Permit revoked for IPP3, while concerns for coal plant pollution grow

As reported previously, the air quality permit for planned coal-fired power plant IPP3 has been formally revoked. The permit, along with Sevier Power’s permit, had been challenged in the Utah Supreme Court for several reasons, including an unexplained extension granted by the Division of Air Quality. Normally, permits are only valid for 3 years and only extended if construction on the plant has actually begun.

Dr. Brian Moench, a physician at LDS Hospital and former instructor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and president of the respected group, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, emailed to pass on a recent medical study which highlights little understood health impacts of coal-fired power plants. Beyond the risks of coal plant microparticulates — which cause 26,000 deaths each year in the U.S. alone — a study in India has found a link between nearby coal-fired power plants and numerous birth defects.

The study found that living near coal-fired power plants caused poisoning in children from mercury, which has been well established in the past as coal plants release huge quantities of mercury from deep within the earth into the air and surrounding environment where people and animals live. A recent U.S. study checked a fish from a hundred sources across the country and found that virtually all of them — every one — had mercury poisoning. Mercury accumulates in animals (and people) and is cumulatively toxic, causing a variety of mental problems and handicaps, as well as miscarriages.

Yet the India study also found enormous amounts of uranium poisoning in children. The toxic radioactive mineral is found naturally in coal, but is also released in concentrated form into the air and in ash storage facilities, gradually accumulating in the surrounding area, including ground water supplies. The article states, “The situation became worse … if ash was used as a construction material or as a filling material for roads.”

The study found a link between living near coal-fired power plants, subsequent uranium poisoning, and increases in a wide array of handicaps, including retardation, hydrocephaly, microcephaly, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome and many other serious health complications and birth defects.

Dr. Moench said, “Copies of this article should be distributed throughout Sevier County.” Here is the link to the article, in leading British newspaper, the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/30/india-punjab-children-uranium-pollution

Citizens urged to take health precautions as fires darken skies

Fire fighters continue to gain on the several fires clouding local skies, though they are expected to burn for at least several more days. For the latest updates, visit www.utahfireinfo.gov.

During the previous Milford Flat fire, Ideal Living issued a health warning to everyone to be keenly aware of any heart attack or stroke symptoms over the coming month.

Smoke is actually particles of soot. Although the particles are small, they can be very sharp. Such “microparticulates” can be inhaled into the lungs where they pass directly into the blood stream. Larger, hardened pieces of fat can be cut loose by the micro-particles. The pieces of fat can then travel through the bloodstream for several weeks; if they block an artery leading to the heart, it causes a heart attack, or if they block an artery leading to the brain, they cause a stroke.

During a stroke or heart attack, seconds count. Immediately take an aspirin (real aspirin, not tylenol; aspirin is a blood thinner) and seek emergency medical attention. Over the coming weeks, be especially aware of any of the following signs in yourself or others:

- Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
- Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
- Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
- Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
- Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
- Discomfort in the chest or upper body
- Shortness of breath without chest discomfort
- Sudden loss of responsiveness (no response to tapping on shoulders)
- No normal breathing (for at least five seconds)
- Breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, lightheadedness

Our dear friend died unexpectedly from a stroke 3 weeks after the previous Milford Flat Fire. Could an aspirin have saved their life? Please do not let yourself or others you love become a statistic.

Central Utah Public Health Department: H1N1 Virus Pandemic

New exercise TV series: “Get Fit, Stay Fit!”

Ideal Living and Richfield’s Lifetime Fitness have teamed up to bring you a new television series to help you “Get Fit, Stay Fit!”

The programs, which are led by experienced exercise instructors, walk you through varying half-four exercise routines, which are condensed versions of the fitness classes available atLifetime Fitness.  Eventually, dozens of episodes will be available covering a wide-variety of exercise programs.

You can view the programs on CentraCom cable’s Local10.  For more information, contact Lifetime Fitness Center, located at 80 E 1000 North in Richfield, or call (435) 896-6708.

To get information on signing up for CentraCom Cable, click here.

Air Pollution and Health — a Presentation from C. Arden Pope

In this presentation, C. Arden Pope III — perhaps the world’s leading expert on the effects of air pollution on health — explains how the link between fine particulate matter (a.k.a., smoke) effects the lungs, circulatory system and most significantly, the heart. Dr. Pope shows how the link between air pollution and heart attacks was discovered, and how that initial discovery led to global controversy and a new awareness of how clean air is our most valuable, life-giving asset.

C. Arden Pope is a world-reknowned epidemiologist and Brigham Young University’s distinguished Mary Lou Fulton Professor of Economics. He recently received the Karl Maeser Distinguished Faculty Award, BYU’s highest honor.

In partnership with LDS Hospital, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dr. Pope has just completed an in-depth study on the effects of air pollution and public health.

This documentary is presented by Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water who hosted Dr. Pope in Richfield, Utah, U.S.A., in February 2007. The Sevier Citizens are the local opponents of two proposed coal-fired power plants in Utah — one in Millard County and another in Sevier County. The Sevier Citizens believe that the proposed coal power plants would harm public health by depositing microparticulates, mercury and other toxic chemicals within the small Sevier Valley (known for its proximity to many national and state parks), while contributing millions of tons of global warming gases to the atmosphere each year. To support Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water, a 501(c)(3) in their fight opposing these proposed coal-fired power plants, you may contact them at 435-896-2822 or send a cash-deductible donation directly to: SCCAW, Inc., 146 North Main Street, Suite 27, Richfield, Utah 84701. They appreciate your generous support.

Commercial promoting the event, which tells a little about Dr. Pope’s background:

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment came to Richfield to speak about the health impacts of the proposed coal-fired power plant on September 6, 2007. The influential group is comprised of leading medical doctors employed at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. The group of doctors is calling for a moratorium on building any new coal-fired power projects as the most important step to improving the unhealthy, smog-filled skies Utah is increasingly known for. The group cites a portion of their concerns in the stating:

“Nationwide, air pollution from coal power plants causes 26,000 premature deaths every year from heart attacks, strokes, and lung cancer. But the most deadly elements in smoke stacks are mercury and radiation. A coal plant produces even more radiation than a nuclear plant. The slag piles left from these plants are as hazardous as nuclear waste.”

For more information about the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, visit their web site at www.uphe.org. Members of Utah Moms for Clean Air was also spoke; their web site is at www.utahmomsforcleanair.org.

Air Pollution and Health — a Presentation from C. Arden Pope

A presentation by world-renowned scientist and researcher, Dr. C. Arden Pope, BYU Professor, in Richfield, February 2007.

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment Presentation in Richfield

A presentation from Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment on the health effects a proposed coal-fired power plant would have on those living in the Sevier Valley.

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment visit Richfield, Utah

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment came to Richfield to speak about the health impacts of the proposed coal-fired power plant in Sigurd.
Visit their web site at uphe.org.
Visit Utah Moms for Clean Air at utahmomsforcleanair.org.

Air Pollution and Health — a Presentation from Dr. C. Arden Pope

A presentation by world-renowned scientist and researcher, Dr. C. Arden Pope, BYU Professor, in Richfield, February 2007.

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