Tag Archives: Environment

Leak at First CO2 Injection Site in US Exposes Dangerous Folly of Carbon Capture

“This incident puts an exclamation point on concerns communities across the country have been raising for years about the dangers the CCS industry poses to public safety and drinking water,” said one climate group.

By Jake Johnson. Published 9-13-2024 by Common Dreams

Chevron refinery in North Salt Lake, Utah. Photo: arbyreed/flickr/CC

Environmental groups said Friday that a newly reported leak at the first CO2 injection site in the United States highlights the threat—and false promise—of carbon capture and storage efforts, which climate advocates have long criticized as a ploy by the fossil fuel industry to preserve its extractive business model.

E&E News reported Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has “issued a violation notice to the operator of the country’s first carbon dioxide injection wells for permanent storage, alleging that the company hasn’t complied with its federal permit.”

Continue reading
Share Button

‘Simply Unacceptable’: Nearly 200 Environmental Defenders Killed in 2023

“Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries,” one campaigner said. “We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives.”

By Olivia Rosane. Published 9-10-2024 by Common Dreams

Manuel Teran, who was shot and killed by a Georgia State Trooper. Photo: Gabe Eisen

Almost 200 people were killed in 2023 for attempting to protect their lands and communities from ecological devastation, Global Witness revealed Tuesday.

This raises the total number of environmental defenders killed between 2012—when Global Witness began publishing its annual reports—and 2023 to 2,106.

Continue reading
Share Button

‘Astonishing’ Study Shows Infant Deaths Rise in US When Bat Populations Fall

Experts hailed the study as “groundbreaking” and “sobering” for the connections it draws between ecosystem and human health.

Mexican free-tailed bats outside Frio Cave near Concan, TX. Photo: dizfunkshinal/Wikimedia Commons/CC

By Edward Carver. Published 9-6-2024 by Common Dreams

Bat die-offs in the U.S. led to increased use of insecticides, which in turn led to greater infant mortality, according to a “seminal” study published Thursday that shows the effects of biodiversity loss on human beings.

Eyal Frank, an environmental economist at the University of Chicago, authored the study, which was published by Science, a leading peer-reviewed journal.

Continue reading
Share Button

Texas GOP Invents Corporate Courts Ready to Do Industry’s Bidding

“Why bother judge-shopping when you can just invent a new court?” asked one watchdog.

By Jake Johnson. Published 9-4-2024 by Common Dreams

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Photo: World Travel & Tourism Council/flickr/CC

In recent months, corporate groups such as the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce have faced growing backlash over “judge-shopping,” a tactic whereby plaintiffs deliberately select legal venues they believe will produce favorable outcomes.

But as of the beginning of this month, corporations have access to nearly a dozen Texas courts created specifically for the purpose of settling major business cases as well as a statewide panel that will hear appeals from the newly established courts.

Continue reading
Share Button

Tribes Celebrate as Dam Removals Set Klamath River ‘Free’ for First Time in a Century

“The biggest thing for me, the significance of the dam removal project, is just hope—understanding that change can be made,” a Yoruk activist said as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history neared completion.

By Edward Carver. Published 8-29-2024 by Common Dreams

The Klamath River. Photo: Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington/flickr/CC

Crews breached the final of four dams on a key stretch of the Klamath River on Wednesday, letting salmon run freely there for the first time in over a century and garnering tears from Indigenous activists who had campaigned for the dam removals for decades.

Together the four demolitions mark the largest dam removal project in U.S. history.

The Klamath, which runs from south-central Oregon into northwestern California, has long been bordered by Native American tribes—”Salmon People,” as they call themselves—that once relied on the protein-rich fish for about half of their caloric intake but were impoverished by the institution of the dams, among other white settler colonialist initiatives.

Continue reading
Share Button

‘Historic Victory’ as Biden BLM Restores Protections for 28 Million Acres in Alaska

“Tribal consultation must be treated as a requirement—not an option—when the federal government is making decisions that could irrevocably affect tribal communities,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

By Julia Conley. Published 8-27-2024 by Common Dreams

Moose visiting the coast, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Reserve. Photo: Michele Kuter/Public domain

Indigenous tribes and conservation groups applauded the Biden administration on Tuesday for listening to the demands of Alaska Natives, who have called on the federal government to protect 28 million acres of land in the state from mining—warning that failing to do so would threaten food security and cultural identity for tens of thousands of people.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s announcement that the land would be protected from mining interests—reversing a decision by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee—”is a big deal for the communities and wildlife who call Alaska home,” said Dan Ritzman of the Sierra Club.

Continue reading
Share Button

‘Major Power Milestone’: US Green Groups Cheer Wind, Solar Overtaking Coal

“This historic milestone marks a significant win for clean energy advocates, for ratepayers, and for people and communities across the country,” said one climate leader.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 8-14-2024 by Common Dreams

Wind turbines in southern California Photo: Erik Wilde/Wikimedia Commons/CC

U.S. climate advocates this week are celebrating new federal data that show wind and solar have generated more power than coal during the first seven months of 2024 and are on track to do so for the entire calendar year.

“This is the kind of news we like to see!” Food & Water Watch said of the data on social media Tuesday. “Ensuring a livable climate for all depends on us making a swift and just transition to clean energy like wind and solar.”‘

Continue reading
Share Button

Critics Warn Manchin-Barrasso Permitting Bill ‘Is Taken Straight From Project 2025’

“You thought Project 2025 was just a threat after the election? It’s actually happening *right now,*” said one climate campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins Published 7-26-2024 by Common Dreams

The Chevron refinery in North Salt Lake, Utah Photo: arbyreed/flickr/CC

Climate and environmental defenders on this week implored U.S. senators to block a permitting reform bill introduced this week by Sens. Joe Manchin and John Barrasso that campaigners linked to Project 2025, a conservative coalition’s agenda for a far-right overhaul of the federal government.

Common Dreams reported Monday that Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Barrasso (R-Wyo.)—respectively the chair and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee—introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.

Continue reading
Share Button

Biden Proposes New Protections From Oil and Gas Drilling in Western Arctic

While applauding the proposal, climate advocates said they would “keep fighting to ensure there’s no new oil extraction on a single acre” of the region.

By Julia Conley. Published 7-13-2024 by Common Dreams

Teshekpuk Caribou in the National Petroleum Reserve in northwest Alaska. Photo: Bureau of Land Management/flickr/CC

Indigenous groups in Alaska were joined by climate advocates on Friday in welcoming the Biden administration’s proposal to expand protections from oil and gas drilling in the Western Arctic, though some groups emphasized that the federal government should not stop with the newly announced effort.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said it was opening a 60-day comment period regarding a potential expansion of areas protected from drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), also known as the Western Arctic.

Continue reading
Share Button

‘All of Our Tricks Worked’: Spoof ExxonMobil Ad Nails Just How Easy It’s Been for Big Oil

“Do you have any idea how easy it is to get you off our backs with a little bullsh*t about your responsibilities to the planet?”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 7-9-2024 by Common Dreams

Exxon Knew – Divest rally at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX on May 25, 2016 . Photo: 350 .org/flickr/CC

A new parody ExxonMobil advertisement released Tuesday by a group founded by Adam McKay—the Academy Award-winning writer and director of the blockbuster doomsday climate comedy Don’t Look Up—mocks humanity for letting Big Oil get away with causing one of the biggest existential threats of all time.

“There’s a world we all want to live in again. A world where the air is pure and crisp and clean and fills your lungs with joy. A world where you can drink water from any river or creek and your house will still be there tomorrow if it rains,” the narrator of Yellow Dot Studio’s latest parody video says in the two-minute clip. “Here at Exxon, we believe in that world, and we’re working hard to make sure that our customers believe that we believe in that world.”

Continue reading
Share Button