Archive for the 'greenwashing' Category

Romney Water Pollution Record: Hundreds of Corporate Waivers to Dump Toxics into Massachusetts Water Supply

Published on 05/11/2012 in clean water act, contaminated water, greenwashing, policy and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.wikipedia.org

“As Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney gave industrial wastewater dischargers free rein to discharge chemicals into municipal treatment systems unable to filter them out of the Commonwealth’s waters, according to documents obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

Industries with high quotients of toxics in their wastewater, such as manufacturers, carpet cleaners and laboratories, did not even have to monitor chemicals deposited in their wastewater.

Under Romney and his two Republican predecessors, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) allowed industries to discharge 1.4 million gallons of wastewater per day into municipal sewage plants without monitoring or permitting.  In 2006, PEER obtained copies of 278 “forbearance” letters from DEP telling companies that they need not even apply for sewer permits.

When PEER revealed the fact that this forbearance practice violated the Clean Water Act Regulations, the Romney administration abruptly proposed regulatory changes to formally exempt 90% of industrial sewer dischargers without even determining the amount of toxic chemicals in their wastewater.  Only after the threat of a lawsuit, the Romney administration finally agreed to a number of new rules that would require dischargers to report toxics to DEP and the sewage treatment plants.”

Read more: ENews Park Forest

 

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The Water Fight That Inspired ‘Chinatown’

Published on 04/25/2012 in agriculture, dams, greenwashing, hydrology, policy, privatization, rivers, tap water, water diversions and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

William Mulholland. Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com

“When 95 percent of the water rights along the river were in the hands of Mulholland’s department, an aqueduct some 233 miles long was built to take the water to the city. But because the amount that was flowing to Los Angeles was more than it could use, Owens Valley water soon made the San Fernando Valley bloom and enriched inside investors who were champions of Mulholland’s plans. (The relevant line from the movie, spoken by Jack Nicholson’s character, J.J. Gittes: “Do you have any idea what this land would be worth with a steady water supply? About $30 million more than they paid for it.”)

Eventually Los Angeles incorporated those farmlands into its boundaries. In an effort beginning in 1905, Dr. Libecap reports, the city acquired the land and water rights of 1,167 Owens Valley farms comprising 262,000 acres for about $20.7 million. (The latter figure is the equivalent of more than $220 million today.)

The one serious misjudgement in Mulholland’s plan was his calculation of how fast the newly watered city would outgrow the initial infusion of water. So Mulholland and Los Angeles came back for more of the river in 1926 and 1927, and some local farmers responded by repeatedly blowing up the pipeline. Mulholland then sent dozens of armed guards to protect his aqueduct. Soon, agricultural resistance dissipated. But the legend of injustice persisted.”

Read more: New York Times

 

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Damming the Poor: It’s Time to Create River Parks for People

Published on 04/23/2012 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, dams, floods, greenwashing, hydropower, peak water, policy, privatization, rivers and water rights. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“In their free-flowing form, large rivers like the Tana are among the most productive, life-giving ecosystems on the planet.  These natural supermarkets continue to feed hundreds of millions of very poor people each and every day.

Many fish species wait for floods to swim out onto a river’s floodplain, where they spawn prolifically.  When a fish spawns on a floodplain, its offspring will have many advantages over other fish born in the river itself. The water spilling onto a floodplain during floods is enriched with nutrients, helping young fish to grow.  The drowned vegetation of the floodplain harbors a bounty of insects to feed upon, and provides places where newborn fish can hide from bigger fish and other predators.  Rivers with large numbers of floodplain-spawning fish produce far more fish for people to eat than those without floods and floodplains.”

Read more: National Geographic

 

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Shocking Conflict of Interest: Private Water Companies Partner With Fracking Lobby

Published on 04/22/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, greenwashing, natural gas drilling, policy, privatization and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

 

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“The water companies – American Water and Aqua America — are leading drinking water suppliers in Pennsylvania, where drilling is booming. They also sell water to gas companies — which use a drilling technique that requires massive amounts of water — and have expressed interest in treating drilling wastewater, a potentially lucrative opportunity.

These investor-owned, publicly traded water utility companies are also dues-paying “associate members” of the gas industry’s powerful Marcellus Shale Coalition, a fact confirmed by coalition spokesman Travis Windle, who says associate members pay $15,000 annually in dues. “Our associate members are really the backbone of the industry,” adds Windle.

Both water companies serve millions of people across the country — Aqua America operates in 11 states and American Water in more than 30.”

Read more: Alternet

 

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Panama: Village of the damned

Published on 04/13/2012 in dams, greenwashing, hydrology, policy, privatization, rivers, species extinction, water diversions, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org“Panama’s largest indigenous group, the Ngabe, had decided to take a stand against the unlawful encroachment of their homeland. Since the time of the conquistadors, the Ngabe have been pushed to the margins of the country – forced to live on the land that no one else wanted. Twenty years ago the Panamanian government finally ceded what was considered a useless tract of land to them. The Ngabe had in fact lived there for centuries, so by rights it has always been theirs.

But now this land, rich in mineral deposits and rivers, is considered priceless. And Ricardo Martinelli, Panama’s authoritarian president who is a close friend of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, wants it back.

His plan is to open the Ngabe heartland to foreign mining companies and push hydroelectric power projects onto an unwilling population. The problem is that the Ngabe have nowhere else to go. So the scene was set for a dramatic showdown, which started when the Ngabe closed the Pan-American Highway in Chiriquí province in the west of the country – bringing Panama to a standstill.”

Read more: Aljazeera

 

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Bottled Water Industry Launches Marketing Battle Against Tap Water

Published on 04/09/2012 in bottled water, greenwashing and tap water. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.triplepundit.com

“Many people are finally waking up to the fact that pre-packaged bottled water is just not necessary. It has even been banned in places like Grand Canyon National Park. Over 90 U.S. universities have either banned or plan to ban bottled water on their campuses, according to the Ecologist, and over 100 U.S. towns and cities have also banned most forms of bottled water.

The bottled water industry is not taking this backlash lying down. Instead it has launched a marketing battle “to turn the public back onto plastic bottled water,” as the Ecologist puts it. In the U.S., the battle is being waged by the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) trade association. The IBWA even launched a YouTube video against what it terms the “anti-bottled water activism on college campuses.” The video, titled, Student Activism: 101, paints college campus bottled water bans as a matter of “freedom of choice.”

Read more: Triple Pundit

 

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Dodging Disaster in Lot 129

Published on 04/02/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, contaminated water, greenwashing, oil, policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.alianzaarkana.org

“Now, a new grassroots movement is being launched by the people to block the newest threat to water and life in the Amazon.  The U.S. oil giant, ConocoPhillips, and its collaborators have plans to develop yet another toxic oil project, known as Lot 129,  in one of the most remote and pristine places of the Amazon Rainforest and, therefore, in the world.

Conoco Phillips and its Canadian consortium partners Gran Tierra (20%) and Talisman Energy (35%)  are poised to start digging at least 18 exploratory wells, dozens of helipads, trails, roads and workers’ camps within and along the boundaries of the Alto-Nanay-Pintuyacu-Chambira National Conservation Area and the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, and in areas overlapping titled ancestral territories of numerous indigenous peoples. This includes a delicate eco-zone known as “Bosques humedos del Napo,” which was recognized as a Ramsar site of internationally significant wetlands.”

Read more: Alianza Arkana

 

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America’s Top 10 Most Polluted Waterways

Published on 04/02/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, contaminated water, greenwashing, management, policy, rivers and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Retrieved from: www.motherjones.com

“An eye-opening new report (PDF) from Environment America Research and Policy Center finds that industry dishcarged 226 million pounds of toxic chemicals into America’s rivers and streams in 2010. The pollution included dead-zone producing nitrates from food processors, mercury and other heavy metals from steel plants, and toxic chemicals from various kinds of refineries. Within the overall waste, the researchers identified 1.5 million pounds of carcinogens, 626,000 pounds of chemicals linked to developmental disorders and 354,000 pounds of those associated with reproductive problems.

In the report are a few goodies (or baddies, really) that are worth ogling. First up, there’s this map of the most heavily polluted waterways in the US, broken down by state:

Retrieved from: www.motherjones.com

It’s important to note that the vast majority—if not all—of these releases are perfectly legal. I reached out to all of the companies on the list above and received a response from several. They all basically told me the same thing: “All discharges meet permit requirements,” said Cargill. “This is a natural process that is fully licensed, and included as part of our wastewater discharge reporting,” echoed McCain Foods.”

Read more: Mother Jones

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China to flood nature reserve with latest Yangtze dam

Published on 03/30/2012 in dams, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, rivers, species extinction and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.reuters.com

“China’s Three Gorges Corp. on Thursday marked the beginning of construction for a dam that will flood the last free-flowing portion of the middle reaches of the Yangtze, the country’s longest river.

The 30 billion yuan ($4.75 billion) Xiaonanhai dam is decried by environmentalists because it will flood a nature reserve designed to protect about 40 species of river fish.

Completion of the dam would turn the middle section of the Yangtze into a series of reservoirs, leaving “no space for fish”, said environmentalist Ma Jun, who has been active for over two years in trying to prevent the dam.

“This is the last one, the last section in 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) along the Yangtze that was left for endangered or local fish species. This would be their last habitat,” Ma told Reuters.”

Read more: Reuters

 

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What Threatens Peace in India’s Northeast?

Published on 03/19/2012 in dams, displacement of people, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, privatization, rivers, water diversions, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com

“Roads through Manipur are frequently blockaded for months over the issue. Elections for the Manipur state assembly provided a break in the usual routine of ethnic animosities, but those could erupt again at any time.

In addition, the larger region could find itself in turmoil over environmental issues sparked by an attempt to build 168 big dams here. Popular protest movements have already gathered steam over these dams, which many people fear will lead to loss of their land and livelihoods. There are also fears of earthquakes leading to dam ruptures in this region.

Answering local residents’ concerns about the dams is essential to lasting peace, said Sanjib Baruah, a professor of political studies at Bard College in New York and author of “India Against Itself,’’ a book about conflict in the region.”

Read more: The New York Times

 

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