RECOMMENDED READING

Boom In Hydropower Pits Fish Against Climate

"The ability of the nation's aging hydroelectric dams to produce energy free of the curse of greenhouse gas emissions and Middle Eastern politics has suddenly made them financially attractive -- thanks to the new economics of climate change...Expanding hydropower is fraught with controversy, much of it stemming from the industry's history of turning wild rivers into industrialized reservoirs struggling to support their remaining fish. The emerging boom in hydroelectric power pits two competing ecological perils against each other: widespread fish extinctions and a warming planet." [Los Angeles Times] 

On Wood, Burning Questions

"Wood -- or biomass as it is often called -- is hailed by many environmentalists, scientists, and politicians as a renewable energy source because it can easily be replenished by planting trees -- and because the new trees will, over time, absorb the greenhouse gases the power plants emit.  But with more than 10 wood-burning power plants proposed throughout New England -- including three extraordinarily controversial proposals in Western Massachusetts - wood’s green credentials are coming under attack. Just like wind projects, where concerns about bird safety and aesthetics have stalled dozens of proposals, biomass is the latest alternative energy source to undergo deep public scrutiny."  [Boston Globe]

Dry Cleaners Leave a Toxic Legacy

"For decades, one of the nation's most widely used dry cleaning solvents was billed as a marvel of modern chemistry that could safely remove dirt and stains from clothing.  Shops sprang up to take advantage of the chemical, perchloroethylene, also known as PCE or perc. People became familiar with the sharp odor of clothes freshly removed from plastic wrap, a sign that perc was used to clean them...As scientists linked perc exposure to cancer, liver damage, neurological problems and other ailments, regulators found problems in virtually every town with a dry cleaner." [Chicago Tribune]

Uranium Contamination Haunts Navajo Country

"The legacy wrought from decades of uranium mining is long and painful here on the expansive [Navajo] reservation. Over the years, Navajo miners extracted some four million tons of uranium ore from the ground, much of it used by the United States government to make weapons.  Many miners died from radiation-related illnesses; some, unaware of harmful health effects, hauled contaminated rocks and tailings from local mines and mills to build homes for their families. Now, those homes are being demolished and rebuilt under a new government program that seeks to identify what are very likely dozens of uranium-contaminated structures still standing on Navajo land and to temporarily relocate people living in them until the homes can be torn down and rebuilt." [New York Times]