"Lawmakers have called on the State Department’s inspector general to investigate the department’s handling of a crucial environmental study on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and urged President Obama to delay a decision on the project until the report is completed."
"LONDON -- In five days, there will be an unprecedented seven billion people on Earth, the United Nations projects in a new State of World Population 2011 report released today in London and in more than 100 other cities throughout the world."
"SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In a move that could have a major effect on the recycling industry, California Attorney General Kamala Harris will sue three national companies that make plastic bottles or sell bottled water in California, contending that they illegally claim their bottles are 'biodegradable.'"
"The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March released far more radiation than the Japanese government has claimed. So concludes a study that combines radioactivity data from across the globe to estimate the scale and fate of emissions from the shattered plant."
"BP won approval from the Interior Department to drill its first exploratory oil well in the Gulf of Mexico since the blowout of its Macondo well a year and a half ago touched off the country's worst offshore environmental disaster."
"New uranium mining claims on 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon will be blocked for 20 years under a decision the Bureau of Land Management announced Wednesday."
"Rapidly growing megacities in Africa and Asia face the highest risks from rising sea levels, floods and other climate change impacts, says a global survey aimed at guiding city planners and investors."
"The US Department of Interior plans to integrate the responsibilities of two sub-agencies with diverse portfolios overseeing surface mining, federal land management, oil and natural gas royalty collection and hard-rock mining, among other areas, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday."
The naturally-occurring erionite causes malignant mesothelioma and evidence suggests it is much more toxic than asbestos. Concern is rising as development that disturbs erionite deposits occurs in 12 western states.
Wetland acreage in the US declined during 2004-2009, reversing a slightly positive trend of net wetland gains during 1998-2004, according to the latest assessment from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, released Oct. 6, 2011.
