Pollution

By Janet McCabe | – The Trump administration has waged what I and many other legal experts view as an all-out assault on the nation’s environmental laws for the past four years. Decisions at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department and other agencies have weakened the guardrails that protect our nation’s air, water and […]

Environment

Uh, oh: Oil field operations likely triggered earthquakes in California a few miles from the San Andreas Fault

The Conversation

By Thomas H. Goebel | – The way companies drill for oil and gas and dispose of wastewater can trigger earthquakes, at times in unexpected places. In West Texas, earthquake rates are now 30 times higher than they were in 2013. Studies have also linked earthquakes to oil field operations in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and […]

Climate Change

Amy Coney Barrett: You can’t actually be pro-life if you deny burning Fossil Fuels causes the Climate Emergency; Denialism is Mass Murder

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Amy Coney Barrett is a denialist when it comes to the human-caused climate emergency. Rachel Koning Beals at Marketwatch notes that when Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) asked her about this issue, she replied, “I’ve read about climate change. I’m certainly not a scientist. I would not say that I have […]

Oceans

Ban Plastics! We estimate there are up to 14 million tonnes of microplastics on the seafloor. It’s worse than we thought

The Conversation

By Britta Denise Hardesty, Chris Wilcox and Justine Barrett | – Nowhere, it seems, is immune from plastic pollution: plastic has been reported in the high Arctic oceans, in the sea ice around Antarctica and even in the world’s deepest waters of the Mariana Trench. But just how bad is the problem? Our new research […]

Climate Crisis

The Republican Party is Sick: Top 4 Ways it is Making You and Yours Sick, too

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Republican Party is sick. That isn’t a putdown, it is just the truth. The chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, is down with Covid-19, which she caught from hanging around with top Republican leaders. The head of the party, Donald Trump, is so ill he is in […]

Climate Crisis

Burning Oil Strengthens Hurricanes like Laura, which sow Environmental Catastrophe when they Strike Petroleum Facilities like Lousiana’s

The Conversation

By John Pardue | – Hurricane Laura plowed through the heart of Louisiana’s oil and chemical industries as a powerful Category 4 storm, leaving a chlorine plant on fire and the potential for more hazardous damage in its wake. The burning BioLab facility sent dark smoke and chlorine gas into the air over the small […]

Climate Crisis

On Day Scientists Announce Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet ‘Irreversible,’ Trump to permit Arctic oil, gas Drilling

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration on Monday finalized its plans to permit oil and gas drilling in the arctic wildlife reserve. This drilling will further imperil endangered species just by the setting up of the rigs, and it will desecrate land holy to the indigenous Gwich’in people, who call it “the sacred […]

Environmentalism

Beirut Catastrophe: Polluters routinely mishandle, illegally trade Hazardous Materials at Sea, in Ports

The Conversation

By Scott Edwards and Christian Bueger | At the time of writing at least 100 people have lost their lives and a further 4,000 have been wounded following an explosion in the Port of Beirut. While the actual cause remains uncertain, the tragedy calls to attention the tremendous consequences of a lack of port security. […]

Donald Trump

Trump nearly provokes International Incident, Wrongly saying Beirut Explosion a “Bomb”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A massive ammonium nitrate explosion rocked Beirut’s port on Tuesday, sending up a mushroom cloud that reminded some of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, damaging buildings, blowing out windows, overturning cars, wounding over 3,000 people at least, and leaving dozens dead. Flying glass and debris were responsible for many of the injuries. […]