London Activates 10 Low Carbon Zones
Low Carbon Zones across London sprang to life this week to help residents, schools and businesses go green, save money and create job opportunities at the same time. The Mayor of London awarded each of the 10 zones a share of three million pounds to fund the program that aims to cut city’s carbon dioxide emissions 20.12 percent by 2012.
Read More »Desert Nesting Bald Eagles May Lose Federal Protection
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is moving to drop Endangered Species Act protection for Arizona’s desert nesting bald eagles. Only 48 breeding pairs survive, clinging to their hot, dry habitat in the Sonoran Desert along the Southwest’s desert rivers.
Read More »PlanetSolar Unveils World’s Largest Solar Boat
The world’s largest solar boat, PlanetSolar, was unveiled at the HDW Shipyard in Kiel on Thursday. The multi-hull vessel, powered solely by an array of photovoltaic solar panels, was constructed by the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel.
Read More »42 Tribal Wildlife Grants Awarded in 16 States
The Hopi Tribe will conduct an assessment of golden eagles in Arizona, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians will restore longleaf pine habitat in Alabama, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe will develop a Tribal Wildlife Management Plan for their reservation in New York, and in Washington state the Jamestown S’Kllalm Tribe will work towards restoring the Dungeness Elk Herd to its historic range.
Read More »Contagious Hybrid Bird Flu-Human Flu Created in Lab
Genetic interactions between avian influenza and human seasonal influenza viruses have the potential to create hybrid strains that combine the virulence of bird flu with the ability to spread like a pandemic, new research has found.
Read More »Pennsylvania’s Starts Green Energy Revolving Loan Fund With $48 Million
Pennsylvania’s new $48 million Green Energy Revolving Loan Fund will supply capital for developing cost effective, energy-saving and renewable energy projects in existing, non-residential buildings throughout the state.
Read More »Utah Governor Turns Back Two Uranium Trains
Planned shipments of depleted uranium from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River nuclear materials processing center in South Carolina, will not be shipped to Utah under an agreement negotiated Monday by Utah Governor Gary Herbert.
Read More »Groups ID Toxic Coal Ash Sites in 14 States, Demand Regulations
Two environmental groups today identified 31 sites in 14 states contaminated with coal-ash waste containing arsenic, cadmium, lead, selenium, and other toxic metals that can cause cancer and neurological damage to humans and poison fish and wildlife.
Read More »Climate Science Controversy Flares in EPA Budget Hearing
U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s appearance today before a Senate Committee to justify the agency’s $10 billion FY 2011 budget became a showcase for the split in the Senate over climate change and clean energy that has to date prevented approval of a climate bill. The House of Representatives passed a climate bill in June 2009.
Read More »Coal State Senators Battle EPA to Control Greenhouse Gases
Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, led a group of coal state senators in sending a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Friday challenging the agency’s potential regulation of greenhouse gases from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act.
Read More »United Nations Climate Chief Resigns
The top United Nations climate change official said today that he has made the “difficult decision” to step down.
Read More »Scientists Desperate to Protect World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates
Nearly half the world’s 634 primate species – gorillas, orangutans, monkeys, lemurs, gibbons and other primates – now are in danger of becoming extinct due to the destruction of tropical forests, illegal wildlife trade and commercial bushmeat hunting.
Read More »South Carolina Publisher First to Use 100% Environmentally Certified Paper
The publisher of thousands of local and regional histories has become the country’s first major book publisher to achieve the use of 100 percent Forest Stewardship Council certified paper across its entire book publishing program.
Read More »Neighborhoods Get Federal Help With Brownfields, Housing, Transport
A new Office of Sustainable Communities is being created within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help communities take an integrated approach to making environmental, housing and transportation decisions.
Read More »Obama Backs First New U.S. Nuclear Plant with $8.3 Billion
President Barack Obama today announced that his administration is offering conditional commitments for a total of $8.33 billion in loan guarantees for the construction and operation of the first U.S. nuclear power plant to break ground in nearly three decades.
Read More »Third-hand Tobacco Smoke Causes Cancer, Study Shows
That stale cigarette smoke smell in hotel rooms and bars is more than annoying – it could be hazardous to your health, according to new research from a team led by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Infants and toddlers are at greatest risk, the study reveals.
Read More »Whistler Enjoys Record Snowfall for Olympics, Lower Slopes Not So Much
With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games opening on Friday in Vancouver, the warmer than usual weather of an El Nino winter is causing headaches for Olympic organizers.
Read More »American Pika Denied Endangered Species Protection
The American pika does not meet the criteria for protection under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday after completing a review of the species’ status and evaluating current and future threats to the small, mountain-dwelling mammal.
Read More »USDA Scraps Bush-era Animal Disease Traceability System
In an effort to win support from ranchers and farmers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will develop a new framework for animal disease traceability, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday.
Read More »IMF Chief Proposes $100 Billion Annual Fund to Tackle Climate Change
The head of the International Monetary Fund today proposed to create a multi-billion dollar Green Fund that would provide the financing that countries need to cope with climate change and move to a low-carbon growth model.
Read More »Feds to Eliminate One-Quarter of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 10 Years
President Barack Obama today announced that the federal government will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020.
Read More »Yucca Mountain’s Dead. Next? Expert Panel Examines Nuclear Waste Options
The U.S. Department of Energy announced today the formation of a blue ribbon commission to evaluate policy options for a safe, long-term solution to America’ growing piles of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and high-level radioactive waste from U.S. defense programs.
Read More »Obama Announces $8 Billion for High-Speed Rail Nationwide
President Barack Obama will announce today that the U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding $8 billion in economic stimulus funding to states to develop America’s first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service. The announcement covers federal government investments in 13 rail corridors and rail projects in 31 states.
Read More »Federal Ghost Fleet Illegally Polluting San Francisco Bay
The federal agency in charge of more than 70 decaying naval vessels stored in northern San Francisco Bay is illegally polluting and storing hazardous waste in the bay, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Read More »Oil From Port Arthur Tanker-Barge Collision Stretches Nine Miles
Cleanup crews and 27 skimmer boats are working to contain and remove oil from a massive spill that happened when a crude oil tanker and a barge collided Saturday in the Port Arthur Ship Channel.
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