photo credit
Sightline Daily | Northwest News That Matters
Top Picks of the Day
1. Portland Offers $12.5 Million to Woo Wind Company
Portland city leaders have offered wind-power giant Vestas Wind Systems $12.5 million in cash incentives to add 850 white-collar jobs in Portland and build a $250 million North American headquarters here, Mayor-elect Sam Adams said. Oregonian 12/01/2008
2. Montana Tries to Squeeze Gas From Garbage
For 40 years, the Billings Regional Landfill has been accepting truckloads of garbage. Last year, about 250,000 tons of garbage was deposited in the landfill just south of Billings. Now the trash is about to start giving back. The bugs and microbes that break down the garbage over time give off methane, or natural gas. Missoulian 12/01/2008
3. Oregon Vineyards Embroiled in Natural Gas Debate
In the push toward more energy independence, massive infrastructure projects that will help to deliver it have clashed with cherished rights of land ownership. Proven natural gas reserves have jumped 10 of the past 11 years, according to the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration, and thousands of miles of new pipelines have snaked in every direction. Oregonian 12/01/2008
4. Washington Gasworks Site Contains Pollution
Heavy concentrations of cancer-causing chemicals have been discovered underground at an old industrial site in West Bremerton. There are no obvious human exposures to the cancer-causing chemicals, but further studies are being done. One question is whether any of the chemicals have leached into Puget Sound. Seattle Times 11/30/2008
5. Rush to Relax Job-Safety Standards
The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job. Seattle Times 11/30/2008
6. Consensus Emerging on Universal Healthcare
After decades of failed efforts to reshape the nation’s healthcare system, a consensus appears to be emerging in Washington. The answer, say leading groups of businesses, hospitals, doctors, labor unions and insurance companies, is unprecedented government intervention to create a system of universal protection. Los Angeles Times 12/01/2008
7. The Spotted Owl Disappearing Act
Across their entire range in Washington, Oregon, Northern California and British Columbia, there are thought to be fewer than 5,000 northern spotted owls left. In the dense forests of the Olympic Peninsula last year, spotted owls were found in 19 of the 54 sites they had once populated. Their numbers have declined by a third since the 1990s. Los Angeles Times 12/01/2008
8. Feds Will Try Again to Delist Wolves
Federal wildlife managers hope to remove wolves from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. But others say a decision before President Bush leaves office will simply delay final resolution by throwing the dispute back into the courts. Boise Idaho Statesman 11/29/2008
9. Will Public Works Work for Oregon?
Last week, House Democrats unveiled an ambitious economic plan to help Oregon weather the economic storm ahead. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on state-funded construction projects could create thousands of jobs, they said. Oregonian 12/01/2008
10. Views: Dying of Consumption
It would be a serious mistake to enact tax cuts aimed at increasing already excessive consumption. The Obama administration needs to encourage the sort of saving that will put consumers on sounder financial footing and free up resources that could be directed at long overdue investments in transportation infrastructure, alternative energy, education, worker training and the like. New York Times 12/01/2008
Filed under: Community News, National and World News | Tagged: alternative energy, Billings Regional Landfill, climate change, consumption, economics, Endangered Species List, Energy Information Administration, environmental, green, job-safety standards, jobs, Labor Department, methane, natural gas, renewable energy, seattleDIRT, Sightline Daily, Sightline Institute, Spotted Owl, sustainability, universal health care, Washington Gasworks site pollution, wolves, Woo Wind Company, workers rights
Is there any information about this subject in other languages?