By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in New Orleans granted final approval on Monday to the terms of a civil settlement agreement with British Petroleum for its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and disaster that killed 11 workers and dumped 4.9 million barrels or 210 million gallons…
ENVIRONMENT
Rising Seas Could Inundate Coastal Cities Sooner Than Previously Thought
By Christina Procopiou – Boston and other coastal cities may want to batten down the hatches. A new study from climate scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Pennsylvania State University warns estimates of future sea level rise may be significantly underestimated. The real picture 100 to 500 years from now, they claim, will…
Protesters Crash the Super Dome and Shut Down Gulf Oil Lease Sale
Watch police clash with protesters in this original video. – By Glynn Wilson – NEW ORLEANS, La. — About 200 environmental activists from across the county marched from City Hall to the Super Dome here Wednesday and crashed an oil lease sale meeting trying to open up another 43 million acres to drilling in the…
Africatown Residents Won’t Let City of Mobile Pull an ‘Okey-Doke’ With Proposed Storage Tank Ordinance
Will the City Government Side With the People or Industry? By Joe Womack – The “okey-doke,” as defined by Urban Dictionary and Africatown folklore means to pull the wool over your opposition’s eyes, to outsmart your opposition, to say one thing and mean another or to gain the upper hand by using trickery. President George…
Water Rises Against Drilling Leases — Demonstration in New Orleans March 23
For info about the March 23 demonstration at the lease sale and about related activities go to nonewleases.org. By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Between beginnings and endings comes water. You are mostly water. Remove it and only a sift of ash and grit remains. Look at yourself.…
U.S. Park Service Escalates Battle Over Yosemite Trademark Names With Delaware North
Click here to help save America’s National Parks From Privatization By Glynn Wilson – The National Park Service is escalating its legal battle with private contractor Delaware North over Yosemite National Park historic, trademark names. The Park Service, under the Department of the Interior, has taken the offensive by formally urging the Trademark Trial and…
Federal Judge Blocks Use of BP Restoration Money for Gulf State Park Lodge and Conference Center
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge here ruled against the state of Alabama and for the Gulf Restoration Network on Tuesday and blocked the use of early BP restoration funds for the construction of a lodge and conference center on the Gulf State Park beach in Gulf Shores. U.S. District Judge…
Earth’s Climate May Benefit From Justice Scalia’s Death
By Glynn Wilson – The death of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, may be the best thing to happen for the future of the planet than anything since the national Sierra Club and 350.org convinced President Obama to take on climate change due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels…
President Obama Proposes Boost in Funding for National Parks on 100th Anniversary
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama released his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2017 on Tuesday, calling for significant increases in funding for the National Park Service as the agency celebrates its centennial year. “The president’s proposed budget, which significantly increases funding for national parks, further shows the president’s commitment to protecting and restoring…
Climate Scientists Issue Dramatic Statement on What Earth Will Look Like in 10,000 Years
By Glynn Wilson – A significant group of climate scientists issued a dramatic editorial statement in the journal Nature Climate Change this week on the effects of human induced global warming from the burning of fossil fuels. They make the argument that we are making a mistake to only think about the effects of global…
Zika Outbreak Highlights America’s Vulnerabilities
By Edgar Wilson – America has another chance to learn from developing regions threatened by a dangerous virus. The mosquito-borne Zika virus, normally found across central Africa and Southeast Asia, has been turning up in more and more countries throughout the Americas, with its biggest footprint in Brazil. In roughly three-quarters of all cases, Zika…
Judge Grills Alabama Lawyers on Lack of Alternatives to Spending BP Environmental Restoration Money for Gulf Shores Hotel
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge grilled lawyers here Tuesday about the questionable legality of a plan put forward by the administration of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to use BP oil spill environmental restoration money for economic development to build a hotel and convention center on the state park beach in…
Obama Administration Files Formal Complaint Against Volkswagen in Federal Court for Blatant Clean Air Act Violations
WASHINGTON (NAJ) – The Obama administration filed its civil case in federal court against Volkswagen and its subsidiaries on Monday documenting multiple, willful violations of the Clean Air Act due to the company blatantly faking clean emissions tests and high gas mileage in its diesel automobiles sold to the public as clean and fuel efficient…
Bentley Administration Stalls Federal Court in Gulf State Park Convention Center Lawsuit
Environmental Group Pushes for Expedited Oral Arguments – By Glynn Wilson – The Bentley administration is stalling in federal court by opposing expedited oral arguments in a lawsuit filed against the proposed use of $58 million in BP oil settlement money — designated to restore the Gulf eco-system — to build a hotel and convention…
Scrooge Stuffs Your Stocking — Alabama Governor Gives a Wad of Glop
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. â You must have been naughty children. Although you didn’t get a lump of coal in your stocking, you got a wad of glop. It’s your present from Alabama governor Robert Bentley, often confused with creepy Mr Burns in The Simpsons show. But that’s only because of their eerily…
Paris Climate Agreement Deals a Crushing Blow to Coal
By Paul Brown – LONDON — After a decade of aggressive growth in demand, the market for coal has stalled and is unlikely to recover, according to the International Energy Agency. Its report on the medium-term coal market says that demand in China — which uses 50 percent of the world’s coal — has begun…
The Republican Clown Car Threatens to Pollute the Paris Climate Deal
Nearly 200 countries agreed to save the planet, but the Republicans have a different idea. By Ben Adler – Republicans didn’t even wait for a global climate change deal to be struck in Paris to start trying to undermine it. Last month, congressional Republicans were loudly discouraging other nations from signing onto any agreement, arguing…
Forty Years Later, Vietnam War Continues for Victims of Agent Orange
By Marjorie Cohn – The war in Vietnam resulted in the deaths of more than 58,000 Americans and more than 3 million Vietnamese. Twenty years ago, the United States and Vietnam normalized diplomatic relations in an effort to put the terrible legacy of the war behind them. But for the survivors—both Vietnamese and American—the war…
Anticlimax at Climate Conference: Paris Glitters and Leaves the Work to the Gritty
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the Paris climate conference just built an eight-lane freeway to Hades. Leaders and nerds from 195 countries sifted through separate plans for saving the species from itself and tried to meld them into an agreed text about shrinking…
Apocalyptic Capitalism: Why the Paris Climate Summit Will Fail
By Chris Hedges – The charade of the 21st United Nations climate summit will end, as past climate summits have ended, with lofty rhetoric and ineffectual cosmetic reforms. Since the first summit more than 20 years ago, carbon dioxide emissions have soared. Placing faith in our political and economic elites, who have mastered the arts…