"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent its final proposal on whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to human health and welfare to the White House for review, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Reuters on Monday."

"The Senate climate debate shifts into a higher gear this week as advocates look beyond the partisan gridlock that engulfed the Environment and Public Works Committee and onto the broader quest of finding 60 votes for floor passage."

EPA announced Thursday the Obama administration's appointment of four regional administrators. They are for Region 2 (NY, NJ, PR, VI, Tribal Nations), Region 3 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV), Region 6 (TX, LA, AK, NM, OK, Tribal Nations), Region, and Region 9 (CA, HI, AZ, NV, Territories, Tribal Nations).

"As the debate over the merits of Marcellus Shale development reaches a crescendo, an Ithaca researcher has culled a list of 270 files documenting wastewater spills, well contamination, explosions, methane migration and ecological damage related to gas production in the state since 1979."

"Big greenhouse polluting companies around the world, employing thousands of lobbyists, are exerting heavy pressure on governments to weaken climate change laws at home and slow progress on an international climate agreement in Copenhagen, a global investigation reveals."

"Representatives of 400 federally recognized tribal nations from across the United States gathered at the Department of the Interior [Nov. 5] at the invitation of President Barack Obama for a conference the President called ... 'the largest and most widely attended gathering of tribal leaders in our history.'" The meeting included discussion of environmental and land rights issues.

"In a tradition dating back to medieval times, growers in Modena, Italy, are deep into the grape harvest, the first step in making their famed balsamic vinegar. ...Thousands of miles away, in California, signs in grocery stores warn shoppers about exposure to a dangerous metal in many balsamic and red wine vinegars. Although the amount of lead in vinegar is small, experts say regularly consuming it may pose a risk, particularly to children."

"Chrysler has disbanded a team of engineers dedicated to rushing a range of electric vehicles to showrooms and dropped ambitious sales targets for battery-powered cars set as it was sliding toward bankruptcy and seeking government aid."

"An aggressive cancer linked to asbestos is killing more Canadians than ever before, even decades after the end of a boom that saw buildings stuffed with the toxic substance."
 

The Obama White House, faced with serious and mounting problems in the oceans, is creating a National Ocean Council that excludes the key agency responsible for most oceans programs, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrtion.