Bottled water manufacturers looking to capture cool, mountain water from Washington’s Cascade Mountains may have to look elsewhere after the state senate passed a bill banning new water permits, as The Guardian reported. The state, with its glacier-fed springs and rainforests, will become the first state in the country to put a total ban on […]
By Shawn Olson-Hazboun and Hilary Boudet A year after Washington state denied key permits for a coal-export terminal in the port city of Longview, the Army Corps of Engineers announced it would proceed with its review—essentially ignoring the state’s decision. This dispute pits federal authorities against local and state governments. It’s also part of a […]
Tuesday, a report written by the company proposing the world’s largest fracked-gas-to-methanol refinery was released by the Port of Kalama and Cowlitz County, Washington. The proposed fossil fuel refinery is controversial because of the impacts on both local residents’ health and our climate. Despite the company’s claim that the refinery could result in a climate […]
Results from the U.S. midterm election are mostly in, and, when it comes to what they mean for the environment, they’re a real mixed bag. On the plus side, the Democrats took the House of Representatives, which, as BBC News pointed out, means that President Donald Trump can’t pass any more major legislation without their […]
The fossil-fuel-funded campaign to defeat the carbon tax ballot measure in Washington State is attracting enormous sums of money as well as charges of dubious outreach efforts towards minority communities. A review of state data by Reuters shows that the oil industry has spent more than $30 billion dollars to fight the measure—double the amount […]
If voters approve Initiative 1631 on Nov. 6, Washington state will take a significant step in climate action by becoming the first state in the nation to enact a fee on carbon emissions. That is, unless Big Oil can stop it. The U.S. oil industry has pumped a record $30 million to stop the carbon […]
Unhealthy levels of air pollution caused by smoke from wildfires delayed flights and trash collection in parts of Washington state Sunday and Monday. The city of Spokane in Eastern Washington had the worst air quality in the country Monday morning, according to measurements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The Spokesman-Review reported. The EPA […]
Tahlequah—a southern resident killer whale whose heartbreaking story has captured attention around the world—has been carrying her dead calf for more than two weeks now. Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research told The Seattle Times that the mother orca has pushed the carcass for a 17th straight day for more than 1,000 miles […]
By Starre Vartan It was once Washington state’s largest coal pit, a terraced, open-to-the-sky strip mine, five miles from the city of Centralia and halfway between Seattle and Portland, Oregon. Today, the coal beds are quiet and blanketed in green, but an adjacent TransAlta power plant with three tall stacks still churns out electricity the […]