Environmental protection

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Violations Point to Widespread Unlawful Stream Destruction; TECO Coal and Appolo Fuels to Pay for Illegal Mining

May 6, 2009 -- Eastern Tennessee & Eastern Kentucky - Sierra Club, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC), Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) and Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN) today announced two settlements over separate legal claims against coal companies that operated mountaintop removal coal mines without permits.

Appolo Fuels, Inc. will pay for having destroyed streams at its Jellico mine site in Claiborne County, Tennessee. TECO Coal and subsidiary Clintwood Elkhorn will pay for its illegal coal mining practices in Pike County, Kentucky.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 05/06/2009 - Jane Danowitz, U.S. public lands program director at the Pew Environment Group, today issued the following statement on a decision by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management to authorize eight uranium mine exploration operations adjacent to the Grand Canyon National Park.

Mining on public land surrounding the park is permitted under the nation’s 1872 mining law, which allows the mining industry access to more than 350 million acres of public lands across the West. Last June, in response to vast increases in claims-staking near the Grand Canyon, the House Natural Resources Committee called for 1 million acres of public lands to be withdrawn from new mining claims.    » read more »

Educates public about safer, greener vehicles and better maintenance

April 22, 2009 LAWRENCE TWP. – Commemorating the 39th anniversary of Earth Day, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine, joined by Motor Vehicle Commission Chief Administrator Sharon A. Harrington and Department of Environmental Protection Acting Commissioner Mark N. Mauriello, kicked off NJ Inspections: Making the Garden State Safer and Greener. The joint agency partnership aims to educate the public about the safety and environmental benefits of the state's motor vehicle inspection program.    » read more »

Highlights Role of Partnerships in Conservation

March 19, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released the first ever comprehensive report on bird populations in the United States, showing that nearly a third of the nation’s 800 bird species are endangered, threatened or in significant decline due to habitat loss, invasive species, and other threats.

At the same time, the report highlights examples, including many species of waterfowl, where habitat restoration and conservation have reversed previous declines, offering hope that it is not too late to take action to save declining populations.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 03/18/2009 - As the first round of the NCAA national basketball tournament prepares to tip off tomorrow, the Pew Environment Group launched a new ad campaign that appeals to President Barack Obama’s affinity for the sport by calling for a “time out” on new road building in undeveloped national forests.

A bipartisan group of 25 U.S Senators and 121 U.S. House members this week also asked the Obama administration to suspend industrial activity in the nation’s remaining wild forests until they can be permanently protected.    » read more »

Reverses Bush Administration Rule on Solid Waste

WASHINGTON (March 5, 2009) -- A bill introduced yesterday would reverse a Bush administration regulation that re-classified a host of solid waste materials, including mining wastes, as “fill.” This authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to permit those wastes to be dumped in waterways around the country. Joined by 114 members in the House of Representatives, Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), David Reichert (R-Wash.), and John Yarmuth (D-KY) introduced the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310), a bill that would prevent the use of streams, lakes, and ponds as solid waste dumps.    » read more »

Kentucky Native Joins Sierra Club to Ask Obama Administration to End the Destruction

March 4, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. Film star Ashley Judd has teamed up with the Sierra Club to help stop mountaintop removal coal mining. With a new personal letter, video and online “take-action,” Ashley Judd is asking the Obama Administration to step in and protect the mountains, streams and people of Appalachia.

“I grew up in Eastern Kentucky, and like so many Appalachians, just seeing our beautiful mountains and valleys tells me I am home,” says Judd in the letter. “Our mountains are our heritage and our legacy to future generations. But big coal companies are using explosives to literally blow the tops off the mountains, extract the coal and destroy Appalachia.”    » read more »

PHILADELPHIA, June 24, 2008 -- The Delaware Estuary has been selected by EPA as one of six estuaries to be case studies for local action to protect sensitive coastal ecosystems and economies from the potential effects of climate change. This is the first step in EPA’s new “Climate Ready Estuaries” effort to build local ability to adapt to climate change.

“EPA’s Climate Ready Estuaries work will help coastal communities understand and adapt to climate change,” said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. “Our aim is to build capacity for local decision makers and resource managers to help take pro-active, practical steps for bays at risk.”    » read more »

06/24/2008 -- For the 13th straight year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is recognizing chemical technologies developed by leading researchers and industrial innovators that are making significant contributions to pollution prevention in the United States. The awards will be given out this evening, June 24, at the awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards are given in five categories: Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions and Designing Greener Chemicals. The 2008 award-winner technologies are:

* A novel method to make complex molecules cleanly and efficiently developed by Professors Robert E. Maleczka, Jr. and Milton R. Smith, III of Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich.    » read more »

Kansas City, Kan., June 23, 2008 -- EPA Region 7 is dispatching two three-person water emergency response groups to Iowa to assist the Iowa Department of Natural Resources with assessing public water treatment facilities damaged in the Iowa floods.

EPA groups will provide technical expertise to assist communities in assessing the need for repair of local drinking water systems and wastewater systems.

The teams will work directly with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to provide technical assessments. The technical assessments allow IDNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide assistance to communities with repairs to their water treatment systems.

EPA groups will be working with the IDNR field offices in Manchester and Washington.    » read more »

Kansas City, Kan., June 23, 2008 -- Flood water samples taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency within the city limits of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Hamburg, and Burlington, Iowa, showed numbers of fecal coliform bacteria exceeding the health-based level of concern. The level of concern is 200 colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliliters (ml). The sampling results ranged between 270 cfu/100 ml and 68,000 cfu/100 ml. The highest end of the range was found only in the Cedar Rapids area and it is believed to be associated with the fact that the wastewater treatment plant is not operating.    » read more »

PHILADELPHIA, June 23, 2008 -- To protect our nation’s water supply for future use, the Environmental Protection Agency is promoting and enhancing the market for water efficient products through the WaterSense program. The latest is a draft specification for water-efficient new single-family homes. The specification will create standards that new homes must meet to be certified and labeled as WaterSense homes.

“WaterSense is a common sense ethic of efficiency for protecting water, America’s most important liquid asset. WaterSense certified homes will help homeowners save water, money and energy, and communities will have an important new tool for sustainable growth and water efficiency,” said Donald S. Welsh, regional administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.    » read more »

Boston, Mass., June 23, 2008 -- The pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay a $975,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at its former manufacturing plant in Groton, Conn., the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. Today’s settlement is the first of its type in federal court under regulations that are designed to control the emissions of hazardous air pollutants from pharmaceutical manufacturing operations.    » read more »

New York, N.Y., 06/23/2008 -- A momentous agreement between EPA, Occidental Chemical and Tierra Solutions calls for the most significant removal of contaminated material from the Passaic in history. The settlement, announced today at a park overlooking the river, involves the removal of nearly half of the dioxin that has contaminated sediment in the Passaic. It requires Occidental and Tierra Solutions to remove 200,000 cubic yards of dioxin-laden material from the portion of the river directly in front of the Diamond Alkali Superfund site in downtown Newark.    » read more »

Alaska Governor Pledges to Work for Conservation

May 14, 2008, Anchorage, Alaska – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced its decision today to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne called Alaska Governor Sarah Palin this morning to inform her of the USFWS decision, and assured her that oil and gas developments are not to blame.

Polar bear, Alaska: Photo by AlaskaPodshow.com (CC)    » read more »