Uncategorized Archives

Honoring a Milestone: The Birth of Environmental Justice

President Clinton signs the Executive Order in the Oval Office (February 11, 1994).

Years of activism resulted in historic Clinton executive directive.

EPA to Farmworkers: Ask the Boss to Show You the Papers

Farmworkers pick strawberries in Wayne County, NY.

After more than two decades, the EPA has announced revisions to the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard, an outdated standard intended to protect farmworkers from pesticide exposure. While advocates welcomed signs of life in progress to provide stronger protections from pesticides for approximately 2 million farmworkers, the proposal raises questions about the EPA’s understanding of the population the WPS is meant to serve.

NC Regulators Ding Duke for a Penny Per Toxic Ton

The toxic coal ash turned the Dan River gray for 20 miles east of the North Carolina border.

Duke Energy’s $99,000 penalty was nothing—it’s like one of us, earning $50,000 a year, getting fined $1.90. Barely amounting to a library fine, this is no deterrent for the likes of Duke.

A Pear Farm On The Frontlines of California’s Water Wars

Brett Baker, a sixth generation farmer in the Delta, in his pear orchard.

Notes from a trip to the San Francisco Bay Delta to hear stories from people who would be directly impacted by a plan to pump massive amounts of freshwater out of the Delta to farms in the southern Central Valley.

Farmworker Advocates Seek Stronger Pesticides Safeguard

Mario Vargas, a farmworker organizer from Ohio, his daughter Myra Vargas (middle), and Alexis Guild of Farmworker Justice walk past the U.S. Capitol in July of 2013, as they head to a meeting in the Hart Senate Office Building.

When Mario Vargas showed up at the Washington, D.C., offices of representatives from his home state of Ohio in July of 2013, he shared stories from farmworkers who are getting sick from pesticides. Joined by his family and other farmworkers, he spoke about how it feels to inhale pesticides while pregnant, how farmworkers don’t know what their basic rights are, and how many workers are afraid to tell the truth about what is really going on in the fields.

Clean Air Ambassador Records Fight for Justice, Clean Air

Hilton Kelley stands in front of the Valero oil refinery in Port Arthur, TX, in late November 2013.

Taking his work to the next level, Clean Air Ambassador Hilton Kelley has completed a book, A Lethal Dose of Smoke And Mirrors: Going home for better or worse, that chronicles his decision to leave Hollywood and take on powerful industrial polluters in his hometown, Port Arthur, Texas. Hilton—the first African-American man to win the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize—tells how he single-handedly made great strides to improve the health and environment in Port Arthur.

Fears Ramp Up As Oil Rolls into Albany

Fire from petroleum crude oil tank car explosion.

Train cars carrying crude oil have been derailing and exploding with frightening frequency lately, in Canada and North Dakota and Alabama and Philadelphia. There are fears that Albany, capital of the great state of New York, may be next in line.

Danger to Wolves Mounts in Idaho, Across U.S.

Idaho leads the nation in open hatred for wolves, pursuit of wolf killing

Colorado Tackles Rules Governing Oil, Gas

$A fracking drill rig.$

Colorado has emerged as a western ground zero in the fracking boom, with more than 50,000 active wells in the state and 3,000 wells permitted annually on average in recent years. The state is struggling to deal with this staggering growth as well as the changing nature of the industry as operations have moved into communities along the Front Range.