skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SCOTUS skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law; Iowa advocates for immigrants push back on Texas-style deportation bill; new hearings, same arguments on both sides for ND pipeline project; clean-air activists to hold "die-in" Friday at LA City Hall.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

"Squad" member Summer Lee wins her primary with a pro-peace platform, Biden signs huge foreign aid bills including support for Ukraine and Israel, and the Arizona House repeals an abortion ban as California moves to welcome Arizona doctors.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Port of Seattle Back in Court Over Oil-Rig Homeport

play audio
Play

Thursday, July 30, 2015   

SEATTLE – It's back to court on Friday for the Port of Seattle, and conservation groups that contend the port commissioners didn't conduct an environmental assessment before signing a lease to allow repair of oil-drilling rigs at the port.

The groups maintain the water pollution risks are obvious, and that the last environmental review for expanding the port's Terminal 5 had covered increasing container cargo traffic – not mooring an Arctic drilling fleet there.

Attorney Patti Goldman with Earthjustice represents the groups and says they're asking the judge to vacate the lease between the Port of Seattle and Shell Oil contractor Foss Maritime.

"If that happens, then it wipes the slate clean and the port can proceed the way it should have all along – with disclosure to the public, with analysis of the effects, obtaining public input and then, making a decision," she explains.

The lawsuit was filed in March in King County Superior Court. The case has received national attention as part of another controversial issue – the environmental effects of oil exploration in the Arctic Ocean.

With other, potentially more profitable uses for shipping terminals, Goldman says Northwest port cities don't have to agree to be part of that.

"It's bringing Arctic drilling to places where people do not want to support that,” she stresses. “And they're very alarmed at what happens if you have an oil spill in the Arctic, and what happens in terms of climate impacts if that oil is actually produced and burned."

Just last week, Shell was granted the last two federal permits required to begin Arctic drilling.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, the House Democratic floor leader, called Missouri politicians "extremist" on social media after they passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country and defunded Planned Parenthood. (Fitz/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

The Missouri Legislature has approved a law to stop its Medicaid program, known as MO HealthNet, from paying Planned Parenthood for medical services …


Environment

play sound

A round of public testimony wrapped up this week as part of renewed efforts by a company seeking permit approval in North Dakota for an underground pi…

Social Issues

play sound

Air travelers could face fewer obstacles in securing a refund if their flight is canceled or changed under new federal rules announced Wednesday…


The Iowa Movement for Migrant Justice calls Senate File 2340 a "ridiculous stunt," passed in an election year "to mobilize voters using fear and anti-immigrant sentiment." (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Advocates for immigrants are pushing back on a bill signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in the last few days of the legislative session, modeled on a …

Environment

play sound

An environmental group is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Arkansas mudalia snail under the Endangered Species Act. In …

Currently, more than 2.7 million Californians live within 3,200 feet of an operational oil well. (MSPhotographic/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Leaders concerned about pollution and climate change are raising awareness about a ballot measure this fall on whether the state should mandate buffer…

play sound

A coalition of climate groups seeking cleaner air at the rail yards and ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will hold a "die-in" rally tomorrow at Los…

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Marianne Dhenin for Yes! Magazine.Broadcast version by Shanteya Hudson for Georgia News Connection reporting for the YES! Media/Public News …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021