Austin Nuñez is Chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, which joined with the Hopi and Pascua Yaqui Tribes to fight a proposed open-pit copper mine on sacred sites in Arizona. Mamta Popat
By Alison Cagle
Rising above the Arizona desert, the Santa Rita Mountains cradle 10,000 years of Indigenous history. The Tohono O'odham Nation, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and Hopi Tribe, among numerous other tribes, have worshipped, foraged, hunted and laid their ancestors to rest in the mountains for generations.
<p>Mining corporation Hudbay Minerals proposed to dig a mile-wide open-pit copper mine in the Santa Ritas, burying dozens of sites sacred to the tribes under 1.8 billion tons of toxic waste. The mine's construction would raze ancestral Hohokam burial grounds, a historic Hohokam village and vital mountain springs.</p><p>Represented by Earthjustice, the Tohono O'odham fought Hudbay's ill-conceived mine in court, joined by the Hopi and Pascua Yaqui tribes. This summer, a judge ruled in favor of the three tribes, halting the mine in its tracks and directing the Forest Service to protect these <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a> from the devastating impacts of the mine.</p><p>"Our relationship to the land is first and foremost," said Austin G. Nuñez, chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation's San Xavier District in Tucson. "When our Hohokam ancestors' laid their loved ones in their final resting place, they never envisioned having them disturbed. We make every effort to not disturb them. We still feel their spirits today."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA4ODE0NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjU1NTQ5M30.ySeAUBhgWC491Kjb6OoTUzpNy680CmpoeUZ5lrp7tRg/img.png?width=980" id="0cf89" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2158a3ffda17ca3d79e5557e464db82d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The proposed Rosemont Mine threatened Cienega Creek, where these children are playing. Thomas Wiewandt
<p>Tohono O'odham families gather at the sacred sites to reinforce their connection to the desert that has sheltered them for generations. During these gatherings, tribal members will collect yucca, acorns, wild onion, plants for medicinal purposes, or bear grass for basket making.</p><p>"When our children were younger, we'd take them to the proposed Rosemont site and the desert to be with nature," said Nuñez. He laughs, remembering the calming effect of the environment. "It's amazing. When they were out there, the children wouldn't fight. They'd enjoy it. It's so peaceful."</p><p>The Santa Rita Mountains are one of Arizona's most <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiverse</a> regions, with flora and fauna endemic to the Southwest. Undulating mountain ranges, part of the Sky Islands, frame a desert floor spotted with spiky yucca plants. The Santa Ritas are home to several <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>, including the jaguar and southwestern willow flycatcher.</p><p>Critical to this desert ecosystem are freshwater streams, which nourish the land like capillaries through a body. The streams were the lifeblood of the Tohono O'odham's ancestors, and are considered holy by the tribe — making Hudbay's plans to pollute them with heavy metals and deplete the water table especially devastating.</p><p>The only way Hudbay could get away with creating a colossal mine on public lands was by an industry sleight-of-hand using an antiquated mining law.</p><p>The Mining Law of 1872 grants companies a right to use public lands on mining claims — if the land is discovered to contain a valuable mineral deposit. Hudbay filed patented claims overlying the proposed mine pit, which contained valuable minerals, including copper. They also filed hundreds of unpatented claims on adjacent lands with no mining value, where they intended to dump over a billion tons of toxic waste rock and tailings. The Forest Service acquiesced to this land grab, assuming Hudbay had a right to these unpatented claims without bothering to check whether Hudbay had discovered the requisite valuable mineral deposit on those claims.</p><p>This is a common abuse of the Mining Law, especially for gigantic open-pit mines like Rosemont. As mining companies began building massive industrial-scale operations in the 20th century, they twisted the law to fit their need for thousands of acres of additional public lands for waste dumps. The Forest Service has simply turned a blind eye on these baseless rights, letting companies run roughshod over our public lands.</p><p>In 2017, the Tohono O'odham turned to Earthjustice for help, after being sidelined by the Forest Service during the mine's development. Through this partnership, the tribe imparted the deep importance of the Santa Ritas to attorney Stu Gillespie.</p><p>"One of the most fulfilling parts of this case was sharing food with the Tohono O'odham leaders, [and] understanding their cultural ways of life and how important the sacred springs are," said Gillespie. People of all backgrounds can relate to the importance of preserving burial grounds, he noted, adding, "We wouldn't want someone building a mine in Arlington Cemetery."</p><p>The case moved slowly in the courts, but the company was moving quickly to start excavation. As Hudbay brazenly challenged the tribes by bringing machinery to the mine site, Gillespie could see that he needed to take the bold step of seeking a preliminary injunction to stop any digging from starting. Preliminary injunctions often aren't granted, because they're an exceptional remedy of last resort and parties must prove that they face immediate irreparable harm.</p><p>Adding to the urgency, Hudbay planned to hastily clear all of the lands that are burial grounds for the Tohono O'odham Nation's ancestors – the Hohokam. In the 1980s, another company prepared to mine the same site and encountered the burial grounds. The Anamax Mining Company soon went bankrupt and abandoned the site, leaving graves and the ancient village grounds open to the elements. Some of the tribes' ancestral remains were shipped to the University of Arizona, where they were warehoused for thirty years while the tribes fought to repatriate them. They were only returned to the Tohono O'odham Nation several years ago. The tribes were adamant about preventing a repeat of history.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA4ODE0OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjU0NDAyOX0.R3kZ_NCS5LCJOdbZZZjsph2kbarrzxPb3sIteuiL1e8/img.jpg?width=980" id="a1c9d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6fd00e21a8d937bb029751708a5ef3d7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Yellow-billed cuckoos are declining in number, but Cienega Creek provides a safe haven for them. Steve Baranoff
<p>Instead of granting a preliminary injunction, the judge went a step further and definitively ruled on the merits of the tribes' case itself. The Court held that the Forest Service made a "crucial error" by assuming Hudbay had a right to use public lands without any evidence of a valuable mineral deposit, and that this error "tainted the Forest Service's evaluation of the Rosemont Mine from the start." With this argument, he prevented any mining activities from going forward, and called out the Forest Service for abdicating its duty to protect our public lands.</p><p>The judge in the case "identified the fatal flaw in the Forest Service's reasoning," said Gillespie. "He laid out an unbroken line of Supreme Court decisions, saying, 'No, you don't have rights under the Mining Law to pollute this land under billions of tons of waste rock, without evidence of valuable minerals.'"</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA4ODE1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMDA4NTUxM30.dmBTLhHdAy_UsWmjL43QvyQXN5EoU_zHmIv1mPAI_zI/img.jpg?width=980" id="4f80d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="50ba21ce3d26b8b9fc861f55dbf72d61" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The Santa Rita mountains loom over the desert in southern Arizona. Frank Walsh / Save the Scenic Santa Ritas
<p>The judge's ruling could set a precedent among similar mining claims that abuse the Mining Law. By clearly identifying the Forest Service's obligation to regulate unpatented mining claims, this victory could make it harder for giant mining companies to exploit ancestral lands for Native American tribes and pollute precious ecosystems.</p><p>"The federal government and Hudbay tried to put up as many arguments as possible, but it was all smoke and mirrors," said Gillespie. "The judge cut through that really clearly. It's a powerful decision that stands for the proposition that nobody should get a free pass to wreak havoc on our public lands."</p><p>The victory is deeply felt among the Tohono O'odham, who see in this ruling a validation of Indigenous sovereignty over corporate schemes to desecrate their ancestral land.</p><p>"The judge's ruling shows that there is hope in the system," said Chairman Nuñez. "There are good people who believe in the sovereignty of Native nations, and their fundamental, inherent right to land and water. It has reinforced our vow to protect and enhance the lands we do have. We prayed that that mine would never be built. So it felt like our prayers had been answered."</p>
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'Work Together' or 'Destroy it': Goldman Prize Winner Francia Márquez on World's Second Deadliest Country For Environmental Activists
21 August 2019
Politics
Francia Márquez told Earthjustice that "humanity's greatest challenge is to either work together to preserve this planet or destroy it."
Earthjustice
In April 2018, Afro-Colombian activist Francia Márquez won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, thanks to her work to retake her community's ancestral territories from illegal gold mining. However, her international recognition comes at a very risky price.
<p>Francia was born in Yolombó, a town nestled in the southwestern department of Cauca, where more than 250,000 Colombians of African descent live. In November 2014, she spearheaded a women-run march to protest illegal gold mining, due to the use of mercury and cyanide to break down rocks and obtain the coveted metal. This process has tainted Rio Ovejas, a critical waterway for fishing and drinking water and, as a result, Francia and 80 women walked for 10 days to Colombia's capital, Bogotá, to protest the town's conditions. After 22 days of protests on the streets, the Colombian government agreed to stem illegal mining in the town of La Toma. </p><p>Because of her anti-illegal mining work, she has been a target of organized crime. In 2014, Francia was displaced from her hometown of Suárez following death threats, and last May, armed men opened fire on Francia, as well as a group of social leaders and human rights advocates. Despite all obstacles, she decided to study law and advocate for her community.</p><p>In an exclusive conversation with Earthjustice, Francia addresses environmental racism in Colombia and abroad, her perilous journey as an activist, and why the U.S. is responsible for the current conditions in her community.</p>
What are the effects of environmental racism in your country?
<p>Colombia is a country that has traditionally been run by wealthy families. When Black and Indigenous communities demand that large-scale mining be removed from our communities and we ask for protection under the rule of law, the ruling families say that we're posing a hurdle to economic development. That's when I ask, what kind of development are they referring to, especially when Indigenous and Black communities lack basic utilities? The community I live in has no drinking water, and our river has been polluted with chemicals used for illegal mining.</p><p>Furthermore, the Colombian state does not invest in social projects. Their idea of economic development is to extract ore and territories from ethnic communities. This move is a sheer example of structural racism, and every time a social leader's voice or mine is lifted up to demand rights enshrined in the Constitution, then we end up being military targets by armed groups in our territory, particularly right-wing paramilitaries.</p>How would you describe Colombia’s environmental movement currently?
<p>Colombia is the world's second-deadliest country for environmental activists, <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/enemies-state/" target="_blank">according to Global Witness</a>. It is unfathomable that we're still witnessing killings in a country that is supposedly making strides in achieving peace after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/world/americas/colombia-farc-peace-agreement.html?module=inline" target="_blank">the 2016 accord</a>. Unfortunately, interest groups, some economic sectors, and politicians do not want to change the current economic model that leads to what I call "necro-politics," or the politics of death. They don't want to stop fracking, and the Colombian government thinks of extractive industries as the only means of development.</p><p>With respect to aerial coca fumigation, the government doesn't seem to understand that coca won't be eradicated and that people will instead be displaced. In order to stop coca crops, the government should invest in social investment in farm products so they stay away from growing coca, but there is no willingness from the government, and aerial spraying of glyphosate will deteriorate our environment.</p>According to Global Witness, more than 1,700 environmental defenders were killed worldwide between 2002 and 2018. What should environmental organizations do to stop this?
<p>Much of the pressure environmental leaders experience comes from developed countries. The U.S. is responsible for what happens to us as environmental leaders because of its multinational companies' work in our communities. These companies, directly or indirectly, are complicit of this genocide. If there weren't economic interests in these territories, we wouldn't have to get up and fight in order to have a decent life. We're risking our lives to stop harmful extractive industries, because the latter are enjoying benefits at the expense of the many people who have died. </p>You are holding the U.S. accountable for the current state of your community. How can individual Americans make a difference when the Trump administration keeps rolling back environmental protections while siding with industry?
<p>The population has the power to change the course of history. The U.S. will have presidential elections next year. Will Americans re-elect him? This is America's greatest challenge. Otherwise, U.S. powerful companies will keep pouring in here while we're in the midst of a crossfire. </p>So how can we be more aware of the challenges the environmental movement is facing?
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="87c5d7f031b851833b70ddf2d9703b62"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/FranciaMarquezMina/photos/a.143553102970314/357331348259154/?type=3"></div></div><p>Sometimes I believe we're victims of our own invention. We elect legislators who only cater to interest groups and other harmful industries. People must be more conscious about the kind of officials they elect, because it's not just the lives of social leaders that are at stake, but the very existence of humanity today. </p>Is there something else you’d like to add?
<p>Humanity's greatest challenge is to either work together to preserve this planet or destroy it. It's up to us to assume our own responsibility and defend life. In Colombia, we're creating campaigns to incentivize reforestation, as well as recycling. We want to raise awareness about the products that can be composted and how we re-use certain items. There is so much we can do. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="594bb94cd78d1e5ff7b7b98ed933b2c1"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/FranciaMarquezMina/photos/a.134889813836643/152818912043733/?type=3&theater"></div></div>
<p class=""><em>Editors Note: </em><em>For decades, Colombia sprayed tremendous quantities of the cancer-linked chemical glyphosate over the countryside in an attempt to wipe out the coca plants that feed the country's cocaine trade. Earthjustice worked with partners at the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (</em><a href="http://www.aida-americas.org/en" target="_blank">AIDA</a><em>) to end the dangerous spraying program, which was suspended in 2015. Recently, Colombia's president has </em><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/colombia-politics/colombias-duque-in-court-defends-use-of-herbicide-to-destroy-coca-crops-idUSL1N20U0O0" target="_blank">pushed to begin spraying again</a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Pixabay
By Emilie Karrick Surrusco
Across the globe, extreme weather is becoming the new normal.
<p>Torrential rains and flooding. Record hurricanes. Destructive wildfires. Deadly heatwaves and drought. From season to season and year to year, weather events that were once rare occurrences are now increasingly commonplace.</p><p>Human activity is causing these rapid changes. When fossil fuels are burned for electricity, heat, and transportation, carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps solar radiation, is released into our atmosphere. Over the past century, massive increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have caused the temperature on our planet to rise.</p><p>That spike in global temperatures is fueling climate disasters that will only get worse unless we take action. Experts say we have just over a decade to avoid climate catastrophe. Read on to learn more—and find out what we're doing to help the planet change course.</p>
Extreme Heat Gets Hotter
<p>As global temperatures rise, the hottest temperatures — and the number of areas impacted by extreme heat — are also rising. That means more scorching hot days in more places. Take the Texas cities of Austin and Houston, for example. Over the past 50 years, Austin has seen the number of days with temperatures above 100°F increase by one month, while Houston has recorded an additional month with temperatures above 95°F. Through 2100, scientists predict hotter temperatures and more frequent — and intense — heat waves in every region of the U.S., <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/global-warming/global-warming-impacts/heat-waves-and-climate-change-what-science-tells-us" target="_blank">as explained by the Union of Concerned Scientists.</a></p>Drought Conditions Persist
<p>Higher temperatures also lead to drier conditions. When global temperatures rise, moisture evaporates from both our planet's waterbodies and soil. Droughts in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world have become more severe — and lasted longer — thanks to climate change. In fact, the American West is currently in the midst of a "mega drought" that ranks among the worst in the past 1,200 years, according to a recent study by scientists at Columbia University's Earth Institute.</p>p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 38.4px; font: 17.0px Times; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; background-color: #ffffff} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Wildfires Burn Longer and Wider
<p>Wildfires have always been a natural part of life in the western U.S. However, as this region grows hotter and drier, wildfires are growing in size, ferocity and speed. Fifteen of the 20 largest fires in California history have occurred since 2000 — and it's no coincidence that the state's hottest and driest years were in the same timeframe. The Camp Fire in 2018 — California's most destructive, and deadliest, wildfire in history — destroyed an average of one football field worth of land every three seconds and killed 68 people, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/california-wildfires-superlatives-wcx/index.html" target="_blank">according to Cal Fire</a>. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/climate-change-reckoning/" target="_blank">Scientists predict</a> that the Camp Fire won't be record-setting for long.</p>p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 38.4px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; color: #0e0e0e; -webkit-text-stroke: #0e0e0e} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Warmer Temperatures Drive Increases in Precipitation
<p>Warmer air increases evaporation, which means that our atmosphere contains an increasing amount of water vapor for storms to sweep up and turn into rain or snow. Just as drier areas are likely to get drier with rising global temperatures, those areas of the world that have historically trended toward heavy precipitation will only get wetter. In the contiguous United States, rainfall in 2018 broke records, with an average of 36.2 inches falling over a 12-month period – more than 6 inches above average.</p>p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 38.4px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; color: #0e0e0e; -webkit-text-stroke: #0e0e0e} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 38.4px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; color: #0e0e0e; -webkit-text-stroke: #0e0e0e; min-height: 29.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Sea Level Rise Causes Flooding
<p>As the planet warms, ocean waters are also warming — and expanding. At the same time, warmer temperatures are causing land ice — think glaciers and ice caps — to melt, which is adding water to the world's oceans. As a result, average global sea level has increased eight inches in the last 150 years. Right now, the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico are experiencing some of the highest sea level rise in the world, which, combined with record rainfall, has led to catastrophic flooding.</p>p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 38.4px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; color: #0e0e0e; -webkit-text-stroke: #0e0e0e} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 38.4px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; color: #0e0e0e; -webkit-text-stroke: #0e0e0e; min-height: 29.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Hurricanes Are Becoming More Intense
<p>Hurricanes draw their energy from warm ocean water, which means that hurricanes are just getting stronger. In the future, we can expect to see more hurricanes along the lines of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the islands of Dominica, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico in 2017. Officials estimated that 3,000 people died in the aftermath of this catastrophic storm that dropped nearly a quarter of the Puerto Rico's annual rainfall in one day and unleashed maximum sustained winds of 175 mph.</p>p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 38.4px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; color: #0e0e0e; -webkit-text-stroke: #0e0e0e} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} What Can We Do?
<p>Americans across the political spectrum are <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/23/18193863/climate-change-science-public-opinion-surveys-yale-george-mason-university-chicago" target="_blank">feeling the urgency</a> of our climate deadline and calling for action on a scale that matches the threat. People want a healthy environment <em>and</em> a thriving economy.</p><p>Unfortunately, fossil fuel companies are doing everything in their power to hold us back. They're intent on burning every last ounce of oil, coal, and gas — even if it means the planet burns, too. And the Trump administration is doing everything in its power to help them.</p><p>Earthjustice is leading the fight against the administration's environmental rollbacks in the courts — <a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/two-years-overruling-trump" target="_blank">and we're winning</a>. Over the past year, the court has ruled in our favor more than 80 percent of the time. These victories rein in lawless giveaways to industry and level the playing field for clean energy to outcompete fossil fuels. </p><p>This fight to preserve a livable planet touches everyone. Working together, we can do more to break free from fossil fuels and build a healthy, sustainable world for future generations. Together, we can lead systemic change in service of the earth and justice for its people.</p><p>To find out more about what we're doing to fight for a healthy planet, <a href="https://secure.earthjustice.org/site/SPageNavigator/EJ_SignUp" target="_blank">sign up for our newsletter</a>.</p>
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Bees and Beekeepers Feel the Sting of Trump Administration’s Anti-Science Efforts
17 July 2019
Insights + Opinion
Beekeeper Jeff Anderson works with members of his family in this photo from 2014. He once employed all of his adult children but can no longer afford to do so. CHRIS JORDAN-BLOCH / EARTHJUSTICE
By Jessica A. Knoblauch
It's been a particularly terrible summer for bees. Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is allowing the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor back on the market. And just a few weeks prior, the USDA announced it is suspending data collection for its annual honeybee survey, which tracks honeybee populations across the U.S., providing critical information to farmers and scientists.
<p><em>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a> administration pushed for these two anti-bee actions, even though our </em><a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/the-perfect-crime" target="_blank"><em>nation's honeybee populations have been nosediving for years</em></a><em>. Last winter, </em><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/06/19/733761393/more-bad-buzz-for-bees-record-numbers-of-honey-bee-colonies-died-last-winter" target="_blank"><em>beekeepers reported a record 40 percent loss of their colonies</em></a><em>.</em></p><p><em>Longtime beekeeper Jeff Anderson, owner of California-Minnesota Honey Farms, says the picture is even grimmer if you look at bee losses across the entire year, particularly in the spring and summer when farmers are spraying <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" target="_self">pesticides</a>. It's not just bees that are suffering, he says. Beekeepers are also feeling the sting of the Trump administration's anti-bee and anti-science efforts. And consumers of healthy, fresh foods are next.</em></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTkzNDUyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTMzMDk2Nn0.v4olbgEtLHATcNY9zb-wsaWUICVErfc4VPS188o0r3g/img.jpg?width=980" id="bd622" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a452a9f497b00cf2d8d4c2ddfac5e6c8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A honey bee alights on a cherry blossom in Stockton, California.
CHRIS JORDAN-BLOCH / EARTHJUSTICE
<p><strong>Were you surprised to learn that the USDA pulled its honeybee colonies report? </strong></p><p>No. The USDA quit doing the honeybees survey because they absolutely don't want to document what's happening, because then they'd have to do something about it.</p><p><strong>How do you feel about the EPA reregistering sulfoxaflor?</strong></p><p>One thing that stood out to me in the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-registers-long-term-uses-sulfoxaflor-while-ensuring-strong-pollinator-protection" target="_blank">EPA's notice</a> is that it said it's "providing long-term certainty for U.S. growers to use an important tool to protect crops and avoid potentially significant economic losses, while maintaining strong protection for pollinators. The wording, "long-term certainty <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pollinators" target="_self"></a>… to use," seems totally wrong for a regulatory agency to make a promise like that. It predisposes a defensive position for all decisions going forward.</p><p>Basically, the EPA's buddies at Dow AgroSciences want to make billions on this pesticide, and the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">EPA</a> is going to let them. But please don't lie to us and say that sulfoxaflor is somehow <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pollinators" target="_self">pollinator</a> safe. I'm not buying.</p><p><strong>Why do bees get such short shrift by regulators and legislators? <br><br></strong>Beekeeping has always been the ugly stepchild in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture" target="_self">agriculture</a>. Agriculture needs us, but not <em>everybody</em> in agriculture needs us. Corn growers and wheat growers don't need my bees. Cherry, almond and blueberry growers need my bees. Any of the healthy <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">foods</a> that are in our diet need insect pollination, and if you want to eat chicken, beef, whatever, most of that doesn't need my bees. But when it comes to our healthy, nutritious foods like nuts and fruits, almost all of those need insect pollination.</p><p>Farmers know that pesticides are a problem. In Minnesota, the standard question I get from farmers when I walk into a room or get gas at a gas station is, "How are the bees doing?" I tell them, "Well, not so good." And it's getting to be that most farmers these days will say, "It's all these chemicals, isn't it?" I tell them, "It should give you some pause to think about that because you and I are next. We just haven't started coughing as much yet."</p><p>Our environment is sick and our bees are a good indicator when that's the truth. When my beehive gets sick, there's something not right within the flight range of those bees. But the chemical industry is the one who speaks for everybody on the Hill, so it doesn't matter what farmers think. That's the reality.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTkzNDUyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NTE4ODEyMX0.rSlN_IUrwy-GFKGuruRHu98eBfsb8227PZqJcTSDClE/img.jpg?width=980" id="f7ef0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1098a2a433c601265de3e7958bc8484a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Beekeeper Jeff Anderson says the Trump administration's anti-bee and anti-science efforts are hurting his business.
CHRIS JORDAN-BLOCH / EARTHJUSTICE
<p><strong>How are your honeybees faring this year?</strong></p><p>I've had about 90 percent honeybee loss between last spring and this spring. I typically run about 3,000 colonies in our spring count and we instead we had 300.</p><p>If you want to look at my winter losses, they were probably about like what the <a href="https://beeinformed.org/" target="_blank">Bee Informed Partnership</a> survey is claiming, around 40 percent. And that is almost exclusively painted up in the press like that's the annual number that the industry is losing, which is absolute hogwash because it isn't the full story. The spring losses are greater than the winter losses because generally most things die when they're most exposed to pesticides. Is that rocket science? No. It's just that nobody talks about it.</p><p><strong>Has the bee die-off impacted your ability to do business? <br><br></strong>I used to have all of my adult children working for me. My oldest, Jeremy, has worked with bees ever since he got out of diapers. He's been my foreman for 20 years. Now, with honey production way down, he's barely getting paid enough to put food on the table. Things are getting tight because our honey crops are way off. The most barrels of honey I ever produced was about 450. Last year, I had about 68 barrels. Sick bees don't make honey.<br><br>That's the other part of the bee story. I run a family operation and I can't keep my kids employed anymore. When you can't keep hives alive, you can't keep income coming in. We all talk the demise of bees, but the demise of the beekeepers gets overlooked a lot of times. Beekeepers all have a form of PTSD. We just don't get it in the military.</p><p><strong>Is climate change impacting your bees? <br><br></strong>Yes, but not like you're thinking, where it's too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.</p><p>Neonicotinoid pesticides like sulfoxaflor <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30409882" target="_blank">cause problems</a> with thermoregulation in affected insects. One of the problems we have with overwintering our bees is that the cold will now kill a beehive. That didn't used to be normal. Before, most of the bees in the Midwest stayed all winter. The beekeeper would wrap them with insulation and give them a top entrance, so they could ventilate the moisture out of the colony. And the bees would be just fine, coming out in the spring big enough to split into separate hives. If you try to do that with a bee colony now, it's dead by November.</p><p>It's not the extreme temperatures. It doesn't even have to get that cold. They have bee mortality in Florida at 40 degrees. The hive simply can't thermoregulate.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTkzNDUyNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDU5NTA3OH0.t6X8r12D-uNqYUTzZs6m8f7zD1Jjs0IkZXwMbfu7zpw/img.jpg?width=980" id="6859c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c29753a0513541649f31490cd06408ce" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Anderson minds his colonies in a California cherry orchard.
CHRIS JORDAN-BLOCH / EARTHJUSTICE
<p><strong>Do you plan on continuing as a beekeeper? </strong></p><p>My plan today should have been to go up to Fargo, North Dakota, for the bee convention with a for sale sign for anyone who wants my operation. That's what I should have been doing.</p><p>My parents' generation, they would have stuck with it because they knew you might have a bad year, but it was an anomaly, and the next year was going to be better. That's what farmers always think. For the most part, that's true. In the grand scheme of things, you've usually got one year in 20 that's down, so it really wasn't a stupid decision to dip into your savings to push things forward.</p><p>But in year after year after year we keep setting records for low honey production in the U.S. This year, we were down to 300-some hives. You don't just take 300-some hives and magically sneeze and all of a sudden you've got 3,000. You work your tail off, you buy bees from other beekeepers, you get extra queens, etc. It costs a lot of money, and I decided I'm not gonna throw good money after bad in this operation. If Honey Farms can't pay its way, then it's going to cease to exist. I see no reason to put the 50 cents I have set aside for retirement into trying to manage a bee operation when I'm 62.</p><p><strong>What can people do to support bees?<br><br></strong>Consumers are starting to understand that what they put in their mouth has a great deal to do with how often they see their doctor. There's a direct connection between your health and what you eat. It's not rocket science. Vote with your checkbook. The chemical industry is in charge on the Hill, unless we can un-buy Congress.</p><p>Editor's note: In 2015, the <a href="https://earthjustice.org/documents/legal-document/sulfoxaflor-opinion" target="_blank">Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals</a> determined that sulfoxaflor could not be used in the United States, following an Earthjustice lawsuit. The court found the EPA violated the law by approving sulfoxaflor without reliable studies regarding the impact that the insecticide would have on honeybee colonies.</p><p>"At a time when honeybees and other pollinators are dying in greater numbers than ever before, Trump's EPA decision to remove restrictions on yet another bee-killing pesticide is nothing short of reckless," <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/trump-s-epa-puts-bee-killing-pesticide-back-on-the-market" target="_blank">said</a> Earthjustice attorney Greg Loarie, who litigated the sulfoxaflor case. "Scientists have long said pesticides like sulfoxaflor are the cause of the unprecedented colony collapse. Letting sulfoxaflor back on the market is dangerous for our food system, economy, and environment."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/EPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EPA</a> just okayed "emergency" use of bee-killing pesticides on nearly 14 million acres of land known to attract bees.<br><br>40% of insect species are on the brink of extinction. This is inexcusable. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveTheBees?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SaveTheBees</a><a href="https://t.co/ga60bZMvEI">https://t.co/ga60bZMvEI</a></p>— Friends of the Earth (@foe_us) <a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/status/1148690832985403393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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tomosang / Moment / Getty Images
By Jessica A. Knoblauch
Say goodbye to one of the dreamiest things about childhood. In the Midwest, fireflies are dying off.
<p>For many Americans, it's hard to imagine summer nights without the magical glow of dozens of bioluminescent bodies fluttering above the grasses and fields, and lighting up the dark skies above.</p><p>But the die-offs aren't just limited to fireflies — or to the American heartland. As anyone who's been paying attention to the news this summer knows, species across the globe are taking a nosedive toward extinction. The <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank">United Nations report on biodiversity</a> that came out in May is just the latest assessment to <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank">warn</a> that the health of our ecosystems is "deteriorating more rapidly than ever."</p>
<p>Humans are largely to blame. By spraying toxic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides">pesticides</a>, polluting our air and water, degrading the landscape, and emitting ever more carbon, we've essentially captured nature in a big glass Mason jar, screwed the lid tight, and neglected to punch holes in the top. According to the UN report, these unsustainable actions are causing nature to decline at unprecedented rates and accelerating the rate of species' extinction. Around 1 million animal and plant species — more than ever before in human history — are now threatened with extinction, many within decades.</p><p>Scientists say that the estimated 2,000 species of fireflies <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/us/firefly-population-science-in-a-twinkle-of-nighttime-in-the-south.html" target="_blank">have been declining for years</a>. Losing these glowing creatures, also known as "lightning bugs" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/firefly-lightning-bug-english-language-map-2018-7" target="_blank">in some parts of the U.S.</a>, robs future generations of one of the simplest and most pleasurable joys of childhood. It also robs doctors and researchers of a valuable diagnostic tool. By injecting chemicals found in a firefly's tail into human cells, researchers can <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/07/22/scientists-are-working-with-the-light-of-fireflies-to-improve-medical-diagnoses/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0eb708c98864" target="_blank">detect diseases</a> like cancer and muscular dystrophy.</p><p>On a broader scale, losing plant and animal species at an accelerated rate threatens "the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide," <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank">warn the UN researchers</a>. Up to $577 billion in annual global crops are at risk from pollinator loss alone.</p><p>Yet there's still time — just barely — to turn things around. </p><p>At Earthjustice, our attorneys have fought for decades to protect <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" rel="noopener noreferrer">endangered species</a> big and small from harm. Just recently, we <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/court-upholds-protections-for-rare-california-gnatcatcher" target="_blank">successfully defended</a> against attempts by developers to remove endangered species protections for the California gnatcatcher. This adorable little songbird lives in the rapidly declining sagebrush habitat unique to coastal southern California and northern Baja California, which is also home to many other species.</p><p>Of course, we know it's not enough to address the extinction crisis bird by bird. The UN report recommends a transformative societal shift toward an economic model where we value nature by restoring, conserving, and using it sustainably. That's why Earthjustice is also tackling the extinction crisis at a broader level.</p><p>In the courts, we're defending core conservation laws like the Endangered Species Act, which has a <a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/the-endangered-species-act" target="_blank">99 percent success rate in stopping species' extinction</a>. On the Hill, we're <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/earthjustice-endorses-resolution-on-the-green-new-deal" target="_blank">supporting</a> bold ideas like the Green New Deal, which lays out a vision for systemic change that matches the scale of the environmental crisis. </p><p>We already have many of the legal and policy tools needed to stop a mass extinction. Now we must push for the political will to open the jar and set loose a just and sustainable future for all.</p>
<p><em>Jessica A. Knoblauch is a former award-winning journalist. She enjoys wild places and dispensing justice, so she considers her job here to be a pretty amazing fit.</em></p>
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Coal ash has contaminated the Vermilion River in Illinois. Eco-Justice Collaborative / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Jessica A. Knoblauch
Summers in the Midwest are great for outdoor activities like growing your garden or cooling off in one of the area's many lakes and streams. But some waters aren't as clean as they should be.
That's in part because coal companies have long buried toxic waste known as coal ash near many of the Midwest's iconic waterways, including Lake Michigan. Though coal ash dumps can leak harmful chemicals like arsenic and cadmium into nearby waters, regulators have done little to address these toxic sites. As a result, the Midwest is now littered with coal ash dumps, with Illinois containing the most leaking sites in the country.
<p><br/></p>
<p>Thankfully, Illinois policymakers have just <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/illinois-house-and-senate-pass-landmark-legislation-to-clean-up-coal-ash" target="_blank">passed a coal ash bill</a> that will finally help address the coal ash problem. If signed into law, the new protections signal hope for those who have been impacted by toxic coal ash for far too long.</p><p>The landmark legislation comes after years of advocacy by community groups such as <a href="https://ecojusticecollaborative.org/" target="_blank">Eco-Justice Collaborative</a> and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CentralIllinoisHealthyCommunityAlliance/" target="_blank">Central Illinois Healthy Communities Alliance</a>, as well as legal work by Earthjustice, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> and others.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTYwMzM3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDk2NzY4MX0.DJHOM5IMewCI4pGcORPGEMW_L7sRGNYNHOKxdh8Oj6Y/img.jpg?width=980" id="50ce5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="73a7beac224660e3683db214bf5cd7aa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Children enjoy tubing along the Vermilion River, which is polluted by coal ash.
Photo courtesy of Pam Richart / Eco-Justice Collaborative
<p>The momentum for stronger coal ash protections began to build in 2014, after Earthjustice won a court settlement that forced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">EPA</a>) to <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/epa-agrees-to-deadline-for-first-ever-u-s-coal-ash-regulations" target="_blank">enact the first-ever federal safeguards on coal ash</a>. The new protections were a huge win for impacted communities at risk of coal ash disasters, like the one that hit Kingston, Tennessee, where <a href="https://www.epa.gov/tn/epa-response-kingston-tva-coal-ash-spill" target="_blank">dozens of homes were destroyed in 2008</a>.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump administration</a>, however, was determined to carry out the coal industry's bidding. So in 2018, it <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2017/trump-administration-bows-to-polluters-and-cuts-first-ever-national-safeguards-for-nation-s-no-2-toxic-pollution" target="_blank">announced</a> it was weakening the coal ash rule. Earthjustice quickly sued the administration for its illegal action. At the same time we were defending the rule, Earthjustice attorneys were also arguing that the original 2015 protections should be even stronger. In August 2018, a court <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/federal-appeals-court-orders-epa-to-strengthen-rule-on-toxic-power-plant-wastewater" target="_blank">agreed</a>, forcing policy makers and coal companies to accept the reality that they would eventually have to address this problem nationwide. Illinois alone, for example, has more than 80 impoundments, including more than 50 that must close in the next few years under the current federal rule.</p><p>While the cases played out in court, coal companies began reporting groundwater monitoring data required under the 2015 safeguards. According to industry's own data, almost all coal ash ponds nationwide — 91 percent based on the first year of data reported — <a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/map-coal-ash-contaminated-sites" target="_blank">are contaminating groundwater</a> with toxins above levels that the federal EPA deems to be safe.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="81e660dc847acb312698bd12660c7587"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uuB3hb95ma0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>Armed with that <a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/National%20Coal%20Ash%20Report%203.4.19.pdf" target="_blank">damning data</a>, which came to light thanks to analysis by Earthjustice and the <a href="https://www.environmentalintegrity.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Integrity Project</a>, advocates banded together to push their legislators to address the contamination. With <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2018/new-report-reveals-severe-groundwater-contamination-at-illinois-coal-ash-dumps" target="_blank">22 of Illinois' 24 coal-fired power plants</a> shown to have contaminated groundwater with unsafe levels of one or more toxic pollutants, state politicians and regulators could no longer avert their eyes to the dangers of coal ash. In Danville, Illinois, for example, local groups like <a href="https://prairierivers.org/dynegy-vermilion-middle-fork/" target="_blank">Prairie Rivers Network</a> brought the data to legislators like <a href="http://www.senatorbennett.com/" target="_blank">State Senator Scott Bennett</a> (D-Champaign), who had long been concerned about nearby <a href="https://earthjustice.org/blog/2018-september/illinois-only-national-scenic-river-is-polluted-with-coal-ash-but-there-s-reason-for-hope" target="_blank">coal ash ponds contaminating his constituency's prized gem, the Vermilion River</a>.</p><p>Now the coal industry's defenses are beginning to fail in both Illinois and around the country. Earlier this year, <a href="https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/news/after--year-fight-over-coal-ash-governor-signs-new/article_ec5eea64-889c-11e9-8859-d3400fe0cebc.html" target="_blank">Virginia passed bipartisan legislation</a> requiring a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/costco-walmart-and-other-big-retailers-try-to-break-dominion-energys-grip-in-virginia/2019/06/01/41857212-83d2-11e9-95a9-e2c830afe24f_story.html" target="_blank">powerful utility</a> to recycle at least 25 percent of its coal ash and move the rest to lined landfills that won't leak into nearby waters. In addition, North Carolina passed its own coal ash legislation, requiring another major coal player <a href="https://earthjustice.org/blog/2019-april/coal-ash-victory-in-north-carolina-serves-as-a-model-for-the-nation" target="_blank">to completely excavate and close all of its toxic ponds in the state</a>.</p><p>Now, all eyes are on Illinois, as the bill goes to Gov. Pritzker's (D-IL) desk for signing. Key aspects of the proposed Illinois bill include:</p><ul><li><strong>Financial assurances</strong> that the cost of coal ash cleanup will be borne by the coal companies, not taxpayers.</li><li><strong>Public participation</strong> in the form of opportunities for public review, comment and hearings on proposed permits for closing and cleaning up ash ponds. Previously, more than 20 closure plans for coal ash sites in Illinois have been approved entirely behind closed doors. Now, the community has a voice.</li><li><strong>Regulations as protective as the federal rules</strong> <strong>as well as mandates</strong> that go above and beyond the federal rules. Those include requiring ash pond owners to evaluate closing the ponds by getting rid of the source of the pollution – i.e., digging up the ash – and prioritizing closure of high risk sites and those affecting environmental justice areas.</li></ul><p>"After years of inaction, Illinois will finally be taking steps to protect the public from the environmental and financial threats posed by coal ash ponds," says Andrew Rehn of Prairie Rivers Network, which played a critical role in organizing, lobbying, grassroots work and media.</p><p>Earthjustice attorney Jenny Cassel adds that pushing the coal ash bill through has been a "fantastic team effort," with Earthjustice playing a leading role in drafting, negotiation, legal analysis and communications.</p><p>"The bill and the issue were relatively unknown in the House and we needed 60 votes to pass it," said Cassel. "We ended up getting 77 votes, a clear sign that the bill's bipartisan measures appealed to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What a Real Coal Ash Cleanup Looks Like <a href="https://t.co/zeM62JKP7e">https://t.co/zeM62JKP7e</a></p>— Lakota Law Project (@lakotalaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/lakotalaw/status/1115710944146067456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Homes in Washington, DC's Brookland neighborhood were condemned to clear room for a highway in the 1960s. The community fought back. Brig Cabe / DC Public Library
By Teju Adisa-Farrar & Raul Garcia
In the summer of 1969 a banner hung over a set of condemned homes in what was then the predominantly black and brown Brookland neighborhood in Washington, DC. It read, "White man's roads through black men's homes."
Earlier in the year, the District attempted to condemn the houses to make space for a proposed freeway. The plans proposed a 10-lane freeway, a behemoth of a project that would divide the nation's capital end-to-end and sever iconic Black neighborhoods like Shaw and the U Street Corridor from the rest of the city.
<p>Today, Brookland is not home to an interstate. The community's protest forced the government to cancel its construction plans. And the activists' efforts helped spur the passage of a law that gives all people the right to weigh in on projects that affect their communities — a right that is now under attack from the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration and its allies.</p><p>Residents taking a stand in Brookland were the latest participants in the "Freeway Revolts," a multi-decade effort to force federal planners to consider the impacts of large development projects on communities and ecosystems. During and after World War II, 6 million Black people moved from the South to cities in the Midwest and California, drawn by employment opportunities and driven by the violence and poverty of the Jim Crow South. Following this demographic shift and growth in cities across the U.S., planners rewrote municipal zoning ordinances and separated residential, commercial and industrial development. These policies promoted urban sprawl and white flight, which fed the culture of automobile dependency.</p><p>The Freeway Revolts formed alliances across lines of race and socioeconomic status. In DC, wealthy white residents of Takoma Park and Georgetown allied with middle-class black and brown residents in Brookland. In Seattle, the Black Panthers aligned with the Sierra Club in opposition to highway widening proposals. In San Francisco, Latinx communities joined hands with white residents to protest the Central Freeway's devastation to homes and communities. These various communities realized how disruptive and destructive these large urban planning projects are to neighborhoods and communities.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTU5OTM2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTEzODUyMH0.WdrM8WZooRG3fkB6rGmm4wO6p0nKACEOyx_WpIDXARM/img.jpg?width=980" id="c04ec" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8ebcdc3daa188fc215a39dfd2d11f4d9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Activists demonstrate against proposed freeway construction in San Francisco in 1960.
Image courtesy of San Francisco History Center
<p>Lacking a voice in the development process, residents and community members in cities across the country used tactics that ranged from picketing, petitioning and leafleting to directly occupying facilities. In each case, however, the central message was the same: Government should not ransack homes, divide areas and introduce new sources of smog and noise pollution without the consent of those affected.</p><p>In many places, the protests forced city governments to change their plans, or even led to the removal of freeways that had already been built. At the federal level, the protests helped inspire a law that ensures the people get to weigh in on projects that affect their health, homes and neighborhoods: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This law has become one of the most important tools to protect communities and our environment — and now, it's under attack by the Trump administration.</p><p>In 1969, after over a decade of relentless pressure and public activism, Congress passed NEPA in a nearly unanimous vote. The aim of the law was to create a national environmental policy that equally weighed environmental impacts and the voices of communities when federal agencies developed infrastructure projects. NEPA was the first law to require the federal government to conduct an environmental impact study (EIS) when embarking on a project. It required the federal government to tell the public what it wanted to develop and establish time for communities to comment and offer environmentally friendlier or less disruptive alternatives; alternatives the government must consider under NEPA.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTU5OTM2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjA4MTU5MX0.aYpZbyQKS9o7Y3U-7bakIyQ_soZXkSXbjiXB8VrLyAQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="0624c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e715d4a3e674a1f7bd37fe3050876b64" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Community leaders heightened the national consciousness of the effects of environmental degradation on communities throughout the second half of the 20th century.
Photo courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
<p>Over the years, it is communities of color — whose efforts made NEPA possible — that have invoked the law when seeking justice. After all, more than half of the people living less than two miles from a toxic waste site in the U.S. are people of color. Children of color are disproportionately more likely to face the dangerous health effects of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lead">lead</a> poisoning. Indigenous communities like the Navajo Nation have been face-to-face with toxic water thanks to the legacy of uranium mining in the Southwest. In the Northern Mariana Islands, indigenous and low-income U.S. citizens are using NEPA to compel the U.S. Navy to consider the effects that artillery, rockets and bombardment will have on their tropical homeland and sacred sites. According to Cinta Kaipat, a resident of the island Saipan, NEPA allows communities to "fight this fight without firing a shot. The military will sit up and hear our voices."</p><p>Right now, communities of color are using NEPA to challenge the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/keystone-xl">Keystone XL</a> pipeline, President Trump's illegal border wall, waste incinerators in Puerto Rico, intrusive transit plans in Los Angeles and pollution from the KCI Airport in Kansas City. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana successfully used NEPA to thwart Trump administration's plans to reopen coal-mining leases on public lands. Ill-conceived development along the I-70 Corridor near Denver stopped thanks to NEPA. It is community voices, not those of polluting and profit-driven corporations with armies of well-paid litigators and lobbyists that are most likely to be excluded or ignored in the decision-making process. And it is their voices that can help stop further division and destruction in our environments if they are made a part of the planning process.</p><p>Put simply, the National Environmental Policy Act is a tool to help uplift the people's environmental voice. That's why it's no wonder that the Trump administration and its allies <a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/nepa" target="_blank">want to stifle it</a>, either by exempting certain proposals from oversight, limiting the length of public comment periods or eliminating public comment altogether.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTU5OTM2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTYyODMyOH0.jKhYr8cuE6SSyAWbdc2--RaS7oDLrGBNjlnSJdkdPfY/img.jpg?width=980" id="926a3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d2c29c8905e6ab556872f0678b2a6f80" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Communities in the Northern Mariana Islands are using NEPA to challenge the U.S. Navy's plan to conduct live-fire training on the island of Pågan.
Photo courtesy of Dan Lin
<p>The spirit that drove communities of color and neighborhood residents throughout the U.S. to hang banners, picket, sit in and stand up in the 1950s and 1960s is alive today. Even though several communities of color across the nation have been displaced and burdened by pollution because of freeway development projects in the 1960s, NEPA helps to fight against exclusionary and environmentally disruptive planning processes.</p><p>As we fight to end environmental racism, we cannot allow the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to retrench the people's tools for access to justice. We cannot allow them to limit public comments and continue to shut communities out of the NEPA process. It is through direct action and community engagement that NEPA came to be; safeguarding it gives people more power to be a part of the decisions that determine what happens in their communities.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"These findings confirm what most grassroots environmental justice leaders have known for decades." In my last <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EcoWatch</a> piece today, a groundbreaking study from <a href="https://twitter.com/jdhill?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jdhill</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ctessum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ctessum</a> shows a racial gap betwen who causes and suffers from air pollution: <a href="https://t.co/l8pC0tHPis">https://t.co/l8pC0tHPis</a></p>— Olivia Rosane (@orosane) <a href="https://twitter.com/orosane/status/1105534928077406209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://earthjustice.org/blog/2019-june/how-freeway-revolts-helped-create-the-people-s-environmental-law" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A grizzly bear crosses the Snake River as first light touches Mount Moran in Grand Teton National Park. Photo courtesy of Thomas D. Mangelsen
By Alison Cagle
Despite an alarming UN report that warns one million plant and animal species face extinction due to human activity, the Trump administration is poised to hasten species on their path to extinction by eroding critical wildlife protections. The UN's landmark 1,500-page study, announced this week, warns that if we continue to destroy natural landscapes at rates "unprecedented in human history," massive biodiversity loss will undermine food security, access to clean water and sources of modern medicine by 2050.
<p>The report's findings come amid efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle the most powerful legal tool we have for protecting imperiled wildlife in the U.S.: the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">Endangered Species</a> Act. The rollbacks, first proposed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt last summer, would weaken protections that shield the biodiversity the report warns is critical to the survival of all life on Earth.</p><p>The administration's move directly contradicts the UN report's conclusion that biodiversity is essential to life as we know it. The proposed changes would incorporate economic considerations into decisions about whether to protect species on the brink of extinction. The proposal also dismantles protections against hunting and trapping for species newly listed as threatened. It also alters the requirement that agencies consult with scientists before approving potentially harmful permits for development, mining, clear-cutting and other destructive activities. These steps follow President Trump's agenda of prioritizing energy dominance and giving handouts to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> industry, regardless of the damage to our nation's endangered biodiversity.</p>
<p>"The UN report shows that if we're serious about protecting species not just for their own worth, but in order to save ourselves, we need to increase protections rather than decrease them," said Drew Caputo, Earthjustice vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">oceans</a>. "The administration's attempt to gut the Endangered Species Act is, as this report shows, a full-speed-ahead course of action in exactly the wrong direction. It's also totally illegal. If they finalize those rollbacks, we'll see them in court."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ1NjU1My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDA2Nzc4Mn0.NjUKT5vgE_BShyUEoE1d6RaCbMCvkdFhTuRO9jWLeQQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="28b8a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="268b22bfa10e7ea7208e35dff95602f2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Drew Caputo, Earthjustice vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans
Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice
<p>The Endangered Species Act does more than ensure a legally binding safety net for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/animals/" target="_self">animals</a> and plants facing extinction. It enshrines in law the principle that economic prosperity cannot come at the cost of conserving our native species and the habitats they depend on. Since its passage in 1973, 99% of the animals protected under the Act have not perished. Those species include the American bald eagle, gray wolf and humpback whales. The Act is also crucial for restoring essential ecosystems: to date, more than 250 million acres of habitat are protected from harm under the law.<br></p><p>Our lawyers use the Endangered Species Act as the legal ground for countless cases to defend wildlife and wild lands, and to work toward securing a healthy environment for all species. Recent examples of how we've used the Endangered Species Act include:</p><ul><li><a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/legal-fight-yellowstone-s-grizzly-bears-explained" target="_blank">Stopping a trophy</a> hunt and restoring federal protections for Yellowstone's grizzly bears;</li><li>Denying a powerful agriculture lobby from <a href="https://earthjustice.org/blog/2015-january/the-delta-smelt-a-tiny-fish-with-big-implications" target="_blank">employing a massive water grab</a> in California;</li><li>And a decades-long ongoing fight to <a href="https://earthjustice.org/advocacy-campaigns/save-wild-salmon" target="_blank">restore a river</a> in the Pacific Northwest to help save salmon and orcas.</li></ul>
<p>Based on the draft of the Department of the Interior's planned Endangered Species Act rollbacks released last summer, the effect would be to weaken protections for imperiled wildlife and make cases like these harder to bring. Earthjustice attorneys are prepared to rapidly review the final rule when it is released, and are readying to take legal action if required.</p><p>By attempting to weaken our strongest wildlife protections, the Trump administration ignores not only scientific projections like the UN report, but also the will of the people: 90% of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12595" target="_blank">Americans support</a> the Endangered Species Act. Instead of prioritizing short-term gains for the fossil fuel industry, the administration should heed the science, and reverse its policies on critically endangered species that destroy our planet's biodiversity.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Biggest Issues for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wildlife?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Wildlife</a> and Endangered Species in #2019 <a href="https://t.co/nbH3LdxRvF">https://t.co/nbH3LdxRvF</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Revelator_News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Revelator_News</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ConservationOrg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ConservationOrg</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1083876261913608193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Flooding at Duke Energy's H.F. Lee Energy Complex in Goldsboro, North Carolina on Oct. 10, 2016 after Hurricane Maria. Travis Graves, Lower Neuse Riverkeeper
By Emilie Karrick Surrusco
The toxic mess left behind from burning coal is a growing, nationwide problem. But we're seeing that state governments can be convinced to do the right thing and clean it up. Recently, North Carolina joined its neighboring state to become a trendsetter in the proper disposal of coal ash waste.
<p>Following on the heels of similar news in Virginia, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on April 1 ordered Duke Energy to completely excavate and close all of its coal ash ponds in the state.</p><p>This is no less than "momentous news," according to Earthjustice attorney <a href="https://earthjustice.org/about/staff/lisa-evans" target="_blank">Lisa Evans</a>, for a state that is the nation's ninth largest producer of coal ash — a toxic byproduct from burning coal. For states across the nation where federal regulations are forcing companies to submit closure and cleanup plans for coal ash contamination, North Carolina's plan provides an example of what safe closure looks like. For states that are formulating their own coal ash rules, like Illinois, the North Carolina plan is a blueprint.</p><p>"The state decided that protection of human health and the environment must be placed above the convenience of Duke Energy," Evans said. "It's a great moment when the state government has the courage to make the right decision for the people of North Carolina. This is truly a model for the nation."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTM1OTQ0NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzE0NjM0OH0._DXTEyKf16GHwmgitk3PlcGsHl1gr54ALfBFQtNZ6ys/img.jpg?width=980" id="632fb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="10db6412f18b19ecc2c1739f6ad13c9d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Coal ash spilled by Hurricane Florence coats a turtle in North Carolina. (Riverkeepers cleaned and released the turtle.)
PETE HARRISON / EARTHJUSTICE
<p>For decades, utilities have disposed of toxic coal ash dangerously, storing it in unlined pits that allow the coal ash to leak into groundwater and spill into nearby lakes, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers">rivers</a> and streams. The true implications of this improper disposal are only beginning to be understood. After federal coal ash regulations required utilities to publicly report groundwater monitoring data, Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project released a report last month that <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/first-comprehensive-national-study-of-coal-ash-pollution-finds-widespread-groundwater-contamination" target="_blank">analyzes groundwater monitoring data at 265 power plants across the country</a> for the first time.</p><p>The report shows that groundwater near 91 percent of power plants with monitoring data contained unsafe levels of one or more of the pollutants in coal ash — including arsenic, a known carcinogen, and lithium, which is associated with neurological damage, among other pollutants. In many cases, the contamination is significant enough that coal plant operators must submit cleanup plans. In the next six months alone, we are expecting about 100 such plans.</p><p>"The modus operandi of this industry from 1900 to today is to dispose of its toxic waste as cheaply as possible. This has had disastrous consequences," said Evans. "The long-term remedy is to stop producing the dangerous waste, but short of that, if you have ash in groundwater, you have to excavate."</p><p>This report also listed the nation's most contaminated sites — including Duke Energy's Allen Steam Station in Belmont, North Carolina.</p><p>Duke Energy, which has 14 former power plant sites in North Carolina, has consistently tried to cover up the problem of coal ash contamination and dispose of its toxic stew improperly — its actions resulted in a $102 million fine and a guilty plea to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act stemming from activities at multiple North Carolina coal plants.</p><p>The Southern Environmental Law Center, along with tenacious activists across the state, have spent the past seven years fighting Duke Energy, resulting in victories that forced the nation's largest utility to clean up its mess at eight plant sites. Now, thanks to the state's order, Duke Energy is required to file a plan by Aug. 1 that explains how it will empty and close its six remaining plant sites in the state, which include 11 coal ash ponds.</p><p>"Public meetings were held at the six sites, and local communities came out in force. They were unanimous in demanding that Duke Energy remove the coal ash from unlined pits," said Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. "Duke has several weeks to decide if they are going to accept this decision, or instead if it's going to continue to litigate and lobby to put off dealing with its coal ash pollution."</p><p>While the state's order is a significant victory for the people of North Carolina, it's been a long time coming for activists and community leaders who have watched as beloved lakes and rivers have become increasingly polluted and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a> wells became undrinkable.</p><p>In 2014, North Carolina experienced a grim wake-up call when 39,000 tons of coal ash spilled from Duke Energy's Dan River plant — sending 27 million gallons of sludge filled with toxic chemicals into a river that supplies drinking water to surrounding communities. Following that spill, the state legislature passed the Coal Ash Management Act (CAMA), which required the DEQ to evaluate coal ash disposal at each of Duke Energy's plant sites.</p><p>At the same time, hurricanes and increasingly heavy rains have caused coal ash pits across North Carolina and the southeastern U.S. to overflow. During Hurricane Florence, when 35 inches of rain fell over four days in North Carolina, coal ash from the Duke Energy plant in Goldsboro spilled into the Neuse River, and a coal ash lagoon at the L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington was flooded.</p>
<p>"From climate change-fueled storms to industry spills, a perfect storm of disasters was enough to make a state like North Carolina do the right thing when communities demanded protection," said Evans.</p><p>Unfortunately, the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a>) is intent on keeping that from happening at the national level. Turning a blind eye to the mounting evidence of contamination from coal ash dumps and the increasing intensity of storms that cause coal ash spills, the Trump EPA has moved to weaken the 2015 coal ash rule rather than strengthen it. Despite a court order from the DC Circuit Court to expand and strengthen the federal rule, EPA abides by its industry-friendly agenda to gut federal protections.</p><p>However, as North Carolina and Virginia have shown, state governments can be convinced to take action where the Trump administration won't.</p><p>In Illinois, progress is happening piecemeal, with hopes that the state will soon take comprehensive action. The Coal Ash Cleanup and Storage Act was recently introduced in the state legislature to address the fact that 22 of the state's 24 coal-fired power plants have contaminated groundwater with unsafe levels of one or more toxic pollutants. In addition, Earthjustice, on behalf of the Prairie Rivers Network, recently filed a <a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/Final%20Complaint%20%28as%20filed%29.pdf" target="_blank">lawsuit against Dynegy</a>, a local utility that has been allowing toxic waste from its coal-ash pits to leach into groundwater and the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, Illinois' only Wild and Scenic River.</p><p>"The public wants protection from coal ash and coal ash pollution," said Holleman. "The only place in the country where there is backward movement on this is in the Trump administration and the EPA. I have never encountered a person who wanted less protection from coal ash pollution and this includes in communities that voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump."</p><p>Despite EPA's lack of action, communities across the nation are stepping forward to demand that polluters clean up their toxic mess — state governments are starting to listen and pick up where the federal government left off. </p>
<div id="76c9f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="GWUEQI1576663676"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1069350656367108098" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New Report Reveals Severe #Groundwater Contamination at Illinois #CoalAsh Dumps https://t.co/kAM9ixJyRk @BeyondCoal @Coal_Ash</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1069350656367108098">1543788038.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Torres and his parents walk along the Rio Grande. Luis Torres / Earthjustice
By Luis Torres
For some people who live along the U.S.-Mexico border, President Trump's attempt to declare a national emergency and extend the border wall is worse than a wasteful, unconstitutional stunt. It's an attack on their way of life that threatens to desecrate their loved ones' graves.
<p>That's why Earthjustice is helping them take the Trump administration to court and put a halt to this abuse of power. On March 14, we <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/new-lawsuit-challenging-trump-declaration-of-national-emergency-wall-threatens-to-desecrate-graves-and-spiritual" target="_blank">filed a lawsuit</a> on behalf of border residents including the Ramirez family of San Juan, Texas, who own the property where the 154-year-old Eli Jackson Cemetery is located. If construction on the border wall proceeds, it may require the exhumation and desecration of remains within the cemetery.</p><p>"President Trump's so-called border 'emergency' would make it harder for our family, our children, and our children's children to visit our loved ones' final resting places," says Dr. Ramiro Ramirez. "For months now, we've lived with the uncertainty of what might happen to our home, our cemetery, and the land we've lived on for generations. Enough is enough."<span></span></p><p>Our clients in this lawsuit also include the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, whose ancestors inhabited the Rio Grande Valley for centuries and whose sacred sites would be disturbed by wall construction; Elsa Hall, a landowner on the border; the Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC); and a number of local and national leaders representing affected communities.</p><p>Earthjustice senior legislative representative Luis Torres understands firsthand how additional miles of wall will rip apart communities. He grew up on the Texas side of the Rio Grande River, in a family that straddled the border. Here, he describes the border he knows and why we must fight Trump's wall.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI4MTY4Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzQyNjYzMX0.9LmA9m95niJQMrKK2mr5bWj33CNqdnxUeKnn97MNars/img.jpg?width=980" id="5fdfc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="89d8bd88163181fac0989b817ac94844" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Descendants of Eli Jackson stand in a 145-year-old Texan church that bears his name. Construction on Trump's border wall may desecrate a cemetery next to the church.
Sylvia Ramirez
<p><em><strong>The following are remarks Torres originally prepared for "Voices from the Border: the Social and Environmental Impacts of the Border Wall," a congressional briefing hosted by GreenLatinos, Earthjustice, and United We Dream Action.</strong></em><br></p><p>I was born and raised on the border, in the city of Laredo, Texas, which sits on the Rio Grande River across from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.</p><p>If members of Congress knew the border I know, they wouldn't be negotiating over funding for a massive, hateful, unnecessary border wall.</p><p>Like many border residents, my family lived on the U.S. side but also had family, friends, and business on the Mexican side — el otro lado, we called it. Living on the border means celebrating American and Mexican holidays; it means having a barbecue on the Fourth of July and also sitting by the Rio Grande to watch the carnival lights of the annual feria expomex, the annual fair to kick off Mexican independence day festivities; it means celebrating George Washington's birthday and also Día De Los Muertos.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI4MTYyOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMDYyNTY2NH0.dTlcdo1Saa59ex-XjuIHKbezpKhI6sSUTeWhtu0qd48/img.jpg?width=980" id="bfb68" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="16064d0487b8e1622886354c7080b5e3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Torres and his parents walk along the Rio Grande.
Luis Torres / Earthjustice
<p>This is the border to me. This is what I call home.</p><p>I lived in Laredo for 18 years before I left for Washington, D.C., to study and work on Capitol Hill to make a difference for the people of my beloved border community. I quickly learned that many on the Hill don't know the border like we do. They don't see the border like we see it. They don't see Mexican people, and Mexican-Americans, tribes, and other communities the way we see them.</p><p>Politicians talk about an unsafe border: rampant with drugs, gangs, violence, and lawlessness. They talk about rapists, drug dealers, and criminals, midnight crossings, invasions, cartel shootouts, and anarchy. This is the insecurity narrative that radical right-wing politicians use to push their border agendas. But it isn't the border I know. It's not the border that raised me; where my family and friends live today.</p><p>Soon Congress will vote on whether or not to fund President Trump's border wall, and if so, how much money to give to it. But the fight over wall funding is about more than just the wall: It's about the fight to define the border, the people who live in border communities, and the lives of those who will come after them.</p><p>Members of Congress need to visit the border. They need to be vocal against the wall when they speak on the floors of the House and Senate. They need to fight every way they can against giving even a dime to the construction of this monument to division and hate. There are real human consequences to so-called "compromise" here — this isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. This is a fight for human lives.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fe2aab1b04addf9c4cb436ef116b5cb6"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VTDyjYLUKxY?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>This fight won't be easy. We certainly won't win if we talk about the border wall through a single-issue lens. If we talk about it comprehensively, we may have a chance. We need border residents; immigration and Latino advocates; environmental, wildlife, and conservation advocates; faith, indigenous, and community leaders — all of us — on the same page. Every one of us needs to remind Congress that:</p><p><em>Walls are lethal to humans and wildlife.</em></p><p><em>Walls cause flooding. They destroy nature, habitats, and resources.</em></p><p><em>Walls require the confiscation of private property. Walls cost billions to construct and billions to maintain.</em></p><p><em>Walls interfere with native sovereignty. Walls betray our values.</em></p><p><em>And walls have been totally, completely, and unequivocally rejected by the American public.</em></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTI4MTYzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODU3ODAyNn0.I9pLa1SVdRCnwZu5j3wVhGpRACSJjL6aBJJif9utIzI/img.jpg?width=980" id="59363" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="688312ade1efa98b820276a54bcb0634" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>This post was originally published on Dec. 14, 2018. It has been updated to reflect the news of Earthjustice's lawsuit.</em></p><p><em><a href="https://earthjustice.org/about/staff/luis-torres" target="_blank">Luis A. Torres, MA.T.</a> is a Senior Legislative Representative in the Policy & Legislation department at Earthjustice.</em></p>The author as a child at a party in Laredo.
Luis Torres / Earthjustice
<p>The louder we speak up, the harder it is for our communities to be divided, pitted against each other, or used as bargaining chips in negotiations. And even if we fall short now, a new Congress is coming. Latinos have always struggled and fought to get Washington to take us seriously and stop treating us as second-class citizens — but we'll have a fighting chance in the new year.</p><p>But we need to make Washington hear us. We'll fight this wall now, we'll fight it next year, we'll fight it as long as Trump is in office, and we won't stop fighting, no matter what.</p><p>We won't quit until this wall is what and where it belongs — debris in the junkyard of history's worst ideas.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Top 10 Most Contaminated Groundwater Sites Revealed in First Major Coal Ash Pollution Study
04 March 2019
Energy
The San Miguel Power Plant, the groundwater beneath a family ranch is contaminated with at least 12 pollutants leaking from coal ash dumps at concentrations more than 100 times above safe levels. Ari Phillips, Environmental Integrity Project
An examination of monitoring data available for the first time concludes that 91 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants with monitoring data are contaminating groundwater with unsafe levels of toxic pollutants.
The study by the Environmental Integrity Project, with assistance from Earthjustice, used industry data that became available to the public for the first time in 2018 because of requirements in federal coal ash regulations issued in 2015.
<p>The report found that found that the groundwater near 242 of the 265 power plants with monitoring data contained unsafe levels of one or more of the pollutants in coal ash, including arsenic, a known carcinogen, and lithium, which is associated with neurological damage, among other pollutants.</p><p>"At a time when the Trump <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a> — now being <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/andrew-wheeler-epa-confirmed-2630358470.html">run by a former coal lobbyist</a> — is trying to roll back federal regulations on coal ash, these new data provide convincing evidence that we should be moving in the opposite direction: toward stronger protections for human health and the environment," said Abel Russ, the lead author of the report and attorney with the <a href="http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Integrity Project</a> (EIP).</p><p><strong>"</strong>This is a wake-up call for the nation," said Lisa Evans, senior counsel with <a href="https://earthjustice.org" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a>. "Using industry's own data, our report proves that coal plants are poisoning groundwater nearly everywhere they operate. The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> Administration insists on hurting communities across the U.S. by gutting federal protections. They are making a dire situation much worse."</p><p>The data came from more than 4,600 groundwater monitoring wells located around the ash dumps of 265 coal-fired power plants, which is roughly three quarters of the coal power plants across the U.S. The rest of the plants did not have to comply with the federal Coal Ash Rule's groundwater monitoring requirements last year, either because they closed their ash dumps before the rule went into effect in 2015, or because they were eligible for an extension.</p><p>EIP's analysis of the data found that a majority of the 265 coal plants have unsafe levels of at least four toxic constituents of coal ash in the underlying groundwater. Fifty-two percent had unsafe levels of arsenic, which can impair the brains of developing children and is known to cause cancer. Sixty percent of the plants have unsafe levels of lithium, a chemical associated with multiple health risks, including neurological damage.<br></p><p>Many of the coal ash waste ponds are poorly and unsafely designed, with less than 5 percent having waterproof liners to prevent contaminants from leaking into the groundwater, and 59 percent built beneath the water table or within five feet of it.</p><p>The report lists and ranks the sites across the U.S. with the worst groundwater contamination from coal ash. Below are the "Top 10" most contaminated sites, according to the monitoring data reported by power companies in 2018:</p><ol class="ee-ol"><li><strong>Texas</strong>: An hour south of San Antonio, beside the San Miguel Power Plant, the groundwater beneath a family ranch is contaminated with at least 12 pollutants leaking from coal ash dumps, including cadmium (a probable carcinogen according to EPA) and lithium (which can cause nerve damage) at concentrations more than 100 times above safe levels.</li><li><strong>North Carolina</strong>: 12 miles west of Charlotte, at Duke Energy's Allen Steam Station in Belmont, the coal ash dumps were built beneath the water table and are leaking cobalt (which causes thyroid damage) into groundwater at concentrations more than 500 times above safe levels, along with unsafe levels of eight other pollutants.</li><li><strong>Wyoming</strong>: 180 miles west of Laramie, at PacifiCorp's Jim Bridger power plant in Point of Rocks, the groundwater has levels of lithium and selenium (which can be toxic to humans and lethal at low concentrations to fish) that exceed safe levels by more than 100 fold.</li><li><strong>Wyoming</strong>: At the Naughton power plant in southwest Wyoming, the groundwater has not only levels of lithium and selenium exceeding safe levels by more than 100 fold, but also arsenic at five times safe levels.</li><li><strong>Pennsylvania</strong>: An hour northwest of Pittsburgh, at the New Castle Generating Station, levels of arsenic in the groundwater near the plant's coal ash dump are at 372 times safe levels for drinking.</li><li><strong>Tennessee</strong>: Just southwest of Memphis near the Mississippi River, at the TVA Allen Fossil Plant, arsenic has leaked into the groundwater at 350 times safe levels and lead at four times safe levels. Recent studies show a direct connection between the contaminated shallow aquifer and the deeper Memphis aquifer, creating a threat to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a> for thousands of people.</li><li><strong>Maryland</strong>: 19 miles southeast of Washington, DC, at the Brandywine landfill in Prince George's County, ash from three NRG coal plants has contaminated groundwater with unsafe levels of at least eight pollutants, including lithium at more than 200 times above safe levels, and molybdenum (which can damage the kidney and liver) at more than 100 times higher than safe levels. The contaminated groundwater at this site is now feeding into and polluting local streams.</li><li><strong>Utah</strong>: South of Salt Lake City, at the Hunter Power plant, the groundwater is contaminated with lithium at concentrations 228 times safe levels and cobalt at 26 times safe levels.</li><li><strong>Mississippi</strong>: North of Biloxi, at the R.D. Morrow Sr. Generating Station, the groundwater is contaminated with lithium at 193 times safe levels, molybdenum at 171 times safe levels, and arsenic at three times safe levels.</li><li><strong>Kentucky</strong>: At the Ghent Generating Station northeast of Louisville, lithium is in the groundwater at 154 times safe levels and radium at 31 times safe levels.</li></ol><p>The researchers of this report could not determine the safety of drinking water near the coal ash dumps analyzed in this study because power companies are not required to test private drinking water wells.</p><p>However, the report contains examples of several well-documented instances of residential tap water contaminated by coal ash. For example:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>At the Colstrip Power Plant in Colstrip, Montana, unsafe levels of boron, sulfate and possibly other pollutants migrated into a residential neighborhood. The owners of the plant had to provide clean water, and settled a lawsuit with 57 local residents for $25 million in damages.</li><li>At the Oak Creek Power Plant in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, contamination with elevated levels of molybdenum seeped from ash landfills into at least 33 nearby drinking water wells. Wisconsin Energy purchased at least 25 homes around the site and demolished several of them.</li><li>At the Yorktown Power Station in Yorktown, Virginia, gravel pits were filled with fly ash, contaminating the water supply for 55 homes with arsenic, beryllium, chromium, manganese, selenium and other pollutants.</li><li>At Battlefield Golf Course in Chesapeake, Virginia, about 25 drinking water wells had elevated levels of boron, manganese or thallium that may have leaked from coal ash used as a construction material beneath a golf course.</li><li>At a coal ash landfill in Gambrills, Maryland, ash dumped in an old sand and gravel quarry caused unsafe levels of arsenic, beryllium, lithium and other pollutants in multiple residential wells. Constellation Energy settled a lawsuit with impacted residents for $54 million.</li></ul><p>Additional examples of contamination of residential drinking water outlined in the report are in Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin and North Carolina.</p><p>"This report is yet another example of why we must require full cleanup of these unlined and leaking coal ash pits," said Amy Brown, a resident of Belmont, North Carolina, who lives near coal ash waste sites of the Duke Energy Allen Steam Station.</p><p>"The findings of this report are disturbing, but unfortunately not surprising," said Jennifer Peters, National Water Programs Director for Clean Water Action. "For decades, coal utilities have been dumping their toxic waste in primitive pits — often unlined, unstable and near groundwater — while state and federal regulators have mostly looked the other way. These dangerous coal ash ponds should have been closed and cleaned up years ago."</p><p>The report details steps that EPA should take to more effectively protect public health and the environment from coal ash pollution. A more successful regulatory program would: regulate all coal ash dumps, including those that are inactive; require the excavation of dumps within five feet of the water table; require more monitoring, especially of nearby residential wells and surface water; and mandate more transparency and public reporting.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="76c9f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="STKKGO1576779556"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1069350656367108098" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New Report Reveals Severe #Groundwater Contamination at Illinois #CoalAsh Dumps https://t.co/kAM9ixJyRk @BeyondCoal @Coal_Ash</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1069350656367108098">1543788038.0</a></blockquote></div>
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