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Archive for April, 2010
Congressmen call hearing on Gulf oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 30th, 2010
Associated Press: Two congressmen will hold hearings to investigate how well companies have responded to a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak sent letters requesting the testimony of officials from BP America, Transocean and Halliburton. BP operates the rig, which is owned by Transocean. Halliburton worked on the rig not long before the explosion. The hearings also will look into how recovery efforts are going, and what the companies' safety measures ...
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Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: No End in Sight for Eco-Disaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 30th, 2010
Time Magazine: It may be time to stop referring to the Deepwater Horizon rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico as an oil spill. A spill sounds like something temporary, a glass of milk overturned, which empties and then can be cleaned up. But what is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, not far from the sensitive shorelines of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, isn't a spill. It's an unchecked gush of crude oil from beneath the bottom of the ocean into the water - and no one can say for sure when it ...
Plan B: California braces for climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 30th, 2010
Wired: When it comes to environmental regulation, California doesn`t wait for the Feds to ride in and lay down the law. The Golden State led the way on mandating emissions-control equipment in motor vehicles in 1961. It pioneered tailpipe-emissions standards in 1967 and ratcheted them up into the 1990s, prompting the federal government to follow. When the Environmental Protection Agency proved reluctant to tighten fuel-economy standards, California outmaneuvered it in 2002 by limiting carbon ...
United States: Oil spill approaches gulf coast, threatening economy and environment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 30th, 2010
Guardian: When Tom Reddoch was growing up in southern Louisiana, on a pencil-thin strip of land flanked on one side by the Mississippi and on the other by a marshy inland waterway, he and his friends used to brag to each other that this was the greatest place on Earth. Children had different expectations back in the 1950s: what they meant was that they would never go hungry. "The one thing we could be certain of is that we would never starve down here. In those days, this was one great protein ...
2010 – International Year of Biodiversity Loss?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 29th, 2010
Inter Press Service: In 2002, world leaders committed to reduce the rate of global biodiversity loss by 2010, but the date has come and gone for these commitments to be fulfilled. In 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, leaders have not only failed to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, "but biodiversity is still being lost as fast as ever, and we have made little headway in reducing the pressures on species, habitats and ecosystems," said Dr. Stuart Butchart of the United Nations Environment ...
Shampoo, Cosmetics May Form Cancer-Causing Substance
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 29th, 2010
National Geographic: Your shampoo may seem harmless, but it could be contributing to the formation of a mysterious, cancer-causing substance, a new study says. New research reveals that common household products such as shampoo can interact with disinfectants at U.S. wastewater treatment plants to form a little-studied class of cancer-causing substances. These substances, called nitrosamines, can end up in drinking water, experts say. Several nitrosamines, including the chemical NDMA, a focus of ...
Washington Approves Wind Farm Off Cape Cod
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 29th, 2010
New York Times: After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government gave the green light Wednesday to the nation's first offshore wind farm, a highly contested project off the coast of Cape Cod. The approval of the 130-turbine farm gives a significant boost to the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States, which has lagged far behind Europe and China in harnessing the strong and steady power of ocean breezes to provide electricity to homes and businesses. With Gov. Deval ...
Australia: Voters want climate action now: Brown
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 29th, 2010
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A new opinion poll released by the Greens shows the majority of voters support a carbon levy to cut emissions. About 70 per cent of those surveyed want the Federal Government to negotiate with the Greens and other Senators to introduce a levy. Greens leader Bob Brown says it is clear Australians want immediate action to tackle climate change. He says a carbon levy is the best option following the Government's decision to shelve its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme ...
UN warning over total crop failure
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2010
BBC: Niger is threatened with total crop failure in some areas and the situation is worse than the 2005 crisis, the UN humanitarian chief has told the BBC. But John Holmes said the new government is co-operating in aid efforts. Ex-President Mamadou Tandja, toppled in a coup in February, was criticised for doing too little then and saying the crisis had been exaggerated. Nearly 8m people are affected by the drought this year and the UN says up to $130m (£85.5m) is needed to ...
Rare species of tiny, lethal frog is bred in British aquarium
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2010
Guardian: A rare species of tiny, lethal frog normally found in South America has been bred at a British aquarium. The phantasmal poison frogs, which measure less than a centimetre in length and whose poison is 200 times more powerful than morphine, have been bred at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth. It is hoped that the frog, one of the most toxic amphibians on the planet, which exists in the wild in Ecuador, could help save lives. Jenna MacFarlane, of the aquarium, said: "Despite ...