EJToday: Top Headlines
EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.
"The latest science supports substantially tightening U.S. EPA's air quality standards for soot in order to safeguard public health and the environment, according to a draft report from agency scientists.""EPA Scientists Recommend Tougher Soot Standards"
Greenwire, 03/15/2010
"The bill that funds the Energy Department and water projects for this year contains at least six earmarks giving grants to for-profit companies. And in at least two cases, lawmakers obtained earmarks for companies that had given those same House members campaign contributions.""Energy and Water Earmarks Flow to Campaign Donors"
Greenwire, 03/15/2010
A dramatic decline in male births among indigenous American peoples -- both in the Arctic and elsewhere -- has been linked to toxic industrial pollution. "Toxic pollutants travel from industrialized countries and accumulate in the marine food chain of the Arctic region, and in the traditional diet of indigenous peoples."Drop in Male Births in Indigenous Peoples Tied To Industrial Pollution
Indian Country Today, 03/15/2010
"The federal government is doing what once had been unthinkable: Building a new stretch of pipeline and draining more water from the Columbia River system to aid farmers. The pipeline is approved to carry just a trickle, but will be designed to handle much more water than that. New proposals would dramatically increase the amount of river water provided to Columbia Basin farmers.""Columbia Basin Farmers Rejoice Over New Pipeline"
Seattle Times, 03/15/2010
"North American bird species are 'facing a new threat -- climate change -- that could dramatically alter their habitat and food supply and push many species towards extinction,' said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Thursday when he announced the new report, 'The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change.'""Report: Climate Change Is Taking a Toll on U.S. Bird Populations"
Scientific American, 03/15/2010
"U.S. EPA settled a lawsuit [last week] by agreeing to use the Clean Water Act to address ocean acidification, a move that some see as opening a side door to federal curbs on greenhouse gases that scientists link to problems in the marine environment.""Some See Clean Water Act Settlement Opening New Path to GHG Curbs"
Greenwire, 03/15/2010
"The federal 'vaccines court' ruled Friday in three separate cases that the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal does not cause autism, a finding that supports the broad scientific consensus on the matter but that greatly disappointed parents who are convinced that their child's illness was caused by vaccines.""'Vaccines Court' Rejects Mercury-Autism Link in 3 Test Cases"
LA Times, 03/15/2010
"Illinois is moving to phase out the use of perchloroethylene, or perc, a common dry-cleaning chemical linked to cancer, liver damage and neurological problems.""State Taking Steps To Phase Out Dry Cleaning Chemical"
Chicago Tribune, 03/15/2010
"A political battle is heating up between Florida and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over how best to clean up the state's polluted waters.""State, EPA Battle Over Cleaning up Polluted Waters"
Tampa Tribune, 03/15/2010
"Facing foreclosure, Gail Litz, 61, has sued the town of Goldsboro, Caroline County and the state, seeking millions of dollars in compensation and to halt the seeping sewage that is fouling her lake and forced her to close Lake Bonnie Campsites." The Maryland Department of the Environment ordered the town to build a public sewer system or pay fines of $100 per day if it didn't meet the deadlines. "Fourteen years later, the pollution continues unchecked. No fines have been collected. The lake remains contaminated.""No Easy Solution for Septic Problems on Maryland's Eastern Shore"
Baltimore Sun, 03/15/2010
"A settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached in the cases of thousands of rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero who sued the city over damage to their health, according to city officials and lawyers for the plaintiffs.""Ground Zero Workers Reach Deal Over Health Claims"
NYTimes, 03/12/2010
A former laborer at several nuclear power plants in the U.S. is now being held in Yemen as a suspected member of the same branch of al-Qaida that is linked to the failed Christmas bombing of a jet to Detroit.Former Nuke Worker Held as Terror Suspect
AP, 03/12/2010
"The Obama administration is trying to dash rumors that it planned to ban recreational fishing in marine waters and the Great Lakes in the wake of a series of Internet posts warning that such a prohibition was imminent.""Obama Admin Jumps to Squelch Rumors of U.S. Fishing Ban"
Greenwire, 03/12/2010
"A federal appeals court this week moved to allow uranium mining operations in Churchrock, a Navajo community just east of Gallup, New Mexico.""Uranium Mining in Navajo Community OK'd by Appeals Court"
New Mexico Independent, 03/12/2010
"Federal safety regulators recalled a line of Christmas-themed bracelets Thursday, expanding their effort to purge children's jewelry boxes and store shelves of items containing high levels of the toxic metal cadmium.""Feds Recall More Children's Jewelry in Cadmium Probe"
AP, 03/12/2010
