Unstable Siberian Arctic Shelf Leaking Greenhouse Gas Methane

Submitted by ecofactory on Tue, 2010-03-09 12:50
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Unstable Siberian Arctic Shelf Leaking Greenhouse Gas Methane

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, March 9, 2010 (ENS) - A Siberian section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that stores vast amounts of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and is venting the potent greenhouse gas, an international research team reported Friday.

The permafrost under the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, long thought to be an impermeable barrier sealing in the methane, is perforated and is starting to leak seven to eight million tonnes of methane each year into the atmosphere.

Supreme Court Will Not Reopen Case That Closed Air Pollution Loophole

Submitted by ecofactory on Tue, 2010-03-09 12:49
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Supreme Court Will Not Reopen Case That Closed Air Pollution Loophole

WASHINGTON, DC, March 9, 2010 (ENS) - The Supreme Court today sided with environmental advocates by declining to review a lower court ruling that forbid the U.S. EPA to exempt industrial polluters from regular emissions standards during "startup, shutdown and malfunction" events.

New Study Asserts Gender-Bending Effect of Popular Pesticide

Submitted by Nate Kharrl on Thu, 2010-03-04 18:07
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New Study Asserts Gender-Bending Effect of Popular Pesticide

A new study shows that astrazine, a common pesticide, could be desrupting hormone levels in animals -- and possibly humans.
Frogs in the midwest were found to be feminized by groundwater contamination

Atrazine, a weed killer commonly used in the Midwest to combat broadleaf pest plants that ail crops, has been found to cause severe hormone imbalances in laboratory animals. The pesticide, which is a known endocrine disruptor, is the most activley detected pesticide in USGS ground and surface water studies. While the chemical is banned in the European Union, its use in the United States makes it one of the most commonly used pesticides in the world.

EPA Takes Charge of Ten More Toxic Superfund Sites

Submitted by ecofactory on Thu, 2010-03-04 14:54
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EPA Takes Charge of Ten More Toxic Superfund Sites

WASHINGTON, DC, March 4, 2010 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is adding 10 new hazardous waste sites that pose risks to human health and the environment to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites. The listings make these sites eligible to receive federal funds for long-term cleanup while the EPA seeks to recover costs from the responsible parties.

U.S. Congress Presses Marshall Islanders to Resettle Radioactive Home

Submitted by ecofactory on Thu, 2010-03-04 14:51
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U.S. Congress Presses Marshall Islanders to Resettle Radioactive Home

MAJURO, Marshall Islands, March 4, 2010 (ENS) - Fifty-six years after the first American hydrogen bomb blast in the Pacific exposed hundreds of people to radioactive fallout, U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman is pressing Marshall Islanders to return to their contaminated home island by next year.

The U.S. official position is that radiation is no longer a threat on the Marshalls atoll. But many islanders doubt that their radiation-exposed island of Rongelap is safe enough to live on.

It's Official: U.S. Senators Abandon Cap and Trade

Submitted by Nate Kharrl on Tue, 2010-03-02 17:27
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It's Official: U.S. Senators Abandon Cap and Trade

Senators working on the latest revision of the Senate Climate Change Bill unveiled that they would be abandoning cap and trade and focusing on more widely accepted pollutants.

"Cap and Trade is dead," said Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) last weekend. Graham, working in a bipartisan effort with Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) and Joe Lieberman (I-Con) confirmed that the group would be abandoning cap and trade in their last effort to pass a climate bill before the midterm election. The new bill will not put a price on carbon emissions with a carbon market or a carbon tax. Rather, the new legislation will ratchet down caps on widely accepted pollutants from power plants and factories, and possibly increase taxes on gasoline.

California Limits SF6, World's Most Potent Greenhouse Gas

Submitted by ecofactory on Tue, 2010-03-02 15:41
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California Limits SF6, World's Most Potent Greenhouse Gas

SACRAMENTO, California, March 2, 2010 (ENS) - The California Air Resources Board has adopted a measure developed with representatives of the electrical utilities that will limit and monitor the emissions of the greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride, SF6, from high-voltage electrical applications.

China Steps Up to Purchase America's Share of Canadian Oil Sands

Submitted by Nate Kharrl on Tue, 2010-02-16 17:38
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China Steps Up to Purchase America's Share of Canadian Oil Sands

China is stepping up to take the place of the United States as Canada's #1 oil customer.
Canada's oil sands

Environmental groups were delighted to hear that major US firms, from the Pentagon to Shell Oil, were pulling out of their controversial Canadian tar sands projects. The development program, which extracts crude oil from sediment at three to four times the total carbon footprint, has been the target of multiple environmental awareness campaigns that brought the message to shareholders and business leaders across the United States. In response, China is stepping in to buy up oil sands projects in order to fuel their economic growth.

Environmentalists Claim EPA Allows Drillers to Operate Above the Law

Submitted by Nate Kharrl on Thu, 2010-01-21 21:12
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Environmentalists Claim EPA Allows Drillers to Operate Above the Law

The Environmental Working Group released a report in an attempt to highlight potentially harmful practices used by oil and natural groups to increase productivity.
Natural Gas Pipeline

Environmentalists with the Environmental Working Group released a report last Tuesday that attacks the natural gas industry's extraction methods. Hydraulic fracturing, the process of blasting water, sand, and solvents deep underground to break up and dissolve rock formations, has become a standard procedure to allow extraction companies to drill deeply and efficiently. The boosted productivity and record reserve levels of natural gas in America are credited to this technique.

New Study Finds Chinese Smog Fills California Air

Submitted by Nate Kharrl on Thu, 2010-01-21 17:58
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New Study Finds Chinese Smog Fills California Air

New research reveals that California's declining air quality is directly related to emissions in China and Southeast Asia.
Smog sits on the city of Santa Monica.

Researchers have been perplexed for over a decade as to why air quality continues to decline in California despite having the strictest emissions regulations in the country. While most other cities have improved, Western cities and even rural areas with very little vehicle traffic experience the poorest air quality in the country. Researchers took to the air to discover where the pollution is coming from and found conclusivley that China and Southeast Asia are largely to blame.