Human-Health

Against All Mining: The Kennecott Mine Must Be Stopped This is an excerpt from an early draft of a forthcoming book about how “green technology” and “renewable energy” will not save the planet. One of the largest copper mines in the world is the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine, which is just outside Salt Lake City in the Oquirrh Mountains. Flying into the city, you can see the mine from a long way off: a 2.5 mile wide pit dug more than half a mile into the root of the mountains. ...

Editor’s note: this op-ed from the activists at Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment covers the issue of air quality in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah, where a boom in fracking and oil drilling has led to more than 10,000 wells being drilled in the last decade or so. We’ve covered these issues in the past. We invite all who are concerned about this issue to join the opposition, which needs to begin with grassroots opposition work. Other strategies could also be considered. ...

“Protecting Sage Grouse in the Great Basin” “…Restoring native plants and biodiversity in the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem of the Great Basin, where a massive invasion of non-native grasses, particularly cheatgrass, has turned millions of acres into a fire-prone monoculture. As Climate Progress has reported, finding innovative ways to beat back the cheatgrass invasion and restore sagebrush and other native plants has a huge potential for sequestering carbon and aiding in the fight against global climate change.” ...

A sudden and extreme spike in neonatal mortality in Utah’s rural Uinta Basin is most probably related to the toxic air pollution related to the fossil fuel drilling/fracking frenzy in Eastern Utah. And the local poobahs want to kill the messenger. Donna Young is a midwife in Vernal, Utah, with 20 years experience managing home births in Idaho and Utah. She lives in the Uinta Basin, the heart of the fossil fuel drilling/fracking frenzy in Eastern Utah. On May 8, 2013, she had her first stillbirth. At the funeral service a few days later, she noted what seemed like an extraordinary number of infant graves with recent dates at the cemetery. She decided to investigate. ...