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In Wake of Gulf Oil Spill, Shell Quits Arctic Drilling For Summer
You can blame Earthjustice, our clients, Alaska Native allies, and a little thing called the Gulf oil spill for Shell Oil’s just-announced decision to not drill this summer in offshore Arctic waters. Work by Alaska Natives, with aid from our advocacy and legal efforts kept Shell from drilling last year in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, and stalled…
Read MorePower Plants: Unrivaled Sources of Mercury Air Pollution
When it comes to mercury pollution, coal-fired power plants are king. Two recent reports—one from the Environmental Integrity Project, the other from Environment America—take a look at the scope of the problem. EIP has meticulously tracked mercury pollution from power plants for years in their Dirty Kilowatts reports. But this year is an especially important…
Read MoreDoes Weather Influence Your Belief In Climate Change?
Two monster storms are pounding different parts of the planet right now, and it looks like both could influence how people think about climate change. Since folks tend to think of it in terms of today’s weather, you can guess how both of these storms are likely to play. Way off in the Pacific, Australians…
Read MoreAmerica to EPA: Do More, Not Less
Sixty-three percent of Americans want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “to do more to hold polluters accountable and protect the air and water.” This according to a new survey conducted at the end of January by ORC International. Rep. John Carter (D-TX)—fast becoming a household name around here—isn’t part of that 63 percent. In early…
Read MoreEPA Pledges to Clean Up Drinking Water Taps
At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing to discuss clean drinking water, today, Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that the agency would be setting the first-ever standard to limit perchlorate in our water. Perchlorate is a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that is especially harmful to fetuses, babies and young children. Jackson said between 5…
Read MoreInterior Department Ignores Coal's Link to Climate Change
In the not-too-distant past, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar issued a bold call to action for his department. With authority over hundreds of millions of acres of public lands and the vast majority of coal, oil, and gas owned by taxpayers, he stated that his department would be “taking the lead” in protecting the nation’s wildlife and…
Read More#Right2Breathe Recap: EPA Defends Bush-era Loophole
(Clean air is a life saver, which is why Earthjustice is working to ensure that polluters don’t stand in the way of safeguards against air pollution. Here’s a round up of some recent news in the ongoing campaign to protect our Right to Breathe.) Use the #right2breathe hashtag on Twitter to track campaign updates. EPA Defends Hazardous…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: EPA’s Blind Spot
(Barb Gottlieb of Physicians for Social Responsibility contributed to this report.) Just three weeks ago, after a study found chromium, a toxic heavy metal, in tap water in 31 of 35 U.S. cities tested, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new guidelines recommending that all public water utilities test their drinking water for hexavalent chromium or…
Read MoreCongress v. The Environment: The Attack Begins
(A powerful faction in the new Congress has allied with industry to weaken our nation’s most basic environmental laws. Earthjustice will report on this expected barrage of legislative attacks as they occur.) Today, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced an offensively overreaching “Dirty Air Act” that is the first of many anticipated attempts to make Congress the…
Read MoreChevron Gives Up On Coal to Liquid Fuel
Finally admitting the unprofitably of turning coal into motor fuel, Chevron announced on Friday that it was officially getting out of the business
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