Last week, NPR took a deeper look at the natural gas boom in the U.S. The special series, “The Fracking Boom: Missing Answers,” questions what the gas boom is doing to the air and water in communities where fracking has become a household name…
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Ohio Department of Natural Resources Waters Down Fracking Regulations for Oil and Gas Drillers
Ohio Environmental Council
05-21-2012
Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s once promising energy plan has emerged from the Ohio Senate worse for wear. And part of the wear was requested by his own Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), according to news reports…
Seventy-Thousand People Ask Shell to Clean up Its Mess in Nigeria
Friends of the Earth International
05-21-2012
Almost one year has passed since the UN presented its report on Shell’s pollution of Ogoniland. But we are still waiting for a comprehensive plan from Shell to clean up its mess. The first step recommended by the UN was a U.S. $1 billion…
Advocates and EPA Reach Agreement to Protect Chesapeake Bay from Stormwater Discharges
Anacostia Riverkeeper
05-21-2012
The rivers in our nation’s capital should be restored to their full potential, not be the dumping ground for bacteria, metals and other waste. This permit marks a major, though seriously overdue, milestone in this 40th year anniversary of the Clean Water Act…
If the Michigan Public Service Commission approves the Line 6B expansion projects, the Great Lakes will be at the heart of the tar sands transportation debate, above Keystone XL and the Northern Gateway…
Transitioning to a Green Economy Holds the Answers to Today’s Critical Challenges
Worldwatch Institute
05-18-2012
Critical environmental issues are too often pushed aside in pursuit of short-sighted economic goals. But to effectively address the ongoing economic crisis, environmental concerns must take center stage…
The impacts of the Deepwater Horizon are being felt in—you guessed it—Minnesota. White pelicans that winter in the Gulf of Mexico and have lived in an oiled Gulf have migrated to far away places such as Minnesota to lay eggs…
The plight of the Green River and the impacts of the proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline were highlighted this week when American Rivers declared it #2 on its list of “most endangered rivers” in the U.S…
New Mexico’s failure to enforce its own rules highlights the need to close oil and gas loopholes in the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. OCD’s inadequate performance shows why citizens need to have federal standards…
The worst part about the situation is that, in spite of what scientists and water conservationists are telling us about the delicate state of the Potomac, Congress is actively pursuing legislation that will reduce federal environmental oversight…
Corexit is one of a number of toxic dispersants that are used to atomize the oil and force it down the water column so that it’s invisible to the eye. In this case, these dispersants were used in massive quantities, almost two million gallons so far…
New World Bank President Needs Infrastructure Strategy that Prioritizes the Poor
International Rivers
05-16-2012
The World Bank needs to start prioritizing projects that directly address the needs of the poor. Decentralized approaches have a better track record of reducing poverty than the top-down projects of the past…
American Rivers named the Potomac River, known as ‘the nation’s river’ as it flows through the capital, the most endangered in the country. While the Potomac is cleaner than it used to be, the river is still…
The City and County of Honolulu is the last of Hawaii’s counties to enact a ban on plastic bags at the point of sale. Maui and Kauai counties already have plastic bag bans in place while Hawaii County passed an ordinance that will take effect next year…
There’s no better example of the warriors working toward a sustainable future than the 700 people who attended River Rally…
UN Global Compact Turns a Blind Eye to Corporate Malpractices
Friends of the Earth International
05-14-2012
Corporate lobbying within UN negotiations has managed to block effective solutions for global problems related to climate change, food production, poverty, water and deforestation. Instead, false…
It turns out the Keystone XL pipeline has made what Esquire called “accidental activist[s]” out of the ranchers and farmers who TransCanada has bullied for rights to their land, folks like Nebraskan Randy Thompson and Texan Julia Trigg…
Syngenta’s lobbying and often-covert PR efforts have been continuously scrutinized in the press since it was revealed that the company held more than 50 closed-door meetings with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials…
Group Files Suit to Obtain Records of Closed Door Clean Air Act Meetings at White House
Environmental Integrity Project
05-11-2012
Industry lobbyists have every right to meet with the White House about EPA rules. But the public ought to know what was said at these meetings and whether it influenced decisions that are supposed to protect our health and the environment…
Report Shows that Great Lakes Remain Vulnerable to New Wave of Mining
National Wildlife Federation
05-10-2012
So-called “sulfide mining” seeks to extract precious metals from sulfide rock formations—a process that produces mine waste that turns water into battery acid, devastating water resources and fish and wildlife habitat…
Plastic Trash Is Altering Ocean Habitats in Unexpected Ways
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
05-10-2012
Such an increase, documented for the first time in a marine invertebrate (animal without a backbone) in the open ocean, may have consequences for animals across the marine food web, such as crabs that prey on sea skaters and their eggs…
The Las Cruces example is frankly an egregious and shocking violation of the right to water. And it could affect anyone out of work or a few months behind on rent—not just traditionally underserved populations. In either case, the human right to…
One thing we know for certain is that Texas Sharon, Earthworks and the many people and groups nationwide expressing concerns about water and air quality and the future of their communities—are not going away…
Pennsylvania Residents Appeal to Gov. Cuomo to Vote ‘No’ on SRBC Water Pipeline Proposal
Food & Water Watch
05-10-2012
If the SRBC were to approve the proposal, a private corporation could evict dozens of residents of a Pennsylvania mobile home park and would sell millions of gallons of water a day to companies for the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing…
Report: All Fracking Wastewater Disposal Methods Fail to Protect Public Health and Environment
Natural Resources Defense Council
05-09-2012
The five most common disposal options for fracking wastewater currently in use are: recycling for additional fracking, treatment and discharge to surface waters, underground injection, storage in open air pits, and spreading on roads for ice…
Last year a UN report criticised Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in Ogoniland, the home of the executed writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. Ken was murdered by the Nigerian military for campaigning against Shell…
Grassroots opposition is mounting as ConocoPhillips’ plans to drill for oil within the fresh-water source for Peru’s largest rainforest city, Amazon Watch said today on the occasion of the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Houston…
Angolan Oil Industry Fuels Corruption and Parallels Destruction of Louisiana Communities
Louisiana Bucket Brigade
05-08-2012
Angola is the largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa, yet millions of Angolans lack basic necessities. The extreme poverty is staggering: 161 out of every 1,000 Angolan children die before the age of five. Thirty percent of Angolans are illiterate…
With the advent of programs ostensibly designed to teach kids about water issues, bottled water companies are getting in on the action. Their tactics flow through an institution that few kids can escape—the classroom…
Doubt the seriousness of the water issue? Think it’s a plot by doomy environmentalists or tax-and-spend liberals? Not according to Bush Senior’s EPA Administrator, William Reilly, who warns that 117 million Americans still lack proper access…
Greenpeace today released shocking photos that show graphic evidence of the destruction done to endangered sea life in the Gulf by the 2010 BP oil disaster. The photos, just received via a Freedom of Information request filed in…
