Monthly Archives: February 2021

Environmental groups sue over federal permit for Virgin Islands refinery

Click:ball valve manufacture

Four environmental groups launched a legal challenge this week calling for the review of a federal permit for a long-closed oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Limetree Bay refinery shut down in 2012 after a series of oil spills and accidents involving pollutants, which spurred a $5.4 million Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fine. Its new owners, ArcLight Capital Partners, received approval to reopen from the Trump administration and then-EPA head Andrew WheelerAndrew WheelerOVERNIGHT ENERGY: Court rules against fast-track of Trump EPA’s ‘secret science’ rule | Bureau of Land Management exodus: Agency lost 87 percent of staff in Trump HQ relocation | GM commits to electric light duty fleet by 2035 Court rules against fast-track of Trump EPA’s ‘secret science’ rule Biden ‘freeze’ of Trump rules could halt environmental rollbacks MORE in 2019.

In their petition, the St. Croix Environmental Association, the Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Sierra Club asked the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board to review the refinery’s permit. The refinery, which resumed operations this week, is located on the Caribbean island of St. Croix, where 76 percent of the population is Black and 27 percent live below the poverty line. Its infrastructure sustained major damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017, the groups noted in a statement.

ADVERTISEMENT

In their petition, the environmental organizations argued that the APA did not properly address “the disproportionate burden that an environmental justice community will bear and it failed to provide multi-lingual access to information.” It also claimed the EPA approved the reopening based on “unacceptably high” pollution standards and ignored the pollution generated by restarting the refinery.

“We allege that the emissions caps were set at unlawful levels because they failed to remove from the cap polluting equipment that had been shut down since 2012 and that failure represents a failure of Clean Air Act regulations,” John Walke, clean air director for NRDC, told The Hill, calling the case “the worst environmental justice abuse and the biggest air pollution permitting fiasco that I have seen in my 25 years as a clean air attorney.”

“Because have a new admin now, not the admin that issued the permit, the Biden-Harris administration will have the opportunity to reopen the permit, to revoke the permit, to file papers with the environmental appeals board,” he added. “This controversy could heat up to become a political and policy and legal controversy all at once and certainly the first marquee environmental justice controversy of the new Biden-Harris administration.”

The Hill has reached out to the EPA for comment.

Google agrees to pay $2.6M to end discrimination probe

Google is set to pay nearly $2.6 million to settle allegations that it underpaid thousands of female workers and discriminated against female and Asian job applicants.

As part of the “early resolution” conciliation agreement released by the Department of Labor on Monday, the Silicon Valley giant will review its hiring and pay practices.

The agency had found “preliminary indicators” of bias at five Google locations in Washington and California during a routine audit of affirmative action obligations.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Department of Labor will not audit 39 Google locations for the next five years, according to the agreement dated Jan. 15.

The back pay will be available for more than 2,500 women who worked at the company’s offices in Kirkland, Wash., and Seattle in 2017 and Mountain View, Calif., in 2014 and 2015.

Another 3,000 female and Asian applicants for positions at Google’s offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Calif., and Kirkland between 2016 and 2017 will also be eligible for a payment.

A spokesperson for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement.

ECW on Sci-Fi Preview (3/25): Mayhem Before 'Mania?

Source: WWE.com

Preview: Mayhem before ‘Mania?
March 25, 2008

In the final ECW before WrestleMania XXIV, Superstars will surely be looking to secure an advantage for their contests at The Granddaddy of Them All.

CM Punk is coming into WrestleMania week strong after earning a Six-Man Tag Team Match victory with partners Jesse & Festus. The Straightedge Superstar has money on his mind; with a win in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Punk will have the opportunity to challenge again for a much-coveted championship. Shelton Benjamin, who was on the losing side of last week’s contest, will look to turn the tables and generate some momentum for Money in the Bank. His partner in the Six-Man Tag Team Match, John Morrison, will be looking to do the same. The Shaman of Sexy qualified for the contest when he beat fellow WWE Tag Team Champion, The Miz, on SmackDown.

ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero is also in good spirits after defeating Colin Delaney and denying him an ECW contract last Tuesday. Guerrero is ready for the brand-wide 24-Man Battle Royal to determine who will face him for his title later that night. His destruction of Delaney was a warning message that rang loud and clear across the Land of the Extreme. Who else will be added to the over-the-top rope battle for an ECW Title Match on The Grandest Stage of Them All?

What will happen just five days before the biggest night of the year? Find out on ECW on Sci Fi, Tuesday at 10/9 CT.

**SPOILER** Final WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2008 Member Revealed [>]