Environment

Bush Administration Seeks to Cut Back Right-to-Know Laws

by Laura Miller — December 6, 2005 - 9:57pm

Due to a proposed rewriting of the nation's environmental right-to-know law, thousands of communities stand to lose access to information on toxic chemicals that are released into their neighborhoods.

Main Source:

OMB Watch Press Release, November 15, 2005

Hill & Knowlton Lobbies for F-gases

by Sheldon Rampton — November 23, 2005 - 2:46am

The Hill & Knowlton PR firm reportedly used scaremongering tactics to kill legislation before the European Parliament that would have banned fluorinated gases ("f-gases"), which contribute to global warming. "It's been six months of intense lobbying," said Avril Doyle, a parliamentarian who supported the regulation.

Main Source:

BBC, November 22, 2005

Oil Industry Concerned Its Image Is Tanking

by Diane Farsetta — November 15, 2005 - 6:27pm

The PR firm Edelman "is working with the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry's primary lobbying group, on a public issues campaign aimed at convincing Americans that the industry is facing severe challenges, even as its members pull in record quarterly profits," reports PR Week.

Main Source:

PR Week (sub req'd), November 11, 2005

The Public's Right To Know What Industry Wants To Tell

by Diane Farsetta — November 15, 2005 - 3:13pm

The American Chemistry Council (ACC), which recently launched a major chemical industry PR campaign called "essential2," is one of the main groups claiming that the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a public right-to-know program, is not so essential. Under TRI, the U.S.

Main Source:

Toledo Blade (Ohio), November 14, 2005

Something Fishy in the Paper

by Diane Farsetta — November 4, 2005 - 7:00pm

"Industrial salmon farming corporations have learned an important lesson ... about what to do with their tarnished images of ecological and social injustice," writes Rebecca Clausen. "Simply pour money into a public relations campaign and overwhelm dissent." She points to half-page ads that the industry group Salmon of the Americas (SOTA) ran last month in major U.S. newspapers.

Main Source:

Monthly Review Zine, November 3, 2005

Share Price Blowback from Loggers SLAPP Suit

by Bob Burton — October 30, 2005 - 8:40pm

John Gay, the Managing Director of the Australian logging company Gunns, told shareholders that the A$6.3 million SLAPP suit it launched against 20 environmentalists "was taken following c

Main Source:

The Mercury, October 28, 2005

Pesticides and Forest Service Fires

by Diane Farsetta — October 7, 2005 - 11:03am

U.S. Forest Service logo

"A U.S. Forest Service official who voiced concerns about alleged pesticide misuse in forests across the Southwest has been fired," reports Associated Press.

Main Source:

Associated Press, October 6, 2005

Stepping Up the Attack on Green Activists

by Sheldon Rampton — October 3, 2005 - 12:05pm

"A remorseless rapist in Hamilton County, Ohio is sentenced to 15 years in prison for beating and raping a 57-year-old woman," writes Kelly Hearn. "An environmental activist in California is sentenced to 22 years and 8 months for burning three SUVs at a car dealership after taking precautions to harm no lives.

Main Source:

AlterNet, September 30, 2005

Ill Winds, Blowing No Good

by Diane Farsetta — September 28, 2005 - 10:15am

"Riding a wave of concern over high energy prices triggered by Katrina" - and following a plan drawn up by the House Republican Study Committee at the Heritage Foundation - "congressional Republicans are rushing to ease environmental rules on refineries and looking for ways to open new coastal waters to oil and gas development," as well as Alaska's

Main Source:

Associated Press, September 28, 2005