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Florida's Water Is Looking Ashen
Though dubbed the Sunshine State, Florida’s lifeblood is water. With its wetlands, high water table, extremely porous soil and intricate ecosystem, the state’s laws are intended to keep its water safe and clean, which is necessary for the state’s very survival. Unfortunately, the state’s regulations are simply not good enough—especially when it comes to coal…
Read MoreFTC Resisting Common-Sense Changes To Refrigerator Labels
Would you give ENERGY STAR to a sport-utility vehicle? What about a sport-utility refrigerator? As with fuel economy for cars, the most important factors affecting a refrigerator’s energy usage include size, design and features. Specifically, the location of the freezer section, the addition of an automatic icemaker, and the addition of a through-the-door ice dispenser…
Read MoreWithout Coal Ash Rule, Litigation Helps Communities
It’s been over four years since a billion gallons of toxic coal ash flooded a small town in Tennessee. We’ve been fighting ever since for the EPA to set federally enforceable safeguards to protect the thousands of communities across the country threatened by coal ash, but the agency has yet to act. But just because…
Read MoreA Wise Pause On Arctic Drilling
Shell announced that the company is hitting the pause button on oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic. Mother Nature graphically demonstrated this summer what conservation groups have been saying for more than a decade—the extreme weather and conditions of the Arctic, with its stormy, frozen seas make the Arctic environmentally treacherous for oil drilling.…
Read MoreMethane: It's Not Just From Cows
With the fracking boom building, natural gas is touted as a clean energy source. But the hard truth is that the gas drilling sector has worsened air quality in many areas.
Read MoreNAACP Joins Charge to Protect Clean Air Standards
Even in today’s divided political climate, taking a stance against mercury and arsenic in our air does not seem like it should be controversial. The gasses, along with other known toxics like chromium, cadmium and selenium are among 84 known air pollutants emitted every year by coal and oil fired power plants. They have cost…
Read MoreChina to Introduce Carbon Fees
The jury is still out on whether the U.S. will join other major emitters by putting fees on carbon pollution. But claims that U.S. action would be dangerously bold are no longer valid.
Read MoreLooking Back at the Coal Tragedy At Buffalo Creek
Forty-one years ago, today, a dam holding 132 million gallons of toxic liquid coal waste ruptured high up in the mountains of West Virginia, loosing a tsunami-like death wave of coal waste and chemical sludge that destroyed 4,000 homes in 16 towns, injured more than 1,000 people, and killed 125. Seven bodies were never found. A remarkable Charleston Gazette series shares the stories of the people who were affected by this horrific tragedy.
Read MoreStorage Needed When There Is No Sun, Wind
Most people know that solar and wind energy is only generated when the sun shines or the wind blows. This leaves potential power gaps at times of no sun or wind. One of the Holy Grails of renewable energy has been storage systems (think battery here) that can store surplus energy when it’s produced for…
Read MoreObama Has Spoken, Now He Must Lead
Last week, President Obama demanded that Congress take action on climate change, or else he would. But, after years of political gridlock on the climate issue, coupled with rising seas and worsening droughts, one thing is clear: the nation simply cannot afford to wait any longer to take action. Though Congress may eventually pull together…
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