Within the last several days, two trains carrying volatile crude oil derailed and caught on fire. These accidents highlight the danger of government foot-dragging over train safety and show that towns seeking to ban these trains coming through their area aren’t just being contentious and “anti-business.” Take a look. This is a picture sent to us […]
Just how low can the oil price go? What was unthinkable even a few months ago is now becoming distinctly probable, even likely. As analysts dissect the ramifications for the oil industry of $40 a barrel, oil traders are now thinking that the price of crude will halve that to a staggering $20 a barrel. Prices […]
The explosion in drilling for oil on the Bakken Shale in North Dakota has been seen by many as a threat to the environment and the safety of oil workers. There have been concerns over radioactive waste contaminating local water, oil spills, crude by rail fiery explosions and even sex trafficking. Now, Al Jazeera America […]
When a polluting industry creates jobs and economic activity, especially in the very poor areas where these industries often land, there’s a tendency of citizens to want to deny any impact on its health or environment. Such a clash of interests has reached a sad impasse in a Utah oil boom town where some citizens […]
Last year, it often seemed like we were fighting attacks on the environment from all sides. But those of us pushing back against pollution and climate change enjoyed some significant victories in 2014, including the People’s Climate March in New York in September—said to be the largest environmental march in history—the dimming prospects for drilling […]
Ed Ruszel’s workday is a soundtrack of whirling, banging, screeching—the percussion of wood being cut, sanded and finished. He’s the facility manager for the family business, Ruszel Woodworks. But one sound each day roars above the cacophony of the woodshop: the blast of the train horn as cars cough down the Union Pacific rail line […]
Natural gas has been sold to us as the environmentally friendly fossil fuel compared to gas or coal since it doesn’t release carbon emissions. We’ve learned that’s not true, since drilling for natural gas can release methane, a far more potential greenhouse gas in contributing to climate change. Even when oil and gas are no […]
Last month extreme fossil fuel extraction and I were both recipients of an accusatory outburst by my 13-year-old. “I hate fracking!” he said, half yelling, half sobbing. “Fracking turns you into a crappy mom!” And he is right. Because of my ongoing efforts to halt both fracking and fracking’s metastasizing infrastructure from invading New York […]
Renowned author, biologist and advocate Sandra Steingraber, PhD, U.S. Air Force veteran Colleen Boland (retired) and avid environmentalist Roland Micklem headed to the Chemung County jail Wednesday evening after pleading guilty and refusing to pay a fine in New York’s Reading Town Court. Judge Raymond Barry issued the maximum jail sentence of 15 days. Sandra Steingraber, PhD and U.S. Air Force veteran, […]