Free Republic

5 power companies defend against global warming lawsuitBy LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press Writer September 30, 2004, 6:10 PM EDT NEW YORK -- Some of the nation's largest power companies on Thursday defended efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, saying a lawsuit accusing them of neglecting the threat of global warming seeks a "piecemeal response" to a worldwide problem. In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the companies said the July lawsuit brought by eight states, the City of New York and three nonprofit land trusts wants the court to usurp the role of Congress and the president....

<p>A Rocklin nonprofit organization used money it won in environmental lawsuits against businesses to pay off personal credit card debt, taxes and mortgage payments, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.</p> <p>The lawsuit calls for the dissolution of California Community Health Advocates, which has not been active recently, and the distribution of its money to further the health causes that the nonprofit originally was formed to advocate.</p>

<p>Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s bankruptcy reorganization has resulted in a windfall for California's environment: A vast acreage of pristine mountain land owned by the utility will be permanently protected, and a $100 million fund will be created to maintain it and open it to recreational use.</p>

When Helen and Michael Allen got married in England last year, the wedding bill included an unusual item -- about $220 to clean up gases blamed for causing global warming. When the Rolling Stones went on tour in Britain last year, they added about 27 cents to the price of each ticket to plant 3,000 trees to soak up the concerts' pollution and show, as they said, that "rock and roll is not a gas." One Dutch car rental company adds about one percent to its prices to help plant forests to soak up the vehicles' emissions of carbon dioxide,...

Ruling could reverse citizens' right to sue (Note from B: This case is about environmental law, but it hinges on accountability & redress: If it receives the attention it should, citizens will be demanding to know why their right to to sue the government should be (further) limited. Where should Constitutional burden of proof lie? It seems like every judge in the US should recuse themselves for conflict of interests and let a fully informed jury -- with power to decide issues of LAW as well as issues of fact -- decide.) February 18, 2004 No author given (editorial) The...

LONDON, Jan. 21 - After several years of lobbying by the Rainforest Action Network, Citigroup plans to announce on Thursday that it will no longer accept financing deals involving certain projects and corporations criticized by the group on environmental grounds. In future deals, Citigroup will not finance commercial logging in rain forests or projects that harm indigenous populations and will report the greenhouse gas emissions of the energy projects it does finance, the bank and the environmental group will announce. The changes will not apply to current Citigroup deals. The announcement comes after a campaign by the Rainforest Action Network,...

Sierra Clubs wants to charge developers to protect air quality Updated 1/14/04 5:47 p.m. BAKERSFIELD - The Sierra Club wants Kern County and the City of Bakersfield to tack a $1200 fee on every new home built. It is an air mitigation fee that hundreds of local homebuyers will have to pay soon. The Kern chapter of the Sierra Club has successfully pressured a handful of developers to pay if they want to build. The settlements total $2.5 million. The question now is how will that money be spent and who will oversee it. The price just went up...

Just an excerpt here from a great column about MTBE and politics... "MTBE is as partisan an issue as one gets. Republicans have tended to close ranks against handing more legitimacy to trial-lawyer looting of industry. Democrats will line up to claim another victory of environmental vigilance if MTBE producers are brought down. And one of the leading trial lawyers in MTBE cases -- with more than 50 cases involving the additive pending -- is Fred Baron, of Baron & Budd, Dallas, TX, who is currently the National Finance Chairman of Sen. John Edwards' presidential campaign." The rest is here:...

<p>Faced with a not-so-novel groundwater pollution problem, the city of Lodi in San Joaquin County came up with a novel strategy: Assume authority from the state and federal governments for the clean-up, and then pass a local law that forces the polluters (or their insurance companies) to pay whatever legal costs the city might run up during the process of prosecuting the case.</p>

<p>TRUCKEE -- The environmental organization Sierra Watch has signed an agreement with East West Partners development company to buy and preserve open-space land in the Martis Valley with proceeds from real-estate sales.</p> <p>In exchange for a 0.5 percent "transfer fee" on all real-estate sales in Northstar Village for the next 20 years, Sierra Watch has agreed to drop its appeal of East West's planned Northstar Village expansion. The fees are expected to garner about $5 million for open-space purchases.</p>

Activist pulls no punches in battling animal-performance theme parks By ELINOR BRECHER MIAMI -- Russ Rector, South Florida marine-mammal advocate, is chowing down on breakfast sausage - counterintuitive for an animal rights activist, but then again, Rector tends to be that way - and fulminating against the theme parks that use performing dolphins and killer whales. "There is no redeeming social value in these stupid pet tricks," he growled, calling such attractions "little better than a roadside zoo." In 1992 he founded the Dolphin Freedom Foundation, which promotes the notion that marine mammals belong in the ocean, not in captivity...

<p>Two key Lodi city officials reacted in shock Tuesday to a federal judge's ruling that they say guts the city's high-stakes toxic cleanup lawsuit, leaving the taxpayers potentially liable for millions of dollars in legal costs.</p> <p>U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. on Monday ruled that the city's cleanup ordinance conflicts with federal law and is unconstitutional.</p>

How do environmentalists measure success? By how much cleaner the air and water have become? How recycling has become a way of life? How government and industry are working together on renewable energy and a raft of other initiatives that aim to make the planet more livable for generations to come? Sadly, environmentalists have an entirely different yardstick, as shown in a recent analysis by Knight Ridder Newspapers. Relying heavily on the opinions of former Environmental Protection Agency bureaucrats, Knight Ridder concluded the Bush administration is falling down on the environmental-protection job: enforcement of pollution laws has declined in the...

I prosecute polluters on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance. As George W. Bush began his presidency, I was involved in litigation against the factory-pork industry, which is a large source of air and water pollution in America. Corporate pork factories cannot produce more efficiently than traditional family farmers without violating several federal environmental statutes. Industrial farms illegally dump millions of tons of untreated fecal and toxic waste onto land and into the air and water. Factory farms have contaminated hundreds of miles of waterways, put tens of thousands of family farmers and fishermen out...