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Tr-Ash Talk: Gearing Up for a Nasty Coal Ash Vote
East Tennessee is not known for its population of environmental activists, but last fall hundreds of people turned up in Knoxville to ask the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt a special waste designation for coal ash. Support for EPA’s public health and environmental safeguard is strong here because the 2008 Kingston coal ash disaster…
Read MorePlot Thickens On Politics Of Keystone Pipeline XL
Documents released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Earthjustice have uncovered strong ties between Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and the team of lobbyists hired to promote the pipeline’s approval at the State Department. The documents provide evidence of inappropriately cozy relationships between State Department employees and lobbyists for…
Read MoreDirty Air Hurts My Family, Congress Set to Make it Worse
My name is Alex Allred. I live in a town that is surrounded by three cement plants. Two of our elementary schools were declared among the most toxic in the nation. Today, the House of Representatives is debating a bill—H.R.
Read MoreSupreme Court Lets Air Rule Stand in San Joaquin Valley
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld a unique air pollution rule that requires developers in California’s polluted San Joaquin Valley to mitigate for the added air pollution their new development brings.The rule was created by the San Joaquin Valley air district in a desperate move to do something about the out-of-control air pollution…
Read MoreIn U.S. House, Clean Air is a Dirty Word
Quick! Somebody tell Tipper Gore that “clean air” and “public health” are now considered dirty words. Well, at least in the U.S. House of Representatives. If the House had a swear jar, I’d bet such utterances would be as punishable as your garden variety expletives. Here’s why: The House is voting this week on two…
Read MoreMontana Must Consider Global Impact of Otter Creek Mine
Earlier this week, Earthjustice attorney Jenny Harbine went to court to argue that the state of Montana was legally required to consider steps to minimize the consequences of burning more than a half-a-billion tons of coal before leasing it to St. Louis-based Arch Coal, Inc. Earthjustice is representing the Montana Environmental Information Center and the…
Read MoreFor Some in Congress, It's Easier To Censor Than Hear Americans
“They are blowing up my homeland,” said West Virginia coalfield resident Maria Gunnoe on Monday morning, in her sworn testimony on the impacts of mountaintop removal mining before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. I feel the vibrations of the core driller in the floors of my home; and the impacts…
Read MoreFriday Finds: Worried About Herbicides? Eat More Broccoli!
Monsanto’s new broccoli designed to fight company’s own environmental pollution Perhaps dismayed by the public’s outcry to genetically engineered (GE) crops and their environmental effects, last October America’s favorite biotech company, Monsanto, released a non-GE product that combines two different types of broccoli to create a sort of super broccoli that’s chock-full of nutrients, reports Grist.…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: TVA Corporate Culture Unjustified
The TVA Kingston trial has gotten off to a interesting, yet unsettling start. The trial consists of five cases, representing 250 plaintiffs who are suing TVA over the 2008 coal ash disaster that occurred in Knoxville, TN. Testimony began last week, and proceedings are expected to continue anywhere from the next few weeks to the…
Read MorePreparing To Stop Shell's Latest Arctic Scheme
The Palmyra Atoll is a tropical coral reef island in the heart of the Pacific Ocean. It’s warm, tiny and far from the vast, frigid Arctic. And yet these distant, disparate places are as alike in one sense as any two places on Earth. Each is an early victim of humankind’s addiction to fossil fuels…
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