MARIANNE LAVELLE – These efforts are mostly flying under the radar, but they could short-circuit lawsuits and make it harder to restore environmental protections.
Category: Big Picture
‘Fossil Fuels are Dead,’ Says CSX Railroad Chief: No More New Trains for Coal, Ever
JOHN VOELCKER – The industrial revolution that began around 1750 was powered in large part by coal, and the carbon-rich fuel had 200 good years after that. By the middle of the last century, however, serious studies had begun of its deleterious effects on human health—and that was before the climate-change impact of human emissions of carbon dioxide became known. Transportation will slowly electrify over the coming decades, while coal’s share of electric power generation will wane worldwide.
The Ethics and Politics of Nuclear Waste are Being Tested in Southern California
JAMES HEDDLE – In the US, as more and more energy reactors are being shut down and are entering the decommissioning process, the overriding question is becoming unavoidable at reactor communities across the country: What do we do with all these decades of tons of accumulated radwaste now being stored on-site? Each canister contains a Chernobyl’s-worth of cesium; each cooling pool, hundreds more.
Ohio’s War On Wind Power Is Costing It Billions Of Dollars & Thousands Of Jobs
HARVEY WASSERMAN – In the corporate war against renewable energy, a single Ohio regulation stands out. It is a simple clause slipped into the state budget without open discussion, floor debate, or public hearings. The restriction is costing Ohio billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
The U.S. State of War – July 2017
Businesses Urge Interior Dept. to Preserve Public Lands
ERIC TEGETHOFF – Public lands provide a major economic boost to local communities in Oregon. That’s the view of groups that support the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument being kept as it is, as the U.S. Interior Department reviews its status.
China Firmly Opposes U.S. Arms Sale to Taiwan
MU XUEQUAN – China firmly opposes the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan and urges the United States to immediately revoke its decision, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy here said Friday, June 30
Pruitt Will Launch Program to ‘Critique’ Climate Science
EMILY HOLDEN – U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is leading a formal initiative to challenge mainstream climate science using a “back-and-forth critique” by government-recruited experts, according to a senior administration official. The program will use “red team, blue team” exercises to conduct an “at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science,” the official said, referring to a concept developed by the military to identify vulnerabilities in field operations.
Subcommittee Passes Bill to Make Yucca Mountain the U.S. Nuclear Repository
CRAIG FIEGENER and MARVIN CLEMONS – Despite Nevada protests against it, a measure to make Yucca Mountain the nation’s nuclear waste repository advanced in a congressional subcommittee Thursday morning.
Lockheed Martin-Funded Experts Agree: South Korea Needs More Lockheed Martin Missiles
ADAM JOHNSON – As tensions between the United States and North Korea continue to rise, one think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), has become a ubiquitous voice on the topic of missile defense, providing Official-Sounding Quotes to dozens of reporters in Western media outlets. All of these quotes speak to the urgent threat of North Korea and how important the United States’s deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system is to South Korea.
Tunnel Collapse at Hanford Nuclear Dump-Harbinger of the Collapse of the Entire Industry?
HARVEY WASSERMAN – The collapse of a tunnel at the massive nuclear waste dump at Hanford, Washington, 200 miles east of Seattle, has sent shock waves through a nuclear power industry already in the process of a global collapse.
Cherokee Nation Lawsuit Holds Drug Distributors Accountable for Opioid Diversion
KARLA JO HELMS – Prescription opioid overdose deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives have increased nearly four-fold since 1999. Novus Medical Detox Center believes a new Cherokee Nation lawsuit against opioid distributors may be the first of many.
Oil Price Collapse is ‘Permanent’; Analyst Says Fossil Fuel has had Its Day
JILLIAN AMBROSE – The latest collapse of the oil market is the harbinger of a global energy revolution which could spell the end-game for fossil fuels. These theories were laughable less than a decade ago when oil prices grazed highs of more than $140 a barrel. But the burn out of the oil industry is approaching quicker than was first thought, and the most senior leaders within the industry are beginning to take note.
Trump’s Climate Demands Roil U.S. Allies
ANDREW RESTUCCIA – President Donald Trump’s abrupt turnaround on U.S. climate policy is fueling tension with several of America’s closest allies, which are resisting the administration’s demands that they support a bigger role for nuclear power and fossil fuels in the world’s energy supply.
The Potential of an “Oregon Climate Test”
ERIC DE PLACE – After a string of successes defending the Northwest from ill-conceived dirty energy projects, the thin green line—the Northwest’s opposition movement to coal, oil, and gas exports—is starting to play offense. Local governments around the region are already updating land use laws to protect their communities from the depredations of fossil fuel infrastructure schemes.
The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump, a Political Hot Potato, is Back
TOM DICHRISTOPHER – The White House’s budget blueprint released Thursday seeks to revive spending for a hotly contested facility in Nevada that would store the nation’s nuclear waste.
U.S. Prepares for War in Korea
BRUCE GAGNON – South Korea and the US launched their annual Key Resolve military exercise Monday, which involves scenarios for the employment of US anti-missile assets and special warfare forces tasked with removing North Korea’s leadership in a contingency.
Arizona Leader Kills Protest Bill after Widespread Criticism
BOB CHRISTIE – The speaker of the Arizona House said Monday he won’t hear a bill that makes participating in or helping organize a protest that turns into a riot an offense that could lead to criminal racketeering charges, a move prompted by widespread criticism that the legislation sought to limit First Amendment rights.
NW Ratepayers Will Save Over $250 Million if Columbia Generating Station Nuclear Power Plant Replaced with Renewables
OREGON AND WASHINGTON PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY – Portland utility economist Robert McCullough’s study indicates savings to Northwest ratepayers of between $261.2 million and $530.7 million over ten years if the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant is closed and replaced with clean renewable energy alternatives.
Dutch Bank Will Not Pursue Future Business With Energy Transfer Equity due to the Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline
WAKINYAN WAANATAN (MATT REMLE – LAKOTA) – ABN AMRO Bank based in Amsterdam released a statement strongly condemning Energy Transfer Equity (ETE), the parent company to Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), over the Dakota Access pipeline. While the Dutch based bank is not involved in financing the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, and is not a direct lender to the project sponsors, it does have a finical relationship with ETE.
Cherokee Nation Wins Restraining Order to Prevent Radwaste Disposal Near Local Rivers
ANADISGOI, OFFICIAL CHREOKEE NATION NEWSROOM – The Cherokee Nation and state of Oklahoma jointly filed and were granted a restraining order today against Sequoyah Fuels Corporation near Gore to stop the company from disposing radioactive waste near the Arkansas and Illinois rivers. The request was granted by Sequoyah County District Judge Jeff Payton.
Gorbachev Urges Trump and Putin to Introduce UN Resolution Banning Nuclear War
DAVID CAPLAN – Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has issued a dire warning: “The world is preparing for war.” And with a phone call scheduled on Saturday between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gorbachev is urging the leaders to put a halt to a such a deadly path by spearheading a United Nations resolution that essentially bans nuclear war.
Chinese Billionaire Says US Wasted Trillions on Wars and Wall Street
LAUREN MCCAULEY – “In the past 30 years, America had 13 wars spending $2 trillion,” said Alibaba founder Jack Ma. “What if the money was spent on the Midwest of the United States?” Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma accused the United States of spending too much money on foreign wars and risky financial speculation and not enough money “on your own people.”
We’re There! Renewables Now Cheapest Unsubsidized Electricity in U.S.
STEPHEN EDELSTEIN – Over the past few years, the cost of electricity generation from renewable-energy sources has decreased dramatically. So much so, that renewable energy may have just hit an important milestone, according to one study. In the U.S., wind and solar power are now cheaper sources of electricity than natural gas—even without subsidies.
Climate-Change Effects Happening Faster Than Expected
ERIC TEGETHOFF – Many of the effects of climate change scientists did not expect to happen for decades into the future are happening now. According to a new study in the journal Science, researchers found that every ecosystem on Earth is being impacted by a warming globe, from the genetic level up.
Détente Now: A New Call for Peace, Security, and Cooperation
GILBERT DOCTOROW, UTE FINCKH-KRAMER, LUDGER VOLMER, ROLF EKEUS and NOAM CHOMSKY – A transatlantic appeal for a new policy of détente with Russia has been launched. The declaration’s authors invite the general public to join leading political figures and social activists who have publicly rallied to support the call.
Congress Must Drain the Swamp, Not Clog the Drain
PRESS RELEASE, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY – Congress must take the shackles off of federal agencies trying to drain the Washington swamp and fix government, nine newly elected members of Congress told their future colleagues in a letter circulated November 28..
Governor Kate Brown, West Coast Leaders Reaffirm Commitment to Climate Action
NEWS RELEASE, OFFICE OF GOVERNOR KATE BROWN – Oregon Governor Kate Brown, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Washington Governor Jay Inslee, and British Columbia Premier Christy Clark issue a statement that strongly supports their continuing lead on Climate Change.
Fear and Strength in Oregon’s Immigrant Communities Post-Election
ERIC TEGETHOFF – Immigrant communities across Oregon are preparing to take President-elect Donald Trump at his word regarding ramping up deportations during his presidency.
First Effect of Trump Win: Al-Qaeda Morale in Aleppo Collapses, Western Campaign against Russian Bombing Ends
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS – One place where Donald Trump’s election victory has had an immediate effect is in the battlefield around Aleppo. Reports from the area of the battlefield speak of a total collapse of morale amongst the Al-Qaeda led Jihadi forces which have been attacking the city from the south west, as whatever lingering hopes there were of a Western military intervention following a victory by Hillary Clinton in the US Presidential election have turned to dust.
Top US General: Hillary’s No Fly Zone Strategy Would ‘Require’ War With Russia
SPUTNIK INTERNATIONAL – During testimony before the Senate Committee on Armed Services last week General Joseph Dunford rang the alarm over a policy shift that is gaining more traction within the halls of Washington following the collapse of the ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia in Syria saying that it could result in a major international war which he was not prepared to advocate on behalf of.
Justin Trudeau Gives Provinces Until 2018 to Adopt Carbon Price Plan
KATHLEEN HARRIS – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took provinces by surprise Monday, October 3, by announcing they have until 2018 to adopt a carbon pricing scheme, or the federal government will step in and impose a price for them.
Russia Suspends Weapons-Grade Plutonium Deal with US
BBC – Russia has suspended an agreement with the US on the disposal of surplus weapons-grade plutonium, the latest sign of worsening bilateral relations.
Corporate Profits Are Way Up, Corporate Taxes Are Way Down
HUNTER BLAIR – Since 1952, corporate profits as a share of the economy have risen dramatically (from 5.5 percent to 8.5 percent), while corporate tax revenues as a share of the economy have plummeted (from 5.9 percent to just 1.9 percent). This trend has worsened since the end of the Great Recession.
Massive Insurance Giants Call For End To Fossil Fuel Subsidies
KARL MATHIESEN – Climate change is the “mother of all risks” says Aviva CEO, and hundreds of billions in annual government assistance to oil, gas and coal is “simply unsustainable.” Three of the world’s biggest insurers called on G20 leaders to implement a timeframe for the end of fossil fuel subsidies when they met in China last week.
U.S. Military Contractors Tell Investors Russian Threat Is Great for Business
LEE FANG – The escalating anti-Russian rhetoric in the U.S. presidential campaign comes in the midst of a major push by military contractors to position Moscow as a potent enemy that must be countered with a drastic increase in military spending by NATO countries. Weapon makers have told investors that they are relying on tensions with Russia to fuel new business in the wake of Russian’s annexation of Crimea and modest increases in its military budget.
Audit: Pentagon Cannot Account For $6.5 Trillion Dollars Is Taxpayer Money
JAY SYRMOPOULOS – A new Department of Defense Inspector General’s report, released last week, has left Americans stunned at the jaw-dropping lack of accountability and oversight. The glaring report revealed the Pentagon couldn’t account for $6.5 trillion dollars worth of Army general fund transactions and data, according to a report by the Fiscal Times. The Pentagon, which has been notoriously lax in its accounting practices, has never completed an audit, [which] would reveal how the agency has specifically spent the trillions of dollars allocated for wars, equipment, personnel, housing, healthcare and procurements allotted to them by Congress.
‘No First Use’ Nuclear Policy Proposal Assailed by U.S. Cabinet Officials, Allies
PAUL SONNE, GORDON LUBOLD, CAROL E. LEE – A proposal under consideration at the White House to reverse decades of U.S. nuclear policy by declaring a “No First Use” protocol for nuclear weapons has run into opposition from top cabinet officials and U.S. allies. The opposition, from Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, as well as allies in Europe and Asia, leaves President Barack Obama with few ambitious options to enhance his nuclear disarmament agenda before leaving office, unless he wants to override the dissent.
Investigators Fool U.S. Nuke Agency Into Providing Material for ‘Dirty Bomb
ADAM KREDO – Undercover inspectors working for the U.S. Government Accountability Office were able to fool the United States’ top nuclear regulator into granting it licenses to acquire material necessary to build a “dirty bomb,” or crude nuclear device, according to a new oversight report.
Momentum Builds for Nuclear Ban Treaty
KINGSTON REIF – A growing number of non-nuclear-weapon states are expressing support for the immediate commencement of negotiations on a legally binding agreement to prohibit nuclear weapons, despite strong opposition from those states that possess nuclear weapons and many U.S. allies. The contentious debate over how best to advance nuclear disarmament occurred at a meeting last month of an open-ended working group on disarmament taking place in Geneva this year.
NATO’s Dangerous Game: Bear-Baiting Russia
CONN HALLINAN – “Aggressive,” “revanchist,” “swaggering”: These are just some of the adjectives the mainstream press and leading U.S. and European political figures are routinely inserting before the words “Russia,” or “Vladimir Putin.” It is a vocabulary most Americans have not seen or heard since the height of the Cold War. The question is, why?
Iraq Today: Can We Feel the Heat?
CATHY BREEN – Outwardly everything seemed so normal that at first I forgot I was with people now counted among the hundreds of thousands who are internally displaced in Iraq. In the next couple of hours, though, we would hear many tragic stories that would dispel any thought of “normalcy.”
For First Time, Majority in U.S. Oppose Nuclear Energy
REBECCA RIFFKIN – For the first time since Gallup first asked the question in 1994, a majority of Americans say they oppose nuclear energy. The 54% opposing it is up significantly from 43% a year ago, while the 44% who favor using nuclear energy is down from 51%.
33,480 Americans Dead After 70 Years of Atomic Weaponry
NUKEWATCH QUARTERLY – The U.S. government has compensated over 52,000 nuclear workers for illnesses related to radiation exposure, but the process is complicated. Deaths resulting from exposure while working at the factories and the compensation process for survivors begs the question: How much is a life worth? As the death toll mounts, nuclear weapons workers must decide whether their jobs are worth it.
7 Top NRC Experts Break Ranks to Warn of Critical Danger at Aging Nuke Plants
HARVEY WASSERMAN – Seven top Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) experts have taken the brave rare step of publicly filing an independent finding warning that nearly every U.S. atomic reactor has a generic safety flaw that could spark a disaster. The warning mocks the latest industry push to keep America’s remaining 99 nukes from being shut by popular demand, by their essential unprofitability, or, more seriously, by the kind of engineering collapse against which the NRC experts are now warning.
Future of Draft for Men and Women Goes to Court and Congress
EDWARD HASBROUCK – On Friday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that had dismissed the complaint in National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System. The Court of Appeals reinstated the complaint, and remanded the case to the U.S. District Court for consideration of the other issues in the case.
Fukushima in Deep Nuclear Trouble
ROBERT HUNZIKER – The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster may go down as one of history’s boundless tragedies and not just because of a nuclear meltdown, but rather the tragic loss of a nation’s soul.
For the First Time Ever, China May Put Its Nuclear Arsenal on High Alert
ELLIOT NEGIN – China’s military wants to put its relatively small nuclear arsenal on hair-trigger alert for the first time, according to newly translated documents. That’s not good. Such a radical departure from the country’s longtime nuclear policy could pose a threat not only to the United States, but to China itself.
Israel Receives Fifth German Nuclear-Capable Submarine
PRESSTV – The Israeli regime has received of a fifth submarine from Germany, amid pressure on Berlin to halt the delivery of the state-of-the-art weaponry that is capable of being armed with nuclear warheads.
The Tragedy of Al Jazeera America’s Demise
ARI PAUL – Skeptics said it wouldn’t last, and they were right. On January 13, the world learned that Al Jazeera America would soon close. And while some employees could migrate into the network’s expanded digital operations, many will spend the coming days and weeks looking for new work.