The planned oil-drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's coast could bring spills harder to control than the Deepwater Horizon blowout. For centuries, native Inupiat have huted bowhead whales, bearded seals, walruses, and Caribou here. The Interior Department has approved exploration here by Shell, the company recently cited by the United Nations for decades of oil pollution in the Niger Delta.
"The legacy of George Washington's centuries-old logging venture in the Great Dismal Swamp is contributing to the possible demise of a valuable ecosystem as a barely contained fire burns on the Virginia-North Carolina border, experts say."
"Unwilling to fix leaky water mains in Crestwood, a south suburb known for its penny-pinching ways, village leaders secretly supplemented their supplies for more than two decades with a community well they knew was contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals."
"Two Australian retirees invoke the 'father of modern science' in their fight against the hegemony of settled climate science. But their arguments - and the advisors supporting them - draw from a deep history of climate science denial and distortion."
Douglas Fischer reports for The Daily Climate August 16, 2011.
Bottled water companies seem to be actively marketing their products to minority groups. Latinos and African Americans spend a higher portion of their income on bottled water than whites do, and surveys say this is because they view tap water as risky. There is evidence that public drinking water systems in minority communities are either lacking or less safe.
"Warming temperatures could cut in half suitable trout habitat in the West over the next 70 years."
"The federal Conservative party has sent a threatening email to the widow of an asbestos victim in the latest chapter of Canada's debate over the hazardous mineral."
"The White House is engaged in an intense debate over how much it should tighten national smog standards, an issue that has sparked a battle between business and public health groups.
"A Chinese petrochemical plant was operating normally on Monday despite a local government order to close it down due to a toxic spill scare, an industry source said."
NASA is arguing that it doesn't have to come up with any changes in its scientific integrity policy -- including rules limiting how its scientists can talk to reporters. Most federal agencies are under White House orders to come up with new policies, although not all of them have made their draft policies public. Some of the policies for achieving the Obama administration's pledge of scientific openness are still secret.
Kate Sheppard reports for Mother Jones August 15, 2011.
