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Florida coalition targets pending federal pollution rules

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Miami Herald - By Curtis Morgan - Nov. 23 (News Report) - The target: A settlement a federal judge in Tallahassee approved last week in a lawsuit brought by five environmental groups against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It requires that federal regulators, for the first time, step in and set a state's water quality standards for nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that flow into waterways from fertilized lawns, sewage plants, farms fields, cattle pastures and a host of other sources.

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EPA: Uranium from polluted mine in Nev. wells

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Associated Press - By Scott Sonner - Nov. 23 (News Report) - A new wave of testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found that 79 percent of the wells tested north of the World War II-era copper mine have dangerous levels of uranium or arsenic or both that make the water unsafe to drink. And, more importantly to the neighbors, that the source of the pollution is a groundwater plume that has slowly migrated from the 6-square-mile mine site.

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New report asserts R.I. CO2 emissions soared 24 percent

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

projo.com - Nov. 23 (News Report) - A new report from a group called Environment Rhode Island asserts that Rhode Island’s carbon dioxide emissions have soared 24 percent between 1990 and 2007, which is going in the wrong direction for a state trying to reduce its impacts on climate change.

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Environmental groups debate new tack in climate-change fight

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By David A. Fahrenthold - Nov. 16 (News Report) - A curious debate has broken out among American environmental groups, as the Senate balkily starts to focus on the threat of climate change. Is this really the time to talk about the threat of climate change?

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Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Martin Chulov - Nov. 14 (News) - Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting. The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja?s over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born. Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects – which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented ...

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Nuclear scars: Tainted water runs beneath Nevada desert

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Ralph Vartabedian - Nov. 13 (Special Report) - In a study for Nye County, where the nuclear test site lies, Buqo estimated that the underground tests polluted 1.6 trillion gallons of water. That is as much water as Nevada is allowed to withdraw from the Colorado River in 16 years -- enough to fill a lake 300 miles long, a mile wide and 25 feet deep.

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Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Lindsey Hoshaw - Nov. 10 (Special Report) - The detritus of human life is collecting in a Pacific Ocean garbage patch that is believed to be twice the size of Texas.

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Scientists: Nuke panel owes Utahns an apology

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salt Lake Tribune - By Judy Fahys - Nov. 09 (News Report) - Three scientists say federal nuclear regulators owe Utahns an apology -- and a policy change -- for allowing shallow burial of depleted uranium, including the 49,000 tons already at EnergySolutions Inc.'s landfill in Tooele County.

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Coal ash from U.S. blamed for Dominican town's birth defects

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

McClatchy - By Frances Robles - Nov. 07 (News Report) - Villagers in the Dominican Republic claim children have been born without limbs and organs because of coal ash from a Virginia power company dumped nearby. Maximiliano Calcano is 2 and was born with no arms.

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Britain rules out climate treaty at summit

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Independent - By Michael McCarthy - Nov. 06 (News Report) - Although there are various stumbling blocks, there is no doubt that the continued lack of a serious American offer on cutting its greenhouse gas emissions and providing climate finance for the developing nations – the bill which might provide them is stuck in the US Senate – is the principle obstacle to progress. "Copenhagen is one of the most important meetings in human history. But the politicians seem determined to blow it," said Joss Garman, climate campaigner for Greenpeace.

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Naomi Starkman: Tests Find Wide Range of Bisphenol A in Canned Soups, Juice, and More

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Naomi Starkman - Nov. 02 (Investigative Report) - BPA, which has been used for years in clear plastic bottles and food-can liners, has been restricted in Canada and some U.S. states and municipalities because it has been linked to a wide array of health effects including reproductive abnormalities, heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, and heart disease.

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Beijing’s Air Is Steadily Getting Cleaner, but the War Is Far From Won

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Michael Wines - Oct. 18 (News Report) - After tough measures by Chinese authorities to curb emissions, the trend toward clearer skies in Beijing — one of the most polluted cities in the world — is steady and undeniable.

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Rabbits Deposit Radioactive Clues on the Landscape

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Matthew L. Wald - Oct. 15 (Special Report) - The Hanford site, overseen by the federal Department of Energy, produced roughly two-thirds of the plutonium used in the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal, beginning in World War II and ending in the 1980s. Today it is the focus of the nation’s largest environmental cleanup, an effort that has cost tens of billions of dollars and is expected to continue for decades.

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EPA Releases Bush-Era Endangerment Document

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Darren Samuelsohn, Robin Bravender - Oct. 13 (News Report) - U.S. EPA released a long-sequestered document on global warming today showing the George W. Bush administration had concluded in December 2007 that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles were endangering public welfare and needed to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

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EPA Moves To Regulate Smokestack Greenhouse Gases

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Morning Edition - By Elizabeth Shogren - Oct. 01 (News Report) - The Obama administration recently proposed new rules for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars. Now it's proposing to reduce heat-trapping pollution from power plants and other large facilities.

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Video: 20,000 Detergent Bottles Under the Sea

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Sam Baldwin, Andy Kroll, Taylor Wiles - Sep. 27 (News Report) - After a month spent studying the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," a vortex of waste twice the size of Texas in the North Pacific Ocean where there's a 36-to-1 ratio of plastic to plankton, the scientists behind Project Kaisei offered tours of their vessel and talked with Mother Jones' Sam Baldwin, Andy Kroll, and Taylor Wiles about finding lawn chairs and laundry baskets floating a thousand miles at sea.

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Male bass in many rivers feminized

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Seth Borenstein - Sep. 15 (News Report) - Government scientists figure that one out of five male black bass in American river basins have egg cells growing inside their sexual organs, a sign of how widespread fish feminizing has become. The findings come from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in its first comprehensive examination of intersex fish in America, a problem linked to women's birth-control pills and other hormone treatments that seep into rivers.

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NYT Investigation Exposes Severity of Nationwide Water Contamination; Corporations Violated Clean Water Act Over 500,000 Times in Last Five Years

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Charles Duhigg - Sep. 14 (Investigative Report) - chemical companies have violated the Clean Water Act more than 500,000 times in the last five years. Most of the violations have gone unpunished, with state regulators taking significant action in just three percent of all cases. An estimated one in ten Americans has been exposed to drinking water that has dangerous chemicals or falls short of federal standards.

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Toxic Waters - Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering - Series

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Charles Duhigg - Sep. 13 (Investigative Report) - In the past five years, companies and workplaces have violated pollution laws more than 500,000 times. But the vast majority of polluters have escaped punishment.

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Air travel may have to be rationed in the future says Government climate change advisers

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Telegraph - By Louise Gray - Sep. 10 (News Report) - Air travel is expected to at least double by the middle of the century as new airlines spring up in developing countries like China and rich countries like Britain expand airports such as Heathrow. However the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) fears unlimited growth of air travel will cause greenhouse gas emissions to increase and therefore cause global warming. In a letter to the Secretaries of State for Climate Change and Transport, the committee calls for global aviation emissions to be capped at 2005 levels by 2050.

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Pollution in China Affecting Rainfall

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Voice of America - By Steve Baragona - Sep. 08 (Special Report) - Pollution in China appears to be decreasing the amount of light rainfall the country receives, according to a new study. That's important because light rain is the kind that helps sustain crops. ... Over the past 50 years, the total amount of rainfall in northeastern China has been decreasing, while the southeastern portion of the country has been getting more rain — mostly in the form of heavy downpours.

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Bodega Bay scientists weigh impact of ocean acid levels on shellfish

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

pressdemocrat.com - By Bob Norberg - Sep. 06 (News Report) - The danger from increasing levels of acid in the ocean, which could devastate California's shellfish industry, is under investigation by Bodega Bay scientists. It is painstaking work that requires the team to wade through knee-deep mud at Tomales Bay to collect native Olympic oysters and then raise their young in salt-water tanks under conditions that mimic climate change.

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Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, lies about it

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Miles Grant - Sep. 04 (News Report) - A friend just alerted me to the website PlantsNeedCO2.org, which is running ads on NYTimes.com. From the site’s “about us” page: Our mission is to educate the public on the positive effects of additional atmospheric CO2 and help prevent the inadvertent negative impact to human, plant and animal life if we reduce CO2. Plants Need CO2 is a 501 (c)(3) non profit corporation. How do I say this? False. I know you’re never gonna believe who really owns the website ... Big Oil. It’s registered to Quintana Minerals Corporation:

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Fracking and the Environment: Natural Gas Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Contamination

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Sep. 03 (Special Report) - Gas drilling companies such as Halliburton say the gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is safe, but opponents contend it pollutes groundwater with dangerous substances. Now, new evidence has emerged possibly linking natural gas drilling to groundwater contamination. ProPublica journalist Abrahm Lustgarten reports federal officials in Wyoming have found that at least three water wells contain chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

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Indian children crippled by uranium

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Gethin Chamberlain - Aug. 30 (News Report) - Observer investigation uncovers link between dramatic rise in birth defects in Punjab and pollution from coal-fired power stations Their heads are too large or too small, their limbs too short or too bent. For some, their brains never grew, speech never came and their lives are likely to be cut short: these are the children it appears that India would rather the world did not see, the victims of a scandal with potential implications far beyond the country?s borders. Some sit mutely, staring into space, lost in a world of their own; others cry out, rocking backwards and forwards. Few have any real control over their own bodies. Their anxious parents fret over them, murmuring soft words of encouragement, hoping for some sort of miracle that ...

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