On May 14, 2015, in a federal courtroom in Greenville, North Carolina, coal combusting giant Duke Energy pled guilty to committing 9 environmental crimes for its years of illegal discharge of coal ash pollution throughout the State of North Carolina. Duke Energy will also pay some $102 million in fines…
In March 2015, Syracuse University hydrology professor, Donald Siegel, and a team of other scientists published a fracking study in Environmental Science and Technology, the bottom line of which is, basically, “fracking is safe”. At least that’s the way that the pro-fracking forces are selling it. Specifically, Professor Siegel and…
The LA Times and environmental advocacy group, Water Defense, recently combined to show what a sham so-called “environmental testing” can sometimes be, because it creates the illusion of protection for the people, when in truth there is very little, or maybe even none at all. In its May 2, 2015…
Why isn’t the State of North Carolina doing more to protect its own citizens against contaminated water? For years, North Carolina has departed from the practice of most states, and allowed political heavyweight Duke Energy to store coal ash–the toxic residue of coal burning–in unlined pits near bodies of water…
Last year, the groundwater feeding a well located at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Airport–which was one of several wells supplying water to the citizens of the City of Portsmouth–was found to be contaminated with dangerous levels of a chemical known as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS. The well is called the…
Earlier this week, a federal criminal complaint was filed by prosecutors against a former smoke shop owner and her employee over the death of a young man who smoked synthetic marijuana purchased from the shop located within a west suburban mall. That young man was Max Dobner, an excellent college…
Unfortunately, Deborah and Ralph Graham of Dukeville, North Carolina can now be added to the large and growing list of American families who are learning the hard way that they cannot trust their government to protect them against chemical contamination, even though the Grahams pay their government (in taxes) to…
Earlier this month, the Obama Administration announced a $70 million fine against automaker Honda. The fine–the largest civil penalty levied against an automaker–is in response to Honda’s failure to report to regulators death and injury complaints for over a decade between 2003 and 2014. Among those complaints that were not…
Imagine being involved in a serious motor vehicle accident that results in significant personal injuries, medical bills, and lost wages. Under these circumstances, you would be correct in assuming that the insurance company for the person who caused the accident and your injuries would be “on-the-hook” to compensate you for…
The U.S. Army is showing a disrespect that borders on hostility toward its neighbors who live near the Army’s Fort Gillem base just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The Army’s decades-long failure to protect these families from life-threatening contamination—that the Army itself had caused—has forced the U.S. EPA last week to…