RSS Feed
Archive for February 24th, 2010
Report: Contamination from coal ash waste is worse than EPA says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: Coal ash waste contamination nationwide is far worse than indicated by a new Environmental Protection Agency tally, with dozens more ash-waste ponds and landfills also leaching toxins into streams and drinking water, a new study finds. At least 31 "new damage cases" not listed by the EPA in its end-of-the-year tally of 70 coal-ash pollution sites are identified and their pollution profiled in a report released Wednesday by the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice ...
Posted in 
WWF welcomes new protected areas in Ukraine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Environmental group WWF on Wednesday welcomed Ukraine's decision to designate large swathes of land as protected, but warned that key areas, such as the Danube delta, were still under threat. Over the past 10 months, the Ukrainian government has established 29 new protected areas, bringing the total number of protected nature zones in the country to 38, WWF said in a statement. "With these additions, Ukraine's protected area system now covers 3.7 million hectares, or ...
International cooperation saving Siberian crane: UN
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The threat of extinction for the majestic Siberian crane is receding thanks to cooperation among countries including China, Russia and Iran, the UN said Wednesday. The bird, which has pure white plumage and stands about 1.4 metres (4.6 feet) tall, is considered to be in serious danger of extinction with an estimated population of just 3,000 to 3,500 left. "The future of the Siberian crane is looking brighter thanks to the international effort by China, Iran, Kazakhstan and ...
United Kingdom: The stranglers: the five plants threatening Britain’s waterways
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Guardian: Do you know what's lurking in your garden pond? OK, so it may well be frozen over right now, but have a look at the pictures above. See anything familiar? Although I think I could just about identify parrot's feather, having spent ages fishing it out of my own pond, but I wouldn't have had a clue about the others. The government's new Be Plant Wise campaign (or scotland.gov.uk/beplantwise if you're in Scotland) is warning that five non-native aquatic bullies - floating pennywort, New ...
Environmental disaster warning as oil spill reaches the Po, Italy’s biggest river
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Associated Press: An oil spill that fouled a tributary in northern Italy reached the Po river today, with officials warning of an ecological disaster as they scrambled to contain the sludge before it contaminated the country's longest river. Milan regional officials said the cause was sabotage at a former refinery turned oil depot, since the cisterns were opened and the oil allowed to flow unimpeded into the Lambro river near Monza. The cisterns "were opened by someone who was familiar with the ...
Can we trust the IPCC on the big stuff?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
New Scientist: EVER since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report on the impacts of climate change was discovered to contain a major error - that the Himalayan glaciers will be largely gone by 2035 - there has been a media feeding frenzy to find other mistakes. But it misses the point to focus on individual errors sprinkled through the report's 1000 or so pages (see "Digging devils from the details"). How solid are its headline findings? The IPCC presented the second section of ...
Oil spill threatens ‘ecological disaster’ in Italy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Associated Press: An oil spill that fouled a small river in northern Italy reached the Po River on Wednesday, with officials warning of an ecological disaster as they scrambled to contain the sludge before it contaminated Italy's longest and most important river. Milan regional officials said the cause was certainly sabotage at a former refinery turned oil depot, since the cisterns were opened and the oil allowed to flow unimpeded into the Lambro River near Monza. The cisterns "were opened by ...