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“We will not remove any unsafe oil rail cars from service.” That was the upshot of oil industry testimony at a recent rail safety hearing before the US Senate. To be fair, that isn’t a direct quote. But it is a direct consequence of the math. Under questioning from Senators about the wisdom of continuing to use older unsafe tank cars to haul crude oil—especially the very volatile crude coming...

Jennifer If you haven’t already seen this Washington Post infographic, it’s brilliant. It’s nominally about the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. But the story it actually tells is just how mysterious and unknowable the deep ocean remains. Plus, UW researchers have developed new software to show what a child will look like as he or she ages. Cool or creepy? You be the judge. Because I am one of the 7 percent...

I returned from a recent visit to the southern tip of Louisiana with a newfound appreciation for how important it is to prevent coal exports in the Northwest. The two Mississippi River coal facilities there—United Bulk Terminals and Kinder Morgan—are filthy, and plainly degrading nearby communities. Worse yet, another coal terminal, called RAM, is seeking permission to develop along the same stretch of the river. Now comes news from the...

The BC recipe for carbon pricing looks something like this: Take a carbon tax and mix it with corporate and personal income tax reductions; keep it simple; slowly shift the tax burden from income to carbon pollution over time. Is Oregon the next place this dish will show up on the menu? Governor Kitzhaber is running for re-election on a platform that prominently includes tax reform. “It’s got to be...

Late last week, the US Department of Energy released new figures in its quarterly coal export report. Here’s what happened up through the end of the year, 2013: Nationally, coal exports were down nearly 3 percent in the final quarter of 2013. Overall in 2013, the US exported almost 118 million tons of coal. It was unquestionably a lot by historical standards, but even so it represented a 7 percent...

The concept of a “food desert“—a place where residents have little access to healthy, affordable food—can seem somewhat alien to the well-off. If you’ve got your own car, living close to a grocery store just doesn’t matter much: you can always drive a bit and stock up with a big load of groceries! But if you don’t have a car, fresh, healthy food is often simply out of reach. Taking a...

Here’s a Rorschach test. I’ll show you a word. You say the first thing that comes to mind. The word is “government.” Stop. Go down to comments and record your reaction. Now, I’ll tell you what your answer means about you. If you’re like many of the friends I’ve asked, your answer is not typical. They said things like “protects,” “services,” “rule of law,” and “us.” If you’re more normal,...

The 2014 Canadian Transit Scores are out…and Vancouver, BC clocks in as the third most transit-friendly city in the Great White North, narrowly bested by Toronto and Montreal. Pretty good, eh? But what’s even better: when you combine Canada and the US, Vancouver comes in at number 6! The only US cities with a better Transit Score than Vancouver are New York, San Francisco, and Boston. Looking more narrowly within...

Polluted runoff is bad. Green stormwater infrastructure is good. But as rain gardens proliferate like frogs after a rainstorm and development continues to creep across the landscape, it’s time to flesh out those generalities with solid data. And stormwater folks in Washington state are poised to do just that with a new stormwater monitoring program. “We have completely changed the paradigm for Clean Water Act permit monitoring,” said Karen Dinicola,...

In our previous installment, we explored how unsafe DOT-111s, the Ford Pinto of rail cars, make up the vast majority of oil-filled tank cars now riding the rails in North America. With DOT-111s, there is no margin for error. A serious derailment will almost always lead to oil spills or explosions. But if they are so clearly dangerous, why are these tank cars still on the rails? The reason, in...