Green Party is very confused: opposes clean hydrogen cell station

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

[Clearly the DC "Green" Party would prefer to inhale nitrogen oxides 
(which cause acid rain), benzene (which is toxic), volatile organic 
compounds, and carbon monoxide that come from burning gasoline. The 
"Green" Party also fails to note the EPA has approved the installation 
of the hydrogen fuel cell station. As someone who lives in DC, I'd happy 
to say these wanna-be environmentalists don't speak for me or my lungs. 
Bring on the hydrogen cell stations! There's a gas station on the corner 
of my block that I'd be glad to see retrofitted. --Declan]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: DC RELEASE Protest against Shell station near River Terrace 
school in DC
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 09:54:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: DC Statehood Green Party <dcsgpnews2 () yahoo com>
To: dcsgpnews () yahoo com

THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

For immediate release:
Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Contact:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
scottmclarty () yahoo com
Michele Tingling-Clemmons, candidate for D.C. Council
Ward 7, 202-397-2277, Mirico5 () aol com


D.C. STATEHOOD GREENS JOIN PROTEST AGAINST OPENING OF
HYDROGEN CELL/GASOLINE SHELL STATION NEAR WARD 7
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- D.C. Statehood Green Party
activists have joined community activist George Gurley
and other local residents in criticizing the opening
of an experimental Shell hydrogen cell and gasoline
station less than 100 yards from River Terrace
Elementary School in Ward 7.

Mr. Gurley and Michele Tingling-Clemmons, Statehood
Green candidate for Ward 7 member of D.C. Council, are
demanding that Shell insure the life of each child at
the school in the event of a catastrophe from an
accident, explosion, terrorism, or equipment
malfunction in the amount of $1.5 million,

"Let Shell Oil put its money where its mouth is," said
Tingling-Clemmons.  "If the risk is as low as Shell
claims, $1.5 million per child in insurance shouldn't
require that high a premium.  Our children are not for
sale, but if this station is forced down River Terrace
residents' throats, they should know that their
children will be taken care of in the event of an
accident, without the normal legal fees, maneuvering,
and delays.  I'm certain neither Shell nor General
Motors would hesitate if this plant were located in
Ward 3."

"The station is an integral part of the Bush
Administration's efforts to showcase its $1 million
'Freedom Cars' intended to shuttle VIPs all over
Capitol Hill to distract people from the reality that
the government's energy policy was formulated behind
closed doors by Dick Cheney, Enron, and oil industry
executives," added Tingling-Clemmons.

George Gurley, Director of Urban Protectors, Air Force
veteran, and author who led the local movement to stop
Pepco from expanding its polluting capacity in
northeast D.C., received the endorsement of the D.C.
Statehood Green Party in his protest of Shell Oil's
decision to place the Shell station near the school.

A town hall meeting and rally against the Shell
station organized and sponsored by Mr. Gurley, is
scheduled for Thursday, June 10, 7 p.m. at River
Terrace Elementary School, 34th and Dix Streets, NE.
Tingling-Clemmons has been invited to speak along with
Democratic candidates Vincent Gray and Kevin Chavous
(incumbent).

Statehood Greens note that the Washington
Metropolitican Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is
required by environmental law to maintain a
non-residential buffer zone around its natural gas
refueling stations, and that public safety concerns
and reason justify a similar buffer zone surrounding
an experimental hydrogen cell and gasoline station.

River Terrace residents have already faced the effects
of environmental contamination.  The National Center
for Environmental Health revealed on April 9 that
River Terrace suffers disproportionately high rates of
asthma and bronchitis, thanks to high levels of ozone,
sulfate, and particulate matter allegedly from the
Potomac Electric Power Company's Benning Road electric
generating plant and a nearby D.C. government trash
incinerator.  And in 2002, the EPA released a
preliminary report warning of PCB toxins in River
Terrace's soil.

"River Terrace residents are right to suspect the
assurances of Shell Oil," said George Gurley.  "Shell
is one of the worst polluters in the world.  It has
bought off governments around the world, including
Nigeria, where writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and seven other
activists were executed for protesting the devastation
caused by Shell's drilling sites.  In Durban, South
Africa, Shell is refusing to clean up an urban
underground oil spill, the largest in history."

"Rather than encouraging Shell Oil, we need to reduce
traffic in city neighborhoods drastically," added
Michele Tingling-Clemmons.  "We need to make our
neighborhoods convenient and safe for people to walk
to their destinations, more public transportation
running on clean energy, and conversion to safe and
renewable solar, wind, and fuel cell energy.  The
health and safety of our children are at stake."


MORE INFORMATION

The D.C. Statehood Green Party
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

"Federal agency says River Terrace air is a 'health
hazard'"
The Common Denominator, April 19, 2004
http://www.thecommondenominator.com/041904_news7.html

"EPA finds toxins" (Ward 7 Report)
The Common Denominator, October 7, 2002


~ END ~


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