WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE'S BLOG
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Waterkeepers Return to Coal Ash Spill in TN
- Posted on 01.28.09
Tennessee Aquarium, Appalachian State University and Watauga Riverkeeper staff members returned to the site of the recent coal ash spill in TN. The spill dumped 5.4 million cubic yards of coal combustion waste into the Emory River and severely damaged homes, infrastructure and wildlife. The below video was compiled by Donna Lisenby, Watauga Riverkeeper after spending January 8th and 9th on the River collecting samples and data for the second time since the spill.
View the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykwcQPf_9fc&eurl=http://charlestonwaterkeeper.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/waterkeepers-return-to-coal-ash-spill-in-tn/ -
Taking Lessons, and Confidence, From the Water
- Posted on 12.02.08
Related causes: Community, Environment
She had rowed a boat, in the East River. She had learned to swim. She had eaten an oyster; it was gross, yes, but it was a challenge, and she had met that challenge. And now, in a final rite of passage, she was at the helm of the Lettie G. Howard, the historic 125-foot schooner that is her school’s classroom-on-the-Hudson.
Yes, she, Jennifer Mendez, 15, the girl from Brooklyn who used to be afraid of the water and everything related to it — fish, boats, bugs — was steering the Lettie up the river, along the Upper West Side. The captain of the ship, Denise Meagher, was standing by. But with her hand on the wheel, Jennifer felt as if she were the captain, responsible for the ship and everyone on it — the crew, her ninth-grade classmates and their science teachers, Roy Arrezo and Ann Fraioli.
A little later, Jennifer would write in her class journal, “I feel as if I can do anything.” Even, she confided, make the honor roll.
The mission of Jennifer’s school, Urban Assembly New ...Read More -
In Maryland, Focus on Poultry Industry Pollution
- Posted on 12.02.08
Related causes: Environment
Written by Ian Urbina
Standing before a two-story-tall pile of chicken manure, Lee Richardson pondered how times had changed.
How to handle the 650 million pounds of chicken manure produced in the state each year has sparked a fierce debate between environmentalists and the state’s powerful poultry industry. State
officials hope to bring Maryland in line with most other states next month by enacting new rules for where, how and how long chicken farmers can spread the manure on their fields or store it in outdoor piles.
“We don’t let hog or dairy farms spread their waste unregulated, and we wouldn’t let a town of 25,000 people dump human manure untreated on open lands,” said Gerald W. Winegrad, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland who is a former state senator. “So why should we allow a farm with 150,000 chickens do it?”
Under the state’s proposed rules, 75 to 100 of the 800 largest poultry farmers in Maryland would have to apply for permits to handle ...Read More -
Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival Comes to Maine
- Posted on 09.05.08
Related causes: Environment
On Saturday, October 4th, 5-9 p.m., Friends of Casco Bay will host the Patagonia Presents the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival on Tour at the Abromson Community Education Center on the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus. This nationally-touring festival features films that range from humorous animated shorts to inspiring full-length documentaries – all of which seek to enhance environmental awareness.
A special addition to the film festival is the Maine premiere of Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk featuring Waterkeeper Alliance Board Chair Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., author/ explorer Wade Davis, and their daughters, on an exhilarating rafting adventure down the Colorado River to retrace the route of the 1869 expedition led by John Wesley Powell. This documentary was produced by MacGillivray Freeman Films, which has produced and distributed more than two dozen IMAX films since 1983, including To Fly!, seen at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Spa...Read More
