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EPA Rules Would Give Teeth To TSCA Law

Last week we spoke about the weaknesses in the current law protecting Americans from toxic chemicals. Today we submitted comments to EPA urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to move forward with health protections that would regulate polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) which are a group of toxic flame retardants. The health-protective actions we are urging…

Tr-Ash Talk: The Summer of Coal Ash

Summer on Capitol Hill has been a hot one—especially for coal ash. The 11th hour removal of a devastating coal ash provision tacked onto the federal transportation bill gave hope to thousands of communities that Congress would not turn its on public health and the environment. When the smoke cleared and President Obama signed a transportation bill…

Friday Finds: Greenland’s Meltdown

Greenland's record ice melt blows scientists' beakers.

Toxic Law's "Unsafe" Flaw

At a Senate hearing about the EPA's authority to control exposures to toxic chemicals, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Cali.) wondered aloud: what would Americans say if asked whether they thought products containing poisonous chemicals are tested before being sold.

The New Math

Bill McKibben, who first alerted the non-scientific world to global climate change two decades ago with The End of Nature has a new piece in Rolling Stone that he says is the most important thing he’s written in the past 20 years, and he’s written hundreds of articles and books during that period. It’s titled “Global…

Daryl Hannah Making Splash For Mountain Heroes

Daryl Hannah is best known as an actor in films such as Splash, Blade Runner, Roxanne, Wall Street, and Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2. But outside of the studio, she is a vocal environmental activist who dedicates herself to raising awareness of climate change, sustainable farming energy solutions, and of course, mountaintop removal. For…

Who likes coal dust? Pretty much nobody

(Editor’s Note: This is the third blog in an ongoing series about proposed coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest. Upcoming blogs will examine the potential impact coal export terminals could have on the region’s health and environment.) Portland General Electric—a utility that operates power plants and supplies about half of Oregon’s electricity—thinks a coal…

Surprises Arise at Clean Air Public Forum

“This morning’s testimony was so moving, I wish I’d had tissues with me,” said one speaker. “It never occurred to me that I would need them at an EPA public hearing.”

Will Oregon Follow Doctors’ Orders?

Listening to your doctor’s orders is usually a good idea. If your doctor prescribes you a medication and tells you to attend physical therapy, then you take the medication and you go to physical therapy. Now, imagine if 130 doctors all told you to do the same thing. You’d probably follow their orders, right? Well,…