"Better protecting the world's fast-disappearing mangroves could have big economic, social and environmental benefits, experts said at the U.N. climate talks in Lima this week."
"North Dakota regulators on Tuesday ordered producers pumping oil from the Bakken shale field to begin removing flammable natural gas liquids from their product before shipment in an effort to prevent deadly explosions involving trains."
"Regulators in the United States knew they had to act fast. A train hauling 2 million gallons of crude oil from North Dakota had exploded in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic, killing 47 people. Now they had to assure Americans a similar disaster wouldn’t happen south of the border, where the U.S. oil boom is sending highly volatile crude oil every day over aging, often defective rails in vulnerable railcars."
"Rebuilding Louisiana's coast, including the rapidly eroding Mississippi River delta, should be the main use of billions of dollars in expected BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill fine and restoration money, according to two reports released Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation and a coalition of national and Louisiana environmental groups."
"A third-straight day of rains awaited California on Thursday, and the thirsty state will take it."
"Federal regulators have been too slow and lax when it comes to ensuring the safety of California's last operating nuclear plant, according to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who clashed repeatedly with members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during a Senate committee hearing Wednesday."
Journalists hurrying to get up to speed on environmental or energy issues can get objective background from reports by the Congressional Research Service (an arm of the Library of Congress), which does not release them to the taxpaying public that funded them. We thank the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project for publishing them.
"Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials announced Monday that they have cited E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. for 11 alleged violations and proposed $120,300 in fines related to problems found after toxic chemicals leaked from a tanker truck in May and exposed workers to health risks at a Deepwater, N.J., plant that is one of DuPont's largest facilities in the United States."
"30 Years Later, Survivors of Lethal Gas Leak Still Fight for Justice."
"On Jan. 9, a freak storm dumped a record rainfall on central Florida's Treasure Coast, inundating the St. Lucie nuclear power plant facing the Atlantic Ocean. Storm drains failed, and 50,000 gallons of water flooded the plant's Unit 1 reactor auxiliary building through improperly sealed electrical passages, disabling core cooling pumps."
