Uncategorized
Tipping Toward Point of No Return
An increasing number of experts are reaching consensus on the devastating and possibly irreversible effects of climate change linked to human activity, according to the Nature journal. The “tipping point” – that moment when the planet’s capacity to support all of its systems collapses – could be near, scientists say. Environmental conditions on Earth that…
Read MoreBill Will Protect Communities, Families From Mountaintop Removal
Big news today in our fight to end destructive mountaintop removal mining: 13 congressional leaders joined to introduce legislation to protect communities and families from the dangerous health effects of our nation’s most extreme form of coal mining—mountaintop removal mining. The Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act is the first federal legislation to address the human…
Read MoreAdvocate for Clean Air Dies
Edgar Mouton lived much of his 76 years in Mossville, Louisiana, and for the past decade fought doggedly to obtain federal protections from the toxic pollution that pours into Mossville from the largest concentration of PVC and vinyl manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and a host of other hazardous industrial facilities. As a great-grandfather and…
Read MoreWhite House Vows Veto If Deadly Air Bill Passes
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is spearheading an egregious effort in the Senate to exempt the nation’s worst air polluters from the Clean Air Act. He is floating a resolution that would block recently finalized limits on the amounts of mercury, arsenic and other health-damaging pollutants that coal- and oil-fired power plants can emit. It’s up…
Read MoreOceans Protection A Top Priority at Rio+20
(Trip Van Noppen is President of Earthjustice) More than 130 heads of state, other leaders, and some 50,000 participants from all over the globe are gathering this week in Rio de Janeiro, the most-visited city in the southern hemisphere, for the Rio+20 Earth Summit. I am here with Martin Wagner, head of the Earthjustice International…
Read MoreAcidification Threatens Oceans' Food Web
(Trip Van Noppen is President of Earthjustice) It started in 2005, when baby oysters began dying by the billions in Oregon and Washington. At first, the fishermen weren’t worried, hardened by years of dealing with nature’s fickleness. But, when the die-offs continued year after year, seamen and scientists alike started seeking answers. What they found…
Read MoreRed Bluff Success Story
One of the most significant measures undertaken to protect California’s iconic Sacramento River salmon runs and improve fish passage will enter its final stage this summer. Workers are completing a new, more fish-friendly pumping station at the former Red Bluff Diversion Dam, a river-spanning structure operated by the Tehama Colusa Canal Authority. The dam’s seasonal…
Read MoreArctic Drilling Fleet Poised To Sail
As I write this, ships are being prepared to steam northward from several ports to begin poking holes in the floor of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in search of oil. Thanks to legal action by Earthjustice over the last few years, and thanks also to a one-year time-out called in the wake of the…
Read MoreForest Service Reloads Assault On Colorado Roadless Area
Coal is dirty. It’s the dirty fuel that gives us mercury in our lakes, acid rain in our skies, carbon pollution, leaky ash ponds, and scraped-off mountains and buried streams in Appalachia. And just like the coal itself, Arch Coal’s proposed West Elk mine expansion into the Sunset Roadless Area in western Colorado will be…
Read MoreFriday Finds: Australia Plans World's Largest Marine Reserve
Australia announces world’s largest marine reserve Just in time for this week’s Rio+20 Earth Summit, Australia has announced its plans to create the world’s largest marine reserve, reports the BBC. The protected zone will cover more than a third of Australia’s waters (about 3 million square kilometers) and will include restrictions on fishing as well…
Read More