Concern About Rockwool Grows Beyond Jefferson CountyAugust 14, 2018Despite the fact that site work has begun on a planned 460,000-square-foot insulation factory on 130 acres in Ranson, W.Va., opposition to the project continues to grow — within Jefferson County and beyond. The Rockwool insulation plant would crush and melt rock using coal and natural gas. Although the proposed plant’s owner, the multi-national ROXEL, has already
U.S. waters are connected by a fundamental forceOctober 17, 2014How often do you think about gravity? Not even in the fall? The season kind of named for gravity? Not even when seemingly weightless orange, gold and red leaves glide towards the Earth, pulled inexorably toward its center by a powerful force that you can’t even see? Or when those leaves land gently in a
A leaking ark: Reports reveal pollution problems and species lossOctober 1, 2014Two reports released this week reveal dangerous holes in our haphazard collection of environmental safeguards. The first, an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Inspector General (IG), found that sewage treatment plants in America fail to address hundreds of hazardous chemicals routinely released by industry. The second, by the international conservation group World Wildlife
Shenandoah’s snot-grass isn’t child’s playSeptember 23, 2014It sounds like something kids would say to gross each other out: snot-grass. But to Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble and others who use the river, it’s serious business. For the past 10 years, according to Kelble’s group, long strips of slimy green algae (reminiscent of certain substances known to emanate from human nostrils) have formed
Warning: You can run, but you can’t swimSeptember 10, 2014Tucked away in a tiny notice in the sports digest of The Washington Post this week was one line that spoke volumes. The notice was reporting on the results of the ninth Annual Events DC Nation’s Triathlon benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The line read: “…the swimming portion of the event was canceled due
Sex and Drinking WaterAugust 7, 2014It’s hard to get more fundamental than this. The water news this week focused on the toxic algal bloom in Lake Erie that poisoned Toledo, Ohio’s drinking water, and a federal study that discovered intersex fish throughout the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Ohio Rivers. But these stories really are just the tip of the iceberg: Many,