London's Metropolitan Police face a mounting crisis after revelations that their agents spied on environmental groups for years and then lied about it in court under oath. Top police officials ordered the agents to deceive the courts. Undercover agents had sex with activists, ran their organizations, provoked protests, and then helped get protestors arrested. The failure of many such prosecutions demonstrated the incompetence of the police effort in achieving its goals.

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it will develop rules for the booming shale gas industry to dispose of its wastewater, which has been linked to polluted surface water.

The move is one of several that signal the Obama administration plans to push ahead with regulating whatever aspects of shale gas production fall under its authority.

"A team at the University of California Berkeley that set out to test the temperature data underlying the consensus on global warming has concluded that the mainstream estimate of the rise in the earth’s surface temperature since 1950 is indeed accurate. It has warmed about 1 degree Centigrade (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the researchers say."

The New York Times' Green blog had the story October 20, 2011. [11]

"BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the Ozark hellbender as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Hellbenders are among the world's largest salamanders. The Ozark hellbender inhabits the White River system in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas."

"DETROIT -- Transit providers across the United States will receive a share of $928.5 million in federal funds for more than 300 public transportation projects in urban, suburban, and rural areas, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Monday."

"MIAMI -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is in South Florida to learn about the progress of the Tamiami Trail Bridge Project.

A press release says Salazar and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe on Thursday will be highlighting the Department's work to help preserve and protect America's great outdoors."

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel had the story October 20, 2011. [22]

"Colombian environmental authorities have reported a huge shark massacre in the Malpelo wildlife sanctuary in Colombia's Pacific waters, where as many as 2,000 hammerhead, Galápagos and silky sharks may have been slaughtered for their fins."

Sibylla Brodzinsky reports for the Guardian October 19, 2011. [25]

"HELENA, Mont. -- BP lawyers are asking a judge to dismiss a Montana lawsuit that alleges the oil giant took millions of dollars in insurance money and then left the state with the bill for cleaning contamination from leaky underground storage tanks."

Matt Volz reports for the Associated Press October 19, 2011. [29]

"ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane. Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court."

"WASHINGTON, DC -- Hundreds of the world's largest investors, representing more than $20 trillion in assets, today encouraged governments and international policy makers to take new legally-enforceable steps to combat climate change at the upcoming UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa."