While the oil continues to gush out of the wounded well on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico a group is gathered here in Boston today to try to head off development of an important tool that would help move us away from oil.  In fact, these folks want us to shift to an even dirtier fuel that requires even more energy to extract than oil and has a whole different set of bad side effects for the public health and the environment. The group in question is the Consumer Energy Alliance an infamous “astroturf” group that acts as a public face for the oil industry.  The fuel they are promoting, working with certain elements of Canadian provincial government, is oil produced by a messy and fuel intensive process read more…

Climate advocates breathed a collective sigh of relief today when the U.S. Senate rejected Senator Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to strip the EPA of its power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions with a vote of 53-47. Backed by big oil lobbyists, the defeat of the bill signified the triumph of science over politics—at least for now. Earlier today, I discussed this ridiculous debate that occupied the Senate all day on the radio.  There was some interesting press in the run up to the vote. And when the dust cleared, CLF issued this statement: “The decision by the United States Senate to reject the Big Oil Bailout is a victory for science, the environment and efforts to build a new clean economy,” said Seth Kaplan, CLF’s Vice President for Policy and Climate read more…

As crews battle the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a battle of a different sort is unfolding online. It’s a war of messaging, and BP is sparing no expense. CLF is the recipient of a monthly “Google Grant,” a free marketing program that allows non-profit organizations to reach new prospects by “bidding” on keywords that are relevant to their work and placing sponsored links in a user’s search result. So, a user searching on “renewable energy,” for example, might find a link to a CLF ad in his search results, if we were successful in bidding for those keywords. As the oil disaster in the Gulf started to unfold, we decided to use our Google Grant to promote our extensive blog coverage on the spill, a passionate outpouring read more…

I am headed to Brattleboro tomorrow with some other CLF folks to talk about Vermont Yankee at an evening event CLF is hosting.  If you are in the area, come join us. Join me and other CLF staff at the River Garden in Brattleboro, VT on Thursday, June 10 from 6-8 PM for a community gathering and Q&A  on   Vermont Yankee.  See event details.  I was troubled to learn this morning that there is a new leak at Vermont Yankee.  The continuing leaks must stop.   The new leak highlights the lack of responsible oversight and management at the plant.  Yankee only began operating again on Saturday after a month long outage for refueling.  Then start-up was stopped twice because of problems at the plant.    The public expects both Entergy and regulators read more…

In his op-ed published yesterday in the Keene Sentinel, Bob King of Keene (and of CLF’s New Hampshire State Board) reminds readers of comments by British Petroleum’s CEO describing the Deepwater Horizon’s blow-out preventer as having been engineered to be “fail-safe.”   With the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history continuing to unravel before our eyes, it’s more clear than ever that blithe acceptance of ”fail-safe” engineering promises is not an option. It’s not an option in offshore drilling operations, and it’s not an option in the regulation and operation of nuclear power plants like Vermont Yankee.  The Keene Sentinel got it right in its June 2 editorial: when it comes to the aging Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, we should all be concerned with the sort of regulatory coziness exposed not only by the Gulf Oil read more…

Today is the annual celebration of World Oceans Day and this month is officially National Oceans Month. President Obama used the occasion last year to create the Ocean Policy Task Force and directed them to develop a National Ocean Policy and a framework for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning. The task force consists of 24 government entities and they have spent the last year conducting an efficient, thoughtful and thorough processes for policy development. It’s been done exactly how policy should be made.  Now, when the final policy should be ready for implementation the leaders of the task force are buried in 24/7 efforts to stop the BP oil disaster. Is the final National Ocean Policy another victim of the general mayhem caused by the BP oil disaster?  Big Oil strikes again. Was there ever a better time for a National Ocean Policy? We know that a National read more…

New leaks?  New contamination?  Who knows? The latest report from the Vermont Health Department is troubling.  Results from the monitoring test wells at Vermont Yankee show that the level of contamination is increasing in nearly half of the wells.  And at least one of these wells is OUTSIDE the area identified as the contaminated plume. This news comes on top of news that soil at the site is contaminated and fish in the river are contaminated. Pipes at the facility remain inaccessible.  There is no way to know if they are leaking.  It took over two months to find one leak.  And another leak was found just last week. As of Saturday, Vermont Yankee is running again after a planned outage and a few mishaps. I would feel better if they cleaned read more…

CLF welcomes its brand new group of 2010 summer interns. CLF’s summer internship program gives undergraduate and graduate students a unique real-world experience in the world of environmental law, as well as communications, development and other aspects of daily operations here at CLF. Some may even be posting to this very blog! They are: Massachusetts Stephanie Bair, Cavers Legal Intern, Harvard Law School Tiffany Egbuono, Posse Scholar (Advocacy/Development), Undergrad Bryn Mawr College Anthony Mathieu, Posse Scholar (Oceans), Undergrad Hamilton College Megan Hodson, Cavers Legal Intern, U Baltimore School of Law Zachary Moor, Cavers Legal Intern, Boston University Caitlin Peale, Cavers Legal Intern, Columbia U Law School Emily Migliaccio, Ocean Intern, Boston College Maine Caitlin Casey, Intern, Undergrad Colby College Becky Lipson, Cavers Legal Intern, U Michigan Law School Michael Knapp, read more…

Over the weekend a fish found in the Connecticut river near Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant was confirmed to be contaminated with strontium-90.  Only a few days before, it was revealed that strontium-90 is contaminating the soil at the Vermont Yankee site.  Strontium-90 is a dangerous radioactive substance.  Don’t you think these events are connected?  I do.  Yet Yankee officials claim there is no connection.  The fish was four miles upstream.  Last I checked, fish swim upstream and can swim four miles.  Then they said the radiation levels are consistent with what would be present from long ago nuclear testing or Chernobyl. Unbelievable.  There’s a saying that when you hear hoof beats, don’t think of a zebra.  It is probably a horse.  I think Vermont Yankee is seeing zebras everywhere — avoiding the obvious in read more…

I loved the newspaper headline that greeted me this morning.   Did we win in our request to shut the plant down until the leaks are repaired and the site is cleaned up?  Not yet.  It seems Vermont Yankee simply hasn’t figured out how to put the plug back in after refueling.  Yankee’s unexpected emergency shut down yesterday is just one of many failings that demonstrates Yankee’s incapacity to operate responsibly. The  public hearing scheduled for tonight has been CANCELLED  – ironically due to a power outage.   Recent news includes finding strontium-90 at the Vermont Yankee site and the NRC saying  don’t worry about the mess, it will be cleaned up when the plant closes.  As I told one reporter: “This is a good example of lax oversight by the NRC. I expect to hear read more…