"The ethanol industry must be wondering where the bottom is. Profits are slim or non-existent and about 20 percent of all U.S. plants are shut down. In addition, ethanol's main by-product, which is sold as livestock feed, has raised potential food safety concerns.
"A former W.R. Grace & Co. executive testified he warned his superiors more than 30 years ago about asbestos contamination in vermiculite from a Montana mine and feared it might lead to criminal prosecution.
"With Congress and President Obama championing green energy, the solar industry sees an opening to pursue a goal it long considered unattainable: European-style subsidies for sun-generated power. The national trade group for solar manufacturers is discussing whether it should push for a national feed-in tariff, a funding mechanism that forces utilities to buy green power at premium prices. Popular in Germany and Spain, feed-in tariffs have gained little traction in the United States. But that is changing.
EPA is awarding $800,000 in grants to organizations working with communities throughout the country that struggle with environmental justice issues. Under the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program, 40 grants, up to $20,000 each, are going to community organizations and local and tribal governments in 28 states for projects aimed at addressing environmental and public health issues." Environment News Service had the story March 24, 2009.
By TIM WHEELER
A journalist's job is to follow the facts and call them as they appear, no matter which side of a debate they may favor. In the past year, as president of the Society of Environmental Journalists, I've often found myself explaining to various people and groups that the only cause for which SEJ advocates is more and better coverage of the environment.
by Mark Bowen,
Dutton, 336 pages, $25.95
Reviewed by Craig Pittman
On June 23, 1988, a scientist named Jim Hansen spent five minutes talking to a Senate committee. Hansen said he was 99 percent sure the Earth was getting warmer because of the greenhouse effect, and he predicted that 1988 would turn out to be one of the warmest years on record.
Althoughhe spoke inanIowa-bredmonotone, Hansen's testimony electrified the committee hearing.When he tried to leave,Hansen was surrounded by reporters.
By Devra Davis
Basic Books (2007), $27.95
Reviewed by JenniferWeeks
In 1971 President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, formally launching a war on the second-leading cause of death in the United States. The legislation promised more funding and targeted government support for cancer research. "The time has come in America when the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease," Nixon urged in his State of the Union Address earlier that year.
