Archive - Mar 10, 2009

Last week we asked you help President Obama strengthen his 2020 CO² pollution reduction targets--and your response has been amazing. Over 9,500 of you sent messages to the White House pledging grassroots support for stronger 2020 targets. Help us get to 10,000 messages--send your own letter to Obama today!

Here we go again: Pete Altman at NRDC's Switchboard reports yet another coal ash spill--and this one could reach the nation's capital:

The Maryland Department of the Environment just reported that a ruptured pipeline carrying wet coal ash has spilled 4,000 gallons of the toxic-laden stuff into the North Branch of the Potomac River, in Allegheny County, PA.

I don't know how long it'll take for the spill to reach DC proper, but its a hell of a way to send a message about how much we need to regulate the handling of this stuff. All the more reason to thank the Obama Administration for announcing plans to propose federal regulations for coal waste.

Is that what it will take for Congress to finally clamp down on new coal power plants? For the coal sludge to literally reach their doorsteps? I guess it's time for another round of these: Tell Congress to pass a federal moratorium on new coal power plants!

They say elections have consequences--and this is one of the best to come from Obama's election yet:

Author and activist Van Jones will be a special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation in the Obama administration.

Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a release Monday that Jones will start work next week to help direct the administration's efforts to create jobs and help the environment. Sutley said Jones will work on "vulnerable communities."

Here at 1Sky, we couldn't be happier about Van's move to the White House, especially since he joins what many hail as a "Green Dream Team" of advisers. The president couldn't have chosen a better person to steer his efforts to green the economic recovery. His list of credentials is just too long to list here in full, but to sum up: Van is a member of 1Sky's Board of Directors, founder of an amazing organization called Green for All, a Senior Fellow at the Center of American Progress, author of the New York Times best-seller The Green Collar Economy (which I read and can't recommend enough), and one of the most inspirational public speakers I've ever seen. Check out his keynote speech at Power Shift '09: