"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 3 to 2 on Tuesday to require improvements to the emergency vents at 31 American reactors that share design similarities with the Japanese reactors that melted down two years ago. The agency stopped short, however, of requiring filters to scrub out radioactive particles coming through those vents."
SEJ members and staff mourn the loss of award-winning environmental journalist Kathie Durbin, an SEJ member since 1996. A dedicated reporter and author, determined to make her final deadline, Kathie completed her last book before passing on March 15, 2013; The Columbia River Gorge: Bridging a Great Divide is scheduled to be published by OSU Press. Read Cascadia Times colleague Paul Koberstein's tribute to Kathie, as well as other coverage, and post your remembrances here. © Image: Courtesy Elizabeth Feryl.
"The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether environmental groups can challenge a federal government plan that has led to increased logging in California forests throughout the Sierra."
"An underground plume of toxic hydrocarbons from an oil spill north of the Colorado River near Parachute has been spreading for 10 days, threatening to contaminate spring runoff."
"Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt said on Monday that he is placing a hold on Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, which could delay a full Senate vote on the nominee."
"The American Bird Conservancy is calling for a ban on using one of the globe's most widely used classes of insecticides in seed treatments and for a suspension of all other uses, pending an independent review of its impact on birds and other wildlife."
"The number of Atlantic storms with magnitude similar to killer Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, could rise sharply this century, environmental researchers reported on Monday."
"The inside story of how the government let one company squash biotech innovation, and dominate an entire industry."
"TOKYO -- A power failure at Japan’s tsunami-damaged nuclear plant on Monday night has left three fuel storage pools without fresh cooling water for hours, the plant’s operator said."
"COLUMBIA, SC -- As SCE&G and other utilities work to complete atomic power plants, the law that made construction possible gives power companies less incentive to use solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy."
