Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) announced this week that he will draft legislation to suspend new lease sales of coal from public lands until the Bureau of Land Management institutes reforms to the federal coal leasing program. This announcement came in response to a letter from the Bureau of Land Management that dismissed Senator Markey’s call for immediate action to change how the agency auctions and sells leases for coal development on public…
In preparation for Election Day -- or maybe Halloween? -- the House leadership has assembled a Frankenstein’s monster of bad energy policy. Pieced together from the remains of 13 separate bills already passed by the House, but justifiably ignored in the Senate, these zombies are being raised from the dead for one final piece of political theatre before the election.
As Lindsay Abrams at Salon points out, the choice to revive a bundle of…
This Sunday, September 21, thousands of people will gather in New York City for the People's Climate March. Americans who want to see a future filled with healthy families, clear air, clean water and safe communities will march through the streets to bring awareness to the fight of our time: averting climate disruption. Every voice counts as we demonstrate to move the United Nations towards meaningful action during their 2014 meeting in New York.
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For the first time, U.S. agencies consider a diet for a healthy planet
If the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Committee has its way, America’s dinner plates are about to include a healthy portion of much needed environmental awareness. For the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is charged with integrating ecological concerns into its recommendations on what Americans should be eating. The Committee…
Among the surging crowds of hundreds of thousands of folks at the People’s Climate March on September 21 in New York, you will see marchers in pointy green felt hats, and if you are lucky, a fully garbed Robin Hood replete with green tights, leather vest and that signature gleam in the eye. (For better or worse, the NYPD and the march organizers have asked that bows and arrows be left at the guild hall.)…
Coal companies already receive cheap and bountiful leases for coal development on public lands at below fair market value, and now they want to decrease the cost of shipping that coal across the nation. On September 5, 2014, Friends of the Earth, joined by the Western Organization of Resource Councils, Inc., and the Northern Plains Resource Council Inc., submitted comments to the Surface Transportation Board to request it prepare an environmental assessment to…
Note: On February 19, 2015, a federal judge ruled against BP in a motion to lower its maximum civil penalty for Deepwater Horizon. Here is the Friends of the Earth analysis from last September exploring the giant tax break BP may still be trying to wrangle from the disaster.
What sort of thoughts come to mind when you think about BP’s Deepwater Horizon? Do you think greed-fueled nightmare? Do you think out of work…
Preface: When Friends of the Earth member Janet Thew learned how palm oil companies destroy rain forests, she decided to divest her family’s retirement account from Dimensional Fund Advisors. Dimensional, or DFA, has investments in more problematic palm oil, timber, and pulp and paper producers than any other financial institution in the U.S. Read Janet’s open letter to DFA's CEO, David Booth, and then join her in calling on DFA to get out of…
Concerned with increasing bee die-offs, several Colorado neighborhoods have been taking matters into their own hands to create “bee-safe neighborhoods” by banning and reducing the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Communities in Virginia, Washington and Michigan are following suit, too. As Boulder marks the certification of its fourth bee-safe neighborhood, local organizer Janet Kilby offers some encouragement and advice on how neighborhoods all over the U.S. can join in.
Living Systems Institute sponsors the "Bee Safe…
Today, Friends of the Earth and 33 of our allies wrote to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission insisting that they postpone two important votes until after Commissioner William Magwood leaves for his new position at the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency. Since June, our coalition has been trying to guard against serious conflicts of interest involving Commissioner Magwood and his allegiance to his future employer. While the revolving door between the nuclear…