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Decision to dump TVA’s spilled coal waste in Alabama community sparks resistance

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a plan last week to dump 3 million tons of coal ash that spilled from a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant in eastern Tennessee in an impoverished, largely African-American community in Alabama — and the decision is sparking resistance among local officials and residents who don’t want the toxic […]

Top 10 reasons the Senate should strengthen and pass the Waxman-Markey bill

This post first appeared on the NRDC Switchboard site. It is vital to enact comprehensive energy and climate legislation this year — to help deliver economic, energy, and climate security.  As President Obama has said, the choice is “between a slow decline and renewed prosperity; between the past and the future.”  The time to act […]

Ask Umbra on paperback writers

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Hi Umbra, I’m in the book business, and there are many who try and make sure books never make it to landfills and are donated to worthy causes. However, I have been wondering for some time about the environmental impact of such authors as Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts, and […]

Nuclear + cap-and-trade = bipartisan climate bill?

Getting a climate bill through the Senate with some Republican support might be easier than many observers think, but only if it comes with provisions providing a big boost for nuclear energy. That was one takeaway from Tuesday’s Senate committee hearing on climate change legislation, the first of a series that the Environment and Public […]

California net metering bill progresses

Just to follow up on a previous thread, AB 560 (the bill to lift the net metering cap in California) passed a key hurdle today, passing out of the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications committee by a vote of 9-1. The bill was amended–instead of lifting the 2.5 percent cap on net metering to 10 […]

Seattle Storm WNBA team shoots 3’s for trees

Photo: otakuchick via FlickrEvery three-point shot made by a Seattle Storm player this season will be a slam dunk for a local forest. Through a partnership with Carter Subaru, a local car dealership that promises to plant trees for every test drive, the Seattle Storm were able to plant 154 trees last year as part […]

Rural county asks EPA chief not to make it ‘The Ash Hole of Alabama’

Kingston, Tenn., coal ash spillThe Environmental Protection Agency is still figuring out what to do with the millions of tons of coal ash that spilled through a broken levy levee in eastern Tennessee last December. But it looks like much of it may be shipped to Perry County in central Alabama, where residents are none […]

Rethinking food production for a world of 8 billion

In April 2005, the World Food Programme and the Chinese government jointly announced that food aid shipments to China would stop at the end of the year. For a country where a generation ago hundreds of millions of people were chronically hungry, this was a landmark achievement. Not only has China ended its dependence on […]

Not much convenience in “convenience foods”

Among all the responses to the new data showing we’re getting sicker and fatter, I was most struck by Kerry Trueman’s comment at Civil Eats that what we are really suffering from is “kitchen illiteracy.” Now, that’s the kind of insight which seems easy to dismiss. We all know it’s not about a lack of […]

EPA attorneys criticize Obama nominee

This story was written by ProPublica.org’s Joaquin Sapien. The Obama administration’s nomination of Ignacia Moreno to head the environment division of the Department of Justice is moving quietly through the confirmation process, with hearings expected to begin in the next few weeks. Moreno has worked for the environment division before, during the Clinton administration. But […]