There’s a lot of uncertainty around exactly how much taxpayer money the government gives out to Big Oil, Big Coal and the rest of the dirty energy industry each year in subsidies. But we know one thing for sure: it’s a lot. A new crowdsourced project called the Energy Tax Breaks Wiki promises to help identify the sections of the tax code containing these outrageous fossil fuels subsidies.
Friends of the Earth is excited…
Yesterday the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee approved a bill that would require the EPA to do a more thorough analysis on the effects for consumers, the economy, and the environment of increasing the amount of corn ethanol in gasoline by 50 percent before it is sold at pumps. Friends of the Earth, along with a diverse coalition, supported the bill, H.R. 3199, with a letter to the committee earlier this…
I had the privilege of participating in the Thematic Social Forum this past week in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Porto Alegre was where the very first World Social Forum took place back in 2001. The difference between the World Social Forum and Thematic Social Forum is not much, just another shade of the same color. There are many meetings throughout the year that feed into the World Social Forum process, and these take place…
Salvadoran environmentalists are fighting for a ban on destructive mining projects in the face of physical attacks at home, and legal attacks from abroad authorized by a U.S. trade agreement. Since 2009, community leaders, staff of a local radio station and a priest have been threatened, assaulted, or intimidated for their efforts to protect El Salvador’s water, natural resources and livelihoods from harmful mining projects. The latest outrage occurred on January 20, 2012. Father Neftalí…
The Antarctic already has a ban in place on the use of bunker fuel by ships, the US and Canada are getting an Emission Control Area in August which could likely phase out bunker use in North American waters, and the EU is being pressured to eliminate bunker use by passenger ships in response to the Costa Concordia disaster. Isn’t it time to end the use of bunker in the Arctic,…
Cruise ship pollution poses a significant threat to marine resources. While treatment is required to discharge sewage and other wastewater, the U.S. EPA has found that older ship sewage treatment systems discharge highly concentrated wastewater in excess of federal water quality standards. Friends of the Earth believes that cruise ships should not be able to discharge any sewage or other polluted wastewater (treated or not) in any National Marine Sanctuary and, for that…
While the possible release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys has been delayed until late spring, the debate around the possible benefits and risks these insects pose to the environment and human health continue to heat up. Even scientists who are supportive of genetically engineered insects are raising concerns around transparency and human health impacts.
In a new article published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases titled “Scientific Standards and the…
If there ever were a story that illustrated how the top 1% have captured both the economic and political power in our country, we need look no further than today’s earning announcement from Exxon Mobil. The oil and gas giant made $41 billion in profits for the 2011 fiscal year and $9.4 billion for the fourth quarter -- that’s a whopping a 35 percent increase from the measly $30.4 billion in profits they had…
The World Bank last week decided to take a significant step backwards on social and environmental protection and transparency. The Bank’s board voted to approve Program-for-Results, also known as PforR, which, according to Bank hype, is “an innovative new financing instrument for the World Bank’s client countries that links the disbursement of funds directly to the delivery of defined results.” But according to more than 200 groups in 51 countries, “P4R represents the…
Protest at the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement negotiations this week in Beverly Hills and La Jolla, California. Trade negotiators from around the Pacific Rim are gathering in southern California this week, January 31 - February 3, to hammer out the details on the most significant regional trade agreement the U.S. has contemplated in over a decade: the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Trade ministers and corporate lobbyists are meeting behind closed doors in…