pollution

EPA Declares Public Health Emergency in Asbestos-Ridden Libby, Montana

WASHINGTON, DC, June 17, 2009 (ENS) - The first public health emergency ever declared by the U.S. EPA exists at the Libby asbestos site in northwest Montana, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today. Vermiculite contaminated with asbestos was mined in Libby until 1990. Hundreds of asbestos-related disease cases have been documented in this small community, which covers the towns of Libby and Troy.

Posted in Environment, epa, Health, pollution

USA, Canada to Modernize Great Lakes Water Quality Pact

NIAGARA FALLS, New York, June 15, 2009 (ENS) - The United States and Canada have agreed to update the 37-year-old Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement that commits both countries "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon met Saturday at the Rainbow Bridge that connects the two countries to announce their intention to modernize the agreement.

Posted in climate change, Environment, pollution, water

Pennsylvania Town Fights Big Coal on Mining Rights

TAYLORSTOWN, Pennsylvania - A small Pennsylvania town is trying to ban coal mining in a battle being played out across the state as rural communities try to assert control over mining, gas drilling and other businesses.

Blaine Township, a community of 600 about 40 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, hopes to trigger a legal battle that could determine the rights of municipalities throughout the United States to control corporate activity.

Posted in coal, Corporatism, mining, pollution

Today's Electronics, Tomorrow's Garbage Heap

The pile of televisions waiting for recycling at the Eastern Sanitation Yard in Baltimore - many of them wrapped in wood paneling popular in decades past - is likely to get larger today when the nation completes its switch to digital TV.

Posted in pollution

Illinois Town Sued, Accused of Lying About Carcinogen-Filled Town Water

Already facing a federal criminal investigation, Crestwood Mayor Robert Stranczek and his father were sued in state court today and accused of repeatedly lying about their secret use of a community well contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals.

Posted in pollution, water quality

Fighting Militarism’s Toxic Legacy

One of the most pernicious effects of the U.S. government’s commitment to militarism is a toxic landscape. Current legislation pending in the House, H.R. 672, the Military Environmental Responsibility Act, would force the military to comply with environmental and public safety laws.

Posted in Militarism, military industrial complex, pollution

Industry Defends Drilling, Ignores Water Contamination

In a packed and sometimes contentious hearing [1] on Capitol Hill Thursday, representatives of the oil and gas industry and their state regulators vigorously defended the practice of injecting toxic fluids underground without federal regulatory oversight [2].

Posted in drilling, natural gas, oil, pollution, water

Natural Gas Politics

$\"I believe that developers may have legitimate concerns about the impact that removing the exemption may have on their ability to find and extract oil and gas,\" he said. \"But ... the current regulatory approach is probably not sustainable and will probably need to be revised in some way,\" Salazar wrote in an emailed response.$

Four years after Vice President Dick Cheney spearheaded a massive energy bill that exempted natural gas drilling from federal clean water laws, Congress is having second thoughts about the environmental dangers posed by the burgeoning industry.

Posted in drilling, lobbyists, natural gas, pollution

RadWaste and Texas' Future

How do you get people to vote for radioactive waste to be dumped in Texas in close proximity to the Ogallala and Dockum aquifers? And how do you also get the same community to agree to bankroll the project's $75 million buildout costs? You sell it as a prosperity issue.

Posted in Environment, nuclear waste, pollution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2009
3:21 PM

CONTACT: Earthjustice
Abigail Dillen, Earthjustice, (212) 791-1881, ext. 221

Environmental Groups Defend Northeast's Global Warming Effort, File Court Papers to Support New York in Power Plant Lawsuit

Lone power company filed suit challenging nation's first enforceable effort to reduce climate pollution in January

ALBANY, N.Y. - May 20 - Environmental groups are going to court to help defend the nation's first enforceable effort to reduce the pollution responsible for global warming. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will require cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in 10 northeastern states.

###

Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.

Earthjustice Links:

Posted in Environment, pollution