As I explain to "outsiders" what obstacles to true economic development we are confronting here in Northeast Ohio, I point to the concluding half of my "Preamble: Real Co-op for Open Food, Information and Community Development 2009", where I explain "you can't manage what you don't measure. Leadership here does not want to be measured." 

At that time - February, 2009 - I explained the risk from having poor local leadership was greatest then, as we had just brought into office a wonderful new President, who must stimulate bad local, state, national and global economies... we had tough battles ahead requiring good local footsoldiers, as $ billions in NEW federal funding initiatives was flowing our way.

They raise the stakes, in exploitation of the difficult economic times here, by attempting to corrupt the good will of our new President.

It is worth noting that two days after 70+ Cleveland-area citizens came together in unified citizen action and opposition against coal burning in their neighborhood of University Circle, the EPA sent out a press release that "President Obama’s Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), co-chaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), delivered a series of recommendations to the president today on overcoming the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years" and "the report concludes that CCS can play an important role in domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions while preserving the option of using coal and other abundant domestic fossil energy resources."

That conclusion will be at the center of intense debate, experimentation and demonstration, to the tune of $10s billions, over the ten year vision of this policy statement, until some event brings such spending to a stop - science and economic reality push innovation above the industrial din of mountaintop removal and churning urban furnaces.

Federal clean coal funding is the stimulus for plans like MCCO was developing to continue burning coal into the future, and expand coal capacity to DEMONSTRATE innovative clean coal technologies (which are not yet in practice here). Such visionary science has a role in the big system of solutions for the world, but delays clean energy innovation of the type that would offer immediate human benefits in communities like Cleveland that cannot wait for the bleeding edge to arrive... too much real bleeding from environmental injustice here right now.

Informed realNEO stakeholders remember that the Cleveland City Council made a pact with the devil to sell the city and region down the environmental toilet by signing a 50 year commitment for AMP Ohio "clean coal" power purchases for Cleveland Public Power - the economics of that dirty rotten deal collapsed last year, thank God.

But that has not been the only dirty clean-coal deal in the works around here, as MCCO has been planning to build additional coal burning capacity for the plant needs of University Circle... a bullet the community is fighting to dodge right now, while attempting to shut down the current coal burning facilities MCCO has polluted the region with since 1932... all of which now seems to be blowing up in the master planners of this region's faces like a mountain-top full of high sulfur coal in West Viginie

As MCCO fights to maintain the rights and economic wherewithal to burn what coal it may - up to 50,000 tons per year -  a few sorry other communities weren't so fortunate to have the brakes put on their clean-coal-insanity before the shovels hit dirt, meaning their shit is hitting the fan... as in the cost of the projects are through the roof and rising...  the most sorry being the Peabody Energy Prairie State Energy Campus coal industry orgy in Illinois... read the sorry details below from the Chicago Tribune and thank your lucky stars at least we don't have a multi-billion-dollar mess like that to subsidize and breathe emissions from for the next 50 years! Phew... read what happens in REALLY poorly led communities, like outside Chicago, below...

Environmental Health Watch Outreach and Education Director Kim Foreman testifying at the August 10, 2010 EPA License Renewal Hearing AGAINST renewing their permit to burn coal, reading into the record and excellent statement offering a holistic, realistic perspective from the Cleveland environmental community - view this video.

Map 7.1: Potential Biomass Energy Distribution among Ohio Counties (in Billions)

In an important development from the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, the Plain Dealer reports today that "FirstEnergy Corp. gets permission to burn biomass as sustainable energy source". I previously highlighted this issue on realNEO, as the environmental concerns raised about this plant revolve around developing sustainable fuel stocks for such massive biomass initiatives as the R. E. Burger power plant in Shadyside, Ohio... as burning wood is not the solution... even refuse wood from recycling. But that is all that is on the horizon, for this plant so far... "FirstEnergy spokeswoman Ellen Raines said the company is spending $200 million to re-design and renovate Burger's boilers to be able to burn a mixture of green wood chips, wood pellets and briquettes and something very similar to charcoal."

There isn't enough refuse wood biomass to go around, and the carbon foot print of deforestation for biomass is poor. That is why I propose the state of Ohio take THE global leadership position innovating agricultural biomass optimization, which I believe includes hemp. Thus, the proposal to make Northeast Ohio the Open Source Capital of the Brightest Greenest State on Earth.

Mattie Reitman of the Sierra Club standing-up to EPA against MCCO burning coal in University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio

John Funk of the Cleveland Plain Dealer continued his expanding coverage of the dangerous situation in University Circle that is the Medical Center Company. Outlining the timeline below, Funk highlights that "The permit, the facility's first ever, expired in 2003, and authorities have been reviewing the company's renewal application ever since" and "Built in 1932 and expanded with gas boilers as needed, the steam plant is operated by the Medical Center Co., a non-profit corporation whose board of directors represent CWRU and the major institutions that make up University Circle. The plant burns about 40,000 tons of coal per year." At issue is the renewal by the EPA of their permit to continue burning coal for five more years, which is outragous.Public feedback to the EPA is encouraged!

The article is included in entirety below to protect this information for public health and safety...

Case Western Reserve University steam plant may wait months for decision about permit renewal

If you wonder why some powerful people in town and their pawns and puppets have been up in arms about realNEO and us bringing MCCO to trial... take a look at these financials (tons of money) and realize MCCO is listed as a Non-Profit Foundation for "Public, Society Benefit – Multipurpose and Other: Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution" and a "Charitable Organization" - which is perverse, as they in fact cause immense public harm and they shouldn't even have this exemption... and should be "For Profit" and Paying Taxes

With 2009 assets of $66 million and annual sales over $33 million, MCCO was gaming another $500 million (according to former East Cleveland Mayor Brewer) in new funding (probably federal money) to build a new COAL facility at Lakeview and Euclid... even bought the land. The Opportunity Corridor is also being discussed - and the public is asked to wait a year before seeing any plans... as MCCO asks for a 5 year coal burning extension to operate as is for $150+ million more in activity - to burn 220,000+ TONS more coal... spew around 25,000 TONS more pollution...

Joakim Noah spends a cranky off day: Cleveland? 'It's bad, man' - really great interview...

"I don't know about Cleveland, man, there is nothing going on," Noah said Sunday, lamenting the options for his off day on a typical cloudy and chilly spring day. "It's bad, man."

"NO GOING OUT IN CLEVELAND MAN - IT'S ALL FACTORIES. DO YOU LIKE IT - DO YOU THINK CLEVELAND IS COOL?"

As a special follow-up, check out this awesome video of passionate citizens last night: http://www.facebook.com/l/5f842eAZNPC6re8_ChnFRz2Sk0Q;www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WTuYsLjA_E

More to come, it's only just begun!

This excellent article on the MCCO coal burning powerplant in University Circle - Old-fashioned Ohio coal still being burned at tech-savvy University Circle institutions - by the Plain Dealer's John Funk speaks for itself... and is truthful to the best of my knowledge... and I learned some important new information. Thank you John Funk!  I've included the entire PD article below in the interest of public safety.

Thank you Mattie and the Sierra Club for making all this happen - love the conclusion... "The solutions are not as forth coming as some might think," Reitman said. "You can't just put up a wind turbine and call it warm." Now to get a timeline in writing from MCCO for all aspects of their planning to move off coal, WITH CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT!

Old-fashioned Ohio coal still being burned at tech-savvy University Circle institutions

John Funk, The Plain Dealer
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The tall smokes stacks at the back of the Case Western Reserve University campus belong to the Medical Center Co., a non-profit that has been burning coal for nearly 80 years to heat CWRU and much of University Circle.

Good Afternoon real NEO - Cleveland has been fucked all day - Sheffield is worst now

Daily Air Quality Forecast for Cleveland-Akron-Lorain

It seems I suddenly need to go to Washington DC to meet with Federal officials about air pollution in Northeast Ohio. As timing is critical, I need to leave tonight and drive - returning tomorrow night. Rather than make the trip alone, wasting all that gas for just one person, I thought I 'd see if anyone else in the realNEO community would like to share a ride to-and-from DC for a day-trip there - we should be there for full business hours... 8am-midnight.

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The NOACA Air Pollution Time Series line chart left above shows the region has had unsafe air quality since midnight, as per many monitoring stations - Cleveland is excluded from this chart but represented in the Rose Chart right above, which indicates the air in Cleveland was Unsafe at least at 5 and 6 AM, before they cut the data stream off.... meaning it is likely unsafe NOW. DO NOT TRUST THEIR DATA BEFORE 5 AM!

Right now - TUESDAY MORNING IN CLEVELAND AND ALL AROUND NORTHEAST OHIO - the air appears unsafe to breathe. According to data hidden throughout air quality monitoring reporting in the region, our air has been AT BEST UNSAFE FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS since MIDNIGHT. In other words... it is still UNSAFE from yesterday. Of course, the Ohio EPA forecast for today was "Moderate".

Mattie Reitman with the Sierra Club just forwarded me his communications with the Chairman of Medical Center Company, Robert Brown - who is Treasurer of Case.... and Senator Sherrod Brown's brother... the PD's Connie Schultz' Brother-in-Law... major regional coal-burner and source-point polluter. Through Brown's leadership MCCO operates a secretive coal burning, polluting steam plant for University Circle in my backyard, causing 1,000s of tons of pollution a year in my backyard, harming us each and every day... which I am fighting with the Sierra Club to shut-down.

Sherrod Brown has proven to be a pro-coal Senator. The PD basically denies global warming exists, loves coal, and ignores the issue of environmental injustice entirely.

I am in contact with the Senator's staff about these conflicts of interest, as I am dealing with his brother's pollution, I don't like that my Senator is pro-coal, I don't like that his wife's monopoly newspaper ignores pollution.

As you will see below, Mattie politely asked Robert Brown to arrange for better communications between MCCO and neighbors like myself, including "putting energy into something like" forums on moving MCCO off coal... and Brown said no.

What if MARIJUANA was LEGAL in EAST CLEVELAND?!

Like in Michigan, California, and other states, but EVEN BETTER for the community

• Cannabis - the organic medicine - the civil right!

• Hemp - the industrial crop - "green" fuel source – complete food - ultimate fiber

• Controlled, TAXABLE Cannabis New Economy

Welcome to East Cleveland the International Cannabis Exchange for healthcare and industry for the world – The Exchange will put East Cleveland back ON THE MAP!

When I met with my counsel about legalizing cannabis in Ohio, I explained I never bring up a problem without a solution.

The problem I brought up to him and his many large industrial clients is the excessive industrial pollution in Northeast Ohio, primarily from coal-burning industrial source points like MCCO and MIttal, which must be eliminated to make this a livable, sustainable region.

The solution I asked his firm to support is making Northeast Ohio the Open Source Capital of the Brightest Greenest State of Earth, including legalizing Cannabis and basing the Global Cannabis Exchange and industry here... which will grow to over $1 trillion world-wide in the coming years.

Cannabis is marijuana, for medicinal and other personal use... and hemp, for industrial use and nutrition - two classes of crops, each worth $10s billions to the Ohio economy alone, if developed effectively.

The financially influential Kylie Roulet DEMANDS MCCO and all Affiliates STOP BURNING COAL IN HER BACKYARD!

Dear Ronn:

realNEO statistics indicate our content is well trafficked by Cleveland Foundation staff, so I won't preface my comments with introductions... we know each other well.

The Roulet family is in a position whereby my parents have accumulated $ millions in wealth through investment of their incomes working for or affiliated with University Circle institutions - Case, University Hospitals and the Cleveland Institute of Art - and they intend to donate much of their wealth to those and similar causes - except those institutions burn coal, and do so in a harmful way that has been highly deceptive and has resulted in direct physical and financial harm to members of the family: myself, wife and children... indirectly and directly harming our friends and their family.

As such, my family has less money than it should, my parents' money is tainted by their employers having burned coal throughout their careers... and much of their money is intended for institutions that to this day cause harm by burning coal when there are ready alternatives... and those institutions show no real intent nor good will to stop.

WOW - UCI forgot to put the University Circle MCCO Coal Burning Power Plant EPA Hearing at the University Circle MLK Cleveland Public Library in their August WOW! email blast to and for University Circle stakeholders, which/who are all subject of this hearing... as polluters and/or VICTIMS. It is a shame to waste an excellent opportunity to educate their stakeholder community, like this - perhaps they will see the notice here, or UCI will correct the error and better educate their community...

WOW! University Circle MCCO Coal Burning Power Plant EPA Hearing at the University Circle MLK Cleveland Public Library
Thanks to the timely, effective intervention of the Sierra Club, the Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to hold a public hearing for citizens to discuss their concerns about the renewal of the permit for the Medical Center Company (MCCO) to burn coal in their powerplant in University Circle (pictured here), harming residents and workers in the densely populated and economically distressed surrounding neighborhood... August 10, 3:30-5:30 - FREE - More

Roberto Ocasio's Latin Jazz Project on August 11 - the following day - will be an excellent way to celebrate our success moving University CIrcle COAL FREE - THEY ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! SEE BELOW...

WOW! Wade Oval Wednesdays
Don't miss the last four WOW! concerts this summer. The lineup includes Cats on Holiday and Lost State of Franklin on August 4, Roberto Ocasio's Latin Jazz Project on August 11, Heart & Soul Band on August 18, and Sultans of Bing on August 25. A movie night featuring Raiders of the Lost Ark will take place following the concert on August 18. More 

As Introduced by the Stanford University News, March 16, 2010, in Urban CO2 domes increase deaths, poke hole in 'cap-and-trade' proposal, Stanford researcher says: "Not all carbon dioxide emissions are equal," said Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering. "As in real estate, location matters".

"In the first study ever done on the local health effects of the domes of carbon dioxide that develop above cities, Stanford researcher Mark Jacobson found that the domes increase the local death rate. The result provides a scientific basis for regulating CO2 emissions at the local level and points out a significant oversight in the carbon dioxide "cap-and-trade" proposal that was passed by the House of Representatives in June 2009 and is awaiting definitive action by the Senate."

Everyone knows that carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving climate change, is a global problem. Now a Stanford study has shown it is also a local problem, hurting city dwellers' health much more than rural residents', because of the carbon dioxide "domes" that develop over urban areas. That finding, said researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, exposes a serious oversight in current cap-and-trade proposals for reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases, which make no distinction based on a pollutant's point of origin. The finding also provides the first scientific basis for controlling local carbon dioxide emissions based on their local health impacts.

Dear citizens of Northeast Ohio who are concerned about health, prosperity and/or the environment....

There is a coal burning power plant operated by Medical Center Company (MCCO) in University Circle, and another has been planned by MCCO for construction in East Cleveland, and that is harmful to the environment, our economy, and the health and educational achievement and so success in life of all citizens in neighboring communities, like Cleveland, East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, and regionally and worldwide.

This Saturday, 3-5 PM - at Peace Park and around Coventry Village, in Cleveland Heights - you are encouraged to meetup with a representative of the Sierra Club to learn more about the pollution and harm caused by MCCO - and alternatives to burning coal in your neighborhood.

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Dear citizens of Northeast Ohio who are concerned about health, prosperity and/or the environment....

There is a coal burning power plant operated by Medical Center Company (MCCO) in University Circle, and another has been planned by MCCO for construction in East Cleveland, and that is harmful to the environment, our economy, and the health and educational achievement and so success in life of all citizens in neighboring communities, like Cleveland, East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, and regionally and worldwide.

This Friday, 5-7 PM, you are encouraged to meet a representative of the Sierra Club to learn more about the pollution and harm caused by MCCO, and alternatives to burning coal in your neighborhood - the Sierra Club is supporting our community to "Move Beyond Coal" and in preparation for a Federal EPA hearing on the renewal of the permit for the MCCO plant to continue burning coal in your neighborhood - August 10, 2010, 4:30-6:45 PM at the MLK Branch of the Cleveland Public Library

You are encouraged to attend that public meeting to speak out against needless pollution of your neighborhoods and families by MCCO, to "Move Beyond Coal".

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Site Survey for realNEO Brightest Greenest Valley Development Properties