Biden on the environment.
| Fishing Technology Letting Turtles Off the Hook Alternative fishing technology has been shown to save turtles while not affecting fish catches, according to a report released by WWF and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). |
| Mayor Hickenlooper on Sirius Radio Last Sunday, Mayor Hickenlooper was a guest on Meet the Planet, a national radio talk show on Sirius satellite radio (channel 114 LIME). He discussed Greenprint Denver’s current and long-range goals with co-host Jenny Griffin on “Earth Warrior” Doug Ivey’s educational program, which aims to improve awareness about environmental issues and sustainable solutions. You [.] |
| Green election issues 101: global warming. Heat waves, wildfires, droughts and flash floods are among the weather phenomena to become more intense and frequent due to global warming. |
| Press Release: Environmental Groups Praise Decision to Give Louisiana a 30-Year “Mortgage” on Levee Improvements
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Sharyn Stein, 202-572-3396, sstein@edf.org
(New Orleans – August 11, 2008) – The federal government’s decision to give Louisiana a 30-year “mortgage” to pay its share of the cost of levee improvements is only the first step toward keeping the state’s citizens safe from future hurricanes. That’s the conclusion of three of the country’s leading environmental groups, who say Louisiana must also put funding into restoring wetlands in order to provide reliable, long-term protection.
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), and the National Audubon Society all praised the federal government’s decision to extend Louisiana’s deadline to pay its share of levee improvement costs. Legislation that was passed after Hurricane Katrina provides $5.8 billion in federal funding for rebuilding infrastructure in the New Orleans area, but the state must provide $1.8 billion of its own funds to get the money. The original federal legislation gave Louisiana only three years to come up with the $1.8 billion. Late last week, Governor Bobby Jindal joined Bush administration officials to announce that the repayment period has been extended to 30 years.
“This agreement alleviates a flood-like financial burden on the people of Louisiana, and the Governor Jindal has done a great job of holding the federal government to its promise of helping Louisiana rebuild,” said Paul Harrison, Coastal Louisiana Project Manager for Environmental Defense Fund. “A workable, 30-year payment timetable will allow funding to go to other critical priorities, especially restoring the coastal wetlands.”
Governor Jindal has said the extension will give Louisiana the freedom to “aggressively pursue” efforts to rebuild healthy coastlines and wetlands.
“Our coastal wetlands are Louisiana’s natural hurricane protection systems. We must protect these critical natural areas, along with strengthening levees,” said Maura Wood, Senior Program Manager, Coastal Louisiana Restoration for the National Wildlife Federation. “Now we need to make sure that all the available funding is focused on bold projects that build land and restore the wetlands that keep south Louisiana safe.”
“Levees alone will never be enough to protect the people of Louisiana,” said Audubon’s Paul Kemp, Vice President, Gulf Coast Initiative for the National Audubon Society. “We need to work with Mother Nature, not against her. We need to make sure that the funding freed up by this decision goes towards Louisiana’s most urgent priority – restoring the wetlands that are the first line of defense."
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| Ivory Coast toxic sites still a threat: U.N. expert Tens of thousands of people in Ivory Coast are still suffering serious health problems two years after toxic waste was dumped there, a United Nations human rights expert said on Friday.Okechukwu Ibeanu, an independent U.N. investigator, said in a statement the seven sites around the commercial capital Abidjan had still not been decontaminated, with dire consequences for those living around them. |
| Texas Approves New Wind Power Project Much solar and wind power are generated far away from the real consumers. Its a great problem to transport the generated power to its genuine users because vast amount of wind and solar resources are located in remote areas. Legislatures are paying attention to the time-consuming and somewhat costly process of building and upgrading [.] |
| Biden on the environment. Although not always considered one of the top “green” members of Congress, Biden has been a consistent supporter of federal action and policies to protect and clean up the environment. |
| UK ’should end biofuel subsidies.’ The government should stop funding biofuels and use the money to halt the destruction of rainforests and peatland instead, a think tank has said. |
| Google buries $10m in underground power Search and advertising giant Google is investing $10 million in a relatively new approach to producing electricity from underground heat which could make geothermal power possible in many more areas of the world. |