Category: Environmental Protection Agency

City of Creston joins lawsuit against atrazine producer

March 9, 2010 by Bleeding Heartland

Jason Hancock published a fascinating story at Iowa Independent today about a federal lawsuit against Syngenta AG and its U.S.-based subsidiary, Syngenta Crop Protection Inc. Sixteen communities, including Creston in southwest Iowa, are suing Syngenta because it profits from sales of atrazine while communities have to pay to remove the weed-killer from water supplies. Apparently Creston has a higher concentration of atrazine in its drinking water than any other Iowa city.

Judging from this comment by a Syngenta spokesperson, the key to the company's defense will be a Bush administration Environmental Protection Agency finding, which asserted that atrazine has no detrimental effects in humans. However, the herbicide is banned in Europe because of numerous studies showing that it enters the water supply and is correlated with certain cancers and birth defects.

We could reduce water pollution if we made polluters pay the cost of removing contaminants from drinking water, but asking farmers who apply atrazine to pay for water treatment is a political non-starter.

Sen. Petersen's Amendment was NOT an Environmental Victory

March 5, 2010 by ArticleXI

Senator Chap Petersen recently wrote on his blog, Ox Road South, about an amendment that he fought to include on House Bill 1300.  Sen. Petersen claims that his amendment is a "Rare Enviro Victory."  From our perspective, it was in no way a victory.

HB 1300 (and its Senate counterpart SB 128) would restrict the Air Pollution Control Board from prohibiting power plants within non-attainment areas from trading pollution credits.  Currently, the Air Board is able to restrict trading and force plants to reduce NOx and SO2 emissions that lead to ozone pollution.  Sen.

EXPOSED: Texas Big Oil Funding Petition to Kill California's Anti-Pollution Legislation

March 5, 2010 by Calitics

Stealthily and without fanfare, a petition has been launched to get a measure on the November ballot suspending AB 32, California's landmark legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions and spur green job growth. So who is funding the signature drive? None other than San Antonio-based oil refiners Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. -- the #7 and #8 biggest polluters in California. From the LA Times:

Two Texas-based refinery giants have pledged as much as $2 million to fund signature gathering for a ballot initiative to suspend California's landmark global warming law [AB 32], according to Sacramento sources.

The companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., own refineries in California that would be forced under the law to slash emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

But neither Valero or Tesoro is owning up to it.

Delegate Albert Pollard to Attorney General Cucinelli, climate change is "established fact"

March 3, 2010 by ArticleXI

Delegate Albert Pollard joined sixteen Democratic General Assembly members at a press conference yesterday in the Capitol, urging Attorney General Ken Cucinelli to withdraw challenges to a federal decision on global warming, claiming that questioning established science is a frivolous waste of tax money. Two legal actions were filed last month by Cuccinelli seeking to block the federal move to regular emissions and gases linked to global warming.

Delegate Pollard's comments reminded Cuccinelli that global warming is an "established fact."

I just attended a press conference with other legislators urging Attorney General Cuccinelli to reconsider his position on his lawsuit against the Federal government over whether the EPA has the authority to regulate sources of carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Mr. Speaker, there are plenty of reasons to be upset about Federal overreach, but their efforts to control pollution is not one of them.  At a time when the Federal government is doing everything from trying to establish standards for local schools to dictating how our fishing licenses are written - there are very legitimate reasons to be concerned about federal overreach. But, Mr. Speaker, it is an established fact that the earth is warming - that our climate is changing.

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