Our Stories

The Latest by Trip Van Noppen

Former President

August 22, 2008

Environmental Laws that Bite Back

By Trip Van Noppen

Bill Neukom is a seasoned attorney in a prominent Seattle firm. He served as Microsoft’s general counsel and for the past year has been the President of the American Bar Association. His main project at the ABA is engaging leading lawyers, judges, politicians, and others around the world to promote the rule of law. He …

July 31, 2008

Mercury: Too Toxic to Ignore

By Trip Van Noppen

What do San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound, and Chesapeake Bay have in common? They provide a distinctive signature to some of America’s greatest cities, of course. Residents and visitors to San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore and Washington love to walk along, play beside, and boat across these waters. All three have storied histories and strong citizens’ …

June 19, 2008

Out of Kansas: A Path to Clean Energy

By Trip Van Noppen

There was more hope than lamentation in a New York Times editorial when it concluded this about the Senate’s recent failure to address climate change: The country needs a new occupant in the White House. We agree—Congress is not likely to take the necessary actions on climate change without strong White House leadership. Fortunately, neither …

May 21, 2008

An Angry Question: Why Not Drill in Arctic?

By Trip Van Noppen

Hundreds of angry people, urged on by a right-wing talk show host, called Earthjustice recently to ask why we are challenging plans to drill in Alaska’s Arctic Ocean. Like many Americans, the callers are suffering from gasoline price increases and other costs, like food, that have gone up with the price of oil. They had …

April 17, 2008

Governors are Setting National Clean Energy Agenda

By Trip Van Noppen

No matter what the president said Wednesday about his global warming commitment, many of America’s governors aren’t buying. Long ago they gave up hope of White House leadership on the subject and have taken matters into their own hands. Today, the governors are meeting at Yale to discuss ways they can combat global warming that …

March 25, 2008

Amid Rebellion and Chaos, EPA Chief Must Resign

By Trip Van Noppen

Six years after the head of the Environmental Protection Agency resigned because of political interference, almost every EPA employee is begging the current administrator to quit—as in, quit letting politics drive agency decisions. The 10,000 employees publicly accused Administrator Stephen L. Johnson of ignoring their advice as well as scientific principles in his eagerness to …

February 25, 2008

Exploiters Rush into Melting Arctic

By Trip Van Noppen

With late winter, sunlight returns to the North Pole, revealing an ice-bound ocean that looks deceptively like it always has—a frozen, pristine wilderness. Deceptive, because profound and rapid change is underway from the forces of climate change and our relentless quest for energy. Year-round ice that once gouged trenches 1,300 feet below the ocean surface …