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.
"World's Biggest Geoengineering Experiment 'Violates' UN Rules"
Guardian, 10/16/2012"A controversial American businessman dumped around 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean as part of a geoengineering scheme off the west coast of Canada in July, a Guardian investigation can reveal. Lawyers, environmentalists and civil society groups are calling it a 'blatant violation' of two international moratoria and the news is likely to spark outrage at a United Nations environmental summit taking place in India this week."
"Polluted Passaic River Suffers Latest in History of Setbacks"
Bergen Record, 10/15/2012Efforts to remove 17 miles of dioxin-laced muck contaminating New Jersey's Passaic River seem to have failed.
"Climate Change Forecast: More Drought, Lower Great Lakes Water Levels"
Medill, 10/11/2012"Climate change is expected to drop water levels in the Great Lakes, experts said Wednesday. Levels could drop anywhere from a few inches to several feet as water evaporates in the drought conditions."
"Should Belugas Swim Wild and Free?"
Green/NYT, 10/11/2012NOAA is considering the Georgia Aquarium's proposal to import 18 beluga whales from the Sea of Okhotsk for display and breeding at aquariums.
"The Arctic Ocean Diaries"
Mother Jones, 10/11/2012"Julia Whitty is on a three-week-long journey aboard the the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, following a team of scientists who are investigating how a changing climate might be affecting the chemistry of ocean and atmosphere in the Arctic."
"Whale Deaths Since 1970s Mostly Human-Caused, Study Finds"
LiveScience, 10/09/2012"A report out this month found that humans might be to blame for most large whale deaths over the past 40 years in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, with entanglement in fishing gear the No. 1 killer."
"Dam Inspectors Fear the Deluge"
StateLine, 10/09/2012"The floodwaters are swelling, but the resources needed to confront them are shriveling up. That's the frustrating reality that state dam officials face as they confront added stress to the thousands of structures they regulate."
"Oceans' Rising Acidity a Threat To Shellfish -- and Humans"
LA Times, 10/08/2012"As carbon dioxide continues to build up in the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels, the seas absorb much of it.The full effects have yet to be felt."
"Argus Energy Mine Spill In Lincoln County, West Virginia Kills Fish"
AP, 10/04/2012"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State regulators in West Virginia have ordered Argus Energy to repair a water treatment system at a Lincoln County mine site after a blackwater spill killed fish."
"Ocean Acidification Emerges as New Climate Threat"
Wash Post, 10/03/2012"HOMER, Alaska -- Kris Holderied, who directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, says the ocean's increasing acidity is 'the reason fishermen stop me in the grocery store.'"
"Field Notes: Unlocking The Secrets (And Sounds) Of Orcas Underwater"
EarthFix/KUOW, 10/03/2012"Getting a suction tag onto a 5-ton orca can be tricky, but the scientific rewards are big. Scientists are using the devices to gather underwater data about orca behavior to find out how vessel traffic might be affecting the endangered whales."
"Sewage Pollution Still Fouling Waterways As Clean Water Act Turns 40"
Huffington Post, 09/28/2012"BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- With each steady stroke, John Lipscomb inched the canoe deeper into an infamous urban waterway. The water surrounding the boat grew increasingly murky; the sulphuric stench more offensive."
"Resort’s Snow Won’t Be Pure This Year; It’ll Be Sewage"
NY Times, 09/28/2012"FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Klee Benally, a member of the Navajo tribe, has gone to the mountains just north of here to pray, and he has gone to get arrested. He has chained himself to excavators; he has faced down bulldozers. For 10 years, the soft-spoken activist has fought a ski resort’s expansion plans in the San Francisco Peaks that include clear-cutting 74 acres of forest and piping treated sewage effluent onto a mountain to make snow."
Ark. Girds for High Court Showdown v. Army Corps Over Forest Flooding
Greenwire, 09/27/2012The Army Corpts of Engineers changed the operating schedule for the Clearwater Dam on the Black River in Missouri in the 1990s in response to requests by Missouri farmers. On October 3 Arkansas is going to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that the Corps action has damaged the 23,000-acre Black River Wildlife Management Area 115 miles downstream. What's more, the state is arguing that the Corps should compensate it under the "takings clause," a favorite conservative legal weapon.
"Activists Dispute Theory of Mexico Lawmaker Murder"
AP, 09/26/2012"MEXICO CITY -- Water-rights activists on Tuesday questioned the theory of Mexican state prosecutors that the killing of a state legislator-elect this month was orchestrated by his designated substitute."

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