Climate Climate & Energy
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Zuni tribe member Pablo Padilla talks about beating back a strip mine
Earlier this week, Native Americans and environmentalists won a surprising victory when a power company abandoned plans to build a highly controversial coal mine in New Mexico. Zuni Salt Lake. Photo: Zuni Salt Lake Coalition. For 20 years, the Salt River Project, an Arizona-based utility company, had sought to build an 18,000-acre strip mine near […]
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Flexible Fools
Automakers Can Dodge Fuel-Economy Rules with Flex-Fuel Vehicles U.S. automakers are dramatically boosting production of “flexible-fuel” cars and trucks that can run on either gasoline or E85, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gas that results in lower greenhouse gas emissions — but this trend is more likely to harm the environment […]
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Reservoir Dogged
Four elderly Pehuenche Indian women have thrown a big wrench into plans for a $570 million hydroelectric dam in southern Chile. Arguing that the hydro project would flood sacred land and destroy their traditional way of life, the four have refused to sell 103 acres they own along the Bio Bio River, land that would […]
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Michelle Nijhuis reviews Libby, Montana by Andrea Peacock
It's never been easy to make a living in Libby, Mont. Citizens in this town of 12,000, tucked into the dense, damp conifer forests of northwestern Montana, have long scraped by on seasonal logging jobs and other sporadic work. So in the 1920s, when local entrepreneur Edward Alley discovered that a nearby vermiculite deposit yielded an efficient, lightweight insulation and fireproofing material, Libbyites were thrilled.
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The Maine Event
Meanwhile, Maine is several steps ahead of the federal government when it comes to combating climate change: Today, the state will become the first in the nation to enact a law establishing specific goals and deadlines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other New England states have addressed carbon dioxide emissions through different means — such […]
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Idle Trucks Are the Devil’s Playthings
New gadgetry at truck stops could help slash pollution from idling big rigs. Most truck drivers across the U.S. leave their vehicles’ engines running all night while they’re parked at truck stops because it’s the only way to keep the heating or air conditioning on while they get some shuteye. Between 840 million and 2 […]
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When Irish Eyes Are Smiting
Meanwhile, in nuclear news from elsewhere on the globe, Ireland has gone to international court in The Hague to try to shut down Britain’s Sellafield nuclear power plant. The Irish, who have been fighting the plant for decades, claim that it violates the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea by polluting the Irish […]
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Tilling Me Softly
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is encouraging farmers and ranchers to fight climate change with techniques that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Speaking in Kansas on Friday, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced new incentives and technical support programs to help farmers increase carbon sequestration, though her speech was notably short on specifics. Farmers are being […]
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Our Gorge Is Rising
China yesterday blocked the flow of the Yangtze River by closing gates at the massive Three Gorges Dam and began to fill up what will be the world’s largest reservoir. It’s a joyous occasion for government engineers and Communist Party faithful who have long touted the coming benefits of hydroelectric power and flood control, and […]
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Wow We
For the second time in the last two weeks, a major utility company has reached a settlement with the U.S. EPA to clean up its act under the New Source Review rules of the federal Clean Air Act. Last week, it was the Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources; now, it’s We Energies, a Wisconsin electric company […]
