ERIC DE PLACE and RICH FELDMAN – In our previous installment, we explored how unsafe DOT-111s, the Ford Pinto of rail cars, make up the vast majority of oil-filled tank cars now riding the rails in North America. With DOT-111s, there is no margin for error. A serious derailment will almost always lead to oil spills or explosions. But if they are so clearly dangerous, why are these tank cars still on the rails? The reason, in short, is because the railroad and rail car industries have opposed new safety regulations. (The oil and ethanol industries have abetted their cause.)
Category: Big Picture
Encouraging News from Oregon’s Junior Senator
JEFF MERKLEY – As a new member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’ve fought to invest in, rather than undermine, our environment. And I have some good news: in the compromise spending bill that passed Congress (in late January), we secured renewed support for our Northwest environment, and succeeded in pushing back on several policy riders that could have devastated our air, our water, and our efforts to combat climate change.
Update: Radiation Leaks from New Mexico Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Facility
SUSAN GORDON – [February 21, 2014] Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) has carefully followed information about the radiation leak from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) that was first identified at approximately 11:30 pm on Friday, February 14, 2014. (See PeaceWorker article, “Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site,” published Feb. 22, 2014.)
U.S. Examines Afghanistan Option that Would Leave Behind 3,000 Troops
KAREN DEYOUNG – One of the four options President Obama is considering for a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan beyond this year would leave behind 3,000 troops, based in Kabul and at the American installation at Bagram, U.S. officials said. The other options include more troops in two scenarios and none in another.
Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site
LAURA ZUCKERMAN – Underground sensors have detected excessive radiation levels inside a nuclear waste storage site deep below New Mexico’s desert, but no workers have been exposed and there was no risk to public health, U.S. Department of Energy officials said on Sunday.
Obama Prepares Plan for Deeper Greenhouse Gas Pollution Cuts
LISA F. FRIEDMAN – The Obama administration is quietly working on new greenhouse gas emissions targets to deliver to the United Nations, even as it struggles to craft regulations that will enable the United States to meet its current carbon-cutting goals.
Heads of 31 Nations Declare Zone of Peace
DAVID SWANSON (post) – The Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), gathered in Havana, Cuba on January 28 and 29, 2014 at the Second Summit, declared a Zone of Peace.
World’s 85 Richest have Same Wealth as 3.5 Billion Poorest
RT – The world’s 85 wealthiest people have as much money as the 3.5 billion poorest people on the planet – half the Earth’s population. That’s according to Oxfam’s latest report on the risks of the widening gap between the super-rich and the poor.
Most Americans Agree About Global Warming, But Not Congress
WENDY KOCH – The vast majority of Americans in each of 40-plus states surveyed say global warming is real, serious and man-made, and the concerns tend to be slightly higher in coastal or drought-stricken areas, says an analysis out today.
Kentucky Senators Boost Your Electric Bill
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON – Kentucky’s two Republican senators, who built their political careers railing against unions and government spending, stuck people and businesses in the Pacific Northwest with hundreds of millions of dollars of debts plus higher costs for electricity. They did it to save union jobs by wasting millions in federal dollars. Confused? Hold tight. It gets worse. (Or better, if you live in Kentucky.)
Vietnamese Cyber-Army Hacks Pro-Democracy Activists, Analysts Say
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – HANOI, Vietnam – Working on her blog in California one day, Vietnamese democracy activist Ngoc Thu sensed something was wrong. It took a moment for a keystroke to register. Cut-and-paste wasn’t working. She had “a feeling that somebody was there” inside her computer. Her hunch turned out to be right.
Former NSA Whistleblowers Plead for Chance to Brief Obama on Agency Abuses
RT.COM – A group of former National Security Agency insiders who went on to become whistleblowers have written a letter to President Barack Obama requesting a meeting with him to offer “a fuller picture†of the spy agency’s systemic problems.
Defense Secretary Hagel Reaffirms Climate Change, Sustainability are Central Military Concerns
BENJAMIN SCHNEIDER – It may come as a surprise to many Americans that the U.S. military is deeply committed to addressing the threat of climate change and developing renewable energy sources. That’s what Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke about on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, where he assured the audience the emerging impacts of climate change on national security are a priority.
U.S. Judge Says NSA Phone Surveillance is Lawful
JONATHAN STEMPEL – (Reuters; Dec. 27, 2013) – A federal judge ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects records of millions of Americans’ phone calls is lawful, calling it a “counter-punch” to terrorism that does not violate Americans’ privacy rights.
Japan’s Deadly New ‘Fukushima Fascism’
HARVEY WASSERMAN – Fukushima continues to spew out radiation. The quantities seem to be rising, as do the impacts. The site has been infiltrated by organized crime. There are horrifying signs of ecological disaster in the Pacific and human health impacts in the U.S. But within Japan, a new State Secrets Act makes such talk punishable by up to ten years in prison.
350 Or Bust: Scientists Warn Even 2°C Warming Leads To ‘Disastrous Consequences’
JOE ROMM – Humanity is choosing to destroy a livable climate, warn 18 of the world’s leading climate experts in a new study. Led by James Hansen, they make the strongest case to date for a target of 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the air, or about 1°C (1.8°F) total warming.
Climate Scientists: “We Have to Consume Less”
KEVIN ANDERSON and ALICE BOWS-LARKIN, interviewed by AMY GOODMAN – A pair of climate scientists are calling for what some may view as a shocking solution to the global warming crisis: a rethinking of the economic order in the United States and other industrialized nations. Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows-Larkin of the influential Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in England say many of the solutions proposed by world leaders to prevent “runaway global warming” will not be enough to address the scale of the crisis. They have called for “radical and immediate de-growth strategies in the United States, EU and other wealthy nations.”
Dave Barry’s Holiday Gift Guide
DAVE BARRY – The holidays are a wonderful time of year, but too often, in all the excitement and craziness, we forget the real “reason for the season.†The holidays are not about parties, or decorations, or Frosty the Snowperson. Those things are fun, but they are not the true purpose of the holidays. The true purpose of the holidays is to purchase consumer electronics.
Oregon Reps Oppose Fast Track Trade Negotiations
THE LINCOLN COUNTY DISPATCH – Wednesday, 13 November 2013 14:26: Fair trade advocates praised the release of a letter today voicing congressional opposition to fast track, a policy-making process that allows trade pacts to circumvent ordinary congressional review, amendment and debate procedures. Three quarters of the House Democratic caucus—including Oregon congressional representatives Kurt Schrader and Peter DeFazio—signed the Nov. 13 letter. Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici signed onto another letter signaling concerns over fast track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Absence of Global Climate Agreement Threatens Promising Carbon Reduction Scheme
SUSANNA TWIDALE – Investors and the panel overseeing the U.N.’s carbon market for developing countries have called on delegates at next month’s climate meeting in Warsaw to rescue the ailing scheme, which the U.N. estimates has provided $315 billion in funding to low-carbon projects to date.
Obama Approves Raising Permissible Levels of Nuclear Radiation in Drinking Water
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY – The White House has given final approval for dramatically raising permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents,†such as nuclear power-plant accidents and dirty bombs. The final version, slated for Federal Register publication, is a win for the nuclear industry which seeks what its proponents call a “new normal†for radiation exposure among the U.S population, according Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Today Peabody Would Lose Money on Coal Exports
CLARK WILLIAMS-DERRY – On Oct. 22, 2013, Sightline released a new report: Peabody Energy, Gateway Pacific, and the Asian Coal Bubble. The report shows that at today’s prices, there’s no way for Peabody to make money shipping coal to Asia. Peabody’s strategy is now to hope that the Asian coal bubble re-inflates—which is an increasingly risky bet, given the collapse of Asian coal prices, recent steps by China to curb coal demand, and the oversupply of coal from other Pacific Rim exporters.
Is Stable Climate a Thing of the Past?
DORSI DIAZ – The climate is indeed changing – and rapidly. So fast that it’s startling even climate scientists and blowing previous “computer modelings” out the window.
Unclean at Any Speed
OZZIE ZEHNER – Electric cars don’t solve the automobile’s environmental problems. Note: Although we at The PeaceWorker are electric vehicle fans, this article raises many good questions that EV buffs need to consider. We run it in the interests of fairness and useful dialogue.
Fight Back – Know What They Don’t Want You to Know
LAURA POITRAS – The detention of David Miranda — partner of the Guardian journalist
involved in the NSA revelations — and the destruction of hard drives in the British newspaper’s basement reveal one thing: Governments do not want their citizens to be informed when it comes to the topic of surveillance.
Poll: Small Business Owners Support Progressive Policies
STEPHEN MICHAEL – On August 19, 2013, the Main Street Alliance of Oregon released their most recent report, Voices of Main Street, which challenges conventional perceptions of rural small business owners’ thoughts on key policy issues. It details responding business owners’ views on economic, tax, immigration and health care issues facing Oregon and the nation.
Something in the Air: Lead Poisoning from Aircraft Fuel
MICHAEL BEHAR – The health risks of leaded gasoline are a thing of the past, right? Wrong. While jets and turboprops run on kerosene-based fuels, the majority of general aviation aircraft are piston-powered and consume aviation gasoline, or avgas. Populations close to “general aviation†airports (a term that covers nearly all types of flight activity except scheduled commercial passenger service) suffer the consequences of exposure to the lead in avgas.
Health Co-Ops Pave the Way for Change in Oregon
CHRIS THOMAS – In less than two months, Oregonians who need to shop for health coverage will be able to find and compare plans in the new health insurance marketplace, called Cover Oregon.
New Waste Slashing Energy Legislation Promises Savings, Jobs
AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY (ACEEE) – Proposed bipartisan energy efficiency legislation has the potential to save the nation billions while creating domestic jobs and reducing energy waste, according to a new analysis released today by ACEEE.
New Poll Suggests Climate Change Action Strategy
A report from ecoAmerica outlines how public opinion trends around climate change in the U.S. have moved from being a niche issue to the mainstream.
New Material May Make Solar Power “Dirt Cheapâ€
KEVIN BULLIS – A new type of solar cell, made from a material that is dramatically cheaper to obtain and use than silicon, could generate as much power as today’s commodity solar cells.
New NSA Revelation – Spying Goes Beyond Metadata
JAMES BALL and SPENCER ACKERMAN – The National Security Agency has a secret backdoor into its vast databases under a legal authority enabling it to search for US citizens’ email and phone calls without a warrant, according to a top-secret document passed to the Guardian by Edward Snowden.
New Company Earns B Corps Certification
SARA SCHNEIDER – Notogroup, a Portland-based, national executive search firm, has been awarded B Corp certification after undergoing a comprehensive examination of its business practices, by the nonprofit B Lab. Companies that are designated B Corps meet high standards for social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.
Schrader Unveils Bipartisan Government Reform Package
KURT SCHRADER – No Labels and Congressional Problem Solvers are providing some of the only forums in Washington for Members on opposite sides of the aisle to sit down with one another and work through issues that ordinarily push us far apart. Among other efforts, the bipartisan group of Problem Solvers is unveiling a comprehensive legislative package to make government work more effectively.
Snowden Seen as Whistle-Blower by Majority in New Poll
JONATHAN D. SALANT – A majority of U.S. registered voters consider Edward Snowden a whistle-blower, not a traitor, and a plurality says government anti-terrorism efforts have gone too far in restricting civil liberties, a poll released recently shows.
Statistics Show Nonviolence Works – Here’s How
INTERVIEW BY TERRY MESSMAN – Erica Chenoweth and her co-author, Maria Stephan, reveal in their book, Why Civil Resistance Works, that during the period of 1900 to 2006, nonviolent resistance campaigns are about twice as effective as violent ones in achieving their immediate goals of either regime change or territorial change. They also found that these trends hold even under conditions where most people expect nonviolent resistance to be ineffective.
Nonviolent campaigns were effective, for instance, against dictatorships; against highly repressive regimes that are using violent and brutal repression against the movements; and also in places where people would expect a nonviolent campaign to be impossible to even emerge in the first place — such as very closed societies with no civil society organization to speak of prior to the onset of the campaign.
Chenoweth conducted her research because of the skepticism that a lot of people have about the efficacy of nonviolence in these circumstances. In most of the violent insurgencies we look at, people will say the reason they are violent is because nonviolent resistance can’t work in these conditions. This is why it’s particularly striking that even in these types of conflicts, we’re seeing nonviolence resistance outperform so dramatically.
‘The real threat to our future is peak water’
LESTER BROWN – Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water.
Local Lawmaking: A Call for a Community Rights Movement
THOMAS LINZEY – Many have now concluded that our legislatures, environmental agencies and courts have all been privatized – and are now used by a corporate minority as just one more means to get oil and gas out of the ground, to run family farmers out of business, and to take everything of value that our communities have.
Advanced Battery Technology Opens New Vistas for Electric Vehicles
MARC CARTER, BRIT LIGGETT, TAZ LOOMANS – Four articles at Inhabitat.com tout recent advances in battery technology that open new horizons for electric vehicles. Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future. The blog also addresses innovative design and practices in technology, energy, transportation, fashion and art.
Welch Leads Bipartisan Coalition in Congress to Block U.S. Intervention in Syria
OFFICE OF PETER WELCH – Washington, DC (June 27th) – Rep. Peter Welch joined with Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY), Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) at a press conference today to unveil bipartisan legislation to block U.S. military intervention in Syria without an affirmative vote of Congress.
Climate Change Poses Grave Security Threat
DAMIAN CARRINGTON – Climate change poses as grave a threat to the UK’s security and economic resilience as terrorism and cyber-attacks, according to a senior military commander who was appointed as William Hague’s climate envoy this year. In his first interview since taking up the post, Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti said climate change was “one of the greatest risks we face in the 21st century,” particularly because it presented a global threat.
Obama Launches ‘Coordinated Assault’ Against Warming
JEAN CHEMNICK – In a speech on Tuesday, June 25, at Georgetown University, President Obama said that rather than waiting for Congress to act on climate change, his administration would move forward in every way it could — curbing emissions, shoring up American infrastructure and heading “a coordinated assault” abroad on global warming.
Military Quietly Grants Itself the Power to Police the Streets Without Local or State Consent
JED MOREY – By making a few subtle changes to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled “Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies†the military has quietly granted itself the ability to police the streets without obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent that has been in place for more than two centuries.
Dramatic Rise in the Number of Homicides Drives Reduction in World Peace
INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMICS AND PEACE – A dramatic rise in the number of homicides and more countries, 59, increasing their military expenditure as a percentage of GDP were the key drivers in making the world a less peaceful place, according to the 2013 Global Peace Index (GPI) released today.
Nuclear Boss Seeks Corporate Welfare While Demanding Cuts in Renewable Subsidies
ANDY ROWELL, RICHARD COOKSON – The boss of a company set to build two nuclear reactors in Somerset has been demanding cuts to renewable energy subsidies and to help for people in fuel poverty while quietly lobbying the European Commission for financial help for new nuclear power stations.
GE Will Not Chase Nuke Business if Laws Don’t Change
DINESH NARAYANAN – One big multinational is almost certain to be out of the race for nuclear energy business in India. On Wednesday I had met John Flannery, outgoing President and Chief Executive Officer of GE in India for a chat before he left for his new assignment: finding targets for the company to buy. Flannery said GE will rather give up business than play within India’s civil nuclear liability rules.
The Foodopoly: Too Big to Eat
DAVID SWANSON – We’ve come to understand that the banks are too big to fail, too big to take to trial, too big not to let them write our public policy, too big not to reward them for ruining our economy. Why have we come to understand that?
Newly Proposed Carbon Tax Will Fight Global Warming, Protect Low-Income Americans, Reduce Deficit
RICHARD CAPERTON – In the last two years, the biggest extreme weather events cost American families and businesses $188 billion. As we pump more and more greenhouse gas pollution into the atmosphere, these disasters are only going to become more common.
Bhutan Set to Plough Lone Furrow as World’s First Wholly Organic Country
John Vidal and Annie Kellly – Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilizers.
Rep. Barbara Lee Introduces Bill to Create Department of Peacebuilding
REP. BARBARA LEE – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) on February 15 introduced a new bill in the House of Representatives that would create a Cabinet-level “Department of Peacebuilding.”