Tag Archives: Food & Water Watch

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.”

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‘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.”‘

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Biden Restores, Expands Bedrock Environmental Law Gutted by Trump

“Today’s rule restores strong environmental review of federal actions and will go a long way towards having a meaningful process to assess the health and safety impacts of an array of projects,” said one campaigner.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 4-30-2024 by Common Dreams

Moms Speak Up to Defend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Photo: Moms Clean Air Force/flickr/CC

In a clear demonstration of how U.S. President Joe Biden’s priorities differ from those of his GOP predecessor, the Democrat on Tuesday finalized a two-part push to revive and strengthen a landmark environmental law eviscerated by the Trump administration in 2020.

While in office, former Republican President Donald Trump—who has pledged to “drill, baby, drill” if he wins back the White House—attacked the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which ensures communities can weigh in on projects that are built nearby or otherwise impact them.

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‘Important Step’: EPA Finalizes Rule to Clean Up Forever Chemical Contamination

While praising the move, campaigners also said that the agency “must require polluters to pay to clean up the entire class of thousands of toxic PFAS chemicals, and it must ban nonessential uses.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 4-19-2024 by Common Dreams

Used at military bases ad civilian airports, PFAS in firefighting foam has contaminate drinking water across the country. Photo: Department of Defense/Public domain

Environmental and public health advocates on Friday welcomed the Biden administration’s latest step to tackle “forever chemicals,” a new Superfund rule that “will help ensure that polluters pay to clean up their contamination” across the country.

“It is time for polluters to pay to clean up the toxic soup they’ve dumped into the environment,” declared Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We all learned in kindergarten that if we make a mess, we should clean it up. The Biden administration’s Superfund rule is a big step in the right direction for holding polluters accountable for cleaning up decades of contamination.”

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Now End All the Drilling, Campaigners Say as Biden Rescinds Arctic Refuge Leases

“Our sacred land is only temporarily safe from oil and gas development,” said one First Nations leader, urging Congress and the White House to “permanently protect the Arctic Refuge.”

By Julia Conley. Published 9-6-2023 by Common Dreams

Polar bear, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo: Alan D. Wilson/Wikimedia Commons/CC

Indigenous tribes and climate campaigners applauded the Biden administration’s announcement Wednesday that it will cancel all existing oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and ban drilling across 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve, while hundreds of groups also called on the U.S. Interior Department to go further on fossil fuel leasing.

Biden’s move in Alaska will reverse former Republican President Donald Trump’s approval of a 2017 law that required leasing in the Arctic Refuge, the nation’s largest area of pristine wilderness which is home to vulnerable species including polar bears, migratory birds, and caribou.

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‘A Welcome Relief’: Transportation Department Suspends Trump-Era LNG ‘Bomb Trains’ Rule

While celebrating the forthcoming review, campaigners also argued that “Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg should put a new rule in place that restores the ban on LNG by rail once and for all.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-1-2023 by Common Dreams

Just another bomb train. Photo: Don/flickr/CC

Green groups on Friday applauded as the Biden administration suspended a Trump-era rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be transported by train, delivering another blow to New Fortress Energy’s proposal to ship climate-wrecking LNG by rail from Wyalusing, Pennsylvania to Gibbstown, New Jersey.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)—in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, another U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) agency—announced in the Federal Register on Friday that it is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to suspend authorization of LNG rail transportation.

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Dumping of Radioactive Waste into Hudson River Banned After Advocacy by New Yorkers

“Communities have spoken loud and clear that it is unacceptable to use the Hudson River as a dumping ground,” said one campaigner.

By Julia Conley. Published 8-19-2023 by Common Dreams

Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Photo: Tony Fischer/flickr/CC

Public health advocates in New York celebrated what one organizer called “the power of our communities over corporations” after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation passed two months ago into law, barring companies from dumping nuclear wastewater into the Hudson River.

The Democratic governor’s decision to sign the Save the Hudson Bill (A.7208/S.6893) came weeks before Holtec International was planning to begin discharging 45,000 gallons of wastewater from pools that were used to cool spent nuclear reactor fuel at the former Indian Point nuclear power plant.

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Indignation as Michigan Judge Drops Flint Water Charges Against GOP Ex-Gov Snyder

“The people of Flint deserve justice—and it’s unacceptable that the people responsible for Flint’s water crisis aren’t being held accountable,” said Food & Water Watch in response to the development.

By Brett Wilkins.  Published 12-9-2022 by Common Dreams

Former Gov. Rick Snyder Photo: Fox 17 screenshot

Environmental justice advocates on Friday condemned a move by a district judge in Michigan to drop two misdemeanor charges against former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in connection with the 2014 Flint water crisis that killed dozens of residents of the predominantly Black city and poisoned thousands more.

The Detroit Free Press reports Genesee County Judge F. Kay Behm signed an order remanding willful neglect of duty charges against Snyder, who served two terms as Michigan’s governor from 2011 to 2019. Continue reading

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US Should Respond to OPEC by Reinstating Oil Export Ban, Says Green Group

“It is no surprise that the international oil cartel is seeking to maintain high prices,” said a campaigner with Food & Water Watch. “Political leaders here at home must understand that the solution is not to increase drilling.”

By Jake Johnson  Published 10-5-2022 by Common Dreams

Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA Director General met with HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during a bilateral meeting at the IAEA 65th General Conference held at the Agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria. 20 September 2021. Photo: IAEA Imagebank/flickr/CC

The Biden administration and Congress faced new pressure Wednesday to reinstate a ban on U.S. gasoline exports after the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to slash oil production by two million barrels a day to boost prices, a move that drew outrage from the White House and some congressional Democrats.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said in a statement that President Joe Biden is “disappointed” by OPEC’s decision and will consider “tools and authorities to reduce OPEC’s control over energy prices.” Continue reading

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‘Europe Is Cooking’: Records Smashed as Historic Heat Alert Issued

While fires rage and temperatures in Western Europe top the charts, the U.K.’s Met Office announced the first-ever red warning for extreme heat expected in the coming days.

By Jessica Corbett  Published 7-15-2022 by Common Dreams

Image” Peter Dynes/Twitter

Several countries across Europe are enduring the dangerous hot conditions that climate scientists have longed warned of and meteorologists project the brutal heatwave could last in some areas through next month.

Spain and Portugal have faced high temperatures since last Friday. According to CNN, at least three Spanish cities set records this week: Ourense at 43.2°C (109.76°F); Soria at 38.7°C (101.66°F); and Zamora at 41.1°C (105.98°F). Continue reading

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