"White House Proposes Bill to Lift Caps on Offshore Oil Spill Liability"
"President Obama put his weight today behind legislative efforts to lift liability caps for oil spills."
Source: Greenwire, 05/13/2010
National (U.S.)
"Criminal Charges Likely From Gulf Oil Spill, Legal Experts Say"
"Federal investigators are likely to file criminal charges against at least one of the companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico spill, raising the prospects of significantly higher penalties than a current $75 million cap on civil liability, legal experts say."
Source: McClatchy, 05/13/2010
Kerry, Lieberman End Suspense With Climate Bill Rollout
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) released their draft Senate climate and energy bill Wednesday. It pairs a cap-and-trade scheme with major concessions to the fossil-fuel and nuclear industries. Weighing in close to 1,000 pages, it covers a cross section of the nation's top environmental and energy issues. Both business groups and environmental groups have mixed reactions. The big question now is whether the bill can garner enough votes to succeed on the Senate floor.
Source: ClimateWire, 05/13/2010
"Oil Spill Investigators Find Critical Problems in Blowout Preventer"
"A House energy panel investigation has found that the blowout preventer that failed to stop a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had a dead battery in its control pod, leaks in its hydraulic system, a "useless" test version of a key component and a cutting tool that wasn't strong enough to shear through steel joints in the well pipe and stop the flow of oil."
Source: Wash Post, 05/13/2010
Russian Olives and Tamarisk Get A Little Federal Love
A new report by the US Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, US Forest Service, other federal agencies, and university experts says the water-hogging reputation of the two species has little merit, but found that effects on wildlife are mixed.
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Feds Have Sent Nearly $650 Million to Private Forest Owners
The USFS Forest Legacy Program has awarded a total of $72 million to 36 property owners in 33 states and territories to apply conservation easements to their land, with the goal of preventing development or other uses of the land that would reduce its forest value.
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Air Pollution: EPA Proposes Tougher Industrial Boiler Regs
The proposed air toxics standards cover emissions from three types of combustion sources and address emissions of mercury, cadmium, dioxin, furans, formaldehyde, hydrochloric acid, and other pollutants.
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Greenwashers, Beware: FTC Updating Its "Green Guides"
The 2010 update to the Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims is expected to feature new guidance for marketing carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates, green packaging, textiles, building products, and building.
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EPA Makes Water Polluters A Little Easier To Track
A new Web tool summarizes by state the number of smaller dischargers whose actions have been reviewed, the number that had a serious violation of their permit, and the number against whom a state took enforcement action.
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