Long Beach Wetlands Survive a Proposed $320 Million Development Project – January 24, 2012

Developers’ Classic Jobs vs. Environment Argument Fails to Convince City Council

Just days before the Christmas holiday, wetland-loving folks in Long Beach, California received an early gift: their hard work had fended off a proposed $320 million development that would have harmed the increasingly vibrant Los Cerritos Wetlands.

Photo courtesy Save Los Cerritos WetlandsLocal residents, environmentalists oppose plans to build a boutique hotel and shopping plaza on the Los Cerritos
Wetlands, which is home to more than 120 bird species and is a nesting spot for the endangered Belding's
Savannah Sparrow.

Both sides of hotly contested plans to build a boutique hotel and upscale shopping plaza along prime Long Beach waterfront, and adjacent to an already embattled… more

by: Joshua Frank

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Saying No to Coal in the Pacific Northwest – August 18, 2011

Citizens fight Plans to Use Northwest Ports to Export Powder River Basin Coal to Asian Markets

Picture this. It took years to accomplish, but your state legislature, even the conservative wing, overwhelmingly passed a law that will shut down the single remaining coal plant in the state. To top it off, three proposed coal-fired power plants have also been shelved. It looked like coal was soon to be a relic of your state’s past, until plans to use your state as a coal export hub began to surface.

Photo by Doc Searls The Powder River Basin supplies about 40 percent of coal used in the United States. But as dirty coal declines in
popularity at home, US companies are looking… more

by: Joshua Frank

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EPA Blocks Permit for Largest Proposed MTR Mine in History – January 18, 2011

Arch Coal has been looking to expand its environmentally destructive operations at its Spruce 1 mine in West Virginia since the late-1990s, and on January 13 the second-largest coal supplier in the United States hit a roadblock.

After enduring a decade of opposition from environmental groups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) flexed its muscle. With the Clean Water Act as its authority, the EPA vetoed the proposed expansion permit for Spruce 1, which Army Corps of Engineers had already signed off on. The EPA has used the Clean Water Act in a similar fashion only 12 times since its inception in 1972.

"The history of EPA’s use of our… more

by: Joshua Frank

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