Blogs

MAR 23, 2013 - Over on Inhabitat.com, they have a cool article on the world's largest solar tower power plant to be built in California.

"Competing solar power companies Abengoa and BrightSource Energy will soon team up to build the world’s largest solar tower facility in Southern California. The new solar development will be located on federal land, and it’s being facilitated by the Bureau of Land Management. The 500-megawatt Palen Solar Electric Generating System will create 2,000 new construction jobs, and it will produce enough electricity to power 200,000 households."

See pics and read about it some more at Inhabitat.com.

MAR 21, 2013 - A new set of standards, ones that are even tougher than state regulations, have been agreed upon by gas companies and environmental defense organizations. The plan will be to have an independant and third party panel, consisiting of representatives from various environmental defense organizations, which will go over plans and operations of the gas companies, and will either give them a thumbs up or a thumbs down. This will hopefully lead to less battles in the courtrooms, and also hopefully less pollution. JTMP supports banning the practice of fracking eventually, but this is a good step for now. From PennLive.com:

"In addition to Shell and Chevron, the participants include the Environmental Defense Fund, the Clean Air Task Force, EQT Corp., Consol Energy and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and the organizers hope to recruit others.

The new standards include limits on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and the flaring, or burning off, of unwanted gas; reductions in engine emissions; groundwater monitoring and protection; improved well designs; stricter wastewater disposal; the use of less toxic fracking fluids; and seismic monitoring before drilling begins.

For example, the plan requires companies to recycle 90 percent of their wastewater and to check water supplies around a well for pollution for a year after drilling is completed.

The project will cover Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio — where a frenzy of drilling is under way in the huge, gas-rich Marcellus and Utica Shale formations — as well as New York and other states in the East that have put a hold on new drilling."

Read more on PennLive.com here.  (photo credit: CC/billib1961/Flickr)

MAR 12, 2013 - I ran across this great news on an anti-Tar Sands development Wordpress blog called, "Funeral For Our Future": "On Monday, March 11, over 100 people representing a coalition of students, members of the Massachusetts Methodist clergy, mothers fighting for their children, and concerned community members marched into the Westborough, MA office of TransCanada Corporation and held a funeral mourning the loss of our future at the hands of the Keystone XL Pipeline." 

Read more on the Funeral For Our Future's
Wordpress Blog page here:
http://funeralforourfuture.wordpress.com/

MAR 12, 2013 - A group calling themselves the "Southern Illionoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment" has a page on their website with 4 cool anti-fracking protest songs. One is the great protest song that came out in 2011 that JTMP blogged about called, "My Water's on Fire Tonight". Check out the video to that song below, and for 3 other activist-music videos you may have not heard yet, check out the Southern Illionoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment website here:

http://www.dontfractureillinois.net/category/media/music/

MAR 11, 2013 - An organization that JTMP is part of, "Artists Against Fracking", have released a music video for their song, "Don't Frack My Mother". A funny song featuring many different artists, such as Josh Fox, Sean and Yoko Ono, and a whole bunch of other artists all chipping in for this hilarious protest song that is great for firing up the much-needed opposition to Fracking. Watch the video below, and for more info you can check out artistsagainstfracking.org

MAR 7, 2013 - The New York State Assembly has banned the practice of fracking for 5 years, which is a good victory for the anti-fracking activist community, but does show we need to keep the fight up until we have a permanent ban.  (photo credit: Leeseann/Flickr/CC)

REUTERS:

New York State Assembly votes to block fracking until 2015
Wed, Mar 06 14:55 PM EST

NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - The New York State Assembly passed legislation on Wednesday that extends the moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the state until May 2015 and requires further studies on the environmental impact of the practice known as fracking.

A moratorium on fracking has been in place in the Empire State since 2008 because of concerns that the practice, which involves pumping chemical-laced water and sand deep below the surface to extract natural gas from shale, can contaminate water supplies.

Read more here.

MAR 6, 2013 - Inside Climate News has reported that lobbyist groups with deep ties to the oil industry wrote parts of the State Department's EIS, or Environmental Impact Study, on the impact the Keystone Pipeline construction. EnSys Energy, with ties to Exxon, is one of the astroturf or corporate lobbyist groups involved. Read more on Inside Climate News here. (photo credit: JTMP)

MAR 6, 2013 - Artists Against Fracking, a collection of activist musicians consisting of Yoko and Sean Lennon, Justice Through Music, and many other artists and organizations, have started a billboard campaign pushing for New York Governor Mario Cuomo to ban the harmful practice of fracking permanently statewide. Sean Lennon issued a statement saying, "Fracking for gas is inherently dirty and dangerous. Cement and pipes at these great depths are simply not reliable, as the industry’s own documents show. Cracks and leaks will inevitably poison wells and aquifers. Rural communities will be turned into industrial brownfields. No amount of regulation can make fracking safe." Check out their campaign and get more info on their website below. (Photo credit: artistsagainstfracking.org)

http://artistsagainstfracking.com/have-you-seen-our-billboard/

MAR 4, 2013 - In a move that has sent shockwaves through the climate change activist movement, the US State Department has issued their review of the impact that the Keystone XL Pipeline will have on our climate change crisis, and they have concluded that the Keystone XL Pipeline will supposedly "not lead to a new increase in greenshouse gas emissions". Virtually all environmental activists and groups are stunned and saddened by this, for the Keystone Pipeline, and the Tar Sands development, have wreaked havoc on wildlife, the environment, and has a huge impact on our climate change crisis.

President Barack Obama will use this report when he makes the final decision on whether to build this pipeline or not in September. We here at JTMP do NOT support the findings of the State Department, and stand with all environmental activists and groups, and stongly urge President Barack Obama to NOT approve the consruction of this pipeline. The devastating effect on lands from the construction of this pipeline, the Tar Sands development, and the spills that would inevitably happen, cannot be undone and would make our climate change crisis worse.

To urge the President to stop the construction of this Pipeline, Americans can sign a petition by our good buddies over at Change.org. Read more about the State Department's decision on Keystone over on BusinessGreen.com here. Leave a comment and start a conversation over at our Justice Through Music Facebook page here.

FEB 21, 2013 - Richmond, Virginia has always been upset about having to pay for all the transporation infrastructure in Northern Virginia where the population is very dense (and "liberal"...), but this time they have lost their minds. Both Democrats and Republicans from across the state have agreed on a deal, which will be on the calendar soon, to impose a $100 fee, or "fine", even a "penalty"...on hybrid cars. Yes, they hate those "latte-drinking, body-piercing, Obama-voting liberals" so much, they are going to fine owners of hybrid cars $100 a year. Most people know there is a very dense concentration of hybrid car owners in the Northern virginia area that tends to vote Democratic.  (photo credit: CC/Hatsukari715)

Read more on the Richmond Times Dispatch here.