Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, Scientist, San Francisco Parents worry about plenty of things when they send their kids to school: first- day jitters, making friends, bullying … But exposure to toxic chemicals isn’t usually on the list of “back to school” worries. Perhaps it should be, though. Each year thousands of California kids are exposed to a…
Tell the Forest Service they have an obligation to protect your public groundwater resources
Marcus Griswold, Water Resources Scientist, San Francisco Recently, the US Forest Service released a “Directive” which would guide how groundwater is managed by the agency. They are currently accepting comments from the public on that Directive and now is the time to weigh in to ensure public groundwater resources are protected. In a previous blog,…
New Study: America’s Data Centers Consuming — and Wasting — Growing Amounts of Energy
Pierre Delforge, Director, High Tech Sector Energy Efficiency, San Francisco All of our online activity — including email, internet use, social media, and conducting business — is delivered through nearly 3 million data centers across America, from small closets and larger server rooms, to mammoth “cloud” server farms. Their explosive growth is gulping huge amounts…
Huge Ponds Hold Tar Sands Sludge, And Great Risks
Danielle Droitsch, Director, Canada Project, Washington, D.C. On August 4, 2014, the catastrophic failure of a mining company’s dam in British Columbia, Canada, released over 2.5 billion gallons of contaminated water from a containment pond into the upper Faser River watershed. Only a few hundred miles east in Alberta, at least half a dozen dams…
Report finds illegal use of diesel in fracking fluid, highlights problems with FracFocus
Matthew McFeeley, Attorney, Washington, D.C. Last week, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released a report which found that companies had disclosed using diesel fuel in fracking in 12 states. The use of diesel fuel as a component of fracking fluid is illegal without a permit under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and none of the companies…
California Misses Opportunity to Swap a Full Nuclear Plant for Clean Energy
Sierra Martinez, Legal Director, California Energy Projects, San Francisco Ever since California’s giant nuclear plant shut down two years ago due to malfunctions and poor economics of revival, state regulators and politicians have been wrestling with the question of: How much clean energy can we use to replace that old nuclear plant? Unfortunately, a decision…
Using compost to improve soil health and crop productivity
Claire O’Connor, Policy Analyst, Santa Monica Growing up on a farm in Nebraska, I spent most summer afternoons outside, exploring, digging, and collecting “treasures”—usually rocks, feathers, bugs, and other lovely items I’m sure my mother was thrilled to have me drag into the house. These days, I’m mostly desk bound, and I don’t get my…