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Ending The Secret About Chemicals In Our Drinking Water
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but secret gas drilling chemicals don’t belong in drinking water. That’s exactly the kind of sentiment that makes it very inconvenient for Dick Cheney’s buddies at Halliburton who want to use secret chemicals to extract gas from the earth – a controversial method known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” You…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: Reaching Beyond Rhetoric
“We all have a responsibility to ensure that the American people have facts and the truth in front of them, particularly when fictions are pushed by special interests with an investment in the outcome.” – EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in testimony before Congress on March 10 in response to false claims by Republicans and special…
Read MoreOur Climate Reality and Our Congressional Deniers
On Tuesday, in a hearing in the House, representatives wrestled over whether they should accept the volumes of science produced by every major U.S. scientific and research institution that say that climate change is happening and our industrial carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to it. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bobby Rush (D-IL),…
Read MorePA Gov. to Energy Exec: You’re the Boss of Everyone
Fresh off his state’s radioactive river scandal, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has once again landed in hot water (no pun intended) over a line in his proposed budget which hands the energy executive he appointed to head the state’s economic development agency "supreme" decision-making power to fast-track gas drilling permits in the state. The man…
Read MoreAnd…The Nonsense Continues in the House
The questions came from all sides, but one in particular stood out: “How would HR 1 affect the EPA’s ability to protect the public?” asked Representative Henry Waxman, (D-Calif.) During testimony before the U.S. House Energy and Power Subcommittee on the EPA’s budget, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson answered Waxman’s question: “We understand cuts have to…
Read MoreFriday Finds: Single Serve Stupidity
Del Monte sells individually wrapped bananas Last week, processed food giant Del Monte unveiled its latest product invention, a single banana wrapped in plastic, reports the Globe and Mail. The move, not surprisingly, drew ire from many who point out that the banana already has its own, biodegradable wrapping, the peel. Ironically, Del Monte told…
Read MoreHouse Budget Cuts Would Impact Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
In our efforts to cut federal spending, we might want to question the notion that all government agencies are wasteful or can be easily privatized.
Read MoreO Give Me A Home, Where The Skies Are…Oh Never Mind
Which has a worse smog problem ? The car-choked sprawling megalopolis of Los Angeles? Or the wide open plains of Wyoming? If you guessed LA, you’d be wrong. It’s actually Wyoming. This depressing tidbit comes courtesy of the oil and gas industry, which is in the midst of a drilling boom that has left the…
Read MoreRoadless Rule Reinstated on the Tongass National Forest
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, adopted at the end of the Clinton administration, banned most logging and road-building on the last 58.5 million unspoiled and unprotected acres on the national forests. It was immediately challenged by states, timber companies and other interests in nine lawsuits, one of which is still awaiting final resolution. In Alaska,…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: Under the Influence
When members of the House of Representatives return to their districts for April recess, many should be called to task for supporting a budget rider that would kill a coal ash rulemaking designed to protect the health, homes and livelihood of their constituents. How, for example, can one explain the voting record of most of…
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