For Immediate Release, April 27, 2021
Contact:
Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project, (307) 399-7910, emolvar@westernwatersheds.org
Chris Krupp, WildEarth Guardians, (206) 417-6363, ckrupp@wildearthguardians.org
Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Approval of Southeast Idaho Phosphate Mine
Ore to Be Used to Produce Cancer-Linked Glyphosate
BOISE, Idaho Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging a decision made by the Trump administration to greenlight the Caldwell Canyon phosphate mine in southeast Idaho.
In 2019 the Bureau of Land Management approved the mine on some 1,559 acres of ecologically important land that’s essential to the imperiled greater sage grouse and other species.
Phosphate from the mine will be used by the German multinational chemical company Bayer AG to manufacture glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicides. Glyphosate has been linked to cancer and harm in hundreds of endangered plants and anima
For Immediate Release, April 7, 2021
Contact:
Kaya Sugerman, Center for Environmental Health, (510) 740-9384, kaya@ceh.org
Lawsuit Challenges EPA’s Failure to Reduce Smog Pollution From Oil, Methane Gas Industries in California, Chicago
WASHINGTON Two environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency today for failing to require adequate smog controls for the oil and methane gas industry in the Metro Chicago area and five parts of California. Many of these areas, which together are home to more than 26 million people, already have some of the worst air quality in the country.
The EPA has already determined that the areas have ozone pollution, commonly referred to as smog, at levels that can trigger ecological harm and human health problems.
Smog in Los Angeles. (Image by David Mark from Pixabay via Courthouse News)
WASHINGTON (CN) More than 26 million people live under some of the worst smog in the country in Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Coachella Valley, San Joaquin Valley and Ventura County areas where the Environmental Protection Agency missed the deadline to approve concrete smog-reduction measures.
Environmental groups sued the EPA in San Francisco federal court on Wednesday for failing to approve Illinois and California’s proposals to reduce smog in these six areas before their one-year deadline.
“It’s important because once the EPA issues approval or disapproval, you actually have enforceable measures,” said Ashley Bruner, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the lawsuit alongside the Center for Environmental Health. “And we don’t have that yet.”
For Immediate Release, December 16, 2020
Contact:
Lawsuit Launched Against EPA to Protect Endangered Aquatic Species From Cadmium Pollution
Aims to Undo 2016 Decision That Weakened Safeguards
WASHINGTON The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice today of its intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to assess harms to endangered species before nearly tripling the levels of dangerous cadmium pollution that are allowed in U.S. waters.
The heavy metal, which bioaccumulates at all levels of the food chain, is toxic to plants and animals, including people at very low levels.
In 2016 the EPA approved a 188% increase in the allowable chronic freshwater exposure to the heavy metal, despite warnings from the National Marine Fisheries Service that it would potentially be harmful to endangered species.
Dec 16, 2020
JAMESTOWN – Mark Watne of Velva was re-elected to an eighth year as North Dakota Farmers Union president at the organization’s 94th annual state convention, broadcast virtually from Jamestown last Friday, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his message to delegates, Watne touched upon the resiliency of farmers and what they have learned from past experiences, farm bills and ag policies. He shared statistics that show the U.S. world market share of corn, soybeans and wheat is lower today than 20 years ago.
“We’re not really winning the trade war… and the lower prices are causing farmers worldwide to suffer,” he said. “Many ag economists and politicians continue to repeat the mythical idea that lower crop prices will increase trade. We have to rethink this process. Knowing what we know today should open the door to an agriculture future that is focused on diverse family farms and ranch operations with a fair and free market.”