Johnson County, Indiana, A Trump Supported County, Confronts EPA on Rash of Childhood Cancer Cases 

By: Sharon Franklin When their children in Johnson County, a suburban Indianapolis community fell ill with cancer, no one had heard of Glioblastoma, Ewing’s Sarcoma, or Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Now, families in a county that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump are making demands of his administration that collide directly with one of his main agendas: rolling back health and environmental regulations. A community group in Franklin, Indiana documented at least 58 cases of childhood cancer, including blood and brain cancer since 2008. Families and residents started asking whether the cancer

Read More »

Confirmation Hearing for New EPA Head and Regulatory Capture

By: Daisy Clennon This past Wednesday, the 16th of January, was Andrew Wheeler’s EPA confirmation hearing. The hearing came at a controversial moment: in the midst of the longest-ever government shutdown, and with no immediate reason to confirm the acting administrator as the official EPA head. For this reason, the hearing was criticized by Democrats for wasting time that could be better spent finding a shutdown solution. Furthermore, Wheeler had some of the EPA staff who were deemed “essential personnel” help him prepare for the hearing. Democrats and environmentalists found

Read More »

Coal in the US is on the Decline…Even Despite Efforts to Revive the Industry

By: Katie Pfeifer According to US Energy Information Administration (US EIA), more coal plants in the US were retired in President Trump’s first 2 years in office than the whole of Former President Barack Obama’s first term. This is despite lawmaker’s and Trump’s efforts to “revive” the industry, one of Trump’s key campaign promises during the election. Recently released data shows more than 23,400 MW of coal fired power plants were shuttered in 2017-2018 compared to 14,900 MW shut down between 2009-2012. This shouldn’t be too much of a shock, since

Read More »

10th Anniversary of Nation’s Largest Coal Ash Spill

By: Sharon Franklin As we look back at the holiday season, it is only a reminder to Mike Dunn of the health issue his wife Sandy encountered, who was a 40-year employee of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).  Mike is reminded of the 2008 Christmas Eve when Sandy left their Alcoa, Tennessee home and her family and headed to the Kingston Fossil Plant, where 7.3 million tons of coal ash was spilling from a busted dike.  Sandy knew nothing about coal ash, even though she worked in the safety division

Read More »

2019 – What Do Think Will Happen? Here’s some thoughts.

If you think the last two years were bananas, 2019 is going to be a real doozy. My colleague, James Mumm at People’s Action Institute, wrote this insightful forward looking piece and thought I’d share it with you.  I spent the last few hours of 2018 thinking about what we need to do next year to defeat Trump and Trumpism. We played solid defense this year. We created a #PeoplesWave to take back the House and many states in the midterms. But Trump is still president and McConnell and the

Read More »

A Green New Deal Must Be 100 Percent Just

Excitement is building among environmentalists as Washington prepares for the arrival of new lawmakers elected by the #PeoplesWave. Led by New York Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, these insurgents promise to infuse new energy into the movement for climate justice. By Ben Ben Ishibashi, People’s Action Network Ocasio-Cortez, through a series of high-profile public protests and statements, has focused the minds and hearts of activists, and laid down a gauntlet for the Democratic Party. Now is the time, she says, for a Green New Deal that confronts climate change head-on with bold solutions

Read More »
Blog Roll
Greenpeace’s The Witness
Grist
Groovy Green
Healthy Child Healthy World
Inside Prevention
It’s Getting Hot in Here
Moms Rising
Pharos
Safe Mama
Safer Chemicals Healthy Families
The Soft Landing
Treehugger
Zero Waste World