Stories by J.A. Savage

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Getting Off Our Nuclear Power Fixation

Posted on Jul 1, 2006, Source: AlterNet

The vice president would have you believe nuclear power is clean and safe. Here's everything you need to know about just how unclean and dangerous it really is.

Questionable 'Green' Power

Posted on Apr 16, 2004, Source: AlterNet

An energy summit of Western governors unearths some new policies on promoting renewable power. Among the 'clean' options: coal and nuclear.

PG&E: The 'E' ain't for Ethics

Posted on Mar 12, 2004, Source: AlterNet

PG&E's bankruptcy fight should serve as a lesson to the country: In federal bankruptcy court only creditors matter; forget the environment, forget the impact on consumers.

Nuclear Meltdown?

Posted on Feb 24, 2004, Source: AlterNet

With all its hidden costs, and risks, California considers closing one of its largest nuclear plants -- but not if lobbyists have anything to do with it.

Can Greenpeace USA Get Its Mojo Back?

Posted on Jul 2, 2003, Source: AlterNet

The Bush administration's attempt to turn publicly owned national forest tracks into lumber is inciting Greenpeace to get back into the hearts and guts of environmentalists.

Smoke, Forests and Fears

Posted on Jun 23, 2003, Source: AlterNet

The Bush administration backs massive logging in the cause of fire hazard reduction. Environmentalists say that it's a sop to the timber industry.

A Nuclear Whistleblower at Home

Posted on Jun 6, 2003, Source: AlterNet

AlterNet exclusive: A former company man charges that casks designed to hold buried nuclear waste don't meet federal safety standards and could leak.

House Debates Orwellian Logging Bill

Posted on May 19, 2003, Source: AlterNet

'Stealth act' hands prime forests, including ancient trees, to the timber industry and could decimate public lands.

Save the Nukes (From Terrorists)

Posted on Apr 15, 2003, Source: AlterNet

Environmentalists charge that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission isn't doing enough to keep nuclear power plants from becoming weapons of massive radioactive destruction.

Canary In a Data Mine

Posted on Dec 17, 2002, Source: AlterNet

The government is collecting a mountain of information, but they don't know what to do with it...yet.

One Farmer's Resistance Against Monsanto

Posted on Nov 25, 2002, Source: AlterNet

When a Canadian court upheld a lawsuit by the agribiz giant against Percy Schmeiser, it essentially gave Monsanto control of the entire canola crop of Western Canada. Now Schmeiser is fighting back to regain control of his land.

Roots of Discontent

Posted on Oct 22, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Tree-sitting eco-militants have added a new tactic to their arsenal: hunger strikes.

The Shipping News

Posted on Oct 7, 2002, Source: AlterNet

As talks break down between the country's most politically progressive union and shipper's representatives, the federal government steps in, invoking the specter of the union-busting Taft-Hartley Act.

PG&E's Regulatory Jailbreak

Posted on Sep 12, 2002, Source: AlterNet

A recent court ruling sets a precedent for bankrupt companies to ignore environmental laws when paying off their debts.

The Original Mean CEO?

Posted on Aug 8, 2002, Source: AlterNet

Long before Kenneth Lay and Bernie Ebbers, Charles Hurwitz and his company Maxxam were raising the hackles of environmentalists and workers in the redwood forests of California.

The Rockets' Red Glare

Posted on Jun 26, 2002, Source: AlterNet

The Fourth of July is an attractive target date for terrorist attacks. Are the nation's 103 operating commercial nuclear reactors safe? Does the Nuclear Regulatory Commission even care?

Halfway to Yucca Mountain

Posted on May 20, 2002, Source: AlterNet

With the Senate voting soon, will the town of Skull Valley, Nevada, become a temporary holding site for radioactive waste bound for Yucca Mountain? Its residents are getting nervous.

An X-Rayed X-mas: Should the USPS Irradiate Your Mail?

Posted on Nov 5, 2001, Source: AlterNet

To protect against anthrax, the USPS has invested in irradiation devices that can blast mail with the equivalent of 825 million chest X-rays. Will the radiation do more harm than good?

Environmentalists Re-check Priorities, Strategy After 9-11

Posted on Oct 5, 2001, Source: AlterNet

National green organizations fear being tainted as un-American for continuing to oppose Bush's anti-environmental policies, and are significantly shifting their strategies.

Anniversary at Three Mile Island: The Original Electric Crisis

Posted on Mar 20, 2001, Source: AlterNet

Unless you like radioactive fallout, the upcoming anniversary of Three Mile Island's meltdown is cause to get up off the couch and raise some hell.

Gridnapped!: Electric Deregulation's Ransom

Posted on Jan 22, 2001, Source: AlterNet

Greed, plain and simple, is the underlying cause of California's energy crisis.

Indoor Pot Farms Tax Power Grid

Posted on Nov 30, 2000, Source: AlterNet

As the drug war pushes marijuana growers indoors, they are sucking countless precious kilowatts of electricity from an already overtaxed power grid.

Power Hungry

Posted on Aug 9, 2000, Source: Albion Monitor

Brownouts and blackouts in California are getting as common as visits from your relatives. Rather than encouraging energy conservation, the state is building more polluting power power plants.

Diablo Demise

Posted on Apr 26, 2000, Source: AlterNet

In the next six months, California's Diablo Canyon nuclear plant will be shut down, if economics finally have anything to do with it. Despite decades of Pacific Gas & Electric's ability to side-step reality, it's corporate accountants are finally admitting that Diablo isn't profitable. And on on account of hydroelectric dams.

Ripple Effect

Posted on Apr 26, 2000, Source: AlterNet

Despite its profitability, PG&E doesn't want to be in the hydro business anymore. The utility has a plan to transfer all its dams to a sister company -- a move that could raise and lower water levels in lakes, take drinking water out of state regulation, manipulate the price of electricity and put watersheds in the hands of timber companies. And it's not just in California; another PG&E affiliate is buying up dams in New England too. If the plan goes through, the two PG&E affiliates would be the largest owners of electric generation in the nation.

Electric Deregulation

Posted on Apr 26, 2000, Source: deleted

Big corporations anxiously anticipated telephone deregulation to lower the cost of talking to clients in faraway places. Business flyers couldn't wait for airline deregulation to lower the cost of jetting to all those important meetings. Now, businesses that consume lots of energy can't wait for electric industry deregulation. But, just like the other industries where vacationers pay more than Citibank executives heading for Hong Kong and phoning your mom costs more than phoning clients for IBM, individual electric ratepayers will be on the hook to subsidize businesses that will benefit from upcoming electric deregulation.
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