NewsTrust - Pollution - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

America's Best Bike City: Portland, OR

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Bicycling - By Bill Donahue - May. 26 (Opinion) - Sit down, please, and take a deep belly breath now, for the truth is harsh: When a bicyclist pedals down toward the Willamette River, which divides Portland, Oregon, the waters do not part. The automobile traffic does not cease. Cars honk, and in a city obsessed with green transit, there are train rails—a gleaming cyclist’s nightmare—crisscrossing everywhere. And it rains. The sky is a brooding gray between October and May, and in winter the rain, falling as a fine, gentle mist, can be so cold that your gloves almost freeze on your handlebar. And as you near the river, you may find one of Portland’s five drawbridges raised high so a giant steel China-bound cargo ship can come churning through.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"What We Do to the Land, We Do to the People"-- May 24 West Virginia Direct Actions Against MTR

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Writing Corner - By Beth Wellington - May. 24 (Opinion) - As part of Mountain Justice Summer Action Camp taking place at the Appalachian South Folklife Center near Pipestem, WV, five members of Mountain Justice and RAMPS boarded a coal barge to protest the destruction of mountains in West Virginia through Mountaintop removal, while other members and their fellow concerned activists blocked coal transport at approximately 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 24.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Green Politics

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Green Party Newsletter - Mar. 09 (Opinion) - The article on the Riverview Gardens School District in St. Louis, along with the discussion of recent events in Wisconsin, form a pattern on how public employees are scapegoats for the ills of the present economic system. Unions are notably pressured to give up more of workers' benefits and rights. This is discussed in the interview with Paul Pechter, where he feared that the attacks on unions would be successful, and lamented the failed strategy and tactics of the unions in the past.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

League of Conservation Voters: George Allen Named to Dirty Dozen

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

action.lcv.org - Feb. 10 (Press Release) - Former Virginia Senator George Allen earned an abysmal 1% LCV lifetime score during his time in the Senate. Additionally, Allen has received nearly $500,000 from oil and gas interests. This is Allen's 3rd time on the Dirty Dozen, having been named to the list in 2000 and 2006.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Smog v. Jobs: Is Obama Admin Endangering U.S. Environment, Public Health With Retreat on Smog Standards?

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Sep. 07 (Interview) - As the nation headed into Labor Day weekend, the Obama administration quietly asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw a plan to limit smog pollution that was projected to prevent 2,200 heart attacks and 23,000 asthma attacks annually. Obama said he made the decision in hopes of reducing regulatory burdens for businesses in a time of economic uncertainty. The move was seen as a major victory for polluters and some business leaders, and another setback for environmentalists. We host a debate with John Walke, the Clean Air Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council; and Dr. Roger McClellan, adjunct professor at the Duke University Medical Center and past chairman of the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

NewsTrust Rating: 3.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Impact of Gulf Spill Persists

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Robert Redford - Apr. 23 (Opinion) - 'In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon blowout last year, BP repeatedly misled the public about how much oil was spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as we mark the one-year anniversary of the blowout, company executives would like us to believe that the spill has been cleaned up and the Gulf of Mexico is back to normal. The people who actually live along the Gulf Coast tell us something different. In a powerful new documentary airing on Saturday on Planet Green called 'Stories From the Gulf,' residents make it clear they are still suffering the aftermath of the largest oil spill in American history.' Robert Redford, Reader Supported News

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

PA Government Official Compares Oscar-nominated Film 'Gasland' to Nazi Propaganda

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Josh Fox - Mar. 20 (Opinion) - This week, Teddy Borawski, the chief oil and gas geologist for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and a member of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett's administration, serving in an official capacity, and on the record, compared my Sundance award-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary film GASLAND to Nazi propaganda stating "Goebbels would be proud." The slander was the latest in a series of smears and misinformation about the film and character attacks on me.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Leaked EPA Documents Expose Decades-Old Effort to Hide Dangers of Natural Gas Extraction

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Mar. 04 (Interview) - Efforts by lawmakers and regulators to force the federal government to better police the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," have been thwarted for the past 25 years, according to an exposÃ© in the _New York Times_. Studies by scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on fracking have been repeatedly narrowed in scope by superiors, and important findings have been removed under pressure from the industry. The news comes as the EPA is conducting a broad study of the risks of natural gas drilling with preliminary results scheduled to be delivered next year. Joining us is Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, a firm that tracks environmental spills and releases across the country, based in Ithaca, New York, where fracking is currently taking place.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Kochs Vs. Mainstreet: the Right-Wing Billionaires' Open War on Everyday Americans

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - Mar. 02 (Opinion) - Koch Industries, the private company of the billionaire Koch brothers Charles and David, is an oil and gas, chemicals, cattle, forestry, and synthetics giant -- and also a major force for punishing Main Street Americans. Charles and David Koch (pronounced "coke") have directed many millions of their shared $43 billion net worth into a vast propaganda machine that's corrupting American politics in order to reward their pollution-based enterprise.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Full Cost of Coal $500 Billion/Year in U.S., Harvard Study Finds

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Clean Technica - By Mark Tyler - Feb. 17 (Opinion) - The Harvard paper estimates that “the life cycle effects of coal and the waste stream generated are costing the U.S. public a third to over one-half of a trillion dollars annually.”

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Gulf of Mexico is Dying

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Global Research - By Dr. Tom Termotto - Dec. 30 (Editorial) - It is with deep regret that we publish this report. We do not take this responsibility lightly, as the consequences of the following observations are of such great import and have such far-reaching ramifications for the entire planet. Truly, the fate of the oceans of the world hangs in the balance, as does the future of humankind.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours" - The Explosion That Killed 11 Workers and Led to the Worst Oil Spill in U.S. History

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By David Barstow, Amy Goodman - Dec. 30 (Interview) - It has been eight months since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Eleven workers were killed and more than 200 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. A major investigation by _The New York Times_ takes an in-depth look into how explosion occurred. Based on interviews with 21 crewmembers and testimony from 94 others, the investigation concludes every single one of the rig’s defenses failed. We speak with Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist David Barstow.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Next Crash Will Be Ecological - and Nature Doesn't Do Bailouts

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Johann Hari - Nov. 26 (Opinion) - Why are the world's governments bothering? Why are they jetting to Cancun next week to discuss what to do now about global warming? The vogue has passed. The fad has faded. Global warming is yesterday's apocalypse. Didn't somebody leak an email that showed it was all made up? Doesn't it sometimes snow in the winter? Didn't Al Gore get fat, or molest a masseur, or something?

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Author and Activist Derrick Jensen: "The Dominant Culture is Killing the Planet...It's Very Important for Us to Start to Build a Culture of Resistance"

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Derrick Jensen, Amy Goodman - Nov. 15 (Interview) - we can argue about whether, you know, there will be a few bacteria left or whatever, but when 90 percent of the large fish in the oceans are gone, when there’s six to ten times as much plastic as phytoplankton in parts of the ocean, when there’s dioxin in every mother’s breast milk, when background rates—or rates of extinction are a thousand to ten thousand times background rates, you know, it’s sort of just playing with numbers to talk about whether it’s killing the planet or simply mortally wounding it. And I think it’s very important for us to start to build a culture of resistance, because what we’re doing isn’t working, clearly.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Invasion of the Democracy Crushers: Oil Industry Monsters Work to Destroy the Planet

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Rebecca Solnit - Oct. 25 (Opinion) - Oil industry monsters from Texas are preying on California, pumping money into a campaign that would kill the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Environmental Groups Confront Oil Industry-Backed Attempt to Repeal California's Landmark Emissions Law in Prop 23

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Michael Brune, Rebecca Tarbotton - Oct. 14 (Interview) - We turn to Proposition 23, a ballot initiative that would effectively repeal California's landmark global-warming emissions law. Two Texas oil companies with refineries in California, the Valerio and Tesoro corporations, launched a campaign to suspend implementation of the law until state unemployment falls to 5.5 percent for at least one year. We speak to the leaders of two environmental organizations opposed to Proposition 23, Michael Brune of Sierra Club and Rebecca Tarbotton of Rainforest Action Network.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"Not an Incidental Public Relations Problem"

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Kate Sheppard - Oct. 06 (Opinion) - The Obama administration mislead the public about the size of BP's spill and misrepresented a report about how much oil remained in the Gulf following clean-up efforts, according to one of four staff reports released today by the National Oil Spill Commission, the panel convened by the President to investigate the disaster. According to the report, the White House also deliberately kept a worst-case scenario estimate under wraps, despite a federal agency's request to make the information public.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Gulf Oil Spill's Worst-Hit Victims (Hint: You Can't See Them)

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Sara Yin, Julia Whitty - Aug. 12 (Review) - We've all seen the heartbreaking photos of oil-drenched whales, dolphins, seals and other sunlit wildlife affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill, but few of us are privy to a part of the ocean most affected worst: a massive community of living creatures living thousands of feet below the surface, known as the deep scattering layer (DSL).

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

New Outrages Keep Gushing From BP

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

truth-out.org - By Jim Hightower - Aug. 11 (Opinion) - With BP's well capped and CEO Tony Hayward exiled to Russia, perhaps you thought that surely there will be no additional revelations about BP to enrage you. But now comes this: prison labor. In its national PR blitz to buff up its image, the oil giant has loudly been boasting that it has hired devastated, out-of-work local people to handle the clean-up. Many have been hired, but the people themselves say not nearly enough. The Nation magazine now reports a big reason for the shortfall -- BP has been using inmates to do much of the shoveling

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Oil Spill Miracle?

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Dissident Voice - By Arshad M. Khan - Aug. 09 (Opinion) - So where is the oil? Yes, some has been captured and some skimmed off, but past experience indicates that still vast quantities remain below the surface. How soon natural bacteria can decompose it remains conjecture.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Environmental Activist Jerry Cope on "The Crime of the Century: What BP and U.S. Government Don't Want You to Know"

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Jerry Cope - Aug. 04 (Interview) - Environmental activist Jerry Cope has spent the last few weeks traveling along the Gulf Coast and experiencing first-hand the contamination in the air and water. In an article being published on Huffington Post, Cope argues that instead of celebrating the allegedly vanishing oil, we should be concerned about the disappearance of marine life in the Gulf. He describes the Gulf as a "kill zone" and looks into where the marine animals have gone given that BP has reported a relatively low number of dead animals from the spill.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Antonia Juhasz: BP's "Missing Oil" Washes up in St. Mary's Parish, LA

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Antonia Juhasz - Aug. 04 (Interview) - We speak with independent journalist Anotnia Juhasz who is just back from Louisiana where she found what she calls some of BP's "missing oil" - on the wetlands and beaches along the waterways near St. Mary's Parish, where no one is booming, cleaning, skimming, or watching.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Story of Cosmetics

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The Story of Stuff - By Annie Leonard - Jul. 22 (Advocacy) - Examines the pervasive use of toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo. The Story of Stuff Project reveals the implications for consumer and worker heal th and the environment, and outlines ways we can move the industry away from hazardous chemicals and towards safer alternative

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

ProPublica: BP Texas Refinery Had Huge Toxic Release Just Before Gulf Blowout

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Ryan Knutson, Amy Goodman, San Juan Gonzalez - Jul. 09 (Interview) - Just over three months ago, thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals begin spewing into the skies from BP’s massive oil refinery in Texas City...BP now estimates 538,000 pounds of chemicals escaped from the refinery over a 40-day period.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Indigenous Groups Lead Struggle Against Canada's Tar Sands

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Mike Burke, Clayton Thomas-Muller - Jun. 25 (Interview) - A group of lawmakers are calling on the Obama administration to take a closer look at the significant environmental impacts of a proposed massive pipeline that would carry Canadian tar sands oil 2,000 miles from northern Alberta all the way down to refineries in Texas and tankers off the Gulf Coast. Tar sands mining emits three times more greenhouse gas pollution than traditional oil and has come under heavy criticism from environmental and indigenous groups. Democracy Now!'s Mike Burke speaks to Clayton Thomas-Müller, a Canadian indigenous activist with the Indigenous Environmental Network.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer