Peter Nightingale
Feds mount last-ditch effort to stop children’s constitutional case
On Thursday, October 18, 2018, for the second time in three months, the Department of Justice asked the United States Supreme Court to circumvent the ordinary procedures of federal litigation and stop the constitutional case Juliana v. United States, involving the substantive due process and equal protection rights of children, from going to trial. Claiming […]
Date set for climate lawsuit brought by kids against U.S. government
On Thursday, April 12, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon set October 29, 2018, as the first day of trial in the landmark constitutional climate lawsuit brought by 21 American youth against the U.S. government. This development follows multiple rulings issued in favor of the youth plaintiffs in Juliana v. United […]
Ninth Circuit rules in favor of youth plaintiffs in constitutional climate trial
Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, rejected the Trump administration’s “drastic and extraordinary” petition for a court order to drop the landmark climate lawsuit brought by 21 youth supported by Our Children’s Trust. The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon lifted the […]
Challenge to Burrilville feeder pipeline approval goes to DC Circuit Court
If the Invenergy-Raimondo power plant in Burrillville will be built, it will burn fracked gas supplied by the pipeline expanded as part of the AIM Project. After years of delays by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, residents and environmental groups finally had their day in court. In Rhode Island, the AIM Project increases the flow […]
Worker co-op bill being heard in Senate, could this model work for Benny’s?
The Rhode Island Senate calendar for Tuesday features legislation that makes it easier to create and run worker-owned cooperatives. The bill is “a statutory vehicle for the creation and functioning of workers’ cooperatives which are corporations that are owned and democratically governed by their members.” In June, the House passed an amended version of the […]
National Defense Authorization Act of 2018, a recurring bipartisan crime
On July 14 the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2018; Ayes 344, Noes 81. Among the 117 Democratic aye-sayers was Congressman Jim Langevin. Congressman David Cicilline opposed the bill. The White House had requested $600 billion, but House members generously added an extra $100 billion. Nobody knows how much money is […]
What the AP fails to mention about escaped Colorado methane
“Natural gas found in western Colorado home, water well,” reads the title of an Associated Press news bulletin. “State officials say natural gas has been found in a home and an abandoned water well in the western Colorado town of De Beque,” reads the story. “Lack of smell implies that the gas found in the […]
‘Impressions of Resistance’: A RISD thesis by Stacy Smith
Stacy Smith is one of the 235 artists exhibiting work at the Rhode Island School of Design Graduate Thesis Exhibition at the Convention Center in Providence starting this week. There’s an opening reception on Wednesday, from 6 to 8pm, and the show is open daily from 10:30am to 6pm until June 4. Smith’s project, which […]
Incremental change is yesterday’s news
Mark and Paul Engler’s This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the 21st Century has been getting rave reviews from exactly the right people. Naomi Klein, author of the Shock Doctrine and of This Changes Everything called it: Absorbing… Ambitious… Indispensable. A genuine gift to social movements everywhere. Bill McKibben of 350.org said: […]
Raimondo goes green but inconsistencies remain
Last week, People’s Power & Light, a non-profit organization working to make energy more affordable and environmentally sustainable, held its 15th Celebration and Annual Meeting. It was the second time within a week that Rhode Island’s environmental community heard about Governor Gina Raimondo’s strategic goal: a gigawatt of renewable electric power in Rhode Island by 2020. […]
FERC may soon be down to one commissioner, a former National Grid CEO
Commissioner Colette Honorable of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced last Friday that she will quit when her term expires in June. This could leave the agency with only one commissioner, acting Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur. LaFleur, one of the few Obama appointees to be retained by President Trump, was the acting CEO of National […]
Securing the right to a livable climate
Our Children’s Trust has been litigating in federal and state court to secure the right to a stable climate and a healthy atmosphere for present and future generations. The approach, based on the public trust doctrine, has had remarkable successes at the state, federal, and global level. At last Saturday’s March for Science in Providence, […]
Wifi and the altruistic stewardship of the commons
Why don’t we all open the locked wifi systems in our homes to our neighbors and passersby? Is it to avoid some easily managed security problem? Or is it that the isolation will boost the profits of the mega communication moguls that have privatized our space and ether? If you can brainwash people into paying […]
Permanent war: the ultimate ruling class entitlement program
Days before the latest U.S. knee-jerk bombing attack on Syria, it was exactly 50 years since Martin Luther King gave his “carefully forgotten” speech Beyond Vietnam. King spoke about what he called “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.” The ruling elites have now made King presentable in polite company. […]
Green economy: power to the people
A local, worker-owned, green economy is the do-or-die alternative to globalized capitalism. The claim that the choice is between jobs and the environment is bipartisan, “larger-than-usual deception.” The Solutions Project estimates that a Rhode Island water-wind-sun energy transition will create 13,000 forty-year jobs, 7,500 in construction and the rest in operation. Compare this to the 300 three-year […]
Reckless endangerment of life on Earth
At least three times so far this winter, the Arctic has witnessed the Polar equivalent of a heatwave, with powerful Atlantic storms driving an influx of warm, moist air. This meant that at the height of the Arctic winter and the sea ice refreezing period, there were days which were actually close to melting point. Antarctic sea ice has also been at a record low, in contrast to the trend in recent years.
Providence City Council to consider resolution opposing power plant and expressing concern over use of city water
In addition to expressing opposition to the siting of the power plant in Burrillville, the the Providence resolution asks the city solicitor an opinion on the legality of Johnston’s intended resale of water to Invenergy, and for other information that would allow the city to prevent use of its water for the power plant.
Providence may pay Johnston’s water debt
Professor Peter Nightingale poses some tough questions and raises some serious concerns about Invenergy’s new water plan with the Town of Johnston.
Health impacts of Invenergy’s Burrillville power plant
Woonsocket may sell water to Invenergy to cool its gigawatt power plant in Burrillville. For citizens’ input, the Woonsocket City Council will hold public hearing this Friday, January 6, at the Woonsocket High School. Of course, water is not the only issue. Woonsocket has five fracked gas power plants within five miles from its center. […]
Youth climate advocates’ lawsuit is example for Rhode Island
Last Monday, Judge Hollis Hill of the Washington Superior Court in Seattle issued another powerful climate justice decision in the Washington State climate lawsuit filed by Zoe and Stella Foster, and their fellow plaintiffs against the state’s Department of Ecology. As the team at Our Children’s Trust writes: Amplifying the urgency of the youths’ claims, […]
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