Category Archives: Issues

Natural Gas from Fracking Could Be ‘Dirtier’ than Coal, Cornell Professors Find

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Extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale could do more to aggravate global warming than mining coal, according to a Cornell study published in the May issue of Climatic Change Letters (105:5).

While natural gas has been touted as a clean-burning fuel that produces less carbon dioxide than coal, ecologist Robert Howarth warns that we should be more concerned about methane leaking into the atmosphere during hydraulic fracturing.

Read more: Natural Gas from Fracking Could Be ‘Dirtier’ than Coal, Cornell Professors Find

(By Stacey Shackford, Cornell Chronicle Online)

ITD Officials Defend Palouse Plan

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Critics question process for selection of U.S. 95 route through prairie.

The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) is defending its controversial plan to build a four-lane highway next to one of the most endangered prairie ecosystems in North America, touting the route’s increased safety.

District 2 engineer Jim Carpenter said the new road will cut in half the number of accidents on U.S. Highway 95 south of Moscow.

“We did follow a thorough process through this,” he said.  “The department’s goal is to be sensitive to the environmentally sensitive areas.”

ITD has drawn criticism for its plan to re-route a curvy, two-lane stretch of Highway 95 over Paradise Ridge, a popular landmark south of Moscow.

Read more: ITD Officials Defend Palouse Plan

(By Benjamin Shors, staff writer, The Spokesman-Review, November 8, 2002)

Spoil – Documentary on the Great Bear Rainforests under Threat by Dirty Tar Sands

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A powerful documentary on the Great Bear Rainforest by EP Films, Spoil shows the splendor of nature with some beautiful photography.  It highlights the nature we all want to protect, but our blinkered and incessant addiction to burn more oil is helping to destroy.

Winner of the top environmental award at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Spoil is a lovely film and a perfect way to encourage us all to help protect and nurture nature and not destroy it for the sake of dirty oil.  We need to stop buying dirty oil and move faster into clean, renewable electricity. Continue reading →

Paving Paradise

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Tucked against Paradise Ridge, the small patch of low shrubs and bunchgrass appears unremarkable.

Yet this ten-acre parcel south of Moscow is one of the last, best remnants of the Palouse Prairie, one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America.

It is here that the Idaho Transportation Department plans to build a $17 million, four-lane stretch of highway, past the hawthorn bushes and wild rose.

“There’s really no Palouse Prairie left,” said Matt Finer, a Washington State University doctoral candidate studying the prairie.  “Paradise Ridge is one of the last good spots.  And the state wants a highway here?  It’s unimaginable.”

But it is the route chosen by the Idaho Transportation Board last week over the objections of the state Department of Fish and Game, conservationists, and local homeowners.

Read more: Paving Paradise

(By The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, October 27, 2002)