Salem-News.com Environment articles Page 27

President, EPA Announce Clean Power Plan Proposal

In 2009, the EPA determined that greenhouse gas pollution threatens Americans' health and welfare by leading to long lasting changes in our climate.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - At the direction of President Obama and after an unprecedented outreach effort, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is today releasing the Clean Power Plan proposal, which for the first time cuts carbon pollution from existing power plants, the single largest source of carbon pollution in the United States.

The proposal will protect public health, move the United States toward a cleaner environment and fight climate change while supplying Americans with reliable and affordable power.

Salem to Recieve Funding to Redevelop Brownfield Sites

Salem to get $200,000 in community-wide hazardous substances grant funds that will be used to conduct up to eight Phase I and four Phase II environmental site assessments.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley announced Thursday that five Oregon communities will receive $1.55 million in new funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to redevelop brownfield sites.

The grants should create good-paying, green jobs while allowing each city and county to accelerate the redevelopment of the brownfield sites.

Clean Energy Works launches Radon Testing and Mitigation Services

Every Home in Oregon Should be Tested for Radon

(PORTLAND) - The state’s largest non-profit home performance provider announced the inclusion of a one-stop radon testing and mitigation option as part of its whole home performance services to Oregon homeowners.

According to the EPA, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.

OR IMPACT: FACT SHEET: What Climate Change Means for Oregon and the Northwest

Press release from the White House

(WASHINGTON DC) - Today, the Obama Administration released the third U.S. National Climate Assessment—the most comprehensive scientific assessment ever generated of climate change and its impacts across every region of America and major sectors of the U.S. economy.

The findings in this National Climate Assessment underscore the need for urgent action to combat the threats from climate change, protect American citizens and communities today, and build a sustainable future for our kids and grandkids.

BP Pipeline Sprays `Oily Mist` Over 33 Acres of Alaskan Tundra

The company was at fault in at least two oil spills in the same region since 2006.

(MOSCOW RT) - Alaska state officials confirmed Wednesday that an oily mist sprung from a compromised oil pipeline and sprayed into the wind without stopping for at least two hours, covering 33 acres of the frozen snow field in the oil well's vicinity.

The discovery was at the BP-owned Prudhoe oil field on Alaska’s North Slope, the northernmost region of the state where a number of profitable oil fields sit beneath the tundra. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) revealed that BP officials found the mist during a routine inspection on Monday.

Western Oregon Site of Early Agent Orange Tests!

A disturbing document summarizes world-wide US military use and storage of the wartime defoliant, infamous for its lingering toxic impact.

(SALEM) - Department of Defense documents recently released detail testings conducted by the Air Force in Eastern Oregon, under the management of Oregon State University.

On pages 65-66 of the "The History of the US Department of Defense Programs for the Testing, Evaluation, and Storage of Tactical Herbicides" was a review of the 1973-1974 testing which covered over 300 acres with five drums of concentrate Agent Orange, diluted with kerosene for effective spraying.

The Climate Is Invading the Earth!

Ah, but the dark lord of the heat is subtle. He has cells of loyalists among us. They push fossil fuels on us and tell us comforting lies. No longer!

(WASHINGTON DC) - If an alien invader with a face were attacking the earth, the difficulties that governments have getting populations to support wars on other humans would be multiplied a thousand fold.

The most common response to officials calling some petty foreign despot "a new Hitler" would shift from "yeah, right" to "who cares?" The people of the world would unite in common defense against the hostile alien.

Sierra Club: Fracking California... A Disaster Waiting to Happen

The environment is essential, especially since we don’t know the potential health risks associated with fracking.

(SAN LUIS OBISPO) - Sometimes fact is so much stranger than anything even the best novelist could write. Take California, which sits atop a 1,700-square-mile oil shale deposit that is threatened to be accessed by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Fracking is an ugly, largely unregulated process that forces massive amounts of water, sand and an unknown cocktail of chemicals into the ground, the end result of which is to release more dirty fossil-fuel pollution into our environment.

Secretary Jewell Announces Mitigation Strategy that Offers Hope for Threatened Birds

Plan calls for landscape planning and mitigating the impacts of energy development

(WASHINGTON DC) - The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a new strategy to avoid and mitigate the impact of energy projects on federal lands that should benefit imperiled species such as the Greater Sage-Grouse.

The “Strategy for Improving the Mitigation Policies and Practices of the Department of the Interior” stems from Secretarial Order Number 3330 issued by DOI Secretary Jewell in October 2013, which seeks to shift from project-by-project mitigation to landscape-level planning.

Kelly Derricks: Voice for the Children of Vietnam Veterans

Kelly has battled severe health issues since she was born that continue today. Some of her illnesses are presumed to be associated with the inter-generational effects of Agent Orange.

(PHILADELPHIA) - Kelly L. Derricks is the daughter of deceased Vietnam Veteran Harry C. Mackel Jr. Harry died in 1982 at the age of 37 after being exposed to Agent Orange while serving two tours in Vietnam in addition to a tour on Johnston Island.

After serving with the United States Air Force, Harry went on to serve the City of Philadelphia as a highly regarded and awarded officer of the Stakeout Unit with the police department. Kelly was only seven years old when her father died.