AUGUST 26, 2009 -- A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human rights, social justice, and environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, has composed and sent a letter to U.S. senators calling for energy and climate legislation that's much stronger than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives June 26. That bill contained massive giveaways to polluting special interests and would fail to ensure a rapid transition to clean energy. The…
Friends of the Earth teamed up with Consumers Union and the International Center for Technology Assessment to compile the latest info about nanomaterials in sunscreens (pdf) and their potential hazards.
Friends of the Earth submitted comments to President Barack Obama’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. We commend President Obama for addressing the critical need for a national policy unifying ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes protections and we make recommendations for improving regulation of the significant air and water pollution from the shipping industry.
Friends of the Earth opposes the nomination of Joseph G. Pizarchik to become Director of the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. This office, located in the Department of the Interior, holds important regulatory authority over the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, in which mountaintops are blown to pieces, filling valleys, polluting rivers and streams, and harming local economies.
UPDATE: Two months after the coup in Honduras, the coup regime has refused to accept diplomatic options to return the county to democracy. In light of these developments, the US State Department officials made it clear that they are considering legally defining the situation as a "military coup." This would creat an automatic cut-off of all remaining aid to Honduras. The coup regime immediately responded by saying that they would allow Zelaya to return with…
Our Health and Environment Campaigner, Ian Illuminato, traveled to Paris, France in mid July to speak at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conference. The conference's focus was Potential Environmental Benefits of Nanotechnology: Fostering Safe Innovation-Led Growth (click to view the
We received a big reminder of the threat to whales from large, ocean-going ships this past week as the Sapphire Princess, a cruise ship returning from a voyage to Alaska, impaled a fin whale likely north of Vancouver Island. Knowledge of the strike was only realized when the cruise ship arrived at the Port of Vancouver with the whale's dead body wedged against the cruise ship's bow. A test is currently being performed to determine…
Many bad deals were made to help pass a major climate and energy bill in the House. Some of the most egregious were brokered on behalf of corporate agribusiness by Rep. Collin Peterson (D - Minn.) and his Agriculture Committee.
Now we have to pressure the Senate to fix the House's compromises.