#environmental groups

By MDBayNews Staff Since mid-January, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage have poured into the Potomac River following the Potomac Interceptor collapse—an environmental disaster unfolding in plain sight. The contamination has impacted Maryland communities, Washington, D.C., and the broader Chesapeake Bay watershed. Yet amid what should be a five-alarm environmental crisis, something…

Mobilization for the Environment (MOB) and Vereniging Leefmilieu are preparing dozens of new lawsuits against the Dutch government’s nitrogen policy. An expert they consulted concluded that it would be “impossible” to achieve the legal nitrogen reduction targets with the plans that Agriculture Minister Femke Wiersma presented last month. The environmental groups gave the Minister two weeks to come up with a serious nitrogen policy, or they will take it to court, the Volkskrant reports. According to MOB, the BBB Minister is ignoring the recent court ruling ordering the government ot protect at least 50 percent of the most endangered nitrogen-sensitive nature from nitrogen by the end of 2030. The organization asked engineer Ton Brouwer from the Gispoint agency to calculate how much nitrogen reduction Wiersma’s plans would approximately achieve. Among other things, Brouwer concluded that Wiersma’s biggest concrete measure - creating nitrogen-poor buffer zones of 250 meters around the Peel and the Veluwe nature reserves - will contribute less than 0.5 percent to the minimum required emission reduction of agriculture. MOB has been taking legal action against the government over its failure to reduce nitrogen emissions and save Dutch nature for years. The environmental group won almost all these cases, because European nature conservation laws are on its side. Its biggest success was in 2019, when the Council of State declared the government’s Nitrogen Action Program (PAS), introduced in 2015, invalid because it conflicted with the European Bird and Habitat Directives.

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Excerpt from this story from the New York Times:

Four of the country’s largest environmental organizations said they are endorsing President Biden’s bid for re-election, despite anger from activists over his approval of a string of fossil fuel projects, including an enormous oil drilling plan in Alaska and a natural gas pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia.

The League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and NextGen America said they were setting aside their concerns over those projects — and the planet-warming emissions they will release.

The endorsements are some of the earliest by major environmental groups in a presidential contest. It is also the first time the four groups have made a joint endorsement.

Environmentalists Both Encouraged and Troubled by the Legislative Session | Education | Seven Days

This year’s legislative session proved a mixed bag for environmentalists in Vermont, with some pleased with at the progress made toward climate goals and others stung by painful setbacks. On the one hand, initiatives like home weatherization and electric vehicle incentives enjoyed an unprecedented infusion of nearly $200 million in federal pandemic assistance. One the other, some of the highest…

Environmentalists Both Encouraged and Troubled by the Legislative Session | Education | Seven Days

This year’s legislative session proved a mixed bag for environmentalists in Vermont, with some pleased with at the progress made toward climate goals and others stung by painful setbacks. On the one hand, initiatives like home weatherization and electric vehicle incentives enjoyed an unprecedented infusion of nearly $200 million in federal pandemic assistance. One the other, some of the highest…

Coca-Cola, criticized for plastic pollution, pledges 25% reusable packaging

Good News Notes: “The Coca-Cola Company (KO.N) on Thursday said it will aim for 25% of its packaging globally to be reusable by 2030, a move hailed by environmental groups who have called out the soft-drink maker for worldwide plastic pollution. Coca-Cola is a top target for consumer, investor and environmental groups concerned about petroleum-based plastic single-use bottles clogging oceans,…