Clean Power to the People

Once upon a time, a valley known for being so fertile that it could grow much of America’s produce came to be known for something else entirely: air pollution. The people of California’s San Joaquin Valley needed help because the polluted air was making them sick with asthma — at rates three times higher than the…

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Tr-Ash Talk: Coal Ash Making Headlines

A round-up of coal ash in headlines this week: As we wait for the mark-up to begin on Rep. David McKinley’s (R-WV) legislation that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency from using its authority to protect people from toxic coal ash waste, one group is mad as heck at the congressman’s effort to block these health safeguards.…

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Persuasion by Coloring Book

There is a curious technique employed by some companies involved in the resource-extraction game: When you have a controversial activity underway that is getting increasing—and unwelcome—scrutiny from the government and the public, take your case to the under-10 set. Exhibit A today is a coloring book touting the wonderfulness and cleanliness of natural gas. It…

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Unwanted 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…

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Gas – 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…

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Friday Finds: Dumpster Diaries

Dumpster diver documentary details discard diet Americans need to stop tossing out more of half of their food and start donating it, reports dumpster diver Jeremy Seifert in Grist. Seifert, who’s been diving into dumpsters and pulling out edible food for several years, recently created a documentary detailing our wasteful society and the dumpster diving…

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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…

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They’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…

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Tr-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…

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