I joined NRDC in 2007 after stints as a field organizer for the U.S Public Interest Research Group and legislative director for the Center for Biological Diversity. I have had the pleasure of working with amazing people across the country to protect our environment -- from Oregon, to Arkansas, to West Virginia, to Manhattan. Now settled down in DC, I spend a lot of time running and hiking in Rock Creek Park, the National Park Service's hidden gem right here within the city limits.
Posted April 30, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
The Sacramento Bee has launched a series of three investigative articles that expose the bloodshed and waste of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services predator control program in unprecedented detail. It’s essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of...continued→
Posted March 28, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Health and the Environment
Yesterday a state House subcommittee declined to vote on the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act, instead sending it to a summer study panel, where state bills go to die. But there will be no quiet death for this bill. It's still kicking, and so...continued→
Posted March 9, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Tennessee is headed toward a historic state Senate decision on whether to ban mountaintop removal mining. Passing the Scenic Vistas Protection Act* would make Tennessee the first state to ban mountaintop blasting for coal within its borders. Plently of people...continued→
Posted March 5, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Momentum is building around the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a state bill to ban high-elevation strip mining, also known as mountaintop removal coal mining, in Tennessee. The bill passed Senate committee last week and could see a vote on the state...continued→
Posted March 2, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
As promised, the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act came to a vote in the state Senate Environment Committee earlier this week. The good--and history-making--news is that the bill passed in committee. Now the full Tennessee Senate will, for the first time,...continued→
Posted February 29, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Today brings a moment of truth for Tennessee's mountains and mountain communities. The Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a bill to ban mountaintop removal in Tennessee, is slated for vote this morning in the state Senate Environment Committee. This committee vote will be a first,...continued→
Posted February 22, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Tennessee is poised to become the first state to ban mountaintop removal coal mining within its borders. A bill in the state legislature, the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, would end strip mining above 2000 ft in elevation, effectively ending the...continued→
Posted February 13, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
USDA's Wildlife Services program has again received cuts in the President's Budget. This could potentially mean that fewer Federal tax dollars will be spent killing wild carnivores for the benefit of private agriculture. The choice is partly in the hands of Wildlife Services...continued→
Posted January 10, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Will this be the year that Tennessee becomes the first state to ban mountaintop removal mining? Leaders in the state legislature are once again pressing forward with the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a bill to end mountaintop removal in the state. And they...continued→
Posted December 13, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
The Charleston Gazette highlights a new study confirming the long-term water quality impacts of mountaintop removal mining. In the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) this week, a team of Duke University researchers found that contamination from MTR mines is cumulative, and...continued→
Posted December 2, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Yet another family dog has been killed by USDA’s Wildlife Services. Maggie, a border collie who lived with her family in suburban Gresham, Oregon, was strangled by a Wildlife Services trap set to kill nutria, an invasive rodent species. Maggie’s owner...continued→
Posted December 1, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Health and the Environment
Earlier this year Music Saves Mountains member band 2/3 Goat started their grassroots fundraising campaign to produce a new video for their mountaintop removal themed song "Stream of Conscience." And they did it! Thanks to everyone's donations, they've just debuted...continued→
Posted November 22, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
The dean of West Virginia University's new School of Public Health is standing up for faculty research on the health impacts of mountaintop removal. The Charleston Gazette reports that interim founding dean Alan Ducatman expressed support for the work of Michael Hendryx, an...continued→
Posted November 22, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, Health and the Environment
Great news for Music Saves Mountains member band, 2/3 Goat! The New-York-based act uses "metrobilly" music as a platform to spread the word about mountaintop removal and why it must be stopped. Earlier this year, the group successfully funded a new video on...continued→
Posted November 15, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, Health and the Environment
This past weekend, Earl Ray Tomblin was inaugurated as Governor of West Virginia.* and he wasn’t bashful about what he feels he’s been put in office to do: buck federal protections for public health and the environment, for the benefit...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
