U.S. EPA Regulates Greenhouse Gases for Large Industrial Sources

WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a final rule to address greenhouse gas emissions from the largest industrial facilities, while shielding millions of small sources of greenhouse gases from Clean Air Act permitting requirements.

Announced Thursday, the rule will address facilities like coal-fired power plants and oil refineries that are responsible for 70 percent of the greenhouse gases from stationary sources that threaten American's health and welfare.

The Environmental, Financial, and Political Costs of the BP Oil Spill

Nearly two weeks after the tragic explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, President Obama travels to Louisiana bracing for one of the worst ecological disasters in US history.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is now about nine miles off the coast of Louisiana. Despite the fact that the slick has taken longer than expected to reach shore, it has tripled in size over the weekend, now covering hundreds of square miles of ocean. President Obama flew to New Orleans and traveled by road to the fishing town of Venice, which has now become the command center of containment and cleanup efforts.

Earth Day 2010 Chicago: Climate Protection is Good Business

CHICAGO, Illinois, April 22, 2010 (ENS) - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley today marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day by re-committing the city to protecting human health, the environment and the climate, which in turn promotes economic development and improves the quality of life for all residents.

"Earth Day has played a major role in making what was a low priority in our society in 1970 a high priority now," the mayor said in a news conference held in Daley Plaza, where the city's Earth Day events are centered.

Bangladesh Shipbreakers Roll Back Environmental Standards

Government leaders in Bangladesh repealed safety measures from the highly dangerous shipbreaking industry. Poor Bangladeshi lose limbs and lives each day as they break apart these mammoth commerce machines with their bare hands.

Bangladesh's government repealed an environmental standard set in January that would require that the shipbreaking industry to prevent release and exposure of toxic chemicals. More than half of the world's retired cargo ships and supertankers end their lives beached on the coast of Bangladesh where thousands of workers with primitive tools demolish them for scrap metal and building materials. The workers could be exposed to asbestos and harmful organic chemicals left behind in fuel tanks and giant mechanical structures.