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Environment Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 14, 2016 7 Comments
There are significant updates to the lawsuits against the EPA related to the Gold King Mine spill that released millions of gallons of wastewater into the Animas River. The first development is that the Navajo Nation has filed a claim seeking more than $160 million from the federal government for damages.
Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch said in the release that the spill transformed the river from a "life-giver and protector" to a "threat" to the Navajo people, crops and animals.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 07, 2016 13 Comments
When Donald Trump makes his final cabinet nomination, it will be hard to pick out which of the bold selections is most golden. Retired Marine General James Mattis as Secretary of Defense was in the running for my top choice. However, it appears that Myron Ebell, the climate change "criminal" who is spear-heading Trump's EPA transition team, was busy identifying a nominee for EPA Chief who just bumped "Mad Dog" Mattis down a notch on my list.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 01, 2016 8 Comments
There are several disturbing updates to the report on the wildfires roaring through Tennessee I prepared earlier this week. It seems that arson is suspected in more than half of the blazes that are still burning in the region.
Fire investigators said more than half of the 67 fires burning right now have been deliberately set. And so far, seven suspects have been arrested for arson state-wide, but more arrests could be made in the near future.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 30, 2016 17 Comments
The Dakota Access Pipeline may be tuning out to be the Last Stand for aging, white hippies. Today, reports began to surface that the Native American protesters are now voicing concerns about their Caucasian co-demonstrators!
"People demonstrating at North Dakota's Access Pipeline protest have expressed frustration at white demonstrators who are reportedly turning up to "colonise" the camp. Concerns have been raised by protestors on social media, who claim that people are arriving at the Standing Rock demonstration for the "cultural experience" and treating it like Burning Man festival.
The following notice went up on Twitter:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 27, 2016 17 Comments
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a nearly 1,200-mile-long underground oil pipeline project that begins in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota and ends at the oil tank farm near Patoka, Illinois. The pipeline is being built to allow crude oil to reach refining markets in a more direct, cost-effective, safer and environmentally responsible manner by reducing the current use of rail and truck transportation. The pipeline was due for delivery on January 1, 2017. However, a series of violent demonstrations have taken place, spearheaded by climate alarmists and social justice warriors, that have delayed its completion.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 22, 2016 42 Comments
It has been fascinating to watch the the elite media and Washington insiders reactions to the speed and efficiency of Trump's transition team organization and appointee selection. With so much happening so quickly, I wanted to keep an eye on one of the most troubling agencies under the Obama Administration: The Environmental Protection Agency. The response of the big government bureaucrats in the EPA is likely to offer a clue about how they are going to behave in other federal organizations. Legal Insurrection readers may recall that 27% of federal employees claimed they would quit their jobs if Donald Trump was elected. However, instead of quitting, it's more likely they'll exit a little less gracefully.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 18, 2016 41 Comments
Once upon a time, soccer and piano lessons were the preferred extra-curricular options for teens. Now social justice warfare may be the thrilling, new, after-school activity. A group of American kids are suing the federal government demanding "climate action."
“We are standing here to fight and protect everything that we love—from our land to our waters to the mountains to the rivers and forests,” Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, a 16-year-old plaintiff in the case told supporters after a hearing in Eugene, Ore. this fall. “This is the moment where we decide what kind of legacy we are going to leave behind for future generations.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 13, 2016 11 Comments
About a year ago, a backhoe operator working for the EPA accidentally breached the plug holding 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater from the Gold King Mine, causing it to spill into Colorado’s Animas River and creating a true man-caused disaster. Since that time, an analysis of incident by the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation (supported by an official with the Army Corps of Engineers), held the EPA responsible for the multi-state environmental contamination. The scathing report clearly refuted the EPA's assertion that the spill was inevitable. Now, a criminal investigation into the incident has been confirmed.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 13, 2016 24 Comments
Before the Rio Olympics began, I noted that scientists found dangerous drug-resistant “super bacteria” off beaches in Rio de Janeiro and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe athletes will compete. This is in addition to bodies, sewage, and other detritus floating off the coast of Brazil. But Olymic officials said, "Let the Games begin". Now, Rio's contaminated waters have claimed their first victim.
A Belgian sailor who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics has become the first person to fall sick after racing on Rio's polluted Guanabara Bay.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 24, 2016 17 Comments
While Democratic members of Congress built a pillow fort on the floor of the House to oppose gun rights, the Republicans continued their work on behalf of the American people.
At about 1 am on Thursday, while drowned out by cries of "Shame! Shame! Shame!" from Democrats and partially blocked from C-SPAN’s cameras by protest signs, Ryan held some procedural votes on when the House would reconvene to vote on emergency funding to address the Zika virus. The votes were held at 2:30 am, and the Zika bill passed.
The need for a robust response to Zika is becoming more evident each day, as reports of more outbreaks in this country continue to mount.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 07, 2016 11 Comments
I have been following the progressive legal exploits in using racketeering statutes against Big Oil, making the analogy that gasoline producers hid climate data they collected the same way tobacco companies repressed carcinogenicity data. Of course, the eco-activists extraordinaire of Greenpeace were major cheerleaders:
Greenpeace media officer Cassady Sharp called upon the Justice Department to undertake a “broad” investigation to “look into the role of [ExxonMobil and] other fossil fuel companies, trade associations, and think tanks in sowing doubt about the risks of climate change.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 25, 2016 11 Comments
The last time we checked the regulatory runoff from the Animas River spill, a 132-page report by the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation laid the blame for the contamination at the doorstep of the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, the legal runoff is about to hit.
New Mexico is seeking more than $136 million from the Environmental Protection Agency and the owners of Colorado’s Gold King Mine, noting that dangers from contaminants spewed into the Animas River by the Aug. 5 mine spill are still lurking in New Mexico waters. In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court, Attorney General Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department cite economic setbacks and environmental damage suffered by the state after more than 3 million gallons of toxic waste was dumped into the river. It demands reimbursement of $889,327 for short-term emergency-response costs paid by the state, more than $6 million to pay for long-term monitoring of the Animas and San Juan rivers and $130 million for lost income, taxes, fees and revenues suffered by the state because of the spill.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 21, 2016 13 Comments
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world's largest solar plant, has had its share of troubles, including reports that it was scorching birds that flew over it, that it wasn't producing the energy it was projected to produce, and that it was in dire financial difficulty.  This week may well top all of that . . . the solar plant set itself on fire. The LA Times reports:
A generating tower at the world's largest solar energy plant was shut down Thursday after a mirror misalignment caused sunlight to burn through electrical wiring and start a small fire, according to officials. The blaze at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert broke out around 9:30 a.m., according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department. In a Facebook post, officials said that flames could be seen near the ninth floor of the Unit 3 tower, but that they had apparently died out by the time firefighters arrived.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 20, 2016 10 Comments
I have previously reported that a coalition of 17 state attorney generals has formed (AGs United for Clean Power), which intends to promote the climate change agenda by targeting the fossil fuel industry. The first victim of the Climate Change purge was the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a non-profit organization that has assisted businesses in countering climate justice activism, when Attorney General Claude E. Walker of the U.S. Virgin Islands issued a subpoena in an attempt uncover the content of CEI’s comprehensive work on climate change policy.
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