We've got issues.
Fritz, an Australian shepherd mix and the beloved pet of John Beere and Cindy Corder, died on Jan. 20 while out for a walk at the Salmon River Fish Hatchery near Otis, Ore. The dog was strangled by an 8-inch conibear trap set to kill river otters that had been eating rainbow trout out of the hatchery’s ponds. Continue reading
“We are screwed in all kinds of senses if we keep doing what we’re doing and don’t change course,” says Thomas Linzey, executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Linzey, an attorney, says that he had to be persuaded to come give a keynote talk at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) because “we don’t see lawyers as change agents.” He adds, “I let them know up front that my talk would be based on why environmental law has failed.” Continue reading
We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. — President Obama, Inaugural Address, Jan. 21, 2013 Efforts are mounting to create political space and bolster the president’s renewed determination to avert increasingly devastating disruption of our planet’s climate system. Continue reading
Biofuels, wildlife preserves, a community’s access to clean water: These are the kinds of issues we think of as social and environmental positives, but these same seemingly good things can be wielded like clubs and injure Africa’s indigenous populations, who are often forced off their ancestral lands by governments and multinational corporations. Continue reading
Passionate lectures were strewn throughout the UO campus in February, and they weren’t solely from professors in classrooms. Panels and workshops were held at the Social Justice, Real Justice Conference, with speakers discussing everything from the history of racism in Eugene to activism in changing foreign policy (see story last week). Emotions were flying particularly high in the Alumni Center and the law building — as high as the drones being discussed hover over distant lands. Continue reading
Oregon DEQ followed up its Dec. 13 pre-enforcement notice to Norpac Foods, Inc., (EW 12/27) with a civil penalty in the amount of $9,600 on Jan. 31. Norpac over-applied food processing wastewater to a field near Scio, resulting in illegal discharges to a ditch that drains to the North Santiam River. Continue reading
• Roseburg Resources Company 935-2507, plans to ground spray glyphosate, imazapyr, triclopyr amine and/or triclopyr ester on noxious weeds on its forest lands in Townships 18S 06W, 18S 08W and 19S 06W, a countywide notification. See ODF notice 2013-781-00163. • Weyerhaeuser Company Springfield Operations 988-7502 plans to backpack spray any of several chemicals listed on 97 acres near Parsons and/or McGowan and several other creeks and/or tributaries. See ODF Continue reading
In Afghanistan • 2,168 U.S. troops killed* (2,168) • 18,285 U.S. troops wounded in action (18,255) • 1,316 U.S. contractors killed (1,316) • 12,793 civilians killed (12,793) • $615.7 billion cost of war ($613.5 billion) • $181.8 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($181.2 million) In Iraq Continue reading
Chris Hellman is the military budget specialist and senior research analyst at the National Priorities Project. He said today that while many have focused on looming reductions to military spending, "in fact, the Pentagon is in a better position to absorb these cuts because of sizable growth in [its] spending over the past decade." Continue reading
Insect control made awesome. Continue reading