AltWeeklies Wire
Power Plant Opponents in New Mexico Say it's Time to Get Over Coalnew
Proponents of the Desert Rock power plant say it will create 1,000 construction jobs and then approximately 200 permanent jobs once it's up and running. But the region already has three coal-fired power plants which are considered among the dirtiest plants in the country.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Laura Paskus |
12-18-2008 |
Environment
Tags: New Mexico, energy, environment, pollution, power plants, Navajo, coal, Desert Rock, Indian reservations
Don't Believe the Hype: Clean Coal Still Pollutesnew

To call today's coal "clean" requires a handful of mind-erasing psycho-somethings and a magic carpet ride to Fairyland. It's true -- the potential to burn coal far cleaner than in decades past is now here. But the best devices are expensive and only in use at a few power plants across the country.
Charleston City Paper |
Stratton Lawrence |
12-10-2008 |
Environment
Asarco's Dirty Moneynew

For more than a century, American Smelting and Refining Co. raked in profits while poisoning poor communities in nearly two dozen states. In 2005, the company filed for bankruptcy, initiating a sprawling case that left many Texas residents wondering who will pay to clean up toxic waste at Asarco's dirtiest plant.
The Texas Observer |
Melissa del Bosque |
11-05-2008 |
Business & Labor
Radioactive Brooklynnew
Radioactive waste has existed in Williamsburg for decades, but thanks to gentrification, its half-life may be up.
New York Press |
Sarah Clyne Sundberg |
09-04-2008 |
Environment
Gil Rhodes, the Junkyard Dognew
The ABC Metals owner has been flouting the law for years. Why has no one shut him down?
Seven Days |
Ken Picard |
08-15-2008 |
Environment
What Will We Use Instead of Oil?new
If we're going to go on driving cars, but we can't afford to fuel them from petroleum (and we can't afford to put all those greenhouse gas emissions in the air either), then what do we do instead?
NOW Magazine |
Gwynne Dyer |
06-23-2008 |
Environment
Tags: oil, environment, transportation, pollution, peak oil, biofuels, automobiles, carbon dioxide, algae, fuel costs, hydrogen
In Ohio, the Feds Do Their Best to Conceal a Toxic Horrornew
Toxins are emerging from the ground under the former Ford Road landfill in Elyria, and many of the residents have developed cancer. Some think health reports were purposely repressed by the feds.
Cleveland Scene |
Rebecca Meiser |
05-27-2008 |
Environment
Power Plant's Water-Intake Pipe Moves Aheadnew
Riverkeeper's Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called it "a giant fish-killing machine," but the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources just gave a preliminary OK to We Energies' plan to build a 1.5-mile-long water-intake pipe into Lake Michigan.
Shepherd Express |
Lisa Kaiser |
05-16-2008 |
Environment
Charleston County Poised for 20 More Years of Burning Garbagenew
Two months ago, the incinerator was all but toast. Due to costs and environmental concerns, Charleston County Council voted to discontinue its use when operator Veolia-Montenay's current contract expired, instead diverting future trash to the Bees Ferry and pending Adams Run landfills. But things have changed.
Charleston City Paper |
Stratton Lawrence |
05-14-2008 |
Environment
Environmental Racism in the South Bronxnew
One in four children in the Hunts Point neighborhood has asthma. While urban planners and public health specialists are still struggling to find the cause for the community's disturbingly high asthma rates, for parents like Tanya Fields there is no question that it's the air they breathe that makes their children wheeze.
New York Press |
Gabriele Steinhauser |
05-08-2008 |
Science
Toxic Town: Contamination in Texas Schoolsnew
Schools in the town of Somerville continue to show elevated toxins, but are the health risks bad enough to shut down the schools?
Houston Press |
Todd Spivak |
04-08-2008 |
Environment
Will Detroit Keep Incinerating Trash, or Seek a Greener Future?new
Confronted with that same dilemma more than two decades ago, the city responded by constructing the largest municipal waste incinerator in America. We went for the big burn -- and have been paying for it in a big way ever since.
Metro Times |
Curt Guyette |
04-08-2008 |
Environment
Breathing (and Dying) in L.A.new
Top smog doctors find new maladies.
Los Angeles CityBeat |
Matthew Mundy |
09-07-2007 |
Environment
Laid to Rustnew
Six years and $19 million into a major Superfund cleanup, why is the Ompompanoosuc River running orange?
Seven Days |
Ken Picard |
09-05-2007 |
Environment
A Fish Problem This Bignew
With the increasing spread of a poorly-studied class of chemicals in Idaho's watersheds, some experts wonder if local fish are at risk of losing their sexual traits.
Boise Weekly |
Peter Wollheim |
01-17-2007 |
Environment