Friends of the Earth is exposing and fighting pollution and exploitation of our ecosystems. Our Clean Vessels campaign is cleaning up the cruise industry, protecting marine sanctuaries, and reducing air pollution from ocean-going vessels. The environment is for everyone, and a healthy and just world requires clean air and water.
Read the latest news and updates from our Air and Water campaigns:
Despite conclusive evidence (see http://foe.org/keystone-xl-pipeline-influence-scandal) that the State Department has overseen a corrupt Keystone XL tar sands pipeline review process, the Obama administration indicated last Thursday (November 10) that the department will remain in charge of the new environmental review of the proposed pipeline.
But additional evidence has surfaced that will complicate the State Department's bid to oversee this review. Friends of the Earth and allies have received a third tranche of documents in response to our Freedom of Information Act request and what is hidden from view is just as concerning as the further evidence of collusion with TransCanada that is revealed. The evidence indicates State Department employees have inappropriately shown favoritism toward TransCanada – acting as though it was their job to ensure the pipeline was approved rather than that an impartial review was conducted. It also shows that the department is hiding something.
Our biotechnology campaigner Eric Hoffman is going on a week-long tour of Atlantic Canada to raise awareness about the risks of genetically engineered fish on our environment and our health. Friends of the Earth has spent the past year urging the Food and Drug Administration to conduct proper environmental assessments on genetically engineered salmon, to deny approval of the so-called “Frankenfish,” or at the very least to label them so consumers know what they’re eating and feeding to their families. Click here for updates from Eric as his trip progresses.
Evidence is mounting that the State Department’s review of a proposed tar sands oil pipeline has been corrupted by bias, lobbyist influence and conflicts of interest. The growing scandal is making front-page headlines and putting new pressure on President Obama to stop the pipeline.
The proposed pipeline — TransCanada’s Keystone XL — would transport the world’s dirtiest oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline threatens drinking water, air quality, and the livelihoods of the people who live along its route. It would also act as a “carbon bomb” that jeopardizes our climate.
At the core of the scandal: the firm Cardno Entrix, allowed by the State Department to conduct the impacts review for the pipeline despite a stunning conflict of interest; emails between State Department staff and TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliott, previously a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide, that indicate bias and complicty at State; a web of lobbyists and State Department employees cozy with the oil industry; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who announced last year announced she was “inclined” to approve the pipeline even though the State Department’s review was not yet complete.
Friends of the Earth signed a letter to the Obama administration asking him to look into the environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," before continuing to issue the federal permits required for fracking.
From June 5 to June 11, 2011, hundreds of people from Appalachia and across the nation are embarking on a historic march for justice in West Virginia. Appalachia Rising: March on Blair Mountain is retracing the footsteps of 10,000 miners who rose up 90 years ago to fight for their basic rights to live and work in dignity. This new generation of Appalachians and allies are demanding an end to mountaintop removal, the strengthening of labor rights, sustainable job creation in Appalachian communities, and the preservation of Blair Mountain.
April 5, 2011: It has been nearly a month since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, precipitating the ongoing nuclear reactor and radioactive waste disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi site.
Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, has written this update on where things stand in Japan, the troubling spread of radioactive contamination, and what Friends of the Earth is doing to achieve a halt to new reactor construction and, ultimately, an end to nuclear power in the U.S.
With domestic freight transportation projected to increase rapidly within the next decade, short sea shipping (i.e. moving goods using vessels rather than trucks) has been touted as an economical, environmentally friendly alternative to trucking. A new report from Friends of the Earth weighs in on the environmental risks this mode of transportation presents and potential ways to mitigate its impacts.
Few marine environments in our country compare to the Florida Keys’ natural beauty and marine resources. The 3,801 square-mile Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary supports one of the most diverse assemblages of underwater plants and animals in North America – but it has been threatened by ship sewage. Early last year, the National Marine Sanctuary proposed an outright ban on ships dumping sewage. Thanks to Friends of the Earth activists, who wrote in support a proposal to place an outright ban on any ship sewage in the sanctuary, the ban has been put into place!
Lead is a harmful and toxic chemical that causes a broad range of adverse health effects, including damage to the central nervous system, cardiovascular function, kidneys, immune system, and red blood cells. No amount of lead exposure is safe. Leaded aviation fuel is the largest single source of lead emissions in the U.S., and Friends of the Earth is pushing the EPA to phase out its use in order to protect human health and the environment.
In 2005, Friends of the Earth helped pass the California Clean Coast Act. This act stems the tide of ship pollution by prohibiting the discharge of numerous waste streams from large ships in California’s waters.
California applied to the U.S. EPA in 2006 to implement the sewage dumping ban, known as a "No Discharge Zone." Thanks to the joint effort by the State of California, its congressional delegation and Friends of the Earth, the EPA has finally proposed to approve the sewage dumping ban.
