Current Stories
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Infuriated mom: Why can't I protect my body?
Seattle Post Globe
11/18/2009
Kim Radtke of Seattle was pregnant with her now nearly three-week-old son when tests detected in her blood 11 chemicals, including mercury.
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Cleanup slows of mining Superfund site in Oregon
Oregonian
11/19/2009
Bureaucratic snags threaten to slow cleanup of the state's dirtiest abandoned mine, a Superfund site in southern Oregon that leaches 5 million gallons of fish-killing, acid rock drainage into nearby creeks each year.
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Physicians detail health hazards from coal
Oregonian
11/18/2009
A new report from the advocacy group Physicians for Social Responsibility concludes that pollutants from coal-fired power plants contribute to four of the five leading causes of mortality in the US: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Coal plants still provide about 40 percent of the electricity used in OR and nearly 20 percent in WA.
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Study shows toxins present at birth
KUOW
11/17/2009
Pregnant women are often extra careful to avoid toxic products, like certain plastics and chemicals in household cleaners. But a new study of West Coast mothers shows those efforts only go so far. Babies are born already exposed to toxins linked to serious health problems.
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Senate to put off climate bill until spring
Wall Street Journal
11/17/2009
Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would put off debate on a big climate-change bill until spring, in a sign of weakening political will to tackle a long-term environmental issue at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.
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Paying more for flights eases guilt, not emissions
New York Times
11/17/2009
One of the first travel companies to offer airline customers the option of buying so-called carbon offsets to counter theit planet-warming emissions has canceled the program. While it might help travelers feel virtuous, the offsets were not helping to reduce global emissions and might even encourage people to travel more.
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Health group finds high lead levels in toys
Seattle Times
11/17/2009
Children's toys carrying the Barbie and Disney logos have turned up with high levels of lead in them, according to a California-based advocacy group - a finding that may give consumers pause as they shop for the holiday season.
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A Q&A with Al Gore
Seattle Times
11/17/2009
On a book tour in Seattle, former Vice President Al Gore weighs in on the Copenhagen climate summit, Obama's efforts so far, the prospects for US legislation, pseudo-science and garden-variety denial.
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Official: Canada climate change laws years away
CBC BC
11/17/2009
The federal environment minister says it may be a few years before Canada tables regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Jim Prentice said the world has to first negotiate a new climate change treaty and Canada and the United States must finish their continental agreement on the same issue.
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Views: We need another carbon tariff
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/18/2009
A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt. A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt.
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Cleaner chlorine plants may be creating a mercury glut
Washington Post
11/17/2009
Cleaner chlorine plants may indirectly be creating an excess of toxic metal.
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Low-emission locomotives a boost to public health
Washington Post
11/17/2009
A new crop of "ultra-low emission" short-haul locomotives could have significant public health benefits, according to rail industry officials and federal health experts, who suggest that they could help decrease the risk of cancer and heart and respiratory disease for people living near rail yards.
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Experts question Hanford's waste treatment plant
KPLU
11/17/2009
The Obama Administration says it plans to appoint a blue ribbon panel soon to determine the fate of the nation's radioactive waste.
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Big algal bloom lingering along coast
KPLU
11/17/2009
Marine scientists have been surprised by the persistence of an unusual red tide along the Washington and northern Oregon coast. This is the algae bloom which produced a slimy foam that killed thousands of seabirds earlier in the fall. Foam turned up on coastal beaches again on Monday, but the bird die-off has not resumed.
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Reading the tree leaves
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/15/2009
Riding his bike to work at Western Washington University, geophysicist Bernie Housen used to wonder how unhealthy it was to be breathing in all those exhaust fumes. Thanks to the tree leaves along his route, he now has proof that his concerns were well founded, in a remarkable piece of research that could one day lead urban planners to consult the trees on where bike or walking paths should be located.
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Chefs serve salmon with a message
Anchorage Daily News
11/15/2009
Chefs at more than a dozen Seattle restaurants are serving salmon dishes with a message on the side - a warning that the creature's future could be threatened by a giant gold and copper mine proposed for Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska, home to the world's largest sockeye salmon runs.
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Pacific garbage patch threatens birds, boats
USA Today
11/15/2009
Charles Moore has spent most of the past decade sailing through the Pacific. He could regale you with stories of sublime open-water majesty. Just not anytime soon. "It's a swirling plastic cesspool," says Moore of an area called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where he became mired in it during a 1997 sailing expedition.
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Innovator and writer looks ahead
San Francisco Chronicle
11/15/2009
The founder of the Whole Earth Catalog lives on a tugboat with shrubbery on top and solar panels in front of the steering wheel. And yet he makes no apologies to the cow he just washed down with a frosty cup of ice cream. Stewart Brand's new book, "Whole Earth Discipline," thrusts him in the middle of the global climate debate, and not in an easily digestible way.
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Curbs on OR electricity plant sought
Eugene Register Guard
11/15/2009
The Oregon Toxics Alliance has launched a last-ditch effort to require tougher pollution controls and reduced carbon dioxide emissions from Seneca Sawmill Co.’s new wood-fired electricity plant, which is now under construction.
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Views: Political will needed for climate fix
New York Times
11/15/2009
Putting a price on carbon in the face of powerful opposing forces - from consumers who will always want their fuel, electricity, food and clothing to be cheaper than it is, to corporations driven by the bottom line - will ultimately be a matter of sheer political will.
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Sen. Murray praises Hanford stimulus jobs
Tri-City Herald
11/13/2009
Since $1.96 billion in stimulus money was designated for environmental cleanup at the Hanford nuclear reservation, more than 35,000 people have applied for the jobs, according to the Department of Energy.
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Study: Mercury levels high in lake fish
Oregonian
11/10/2009
A study by the US Environmental Protection Agency found high levels of the neurotoxin mercury in game fish in 49 percent of lakes and reservoirs nationwide. In Oregon, Portland General Electric's Boardman coal plant and an Ash Grove Cement kiln in Baker County have been the focus of mercury reduction efforts.
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Coal dust an ugly problem in scenic AK
Anchorage Daily News
11/10/2009
When the north wind blows in Seward, dust flies off a large pile of coal and covers the town's scenic boat harbor in black grit. Now three conservation groups are alleging that Alaska Railroad Corp. and Aurora Energy Services are discharging coal without a permit into Resurrection Bay - a popular destination with summer tourists.
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High BPA levels linked to male sexual problems
Washington Post
11/11/2009
Exposure to high levels of bisphenol A, or BPA, appears to cause sexual problems in men, according to a new study. The chemical found in thousands of consumer products ranging from dental sealants to canned food linings is so ubiquitous it has been detected in the urine of 93 percent of the US population.
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Report: Ignoring climate change will be costly
Los Angeles Times
11/11/2009
Governments must act now to ward off catastrophic climate change or face additional costs of $500 billion per year of delay, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.
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