Subject: Environmental Protection

• Crankytown 7.11.07

  July 11, 2007

• New Coal Plant Gets Gassed

  October 18, 2007

• The Plant's Dead, But the Fallout's Still Coming Down

  October 24, 2007

• Missouri's Own Coal Battle

  November 15, 2007

• Driving On Alcohol

  January 3, 2008

• Hey Greenies! Move to another continent!

  June 10, 2008

• Get Your Kick-Ass Eco T-Shirts Here

  June 12, 2008

• Citizens to City Hall: Only Babies Need Bottles

  July 28, 2008

• Daily Briefs: Bone Thug Homophobes 4 Life

  By CHRIS PACKHAM Oil of Old Ladies: Anchors Maria Antonia and Kelly Eckerman and reporter Peggy Breit are suing KMBC Channel 9, alleging that the station has discriminated against them because of their age and gender. Meanwhile, management allows Larry Moore to go around looking like he opened up the ark of the covenant, but we're not supposed to talk about it or something. What's gone unspoken in this whole debate is that WDAF Fox 4 sparkle stallion Phil Witt has NOT AGED ONE SINGLE DAY since

  November 18, 2008

• Missouri and Kansas are among "Dirty Dozen" for mercury pollution

  Ameren's Labadie power plant By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI Environmentalists in Missouri celebrated earlier this month when a ballot initiative requiring investor-owned utilities to produce more renewable power faced no organized opposition and passed with a resounding 66 percent of the vote. Last year, the administration of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius denied the permit for a massive new coal-fired power plant, even though the political fallout virtually paralyzed the 2008 legislative session.

  November 20, 2008

• Star reporter infiltrates indicted BPU official's chili cookout

  A few weeks ago, I heard rumors about a fund-raiser to help pay legal bills for indicted Board of Public Utilities official Marc Conklin, because Todd Graves isn't working cheap. I didn't get nearly as far as The Kansas City Star's Mark Wiebe, who infiltrated Conklin's chili feed. Wiebe also got BPU board member Mark Jones to admit he attended the cookout. Going to a pro-Conklin party might have been a risky idea, considering he's accused of stealing $400,000 from a utility company that Jones wa

  December 17, 2008

• A Christmas Tree that's green in more ways than one

  Christmas trees are one of those left-over relics of olden times that aren't really needed to celebrate Christmas. Like sleighs, caroling or Jesus. Yet, this weekend I found myself once again getting pricked by needles as I set up a tree. I complain, but I would gladly go through that trouble before putting up some colorized piece of unconvincing plastic and calling that a Christmas tree.I've heard several arguments for fake Christmas trees. They're more convenient, they last longer, they don't

  December 22, 2008

• One less recycling center in 2009

                                    The drop-off center at 80th and MetcalfThanks to the tanking economy, the growing stream of recycled materials snapped up by hungry manufacturers in early 2008 has turned into a mountain of worthless trash entering 2009. Waste haulers, like Deffenbaugh Industries, have seen the market for recovered materials plunge to unprecedented lows. So it's no surprise that, in the New

  December 31, 2008

• This water fountain says: Put down that Dasani!

  The Smithsonian Institution might as well enshrine the water fountain in its collection of cultural artifacts, thanks to the way Americans guzzle their liquids from little plastic bottles. Luckily, a backlash is brewing against containers with a life cycle of one measly serving. Through the end of the month, one student at the University of Kansas is reincarnating recyclables to make an artistic point.

  January 14, 2009

• Finally, some good news about recycling

  Green-minded Midtown residents haven't had a recycling drop-off center for more than a year now. Overland Park environmentalists have a single option for their empty glass bottles after one of their recycling sites shuttered last month. And even curbside collection is facing cut-backs: The budget crisis in Kansas City may reduce weekly blue-bin pick-up to just twice a month. Yep, it's been a rough year for recycling. But, finally, this week we get a small dose of good news.

  February 2, 2009

• BPU meets with EPA about alleged clean air violations (updated)

  Nearman Creek Power StationLast week, attorneys from the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities and Environmental Protection Agency met to discuss the notice of violations the EPA sent in November to the BPU. The notice basically said the long-troubled utility company could face millions of dollars in fines for violating federal clean air standards. Chris Whitley, a spokesman for EPA Region 7, told me about the meeting between attorneys lasted three to four hours. He said it was an initi

  February 11, 2009

• Blue Hills housing gets national green award

  Two years ago, the lots lining Olive Street were vacant and scattered with garbage. That was before Blue Hill Community Services stepped in and replaced the urban wasteland with new, eco-friendly housing. The effort was enough to earn the group a trip to Washington, D.C., later this month, courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency.

  March 3, 2009

• Lt. Gov Mark Parkinson's comfy solution to global warming

  Kansas Lt. Governor Mark ParkinsonWhen Governor Kathleen Sebelius tapped Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson to co-chair the Kansas Energy Council in 2007, it signaled her attention to pressing issues like renewable power and global warming. Now, with Sebelius heading to Washington after standing defiantly against the construction of new coal-fired power plants, many environmentalists in the Sunflower State are hoping Parkinson will step into his predecessors eco-friendly shoes. So when Parkins

  April 1, 2009

• Wyco ratepayers paid big money for Conklin's attorney

  October 16, 2008

• A Chain Reaction: Nuclear Weapons, Policy, and People

  September 18, 2008

• Celebrate Sustainability

  July 31, 2008

• Native Flora

  April 16, 2009

• Music + Good Deeds

  April 16, 2009

• Dining Deceleration

  May 8, 2008

• Missouri biologist Frederick vom Saal and his team exposed the dangers of bisphenol A — and earned the wrath of the plastic industry.

  April 24, 2008

• Environmental Economics

  March 20, 2008

• Litter Pickers

  March 6, 2008

• Can't Go Green

  October 11, 2007

• Two-Wheel Discrimination

  This grandma found out that Town Center isn't about the eco-friendly commuter.

  September 27, 2007

• letters from the week of September 6

  September 6, 2007

• Smoke & Mirrors

  Authorities spoke too soon when they said the ChemCentral fire was safe.

  August 23, 2007

• FundRazr

  August 16, 2007

• Her Dirty Secret

  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius preaches green, but her heart seems as black as coal.

  August 9, 2007

• BPU Could Face Thousands In Fines

  A confidential report reveals the utility didn’t follow federal pollution regulations when upgrading its plants.

  March 1, 2007

• Tossed Out

  Katheryn Shields' main environmental staffer wonders why Mike Sanders didn't recycle him.

  March 8, 2007

• Baseball Boys

  Good Call

  April 21, 2005

• Neighborhood Fabric

  The Crossroads' low-rent Christo gives us pause.

  March 24, 2005

• Paint Fumes

  Ford’s Claycomo plant builds eco-friendly SUVs — covered with hazardous chemicals.

  February 24, 2005

• Damage Control

  Great Plains Energy has spent years quietly working on plans for dirty new power plants. Now facing opposition, it's sounding more eco-friendly.

  July 8, 2004

• War Paint

  Paintballers color their prey this weekend.

  April 22, 2004

• Toxic Crock

  After barrels of hazardous waste piled up in the west bottoms, John Dillon took the fallout.

  October 3, 2002

• Paradise Lust

  Home Depot wants tax bucks to pave wetlands.

  October 11, 2001

• The Whizzers Of Oz

  The Kansas ag industry dumps all over efforts to clean up the state's water.

  August 9, 2001

• Pizza Fusion celebrates Earth Week

  Pizza Fusion's motto is "saving the Earth one pizza at a time," which the environmentally conscious chain is trying to accomplish by opening all over the Earth. There are even locations in the less-than-eco-friendly Saudi Arabia. (I suggest they stay away from Dubai all together.) Back in the good ol' green USA, the paint is barely dry on its Leawood location at 4800 West 135th Street. But that's not preventing it from going all out for Earth Week, with five full days of festivities and prizes l

  April 17, 2009