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Tr-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
Read MoreEnergy Efficiency Champ Scott Harris Leaving DOE
We at Earthjustice are dismayed that a champion of energy efficiency, Scott Blake Harris, will be leaving his post at the U.S. Department of Energy. Harris, the department’s General Counsel, made the enforcement of energy efficiency standards for household appliances and commercial equipment a priority at DOE, and essentially built the department’s enforcement program from…
Read MoreFriday Finds: The Longest Swim
Polar bear swims hundreds of miles in effort to survive In a testament to the rapidly deteriorating conditions that polar bears face in a changing climate, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey recently discovered a polar bear that swam nonstop for more than 200 hours and 400 miles, reports the BBC. The epic journey in…
Read MoreAnd the Oscar Goes To…
I don’t want to jinx anything, but we’re positively thrilled to see GASLAND—the truth-telling/irreverent film about toxic gas drilling—get an Oscar nod for best documentary. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for? It’s readily available on DVD. And there are more and more community screenings being organized every week. Apparently industry’s…
Read MoreReframing the Climate Change Debate
Whether or not the United States addresses impending climate change hinges largely on the marketing message driving the discussion. Last night, President Barack Obama made his best pitch to reframe the climate change debate, casting it through the prism of a Works Progress Administration-style plan for achieving a clean energy future. While Obama’s idea of…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: OMB Must Protect Health, Not Industry
(This is the latest in a weekly series of 50 Tr-Ash Talk blogs discussing the dangers of coal ash. Earthjustice hopes that by December 2011, the third anniversary of the TVA coal ash spill, the EPA will release a coal ash rule establishing federally enforceable regulations ensuring the safe disposal of this toxic waste.) Today, the House…
Read MoreState of the Union: President Promises A Clean Energy Future
Last night in his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama rightly spoke about the importance of growing a clean energy economy. Dedicating a chunk of his speech to the promise of the clean energy sector of the economy and the necessity for us as a nation to invest in this sector, the president…
Read MoreTrading Clean Energy for a Lump of Coal
The Union of Concerned Scientists has a snazzy new interactive slideshow on its website, highlighting states that are bypassing opportunities to ditch dirty coal and embrace clean energy. The slideshow is both interesting and an office-safe distraction good for at least a five-minute break from your spreadsheet formulas. Go ahead, call it up on your…
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