Category: Environment

Oil Companies Urge Supreme Court Not to Allow Climate Change Lawsuit to Proceed in State Courts

Energy companies are urging the Supreme Court to keep a Biden administration-backed environmentalist lawsuit accusing the industry of accelerating climate change in federal court where they may have an advantage. The lawsuit is part of an effort to force action on the climate change issue through the courts, as opposed to having elected lawmakers make…


Biden EPA Tightens Screws on Coal Plants

A new proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would boost emissions standards for coal-fired power plants, heartening public health advocates and raising questions from the energy industry about cost and feasibility. It comes after a February 2022 EPA ruling that reversed a Trump administration action in 2020 on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards…


Biden Vetoes Joint Resolution Against His Water Rule

President Joe Biden has vetoed a joint resolution from the House and Senate that would have repealed his Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, delivering what could be a fatal blow to that specific challenge to his environmental agenda. The expected veto was issued on the afternoon of April 6. “I just vetoed a…


New High-Powered Weapons Ban a Smokescreen for Real Problems: Industry

Moves to implement the toughest firearm controls in Australia have been met with accusations that it is nothing more than a smokescreen for weak action on high crime rates and cost of living problems. On Feb. 14, the Western Australian (WA) Labor government announced a new ban on high-powered firearms able to fire over long…


DOJ Sues Rail Company Over Pollution from Ohio Derailment

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Railway over the pollution caused in East Palestine, Ohio, by the Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials. The complaint (pdf), filed March 31 in the Northern District of Ohio, seeks to hold Norfolk Southern accountable for “unlawfully polluting the nation’s…


Plants Sound-Off When Under Stress: Study

Plants under stress emit ultrasonic sounds that are specific to each species and to the type of stress they experience, according to a recent study. The click-like sounds emitted by plants—similar to the popping of popcorn—that were recorded and analyzed for the first time, can probably be heard by various animals, such as bats, mice,…


Experts Advocate Eventual End to Single-Use Plastics, but Composites May Be Safe

A Senate hearing on March 30 underscored the widespread concern about single-use plastics, as experts and lawmakers discussed plastics pollution, plastic recycling, and the potential hazards of outsourcing plastics production to China. Hota GangaRao, a composites specialist and professor at West Virginia University, and Chelsea Rochman, an ecologist and professor at the University of Toronto,…


New Jersey State Lawmaker Calls for Moratorium on Offshore Wind Projects

Two New Jersey state lawmakers want work on offshore wind projects to stop until it can be determined why marine mammals are showing up dead on their state’s beaches. “We’re not going to fix blame on any one activity. But clearly, something is out of the norm,” New Jersey State Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger told The…


Natural Rights for People and the Environment

Commentary Are you longing for a vacation in harmony with nature? Do you seek inspiration from nature and human culture when you travel? Do you believe in strong personal property laws yet resent developers who come and destroy our natural, architectural, and farming heritage? Do you believe in personal liberty and protecting the environment at…


‘Wind Power Fails on Every Count’: Oxford Scientist Explains the Math

Wind power has been historically and scientifically unreliable, claims an Oxford University mathematician and physicist, with his calculations revealing the government to be pursuing a “bluster of windfarm politics” while discarding numerical evidence. After the decision to cut down on fossil fuels was made at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the “instinctive…