Pollution

"Western Lake Erie could be on the verge of one of its worst algae outbreaks in years."

"A new database that compiles thousands of government and industry records on Alberta's oilsands lays out in painstaking detail how the industry is a constant source of low-level pollution to the area's land, air and water, says the scientist who pulled it all together."

"Now that the oil on the surface appears to be dissipating, the notion of a recovery from the spill, repeated by politicians, strikes some here as short-sighted. The gulf had been suffering for decades before the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20."

EPA made public its latest Toxics Release Inventory, which gives a picture of toxic chemical emissions into the environment from some 21,000 facilities nationwide during 2009, the latest year available. The dataset, which is preliminary, allows local reporters to track toxic threats and trends in their communities and regions.

The NRDC released its annual report on the state of U.S. beaches. Tar balls may be the least of our worries. Disease-causing germs from storm runoff and sewage overflows may be more dangerous.

"Up to 4 million barrels (167 million gallons), the vast majority of the spill, remains unaccounted for in government statistics."

The Firestone company, the second largest employer in Liberia, is so powerful in that country that the people there have little recourse when they complain that it is poisoning their water. Firestone's massive rubber plantation there was set up with help from the U.S. government in the 1920s. Firestone is now owned by the giant Bridgestone Americas, a Japanese company.

"The U.S. Interior Department issued its first shallow-water drilling permit since offshore exploration companies were required to meet two sets of new safety regulations in response to the BP oil spill, a department official said on Monday."

"The National Mining Association, which represents most major U.S. coal mining companies, on Tuesday filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it was unlawfully obstructing permits for coal mining operations in Central Appalachia."