Environmental reporters who use databases to find and build stories have a fresh windfall, including three new datasets from EPA, plus many others relevant to the EJ beat.
A study by Univ. of California-Irvine researchers has found that while grass itself acted as a carbon sink, when other factors are taken into account — fuel burned to maintain the lawn, emissions from fertilizer spread to help it grow, etc. — four times as much carbon was emitted than was absorbed.
This a good time to report on the fate of the bald eagle; the National Wildlife Federation provides a couple of lists that pinpoint at least one spot in every state except Hawaii where the big birds can typically be found.
States and territories are each designing and running their own unique rebate program, with funding from the US DOE for development and implementation.
"What do Nike, REI, the Vancouver Olympics, and the Washington state government have in common? They've all promised to eliminate their impact on the climate by going "carbon–neutral." REI aims to have zero output of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide by the year 2020. But since REI set the zero–impact goal, its emissions have been heading rapidly in the opposite direction."
"A drilling technique that is beginning to unlock staggering quantities of natural gas underneath Appalachia also yields a troubling byproduct: powerfully briny wastewater that can kill fish and give tap water a foul taste and odor."
"ARLINGTON, Va. -- Industry and environmental groups sparred at a public hearing here today over U.S. EPA's planned reconsideration of the George W. Bush administration's 2008 smog standard."
CDC has increased 10-fold the number of contaminants it tracks in people since starting its biomonitoring program in 2001. But the agency is hitting limits that likely will slow future growth, and no one else is picking up the slack, leaving us ignorant for years to come about more than 99% of the possible toxics in our bodies.
"The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity has put the U.S. EPA on notice that it intends to sue the agency for failing to adequately evaluate and regulate nearly 400 pesticides harmful to hundreds of endangered species across the country as well as human beings."
Environmental groups fear President Obama's plan to guarantee loans for private power companies to build nuclear plants -- loans too risky for free-market lenders to touch -- would be a set-up for another corporate bailout.
