each other just a little less, can’t we? That is what Gabby would want this episode to teach us. Gabby Giffords is a gift to all who know her. Let her gift to us be her sense of fair play, and above all, her belief that America should be a civil society where people work through their problems, rather than shooting through a crowd.

The writer is an alumna and past president of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University. A program that provides campaign skills training for women who aspire to public office.