USFS Releases Court-Ordered EIS for Fire Retardants

May 25, 2011–Information sessions and webinars on possible health and environmental effects of aerial-applied chemicals used to fight wildfires will be held in various locations around the country during the 45-day public comment period that ends June 27, 2011.

Groups Recommend Measures for "Environmental Right-to-Know"

May 18, 2011–More access was urged for records on oil and gas leasing, government-issued permits and leases related to metal mining, grazing livestock on public lands, harvesting ocean fish, operating chemical plants, drilling for oil, logging, building roads or strip malls, coal mining, filling wetlands, and more.

Oil Fracking Poses Similar Concerns As Gas Fracking

March 2, 2011–EPA is conducting a study of fracking, no matter where it is used (e.g., gas shale, oil shale, coalbed methane, tight sands). Public comment is being allowed as the agency's Science Advisory Board meets March 7-8, 2011, to review the draft study plan. Initial study and research results are possible by the end of 2012, and a report may be published some time in 2014.

Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry

January 15, 2011–

Evidence Showing Threat Posed by Medusahead Grows

December 8, 2010–This invasive grass that already has a grip on about 2 million acres in the West makes the rangeland it invades virtually worthless for grazing, harms many animals that contact it or try to eat it, increases wildfire risk, and creates monocultures that have very low biodiversity and crowd out numerous native plant and animal species.

Disease-Tracking Tool May Help Both People and Wildlife

November 10, 2010–This growing database may help you identify emerging problems and patterns, and supplement what government and university personnel can track.

EPA Gives Public an Environmental Justice Mapping Tool: EJView

November 3, 2010–This new tool allows any user online to create custom study areas based on a wide range of variables: address, ZIP code, county, city, township, facility, watershed, or geographic coordinates. Other environmental data can then be mapped onto that study area.

Report: Nitrogen and Phosphorous Pollution Remains Serious Threat

September 29, 2010–The USGS study used data from thousands of locations to analyze trends from 1992 to 2004. You can probably find many local and regional stories as these pollutants contribute to various environmental and human health problems.

Dead Zones Degrade All U.S Coastal Regions

September 15, 2010–There were just 12 of these hypoxic areas in the 1960s. Now there are more than 300, or nearly half of the 647 waterways investigated by a consortium of federal agencies that released its report on Sept. 3, 2010.

Fracking Associated with Well Water Toxics; Causation Not Yet Proven

September 15, 2010–EPA warns Pavillion, WY residents not to drink or cook with their well water, and that the presence of methane (the main ingredient in natural gas) is so high that they should ventilate any room in which a shower is operating, and to not ignite anything in a closed room in which water is running.