Politics & Policy
Environmental Auditors Approve Green Labels for Products Linked to Deforestation and Authoritarian Regimes
Major environmental auditing firms ignore or fail to recognize glaring environmental damage caused by loggers and other clients whose practices they certify as sustainable, undercutting an elaborate global system meant to fight forest destruction and climate change. With alarming frequency, the auditors and so-called certification firms validate products linked to deforestation, logging in conflict zones […]
Read MoreActivists Make Final Appeal to Biden to Block Arctic Oil Project
Environmental and Indigenous activists rallied outside the White House on Friday calling on President Joe Biden to reject a major Arctic oil project that has been in development for years. The Biden administration is expected to make a final decision on the proposal as soon as next week, and environmental groups have been framing it […]
Read MoreLawmakers Urge Biden Administration to Permanently Ban Rail Shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas
Seven members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation have urged the U.S. Department of Transportation to permanently ban shipments of liquefied natural gas by rail, arguing that a plan to ship the highly explosive fuel through their districts to a proposed export terminal in New Jersey poses the risk of “catastrophic impacts.’’ The Biden administration had ordered […]
Read MoreJimmy Carter Signed 14 Major Environmental Bills and Foresaw the Threat of Climate Change
From “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life” by Jonathan Alter. Copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Alter. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. This year’s wildfires and hurricanes leave no doubt that climate change remains a key issue for a growing number of Americans despite the nation’s deeply polarized politics, as numerous polls […]
Read MoreIn Pennsylvania, Home to the Nation’s First Oil Well, Environmental Activists Stage a ‘People’s Filibuster’ at the Bustling State Capitol
HARRISBURG, Pa.—In the East Wing of the ornate Pennsylvania State Capitol, Karen Feridun stood at a simple podium and read an essay aloud as part of what she and other environmental activists were calling a “People’s Filibuster.” “We are here to remind you that you serve us, not the fossil fuel industry,” Feridun read into […]
Read MoreAs Emissions From Agriculture Rise and Climate Change Batters American Farms, Congress Tackles the Farm Bill
When Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) took to the stage at a recent conference in Washington, he made an urgent plea—a call for transformation that he framed as a moonshot. “They thought Martin Luther King was a dreamer,” Booker said. “They thought all the great activists were dreamers. We are dreamers, yes. But that’s what this […]
Read MoreA Long-Sought Loss and Damage Deal Was Finalized at COP27. Now, the Hard Work Begins
Three months after delegates at COP27 drafted an outline for a loss and damage deal under which rich, developed nations would compensate developing countries for permanent and irreversible climate impacts, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is taking some first concrete steps to flesh out the agreement. In the past few days, the […]
Read MoreAfter Criticism, Gas Industry Official Withdraws as Candidate for Maryland’s Public Service Commission
A gas industry executive nominated by Gov. Wes Moore to serve on the Maryland Public Service Commission withdrew his candidacy on Tuesday after environmentalists questioned his commitment to fighting climate change and protecting ratepayers’ interests while regulating gas and electric utilities. Juan Alvarado, the senior director of energy analysis at the American Gas Association—the biggest […]
Read MoreEPA Paused Waste Shipments From Ohio Train Derailment After Texas Uproar
Last week in Houston, politicians protested indignantly as news emerged that hazardous waste from the East Palestine, Ohio, trail derailment was traveling to their city for disposal. Trucks were carrying toxic wastewater more than 1,300 miles from eastern Ohio to inject it underground at the Texas Molecular facility in Deer Park, on the edge of […]
Read MoreDrifting Toward Disaster: Breaking the Brazos
This is Part 2 of Drifting Toward Disaster, a Texas Observer series about life-changing challenges facing Texans and their rivers. For Part 1, see “The Second Rio Grande.” Sign up for the TXO weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Mastodon. Few rivers can claim as strong a connection to Texas’ natural and […]
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