By Lauren McCauley – A federal judge reportedly denied an emergency request on Tuesday for a restraining order filed by the Standing Rock Sioux in the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline. But supporters of the Native American protest heralded the ruling as a partial victory anyway due to a stop work agreement on the…
ENVIRONMENT
What the National Press and the Park Service Won’t Tell You on the 100th Anniversary of NPS
By Glynn Wilson – Reading the national press coverage on the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, even listening to the reporting on National Public Radio, you would think the biggest problem the parks face is a lack of visitors. The entire story is framed as if the parks were just another capitalist tourist…
President Obama Bypasses Republican Congress, Creates National Monument in Maine’s North Woods
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, President Obama bypassed the inaction of the Republican Congress and used the power of the presidential pen to create the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, the first national monument to preserve the landscape and honor…
Demonstrations Planned Against Offshore Oil Leases in New Orleans
Obama Administration Finalizes Fuel Efficiency Standards for Trucks
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Obama administration has finalized green house gas standards and fuel efficiency rules for trucks to cut carbon pollution in the U.S., all while bolstering energy security and spurring manufacturing innovation, according to an announcement just out from the Environmental Protection Agency. The product of four years of…
Cool Dispersed Camping at 10,000 Feet in Colorado
AmeriCares Deploys Relief Workers to Louisiana for Flood Assistance
Parts of Louisiana received more than two feet of rain in recent days, causing massive flooding that overwhelmed rivers and engulfed homes and businesses. Emergency crews have rescued more than 20,000 survivors, and more than 11,000 survivors have signed up for disaster assistance. The federal government has issued a major disaster declaration for four parishes…
Global Warming Continues Apace, Yet Biggest Problem Barely Mentioned in US Political Campaigns
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — As if we needed another study to tell us that global warming is speeding up and making climate change worse, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released another 300-page report Tuesday documenting the warming and changes in the climate due to the burning of fossil fuels for energy.…
Studies Show Global Warming Could Be Much Greater Than Previously Thought
Reconstruction of climate events long before the Ice Ages shows that failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could eventually lead to temperatures rising by up to 10 degrees. – By Tim Radford – LONDON, Eng. – If the distant past is anything to go by, then climate scientists may have under-estimated the hazards of greenhouse…
Volkswagen Admits Cheating on Emissions Tests, Agrees to Pay $15.3 Billion in Settlements for Deceiving Customers and Causing Air Pollution
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The German automaker Volkswagen has admitted to cheating on emissions tests and agreed to pay more than $15.3 billion in a settlement with U.S. regulators for decieving customers and causing pollution from its diesel vehicles, according to a release just out from the Justice Department and the Environmental…
President Obama Visits Yosemite, Urges Americans to ‘Get Outdoors’ on National Park Service Centennial
President Barack Obama took a few days to go on a working vacation this week and, to help celebrate the 100th anniverrsary of the National Park Service, the first family visited Yosemite National Park, one of the nation’s most popular national parks. In a brief speech on Saturday at Sentinel Bridge with the 2,425 feet…
Is the U.S. Republican Party a Threat to Human Survival?
Nuclear weapons, climate change, and the prospects for survival. – By Noam Chomsky – In January 2015, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced its famous Doomsday Clock to three minutes before midnight, a threat level that had not been reached for 30 years. The Bulletin’s statement explaining this advance toward catastrophe invoked the two…
NASA Satellite Finds Unreported Sources of Toxic Air Pollution
By Glynn Wilson – Scientists have located 39 new major sources of toxic sulfur dioxide emissions previously unreported by existing methods, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature Geosciences. A known health hazard and contributor to acid rain, sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of six air pollutants regulated by the U.S.…
High Radiation Levels Trigger Emergency Alert at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant
The Tennessee Valley Authority activated emergency prodecures Wednesday when high radiation levels in a main steamline were detected at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Athens, Alabama. TVA detected the high radiation condition Wenesday around 3:35 p.m., central daylight time, according to an enews alert. It appears the story was broken by the Chattanooga Times…
Federal Judge Grants Final Approval on BP Settlement for 2010 Gulf Oil Disaster
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in New Orleans granted final approval on Monday to the terms of a civil settlement agreement with British Petroleum for its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and disaster that killed 11 workers and dumped 4.9 million barrels or 210 million gallons…
Rising Seas Could Inundate Coastal Cities Sooner Than Previously Thought
By Christina Procopiou – Boston and other coastal cities may want to batten down the hatches. A new study from climate scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Pennsylvania State University warns estimates of future sea level rise may be significantly underestimated. The real picture 100 to 500 years from now, they claim, will…
Protesters Crash the Super Dome and Shut Down Gulf Oil Lease Sale
Watch police clash with protesters in this original video. – By Glynn Wilson – NEW ORLEANS, La. — About 200 environmental activists from across the county marched from City Hall to the Super Dome here Wednesday and crashed an oil lease sale meeting trying to open up another 43 million acres to drilling in the…
Africatown Residents Won’t Let City of Mobile Pull an ‘Okey-Doke’ With Proposed Storage Tank Ordinance
Will the City Government Side With the People or Industry? By Joe Womack – The “okey-doke,” as defined by Urban Dictionary and Africatown folklore means to pull the wool over your opposition’s eyes, to outsmart your opposition, to say one thing and mean another or to gain the upper hand by using trickery. President George…
Water Rises Against Drilling Leases — Demonstration in New Orleans March 23
For info about the March 23 demonstration at the lease sale and about related activities go to nonewleases.org. By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Between beginnings and endings comes water. You are mostly water. Remove it and only a sift of ash and grit remains. Look at yourself.…
U.S. Park Service Escalates Battle Over Yosemite Trademark Names With Delaware North
Click here to help save America’s National Parks From Privatization By Glynn Wilson – The National Park Service is escalating its legal battle with private contractor Delaware North over Yosemite National Park historic, trademark names. The Park Service, under the Department of the Interior, has taken the offensive by formally urging the Trademark Trial and…