Free Republic

WASHINGTON: Something should have been done by previous administrations, but they ignored it. The problem of plastic in our oceans has been left to fester to unmanageable effect. Saying that over eight millions tons of garbage, plastic, is dumped into our oceans, the President says Save our Seas is an effort to clean the plastic out. No other political leader, not in the U.S. or any other country, is willing to stand up for the oceans. The Save Our Seas Act, an important bill which reauthorizes and amends the Marine Debris Act, will act to promote international action to reduce...

It's coal people like miner Steve Knotts, 62, who make West Virginia Trump Country. So it was no surprise that President Donald Trump picked the state to announce his plan rolling back Obama-era pollution controls on coal-fired power plants. Trump left one thing out of his remarks, though: northern West Virginia coal country will be ground zero for increased deaths and illnesses from the rollback on regulation of harmful emission from the nation's coal power plants. An analysis done by his own Environmental Protection Agency concludes that the plan would lead to a greater number of people here dying prematurely,...

After nearly 15 years of planning, hundreds of public comments, and a handful of lawsuits, a page turned Friday morning for a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in north Denver.A slate of prominent transportation officials and politicians, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, formally broke ground on the $1.2 billion "Central 70" Project that will remake that section of freeway that officials call the lifeblood of the quickly growing Denver metro area."Without infrastructure, you can't grow. That's just a fact of life," Hickenlooper said after the event. "It's really building the foundation for the next 50 years of economic development for Colorado."Critics...

Since Trump took office in January 2017, EPA officials have cleaned up all or part of 13 listed sites, compared with nine sites cleaned up by the Obama administration in 2015 and 2016.

After a ban on non-biodegradable utensils went into effect over the weekend in Seattle, local officials are advising food service businesses to “[s]top using plastic straws and plastic utensils.”An ordinance pending before the New York City Council would make that city’s food service businesses the next front line in liberal politicians’ war on plastic straws.For the last two months, the New York City Council has deliberated over a bill that would make it a civil offense for any food service provider in the city to offer customers straws or stirrers “made of plastic or any other non-biodegradable material.” If passed,...

Critics of Australian supermarkets' plastic bag ban continue to drum up protest, as it is revealed that 90 per cent of the world's plastic waste comes from just 10 rivers in Asia and Africa. The river systems that carry the most waste into the ocean include the Amur, Ganges, Hai, Indus, Mekong, Pearl, Yangtze and Yellow Delta in Asia, as well as the Niger and Nile in Africa, a research paper has revealed. (trunc) The study, carried out by Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, suggests that the most effective way of reducing the amount of plastic in the world's...

A female beaver in Devon. Credit: Michael Symes/Devon Wildlife Trust ___________________________________________________________________________ Beavers could help clean up polluted rivers and stem the loss of valuable soils from farms, new research shows. The study, undertaken by scientists at the University of Exeter using a captive beaver trial run by the Devon Wildlife Trust, has demonstrated the significant impact the animals have had on reducing the flow of tonnes of soil and nutrients from nearby fields into a local river system. The research, led by hydrologist Professor Richard Brazier, found that the work of a single family of beavers had removed high...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take steps to curb ozone pollution that blows into New York and Connecticut from five other states. The decision by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan is a victory for New York’s and Connecticut’s attorneys general, Barbara Underwood and George Jepsen. Their offices sued EPA administrator Scott Pruitt in January, accusing him of ignoring his responsibilities under the federal Clean Air Act to reduce pollution.

A recent media report on a peer-reviewed study based on 180 samples from water wells near Ohio fracking sites was headlined: “Univ. of Cincy fracking study finds surprising groundwater results.” What exactly was so surprising? The report is one of more than two dozen scientific studies published since 2010 that concluded fracking is not a major threat to groundwater. No fewer than 10 peer-reviewed studies examining more than 3,000 water wells across virtually every major U.S. shale play have been released in the past five years, with each one finding no evidence of that fracking has contaminated groundwater. The reason?...

Last week it was revealed that 54 oil tankers are anchored off the coast of Britain, refusing to unload their fuel until prices have risen. But that is not the only scandal in the shipping world. Today award-winning science writer Fred Pearce – environmental consultant to New Scientist and author of Confessions Of An Eco Sinner – reveals that the super-ships that keep the West in everything from Christmas gifts to computers pump out killer chemicals linked to thousands of deaths because of the filthy fuel they use. We've all noticed it. The filthy black smoke kicked out by funnels...

The Yamuna, India's Most Polluted River

Major European cities such as Madrid and Paris are discriminating against diesel engines due to officials’ concerns about the types of pollution oil-burners produce...The four-cylinder EcoBlue is the most advanced diesel engine Ford has ever produced. Starting with a clean sheet, engineers focused on developing an engine that has very low internal friction.

Up to 95 per cent of plastic polluting the world’s oceans pours in from just ten rivers, according to new research. The top 10 rivers – eight of which are in Asia – accounted for so much plastic because of the mismanagement of waste. About five trillion pounds is floating in the sea, and targeting the major sources – such as the Yangtze and the Ganges – could almost halve it, scientists claim. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt flew in coach-class seats on at least two trips home to Oklahoma when taxpayers weren’t footing the bill, despite claims he...

California is known for many things and sadly, air pollution is one of them. According to the American Lung Association's annual list of smoggiest cities in the U.S., eight of the top ten are in California. Phoenix and New York City round out the top ten. The Los Angeles-Long Beach area takes the top spot for worst air pollution, as it has for the nearly 19 years the report has been issued. Bakersfield is a close second, while Visalia, Fresno, Sacramento, San Diego and Modesto are also on the list. Los Angeles ranked #1 for high ozone days out of...

Scientists were appalled to find 64 pounds of garbage and plastic -- including bags, ropes, nets and even a drum -- inside the stomach of a young sperm whale that recently washed up on a beach in Spain. The 6-ton, 33-foot-long creature was discovered near a lighthouse in Cabo de Palos in the region of Murcia on Feb. 27, the regional government said in a statement last week. A necropsy revealed it was killed by "gastric shock" to its stomach and intestines after ingesting the trash, marine experts told The Telegraph. "Experts found the inner walls of the whale's abdomen...

Decades ago, Lake Michigan teemed with nutrients and green algae, casting a brownish-green hue that resembled the mouth of an inland river rather than a vast, open-water lake. Back then, the lake’s swampy complexion was less than inviting to swimmers and kayakers, but it supported a robust fishing industry as several commercial companies trawled for perch, and sport fishermen cast their lines for trout. But in the past 20 years, Lake Michigan has undergone a dramatic transformation. In analyzing satellite images between 1998 and 2012, researchers at the Michigan Tech Research Institute were surprised to find that lakes Michigan and...

Scientists are calling for a worldwide ban on glitter, warning that the arts and crafts supplies are a hazard to the environment, particularly the ocean. Dr. Trisia Farrelly, an environmental anthropologist at Massey University in New Zealand, told The Independent that “all glitter” should be banned because it’s microplastic. “Microplastics are fragments of plastic less than 5 millimetres in length. Their size makes them an appealing – though dangerous – food item for many animals,” writes The Independent. “Not only have marine animals from plankton to whales been documented eating plastic, often with fatal consequences, microplastics can end up inside...

Despite the promise of creating 600 permanent jobs, the ethane cracker plant being built about 40 minutes northwest of Pittsburgh by car continues to face scrutiny from environmental groups. Shell Chemical Appalachia decided in 2012 that Beaver County would be the site of a new $6 billion plant to manufacture plastics. Shell chose the Beaver County location because of its proximity to natural gas supplies and because the majority of North American polyethylene — the most common plastic — customers are in a 700-mile radius of Pittsburgh. In a statement published on its website, Shell said it expects to employ...

Since they can’t sell electric cars — not enough of them, anyhow — and not without subsidies so huge they amount to outright bribes — the solution appears to be to outlaw all cars except electric cars. This is no joke. There are IC engine No Go Zones in Germany and France. The Brits have just decreed a ban on the sale of internal combustion-engined vehicles period, beginning in 2040. This sounds like a long time from now but isn’t — because car companies begin designing cars about ten years before they see the light of production and so the...

Thanks to Del. Kaye Kory for sending me this; I strongly agree! I’d add that anyone who thought it was a good idea to jam a bike/pedestrian right next to car and trucks on I-66 seriously needs to have their heads examined. WTF???COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA RICHMONDAugust 11, 2017The Honorable Aubrey Layne Virginia Department of Transportation Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor 1111 East Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219Re: I-66 HOT Lanes Shared Use Trail ObjectionsSecretary Layne:We are writing to express our opposition to the current design of the shared use path on Interstate 66 (I-66 Trail) proposed...