Continuing its march toward elimination of key Clean Water Act protections, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday issued a formal notice of withdrawal of the Obama administration’s rule defining which waters can be protected against pollution and destruction under federal law. This is the first step in EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s plan to […]
In the opening scene of the new documentary RiverBlue, deep magenta wastewater spills into a river in China as the voice of fashion designer and activist Orsola de Castro can be heard saying “there is a joke in China that you can tell the ‘it’ color of the season by looking at the color of […]
While the U.S. makes it easier for coal companies to dump mining waste into streams and waterways, other countries are acknowledging the importance of water and granting personhood to these precious resources. The High Court of the Indian state of Uttarakhand ruled that the Ganges and Yamuna rivers and their tributaries have “legal and living […]
By Brett VandenHeuvel Thursday, Columbia Riverkeeper filed the nation’s first lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator Scott Pruitt, Columbia Riverkeeper et al. v. Pruitt. Pruitt has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry. As Attorney General of Oklahoma, he repeatedly sued the EPA to weaken environmental protections. It seems appropriate, then, that the […]
By Gary Wockner and Lydia Bleifuss Hydropower, falsely sold to the public as a source of “green” or “clean” energy, is expanding at an alarming rate in many of South America’s beautiful and ecologically pristine rivers. In line with a global trend, many South American governments—backed by multi-national hydropower corporations, international financiers and profit-motivated corruption—continue […]
Chilean environmentalists and global whitewater aficionados are celebrating the happy ending to the tumultuous 20-year battle to save Patagonia’s Futaleufu River. On Aug. 30, Endesa Chile, subsidiary of Enersis and part of Italian-controlled energy consortium Enel, formally relinquished all claims to Chile’s iconic whitewater mecca, and similar stakes in other Chilean rivers. Endesa sought to […]