Tag Archives: United States Senate

If approved, the Gateway Pacific Terminal near Bellingham will be the largest coal export terminal in the United States. Right now, the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to decide which environmental impacts to take into account as it considers the permit proposal.

This decision could be a major turning point in the fight against coal exports. If the full range of potential impacts is considered — from supercharged climate change to toxic coal dust pollution and carcinogenic diesel fumes —it will be undeniable that the Gateway Pacific Terminal is a bad deal for Washington.

The Army Corps of Engineers is accepting public comments for the next few days on the scope of its review. Since it is considering a project that has the potential to do so much damage, Washingtonians deserve a review that fully considers all of the disastrous impacts before it is too late.

Deadline Monday: Tell the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the full range of environmental threats posed by the Gateway Pacific Terminal and to reject the project. Submit a public comment now.

The factors the Corps decides to include in its environmental impact statement could end up determining whether or not the Gateway Pacific Terminal is allowed to move forward, so public comments today about the range of threats this project poses are crucial.

If approved, the Gateway Pacific Terminal would be disastrous for Washington. Many of the state’s major population centers, including Seattle, Spokane and Bellingham, would be subjected to clouds of toxic coal dust and dangerous diesel fumes generated by dozens of 1.5-mile-long trains each day.

Ramping up coal exports would also make Washington a major contributor to climate change by making Wyoming and Montana coal cheaply available to growing markets like China, India and South Korea.

Washington has a well-deserved reputation for sustainability and environmental stewardship, but if the Gateway Pacific Terminal moves forward that reputation and much more would be at risk.

The Army Corps of Engineers has a disappointing track record of rubber-stamping environmentally disastrous projects like the Gateway Pacific Terminal, so today we need to generate a flood of public comments the agency can’t ignore.

Deadline Monday: Tell the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the full range of environmental threats posed by the Gateway Pacific Terminal and to reject the project. Submit a public comment now.

Thanks for fighting coal exports in Washington.

Josh Nelson, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Presidential inauguration

01/11/2013 Nativegrl77

Planning an event as big as a presidential inauguration requires dealing with strange things, and some normal things in strange quantities.
Watch this video we put together, and you’ll see what I mean:

Prefer your fun inaugural facts in text form? I’ve got you covered:

1. John F. Kennedy was the last president to attend his inauguration ceremony in a stovepipe hat.
2. More on hats: As a U.S. Representative, Abraham Lincoln attended the inauguration of President Zachary Taylor — where he lost his hat in the crowd and never recovered it.
3. John Quincy Adams was the first president to wear long trousers to his inauguration ceremony (breaking a tradition of colonial breeches).
4. President Adams also famously refused to attend the swearing-in of his successor — Andrew Jackson — after an epically brutal campaign.
5. During his Inaugural Parade, President Eisenhower was lassoed by a cowboy.

http://action.2013pic.org/Inauguration-by-the-Numbers
Guys, I’m excited.

11 days,

Steve

Stephen J. Kerrigan
Chief Executive Officer
2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee

P.S. — This year’s ceremony will leave its own mark on history during the National Day of Service. Thanks for saying you’ll be part of it — if you haven’t already, find an event near you and RSVP today.

~ Culture & History

from GOOGLE +

01/11/2013 Nativegrl77

from … Amazing World .

6-Year-Old HIV-Positive Boy Forced to Live Alone in Rural SouthWest, CHINA.A six-year-old HIV-positive child named Ah-long has been collecting wood to support himself since both of his parents died from the deadly virus.Both his parents died of AIDS and the poor child is too much on his own, doing his own washing, cooking and studying. His 84-year-old grandmother has planted vegetables for him and visits frequently. She cooks for him, for him, but will not live with the child.

Everyone else in his…

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

How the Game Really Works

01/11/2013 Nativegrl77

We’re focusing this week on how the system really works – whether it’s the Beltway press reflexively blaming Obama for actions of Congressional Republicans, how FreedomWorks funded Beck and Limbaugh, or how the media neglect important issues. All that and a Fox News host who decided that facts have a liberal bias.

John Whitehouse Twitter: @existentialfish

For Presidential Appointments, Beltway Media Come Up Short

No matter who President Obama nominates for his cabinet, the Beltway press relish saying he’s picking a fight. They hold only him accountable for partisan bickering, while simultaneously ignoring historic obstructionism that Republicans are engaging in. Eric Boehlert examines how political press decided that a Democratic President is to blame for the actions of Republicans: http://mm4a.org/10imTS7

Behind The Scenes At FreedomWorks

“I had come to the point where I don’t know how much we are spending on Beck and Limbaugh, but we are spending too damn much and we are getting too little value out of it.” That’s former FreedomWorks chariman Dick Armey speaking to Media Matters investigative reporter Joe Strupp in an exclusive interview about how FreedomWorks spent money on Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck – and how little they got in return. http://mm4a.org/ZlCcYZ

On Climate Change, Sunday Shows Miss The Boat

Did you know that Sunday shows have not quoted a scientist on climate change in four years? Did you know that every single one of the politicians Sunday shows have quoted on climate change has been a Republican? Our climate team analyzed network news coverage of climate change in 2012, and the results are grim: http://mm4a.org/WJopoB

Violence Against Women Act Expires In Silence

Did you know that the Violence Against Women Act expired at the end of 2012? A biparisan extension of the bill overwhelmingly passed the Senate, but it died quietly in the House without receiving a vote. You may not have heard about this, though, because news media failed to cover its expiration: http://mm4a.org/UmKPfj

FEATURED VIDEO

Stephen Colbert once joked that “reality has a liberal bias.” But that’s not a joke to Fox News host Eric Bolling, who criticized a history book for having liberal bias – because the book noted that the Bush administration never found WMDs in Iraq: http://mm4a.org/13hVhLz

NRA USES THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AS A SHIELD

First it was a former NRA president comparing a potential new assault weapons ban to racial discrimination. Now, NRA board member and columnist Ted Nugent argues that gun owners are the next Rosa Parks. Ben Dimiero explores the NRA going to extremes: http://mm4a.org/VUQBVK

EVEN RUSH CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT HE SAID

Rush Limbaugh has spent this week comparing marriage equality to pedophilia. But when the media called him on it, Limbaugh was brazenly dishonest about what he had previously said: http://mm4a.org/SkWCPI