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Yucca Mountain, R.I.P.
After 21 years of studies, debate, protests and lawsuits—and $9 billion from the pockets of taxpayers—Yucca Mountain is dead. President Obama’s proposed federal budget axes funding for the Department of Energy’s plan to store the waste from nuclear reactors 1,000 feet under a mountain northwest of Las Vegas. Bloomberg reports: Obama and Energy Secretary Steven…
Read MoreOil Shale Plan a Stinker, Says Salazar
Interior Dept. Sec. Ken Salazar is turning his nose up at another one of Bush’s "midnight regulations." This one has to do with leases for oil shale research and development in Colorado and Utah. Salazar halted the lease sale process because it had terms that didn’t pass "the smell test," he announced this week. Instead,…
Read MoreCoal a No-Go for Kansas Governor
On the heels of last night’s speech by President Obama, the governor of Kansas is more resolute than ever in her opposition to the proposed Sunflower coal-fired power plant expansion. She vetoed pro-Sunflower legislation three times last year and is poised to do the same with a new bill coming to a vote tomorrow in…
Read More"Roadless Rules" is Out!
Order "Roadless Rules" at www.islandpress.org/roadlessrules. On the checkout page type in RR09 (that’s a zero, not a capital O) for a 25 percent discount. As longtime readers of this screed know all too well, I’ve been obsessed by the Roadless Rule for a long time. The trigger for this was when several states, the timber…
Read MoreBreathe Easier, America
The lungs of America got two big breaks this week with court rulings that protect them from air pollution emitted by power plants, factories, and diesel trucks. And there is a strong hint of more to come. On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case defending an ill-conceived cap and trade system for…
Read MoreGreat Minds and Clean Energy
A who’s who of politicians, scientists, environmental and labor leaders, and entrepreneurs met yesterday to discuss ways to make widespread use of clean energy a reality, one week after President Obama committed substantial government spending to renewable energy and energy efficiency with the stroke of his pen. The panel — sponsored by the Center for…
Read MoreNew Wind in Kansas
Faith and labor community leaders are joining the chorus for clean energy in Kansas, even as that state’s legislators stubbornly stick to the dirty, coal-fired power of the past The United Steelworkers recently announced their support of the Kansas Blue Green Alliance, made up of environmental and trade groups that endorse development of wind energy…
Read MoreFlaming Evidence of Global Warming
A scientist with a cigarette lighter is providing the latest evidence of global warming’s dramatic and swift impacts in the Arctic. Four miles south of the Arctic Circle, Katey Walter has found that melting ice and permafrost are releasing vast amounts of methane — a greenhouse gas 21 times worse than CO2 as a contributor to…
Read MoreEnd of Bush-era Mercury Pollution Trading Scheme
The U.S. Supreme Court ended years of legal battles today by declining to hear industry’s appeal of a 2008 Earthjustice victory. In that case Earthjustice, joined by more than a dozen public health and environmental groups and 14 states, challenged a plan by the Bush administration that would have created mercury "hot spots" across the country.…
Read MoreSunlight IS the Best Disinfectant.
Those oft-repeated words by Justice Louis Brandeis—referring to the importance of transparency and openness—took on a special meaning this week when Earthjustice sued Lysol-maker Reckitt-Benckiser and other household cleaners manufacturing giants for failing to disclose the chemical ingredients in their products and the health risks they pose. The UK-based Reckitt-Benkiser is being targeted in the…
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