Must China really dominate the future world market in rare earth minerals so crucial to a green energy economy?
 

A new joint study by the World Bank and the U.N. says that the cost of preventing disasters related to climate change would be far less than post-disaster cleanup.

"General Electric Co plans to buy 25,000 electric vehicles from makers including General Motors Co over the next five years, in a move it said could spark demand for the charging equipment it sells."

"As Republicans jockey over next year's open gavel at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michigander Fred Upton holds the upper hand of seniority, while Texan Joe Barton fights for a waiver of term limits to retain the top GOP slot. But dark-horse candidate John Shimkus of Illinois can claim an asset of his own: a lead in the campaign donation chase."

"A national environmental group is threatening to sue over the federal government's oil spill emergency response plan for Alaska, saying regulators violated the law by not studying whether using chemicals to disperse oil spills would harm the state's endangered and threatened marine species."

"A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to a U.S. EPA decision allowing Alaska to administer part of the Clean Water Act."

"The controversial chemical bisphenol A can render roundworms sterile, kill their embryos, and damage their chromosomes, according to a new lab study."

"The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report."

"In a case being followed closely by some Marine veterans and their families, a federal judge has denied the Navy's request to dismiss a civil case regarding an Iowa woman's exposure to contaminated water at Marines Base Camp Lejeune, N.C."

The Great Lakes, America's largest supply of fresh water, and surrounding forests, wetlands, and waterways are threatened by new mining of copper and nickel.