Environment

150 Years

One hundred and fifty years jail time for Bernard Madoff is a good thing.

To listen to the victims of his swindle, or read their words, is to appreciate the very far-reaching ways in which Madoff's quiet crime has wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands of families.

Posted in corporate personhood, Corporatism, Environment, Human Rights

Court Allows Gold Mine to Dump Waste in Lake

The U.S. Supreme Court's Monday decision allowing a gold mine near Juneau to discharge its waste into a fish-bearing lake could be the final word in the long-running dispute.

But environmentalists hope that it is not.

Their lawsuit over the Kensington mine, 45 miles northwest of Juneau, fueled a bitter war between industry boosters and environmentalists in the state's capital.

Statewide, the suit cast a shadow over Alaska's mining industry, and in particular, the massive Pebble copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska.

Posted in Environment, mining, pollution, water quality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2009
1:14 PM

CONTACT: Earthjustice
John McManus, Earthjustice, (510) 550-6707
Virginia Cramer, Sierra Club, (804) 225-9113, ext. 102
Rob Cadmus, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, (907) 586-6942

Supreme Court Clears Way for Mining Company to Destroy Alaskan Lake

Decision bodes ill for other American lakes, invites Administrative or Congressional fix

WASHINGTON - June 22 - Washington, DC -- The Supreme Court ruled today that the Clean Water Act permits a mining company to pump hundreds of thousands of gallons per day of a toxic wastewater slurry into an Alaskan lake, killing its fish and aquatic life. The ruling has dire implications for other waterways across the country, but the Obama administration and Congress may act promptly to ensure lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands are not destroyed by industrial waste dumping.

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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.

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Posted in Environment, mining

Imagine: Prosperity without Growth

It is ironic that homo sapiens, we big-brained and clever species, can trace almost every tragedy and failing to one generic cause: a failure of imagination.

We seem to be an idiot savant species -- stunningly clever at so many things, capable of greatness, creativity and sacrifice for others, melding genius and love when we are at our best, and greed and hate at our worst.

Posted in Environment, growth, new economy

Critics Fault Climate-Change Legislation

WASHINGTON - At the Joseph Farms dairy in Atwater (Merced County), farmers aren't just transforming milk into cheese. They've also figured out how to turn manure into fuel - and a paycheck.

By storing waste from the dairy's 5,000 cows in a covered 7-acre lagoon and removing methane from it using sophisticated equipment, the farm is generating power that keeps refrigerators, lights and pumps running at its cheese plant.

Posted in carbon tax, climate change, Environment, Politics

14 Arrested in Latest Massey Protest

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Fourteen people were arrested Thursday after an anti-mountaintop removal protest that shut down the dragline shovel at a Massey Energy operation in Boone County for several hours, police said.

Four activists scaled the boom of the huge, crane-like mining machine to unfurl a large banner that said, "Stop Mountaintop Removal." Other protesters spread a similar banner out on the ground.

Posted in coal, direct action, Energy, Environment, mountaintop removal, protest

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

US Climate Report Details Energy, Agriculture Harm

WASHINGTON - Climate change has already caused "visible impacts" in the United States and poses particular risks to the U.S. agriculture and energy industries, a new government report said on Tuesday.

The report, which lays out the effects of global warming on specific U.S. regions and sectors, calls for quick policy action as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote soon on a bill to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Posted in agriculture, climate change, Energy, Environment, global warming

Big Carbon Players Jockey for Advantage

NY-ÅLESUND, Svalbard, Norway - Political and business leaders may agree in principle that climate change is a serious threat, but there is a startling lack of consensus and a 'you-go-first' attitude on taking action, even amongst a small group of high-level decision makers disconnected from their cell phones here in the Arctic.

Posted in climate change, Environment, global warming

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