Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Global Warming’ Category

EPA to hold public events in 11 cities on their new carbon emission rule.

Posted in Air Quality, Climate Change, Coal, Coal Plants, Global Warming, tagged , , on September 30, 2013 |

The public will soon get a chance to present ideas and feedback to EPA officials on the agency’s plan to require existing power plants to cut their carbon emissions.

The agency will hold a series of 11 public events around the country over the next two months, the agency announced today.

The EPA plans to set guidelines that will allow states to design programs to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, which account for a third of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, the agency said in a statement. Those proposals are scheduled to be released in June 2014.

“Before proposing guidelines, EPA must consider how power plants with a variety of different configurations would be able to reduce carbon pollution in a cost-effective way,” the agency said.

The public hearings will be:
(more…)

Read Full Post »

A Capital Area Symposium on Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategies

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , on September 26, 2013 |

When:   October 4, 2013
Where:  LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin

Central Texas Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategies: A Capital Area Symposium. This one-day conference will bring Capital Area stakeholders together to identify and assess the shared challenges we face given the specific impacts of climate change in our region. The symposium provides a forum for learning about climate vulnerability in the region and sharing best practices in the area of resilience planning  here in Texas and throughout the U.S. Most importantly, it provides a space for identifying collaborative solutions for making the Capital Area more resilient. For conference agenda details, see Schedule. To register click here.  ($40 regular, $10 students) we encourage you to attend.

The symposium is pleased to bring to Austin some of the brightest minds working in climate change research and adaptation planning today, including keynote speakers Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, and Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center in Washington, DC.

We also encourage you to come to a special evening forum following the symposium. Hosted by The Texas Observer, this free forum will provide a recap of the symposium and facilitate a much-needed public dialogue about climate change resilience in Central Texas. For more on the forum, stay tuned.

The ‘Capital Area’: The symposium defines the “Capital Area” as the 10-county region adopted by the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG): Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis, and Williamson.

Not only do these Central Texas counties share in common similar projections for heat, drought, and other climate change impacts, but they have an established history of collaboration across member governments, agencies, school districts, and other regional organizations due to 43 years of coordinated efforts under the auspices of CAPCOG.
(more…)

Read Full Post »

Groups Protest Permit for Louisiana Coal Terminal

Posted in Climate Change, Gulf Coast Coal Export Terminals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2013 |

Community and environmental organizations lodged a formal protest against the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources’s recent permit for a coal export terminal in the already polluted Plaquemines Parish corridor.

In a letter sent to LDNR Secretary Stephen Chustz, the organizations called for reconsideration of the coastal use permit granted this month, charging that the RAM coal  terminal would violate laws created to ensure that the state’s plan for coastal restoration plan is carried out.

The letter charged that “because LDNR did not adequately analyze alternative sites, LDNR cannot assess whether there are feasible and praticable alternative locations, methods and practices for use that are in compliance with the modified standard under the Coastal Use Permit regulations.”

The letter also argued that the RAM terminal conflicts with Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for coastal restoration. The terminal “will  severely impact wetlands and the $300 million Myrtle Grove with Dedicated Dredging Ecosystem Restoration Project…,” the letter said. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Draw the Line: A Day of Action on Tar Sands Pipelines (Sat 9-21-13)

Posted in Global Warming, pipelines, Tarsands, tagged , , , , , on September 16, 2013 |

This coming weekend is a busy one for folks concerned about a variety of issues around climate change and eminent domain focusing around the Texas leg of the Keystone XL and other tar sands pipelines.

Saturday, September 21, 2013 is a national day of action, some of the events happening in Texas:

  • San Antonio – 10am to noon
    San Pedro Springs Park, 1415 San Pedro Avenue, San Antonio, TX
    Part of the 350.org national “Draw the Line” day of action, with Energia Mia, Alamo Chapter of the Sierra Club, Esperanza Center, the People’s Power Coalition, 100 Thousand Poets for Change, Bexar County Green Party, Texas Indigenous Council, and others will gather at the park to voice opposition to tar sands. (Pinata burst at 11 am)
  • Houston
    1:00 pm – Corner of Post Oak Blvd, and Westheimer, in Houston, TX and
    2:00 pm – Hermann Park, at the Street Theater.
  • Dallas
    9:30 am – White Rock Lake (West Lawther between Fisher and Branchfield), Dallas, TX.  Lake spruce up activities
    7:00 pm to Sunset – a roadside rally and candlelight vigil
  • Austin – Rally at the Texas Capitol

Click here to find out more about these actions and to locate actions in other communities.

line-11.jpg

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Western Wildfires Expected to Double by 2050

Posted in Air Quality, Climate Change, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , on September 10, 2013 |

Climate change will dramatically alter wildfire patterns in the western United States before the century ends, studies show.

According to a new study of future wildfire activity and smoke pollution “Ensemble projections of wildfire activity and carbonaceous aerosol concentrations over the western United States in the mid-21st century” published by Harvard University, researchers are predicting more smoke pollution — even in communities far from the forest’s edge — as more fires burn because of rising temperatures. Yosemite National Park’s Rim over the Labor Day weekend where iconic views disappeared behind a sudden influx of thick smoke the night of Aug. 30, causing the air quality to be deemed to be unhealthy for outdoor activities, is an omen for the West.

The area burned by wildfires is expected to double in some parts of the West by 2050 and the study found temperature was the primary driver for future wildfires, at least in the West’s near future.  Behind the new forest fire patterns is climate change. Higher average temperatures will result in more wildfires by 2050, especially in August, they found.

Overall, the typical four-month fire season will gain three weeks by 2050, the researchers report. And the probability of large fires could double or even triple. The findings were published in the October issue of the journal Atmospheric Environment.

While wildfires in Texas were not a part of this study, the state has already seen indications of both the devastation, the increased number and intensity of these types of fires.

Read Full Post »

CPS Energy Must Meet Demands Before Raising Rates

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2013 |

SAN ANTONIO – The newly formed Re-Energize San Antonio Coalition called on CPS Energy to meet a set of conditions before following through with an October rate hike.

Describing the hike as an increase that will “unfairly burden residential taxpayers,” coalition members called on CPS to take steps to reduce pollution, waste and costs for consumers.

The coalition presented its demands in a petition handed off to the utility during the Monday, Sept. 9 CPS Rate Case Input Session held at the TriPoint Grantham Center.

“We oppose the rate hike because it promotes unsustainable growth, driven by dirty energy, on the shoulders of the poor and working class folks who already pay the most for energy costs relative to income and quality of housing stock,” said Dr. Marisol Cortez, scholar-in-residence at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center.
(more…)

Read Full Post »

San Antonio coalition demands CPS action

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2013 |

The newly formed Re-Energize San Antonio Coalition put its opposition to CPS’s proposed rate hike on the record during a Sept. 9 citizen’s input meeting. Coalition representatives presented the utility with a plan of action that they want addressed before an increase goes into effect. Here’s the petition.

PETITION FOR CPS ACTIONS PRIOR TO PROPOSED RATE INCREASE

Submitted to CPS Energy during the CPS Rate Case Input Session, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013.
(more…)

Read Full Post »

Lamar Smith should hold climate hearings in Texas

Posted in Global Warming, Good Government, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 4, 2013 |

This article written by Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office, appeared on the editorial page of the San Antonio Express-News on Sept. 2

The newest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, leaked to media earlier this week, is frightening and conclusive.

The panel of several hundred scientists, which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, says the odds are at least 95 percent that humans are the principal cause of climate change. The panel predicts an increase of 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century and warns that a rise of that magnitude would cause “extreme heat waves, difficulty growing food and massive changes in plant and animal life, probably including   a wave of extinction,” according to the New York Times.

Yet U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chair of the Committee on Science and Technology, claims the science is uncertain about how much of the warming is caused by humans.
(more…)

Read Full Post »

Armstrong’s RAM Terminal Could Cost Taxpayers

Posted in Climate Change, Gulf Coast Coal Export Terminals, tagged , , , , , , , on August 29, 2013 |

Armstrong Energy is facing challenges from the market that may threaten the viability and profitability of its proposed coal export terminal in Louisiana, a new Public Citizen report (Armstrong Coal final report) finds. A failed company and abandoned export terminal would create significant costs for Plaquemines Parish.

In the report, “RAMming It Down Our Throats: Armstrong Energy Could Leave Louisiana Taxpayers Holding the Bag on Its Proposed RAM Terminal,” Public Citizen looked at Armstrong Energy’s financial condition and the effect of market conditions on the coal export company.

“Armstrong Energy is in hot water,” said Hillary Corgey, researcher for Public Citizen and the report’s author. “Between rising debt, market conditions unfavorable to coal, and climate change, the RAM Terminal may have a good chance of sinking, both in terms of its hurricane-prone location and the viability of the company.”

The RAM Terminal is to be built near the 150-year old community of Ironton in Plaquemines Parish, La., 30 miles south of New Orleans. The terminal is to be fully operational within two years of construction and ship 10 million tons of coal. Two hearings on August 14 and 15 attracted more than 100 residents who oppose the terminal’s latest push for permits.
(more…)

Read Full Post »

Docs demand tighter emissions at coal EFH plants

Posted in Air Quality, Energy, Global Warming, Health, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , on August 28, 2013 |

Today the Dallas County Medical Society filed a petition with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality asking the agency to adopt rules to reduce the pollution from three old coal-fired power plants that contribute disproportionately to high ozone levels in Dallas-Fort Worth and East Texas.

“Evidence is overwhelming that our high ozone levels are causing increasing numbers of area children to develop asthma, and are contributing to the many asthma attacks, chronic lung disease exacerbations, and heart attacks we see every day in our emergency rooms, clinics and hospitals,” said Robert Haley, MD, a Dallas internist and epidemiologist. “A large body of medical research shows that more people of all ages develop respiratory illnesses and die prematurely in cities with high ozone levels, and we have among the highest ozone levels in the country.”

To address this issue, DCMS and the Texas Medical Association sponsored a study by Daniel Cohan, PhD, an environmental engineering scientist at Rice University, to review all the scientific information about ozone pollution in North Texas and identify ways to reduce ozone levels without compromising the state’s energy grid or jobs. Click here for study. 2013 white paper august 1 2013

“The Cohan Report identified these three very old coal-fired power plants south and east of Dallas, built in the 1970s, that have never been required to meet current emission limits and which contribute disproportionately to ozone levels in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” according to Cynthia Sherry, MD, DCMS president. “With the impending bankruptcy of the plants’ owner, Energy Future Holdings, the plants likely will change hands.” The petition asks that the TCEQ require these plants to meet the same low emission levels for ozone-forming gasses that are required of the company’s two newer lignite-fired power plants. “This is the time to require that the plants lower their emissions to protect the health of North Texans,” Dr. Sherry said.

The three power plants are Big Brown near Fairfield, Martin Lake near Longview, and Monticello near Mount Pleasant.

“Because of their age, these three plants emit large amounts of pollution for a relatively small amount of electricity produced,” said   Cohan, the report’s author. “Today’s technologies offer economically more attractive alternatives that would be far less polluting.”

According to the report, a combination of natural gas, geothermal, coastal wind, and solar production could replace the energy production capacity — and the East Texas jobs — of the three old coal plants at equivalent prices to Texas ratepayers. East Texas, where the three coal plants operate, has uniquely amenable geologic characteristics that make geothermal power generation unusually attractive.

Energy Future Holdings, an investment group that purchased the power plants from TXU, is facing bankruptcy because the drop in energy prices from the boom in natural gas production has reduced the profitability of coal. It also faces new requirements to control mercury emissions, and the Environmental Protection Agency is formulating additional requirements for controls on CO2 emissions.

“The financial press is predicting bankruptcy or restructuring of Energy Future Holdings,” according to Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen’s Texas office.  “The petition by the physicians and environmental groups will put the company or new owners on notice that they can’t keep running these old, polluting plants without investing in new pollution controls. Concerned citizens can add their names to the petition by visiting PETITION WEB SITE.”

The petition can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/tceq-please-clean-up-northeast-texas/

To comment on the petition, go to  http://www10.tceq.state.tx.us/epic/efilings/ . To submit comments, use Docket No. 2013-1612-RUL, which was assigned to this Petition for Rulemaking (Dallas County Medical Society Petition: EPA-Compliant Pollution Control on Old Coal Plants).

The scientific report can be found at www.dallas-cms.org/news/coalplants.pdf.

“Bad air day: Report details power plant dangers,” Texas Medicine, June 2013, pp. 45-49, accessed at: http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=23977

 

Read Full Post »

Community and activists protest permit for Plaquemines coal export terminal in Louisiana

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, Gulf Coast Coal Export Terminals, tagged , , , , on August 19, 2013 |

Residents and environmental activists in Plaquemines Parish, LA, filled the community center auditorium during Wednesday night’s permit hearing for the RAM coal export terminal proposed for the Lower Mississippi River just outside New Orleans.

Local residents turn up to a hearing on a proposed coal export terminal in Belle Chase, Louisiana. 120 strong compared to 12 the previous year.

Local residents turn up to a hearing on a proposed coal export terminal in Belle Chase, Louisiana. 120 strong compared to 12 the previous year.

Plaquemines Parish, a long strip of wetlands and small communities banked by the Mississippi, is already home to much industrial activity, including two coal export terminals, where coal sits in immense uncovered piles. Speakers at the hearing urged Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to deny a coastal use permit for a third coal export terminal for various reasons.

Speakers said the RAM terminal that Missouri-based Armstrong Energy has proposed would add to the coal-dust pollution that already burdens nearby communities, as well as bring train traffic to the area. They said the terminal would undermine state efforts to restore disappearing wetlands by employing the Myrtle Grove Sediment Diversion, a project, still in planning stages, to deposit river sediment in the wetlands.

They said coal exported through the terminal would contribute to climate change, pointing out that low-lying Plaquemines Parish and the entire New Orleans area are particularly vulnerable to the extreme weather and rising sea levels that global warming and climate disruption brings. They also pointed out that the community would be buying into a shaky financial proposition by allowing the coal terminal to be built, since Armstrong Energy is amid deep economic problems.

In response to pressure from Plaquemines residents, officials scheduled a second permit hearing for Thursday at 6 pm in Belle Chasse, Louisiana.

“I am definitely in opposition to this terminal,” said Plaquemines Parish Councilman Burghart Turner, who represents Ironton and Myrtle Grove, communities adjacent to the location proposed for the RAM terminal. “With the IMT (International Marine Terminals coal facility) already just south of the community of Ironton, and with this additional coal facility north of Ironton, we would be choking out that community,” he said, referring to the pollution from coal dust and other industrial sources that burden the area.

“The folks in the Pacific Northwest have already said ‘no’ to these types of coal terminals, because they know the problems they present,” said Devin Martin, an organizer for the Sierra Club who lives nearby in New Orleans. “The coal companies are looking to the Gulf of Mexico because they believe we’ll be an easy target. They believe our political leaders won’t stand up – that they’ll be happy to have a dirty industry in their neighborhood, that communities don’t have the kind of voice to stand up to these kinds of projects. But communities in the area are already overburdened with pollution from coal dust and other industrial activity, and they have spoken up repeatedly that they don’t want any development if they can’t be assured it won’t degrade the air, water and quality of life.”

During the hearing, Martin also presented 600 petitions gathered from Louisiana residents, pointing out that opposition to the RAM terminal is present throughout state.

“The financials for Armstrong Coal, the parent company for the RAM terminal, are extremely shaky,” said Hillary Corgey, a researcher for Public Citizen Texas. According to the company’s prospectus, she said, “Their debt increased from 2010 to 2011 from $139.8 million to $244.8 million, and their revenue plummeted from 2009 to 2011 from $10.4 million to $3.4 million. Armstrong’s bond rating is considered a junk bond. That is from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.”

In a joint letter submitted to the DNR during the hearing, state and national environmental groups urged the agency to deny the coastal use permit sought by Armstrong because the RAM terminal is in conflict with a state and federal program to build vital wetlands by depositing sediment from the Mississippi River.

The letter noted that the RAM Terminal could undermine the success of the Myrtle Grove Sediment Diversion by “polluting the water going into the wetlands” with coal and petcoke; both contain heavy metals, sulfides, and other toxic constituents that would harm aquatic species and impede the ability of marsh plants to take root in the newly restored wetlands.

The letter was signed by representatives from Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), Gulf Restoration Network, Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, Sierra Club and Public Citizen.

“Our position is that DNR must deny this permit, as it’s inconsistent with the state’s master plan for coastal restoration,” said Scott Eustis, a coastal wetlands specialist for the Gulf Restoration Network.

“The Myrtle Grove Sediment Diversion is a $300 million project, the state’s premier coastal restoration project. There have been years of planning and engineering and there will be at least five to 10 more years of planning. DNR cannot permit a ship terminal in the location where the engineer for the sediment diversion says a barge is inconsistent. DNR has a chance to stand up for coastal restoration. We think that they must.”

Under Louisiana state law, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) must find that the RAM terminal is consistent with the state’s coastal management plan before the DNR approves construction of the facility. The CPRA, which expressed concerns about the terminal’s impact on coastal management in 2012, has not yet altered that opinion to find the terminal consistent.

Read Full Post »

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, Climate Denier

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on August 13, 2013 |

Today, I had the privilege of addressing citizens in San Antonio, Texas that attended the Organizing for Action Climate Change Event at Congressman Lamar Smith’s office.  Here is a transcript of my speech:

“Congressman Lamar Smith, who chairs the House Committee on Science, has recently said he didn’t want to act on climate change because of ‘uncertainties on how much human activity is causing climate change’  He should hold hearings in Texas to hear from scientists and citizens about how the ‘uncertain climate’ is effecting his home state.

There is no longer any uncertainty over climate change. Ninety-seven percent of the credentialed scientists who have studied this issue recognize the clear linear relationship between increased carbon emissions and human activity

A blanket of carbon dioxide keeps our earth warm enough to live on, but when that blanket is thickened by carbon emitted by our power plants, factories, cars and trucks, the earth overheats, resulting in increased uncertainty for Texans due to more severe droughts, heat waves, wildfires, tornados and hurricanes.

The ‘uncertainty’ now centers on how much or how fast the climate will change.  No responsible scientist is saying we shouldn’t act now to reduce carbon.

Changing our energy sources is the fastest and cheapest way to do that. Two public utilities in the Congressman’s district, CPS and Austin Energy, are leading the nation in renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs that work, reduce carbon and costs.

Also, Congressman Smith should stop promoting the Keystone Pipeline and acknowledge that emissions from mining, refining and using this tar like substance are far more damaging than conventional crude, and will affect central Texans.

We ask Congressman Smith to hold hearings in Austin and San Antonio, away from the oil and coal company lobbyists of Washington, D.C., so his constituents and local scientists can tell him how climate change is creating uncertainty in their lives and livelihood.

As Congressman Smith’s fellow Republicans expressed in the New York Times Opinion Pages on August 1st, 2013, ‘The only uncertainty about our warming world is how bad the changes will get, and how soon.  What is most clear is that there is no time to waste.  Mr. Obama’s plan is just a start. More will be required. But we must continue our efforts to reduce the climate-altering pollutants that threaten our planet.'”

Unfortunately, similar speeches were having to be given at over 100 U.S. Represenatives and Senators offices today. Politians that are climate change deniers are out of the mainstream of both American thought and scientific fact. After the speeches were given, we presented Congressman Smith with a “Climate Change Denier Award.” This is one award that Rep. Smith, as well as the many others that recieved it, should not be proud of.

 

Read Full Post »

Keystone XL Will Create Only 2,000 Jobs Nationally

Posted in Global Warming, Jobs, tagged , , , , on August 1, 2013 |

President Obama’s Statement that Keystone XL Will Create 2,000 Jobs is Consistent with Cornell Study and State Department Analysis

In an interview with the New York Times July 27, 2013, President Obama asserted that construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would create approximately 2,000 jobs. The President’s claim is consistent with both the findings of the Cornell Global Labor Institute’s 2011 study on the job impacts of the project and the State Department’s latest assessment (SDEIS, March 2013).

“President Obama’s statement that the Keystone XL pipeline has relatively limited job creation potential is entirely correct,” said Sean Sweeney of the Cornell Global Labor Institute and co-author of the study. “TransCanada and the American Petroleum Institute have argued that the project will create tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of jobs, and our data revealed that these assertions were false and the job numbers highly inflated and based on flawed methodology. Cornell’s more careful and comprehensive study, as well as the State Department’s analysis, revealed that the construction of the pipeline will produce far fewer jobs than TransCanada has claimed – only about 2,000 direct construction jobs a year for the two-year life of the project.”

The Cornell report showed that the pipeline would create approximately 2,500 direct construction jobs per year over the two-year life of the project. This number was affirmed in March 2013 when the State Department used TransCanada’s own numbers to analyze the job impacts of the pipeline, based on the current project definition for Keystone XL (Canada to Steele City, NE plus two new pumping stations in KS). The State Department found that the project would employ 3,900 full-time workers for one year, or less than 2,000 workers per year, spread out over the expected two-year construction period. Nearly all of the jobs related to the project would last less than one year – 4 months, 6 months, or 8 months. Therefore, average annual employment is based on the number of construction workers multiplied by the construction period in weeks divided by 52 weeks in a year.  The President’s numbers were therefore correct.

Both Cornell’s and the State Department’s job assessments also found that only 10 – 15% of the construction workers would be hired locally – in the states where the pipeline is being constructed, and that the number of permanent jobs related to the project would be minimal – 35 permanent employees would be required for Keystone XL’s operation.

In addition to the direct construction jobs that would be created by the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, the Cornell Global Labor Institute also found that TransCanada significantly inflated the number of indirect and induced jobs that the project would create by inflating the overall project budget.  TransCanada has claimed it is a $7 billion project. It arrived at this number by including money that will be spent in Canada and funds that had already been spent in the U.S. at the time when its own commissioned study was released.

“A much smaller project budget means a lot less jobs,” says Lara Skinner, co-author of the Cornell study. “The U.S. is facing a serious unemployment problem and this problem should not be trivialized by TransCanada Corporation vastly overestimating the number of jobs that will be created by Keystone XL. I’m pleased that the President is aware of the actual job creation potential of the project, and recognizes that the minimal employment potential of the project should not be a determining factor in the decision to approve or disapprove Keystone XL.”

The Cornell Global Labor Institute study, Pipe Dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, is available here:
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globallaborinstitute/upload/GLI_KeystoneXL_012312_FIN.pdf

Ian Goodman and Brigid Rowan of the Goodman Group, Ltd., partnered with Sweeney and Skinner in the production of the Cornell report.

Read Full Post »

Ask Kerry to restart the Keystone environmental review process.

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , on July 30, 2013 |

This morning 29 environmental, religious and public interest groups released a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking him to restart the Keystone environmental review process, take action against the contractor ERM for lying on its conflict of interest disclosure form, and request a new Inspector General investigation.

Speak up to make sure that the current draft environmental review does not become the basis for his final decision.

Press release: Attached is a press release that has just been sent out. It’s also up on our website here. Please feel free to adapt and send it to your own contacts.

Letter to Kerry: A link can be found here.

Action Alert: If you have not already done so it would be great if you could write to Kerry reinforcing the call for the review to be tossed out and action taken against ERM.  Click here to take action.

Read Full Post »

Gina McCarthy confirmed as new head of EPA

Posted in Climate Change, Global Warming, tagged , , , , on July 18, 2013 |

 

Newly Confirmed EPA head, Gina McCarthy

Newly Confirmed EPA head, Gina McCarthy

The Senate approved Gina McCarthy to be the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency on a 59-40 vote Thursday, ending a lengthy battle over the post.

President Obama nominated Ms. McCarthy, a longtime top official of the EPA, to replace Lisa Jackson, who served in the post in the president’s first term. Republicans have complained both about the agency’s policies under Ms. Jackson and the transparency with which she deal with Congress.

Ms. McCarthy was the latest nominee of President Obama to be approved following a deal earlier this week to curb GOP filibusters of executive branch nominees.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »