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King Coal Threatens Colorado Canyons, Increases Climate Change
The news on climate change is coming thick and fast these days. Over the weekend, news reports stated scientific studies showed global warming accelerating faster than predicted. Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to take a second look at regulating CO2 from coal-fired power plants as a pollutant, signaling a 180 from the Bush administration’s do-nothing approach. Here in…
Read MoreUpdate: Obama's Six Easy Things
In less than a month, President Obama has tackled several items on a list of Six Easy Things that Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen set forth for the new administration last November. 1) Move towards reducing CO2 emissions under the Clean Air Act One of the most significant actions came this week when the EPA…
Read MoreEPA Reversal May Cleanse Florida Coal Plant
One of the last dirty coal power plants on tap in the Sunshine State could get cleaner, thanks to new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lisa Jackson and her wise decision to take another look at regulating carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act. The proposed 750-megawatt Seminole Electric coal generator in Palatka (Northeast…
Read MoreFixing the Broken Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act, despite being one of our nation’s most potent environmental protection laws for three decades, has an Achilles’ heel—a one-word weakness that the U.S. Supreme Court has expanded into an enormous loophole. In decisions handed down in 2001 and 2006, the Supreme Court seized on that word—"navigable"—to make rulings that neither friend…
Read MoreGrumblers Can Cheer Longer Lives
This column by Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen appeared in Alternet. Americans who love to grumble about regulations now have some they can cheer about. The New England Journal of Medicine is reporting that we now live an extra five months, thanks to regulations that have cleaned up air pollution over the last few decades.…
Read MoreSad Day for Appalachia
In a devastating blow to the mountains, streams and people of Appalachia, today, federal judges ruled in favor of a mountaintop removal mining case. As a result, mining companies can conduct mountaintop removal mining operations without minimizing stream destruction or conducting adequate environmental reviews. The Appalachian community will now—more than ever—be dependent on President Barack Obama to…
Read MoreDrilling Threatens 'Polar Bear Seas'
(UPDATE: Since this was posted, more than 21,000 Earthjustice supporters sent comments to the Minerals Management Service opposing expansion of oil and gas exploration in the "Polar Bear Seas.") The Beaufort and Chukchi seas are home to one in five of the world’s remaining polar bears. That’s why these icy waters north and west of…
Read MoreBag Ban Rolls Across Nation
Lots of eyes rolled two years ago when San Francisco banned plastic grocery bags, but milllions of saved bags later, the experiment has swept across America, into many foreign countries and may soon take root in the nation’s capital. A Washington, D.C. councilmember has proposed legislation aimed at reducing the amount of trash that falls…
Read MoreU.S. Whaling Commissioner Selling Out to Japan
One of my favorite memories is of being in Brighton, England, in June 1985 when the International Whaling Commission, after a struggle that lasted well over a decade, adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling, to last for at least five years. It has lasted for almost 24 years, but now seems in jeopardy of being…
Read MoreWelcome to Jurassic Park, Kansas
At a time when this country is finally emerging from eight Jurassic years, many Kansas legislators are determined to resurrect a 1,500 megawatt dinosaur of a power plant that their governor — supported by two-thirds of her constituents — vetoed three times last year. Actually, I stole the "dinosaur" description from a disgusted Kansas City…
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