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The Latest by Tom Turner

Author & Historian

February 3, 2009

The Drill Baby is Back

By Tom Turner

When the history of our times is written, I bet the nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president will be seen as one of the more bizarre political aberrations in American history, which has already had plenty. One would think that the resounding repudiation she and Senator McCain suffered in the general election would have …

January 22, 2009

Coal ash spills onto nation's radar

By Tom Turner

Earthjustice Press Secretary Kathleen Sutcliffe provides this report on the grave threats posed by toxic coal ash produced at our nation’s coal-fired power plants, and the quick action taken by Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans after recent coal ash spills Quick quiz, readers. The byproduct of coal-fired power plants is: a) the nation’s second largest industrial …

January 21, 2009

So Here We Go

By Tom Turner

Not to reveal my age or anything, but Tuesday’s was the eleventh inauguration held since I went to work for the Sierra Club. Over the next 40 years, it was always monumentally frustrating that concerns for the earth were almost altogether missing from the rhetoric during the campaign and especially the inaugural speeches. Until now. …

January 14, 2009

Mineral King to Become a Wilderness. Again.

By Tom Turner

Full circle time, in a sense. The establishment of this organization was sparked, in part, by a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club in 1969, challenging a ski resort proposed for a valley in the Sierra Nevada called Mineral King. The club had no objection to skiing per se, but this was to be a …

January 12, 2009

America's Waterways At Stake Today

By Tom Turner

This morning, the US. Supreme Court heard arguments from Earthjustice about why the Clean Water Act should not be interpreted to allow mining companies to dump mine wastes into our nation’s streams, rivers and lakes. A mining company attorney told the court that an Alaskan lake would be better off in the long run after …

January 9, 2009

Nation's Waterways in Hands of Supreme Court

By Tom Turner

On this coming Monday – while the media are riveted by the upcoming inauguration – the fate of our nation’s waters will be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court will hear arguments in an Earthjustice case that has implications for rivers, lakes, and streams across the country. The case concerns a gold …

January 5, 2009

Catastrophe and Hope

By Tom Turner

The San Francisco Chronicle (and many other papers) carries a weekly feature at the bottom of the weather page called Earthweek — a Diary of the Planet. It’s often fascinating, with tiny snippets about oddments of weather, earthquakes, animals, and other events and phenomena. On Jan. 3, it was more like Earthyear, with a litany …

December 24, 2008

Here's to Holdren

By Tom Turner

As we said in our last missive, the emerging Obama team, cabinet and otherwise, is looking very promising with a few question marks. The president-elect is said to enjoy having people of differing views around him and listening as they discuss their differences, which is a healthy attitude. The truth will out and all that. …

December 22, 2008

The New Green Dream Team?

By Tom Turner

Reaction from environmental groups to almost-president Obama’s cabinet choices has been interesting. Most of the choices have been welcomed by most organizations (Carl Pope made incoming labor secretary Hilda Solis sound like a green Mother Theresa). Reservations I’ve heard have been voiced about the National Security Advisor, General Jim Jones, who is said by some …

December 17, 2008

Trouble in Paradise

By Tom Turner

We tend to think of ships as an environmentally friendly way to travel and transport goods. Measured by miles per gallon per a given amount of weight, they can’t be beat. There’s the not-so-little problem of air pollution from ships docked at various ports, of course, and Earthjustice is working with Friends of the Earth …