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ICP has published a (double) book about
a variety of inner city-relevant topics, including racism,
environmental and otherwise - click here for
sample chapters, here for
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here
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delivery, and here for
other ordering
information. CBS
MarketWatch of April 23, 2004, says the
the novel has "some very funny moments," and that the
non-fiction mixes "global statistics and first-person
accounts." The Washington
Post
of March 15, 2004, calls Predatory Bender: America in
the Aughts "the first novel about predatory lending;" the
London
Times of April 15, 2004, "A Novel Approach," said it "has
a cast of colorful characters." See
also, "City
Lit: Roman a Klepto [Review of ‘Predatory Bender’]," by
Matt Pacenza, City Limits, Sept.-Oct. 2004. The Pittsburgh
City Paper says the 100-page afterword makes the
"indispensable point that predatory lending is now being
aggressively exported to the rest of the globe," and opines that
that the "novel Predatory Bender: A Story of Subprime
Finance may, in fact, be the first great American lending
malfeasance novel" including "low-level loan sharks,
class-action lawyers, corporate bigwigs, hired muscle, corrupt
politicians, Iraq War veterans, Wall Street analysts, reporters
and one watchdog with a Web site." And environmental
justice too! Click here
for that
review; for or with more information, contact us.
April
19, 2021
River
story:
"Mercury was
ubiquitous in
both household
and industrial
uses in the
1800s and
1900s, said
Joel Hoffman,
a research
biologist and
co-author of
the study who
is chief of
the Ecosystems
Services
Branch of the
EPA's Duluth
laboratory.
Those sources
likely
included paper
mills, lumber
mills, steel
mills,
shipbuilding
sites,
manufacturing
facilities and
other sources
that once
dominated the
river and Twin
Ports harbor
shoreline.
April
12, 2021
Two
dead whales
have washed up
on the same
stretch of
Bangladesh
coastline in
two days,
officials said
Saturday,
raising
suggestions
that they were
killed by sea
pollution.
Officials said
the second,
much longer
whale washed
up on
Himchhari
Beach, outside
the resort
city of Cox's
Bazar, at
around 8:30 am
April
5, 2021
Chron:
Los Angeles is
the most
severely
polluted of
all US
cities.
Vehicles
generate the
bulk of
greenhouse
gases, roughly
70 million
tons per
year.
Greater
Houston, a
metro area of
7.1 million,
presents a
stark
contrast.
Houston proves
that a city
need not be
circled by a
mountain
barrier to
form dense air
pollution.
Look in any
direction from
a building in
Houston and
behold level
terrain as far
as the
pollution haze
allows the eye
to see.
Extraordinarily
flat, Houston
is nonetheless
pollution-plagued.
Just as
Houston and
Los Angeles
differ
markedly in
topography,
they differ
also in
pollution
“source
mix”.
Houston’s
vehicle fleet
accounts for
less than 30%
of air
emissions,
appreciably
smaller than
LA’s.
But greenhouse
gases are not
negligible –
about 24
million tons
per
year.
Industrial
behemoths
including
ExxonMobil,
Dow Chemical,
and Lyondell
as well as
other refining
and
petrochemical
businesses
contribute
importantly to
Houston’s
economy.
They also
contribute to
pollution,
accounting for
most of the
balance of air
emissions
along with
smaller
factory
operations and
electricity
generation.
March
29, 2021
GAINESVILLE,
Florida - The
Florida
Department of
Environmental
Protection has
issued a
notice of
pollution near
the Alachua
County jail...
March
22, 2021
What
will pro-China
UNSG Guterres
say about
this, from the
FT? "Despite
Xi’s pledge
last year to
reach net-zero
carbon
emissions by
2060, China’s
five-year
economic
blueprint
released this
month
disappointed
those who had
hoped for
strict curbs
on polluting
coal power
plants.
Even before
the dust
storm, Beijing
was mired in a
relapse of
poor air
quality at
levels similar
to 2016,
caused by
soaring
production of
steel, cement
and
aluminum.."
March 15, 2021
Researchers at
the University
of Virginia
and Duke
University law
schools have
created a
database to
track the
criminal
prosecution of
corporations.
According to
that registry,
federal
prosecutors
have made only
17 such deals
out of more
than 700
environmental
and wildlife
cases since
the late
1990s. The
Times found
two more
non-prosecution
agreements
through a
Freedom of
Information
Act
request.
Eight of those
deals, or
roughly 40
percent, came
out of the
Central
District of
California, a
rate far out
of proportion
to its share
of the
country's
environmental
caseload,
according to a
summary of
environmental
prosecution
data
maintained by
Syracuse
University's
TRAC project
March
8, 2021
The
U.S. Court of
Appeals for
the 9th
Circuit on
Thursday
reversed the
conviction of
James Philip
Lucero for
engineering a
scheme to
dispose of
dirt and
debris on
lands
adjoining the
Mowry Slough
in Newark,
near the Don
Edwards San
Francisco Bay
National
Wildlife
Refuge.
Lucero was a
"self-described
'dirt-broker'
who provided
contractors
and trucking
companies with
open space to
dump fill
material, or
dirt, taken
from
construction
sites for a
fee,"
according to
the
court.
He was
indicted in
2016 for
"knowingly
discharging a
pollutant"
into
"navigable
waters" in
violation of
the federal
Clean Water
Act.
The heart of
the dispute
was what the
trial judge
should have
told the jury
about the
meaning of the
word
"knowingly."
March
1, 2021
From
the UK: THAMES
Water has been
given a fine
worth more
than Ł2
million
following a
pollution
incident in
Oxfordshire.
The water
company was
fined Ł2.3
million for a
raw sewage
pollution
incident in
2016, which
saw 1,200 fish
die.
February
22, 2021
Minnesota
pollution: On
Feb. 19, the
Minnesota
Pollution
Control Agency
issued a Code
Orange Air
Quality Alert
to be in
effect from 6
p.m. today
through noon
Sunday, Feb.
21 for much of
east central
and southeast
Minnesota,
including
Wright
County.
According to
the MPCA, "Air
quality is
expected to
worsen
beginning
Friday
evening, with
the Air
Quality Index
(AQI)
forecasted to
reach Orange
or Unhealthy
for Sensitive
Groups
category."
February
15, 2021
Britain’s
Supreme Court
ruled Thursday
that a group
of Nigerian
farmers and
fishermen can
sue Royal
Dutch Shell
PLC in English
courts over
pollution in a
region where
the
Anglo-Dutch
energy giant
has a
subsidiary.
Five justices
on the U.K.’s
top court said
Shell has a
“duty of care”
to the
claimants over
the actions of
its Nigerian
subsidiary.
Shell had
argued that it
was not
responsible.
Members of
Nigeria’s
Ogale and
Bille
communities
took Shell to
court in
Britain in
2016, alleging
that decades
of oil spills
have fouled
the water,
contaminated
the soil and
destroyed the
lives of
thousands of
people in the
Niger River
Delta, where a
Shell
subsidiary has
operated for
decades.
February
8, 2021
Owners
of a solar
energy farm in
Massachusetts
have reached a
settlement
with the
state’s
attorney
general’s
office to
remediate a
large tract of
wetlands and
riverfront
damaged during
construction
of the site in
2018.
Dynamic Energy
Solutions
agreed to pay
more than $1
million to
settle charges
that it
violated
federal
stormwater
protections,
damaged
wetlands and
polluted a
branch of a
river...
February
1, 2021
Riverkeeper Lawsuit Against EPA Will Exclude Hearsay Report In SDNY Ruling Due February
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 25 – Riverkeeper sued the EPA
for not protecting endangered species in
connection with its response to the COVID-19
pandemic.
On
January 25, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Jed S.
Rakoff held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Judge Rakoff
grilled Riverkeeper's lawyer about a report
being hearsay; he listened to the argument on
standing, that it was not based on spending
money on litigation but the longstanding
"Havens" factors.
At the end -
reference was made another proceeding, not on
the PACER Calendar Events - Judge Rakoff said
it is interesting case so it will take time to
rule.
He
specified the end of February, saying he'll
aim to do it sooner but cannot promise.
January
25, 2021
A
map of Florida
brownfields,
and
communities of
color, is here.
January
18, 2021
Tzumi Sues EPA To Stop Hand Wipes Wipe Out Order But EPA Says Claims Are False
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Jan 14 – Tzumi Innovations
says that its "Wipe Out!" hand wipes should
not be registered with the EPA as a pesticide
under FIFRA. It has
sued.
On January 14, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Lorna G.
Schofield held a proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
The EPA says
Tzumi is lying - or its claims are false -
when it accuses EPA of issuing a Stop Sale,
Use or Removal Order to Home Depot regarding
Wipe Out products.
On January 11,
Judge Schofield had ordered a briefing
schedule and a letter on whether the
effectiveness of any SSURO might be delayed
pending resolution of the case. Could it be a
wipe out?
The case is Tzumi Innovations, LLC v. Wheeler et al., 21-cv-122 (Schofield)
***
January
11, 2021
Check
it out: Top
Twenty Lenders
to 40 actors
in the Plastic
Packaging
Value Chain
(Jan 2015 -
Sept 2020;
million USD)
BANK
HQ LOANS &
UNDERWRITING %
OF TOTAL Bank
of America
United States
171,737 10.31%
Citigroup
United States
145,816 8.76%
JPMorgan Chase
United States
143,766 8.63%
Barclays
United Kingdom
117,923 7.08%
Goldman Sachs
United States
97,042 5.83%
HSBC United
Kingdom 96,201
5.78% Deutsche
Bank Germany
77,398 4.65%
Wells Fargo
United States
74,121 4.45%
BNP Paribas
France 55,852
3.35% Morgan
Stanley United
States 54,211
3.26% Mizuho
Financial
Japan 50,602
3.04%
Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial
Japan 43,587
2.62% Credit
Suisse
Switzerland
40,218 2.42%
Société
Générale
France 35,775
2.15%
Santander
Spain 33,960
2.04% SMBC
Group Japan
33,189 1.99%
ING Group
Netherlands
31,084 1.87%
Toronto-Dominion
Bank Canada
23,574 1.42%
NatWest United
Kingdom 22,207
1.33% Royal
Bank of Canada
Canada 21,760
1.31% Other
295,191 17.73%
January
4, 2021
Chippewa Sue Enbridge Tar Sands Oil Pipeline But Army Corps Lost in DC Mail Press Tweets
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
FEDERAL COURT,
Dec 31 – A lawsuit seeking to enjoin a tar
sands oil pipeline in Minnesota and elsewhere
got a initial hearing on December 30 in the
U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia. Inner City Press covered it, and
live tweeted it here:
The US Army
Corps of Engineers decision to let Enbridge
Energy to build a 330-mile pipeline for
tar sands oil from Canada is being sued in DC
Dist by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
& White Earth Band of Ojibwe.
US says it has
not been served. The papers are in the mail,
but USPS says they won't arrive until January
5.
Judge Judge
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly says she can move fast,
because of COVID she is not going anywhere.
She asks the parties to agree to a briefing
schedule Assistant US Attorney says the
Corps of Engineers people are on vacation,
unreachable. They want more time.
Judge: Are
they going to be back on Monday? AUSA: That
would be the first day. This permit may have a
truly massive record, including state
litigation. Judge: I was reversed some
years ago for doing a TRO without getting the
administrative record in. It's local rule
7(10)(1), it's gotten better. Has there been
other litigation?
Plaintiffs'
counsel: Yes, at the state level. And under
Section 401 of the Clean Water
Act. Plaintiffs' counsel: It's in
the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Judge: So
we'll talk once you reach the Army Corps of
Engineers.
The case is RED LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS, WHITE EARTH BAND OF OJIBWE, HONOR THE EARTH, and SIERRA CLUB, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, Defendant. Case No. 1:20-cv-3817 (D.D.C., Kollar-Kotelly)
***
December
28, 2020
EPA Cutting No Spray Pesticide Zone Triggered SDNY Hearing By Dec 26 Only EPA Has Filed
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 23 – The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's rule to limit the 100-foot
no spray zone down to 23-feet gave rise to an
emergency hearing on December 23 at 5 pm.
Inner City Press covered it.
U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York
Judge Lewis J. Liman held the hearing, and
asked many questions, including about the
impact of the change of U.S. Administration on
January 20.
He did
not decide, at the end of an hour and a half,
on the request for a temporary restraining
order.
Instead,
Judge Liman said he will rule on it before
December 29. He asked the parties if they
wanted to submit more on "the 705 issue." Both
said yes.
So, letters
were said due at 5 pm on Saturday, December
26.
Now as of 5:10
pm on December 26, in the docket there is no
letter (yet?) from plaintiffs, but this in the
EPA's / DOJ's 3-page filing: "Dear Judge
Liman: This Office represents defendants
(together, “EPA”) in this matter. I write
respectfully in response to the Court’s
request at argument on December 23, 2020, for
briefing on the application of the stay
provision of the Administrative Procedure Act
(“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 705. As stated in EPA’s
brief, a request by plaintiffs for a court
order to delay implementation of a rule under
5 U.S.C. § 705 is governed by the same
standards as the issuance of a preliminary
injunction. Dkt. No. 30 (“EPA Br.”) at 10
(citing New York v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ., — F.
Supp. 3d. —, No. 20 Civ. 4260 (JGK), 2020 WL
4581595, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 9, 2020)). It
has long been the law of the Second Circuit
that stays of administrative action are
governed by these requirements....Plaintiffs
have not established that nationwide and
rule-wide relief is necessary to remedy the
harms they allege. See EPA Br. at 29-30. If
the Court concludes that some type of
equitable relief is appropriate, that relief
should be tailored to affect only (1) the
harms that Plaintiffs can establish
specifically as to themselves or their
members, and (2) the portions of EPA’s 2020
Rule as to which Plaintiffs have shown a
likelihood both of success on the merits and
of irreparable harm absent equitable relief.
See New York, 969 F.3d at 88; Eastern Air
Lines, 261 F.2d at 830. Plaintiffs do not
challenge several aspects of the rule, see EPA
Br. at 9 n.2, which should not be enjoined or
stayed, and the Court should also decline to
enjoin all discrete portions of the Rule as to
which Plaintiffs have failed to carry their
burden."
The case is Rural & Migrant Ministry et al v. Andrew Wheeler et al., 20-cv-10645 (Liman)
***
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December
21, 2020
From
Thailand: "the
problem in
Bangkok is
little to do
with the
traffic, buses
and local
industry. Of
course, it’s a
contributor
but a tiny
fraction of
the bigger,
deliberately
lit,
plantation
fire
issue. A
long term
solution is to
subsidise
proper
machinery for
Thailand’s
farmers to
clear the land
mechanically,
rather than
the cheaper
burning of the
crops.
Districts
could share
the cost of
the necessary
machinery,
with
individual
farmers and
companies
hiring the
equipment when
needed.
Today it’s
easy to track
all the fires,
clearly
identified by
NASA
satellites, in
almost real
time. It’s a
free website
that anyone
can log onto…
even Thai
government
officials. You
can see the
active fires
in Cambodia,
Vietnam and
Myanmar as
well, but
there is a big
concentration
in central,
northern and
north-eastern
Thailand.
You can see
clear evidence
of exactly
where the
smoke is
coming from…
matched with
the daily
weather
forecast which
provides the
direction and
strength of
the
winds.
There’s even a
simple site
like Air
Visual which
lists the air
quality around
the country,
and the world
for that
matter, any
time of the
day."
December
14, 2020