BREDL Archive Fact Sheets

Aug. 26, 2019: BREDL Fact Sheet on Versatile Test Reactors.

The Department of Energy has put out a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Statement for a Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). U.S. DOE is looking to locate VTR at either the Idaho National Lab or Oak Ridge, TN.

Fact Sheet: Groups - Join us by filing a friend-of-the-court brief regarding the Ashe County Watershed Review Board issued permit for a site on the South Fork of the New River

Sept 26, 2018: On April 26, 2018, the Ashe County Watershed Review Board issued a water supply watershed permit for a site on the South Fork of the New River. The permit is an egregious example of a quixotic procedure by a local watershed review board and poses risks to the entire state of North Carolina. If allowed to stand, the legal precedent will be there for other county boards to carve loopholes in the law and sidestep water supply watershed protection. This would mean that drinking water supply for people across this state could be put at risk.

View Ashe Co. Watershed Protection

Fact Sheet: Asphalt Plant Flyer Fact Sheets

BREDL fact sheets on individual asphalt plants in our region.

View Asphalt Plant Flyer Fact Sheets

Fact Sheet: Clean Air Act Title V Permits

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments Title V established a federal operating permit system administered by the states. Title V permits are designed to gather all existing, federally enforceable laws and regulations into one permit. Federally enforceable laws include all EPA regulations and any state and local regulations approved by the EPA. The State Implementation Plan (SIP) embodies all EPA-approved state regulations. A state regulation is not part of the SIP and not federally enforceable until it is submitted to and approved by the EPA. EPA approval allows enforcement by federal agencies and by citizens under the Clean Air Act.

View Clean Air Act Title V Permits

Fact Sheet: NATURAL GAS EXPORT

The international market for natural gas is driving the construction of new interstate pipelines in the USA.

In the United States, the major end uses of natural gas are electric power generation, industrial process, residential and commercial buildings.

View Natural Gas Export Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet: NATURAL GAS PIPELINE - PROPERTY VALUE DEVALUATION

Property values plunged on parcels whose owners sought relief through the Atlantic Coast Pipeline reassessment hearing process, according to a property records search conducted in Highland and Nelson Counties by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.

The construction of the proposed pipeline and resultant losses in property value are devastating for directly affected landowners. Pipelines drive down property values substantially, limiting landowner's use of their properties and leading to an increased real estate tax rate for every property owner.

View Natural Gas Pipeline - Property Values Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet: SMALL NUCLEAR REACTORS

Clinch River Nuclear Site is located in Roane County, Tennessee, about 25 miles from Knoxville. In 2016 Tennessee Valley Authority submitted an application asking for approval of its Clinch River site near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They want early permission in order to place so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) on the site whenever and if ever there were to be a design for them and the licensing could be obtained, years down the road.

On April 13, 2017, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission published in the Federal Register (82 FR 17885) its intent to prepare an EIS for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) early site permit for the Clinch River Nuclear Site. TVA’s request identified the Clinch River site as suitable for two or more so-called small modular reactors, experimental nuclear power plants which range from 50 megawatts to 300 megawatts, about one-third the power of conventional nuclear power plants.

View Small Nuclear Reactors Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet: PLUTONIUM FUEL FACTORY

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a nuclear industrial complex operated by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It covers 310 square miles and stretches into parts of Aiken, Barnwell, and Allendale Counties; the Savannah River, which separates South Carolina from Georgia, borders it to the southwest.

For over two decades, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League has opposed the Plutonium Fuel Factory because it presents unsupportable risks to public safety and the environment. We also expressed concerns regarding the cost of the facility.

View Plutonium Fuel Factory Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet: Hydrogen Sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide is one of the most common toxic air pollutants. In North Carolina alone about 12 million pounds of this toxic gas are released into the air annually. Hydrogen sulfide is recognizable by its distinctive rotten egg odor. Hydrogen sulfide, H2S, is formed by the breakdown of organic materials and is typically found near agricultural locations, waste treatment plants and industrial sites.

View Hydrogen Sulfide Fact Sheet

EPA has proposed to significantly raise the allowable levels of radioactivity in drinking water following nuclear accidents.

July 16, 2016: We oppose any weakening of drinking water standards for radioactivity. The Safe Drinking Water Act limits should be complied with. The Protective Action Guides should do what they are supposed to do: provide protective action guidance for authorities on how to treat contaminated water or provide alternative drinking water supplies. Comment Deadline was July 25, 2016!
Please see Fact Sheet for details.

BREDL Fact Sheet

Proposed Buckingham Compressor Station

Updated Aug. 2016 BREDL Fact Sheet - Proposed Buckingham Compressor Station, Buckingham County, VA

Unequal Protection Fact Sheet

May 2016: BREDL Unequal Protection Fact Sheet The Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s Discriminatory Laws & Regulations

Appalachian Materials, LLC Proposed Asphalt Plant

Sept. 2015 BREDL Fact Sheet - Appalachian Materials, LLC Proposed Asphalt Plant in Glendale Springs, NC.

January 2015 Safeguard America's Resources Fact Sheets:

Pipelines

Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Fracking Waste

Fracking Lease Risks

Social Impacts of Gas Fracking

Liquefied Natural Gas Export Terminals+Pipelines+Fracking Equals MORE FRACKING PIPELINES!

Natural Gas Compressor Stations
Air Pollution, Explosions and Fires

Opportunities for Action Environmental Permits

What's All The Fuss About Fracking? - an update

LOCAL ORDINANCES: What North Carolina Counties Can Do

LOCAL ORDINANCES: What North Carolina Counties Can Do to Protect Residents from Polluting Industries - North Carolina law grants authority to all counties the power to adopt ordinances under NC General Statute § 153A-121. This is also referred to as the counties’ police power. Recent legislation approved by the NC General Assembly alters but does not end this power.
BREDL Fact Sheet

Nuclear Power $$$

Jan. 2014: BREDL Fact Sheet - Nuclear Power $$$ - Higher electric rates for you, lower taxes and higher dividends for the power company

North Star Jefferson biomass and tire burner

BREDL Fact Sheet - North Star Jefferson biomass and tire burner proposed for Wadley, Georgia

Mineral rights underneath your property

August 2012: BREDL Fact sheet: How to discover who owns the mineral rights underneath your property

William S. Lee III Nuclear Station

May 2012: William S. Lee III Nuclear Station FACT SHEET - Clean Water Act NPDES Permit
View BREDL Fact Sheet

So they want to mine and mill uranium in a FEMA flood zone?

Download the BREDL brochure: TOO MUCH RISK - So they want to mine and mill uranium in a FEMA flood zone? What’s wrong with this picture?

Flooding creates risk!
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gives many clear warnings of the risk of radioactive contamination brought by flooding in areas where uranium mill tailings are being stored.

Fractures, Faults and Fission

March 24, 2011: Fractures, Faults and Fission - Bellefonte is Not Suitable for Nuclear Reactors

Bellefonte Earthquake Fact Sheet

Proposed Biomass Gasification Plant

BREDL fact sheet on Proposed Biomass Gasification Plant in Lithonia, GA

March 2011: BREDL fact sheet on Green Energy Partners proposed biomass gasification plant.

Proposed ReVenture Park Incinerator

March 8, 2011: A Charlotte company plans to build and operate a waste incinerator at the proposed ReVenture Park in the Catawba River District of Mecklenburg and Gaston counties. According to ReVenture project developers, the incinerator could burn wood scraps, garbage and sewage sludge in a 20 megawatt waste-to-energy plant. BREDL Fact Sheet and Map

Plasma Arc Waste Incineration

June 2010: The Case Against Plasma Arc Waste Incineration: The St. Lucie Geoplasma facility - View BREDL Factsheet

MXI's Ethanol Plant Pollution

Sept. 10, 2009: The MXI Environmental Services ethanol plant in Abingdon plans to expand operations. DEQ's new air permit if approved would allow huge increases in emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC). BREDL Factsheet: MXI's Ethanol Plant Pollution

Plant Vogtle

July 2009: Since 1987 Plant Vogtle has generated electric power. Today, two nuclear reactors operate at the site on banks of the Savannah River in Burke County, Georgia. Now Southern Company wants to add two more nuclear reactors. But the two existing reactors have placed an unfair burden on residents. More would be an environmental injustice. Here’s why. BREDL Factsheet

Fibrowatt Poultry Waste Incinerators

April 2009: Fib-rowatt Facts- It's time to tell the truth: BREDL Factsheet on Fibrowatt's proposal to build three poultry waste incinerators in North Carolina.

PERC Pollution at Peach Orchard Road

PERC Pollution at Peach Orchard Road - Toxic soil, water and air are a health hazard

April 2009: Ten years ago the Georgia Environmental Protection Division investigated the area near Peach Orchard, Lumpkin and Old Savannah roads and found widespread contamination. The pollutants they uncovered include PCE, TCE and vinyl chloride. These are toxic chemicals. For example, PCE, also known as perchloroethylene or PERC, can cause liver damage, kidney damage and cancer. View BREDL Factsheet

NC permanent exemption in toxic air pollution limits

Aug. 2008: The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission has proposed a rule which would create a permanent exemption in the state’s health-protective toxic air pollution limits. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League believes that the NC EMC has an obligation to protect the health of all our people by removing the Combustion Source Exemption. Meeting the state’s toxic air pollution limits at their property boundaries is not too much to expect from North Carolina’s electric utilities and manufacturing industries. BREDL Factsheet

Incinerator Pollution

Aug. 2008: BREDL Factsheet - Incinerator Pollution - Landfills in the sky
Montenay Charleston Resource Recovery, Inc. operates a mass burn incinerator in Charleston, SC.

Proposed Nuclear Plants

May 2008 Factsheet: New Nuclear Power Plants in South Carolina? - Duke Energy has applied to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build and operate two nuclear plants on the Broad River near Gaffney, South Carolina. The deadline for comments on environmental impacts of a nuclear power plant on this area’s air, water, and public health was May 20, 2008.

Proposed Bellefonte Nuclear Units

March 2008: BREDL Chapter Bellefonte Efficiency & Sustainability Team (BEST) fact sheet:
No to Bellefonte Nuclear Units, Yes to Energy Efficiency and Renewables

Proposed Young & McQueen Asphalt Plant

October 2007: Proposed Young & McQueen asphalt plant Factsheet - Young & McQueen are proposing an asphalt plant near Spruce Pine in Mitchell County, NC.

National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility

On July 31, 2007 the US Department of Homeland Security issued a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for a National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. The NBAF would be a new defense research laboratory for biological warfare agents. Five sites are being considered: 1) Manhattan, Kansas, 2) Athens, Georgia, 3) San Antonio, Texas, 4) Butner, North Carolina and 5) Flora, Mississippi. A possible sixth site is also being considered on Plum Island, New York where a federal facility has operated for decades. BREDL Factsheet

Proposed Cherokee County Nuclear Power Plant

August 30, 2007: Is Nuclear Power Right for Cherokee County? (Duke Power has selected a site in Cherokee County, near Gaffney, SC)

Asphalt Plants - Contaminants of Concern

July 30, 2007: ASPHALT PLANTS - CONTAMINANTS OF CONCERN: An overview of 7 toxic substances released from asphalt processing facilities and their known effects on human health

Poultry power is dirtier than coal

July 11, 2007: (revised March 2008) Poultry power is dirtier than coal. Poultry Litter versus Coal-fired Power Plants: An Air Pollution Comparison - The graph illustrates the negative air pollution impacts of power plants powered by poultry litter compared with boilers fired by coal.

Proposed SC Nuclear Plant

April 2006: The Safe Energy Campaign Factsheet - On March 16, 2006 Duke Power Co. and Southern Co. announced that they had picked a site in South Carolina for a new nuclear power plant. Also, the power companies announced plans to seek early site permits for additional nuclear reactors at Oconee, SC and at a new site near Winston-Salem, NC.

Fibrowatt Factsheet

March 21, 2006: Fibrowatt Factsheet - Fibrowatt LLC is considering locations in North Carolina for a 50 MW plant that burns poultry litter. Burning poultry litter creates unnecessary pollution and is inconsistent with NC GreenPower’s mission to promote renewable energy while protecting the environment.

Nuclear Power Licensing

March 16, 2006: Nuclear Power Licensing Factsheet - One-Step Licensing of Nuclear Plants Short-circuits Safety

Asphalt Plant versus Wood Stove Pollution

Oct. 20, 2005: Analysis: Asphalt Plant versus Wood Stove Pollution - Comparing Apples and Hedgehogs (a household wood stove emits but a tiny fraction of the pollution emitted by an asphalt plant.)

Interstate Waste Commerce and the Law

Nov. 12, 2002: Interstate Waste Commerce and the Law: When Commercial landfill companies enter, Communities loose control.

High-level Nuclear Waste Transport

April 24, 2002: High-level Nuclear Waste Transport Fact Sheets for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia , Tennessee, and Virginia.

BREDL Fact Sheets