Environment

Tom Ridge Joins the Marcellus Shale Coalition's Natural Gas Gold Rush

by Steve Horn — August 2, 2010 - 9:08pm
  • Topics: Global Warming, Energy, Environment, Human Rights, Lobbying, Politics

    • Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has, for the most part, been out of the spotlight for the past year since he wrote his book titled The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again, which came out in September of 2009. In that book, Ridge confessed that, although unsurprising to anyone who understood the rampant fear-mongering and propaganda that took place in the post-9/11 Bush era, he was pressured by others in the Bush Administration to purposely manipulate the infamous color-coded National Security Alerts for political reasons, and in particular, during the run-up to former President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004.

    Are Oil Companies Greenwashing Gulf Coast Cleanup?

    by Anne Landman — August 2, 2010 - 3:04pm

    Sandra Bullock, Lenny Kravitz, Harry Shearer and a slew of other celebrities jumped on the bandwagon to star in a public service announcement called "Be the One," to support Restore the Gulf, a campaign to encourage people to sign a petition saying, "I demand th

    Main Source: 
    Think Progress, July 29, 2010

    Gavin Newsom Hopes to Leave His Sludge in San Francisco

    by John Stauber — July 27, 2010 - 10:39am
  • Topics: Food Safety, Agriculture, Journalism, Sludge, Environment, Ethics, Science

    • Last month, I wrote Chez Sludge, the first inside report on the sewage sludge scandal unfolding in San Francisco, based on internal documents obtained by the Food Rights Network and now online in the Toxic Sludge wiki on SourceWatch.

    San Francisco, under its "green mayor" Gavin Newsom, has since 2007 perpetrated a greenwashing scam upon city gardeners. The city, known for its environmentally sound practices and commitment to a precautionary principle approach to dealing with environmental hazards, has deceptively and fraudulently been giving away free "organic Biosolids compost," that is actually nothing but toxic sewage sludge from San Francisco and eight other counties, "composted" by the giant waste handler Synagro.

    Unsafe From Any Gulf

    by Maxwell Abbott — July 23, 2010 - 3:19pm
  • Topics: Energy, Environment

    • America's voracious oil consumption is criticized for many reasons in the media today, but three reasons seem to dominate the headlines. First, the Gulf oil disaster has galvanized public outrage at oil companies and led to questioning of our energy needs which push oil rigs out into treacherous deep waters. Second, climate change attracts significant attention, as academy award-winning films are made on the topic and the manufactured "Climategate"; scandal fills news articles with tales of espionage. Finally, as the Iraq War drags on and tensions with Iran remain high, every politician is giving lip service to the national security threat created by "our dependence on foreign oil." But what often gets ignored is perhaps the most obvious and persistent problem involved with oil use: air pollution.

    "Giving Up Faith": The EPA, Dispersants, and the Commons in Chains

    by Steve Horn — July 20, 2010 - 10:02pm
  • Topics: Food Safety, Corporations, Environment, Health

    • The great environmental activist Derrick Jensen, in an article titled "Beyond Hope," published in the May/June 2006 issue of Orion Magazine, lamented,

    BP's Dispersants Thwart Massive Skimming Ship

    by Anne Landman — July 19, 2010 - 3:04pm

    Nobu Su, the wealthy owner of TNT shipping, had a great idea: convert a supertanker into a giant skimming vessel that ca

    Main Source: 
    New Orleans Times Picayune (Nola.com), July 16, 2010

    Gulf Seafood Chemically Tested for Oil, But Not Dispersant

    by Steve Horn — July 15, 2010 - 4:10pm

    Reporter Miriam Wang of the ProPublica blog points out that although seafood from the Gulf has been tested for oil content, testers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) neglected to test whether the chemical dispersant applied to the oil in the Gulf could be found in the seafood.

    Main Source: 
    Propublica, July 14, 2016

    Christian Leaders and Governors: God is Working Through BP

    by Anne Landman — July 14, 2010 - 10:53am

    On May 3, Texas Governor Rick Perry suggested that the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil disaster were "acts of God." Following up on that belief, Perry, along with the Governors of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Lieutenant Governor of Florida, issued

    Main Source: 
    Charisma News Online, June 24, 2010

    Environmental & Health Effects of Oil Dispersants a Mystery to BP and the Government

    by Anne Landman — July 13, 2010 - 2:15pm
  • Topics: Animal Rights, Corporations, Environment, Health, U.S. Government

    • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson questions BP's widespread application of oil dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico, as does everyone else. According to Jackson, the government is "uncharted waters" with the use of dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico. "The amount of dispersant being used at the surface is unprecedented," Jackson says. BP is also applying the chemicals in the sub-sea environment. In addition, dispersant is stopping oil from collecting on water surface, where it can be more easily controlled.

    BP's Web site gives the impression that dispersants "clean and control" ocean oil spills by putting the oil in a state where "it becomes a feast for the naturally-occurring microbes that inhabit the ocean." But dispersants do not clean the water, nor do they remove oil at all, but rather re-arrange where it exists, and change where it goes.

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