A group of state legislators in West Virginia introduced a bill to strengthen the State’s laws to protect mine workers who raise concerns about unsafe working conditions. The lead sponsor is Delegate Bill Hamilton (R) who represents the region where the now-abandoned Sago mine is located.* He’s been a strong champion for mine safety improvements and also known for […]
At the second annual Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway, 500 experts are discussing the outlook for oil and gas production in the rapidly warming Arctic. As is all too common these days, theyâll do so without the benefit of all the information that scientists worked hard to compile about the topic. Christoph Seidler reports […]
As the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq approaches, itâs clear that the U.S. is still having trouble ensuring that injured veterans get what they need â whether thatâs care for a brain injury, mental health services, or sufficient recovery time. Hereâs the news from the past week: An Army task force report completed […]
By Les Leopold If you need a quick snooze, read a US Government Accountability Office report with its carefully parsed prose. But lost in the holiday rush was a December GAO report that could keep you awake as it bashes the Bush administrationâs effort to water down the community Right to Know regulations that provide […]
The Washington Post’s Jeffrey H. Birnbaum observes that the site of this year’s Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) convention is Denver, Colorado, yet the city only has one unionized hotel. The DNC should take a page from the American Public Health Association (APHA), which adopted a policy in 1999 (#9922) on the use of union hotels for […]
Thereâs lots of good blogging this week about what our elected (and hoping to be elected) leaders are doing â or at least talking about doing â on climate change: David Roberts at Gristmill thinks itâs better to hold out for better federal climate legislation in 2009 Jonathan Pfeiffer at Science Progress reports on a […]
Many of us who grew up in the U.S. took water and electricity for granted, but more and more of us are bumping up against the limits of resources. Three stories in the news this past week illustrate what the difficulties are and how different parties address them.
Remember Julie MacDonald, the Department of Interior appointee with industry connections but no biology degree, who altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for endangered species? There are plenty of wildlife scientists who havenât forgotten about her or about the larger problem of the Bush administration meddling with environmental science, and two dozen of them […]
Howard A. Heit, MD and a pain management specialist at Georgetown University offers an informed perspective on “painkiller abuse” among coal miners, in response to the Washington Post’s article “A Dark Addiction.” He writes: “I don’t believe the majority of these miners have the disease of addiction….[instead they] are seeking medications appropriately or inappropriately as […]
The U.S. House of Representatives debated today the Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act (S-MINER, H.R. 2768) which would require, among other things, closer review of retreat mining plans, allow independent investigations (outside of MSHA) for multiple fatalities, and update permissible exposure limits. The White House issued a veto threat, saying the bill would […]