Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen is strongly denouncing a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives today, passing H.R. 2273, which would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from strongly regulating coal ash: “Nearly three years after the tragic spill of more than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash in Kingston, Tennessee, it’s obvious that federally enforceable …
The U.S. House of Representatives was a in a cruel mood, yesterday, when it passed H.R. 2018, a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from protecting our nation’s waterways and drinking supplies—and give that power to the states. But, don’t take my word for why this legislation is so potentially devastating. Just check …
You decide. Check out this picture of Florida’s waterways—choked with algae—and choose which of the following quotes best describes the photo. Both speakers were referring to attempts in the state legislature to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the amount of nutrients flowing from utilities, industry and large-scale farms into Florida’s waterways. The nutrients feed an …
I’ve spent half my life chasing salmon with rod in hand and heart in mouth, but it seems that I am the one who’s been hooked. Enchanted, perhaps, is a better way of describing my love of all things salmon; thus, at 8 p.m. this Sunday, you’ll find me riveted in front of a TV …
Coming from an Irish family and working for Earthjustice, I have an affection for green that is DNA-deep. But, I know the difference between the green of nature and the green of greed — and nowhere is that difference so starkly obvious as in Florida. An explosion of green algae slime, fed by uncontrolled agricultural …
Today—Earth Day—I was trying to figure out what kind of angle to write about, when I remembered a column I wrote last year, reflecting on the first Earth Day in 1970. What struck me about that column is how it revealed that recycling, which we now take for granted as a cultural and financial institution, …
As Chesapeake Energy Corp. struggles to contain a massive spill of toxic, hydraulic fluids yesterday at a natural gas fracking site in Pennsylvania, it also is struggling to explain how this dangerous event happened and how they are handling it. I mean, how do you explain away the poisoning of water supplies, waterways and farmers’ fields? Of …
Earthjustice continues to be engaged with the consequences of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a year after it occurred: On Tuesday (April 26), our attorneys will be in oral arguments in the 5th District Federal Court, New Orleans, in our legal challenges to five new deepwater exploration permits, and one shallow …
Just one year after the nation’s worst oil spill, Shell Oil is reaffirming its plans to drill the Arctic Ocean next year. While that’s not exactly breaking news, what is new is Shell’s announcement of an oil spill containment plan designed especially for the Arctic Ocean environment. Here’s that plan as described in the Wall Street Journal: Shell …
