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Green Groups to Congress: No New Permits For Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on July 15th, 2015
Huffington Post: Several environmental groups are petitioning Congress to take up legislation that would ban any further mountaintop removal coal mining until the federal government completes a thorough health evaluation. The progressive group Credo Action and the environmental group Earthjustice, in partnership with several local groups in the coal-mining region of the country, are trying to generate support in Washington for the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act. The legislation would declare a moratorium...
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TransCanada Makes New Push for Keystone XL Pipeline
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on July 1st, 2015
Huffington Post: TransCanada, the company seeking to build the controversial pipeline that would carry oil from Alberta to refineries in Texas, is leaning on Secretary of State John Kerry to make a permitting decision. In letter to Kerry and other State Department officials, TransCanada's executive vice president and general counsel Kristine Delkus argues that because Canada has announced various steps to curb its overall greenhouse gas emissions, the United States should allow the Keystone XL pipeline to go forward....
Tribes in three states ask Obama administration to reject Keystone XL
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on January 16th, 2015
Huffington Post: An association representing 16 American Indian tribes in three states along the Keystone XL pipeline route sent a letter to President Barack Obama this week urging him to reject the pipeline permit application.
The association represents tribes in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska, and is also seeking a meeting with Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to discuss their concerns about the pipeline.
John Steele, chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association and the...
Most of the coastal US will see over 30 days of flooding due to sea level rise
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on December 19th, 2014
Huffington Post: Most coastal regions of the United States will see 30 or more days of flooding by 2050 thanks to sea level rise, according to new research the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released Thursday.
NOAA's researchers looked at the anticipated frequency of what the National Weather Service considers nuisance flooding, which are floods that are 1 to 2 feet over the regular local high tide and are enough to cause problems but not pose active threats to human life. Some areas of the U.S....
Senate Now Has Enough Votes To Pass Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Bill
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on November 5th, 2014
Huffington Post: The new Senate Republican majority creates an opportunity for likely Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to force a vote on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline he's been waiting years to hold.
By The Huffington Post's count, the new Senate will have at least 61 votes in favor of a measure forcing the pipeline's approval -- a filibuster-proof majority.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday in an appearance on MSNBC that passing a Keystone approval bill would be...
Senate Committee Debates Whether Keystone XL Is in the U.S. National Interest
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on March 14th, 2014
Huffington Post: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing Thursday to consider whether approval of Keystone XL, the proposed 1,660-mile pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Texas, is in the national interest of the United States.
The State Department released its final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on Keystone in January, moving the decision on the pipeline into the hands of Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama. The administration is expected to make a national-interest determination...
Al Gore Says Keystone XL ‘Ridiculous’
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on October 25th, 2013
Huffington Post: The proposed Keystone XL pipeline is "ridiculous" and "an atrocity," said former Vice President Al Gore on Thursday. Speaking at an event honoring the 10th anniversary of the progressive think tank Center for American Progress, Gore praised President Barack Obama's efforts on climate change, stating that he thinks the president is sincere and that it will be a legacy issue for him. But on Keystone XL, which is waiting to hear its fate from the Obama administration, Gore was unequivocal. "I hope...
Michael Froman, U.S. Trade Official, Lobbies For Tar Sands Oil In EU Negotiations
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on September 25th, 2013
Huffington Post: Building the Keystone XL pipeline is only part of the equation. Once the Canadian tar sands are pumped and piped to refineries on the Gulf Coast, the industry still needs to find buyers for its end product -- much of which will be exported.
That's where U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman comes in.
Environmental groups in the U.S. and the European Union are worried that Froman, the chief trade official for the United States, has been quietly working to pressure the EU to make it easier...
Anti-Fracking Groups Greet Obama On New York Tour
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on August 23rd, 2013
Huffington Post: Anti-fracking activists confronted President Barack Obama as he toured upstate New York on Friday. Organizers reported that more than 500 protesters showed up to Obama's town hall event at Binghamton University, where the president was speaking on education.
"I think the key message we wanted to get across through the whole tour was that New Yorkers don't want this," said Alex Beauchamp, Northeast regional director at the environmental group Food and Water Watch, which coordinated the protests...