How the West is Winning Against Coal

by Mary Anne Hitt

The past month across the western U.S. has been filled with victories against coal:

--After a two year campaign, we locked down the permanent retirement of the Oregon Boardman plant (600-megawatts of dirty coal power) by no later than 2020, and we continue to push for earlier date.

--Los Angeles recently released a draft plan for the nation's largest municipal utility that gets out of one of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the country - the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona (though the plan still needs a little work [PDF]).

continued at Daily Kos....

EcoJustice: Scars Upon Sacred Land III: Columbus in Arizona

by Aji

Today is a day that some folks celebrate as a holiday.  They call it "Columbus Day."  Me?  I call it "European Invaders' Day," and I don't celebrate it.

I do, however, use this day to remember - and to remind myself that it can happen again.  And it is.

The latest episode is one state over, in Arizona.  And it literally involves European (and Australian) corporate invaders, attempting once again to strip tribes of sacred lands and resources, while plundering, pillaging, and despoiling the environment.

We explored a little of this in last week's EcoJustice with the sordid histories of the two transnationals behind this latest effort, BHP Billiton and the Rio Tinto Group.  Tonight, we're going to delve into their joint faux "American" operation:  The Resolution Project.

And it's going to get ugly.

continued at Daily Kos....

AZ-02 : "This is beyond a tragedy, this is treason"

by AZ Independent

What we've seen since the 1973 oil crisis has been disgusting. Only lip service has been paid to solving the threat to our security that dependence on foreign sources of energy has become. Republicans in Congress, like Joe "BP, I apologize" Barton, John "Drill baby, Drill!" McCain, and Trent Franks(R-AZ), have made our country more dependent on foreign sources of oil than ever before.

The infamous Phoenix brown cloud, c/o Trent Franks (Source)

MMM... chocolaty

The simple fact is, we can't drill our way out of this problem. We need leaders who will fight for the future- help to establish an economy where American companies and American-made products provide jobs for us.

continued at Daily Kos....

Final Update #11: The Week in Editorial Cartoons (Part I) - Dropping the Ball

by JekyllnHyde

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

Note:

Due to the unusually high number of editorial cartoons published over the past week or so (I literally have another 300+ cartoons saved), I'm going to try and post another edition of this diary by Friday, August 6th.  It something I've never done before.

continued at Daily Kos...