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Instead of Saving Lives, Obama Chooses Delay
Imagine two tiny figures perched on a politician’s shoulders—one scientific, the other political. The scientist whispers in the politician’s ear: “You can save 6,500 lives every year with these health protections!” The tiny politician counters, “You can save those lives, but who will save you from the powerful industry lobbyists outside your door?” So with…
Read MoreThey’d Like to Stay Mum
Oil refineries are by some estimates the second-largest industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions. They also are a major source of toxic air pollution, pumping benzene, toluene and hexane into our air. Benzene is a known carcinogen. Toluene can cause neurological harm when inhaled. And hexane causes severe harm when humans are continually exposed to…
Read MoreUnwanted Green Tourism Slimes Florida
As I write this, half of the 75-mile long Caloosahatchee River in southwest Florida is covered by nauseating green slime. It’s a heartbreaking sight – dead fish wash up along the banks, and waterfront homes have a pricey view of a stinking mess. One dismayed homeowner told me he plans to petition local government to…
Read MoreGas – Bridge To Clean Future or U-turn To Dirty Past?
Follow along as I walk us up the steep learning curve about natural gas that Earthjustice, the environmental community and the nation are navigating. The curve suddenly steepened a few years ago when natural gas advocates started promoting their fuel as a refreshing alternative to coal and oil, and a bridge to a clean energy…
Read MoreStrong Ozone Standard Would Be a Breath of Fresh Air
EPA has said a final decision on the new ozone health standard is expected in July 2011. Unfortunately, politics could crowd out science.
Read MoreCongress v Environment: House Committee OKs Dirty Water Bill
It was a dark day in the House of Representatives, today, as the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure passed a bill that would flush away decades of water safeguards and protections, along with our powerful federal system for ensuring that any waters in this country are safe to drink, fish, and swim in. The…
Read MoreWhere HAVE All the Flowers Gone?
One of the great joys of living in the Rockies is taking a summer stroll in a high meadow, surrounded by wildflowers – violet lupines, deep red skyrockets, purple larkspur, penstemons, 6-foot gentians, and many others. Some of these diplays may be changing, however, according to a scientific article written up recently in the LA…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: Coal Over Clean Water
Tomorrow morning, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will vote on a bill to eviscerate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate coal ash, introduced by Rep. David McKinley (WV-R). To quote Jeff Goodell of Rolling Stone, this is not just a fight about coal ash, “it’s about demonizing the EPA, stalling the clean energy…
Read MoreRoadless Déjà Voodoo All Over Again in Alaska
The long and winding saga of the Roadless Rule, adopted in the Clinton administration after an exhaustive public process, just took a new turn, though it smacks of desperation. To recap, the Roadless Rule was put in place to protect 58.5 million acres of undeveloped and otherwise unprotected land on the national forests. The rule…
Read MoreCollusion in Kansas Force-Feeds Coal Power
Either the courts or the EPA should put the brakes on the Sunflower project. A coal plant that will affect air quality for decades is too important to be the end result of a polluted process.
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