Fukushima nuclear crisis continues to unfold

Idaho's 'Ag-Gag' Bill Signed Into Law | Common Dreams

Idaho's 'Ag-Gag' Bill Signed Into Law | Common Dreams

"New law will allow "animal abuse, environmental violations, and food contamination to flourish undetected, unchallenged, and unaddressed"."

Report: Navy Knew USS Ronald Reagan Was Seriously Contaminated By Fukushima

Report: Navy Knew USS Ronald Reagan Was Seriously Contaminated By Fukushima

"The revelations cast new light on the $1 billion lawsuit filed by the sailors against Tokyo Electric Power."

For the Climate, For Clean Energy and Healthy Communities: We March | Common Dreams

For the Climate, For Clean Energy and Healthy Communities: We March | Common Dreams

"A recent report funded by the Central Intelligence Agency says the climate extremes we’re now seeing are early warnings of more disasters to come.“Unexpected changes in regional weather are likely to define the new climate normal,” says Michael McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies at Harvard University.

The vast majority of scientific academies agree that the burning of fossil fuels is contributing to more intense heat waves, extreme weather, rising of sea levels, ocean acidification, and the melting of the glaciers. No wonder Secretary of State John Kerry’s finally admitted recently to students and civic leaders in Jakarta: "Climate change is the world's largest weapon of mass destruction"."

In Face of Radiation Leak, Is There a Plan B for Nuclear Waste Dumping? | Common Dreams

In Face of Radiation Leak, Is There a Plan B for Nuclear Waste Dumping? | Common Dreams

"A radioactive leak from a New Mexico underground nuclear dump that was championed as a safe long-term repository calls into question the federal government's overall approach to disposing of dangerous waste from nuclear weapons production, experts warn."

New Climate Change Warning: So Simple A Teabagger Can Understand It (No Promises)

New Climate Change Warning: So Simple A Teabagger Can Understand It (No Promises)

"Scientific papers tend to be written for other scientists and therefore are very difficult for non-scientists to understand.  Thankfully, a more comprehensive paper has been released jointly by the US National Academy of Sciences and the U.K. Royal Society."

Japan, U.S. Move to Expand Nuclear Power Programs Despite Contamination at Fukushima & New Mexico

Fukushima Isotopes Arriving on the West Coast?

Lingering Problems At Fukushima Raise Questions About Nuclear Power Safety At Home

500 Other Foods Besides Subway Sandwich Bread Containing Yoga Mat Chemical

www.alternet.org/food/500-other-foods-besides-subway-sandwich-bread-containing-yoga-mat-chemical
"Subway’s announcement, earlier this month, that its bread would no longer be made with a chemical foaming agent also found in yoga mats and shoe rubber, made a splash for two reasons: first, because it marked the success of a consumer-driven campaign to get the company to reform its practices; and second, because most of us were surprised to find out that the chemical was being used in the first place."

'Unusually High Number' of Workers at Leaking Nuclear Dump Test Radiation Positive | Common Dreams

'Unusually High Number' of Workers at Leaking Nuclear Dump Test Radiation Positive | Common Dreams

"Thirteen workers at an underground nuclear waste dump in New Mexico have tested positive for radiation following a leak of radioactive particles into the air earlier this month, the Department of Energy announced Wednesday."

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: The Facts on Phantom Jobs, Phony Gas Prices, and Missing Revenue

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: The Facts on Phantom Jobs, Phony Gas Prices, and Missing Revenue

"KXL likely would create just 35 permanent jobs and 15 temporary jobs that would have “negligible socioeconomic impacts"."

A small Texas town - and a fracking hotbed

The fracking fallout continues

North Carolina: Where the Politics are as Murky as the Water | Common Dreams

North Carolina: Where the Politics are as Murky as the Water | Common Dreams

"Standing outside the Duke Energy Center in Charlotte, North Carolina Tuesday, roughly one hundred protesters chanted, "Shame!"—scolding the company responsible for last month's coal ash spill into the Dan River."

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: New Film Refutes Jobs, Security, Gas Price, Tax, Safety, and Climate Claims

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: New Film Refutes Jobs, Security, Gas Price, Tax, Safety, and Climate Claims

"The film, "Keystone PipeLIES Exposed," highlights little known facts about the KXL pipeline project such as the corporate exemption for tar sands oil from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and the limits on taxes due for foreign oil imported to foreign trade zones like Port Arthur. The film also includes footage from major tar sands oil spills in the U.S. and Canada that were only briefly in the headlines despite the enormous damages they caused."

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed - Spills

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed - Spills from Center for Media and Democracy on Vimeo.

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed - Jobs & Taxes

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed - Jobs & Taxes from Center for Media and Democracy on Vimeo.

WildLeaks: Giving Voice to the Powerless, Animal and Human | Common Dreams

WildLeaks: Giving Voice to the Powerless, Animal and Human | Common Dreams

"With wildlife crime the most immediate threat to many species and the world's fourth largest transnational crime after drugs, counterfeiting and human trafficking, this month saw thelaunch of WildLeaks, the first secure, online whistleblower platform for crimes like illegal logging, poaching of endangered species, trafficking of live animals like apes, birds and big cats, and buying and selling the coveted parts of dead ones - ivory, horn, bone - for the "luxury" trade."

New Study Confirms One of Agent Orange's Toxic Legacies | Common Dreams

New Study Confirms One of Agent Orange's Toxic Legacies | Common Dreams

"A new study reveals that members of the Air Force Reserve were exposed to significant levels of Agent Orange long after planes were dumping the toxic cocktail on Vietnam."

PipeLIES Exposed

Exxon Mobil CEO Sues To Keep Fracking Away From His Backyard

Exxon Mobil CEO Sues To Keep Fracking Away From His Backyard

"Forbes: "Meet Rex Tillerson, the CEO of oil and gas superstar ExxonMobil Corporation—the largest natural gas producer in these United States of America—and a newly emerging giant in the world of exquisite hypocrisy"."

Radioactive Fukushima Plume Due to Reach West Coast this Spring | Common Dreams

Radioactive Fukushima Plume Due to Reach West Coast this Spring | Common Dreams

"A radioactive plume released from the Fukushima meltdown is expected to reach the west coast of the U.S. in April, said a panel of researchers in Honolulu Monday. However, without any federal or international monitoring, scientists are bereft of "actual data," guessing at the amount of radiation coming at us."

Remember That Nuclear Dump Site That 'Was Never Supposed to Leak'? | Common Dreams

Remember That Nuclear Dump Site That 'Was Never Supposed to Leak'? | Common Dreams

"A suspected underground leak at the only deep-earth nuclear waste dump in the United States is now believed to be releasing radiation into the air, the Department of Energyannounced Monday, sparking alarm among residents near the southeastern New Mexico site."

TEPCO: Fukushima Radiation Was 'Significantly' Undercounted

TEPCO: Fukushima Radiation Was 'Significantly' Undercounted

"It just goes to show you how capable and trustworthy corporate power providers are"

CEO sues to keep fracking away from backyard

When fracking hits home

New Mexico admits nuclear plant leaking radiation

The March of Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

The March of Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

"Last year marked the 37th consecutive year of above-average global temperature, according to data from NASA."

Study Confirms Tar Sands Contamination First Nations Warned of for Years | Common Dreams

Study Confirms Tar Sands Contamination First Nations Warned of for Years | Common Dreams

"The study by Environment Canada shows that tailings ponds, open 'lakes' that hold toxic bi-products from tar sands mining, are leaching into groundwater and contaminating Alberta's Athabasa River."

U.S. Approves Two Huge Solar Projects On Public Lands In California

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/21/3319301/solar-public-lands/
"With the approval of both projects, there now are currently 50 utility-scale renewable energy projects either currently generating energy or slated to be generating energy on public lands. This is a huge number compared to the amount of renewable energy projects had been approved on public lands before Obama took office.
There were none."

Exxon CEO Comes Out Against Fracking Project Because It Will Affect His Property Values

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/21/3316881/exxon-ceo-protests-fracking/
"As ExxonMobil’s CEO, it’s Rex Tillerson’s job to promote the hydraulic fracturing enabling the recent oil and gas boom, and fight regulatory oversight. The oil company is the biggest natural gas producer in the U.S., relying on the controversial drilling technology to extract it.
The exception is when Tillerson’s $5 million property value might be harmed. Tillerson has joined a lawsuit that cites fracking’s consequences in order to block the construction of a 160-foot water tower next to his and his wife’s Texas home."

Idaho Bill Would Get Rid Of All EPA Regulations In The State

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/20/3312831/idaho-nullifying-epa-regs/
"Shepherd made it clear that it wasn’t just the Clean Water Act provision he was looking to sack."

Anti-science NC leaders no laughing matter

Highly Radioactive Water Overflow at Fukushima | Common Dreams

Highly Radioactive Water Overflow at Fukushima | Common Dreams

"The overflow was discovered Wednesday night, but before the valve was closed the tank is estimated to have spilled 100 metric tons of water containing 230 million becquerels per liter of "beta-emitting radioactive isotopes, including strontium 90"."

Spoiled river puts NC officials in hot water

Officials Confirm: Arsenic Could Have Been Flowing Into River Before North Carolina Coal Ash Leak

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/19/3306701/coal-ash-arsenic-spill/
"More than two weeks after a stormwater pipe burst caused 82,000 tons of coal ash to spill into a North Carolina river that supplies drinking water, state officials have discovered that a second pipe is leaking water with elevated amounts of arsenic — and they’re not sure how long it has been happening."

"Frackgate": Ohio Regulators Planned to Subvert Eco-Groups, Promote Fracking in State Parks

"Frackgate": Ohio Regulators Planned to Subvert Eco-Groups, Promote Fracking in State Parks

"A fracking scandal is unfolding in Ohio. Environmental groups and state lawmakers slammed Republican Gov. John Kasich and state regulators this week over internal documents that they say show the Kasich administration planned to collude with the oil and gas industry to publicly promote fracking in state parks while fending off criticism from a "Nixon-style enemies list" of state lawmakers and environmental groups."

Vicious Global Warming Feedback Loop Worse Than Feared | Common Dreams

Vicious Global Warming Feedback Loop Worse Than Feared | Common Dreams

"One of nature's key defenses against global warming—the reflection of the sun's rays away from Earth by Arctic sea ice—has fallen victim to... global warming. And according to a study published Monday, the vicious feedback loop is worse than previously thought."

What’s Causing the Huge Spike in Earthquakes in Oklahoma? | The Nation

What’s Causing the Huge Spike in Earthquakes in Oklahoma? | The Nation

"The US Geological Survey found that from 1975 to 2008, central Oklahoma experienced one to three 3.0-magnitude earthquakes a year, compared with an average of forty per year from 2009 to 2013. And it looks like that number is going to get bigger. It's only February, and the state has already logged more than twenty-five quakes of 3.0-magnitude or larger this year, and more than 150 total quakes in the past week alone."

Private Equity Predators and the Great American Farm Grab | Common Dreams

Private Equity Predators and the Great American Farm Grab | Common Dreams

"Mirroring a trend being experienced across the globe, this strengthening focus on agriculture-related investment by the private sector is already leading to a spike in U.S. farmland prices. Coupled with relatively weak federal policies, these rising prices are barring many young farmers from continuing or starting up small-scale agricultural operations of their own.
In the long term, critics say, this dynamic could speed up the already fast-consolidating U.S. food industry, with broad ramifications for both human and environmental health."

Whistleblower Fired After Voicing Safety Concerns at Nuclear Site | Common Dreams

Whistleblower Fired After Voicing Safety Concerns at Nuclear Site | Common Dreams

"The person responsible for overseeing the cleanup of the former nuclear weapons site in Hanford, Washington—the most contaminated in the United States—was fired on Tuesday after blowing the whistle on the dangerous conditions at the facility."

Newly Found Coal Ash Spill Pouring Arsenic Into NC River | Common Dreams

Newly Found Coal Ash Spill Pouring Arsenic Into NC River | Common Dreams

"North Carolina authorities believe that a second storm pipe has burst at the Eden coal ash dumping pond owned by Duke Energy, sending another mass discharge of arsenic and lead-laden waste into the Dan River, which is still severely polluted from a similar spill in early February."

Toxic Chemicals Linked to 'Global, Silent Pandemic' Striking Children Worldwide | Common Dreams

Toxic Chemicals Linked to 'Global, Silent Pandemic' Striking Children Worldwide | Common Dreams

"Toxic chemicals including some pesticides and solvents may be behind the increasing number of cases of neurodevelopmental disabilities—including autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder—among children, researchers warn."

Suspected Radiation Leak in Military's Nuclear Dumping Ground | Common Dreams

Suspected Radiation Leak in Military's Nuclear Dumping Ground | Common Dreams

"Over the weekend, abnormally high levels of radioactive particles were found underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico, where radioactive waste, including from nuclear weapons production, is dumped deep beneath the earth's surface and stored in salt formations."

Tesla Motors - The Car Company They're Scared Of And Why

Expecting the Unexpected: Abrupt Climate Change

Another Chemical Spill in WV?

Toxins From Oil Spills Are Putting Fish Into Cardiac Arrest, Study Finds

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/14/3293611/fish-heartache/
"The study, published in Science Magazine, says chemicals in crude oil — such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) — can be harmful to the hearts of embryonic and developing fish. PAHs are created when products like coal, oil, gas, and garbage are burned but the burning process is not complete, according to the EPA. Even after an oil spill occurs and is cleaned up, PAHs can remain marine habitats for many years, according to the study."

World’s Largest Solar Thermal Plant Uses As Much Water As Two Holes On Nearby Golf Course

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/13/3289361/worlds-largest-solar-plant/
"With California struggling through one of the worst droughts on record, and Ivanpah already being located in a high desert climate, water conservation has been a major focus. Solar thermal plants use solar mirrors to heat water in boilers that in turn produce steam to turn the electricity generating turbines, are more water intensive than more common solar photovoltaic panels."

Denmark Is About To Set Even More Ambitious Climate Goals Than All Of Europe

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/14/3296351/denmark-climate-goals/
"Agreement in Denmark’s parliament this week cleared the way for passage of climate targets that would outstrip the recent goals set by the European Union.
The bill would establish a legally binding requirement that Denmark cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990′s levels by 2020, and that the government return to the question every five years to set new 10-year targets."

Historic drought strains California's towns and farms

Huge Solar Thermal Plant Opens as Solar Industry Grows (PHOTOS)

www.talkingpointsmemo.com/idealab/huge-thermal-plant-opens-as-solar-industry-grows
"The $2.2 billion complex of three generating units, owned by NRG Energy Inc., Google Inc. and BrightSource Energy, can produce nearly 400 megawatts — enough power for 140,000 homes. It began making electricity last year."

'Show Bees Some Love' This Valentine's Day | Common Dreams

'Show Bees Some Love' This Valentine's Day | Common Dreams

"The campaign is asking people to stand up for these essential pollinators by sending a "valentine"  to the stores that urges them to "show bees some love" by stopping the sale of neonics and plants treated with them."

GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and... ? | Common Dreams

GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and... ? | Common Dreams

"When the honeybees started dying en masse, the alarm bells went off. Bees are critical to food production. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than a quarter of America’s diet relies on pollination by honeybees.

No bees, no food. Or at least, no apples, cherries, onions, celery, cabbage, and a long listof others, including almonds and blueberries which, according to the American Beekeeping Federation, are 90-percent dependent on bees for pollination."

Idaho's "Ag-Gag" Law Latest to Criminalize Defenders of Animals | Common Dreams

Idaho's "Ag-Gag" Law Latest to Criminalize Defenders of Animals | Common Dreams

"Though similar efforts in other states have failed, a bill moving swiftly through the Idaho legislature this week is trying to criminalize the activities of animal rights advocates who expose the mistreatment of farm animals and livestock by documenting abuse by their human handlers."

US Sailors Sick From Fukushima Radiation File New Suit Against Tokyo Electric Power | Common Dreams

US Sailors Sick From Fukushima Radiation File New Suit Against Tokyo Electric Power | Common Dreams

"The suit includes an infant born with a genetic condition to a sailor who served on the USS Ronald Reagan as radiation poured over it during the Fukushima melt-downs, and an American teenager living near the stricken site. It has also been left open for “up to 70,000 U.S. citizens [who were] potentially affected by the radiation and will be able to join the class action suit.”

Now docked in San Diego, the USS Reagan’s on-going safety has become a political hot potato. The $4.3 billion carrier is at the core of the U.S. Naval presence in the Pacific. Critics say it’s too radioactive to operate or to scrap, and that it should be sunk, as were a number of U.S. ships contaminated by atmospheric Bomb tests in the South Pacific."

Time to End the Cheney/Halliburton Loophole

Time to End the Cheney/Halliburton Loophole

"Let me explain: Back in 2005. President - excuse me Vice President - Cheney was hard at work doing what he did best: using his power as the second most powerful man in the country to protect his cronies in the oil business.

His former employer, Halliburton, wanted to get more involved in the emerging American fracking industry, but it faced a potential major roadblock in the form of a 1974 law called the Safe Water Drinking Act.

That act, signed into law by Republican President Gerald Ford, requires the Environmental Protection Agency to keep toxic chemicals from getting into Americans’ drinking water.

Cheney didn’t care about public safety but he did care about Halliburton’s bottom-line - after all, he was a big Halliburton stockholder when he became vice president - and so he joined the lobbying efforts to get Congress to carve out an exemption for fracking in the Safe Water Drinking Act.

Thanks to that carve-out - let’s call it the “Halliburton loophole” - the EPA can’t regulate fracking poisons even when they get into our water supply."

Has Big Oil Hijacked Democracy? | Common Dreams

Has Big Oil Hijacked Democracy? | Common Dreams

"Canada's government spies on and harasses citizens who peacefully question petro-corporate aims."

William Rivers Pitt | The Poisoner's Reckoning

William Rivers Pitt | The Poisoner's Reckoning

"What you may already know: Freedom Industries, a coal-industry surrogate in West Virginia, dumped poison into the water supply known as the Elk River, waited 24 hours to tell anyone about it, waited even longer to mention that they had also dumped a second poison into the water supply, and then declared bankruptcy so as to make themselves judgment-proof in civil court against the hundreds of thousands of people who couldn't eat or work or bathe or cook for weeks...and this was all before the stuff they dumped into the river evaporated into formaldehyde, which it does, so everyone who couldn't eat or bathe or cook for weeks was suddenly eating and cooking and bathing in a whole different poison, this one being a known carcinogen...but they're bankrupt now, so screw you and your tumors."

Kentucky Gas Explosion Keeps Fossil Fuel Disaster Streak Alive | Common Dreams

Kentucky Gas Explosion Keeps Fossil Fuel Disaster Streak Alive | Common Dreams

"A gas pipeline explosion in Kentucky early Thursday that sent at least two people to the hospital, destroyed three homes, two barns, numerous cars, and left a 60-foot crater in the ground is the fourth significant fossil fuel-related disaster in the U.S. in as many days."

This Is What It Looks Like When 100,000 Gallons Of Coal Waste Spill Into A West Virginia Stream

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/12/3281881/photos-west-virginia-coal-spill/
"A pipe break at a Patriot Coal preparation site spewed more than 100,000 gallons of coal slurry into a waterway near Charleston, WV on Tuesday."

West Virginia Creek Runs Black After Catastrophic Coal Slurry Spill | Common Dreams

West Virginia Creek Runs Black After Catastrophic Coal Slurry Spill | Common Dreams

"Waters are running black for roughly six miles in West Virginia's Fields Creek after more than 100,000 gallons of toxic coal slurry poured into the waterway from a Patriot Coal processing facility Tuesday."

Another coal waste disaster in West Virginia

Japan's Nuke Regulator: TEPCO Radiation Readings Were Much Too Low

Japan's Nuke Regulator: TEPCO Radiation Readings Were Much Too Low

"From the Department of The Obvious, Japan's nuclear regulator says TEPCO doesn't understand what they're doing. Duh! They were there to make money, not to do their jobs responsibly"

Business Coalition Announces Massive Offensive Against Environmental Protections

Business Coalition Announces Massive Offensive Against Environmental Protections

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Gas Association, and 74 other big business groups said that they are banding together to fight the administration’s forthcoming power plant standards that will require carbon capture technologies to be in place at all plants.  According to The Hill, the groups said that they are planning “everything from lobbying to litigation” in order to fight the administration’s efforts."

New Coal Ash Spill In West Virginia

New Coal Ash Spill In West Virginia

"Gosh, West Virginia. Do you suppose it might be time to start regulating those coal companies and stop hailing them as king?"

As Coal Ash Spews Into N.C. River, Other Waterways Face Same 'Ticking Time Bomb' | Common Dreams

As Coal Ash Spews Into N.C. River, Other Waterways Face Same 'Ticking Time Bomb' | Common Dreams

"As a busted pipe at a Duke Energy power plant continues to leak arsenic and lead-laden coal ash into the Dan River that flows through North Carolina and Virginia, residents are demanding that energy giants stop pumping their waterways with poison."

Fracking's Terrifying Water Usage Trends Spell Disaster | Common Dreams

Fracking's Terrifying Water Usage Trends Spell Disaster | Common Dreams

"The irony of fracking: It destroys the natural resource it needs most. The tragedy for those living nearby fracking operations: That natural resource is the fresh—and increasingly scarce—water supply on which they, too, depend."

Catastrophe Looming? 'Mega-Drought' Panic Sweeps California | Common Dreams

Catastrophe Looming? 'Mega-Drought' Panic Sweeps California | Common Dreams

"As an 'exceptional' drought continues its assault on California's croplands, new information released this week has put many in a panic over what these historic water lows mean for the ecosytem, agricultural production and people across the state."

This Land Was Your Land

This Land Was Your Land

"In Utah and other Western states, the country's most pristine wilderness faces new threats from Big Energy and its powerful allies."

Tens of Thousands of Tons of Coal Ash Spilling Into N.C. River | Common Dreams

Tens of Thousands of Tons of Coal Ash Spilling Into N.C. River | Common Dreams

"Up to 82,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of polluted water have poured into North Carolina's Dan River after a pipe burst beneath a coal ash pond, Duke Energyannounced Monday."

Scientists to Analyze West Coast Kelp for Fukushima Radioactivity | Common Dreams

Scientists to Analyze West Coast Kelp for Fukushima Radioactivity | Common Dreams

"Researchers are set to embark on a project to gather samples of kelp from the U.S. West Coast and analyze them for potential radioactive contamination caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster unleashed nearly three years ago."

Humans Could Really Bring About the End of the World via Climate and Nuclear Disasters

www.alternet.org/environment/humans-could-really-bring-about-end-world-climate-and-nuclear-disasters?page=0%2C0
"Here’s the scoop: When it comes to climate change, there is no “story,” not in the normal news sense anyway.

The fact that 97% of scientists who have weighed in on the issue believe that climate change is a human-caused phenomenon is not a story.  That only one of 9,137 peer-reviewed papers on climate change published between November 2012 and December 2013 rejected human causation is not a story either, nor is the fact that only 24 out of 13,950 such articles did so over 21 years.  That the anything-but-extreme Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) offers an at least 95% guarantee of human causation for global warming is not a story, nor is the recent revelation that IPCC experts believe we only have 15 years left to rein in carbon emissions or we’ll need new technologies not yet in existence which may never be effective.  Nor is the recent poll showing that only 47% of Americans believe climate change is human-caused (a drop of 7% since 2012) or that the percentage who believe climate change is occurring for any reason has also declined since 2012 from 70% to 63%.  Nor is the fact that, as the effects of climate change came ever closer to home, media coverage of the subject dropped between 2010 and 2012 and, though rising in 2013, was still well below coverage levels for 2007 to 2009."

50 Reasons We Should Fear the Worst from Fukushima | Common Dreams

50 Reasons We Should Fear the Worst from Fukushima | Common Dreams

"Japan’s harsh dictatorial censorship has been matched by a global corporate media blackout aimed—successfully—at keeping Fukushima out of the public eye.

But that doesn’t keep the actual radiation out of our ecosystem, our markets … or our bodies.

Speculation on the ultimate impact ranges from the utterly harmless to the intensely apocalyptic .

But the basic reality is simple: for seven decades, government Bomb factories and privately-owned reactors have spewed massive quantities of unmonitored radiation into the biosphere.

The impacts of these emissions on human and ecological health are unknown primarily because the nuclear industry has resolutely refused to study them.

Indeed, the official presumption has always been that showing proof of damage from nuclear Bomb tests and commercial reactors falls to the victims, not the perpetrators.

And that in any case, the industry will be held virtually harmless.

This “see no evil, pay no damages” mindset dates from the Bombing of Hiroshima to Fukushima to the disaster coming next … which could be happening as you read this."

Groups: This is an 'All Hands On Deck' Moment to Stop KXL | Common Dreams

Groups: This is an 'All Hands On Deck' Moment to Stop KXL | Common Dreams

"Following controversial Environmental Impact Statement, indigenous communities and environmental groups prepare to mobilize"

The More We Learn About Nuclear Past, The More an 'Accident' Seems Likely | Common Dreams

The More We Learn About Nuclear Past, The More an 'Accident' Seems Likely | Common Dreams

"It is hard to maintain much faith in the long-term safety of our nuclear deterrent with each glimpse of the all-too human flaws of those with their finger on the button. Thirty-four Air Force officers in charge of launching nuclear missiles have been suspended over accusations that they cheated in proficiency tests about their knowledge of how to operate the weapons. The cheating, uncovered during a probe into the use of drugs by nuclear launch officers, betrays the complacency and boredom of men and women whose job is to refrain from doing the one thing they are trained to do."

Largest Air Pollution Rally in US History Goes Down on Utah's Capitol Hill

Largest Air Pollution Rally in US History Goes Down on Utah's Capitol Hill

"The crisis has been so severe in fact, that it drew a crowd of approximately 5,000 motivated, and downright outraged citizens to the State Capitol on Jan. 25th in what has now gone down in the books as the largest air-pollution-specific protest in U.S. history."

Dolphins in 'bad shape' after BP oil spill

Dolphins in 'bad shape' after BP oil spill

"Bottlenose dolphins with missing teeth, lung disease, and abnormal hormone levels were found swimming in the Gulf of Mexico a year after the BP oil spill, US researchers say.

Pneumonia, liver disease and a pregnant female carrying a dead fetus were also reported in the first major study of dolphin health after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Half of the 32 dolphins studied off the coast of Louisiana in August 2011 -- a year and four months after the worst oil spill in US history began -- were judged to be seriously ill or in danger of dying.

"I've never seen such a high prevalence of very sick animals," said lead author Lori Schwacke, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."

Seismologist: Fracking Injection Wells Linked to Earthquakes

Senate Hearing: Fukushima Task Force Recommendations

Occupy Monsanto Protesters Push Labeling Resolution at Annual Shareholder Meeting

Occupy Monsanto Protesters Push Labeling Resolution at Annual Shareholder Meeting

"Protests occurred both inside and outside the Monsanto shareholder meeting in St. Louis on Tuesday as local activists, shareholders and citizens from across the country joined in 20-degree weather to demand the biotech giant label genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs."