RSS Feed
Archive for May 4th, 2010
EPA postpones decision that would toughen coal ash rules
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 4th, 2010
McClatchy Newspapers: The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed the nation's first federal rules for the disposal of contaminant-laden ash from coal-fired power plants, but delayed a decision for at least three months on whether coal ash should be regulated as a hazardous substance. The ash contains the contaminated remains of coal, including mercury, arsenic, cadmium and other substances that can cause cancer and other illnesses. The EPA's testing has shown that without protections, these ...
Posted in 
Ice cap on west Ugandan mountain range splits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 4th, 2010
Associated Press: Ugandan wildlife authorities say the ice cap on the country's western Rwenzori mountain range has split after extensive melting caused by global warming. Nelson Guma says ice covering Mount Margherita, the second highest peak in Africa, has melted forming a large crevasse some 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) wide. Guma said Tuesday the split occurred on the climbing route to Mount Margherita and that tourists can no longer climb that peak, but authorities are working to create ...
Gulf Coast bird colonies at risk from oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 4th, 2010
Reuters: For the birds that nest in the fragile marshes, swamps and barrier islands of the U.S. Gulf Coast, the timing of a massive oil slick threatening the shore could not be worse. On the Chandeleur Islands -- a chain of islands off the Louisiana coast where an oil spill from last month's offshore oil rig explosion could hit shore as early as Tuesday -- about 3,000 brown pelicans, Louisiana's state bird, are nesting and laying eggs. "They are right in the middle of having eggs ...
Perry: Don’t speculate about oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 4th, 2010
Associated Press: Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday it's not wise to speculate about what caused an explosion and massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and he defended his use of the term "act of God" to describe the disaster. Perry said Tuesday the phrase -- which he used in a speech in Washington, D.C., on Monday when discussing the spill -- is a legal definition and that his point is "nobody knows what happened" at the oil rig off the Louisiana coast. The undersea well has been spewing 200,000 ...
EPA proposes coal ash rule, sets time for comment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 4th, 2010
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to regulate coal ash and its disposal, possibly as a hazardous waste. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Tuesday that one option would regulate the ash under the hazardous waste section of the federal Resource Recovery and Conservation Act. The other is regulating it in the non-hazardous waste section of the law. She said EPA will seek public comment for 90 days before deciding on which method to use. The announcement ...
India: Diatoms reveal freshwater pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 4th, 2010
ScienceDaily: Researchers in India have demonstrated that microscopic aquatic creatures could be used as the ecological equivalent of a canary in a coalmine for assessing inland freshwater lakes and ponds. Writing in the World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development the team explains how diatoms respond badly to pollutants and sewage contamination. Bijaya Kumar Padhi, Jnanendra Rath, and Pratap Kumar Padhy of the Visva-Bharati University, in Santiniketan, India, have looked at the ...