Uncategorized

A nifty video

This week, our InterActivist is a guy named John Amos, a former oil and gas geologist who left the industry to found a nonprofit called SkyTruth. (Send him a question!) SkyTruth uses satellite imagery to help people visualize the damage done by oil and gas drilling. Check out their latest video, on oil and gas […]

The wonkitude continues

DR: Over the past few years, the environmental movement has been in a period of self-flagellation about its ineffectiveness on the biggest issue of our time: climate change. You’ve been on both sides of the NGO/government divide. Do you have any words of wisdom on what environmental groups are doing wrong, or could do better? […]

The Coup laments

In honor of President Bush’s speech tomorrow later today, in which he will announce a “surge” of new troops to Iraq, I give you the best love song of 2006: The Coup: “Baby Let’s Have a Baby Before Bush Do Somethin’ Crazy.” Lyrics below the fold. Baby let’s have a baby, before Bush do somethin’ […]

Reserve a free copy of An Inconvenient Truth for your campus

The kids over at Campus Climate Challenge and Truth on Campus are gearing up for a Week of Action January 29th through February 2nd. The five days of demonstrations will kick start the Challenge’s second semester and “put the heat on a new U.S. Congress and a returning Canadian Parliament to begin aggressive national power […]

Exxon brightens tone

Exxon is going to change the tone, but not the substance, of its position on global warming. Tone’s what matters, right?

Only not

Greg Sargent responds to Joe Klein’s “dirty hippies are correct but I’m still no dirty hippie” post: To look into the mirror and see a brave and heroic pundit staring back, of course, you need to flatter yourself into believing that you’re challenging entrenched ideas and the people who hold them in some way, even […]

In which I’m right about everything

From my top stories of 2006:: California has always kicked the rest of the nation’s ass on environmental policy. Today: Continuing his historic leadership to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and lower California’s reliance on foreign oil, Governor Schwarzenegger today announced he will issue an Executive Order establishing a groundbreaking Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) […]

Check your local listings for details

If you missed your chance in November to catch Two Square Miles, the documentary about the community in Hudson, N.Y., fighting off construction of a major cement factory, you may be in luck. Sam Pratt, an activist involved in the fight, tells Grist that PBS will be re-airing the film tonight on many local affiliate […]

Malaysian company may build an additional 12 plants

According to recent press reports, a Malaysian company, Pioneer Bio Industries Corp. Sdn. Bhd., is about to begin building what it claims will be the world's first plant to commercially produce fuel ethanol from nipah palms (Nypa fruiticans), also known as the mangrove palm, attap palm (in Singapore), and Golpata (in Bangladesh).

Nipah palms grow in soft mud along coasts and slow-moving tidal rivers flowing into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are abundant in Malaysia.

Justices agree to hear Defenders of Wildlife case

Environmental law appears to be a hot commodity in the Roberts Court. While the justices continue to deliberate about global warming, they agreed (PDF) on Friday to add another hot-button environmental issue to their agenda: the Endangered Species Act.

Setting the Stage

The case, Defenders of Wildlife v. EPA, also implicates the Clean Water Act (CWA). Under the CWA, a would-be polluter needs to get a permit before it discharges into our nation's waters. The CWA requires that the federal government delegate permitting authority to the states, if they meet a number of requirements.

Today, almost every state issues its own permits. (EPA provides this map [PDF] illustrating which states have permitting authority.)