BP banned from government contracts in U.S.

The Environmental Protection Agency took the action of barring the petroleum giant from doing any contractual bidness with the U.s. in light of the Big Oil company’s dismal record. You can read all about the EPA’s action right here.

The folly of building on a barrier island (and taxpayers foot the bill!)

This feature-length look at Dauphin Island, the barrier strip off the Gulf coast of Alabama take a nice hard look at what is surely the folly of building on a place that nature wants to move – all the time. And climate change and sea-level rise are only making the whole thing even more disastrous (hurricanes notwithstanding).

Iowa corn-processing plant agrees to pay $4.1M for dumping

The federal EPA accused Roquette America of repeatedly sending sewage and industrial wastes into the Mississippi River and Soap Creek, some of it through storm sewers. Read about the whole pollution episode in this link.

Global disaster? Climate change not on today’s media agenda

According to the National Climatic Data Center, July 211 to June 2012 was the hottest 12-month stretch on human record. But even as the devastation resulting from humanity’s ongoing alteration of the Earth’s atmosphere became more and more obvious, coverage of the 2012 presidential election campaign seemed completely impervious to the effects of climate change,”the media watchdog organization FAIR reported. You can read about FAIR’s findings right here. The conservation impact of what we humans are doing to our fish and wildlife heritage by burning fossil fuels goes well beyond the crisis faced by one or two species.

Sportsmen welcome EPA’s open and transparent process for the Bristol Bay watershed assessment

Continue to demand swift action to protect fishery, jobs, and economy after release of peer review report

Anchorage – Trout Unlimited supports the continued open and transparent process the EPA has conducted in its watershed assessment for Bristol Bay, Alaska. Today, the EPA released its peer review report of the assessment.

“With the release of today’s report, the EPA is showing its continued commitment to a thorough, transparent, independent, and science-based process for protecting Bristol Bay,” said Tim Bristol, TU Alaska Program Director. “The peer review report underscores what we’ve known all along:  mining on the scope and scale of Pebble simply cannot coexist with Bristol Bay’s fish. We call on President Obama to implement necessary protections for this sportsman’s paradise.”

Many of the respected scientists on the peer review panel found that the EPA actually understated the risks of Pebble. One reviewer said that many consequences were “likely” rather than “uncertain” when it comes to Pebble, and another confirmed that EPA evaluated a “realistic” scenario based on Pebble’s extensive filings with the SEC and the Canadian government.  One scientist’s assessment couldn’t be any more clear, “…make no mistake, we cannot have both mining and productive salmon stocks in the Bristol Bay watershed…”

“Bristol Bay is not simply a national treasure; it’s the economic lifeblood for the entire region,” said Brian Kraft, owner of Alaska Sportsman’s and Alaska Sportsman’s Bear Trail Lodges in Bristol Bay.  “The EPA’s assessment and peer review report recognize how Bristol Bay’s sport and commercial fishing economy are wholly dependent on clean water and high quality habitat – the exact things Pebble could destroy. The bottom line is small, renewable resource-based businesses like mine cannot coexist with the Pebble Mine.”

The watershed assessment also concluded that:

• Bristol Bay’s wild salmon fishery and other natural resources provide at least 14,000 jobs and are valued at about $500 million annually.
• The average annual run of sockeye salmon is about 37.5 million fish.
• Even at its minimum size, mining the Pebble deposit would eliminate or block 55 to 87 miles of salmon streams and at least 2500 acres of wetlands – key habitat for sockeye and other fishes.

“As Pebble’s backers have done throughout, they will attack the process and the EPA rather than looking at the facts,” said former Republican Alaska State Senator Rick Halford. “But the fact is, the Pebble Mine is a bad deal for Alaska. Pebble will never be able to account for the many risks associated with the mine, and the peer review report makes these risks abundantly clear. The time to protect Bristol Bay is now.”

The EPA began its watershed assessment in 2011 at the request of Bristol Bay-based Alaska Native tribal governments, commercial fishermen, and sport fishing businesses and organizations.  The 339-page assessment recognizes Bristol Bay as a singular, unmatched global fishery for sockeye salmon and highlights the imminent threats from the proposed Pebble mine.

With the release of the peer review report, Trout Unlimited hopes that EPA will finalize its Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment soon and issue commonsense restrictions to protect Bristol Bay.

The passing of a conservation giant: Russell E. Train

Mr. Train was the founding father of the EPA and was a big player in getting laws like the National Environmental Policy Act past the jaws of  Congress. Read his obituary here.

Yes, new Gulf ‘oil spill is BP’s petroleum

Tests performed on Thursday confirmed that the oil found on the Louisiana shoreline after Hurricane Isaac was in fact from the BP spill in 2010. This piece offers some details.

Hog lots run the nation

And read this to learn how. Hah.

Judges, not pols, are keeping Everglades restoration plan moving

In point of fact, politicians (surprise!) are the ones holding back and delaying real on-the-ground action to restore the big wetland we know as the Everglades. Carl Hiaasen, in his new column for The Miami Herald, explores the role of judges. Read it.

A carbon tax: Pathway to energy security

A carbon tax is an opportunity to reduce existing taxes, clean up the environment and increase personal freedom and energy security.