News Feeds | ecology.iww.org (2024)

North American Windpower - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 14:33

The Department of the Interior (DOI) has approved the nation’s seventh commercial-scale offshore wind project under President Biden, Sunrise Wind.

The project will have a total 924 MW capacity, with its lease area located approximately 16.4 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

In response to comments, BOEM selected an alternative plan that includes fewer wind turbine generators than proposed by Sunrise Wind.

“BOEM and our partners remain focused on implementing the Biden-Harris administration’s vision of approving 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030,” says Elizabeth Klein, BOEM’s director.

“Through constructive, broad-based engagement, we are navigating potential conflicts and advancing the responsible growth of offshore wind. As we propel this industry forward, we eagerly anticipate further cooperation and progress with our partners.”

The post DOI Approves 924 MW Sunrise Wind Offshore Project appeared first on North American Windpower.

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Audubon Society - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 14:31

Categories: G3. Big Green

Mining.Com - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 14:29

Eldorado Gold (TSX: ELD; NYSE: EGO) expects its production profile to swell about 45% over the next four years to 703,250 oz. gold per year, CEO George Burns says.

The company comes off a solid 2023 operating performance, producing 7% more gold year-on-year at 485,000 oz. of metal at an all-in sustaining cost of about $1,200 per ounce. With the Skouries build in Greece having passed the 70%-completion mark, Burns tells The Northern Miner that increasing production is the vehicle for enhancing shareholder value.

“Bringing Skouries online not only lowers our cost, brings on some high-quality production (including copper in the EU), it positions us to generate a lot of free cash flow and return value via dividends,” Burns told The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby, during the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto.

Watch the full interview below.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Restore The San Francisco Bay Area Delta - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 14:26

LA Times Editorial: L.A. may not get another wet winter for a while. We should prepare for drier times

“Meanwhile, quenching our thirst must not mean draining the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, or drying up the four great Central Valley rivers that form highways to the sea for migrating salmon and other endangered species. It’s encouraging that a state court this month upheld the water board’s rules requiring that agricultural uses take less water in order to keep those rivers flowing.

It may seem like a disconnect: Ordering farms to return more water to the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced and San Joaquin rivers while at the same time working to capture more water in the Los Angeles Basin and allow less to make its way down the Los Angeles River to the sea.

But the hydrology and geography of the regions are different, as are the roles each river plays in the environment. Keeping L.A. water in L.A. diminishes our need to import water from distant parts of the state and helps keep the state’s interconnected ecosystems healthy.

As for the delta, debate continues over a proposed tunnel that could direct Sacramento River water around the precarious region and southward to Los Angeles and other urban — and agricultural — areas. Even if the tunnel project moves forward, though, the water it would bring Los Angeles would never be enough to meet our needs — not without first making the best possible use of every drop already at our disposal.”

You can read the full opinion piece from the LA Timeshere.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

EPA is collecting data on “forever chemicals” in wastewater that eventually make their way to rivers and streams across the nation, a move that could inform future limits on the substances.

While the data collection is a welcome step, EPA should have begun gathering the information “decades ago,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA official who now leads science policy at the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The agency also already has the authority to regulate PFAS in biosolids, she said.

Read the PEER Story…

The post EPA to scrutinize ‘forever chemicals’ in wastewater, sewage appeared first on PEER.org.

Categories: A2. Green Unionism

Montana Environmental Information Center - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 13:39

By Keila Szpaller, Daily Montanan NorthWestern Energy is undermining the Montana Public Service Commission’s statutory obligation to investigate the monopoly’s ability to provide power to customers by withholding information from the agency, according to PSC staff and its president. “For NorthWestern Energy to decline to provide this commission information when requested is concerning and frankly …

The post Montana Public Service Commission: NorthWestern ‘undermining’ regulators appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

National Farmers Union - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 13:15

March 2024 The big event on the Farmers Union calendar in March was NFU’s annual convention. Nearly 500 Farmers Union delegates, members, and guests from across the country gathered in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona to set NFU’s policy priorities for the year and hear from agricultural experts and political leaders on various issues facing American family […]

The post Washington Corner March 2024 first appeared on National Farmers Union.

Categories: A3. Agroecology

Yes to Life no to Mining - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 13:12

Abduction of Environmental Defenders Eco Dangla III and Joxelle "Jak" TiongYLNM joins the global call for their immediate release Abduction and enforced disappearanceMass global call in support of the surfacing of two environmental defenders from the Philippines, Eco Dangla and Joxelle “Jak” Tiong

We vehemently condemn the abduction and enforced disappearance of Francisco “Eco” Dangla III and Joxelle“Jak” Tiong on the evening of March 24, 2024 in San Carlos City, Pangasinan Province, Philippines.

Sign here

Eco and Jak are conveners of the Pangasinan People’s Strike for the Environment (PPSE) established in 2021. PPSE is also part of the Pangasinan Empowered Action on Care for the Environment (PEACENet) that included the Social Action Networks of Caritas in the Dioceses of Urdaneta and Alaminos, and the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. They were also active in other faith-based environmental formations such as the Pangasinan Ecumenical Fellowship and the Justice and Peace Church Ecology Ministry of the Diocese of Dagupan-Lingayen. Through these formations, they were able to work on environmental campaigns in 15 towns and 55 parishes.

Among the environmental issues that they worked on were the protection of Lingayen Gulf from black sand mining, opposition to the six nuclear plants proposed in Labrador Municipality, coal-fired power plants, and proposed waste incinerators for waste-to-energy. As part of the Environmental Defenders Congress (EDC) and the Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders (APNED), they also sought to increase protection of and accountability from attacks on environmental defenders.

Eco and Jak, who were both from Pangasinan province, were staunch advocates of upholding environmental rights and human rights in general, especially in the poor and marginalized communities of farmers and fisherfolk.

Before their disappearance, they were victims of red-tagging, or the practice of the government of naming individuals and organizations as communists or terrorists, which is often a prelude to further attacks.

Their case is the 22nd and 23rd incident of enforced disappearance under the 21-month administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

We call for the immediate release of Eco and Jak and all victims of enforced disappearances. In addition, we call to stop the attacks and for accountability for the continuing attacks on environmental defenders. In particular, we call for the Philippine government to urgently investigate the abduction of Eco and Jak and ensure that they are released safely.

Sign here

Signed:

ORGANIZATIONS
Philippines

Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders

Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines Inc.

Environmental Defenders Congress

Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment

Kasimbayan

Youth Strike for Climate Philippines

Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment

KASAMMA-KO – alliance of overseas Filipino organizations in Korea

KERI: Caring for Activists

IBON Foundation

Agham Youth National

Agham Youth Mapuans

HRPEC – Human Rights and People Empowerment Center

UP College of Science Student Council

PANGATAMAN – Bikol

Ladlad Caraga Inc.

Jalaur River for the People’s Movement

ecoalition

Samahang Migrante

Kalikasan – Timog Katagalugan

GABRIELA Youth – Cavite State University

Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines

Kabataan Partylist – Dasmariñas

College Editors Guild of the Philippines

Kabataan Partylist – Antipolo

Kabataan Partylist Rizal

UP Manila College of Public Health Student Council

Saribuhay UP Diliman

Saribuhay

Women in Development Foundation

SANDUGO – Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination

PANALIPDAN! Mindanao

Diocese of Paranaque

Aksyon sa Kahandaan sa Kalamidad at Klima AKKMA

Commission in Ecology – Diocese of Antipolo

Panaghiusa Philippine Network to Uphold Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

Tayo Kabataan

Bai Indigenous Women’s Network

Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI)

Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)

Gabriela Youth Southern Tagalog

Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap

BAN Toxics

Caritas Philippines

The Klima Center of Manila Observatory

Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)

Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology

Student Christian Movement of the Philippines

International

Anakbayan Melbourne

Inisiasi Masyarakat Adat (IMA)

Sukaar Welfare Organization
National Indigenous Women Forum
Australian Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ACHRP)

WALHI Central Kalimantan

Philippines Australia Union Link
Pinatud a Saleng ti Umili Hong kong
Cordillera Alliance Hong Kong
JPIC CICM-Philippines (Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation-Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae – Philippines)

Dawei Probono Lawyer Network

CORDILLERA ALLIANCE – Hong Kong

POSSIBLE FUTURES
Oceana Philippines International

Front Line Defenders

WALHI South Sulawesi

JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France(JMBF)
Manipur International Youth Centre

Feminista Revolucionária(FERA)

PROGRESS

SERUNI

Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines -UK

Zambia Social Forum
Association For Promotion Sustainable Development
Uplift Organization Inc.
Water Justice and Gender

Friends of the Earth US

Texas Campaign for the Environment

Deep Green Resistance

Health Care Without Harm SE Asia

Centre for Human Rights and Development

Friends of the Earth Japan

Plus individuals

Categories: G1. Progressive Green

Climate and Capitalism - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 12:41

Covid-19 was the least unexpected pandemic in history. Why were governments not prepared?

Source

Categories: B3. EcoSocialism

Allegheny Front - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 12:37

A company wants to lease land in the tri-state region of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to store industrial carbon dioxide emissions deep underground.

The post Storing CO2 underground in western Pa. and neighboring states raises questions appeared first on The Allegheny Front.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

North American Windpower - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 12:27

Rovco has chartered the 74-meter MV Patriot for its specialist fleet, joining the company’s existing two site characterization vessels, with the British company saying it had done so to increase its subsea capabilities.

The company says the vessel consolidates the company’s site clearance ability, including debris and boulder removal and unexploded ordnance navigation.

“Expanding our fleet of vessels means we can support more stages in offshore wind, from survey stage right through to decommissioning,” says Brian Allen, CEO at Rovco. “By accelerating timelines and bringing down costs throughout the lifecycle of an asset, we can help change the economics of offshore wind and accelerate progress towards the U.K.’s 50 GW by 2030 target.”

Rovco will take delivery of the vessel at the end of this month for a three-year period, with an option to extend the agreement by two years.

The post Rovco Obtains New Specialist Vessel for Offshore and Decommissioning Capabilities appeared first on North American Windpower.

Categories:

Common Dreams - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 12:23

Forty-five community, environmental, and animal welfare organizations—together representing tens of millions of people across the United States—filed public comments yesterday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, pressing for strong protections against water pollution from slaughterhouses and animal rendering facilities. The EPA published a proposal to strengthen existing protections in January 2024, following lawsuits from several of the commenting organizations. Yesterday’s comments emphasized that the EPA must improve its proposal to address environmental injustice and reduce harm to people and the environment.

Food & Water Watch Attorney Dani Replogle said: “EPA’s preference for weak slaughterhouse regulations privileges the health of a polluting industry over that of frontline communities and our nation’s waters. To adopt anything less than the most stringent clean water protections in the agency’s final rule would be a missed opportunity and a big mistake.”

“For decades, slaughterhouses and meat processing plants have benefited from lax water pollution standards, and we are pleased that the EPA is finally taking action to strengthen these standards for some of the largest plants,” said Sarah Kula, Attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project. “But EPA’s proposal falls far short of what the Clean Water Act requires and exempts thousands of polluting plants that put downstream communities and our waterways in harm’s way. EPA must require that these plants install modern water pollution controls and clean up their act.”

Nearly 10 billion animals are killed each year in slaughterhouses across the United States—that is, over 18,825 animals every minute. Slaughterhouse byproducts such as fat, bone, and feathers frequently are sent to rendering facilities for conversion into tallow, animal meal, and other products. Both slaughterhouses and rendering facilities require a near-constant flow of water, and every year, these facilities discharge hundreds of millions of pounds of water pollution into rivers and streams. According to EPA, slaughterhouses and rendering facilities, which together comprise the Meat and Poultry Products (“MPP”) industrial point source category, are the largest industrial source of phosphorus pollution and the second largest industrial source of nitrogen pollution.

“EPA knows that pollution from slaughterhouses and rendering facilities disproportionately harms under-resourced communities, low-income communities, and communities of color,” said Earthjustice attorney Alexis Andiman. “Yet EPA’s proposal expressly ignores environmental justice and, instead, champions weak standards that, it claims, are necessary to thwart disruptions to the nation’s meat supply—despite clear evidence that stronger regulations will have virtually no impact on meat producers or consumers. The Agency’s priorities are backwards. We need the EPA to protect people and the environment, not corporations.”

Pollution from MPP facilities has devastating consequences for human health and the environment, and it disproportionately harms people living in vulnerable and under-resourced communities. Nonetheless, EPA has failed to revise its regulations governing water pollution from the MPP industry for at least 20 years. Some MPP facilities are still subject to outdated and under-protective standards promulgated in the mid-1970s. EPA’s existing regulations fail to impose any restrictions on discharges of phosphorus, and the Agency has never published national standards applicable to the vast majority of MPP facilities, which discharge wastewater indirectly through publicly owned treatment works (“POTWs”), even though EPA has known for decades that—without adequate pretreatment—pollutants in MPP wastewater pass through many POTWs into our nation’s rivers and streams.

The EPA’s proposal set out three options to strengthen existing standards. The comments made clear that the EPA’s preferred option, which offers the weakest protections for people and the environment, is inconsistent with federal law—not least because it is motivated by a desire to avoid disruptions to the country’s meat supply, even though claims of past disruptions have been resoundingly debunked. Instead, the commenting organizations pressed the EPA to select and strengthen the most protective of the regulatory options presented, which would prevent over 320 million pounds of pollution, reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution by 85%, and help to protect over 22 million people.

“We call on the EPA to rise above Big Ag’s push to weaken this plan to reduce harms from the millions of gallons of pollution slaughterhouses and animal rendering plants are spewing into our waterways,” said Hannah Connor, deputy director of environmental health at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This proposal would put very reasonable updates in place that will give critically imperiled fish and mussels the protections they need to survive.”

Categories: F. Left News

The Checks and Balances Project - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 11:58

Larry Householder

By indicting former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder on 10 counts of corruption, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has closed the circle around the four men most responsible for the HB 6 scandal.

In February, Yost indicted the two FirstEnergy officials — Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling — and former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo on multiple charges related to HB 6.

Until then, Jones and Dowling had evaded prosecution for their roles in the $61 million bribery scheme that helped elect Householder speaker and push through the bailouts of FirstEnergy’s nuclear plants and the coal-fired plants owned by Ohio Valley Electric Corp.

One year after the first federal indictments in the HB 6 scandal in July 2020, FirstEnergy signed a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department that acknowledged paying a $4.3 million bribe to Randazzo, who helped write the HB 6 law even though he was ostensibly a neutral regulator of Ohio’s utility industry.

Ten new counts for Householder

Householder was convicted of federal racketeering charges on March 9, 2023, and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. He is appealing that sentence. A conviction on state charges would ensure that even if Householder wins his appeal, he will face state sanctions for his activity.

The new counts announced Monday include:

• Five counts of tampering with records
• Two counts of aggravated theft
• One count of theft in office
• One count of telecommunications fraud
• One count of money laundering

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost

In a release, Yost’s office said its “indictment alleges that Householder misused campaign funds to pay for his personal criminal defense in his federal case. In addition, he allegedly failed to accurately complete Joint Legislative Ethics Committee filings. Specifically, records show that he did not disclose fiduciary relationships, creditors and gifts – including those related to fraudulent activity surrounding House Bill 6, legislation that benefitted FirstEnergy.”

Householder allies also didn’t file reports

As Checks & Balances Project reported in December, the Boich Companies also didn’t file reports with the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee despite their deep involvement in the efforts to pass HB 6.

Wayne and Cynthia Boich, who control the Boich Companies, were some of the first donors to Generation Now, the fund that funneled $61 million from FirstEnergy and its associates to Householder to pass HB 6.

C&BP also revealed that Resource Fuels, a coal supplier to OVEC owned by Boich, overcharged the company and Ohio ratepayers for coal for at least three years.

Matt Evans, the CEO of the Boich Companies,worked closely with executives from FirstEnergy and Householder to pass HB6 in 2019, according to the federal deferred prosecution agreement filed by FirstEnergy in 2021. But Boich’s lobbying reports for 2019 report no activity with Ohio’s legislative or executive branches, even though Michael Koren, who was listed as Boich’s lobbyist, was also FirstEnergy’s lobbyist in 2019;that company’s lobbying reports include their work to pass HB 6.

Chuck Jones, then FirstEnergy’s CEO, texted a photoshopped picture ofMount Rushmorethat included Evans’ face superimposed on it with the caption that said,“HB 6 f*ck Anybody Who Aint Us.”That photo surfaced as part of thefederal bribery casethat led to the convictions and imprisonment of Householder and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges last year.

Ray Locker is the executive director for Checks & Balances Project, an investigative watchdog blog holding government officials, lobbyists, and corporate management accountable to the public. Funding for C&BP is provided by Renew American Prosperity and individual donors.

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The post Latest Ohio indictment ties Householder with other HB 6 conspirators appeared first on Checks and Balances Project.

Categories: F. Left News

Biofuel Watch - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 11:39

Biofuelwatch UK has issued a High Court legal challenge to the decision to grant Drax Power Limited consent to install carbon capture technology at the Yorkshire biomass power plant.

It would effectively allow the generation of electricity from burning almost entirely imported wood pellets to continue with large Government subsidies to 2035. Drax received £893 million in renewable energy subsidies in 2021 and a further £617m in 2022.

Biofuelwatch UK, which campaigns against the controversial burning of biomass, says the Energy Secretary’s decision to give development consent for the technology at up to two of the four biomass units in Selby is unlawful because likely harmful environmental effects were not assessed or taken into account, in breach of the 2017 Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (EIA) Regulations.

As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), the Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) needed the EIA regulations to be followed carefully before it could be given government go-ahead.
In its application for judicial review, Biofuelwatch contends the Energy Secretary’s decision failed to comply with the EIA regulations in three ways:

• By zero-rating the carbon (CO2) emissions from biomass burning, i.e. treating it as producing no greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, despite the obvious and indisputable fact that the combustion of biomass releases huge quantities of GHG emissions
• By excluding the CO2 emissions from the units to be fitted with the carbon capture technology
• By treating the works to construct and operate transport and storage facilities for captured carbon as a separate project. Biofuelwatch says the Humber Low Carbon Pipelines Project to transfer the CO2 and store it in rock formations under the North Sea is essential for the Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) to operate as a whole and should have been treated as the same project for EIA purposes.
  The impact of these errors on the decision was significant; they allowed the Energy Secretary to treat the project as resulting in a net reduction in emissions of 7,975,620 tCO2e per annum.

Katy Brown, Bioenergy campaigner with Biofuelwatch UK, said:

“The Energy Secretary’s decision to accept Drax’s claim that its BECCS scheme will result in a net reduction in emissions is extremely dangerous and irresponsible given we are at a tipping point in the climate crisis. Cutting down trees and shipping them around the world to be burnt in power stations can never be a climate solution. Drax is thesingle biggest carbon emitter in the UK. Its promise to capture and store this carbon uses a technology unproven with wood burning at this scale. Every large-scale coal and gas power plant equipped with Carbon Capture Storage has failed to meet its target for carbon capture performance. It is irrational to think that Carbon Capture Storage on a wood burning power plant can be more successful.

“Consenting to this madness means fossil fuel emissions will continue in the false expectation that they will be captured. Burning millions of tonnes of imported wood means continued devastation of the world’s forests with the associated impacts on animals, biodiversity and local communities. BECCS diverts money and attention from genuine climate solutions such as wind, solar and insulation which would reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere in the timescale needed – this decade.”

Dr Andrew Boswell, who gave evidence at the planning examination, said:

“The Secretary of State failed to lawfully assess the climate change impacts from the industrial scale burning of wood proposed at the Drax BECCS facility. When the emissions from the supply chain and the wood combustion itself are correctly calculated then the planned carbon capture power plant would be a large net positive emitter – this is even with Drax’s very optimistic estimates of how much carbon could be captured.

“This legal challenge is crucially important as it highlights that the UK Government’s reliance on so-called negative emissions technology is a risky and flawed policy for meeting our climate targets. Such technology is a deeply dangerous distraction from the real task of transitioning to a genuine renewable energy system, which must include energy storage and demand reduction on the path to reducing the UK’s impacts on the climate. The case is also important as it sends the message to international policy makers that BECCS cannot provide the genuine emissions reductions required to stabilise the global climate this century.”

Leigh Daysolicitor Rowan Smith, who represents Biofuelwatch UK, said:

“The Government claims that it can ignore greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of Drax simply because an entirely separate regime says those emissions are reported in the country from where the biomass is imported. Our client’s arguments seek to expose that legal fiction. They also shine a light on whether the Government has minimised the environmental impacts by treating the transport and storage of the captured carbon as a separate project. We hope the Court will agree that these arguments warrant a full hearing.”

Categories: G1. Progressive Green

Mining.Com - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 11:35

Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson announced on Tuesday a C$714,500 ($526,200) investment in Fortune Minerals (TSX:FT) for the production of cobalt sulphate and bismuth ingot products from the company’s planned mine in the Northwest Territories and refinery in Alberta.

A pilot-scale hydrometallurgical program will be designed to optimize processing conditions while ensuring that residues from the process are stable for safe disposal, Natural Resources Canada said in a news release, adding that the project will create job opportunities for skilled trades and professional occupations, including Indigenous communities, and introduce a new sustainable technology to other Canadian companies.

The investment aims to help Canada participate directly in the growing market of battery-grade cobalt and other concentrates instead of shipping concentrates overseas for value-added processing.

Funding for this project comes from the Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration (CMRDD) program. The CMRDD aims to advance the commercial readiness of emerging mineral processing unit operations and technologies that will support the development of zero-emission vehicle value chains in Canada by providing raw material inputs for use in batteries and permanent magnets.

“Today’s investment of C$714,500 for Fortune Minerals will help to advance the development of dynamic and competitive critical minerals value chains through an innovative new processing technology, Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, said in the statement.

“This means good jobs for workers, more investment in Canadian innovation and lower emissions across the country.”

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Environmental Working Group - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 11:30

Toxic weedkiller linked to Parkinson’s poses disproportionate risk to Latino farmworkers, families in CaliforniarcolemanMarch 26, 2024

SACRAMENTO – A groundbreaking analysis by the Environmental Working Group sheds light on a concerning disparity in exposure to the toxic weedkiller paraquat, with rural Latino communities in California’s farm countryfacing a disproportionate risk.

Paraquat is a widely used herbicide allowed for use on U.S. crop fields, despite its links to Parkinson’s disease and other health risks, including childhood leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Crop growers are disproportionately spraying the chemical in areas of the state dominated by large farms and inhabited by Latino farmworkers and their families, making environmental health risks worse for these communities.

EWG researchers analyzed state pesticide application data between 2017 and 2021, highlighting alarming trends in the use of paraquat across California, with significant concentrations in areas with high poverty rates and predominantly Latino populations. California is one of the only statesto make paraquat spraying data readily available.

Kern County emerges as a hot spot for paraquat use, with communities such as Shafter and Wasco also experiencing high levels of exposure. These three communities combined have over 80 percent Latino residents who witnessed almost 180,000 pounds of paraquat spraying during that time period. Overall, 5.3 million pounds of paraquat were sprayed in California within the five-year span.

Paraquat is mostly used in agricultural fields to clear land before crops are planted, and it poses a substantial risk to both environmental and human health. Despite the weedkiller’s toxic nature and links to debilitating diseases such as Parkinson’s, the Environmental Protection Agency continues to permit its use on crop fields. The agency is disregarding mounting evidence of such harm, even as it banned the pesticide from being applied to golf courses.

More than 60 countries have banned the weedkiller because of its links to Parkinson’s disease. But the EPA keeps defending its use by conventional agriculture in the U.S., which is based on a woefully outdated and severely flawed scientific analysis.

"Paraquat is not only a threat to our environment but also a direct danger to the health and well-being of these communities, particularly Latino populations, who make up the majority of the population," said Al Rabine, EWG GIS analyst and lead author of the report.

"The findings of our analysis underscore the urgent need for action by the state to protect these communities from the harmful effects of exposure to this toxic weedkiller," he said.

Senior EWG Toxicologist Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., said the health risks of paraquat threaten communities working and living near fields where it is applied. “The more we learn about paraquat, the more the science makes clear how harmful exposure can be, and that risk is amplified for those people closest to where it’s used the most.”

Representing 40 percent of California’s population, Latinos face heightened risks of exposure to paraquat because of their disproportionate representation in agricultural work. With Latinos making up 96 percent of farmworkers in California, the risks extend beyond the fields, as pesticide drift can infiltrate homes, further endangering residents’ health.

“California’s Latino communities should not be subjected to additional health risks due to the negligent actions of pesticide manufacturers, farm owners and state regulatory agencies,” said EWG Government Affairs Manager Geoff Horsfield.

EWG’s analysis underscores the urgent need for regulatory intervention to ease the disproportionate impact of paraquat on these communities in California and beyond. As the EPA falters in its duty to safeguard public health, EWG urges state and local governments to protect their residents from the dangers of paraquat exposure.

###

The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.

Areas of Focus Farming & Agriculture Food & Farm Workers Toxic Chemicals Paraquat Regional Issues California Disqus Comments Press Contact Alex Formuzis alex@ewg.org (202) 667-6982 March 27, 2024

Categories: G1. Progressive Green

Mining.Com - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 10:45

EarthLabs Inc. (TSXV: SPOT; OTCQX: SPOFF; FSE: 8EK0) announced on Tuesday the listing of the company’s common shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “8EK0”.

EarthLabs owns CEO.CA, the largest social media platform for mining investors, with more than 12 million unique viewers since inception, and DigiGeoData, a mineral resource database and mapping tool providing geological, claim, drilling, and other contextual information. Earthlabs’ precious metals royalty portfolio encompasses nearly 2,500 sq. km of prospective ground in Newfoundland.

Last December, EarthLabs announced the acquisition of The Northern Miner Group. The Northern Miner Group’s three media brands; The Northern Miner, MINING.COM, and Canadian Mining Journal, combined, reach over 1 million users monthly.

“At EarthLabs, we understand the complexities of today’s resource landscape. Positioned between ETFs and direct investments, we offer a strategic pathway to leverage the resource boom with smart, sustainable capital,” EarthLabs CEO Denis Laviolette said in a news release.

“Our investments and royalty portfolio, complemented by our cutting-edge suite of data-driven media SaaS tools, underscore our commitment to educate and engage investors,” Laviolette said. “We believe that by empowering our partners and clients with the most advanced technologies and insights, we can unlock unprecedented value and drive a new era of growth within the sector.”

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Clean Air Ohio - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 10:43

PENNSYLVANIA (March 26, 2024) Today, federal Judge Hardy signed the proposed consent agreement between Clean Air Council, PennEnvironment, and U.S. Steel. This is the final step in finalizing this historic consent decree and citizen suit penalty against U.S. Steel for their ongoing air pollution violations due to power outages at the Clairton co*ke Works. The agreement mandates that U.S. Steel will pay a $5 million penalty — by far the largest in a Clean Air Act citizen enforcement suit in Pennsylvania history, and one of the three largest ever nationally. Most of the penalty money ($4.5 million) will fund public health projects directly benefiting Mon Valley communities suffering from poor air quality near the three U.S. Steel plants.

Clean Air Council Executive Director Alex Bomstein issued the following statement:

“Today marks a historic step forward in protecting Mon Valley residents from harmful pollution. It is a huge win that Judge Hardy has approved this settlement without changes and that it now has the power of the court behind it. This landmark agreement will go a long way in funding much-needed public health projects and holding U.S. Steel accountable for their operations.”

Categories: G2. Local Greens

La Jicarita - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 10:23

Editor’s Note: Yesterday the UN Security Council FINALLY passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the immediate release of all hostages after the U.S. abstained. According to a State Department spokesperson, the US did not vote for the resolution because it did not condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel and because of other concerns about the wording. The US asked for a change in the text that replaced “permanent cease-fire” in the war between Israel and Hamas with “lasting cease-fire.” This comes after more than five months of Israel’s assault on Gaza, killing over 30,000 Palestinians, denying food and medical aid to displaced and wounded Gazans, and pushing the population towards famine.

Kudos to New Mexico’s Democratic Party’s vote calling for an end to the siege of Gaza. As Source NM reporter Austin Fisher points out in the reprinted article below, the Party first started calling for a ceasefire months ago without the backing of the New Mexico Congressional delegation who failed to align themselves with the progressive congressional caucus that immediately called for a ceasefire, and, in fact, voted for more military aid to Israel and against funding for UNWRA, the UN aid agency. And they continue to call for a “two-state” solution to the occupation, which was debunked decades ago by Palestinian academic and activist Edward Said and is even less of a possibility today considering Israel’s settlements in the West Bank.

The people of New Mexico and the people of the world went into the streets, phoned, emailed, and parked themselves at the offices of their elected leaders, quit Zionist organizations, got fired from their jobs for defending Palestine, called out the mainstream press for its biased coverage of the conflict, and demonstrated they are the voice of moral authority. That it took over five months and the lives of so many people for their ceasefire demand to be heard—and yet to be enforced—is unconscionable.

With 74% in favor, pre-primary convention calls on congressional delegation and Biden to end war and military aid to IsraelBY:AUSTIN FISHER– MARCH 26, 2024

Reprinted with permission from Source NM

Samia Assed speaks about the ceasefire resolution adopted by the Democratic Party of New Mexico during a news conference on Monday in Albuquerque. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)

An overwhelming majority of the New Mexico Democratic Party’s membership this month voted in favor of a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, an end to the blockade on aid, a pause on U.S. military aid to Israel and the release of hostages on both sides.

After more than four months of back and forth between the party’s base and its leadership, and nine hours of debate on March 9, the statewide Pre-Primary Convention vote makes these policy positions part of the Democratic Party of New Mexico’s 2024 platform, and calls on the state’s congressional delegation and President Joe Biden’s administration to follow suit.

The State Central Committee, a group of about 500 grassroots party members elected by neighborhood precincts across New Mexico, are counted as delegates to the full Democratic Party convention, which passed the resolution with a 527-185 vote, or 74% in favor. Ninety-two delegates abstained.

“The majority of Democrats throughout the country support a ceasefire, but our political leaders are lagging behind,” Samia Assed said Monday at a news conference about the vote. “It’s past time for a political solution that leaders have ignored for too long. Over 13,000 Palestinian children have died, and 800,000 are starving. Enough is enough.”

Assed, a Palestinian-American, SCC member and head of the Southwest Coalition for Palestine, formally introduced the resolution to the state party in October. She and other SCC members said it took more than four months to get the ceasefire resolution to a SCC vote because of procedural delays.

“30,000 people have died in Gaza since we introduced the resolution,” Assed said.

The resolution is the Democratic Party of New Mexico’s final word for its 2024 election platform and there is no higher authority than the Pre-Primary Convention, SCC member Jane Yee said.

Yee is also chair of the Bernalillo County Democratic Party’s resolutions committee and helped write and carry the resolution through the state party’s policy platform process.

“What the United States government is standing for is settler colonialism,” Yee said. “There’s more in common with those of us in the grassroots of the Democratic Party — on the SCC and in the precincts and the wards — with the Native American people that also suffer from settler colonialism, than with the higher-ups, than with the governor or with the representatives.”

State Central Committee members were joined Monday by faith leaders and state lawmakers from Albuquerque, including Rep. Patricia Roybal-Caballero and Sens. Linda Lopez and Harold Pope, to support the resolution.

“To dispel the Israeli government’s rhetoric: this is not a war, it is a genocidal attack aimed at another land theft and the annihilation of the Palestinian people,” Roybal-Caballero said.

As a lawmaker, tribal member and Indigenous woman, Roybal-Caballero said she knows too well how settler colonialism steals lands, erases culture, language and traditions. She called for federal lawmakers and international decision makers to impose sanctions on Israel.

“I have an obligation to call out this inhumane genocide, intentionally killing innocent families, women, children, men, and medical personnel, all while justifying this genocide by calling it a war,” she said

A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández said she has “pushed for more than a ceasefire,” including accountability for Israeli settler violence in the West Bank and a two-state solution. Leger Fernández said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to allow aid into Gaza and indiscriminate bombing of civilians are “immoral and unconscionable.”

“I oppose a military incursion into Rafah and decry the starvation that is imminent due to Netanyahu’s action,” Leger Fernández said. “The United States must continue to push for a ceasefire, and the House Republican leadership must allow us to vote on legislation to provide more humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”

Requests for comment on the state party’s resolution sent to the other four members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation were not returned by Monday evening.

New Mexico’s entire congressional delegation voted in favor of the spending bill Biden signed on Saturday whichdefundsUNRWA, the primary U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, for the next year during what the World Health Organization calls an “imminent famine.”

A warning for November

The ceasefire resolution also exposes a rift between the New Mexico Democratic party’s base and its leadership. Yee said the resolution is just a first step taken by a grassroots group within the party.

“We have to lead our leaders to come to these kinds of realizations that we have reached ourselves in the last five months of debate in the grassroots,” she said.

Assed said her fellow Democrats who voted for the ceasefire resolution make up the party’s core, and elected officials must reflect their wishes.

“We represent the voters, and our representatives must hear our voices, our asks, our demands, and our warning for this vote in November,” Assed said.

State Central Committee member Mitchell Friedman, who also voted in favor of the resolution, encouraged people to vote “uncommitted” in the June Democratic primary. New Mexico law and the party’s rules requires the presidential ballot to include the option beneath the presidential candidates’ names. Uncommitted vote results are prominent in other state Democratic primary races, with some of the biggest showings inMichiganandMinnesota.

“This is a state with collective memory of genocide. This is a state with collective memory of apartheid conditions.” Friedman said. “The DNC knows, the media knows, that people who vote noncommitted right now are making a statement about this.”

Ceasefire proponents, Assed said, are not trying to disrupt or divide the Democratic Party, and do not want to see Donald Trump in office. Yee and SCC member Scotti Romberg, who helped write the ceasefire resolution, agreed that Biden would be a stronger candidate if he changed course.

“What President Biden and our congressional delegates have done has pushed away many Democrats, many Americans, many of our youth,” Assed said. “We want to make sure we win the election because we do not want to see Trump in office, we don’t want to see fascism.”

DPNM Policy on War in Gaza

Theresolutioncalls on the party’s members, specifically the state’s congressional delegation, to demand the Biden administration do four things:

1. Urgently call for and facilitate negotiations for a de-escalation and ceasefire.
2. Immediately send and facilitate the delivery of adequate humanitarian aid including fuel, water, food, medical supplies, and medical personnel into Gaza.
3. Pause all U.S. military aid to Israel and call upon all combatants’ allies to stop shipping weapons into the war zone.
4. Secure the release of Israeli civilians being held hostage, and Palestinian political prisoners being detained, and allow foreign nationals freedom of movement.

“Hundreds of thousands of lives are at imminent risk if a ceasefire is not achieved and if humanitarian aid is not delivered immediately,” the resolution states. “The federal government holds immense diplomatic power to save Israeli and Palestinian lives.”

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Common Dreams - Tue, 03/26/2024 - 10:22

The U.S. military should clarify that it will not develop or deploy lethal weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI), 14 groups said in a letter sent today to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks. The letter was co-signed by Public Citizen, the Future of Life Institute, Demand Progress, and Win Without War, among others.

The groups’ letter focuses on the Pentagon’s Replicator program, which proposes to rely heavily on drones to combat Chinese missile strength in a theoretical conflict over Taiwan or at China’s eastern coast. The just-passed appropriations bill includes $200 million in funding for Replicator, with an additional $300 million expected to be devoted to the program.

According to the groups, the Pentagon has not been sufficiently clear about whether the program involves the development and deployment of autonomous weapons. “This is no place for strategic ambiguity. Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is ‘ultimately’ responsible for the use of force or not,” the letter reads.

“The United States should state plainly that it will not create or deploy killer robots and should work to advance global treaty negotiations to ban such weapons,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “At minimum, the United States should commit that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the use of autonomous weapons. Ambiguity about the Replicator program essentially ensures a catastrophic arms race over autonomous weapons. That’s a race in which all of humanity is the loser.”

Categories: F. Left News