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Obama Adminstration Drops Bush Logging Plan for Western Oregon
"The Obama administration is withdrawing a controversial Bush-era logging plan for millions of acres of federal forests in western Oregon...The plan, called the Western Oregon Plan Revisions, 'is based on a legally-indefensible process. It will not stand up in court,' [Interior Secretary Ken Salazar] said...That's a victory for conservationists and gives pause to rural Oregon counties who were hoping stepped-up logging would mean more revenue for them from federal timber receipts. The secretary said the administration would also review the recovery plan for the northern spotted owl, and they will ask a federal court to throw out the Bush administration's revisions to habitat set aside for the endangered bird." [Portland Oregonian]
Related:
- Obama Admin Scraps Logging Plan in Ore. Carbon Sinks [ClimateWire]
Its Economy in Shambles, The Midwest Goes Green
"Midwestern states have decided — somewhat belatedly — that their best chance to generate prosperity in the 21st century lies in reversing the economic and environmental damage that the region’s 20th century factories caused in the first place. No region of the United States better understands the potential wealth generated by commanding new markets — and the consequences of failing to compete when they change. The Midwest, after all, invented the production practices, made the steel, supplied the vehicles, and manufactured the parts that produced America’s energy-wasting, drive-through economy of the 20th century." [Yale Environment 360]
Navajos Mark Uranium Spill 30 Years Later
"Thirty years ago today, an earthen tailings dam near the United Nuclear Corp. Church Rock Uranium mine collapsed, spilling ninety million gallons of liquid radioactive waste and eleven hundred tons of solid mill wastes into the Rio Puerco. The spill contaminated water, land and air at least 50 miles downstream on Navajo Nation land in New Mexico and Arizona. It is believed that more radiation was released in the spill than in the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania, making the Church Rock spill the largest release of radioactive waste ever in the U.S. — and second only to the Chernobyl meltdown globally. The privately-owned site of the Church Rock spill is a Superfund site — and it is still leaking radioactive waste throughout Indian lands to this day." [New Mexico Independent]
Consumer Revolt Halves Plastic Bag Use
"It began in 2007 with a few traders in the small town of Modbury in Devon refusing to give out plastic bags. But yesterday their small green revolution reached a national milestone: British shoppers have nearly halved the number of single-use bags they get through. Figures from Wrap, the government's waste and resources programme, show that whereas 870m single-use plastic bags were handed out in the UK in May 2006, the figure for May 2009 was down to 450m – a 48% reduction, and 4,740 tonnes to send to landfill against 8,890 tonnes in May 2006." [The Guardian]
What is up with Obama planning to drill of shore?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2009-07-17-offshore-dril...