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http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/billionaire-boondoggle/1428210002001

In 2011 the Environmental Protection Agency provided $1 million in grants to 46 different non-profit and tribal organizations to promote what it called “environmental justice.” Since 1994, a little-noticed EPA program has handed out a total of $23 million in such grants to 1,253 organizations, for stated purposes that observers are questioning. President Bill Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) were responsible for implementing “environmental justice” as part of the EPA’s mission. In early 1990, following a lobbying push by the CBC, the EPA established the Environmental Equity Workgroup. In 1994 it was renamed the Office of Environmental Justice.

Power Plant Closures Due to Environmental Regulations to Take Toll on TownsPublished December 20, 2011 | Associated Press For more than 90 years, the coal-fired power plant in Glen Lyn, Va., has been churning out electricity and contributing to local prosperity. Of late, it has generated nearly a quarter of the revenue for the $1 million budget of the town. Yet when the plant ultimately shuts down to comply with new federal air pollution regulations by the end of 2014, says Town Manager Howard Spencer, so too might the community of 200. "If the town lost all of that revenue,"...

So, I just discovered a product called "strawboard." Apparently it's been used in Europe for 40+ years, but it's kinda new in the US. Some sources say that a typical house requires about an acre's worth of clear-cut timber, which would take about 30 years to replace. That same house (according to these sources) could be built using 18 acres of straw -- which is a waste product from wheat production. I've been searching, but I haven't found any serious problems with using strawboard. Presumably, it doesn't hold up as well to moisture as traditional wood does, but I don't...

President Obama's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) outlined an "environmental justice strategy" that would review how a variety of DHS activities, from interaction with local governments to granting regulatory permits, affect poor and minority populations. DHS defines environmental justice as "the commitment of the Federal Government . . . to avoid placing disproportionately high and adverse effects on the human health and environment of minority populations and low-income populations." Efforts to implement environmental justice will influence "our own operations, financial assistance to state and local governments, and [DHS'] regulatory permitting activities," DHS explained in the draft strategy.

<p>LINCOLN, Neb. – Days after the Obama administration threatened to delay approval of a planned oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico -- angering unions while appeasing environmentalists -- the company seeking to build the pipeline says it's willing to reroute the project to get it back on track.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents trying to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border say they're hampered by laws that keep them from driving vehicles on huge swaths of land because it falls under U.S. environmental protection, leaving it to wildlife — and illegal immigrants and smugglers who can walk through the territory undisturbed. A growing number of lawmakers are saying such restrictions have turned wilderness areas into highways for criminals. In recent weeks, three congressional panels, including two in the GOP-controlled House and one in the Democratic-controlled Senate, have moved to give the Border Patrol unfettered access to all federally managed lands...

Asbestos abatement school owner sentenced BY MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE Ortiz A woman who was one of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "most wanted" fugitives was sentenced Sept. 13 to 87 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. She is the fifth environmental criminal captured since the EPA fugitive website was launched in December 2008, according to the announcement. James Cattuso, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said he was was unaware of the fugitive list. He said he was amazed it existed. "Certainly these are not violent crimes that would require wanted posters which is what...

Man arrested in Oklahoma pipe bomb attempt Published: Aug. 15, 2011 at 4:44 PM OKEMAH, Okla., Aug. 15 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma man has been arrested after authorities said he called 911 and reported he put a pipe bomb on a natural gas pipeline. Daniel Wells Herriman, 40, of Konawa, was arrested Friday, the FBI said, The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman reported. Special Agent in Charge James Finch said the bomb could have done extensive damage had it exploded on the Enerfin Resources natural gas line near Okemah. "Thank goodness Mr. Herriman is not the greatest bomb-maker," Finch said. The device,...

Though it is unrelated to their mission, the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Housing are among the federal agencies that will focus on helping minorities get green under an Obama Administration plan that aims to bring “environmental justice” to poor and underserved communities nationwide. The effort was launched by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last fall and the agency has doled out millions of dollars in “environmental justice grants” to dozens of leftwing groups, including some dedicated to helping illegal immigrants. Earlier this year the administration dedicated an additional $7 million to study how pollution, stress and social...

Hundreds of job opening listings posted on Monster.com and other jobs sites explicitly state that people who are unemployed would be less attractive applicants, with some telling the long-term unemployed to not even bother with applying. The New York Times' Catherine Rampell said she found preferences for the already employed or only recently laid off in listings for "hotel concierges, restaurant managers, teachers, I.T. specialists, business analysts, sales directors, account executives, orthopedics device salesmen, auditors and air-conditioning technicians." Even the massive University of Phoenix stated that preference, but removed the listings when the Times started asking questions.

WASHINGTON — A bill that would grant the Department of Homeland Security unprecedented access to federal lands near the border was sharply criticized Friday for giving the department unchecked authority. The National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act would let DHS waive 36 environmental-protection laws for patrol activities within 100 miles of U.S. borders. -------------------------- 1505 may succeed in decreasing immigration, but only because the water, air and environments of border communities will be so degraded, no one will want to come here,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson.

What's an environmentalist? A watermelon: green on the outside and red on the inside. Hear how old school leftists are using the green movement to push their socialist agenda as Roger L. Simon sits with author James Delingpole.

A proposal to replace 835 oak, sycamore and walnut trees with 199,000 new interment spaces at a prominent Hollywood Hills cemetery near Griffith Park is at the heart of a controversy over the future of what little remains of the Los Angeles area's undeveloped wildlife habitat. Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries wants to develop 120 acres of its grounds because its existing expanse of carefully manicured lawns has nearly run out of room for interments in grassy havens with names like "Ascending Dawn" and "Vale of Hope." On Wednesday, as families in mourning gathered around grave sites overlooking the San...

Last week President Obama announced his new ‘Green Fleet’ plan that would see all of the government’s 600,000 vehicles be either hybrids, plug-in electrics or flex-fuel models by 2015. There are, however, a few exceptions – most notably ‘The Beast’. The nickname for the President’s armored Cadillac limousine, also referred to as Cadillac One, it is exempt from the new rules. Secret Service Special Agent Robert Novy confirmed as much to Fox News, commenting that, “certain specialized vehicles with law enforcement and security specifications are not subject to this directive.” Included in that list is ‘The Beast’, which features 5-inch...

Sure, you might get a carpool sticker and a tax break. But if you buy an electric car, will it make much environmental difference? Experts say that depends on three factors: What were you driving before? How is your electricity generated? And how many other electric cars are going to be sold? In many cases, people who trade gasoline-powered cars for electric ones won't be dramatically lessening the smog they emit. But when it comes to global warming, even when emissions from generating the electricity are taken into account, electric vehicles have a much smaller carbon footprint than gas-powered vehicles...

NEW ORLEANS -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says federal scientists catching fish to test for possible damage from last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill accidentally drowned three dolphins. Spokeswoman Connie Barclay says the pantropical spotted dolphins were caught Wednesday from a trawl off the research ship Pisces, which works out of Pascagoula, Miss. She said Friday that NOAA will investigate whether all proper procedures were followed.

The budget stalemate between the right and the left comes down to a basic difference in economic views, the left feels that we need to tax more in order to consume more money, and the right believes that we need to consume less money in order to tax less. Whichever side of the argument you come down on, it's not hard to see which of these positions is fundamentally unsustainable. And it is amazing that the same people who can and do lecture for hours on environmental sustainability, seem to have no grasp of economic sustainability. If you tell them...

Radical environmental groups have a power over President Obama and his administration that is truly astonishing. At a time when the economy is struggling and low and middle income earners - both in the United States and overseas -- are worried about their economic prospects, the administration continues to pursue policies that will unambiguously harm them. Consider the domestic front first, and the administration's energy policies. Since coming to office, Obama and his green allies have pursued a deeply unpopular cap-and-trade program. The program would raise energy costs, particularly burdening low-income Americans for whom energy costs constitute a sizable portion...

(Dagbladet): One and a half years after the newspaper Dagbladet revealed major problems with the Armed Forces' new environmental ammunition, considering the military to stop the use of lead-free ammunition and reintroduce traditional lead balls. Defence Management admits that they now have a significant challenge in dealing with problems with the new ammunition, and that the extent of physical health problems among soldiers who use it only on the increase. Doctors in the Armed Forces are more and more reports of soldiers who are sick for days after the shooting with lead-free ammunition

MR. BLUMENFELD: So today we recognize this person for an extraordinary vision and leadership as an early, ardent and articulate champion in the defense of our planet against global climate change. This person had a great team. I want to recognize Terry Tamminen and Linda Adams, who are both here, who really -- you can't do this stuff alone when you're sitting -- (Applause) And the job at the top is lonely and so when you surround yourselves by people you want to have people that free you up to take action and those are the type of people that...

The plan articulates that environmentally literate students, upon graduation, will demonstrate proficiency in each of the following areas: * Understand the physical and biological world and our interdependent relationship with it * Understand and apply systems thinking concepts and tools * Understand one’s relationship to the local, regional, national and global community * Investigate options for, plan and create a sustainable future * Understand and achieve personal and civic responsibility Oregon’s Environmental Literacy Plan will be submitted to the Oregon legislature and considered for full adoption by the State Board of Education later this year. To implement the plan, Oregon...

WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 28 -- Reviews of the coastal plain and two other study areas within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for possible federal wilderness designation will begin now that initial public comments have been gathered for updating ANWR’s 1988 comprehensive conservation plan, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said on Sept. 27. The three areas comprise almost all of ANWR’s acreage that is not already wilderness, according to FWS’s Region 7 office in Anchorage. The coastal plain is believed to have substantial petroleum resources but is presently off-limits for leasing, development, or any other oil and gas activity. FWS...

Environmental activist Wendy Van Asselt was at the World Resources Institute in 2003 when officials from the Wilderness Society made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. They wanted her to lead a huge project to remove 26 million acres of federal land in the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) from oil and gas production, grazing, timber harvesting, mining for strategic minerals, off-road recreation, and providing rural jobs.

U.S. Education Secretary Vows to Make American Children 'Good Environmental Citizens' "Today, I promise you that under my leadership, the Department of Education will be a committed partner in the national effort to build a more environmentally literate and responsible society," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Thursday, September 23, 2010 By Nicholas Ballasy Education Secretary Arne Duncan looks on as President Barack Obama talks to students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (CNSNews.com) - U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan vowed on Tuesday that his department would work to make American children into...

Several Cabinet officials gathered today to restart the federal government's effort to stop environmental discrimination. The interagency working group on environmental justice, which had not met for a decade, came together at the White House on Wednesday morning to discuss ways to insure that low-income and minority communities don't unfairly bear the brunt of environmental pollution.

BOISE, Idaho — Forty environmental groups told Northwest lawmakers they want a "full project assessment" of oil equipment transports through Idaho and Montana to tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Exxon Mobil has proposed more than 200 oversized shipments weighing up to 300 tons starting this winter from the inland port city of Lewiston along a narrow mountain highway on their way to the Kearl Oil Sands.

The Largest Selection of Liberal-baiting Merchandise on the Net! ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Print Email AmSpecBlog "My tax dollars are being used to crush me" By Chris Horner on 9.7.10 @ 2:15PM No, the Gulf Coast does not have a monopoly on green policies being used to steal your freedom and bankrupt you -- to coin a phrase -- but is only (for now) the latest example. Watch this. As gut-wrenching as this is it is actually a very common tale, or at least the elements are present in every hare-brained consequence I have encountered in two decades of the vague, sweeping...

Backlash over China curb on metal exports China's draconian export curbs on rare earth minerals needed by the rest of the world for frontier technologies is escalating into a serious diplomatic and trade clash with the United States and other leading powers. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor Japan's foreign minister Katsuya Okada issued what amounted to a formal protest at top-level meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing over the weekend, saying the sudden cut-off was "affecting the global production chain". It is the latest sign of rising pressure after angry complaints by companies outside China that rely on this...

The prospect of even a small exploration drilling program near the site of one of the worst U.S. natural disasters in modern memory has environmentalists blowing their tops. As Ascot Resources announced they have begun exploration drilling on the Mt. Margaret property , a former Duval Corp. property located in the St. Helens Mining District of Skamania County in Washington State, Oregon-based environmentalists say even Ascot's small drilling program has no business disturbing the Mount St. Helens National Monument.

Environmental Militant Killed by Police After Discovery Channel SiegeSuspect James Lee Rails in Manifesto Against 'Filthy Human Babies' Associated Press 6:46 PM EDT, September 1, 2010 **SNIP** A lengthy posting which could be seen Wednesday on a website registered to Lee expressed anger against the Discovery Channel and said it promoted overpopulation. He said it and its affiliates should stop "encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants." Instead, he said, the network should air "programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility." "NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis," he wrote. He also railed against "programs promoting War"...

Regulators on Friday shut down a big community bank based in Chicago that has been known for its social activism but racked by financial troubles in recent months. It was the 114th U.S. bank to fail this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over ShoreBank, with $2.16 billion in assets and $1.54 billion in deposits. Urban Partnership Bank, a new institution comprised of several big Wall Street banks and a private foundation, agreed to assume ShoreBank's deposits and nearly all its assets... In an unusual move, the FDIC allowed some of ShoreBank's executives to continue running the restructured bank......

Thanks to the oil spill, BP (BP) is No. 1 on most green groups’ bad guys list. Most have also tried to tie the oil giant to the right, using Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and his apology to BP last week as only the most obvious link. But that only tells part of the story. Critics may have called BP’s use of the slogan “Beyond Petroleum” corporate “greenwashing,” but for years BP walked the walk by supporting groups like the U.S. Climate Action Partnership and donating millions to environmental groups. And they never seemed to have a problem

I was walking back to the office one day, not long after The Atlas Society moved to Washington, when a young woman accosted me on a street corner. “Got a minute for the environment?” she asked, thrusting a leaflet in my direction. Welcome to Washington, I thought. In New York, where I used to live, people passing bills on the street were usually selling one of two things: men’s suits or sex. But Washington is a political town. Here we sell causes. I didn’t stop. I didn’t have a minute for her, or for much of anything except getting back...

A fudgelike goo coating Louisiana’s marshes. A thick oil slick stretching across the Gulf of Mexico. A plume of oil miles below the ocean surface. A tragic loss of life. Reverberating economic consequences. Throw in a poll that shows that 53 percent of Americans rate President Barack Obama “poor” or “very poor” in his handling of the Gulf oil spill, and it’s no wonder the President yesterday broke his 308-day self-imposed press conference moratorium in hopes of conveying some semblance of leadership amid an environmental, economic and human catastrophe that has spiraled out of his control.

Political content in this weekend’s new movies at the theater: A Nightmare On Elm Street//Furry Vengeance [leftist greenie alert]//Harry Brown [conservative Dirty Harry alert]//Please Give [leftist anti-consumerism alert]//The Human Centipede [icky horror movie alert] plus some old dvds: Face/Off//The Forgotten//Fast Times at Ridgemont High//Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her//Saved! [anti-Fundamentalist Christian alert]

Tyler James Johnson, a Caltech graduate student who fled the U.S. after authorities identified him as an alleged conspirator in a case involving arson attacks at several San Gabriel Valley car dealerships six years ago, has died. He was 30. According to an obituary posted on the website of the Michigan-based Staffan-Mitchell Funeral Home, Johnson was “killed from a fall due to an avalanche” on Dec. 26 during a solo expedition in the Corsican mountains of France. Johnson became a fugitive after being named as a co-conspirator in the August 2003 firebombing of eight sport-utility vehicles at a West Covina...

Will clear-cutting forests increase global warming? That's a contentious issue as California, which is seeking to slash its carbon footprint, wrestles over rules to manage the state's private forests. The Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based environmental group, this week filed lawsuits against the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in seven California counties to halt logging plans for 5,000 acres across the Sierra Nevada and Cascade regions. The group contends that the agency approved the projects without properly analyzing carbon emissions and climate consequences under the California Environmental Quality Act. "Clear-cutting is an abysmal practice that should have...

Billionaire gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman gave away just $125,000 of her charitable foundation's $46 million in assets in its first year of operation — and tax records show the bulk of the money went to a surprising place. The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation in 2007 contributed $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund, which is now at odds with Whitman over water policy. The foundation also invested $3 million in hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands — a Caribbean tax haven that's been the subject of political controversy. ... But it's the $100,000 to...

Reporting from El Centro, Calif. - Across the desert flatlands of southeastern California, dozens of companies have flooded federal offices with applications to place solar mirrors on more than a million acres of public land. But just as some of those projects appear headed toward fruition, environmental hurdles threaten to jeopardize efforts to further tap the region's renewable energy potential. The development of solar-power facilities in the desert has been a top priority of the Obama administration as it seeks to ease the nation's dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming. In addition, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged that...

Now that the Senate has returned from its August recess, its members have many issues with which to contend. Although health care reform has received much of the attention in recent weeks, another bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) or more widely known as Waxman-Markey or “cap & trade,” is equally deserving of scrutiny. This is because most major economic impact studies demonstrate that the “cap & trade” scheme proposed in the Waxman-Markey bill will create massive consumer costs with undefined environmental benefits. In June, the Waxman-Markey bill narrowly passed the U.S. House 219-212...

Obama chose a Labor Day union picnic on Monday as the backdrop to announce his selection of Ron Bloom, a member of his auto industry task force, as senior counselor for manufacturing policy. Bloom planned to travel to Cincinnati with Obama for an afternoon announcement at the AFL-CIO event. "They have skirted around that process so there is no accountability for the czars," she said Monday. "Nobody has to go up and testify in front of Congress. They don't have to go through the process." Bloom has already sidestepped congressional approval. He was senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner...

President Obama's announcement of his selection of Ron Bloom as "manufacturing czar" follows the weekend resignation of Van Jones, the White House "green jobs czar" who had come under fire in recent weeks for past inflammatory statements. As one White House "czar" departs amid a cloud of controversy, an undeterred President Obama is naming a new one to advise him on manufacturing, defying conservative critics who have raised concerns about these advisory positions that do not require congressional oversight. Obama chose a Labor Day union picnic on Monday as the backdrop to announce his selection of Ron Bloom, a member...

Nations finish global treaty on illegal fishing-UN 01 Sep 2009 12:22:40 GMT Source: Reuters ROME, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A group of 91 countries have finalised the first global treaty to fight illegal fishing, seeking to shut ports to rogue vessels plundering the seas, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Tuesday. Environmental groups estimate that one-fifth of all fish landed are from illegal, unregulated or unreported (IUU) fishing boats, dealing a heavy blow to developing countries in Africa and Asia which rely on the seas for valuable income. "IUU fishing damages the productivity of fisheries -- or leads...

WASHINGTON — After two centuries of an epic infestation, Alaska's Rat Island finally may merit a name change. The island, part of a national wildlife refuge in the sprawling Aleutian chain, appears to be pest-free for the first time since rats overran it after a Japanese sailing ship wrecked there in the late 1700s. Scientists stopped by in early August to check on the progress of the $3 million eradication. So far, "no sign of rats whatsoever," said Steve MacLean , the polar marine program director for The Nature Conservancy in Alaska , one of the partners in the rat-ridding...

(CNSNews.com) – Less than a week after the Environmental Protection Agency restarted a controversial dredging project on the Hudson River, dredgers operated by the General Electric Company dislodged wooden beams that are the last remnants of one of the largest British forts in the American colonies. The EPA now says that the beams are contaminated with potential carcinogens known as PCBs and therefore must be buried in a landfill

This survey is for my vegan STEP-SON.

Which of these acts are illegal in the USA? Defending your country against suicidal terrorists who have no compunction about killing anyone who gets in their way, OR, Being the nobel prize winning co-founder and spokesman of a cult? I'll be really curious to see if anything comes of this, but I will say this: We have come to a place where some judge is going to rule on the legality of defending yourself and your country against bloodthirsty barbarians. But it's apparently OK to try to wreck the economy and indoctrinate our children into some pseudo-religious nonsense like a...

Costa Rica tops the "Happy Planet Index," a ranking of ecological efficiency among the world's nations, survey officials say. Costa Ricans reported the highest life satisfaction and have an average life expectancy second only to Canada, said a release from the New Economics Foundation, a British think tank that promotes ecology and sustainable economics. Nine of the 10 highest-scoring nations were in Latin America, with the United States reportedly "greener and happier" 20 years ago than it is today. Of the 143 nations surveyed for the Happy Planet Index, the United States ranked 114. While ecological progress is being made,...

Update: 59 Additional Scientists Join Senate Report...More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims