National (U.S.)

"Cornstalks Everywhere But Nothing Else, Not Even A Bee"

Cornfields -- which occupy a big fraction of U.S. farmland -- differ from normal ecosystems in that they are nearly sterile ecologically. Breeding and spraying aim to prevent anything from living but corn.

"We'll start in a cornfield — we'll call it an Iowa cornfield in late summer — on a beautiful day. The corn is high. The air is shimmering. There's just one thing missing — and it's a big thing...

...a very big thing, but I won't tell you what, not yet.

Source: NPR, 12/03/2012

"This Year's Hurricane Season Offered Mixed Messages"

"MIAMI -- Hurricane season 2012, which officially ends Saturday, will go down in hstory as the year of Superstorm Sandy, which carved a path of death and devastation from the Caribbean to the Jersey Shore."

"Scientifically speaking, it also was notable for something it was not: intense. For the third consecutive season, the tropics churned out what not long ago would rank as an abnormally large number of storms - yet curiously only one of 19 managed to reach Category 3 strength.

Source: Miami Herald, 12/03/2012
December 14, 2012

State and Regional Regulatory Trends in Hydraulic Fracturing

This Environmental Law Institute program is the third in a 5-part series, Environmental Impacts of Shale Development and Hydraulic Fracturing: Key Legal Issues and Future Directions, that offers an in-depth examination of the environmental law and policy issues facing companies, governments, activist groups, and citizens who are concerned about this critical area of our nation’s energy infrastructure. Available via telephone seminar or audio webcast. (You do not have to participate in the entire series to benefit from the information provided in each individual program.)

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December 5, 2012

Point Sources and Pollutants: Using the Clean Water Act to Regulate Offshore Aquaculture Discharges

Aquaculture is an increasingly important component of the world food supply, but it causes a variety of environmental impacts. This webinar brings together experts from the Environmental Law Institute, EPA, and academia to explore questions related to the application of the Clean Water Act to offshore aquaculture.

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Pie Chart: 13,950 Peer-Reviewed Scientific Articles on Earth's Climate

Don't believe everything you read in the news media. A new study of 13,950 peer-reviewed scientific articles published between 1 January 1991 and 9 November 2012 reports that only 24 of them, or 0.17% rejected the idea that human activity was causing global warming. It was self-published by geologist-blogger James Lawrence Powell.

Source: TreeHugger, 11/30/2012

"Frack Secrets by Thousands Keep U.S. Clueless on Wells"

"A subsidiary of Nabors Industries Ltd. pumped a mixture of chemicals identified only as “EXP- F0173-11” into a half-dozen oil wells in rural Karnes County, Texas, in July. Few people outside Nabors, the largest onshore drilling contractor by revenue, know exactly what’s in that blend. This much is clear: One ingredient, an unidentified solvent, can cause damage to the kidney and liver, according to safety information about the product that Michigan state regulators have on file."

Source: Bloomberg, 11/30/2012

"Livestock Falling Ill in Fracking Regions"

"In the midst of the domestic energy boom, livestock on farms near oil-and-gas drilling operations nationwide have been quietly falling sick and dying. While scientists have yet to isolate cause and effect, many suspect chemicals used in drilling and hydrofracking, or fracking, operations are poisoning animals through the air, water or soil."

Source: FERN Network, 11/30/2012

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