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Colorado Passes Nation's Strongest Oil & Gas Drilling Rules
The Colorado Senate has passed a package of regulations on oil and gas drilling that increases protections for drinking water, wildlife and natural resources. The rules, which will be signed by Gov. Bill Ritter in the next few days, are the strongest, most comprehensive regulations in the nation. A key provision—and the most contentious—will require…
Read MoreCongress Crowns "The King" With Wilderness Status
A couple of weeks ago we jumped the gun and announced that Mineral King, a lovely high-elevation valley in the southern Sierra Nevada in California, would be added to the National Wilderness System along with around 170 other areas totalling about two million acres. Last minute parliamentary tricks in the House kept it from happening…
Read MoreMountaintop Removal is Slowed – But Far from Stopped
UPDATE: There was a lot of confusion and misinterpretation about Tuesday’s announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency that it was reviewing mountaintop removal mining permits to assess their potential impact on the waterways and people of Appalachia. Only two permits have been questioned. Dozens are under review. And the EPA is signalling that many of…
Read MoreEPA Reverses Course on Greenhouse Gases
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency took a giant step away from the path it was on under Bush by moving a step closer to finding that carbon dioxide from major global warming polluters threatens our health and well being. The EPA proposal to the White House could result in national limits on carbon dioxide and…
Read MoreTime to Applaud the "New" EPA
One year ago in this column, I called on Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson to resign for letting politics, not science, guide his agency’s decisions. Nor was I alone—10,000 EPA employees were in open revolt for the same reason. Johnson was defying the Supreme Court’s ruling that his agency should move forward on climate…
Read MoreRed Cliff Mine: A Hazy Future?
We knew the proposed Red Cliff coal mine in western Colorado had a lot of problems. It’s no secret that coal is a dirty fuel. On top of the predictable global warming impacts from burning the mined coal, this mine each year will spew thousands of tons of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more…
Read MoreWhat's Green and Chokes Lake Okeechobee?
Apparently, the sight of toxic algae blooms spreading across South Florida’s public waterways last year wasn’t enough to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do the right thing and toughen standards for nutrient pollution. So on March 9, we filed suit in U.S. District Court to compel the EPA to set more protective pollution…
Read MoreNanuclear of the North
Quick—what country exports the most oil into the United States? Saudi Arabia? Venezuela? Iraq? Nope. Canada. And the oil we get from our northern neighbor is about the most ridiculous energy bargain imaginable. Most of the stuff comes from vast deposits of tar sands in Alberta. Eventual emissions of CO2 are three times as much…
Read More"Do Your Math and Chemistry Homework"
Earthjustice staff scientist Anna Cederstav gives children advice about how to become an environmental scientist at IndyKids. "Anna makes sure the lawyers get their scientific facts straight!" Indeed.
Read MoreFeel Free to Breathe Deeply
The New York Times reports via Greenwire that the Obama administration is making some legal maneuvers that could mean they are reconsidering health standards for smog pollution set by the Bush administration back in 2007. Earthjustice and the 60,000 of you who participated in our Adopt the Sky campaign told Bush that his approach ignored…
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