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Death by a Thousand (Budget) Cuts
We avoided a government shutdown with last minute deals that seemed to please both parties. But as they often say here in Washington, D.C. “the devil is in the details.” And in this case, it’s an awfully vicious budget slashing devil that has emerged in those details. According to the Wall Street Journal, (subscription required)…
Read MoreRepublicans Mount A New Assault On Wild Lands
Three mad hatters–Steve Pearce (R-NM), Rob Bishop (R-UT), and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) are gathering–or trying to gather–cosponsors for what they’re callling the Wilderness & Roadless Area Release Act, a law that would open national forest roadless areas and Bureau of Land Management wilderness study areas to development. This would put a bit more than 70 million…
Read MoreKeeping Consumers In The Dark
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it will delay a requirement for manufacturers to provide more detailed information on light bulb packaging. The commission also carved out an exception for inefficient 75-watt incandescent bulbs, which are being phased out in 2013. The best thing one can say about the announcement is that it could…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: Coal Ash "Mr. Smiths" Go to Washington
Members of Congress are going to hear from coal ash activists this week. But it’s going to be more than just phone calls and emails; 45 citizens from nine states are flying to Washington D.C. to tell their coal ash stories to elected representatives and administration officials. It’s been nearly a year since the Environmental…
Read MoreLawmakers Probe Impacts of Gas Drilling Boom
In a hearing, today, lawmakers on Capitol Hill probed the health and environmental impacts of a gas drilling boom fueled by the controversial gas extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Using this technique, companies blast millions of gallons of chemically treated water into the earth to force natural gas from underground deposits. In…
Read MoreClean Air Crosses The Partisan Divide
Clean air isn’t a partisan issue, although that’s admittedly easy to forget if you’re following the ongoing congressional clash over clean air protections (which sometimes seems as wide as the gap between the Grand Canyon’s north and south rims). The American public certainly isn’t so divided. A large majority—which includes citizens who identify as Republican, Democrat…
Read MoreWhy I Fight For Our Forests: Earthjustice's Tim Preso
Q & A with attorney Tim Preso, who works to protect our nation's forests and their critical natural resources and wildlife.
Read MoreAnti-Environment Foot Comes Down In Congress
It’s been a harrowing past few weeks (to say the least). The first jolt came Feb. 19, when House leaders approved a spending plan that slashed an array of environmental safeguards and pretty much gave polluter industries a free pass to continue using our air and water as their dumping grounds. Amid the back and…
Read MoreNews: Climate Impacts of Gas As Bad Or Worse Than Coal
Natural gas has been touted as a more responsible energy source than coal in the face of climate change, but a new study conducted by researchers at Cornell University argues otherwise. The study, which is scheduled to be published in the journal Climatic Change Letters, argues the advantages that gas produced from fracking has over…
Read MoreNew Yorkers: "No Fracking Way"
Hundreds rally in Albany in April 2011 to warn about dangers of toxic gas drilling. Speaking to a sea of folks in blue Water Rangers t-shirts, a full line-up of state lawmakers were on hand to assure rally-goers that they would not let allow the oil and gas industry to do to New York what they’ve done in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and, now, Pennsylvania.
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