"Millions of people around the world are experiencing a scorching summer, as records are broken and thermostats climb this week in parts of Europe. Temperatures in Paris and Brussels exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit at a time of year when 70-degree weather is the norm, according to Accuweather.com."
The megabillionaire Koch brothers, whose agenda opposes environmental regulation, have a major impact on Republican politics -- including the 2016 presidential race. Their influence is magnified by the big donors they attract to their causes via semiannual retreats like the one that just ended at a luxury resort near Dana Point, Calif. This year, journalists got limited access to the traditionally secret conclave by agreeing not to disclose donors' identities. Now critics are asking whether such rules compromise the integrity of journalism.
"Conservationists declared victory on Wednesday in a legal battle over Idaho's systematic killing of wolves in a national wilderness area after the state notified federal land managers it did not intend to reinstate a controversial kill program."
"In August 2014, chemicals from a Grupo México mine contaminated a main waterway. A Mexicoleaks Alliance investigation reveals that the spill control equipment at the Buenavista Copper Mine was not in compliance with regulations that federal authorities had failed to enforce since 2011. Now residents of seven Sonora municipalities are filing suit."
As August warms waters seasonally in many parts of the U.S., harmful algal blooms are causing health hazards. A prime example is Toledo, where high levels of an algal toxin made city drinking water unusable last year. Algal blooms in the warm, shallow Lake Erie are worsened by agricultural runoff. With climate warming, new algal blooms are showing up in new places, like the Pacific Ocean.
EPA is trying to phase out the soil fumigant methyl bromide, on which the commercial strawberry crop has been dependent. Methyl bromide damages the ozone layer of the atmosphere. But the effort to find an adequate substitute has scientists scrambling.
"RICHMOND, Va. — The U.S. Forest Service has raised hundreds of concerns about a proposed natural gas pipeline that would carve a 30-mile swath through national forests in Virginia and West Virginia."
"The campaign to stop President Barack Obama's sweeping emissions limits on power plants began taking shape Wednesday, as 16 states asked the government to put the rules on hold while a Senate panel moved to block them."
"A Senate committee voted Wednesday to block implementation of the administration’s climate rule for power plants."
"A decadelong push to protect central Idaho's Boulder-White Clouds region came to a close yesterday afternoon with the Senate's unanimous approval of H.R. 1138."
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/headlines/hot-enough-you-just-beginning
[2] http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060023072
[3] https://www.sej.org/headlines/koch-donor-fest-ends-leaving-spin-pledges-questions-about-media
[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/media-outlets-koch-brothers_55c12a1be4b07146e2fe8f69
[5] https://www.sej.org/headlines/conservationists-declare-victory-idaho-halts-controversial-wolf-kill
[6] http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/06/us-usa-idaho-wolves-idUSKCN0QB05120150806
[7] https://www.sej.org/headlines/one-year-toxic-sonora-river-spill-prompts-lawsuits
[8] http://www.eldailypost.com/news/2015/08/one-year-on-toxic-sonora-river-spill-prompts-lawsuits/
[9] https://www.sej.org/headlines/big-ag-fueled-algae-bloom-wont-leave-toledos-water-supply-alone
[10] http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/08/giant-toxic-algae-bloom-haunts-toledo
[11] https://www.sej.org/headlines/strawberries-are-big-trouble-scientists-race-find-solution
[12] http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/08/04/scientists-race-to-find-solution-for-imperiled-strawberry-industry/
[13] https://www.sej.org/headlines/us-raises-concerns-about-pipeline-through-forests
[14] http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f2089cdb77e249969c78700b2e8da1ba/us-raises-concerns-about-pipeline-through-forests
[15] https://www.sej.org/headlines/16-states-ask-obama-admin-put-power-plant-rules-hold
[16] http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c693596994204de0b78d57beb6c0797b/16-states-ask-obama-admin-put-power-plant-rules-hold?utm_content=bufferf9272&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
[17] https://www.sej.org/headlines/senate-panel-votes-block-obamas-climate-rule
[18] http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/250347-senate-panel-votes-to-block-obama-climate-rule
[19] https://www.sej.org/headlines/wilderness-bill-protect-central-idaho-mountains-clears-congress
[20] http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060022997
[21] https://www.sej.org/search_results
[22] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2994
[23] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2991
[24] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2992
[25] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2993
[26] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2996
[27] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2997
[28] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2998
[29] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=2999
[30] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4940