State Department Has “Insufficient Information” on Keystone XL

freespeechtv

Published on Apr 24, 2013

Anthony Swift, Natural Resource Defense Council, joins Thom Hartmann. So – just how good a job is the State Department doing at assessing the risks and threats posed by the Keystone XL pipeline?

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EPA Slams State Dept. on Keystone Pipeline

Sam Seder

Published on Apr 23, 2013

In the final public hearings on the Keystone pipeline, the EPA slammed the State Dept…

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EPA blasts the Obama administration over Keystone XL Pipeline

RT America

Published on Apr 24, 2013

The debate over the Keystone XL pipeline that is supposed to carry tar sands oil from Canada to the US’ Gulf Coast got a little more heated. On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency blasted the Obama administration’s claims that the pipeline doesn’t pose an environmental threat. According to the EPA, several “environmental objections” were found in the State Department’s environmental impact review. Jaime Henn, communications director for 350.org, takes a deeper look into the the claims.

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One Month After the Spill, Here Are 5 Things You Need to Know About West Virginia’s Water Crisis | The Nation

Steven Hsieh

Workers inspect an area near the Elk River near where a chemical leaked at Freedom Industries storage facility in Charleston, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

More than a month has passed since Freedom Industries Inc. reported a disastrous chemical spill into West Virginia’s Elk River on January 9, prompting a state of emergency and restricting 300,000 people from drinking or using their own tap water.

West Virginians, understandably concerned about a potential public health crisis, have pressed hard for answers. In return, they’ve faced a series of confusing statements and contradictions from state and federal officials. The story is moving so quickly, it can be tough to keep up and parse out what we actually know. Here’s an update of where we are now:

Officials are still sending mixed messages regarding water safety.

The Center for Disease Control and local health departments, along with West Virginia American Water, all maintain that the water is safe to use. They’ve based their assessment on a controversial “screening level” of less than 1 part per million (ppm) of MCMH for safe water usage (more on this later). Samples from treatment plants have met that criterion, though the state still hasn’t conducted planned tests on home plumbing systems.

Recent statements from other officials weren’t so definitive. State Health Officer Dr. Leticia Tierney told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Monday, “Everybody has a different definition of safe.” In that same hearing, US Chemical Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said the dearth of knowledge about crude MCHM and PPH means we can’t say outright whether the water is safe.

After the state cleared some residents to use their tap water, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) posted a notice based on CDC recommendations advising pregnant women to drink bottled water instead. The CDC recently approved water usage for all West Virginians, including pregnant women, although the advisory remains posted on the DHHR website.

…(read more).

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We’re Being Watched: Big Business is Spying on Activists

Concerns about government spying, tracking and data collection have reached an all time high and Tuesday is The Day We Fight Back against mass surveillance.

Activists and organizations around the country including the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freepress and Human Rights Watch are raising their voices against government agencies and corporations using far reaching, shadowy systems to spy on US citizens and innocent civilians around the world.

In solidarity with the national day of protest, Making Contact’s George Lavender spoke to Earth Island Journal’s Adam Federman about government surveillance of environmental organizations and the privatization of the surveillance industry post 9-11.

Federman is the author of the article “We’re Being Watched: How Corporations and Law Enforcement Are Spying on Environmentalists”

Listen to the special feature and look out for our full show on Surveillance coming up soon.

…(read more).

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Climate Change Demands We Change. Why Aren’t We?

Center for Public Scholarship

The Center for Public Scholarship is pleased to present the 31st Social Research conference,“Climate Change Demands We Change. Why Aren’t We?,” on Thursday and Friday, April 24 and 25, 2014, at The New School in New York City.

http://www.newschool.edu/cps/climate-change/

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Dr Robert Bullard | Father of Environmental Justice

Robert D. Bullard is the Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. He is often described as the father of environmental justice. Professor Bullard received his Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University. He is the author of seventeen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, industrial facility siting, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, emergency response, smart growth, and regional equity. Professor Bullard was featured in the July 2007 CNN People You Should Know, Bullard: Green Issue is Black and White. In 2008, Newsweek named him one of 13 Environmental Leaders of the Century. And that same year, Co-op America honored him with its Building Economic Alternatives Award (BEA).

….(read more).

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New Report Tracks Environmental Justice Movement Over Five Decades | Dr Robert Bullard | Father of Environmental Justice

HOUSTON, Texas – February 9, 2014 – On Tuesday environmental justice groups and coalitions from around the country will commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the historic Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898 ”Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations” signed by President Bill Clinton.

As part of the 20-year anniversary, a team of researchers from the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University released “Environmental Justice Timeline and Milestones, 1964-2014,” a report that chronicles environmental justice milestones, accomplishments and achievements of the Environmental Justice Movement in the United States over the past five decades, beginning with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The report is sheduled to be released on Tuesday February 11.

After decades of hard work, struggle, and some victories along the way, the quest for environmental justice for all communities has yet to be achieved. Even in 2014, the most potent predictor of health is zip code. Race and poverty are also powerful predictors of students who attend schools near polluting facilities, the location of polluted neighborhoods that pose the greatest threat to human health, hazardous waste facilities, urban heat islands, and access to healthy foods, parks, and tree cover.

Transportation equity remains a major environmental justice and civil rights challenge. The nation’s transportation, energy, climate and disaster management policies have a long way to go to ensure just and equitable benefits accrue to low-wealth and people of color communities, while at the same time not allowing the negative impacts to flow disproportionately to these same communities. Environmental justice leaders want to see these gaps closed now and not have to wait another two decades.

….(read more).

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20th Anniversary Video Series

February is EJ Month!

February 11th, 2014 marks the 20th Anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 12898 (6 pp, 140K, About PDF), “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations.”

In recognition of this milestone, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has declared the month of February”Environmental Justice Month” for all EPA employees and staff. During this month, we will kick off activities throughout 2014 to celebrate the successes of many collaborative efforts across the country.

We will highlight successful projects and events, and we will launch our new environmental justice training for EPA employees. We will also publish our 2014 Progress Report on Plan EJ 2014 in February.

This Executive Order directs federal agencies to make environmental justice part of their missions by identifying and addressing disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority, low-income populations. The Order is intended to promote nondiscrimination in federal programs substantially affecting human health and the environment. The Order also provides minority and low-income communities access to public information and an opportunity to participate in matters relating to human health or the environment. The Presidential Memorandum accompanying the Order underscores certain provisions of existing law that can help ensure that all communities and people across this nation live in a safe and healthy environment.

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EPA 20th Anniversary Environmental Justice Video Series – View Sequence

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

NOTE: If you need captions, please click the CC button on the player to turn them on.

In commemorating the 20 years of EPA working on environmental justice, the agency has created this video series, featuring federal and local government officials, non-profit leaders, and students, who tell stories about the lessons they have learned over their time working on environmental justice. These videos will also be featured on the EPA Environmental Justice in Action Blog athttp://blog.epa.gov/ej. This video was funded and produced by EPA.

For more about EPA visit: http://www.epa.gov.

We accept comments according to our comment policy:http://blog.epa.gov/blog/comment-policy/

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