A National Research Council report says one of the most significant problems is a continuing lack of communication between federal tsunami warning system officials; local officials and emergency managers; the media; and the public.
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (Canada, US, and Mexico) issued a report on Sept. 17, 2010, illustrating the steps 13 North American cities are taking, from small, planned efforts to reduce building energy use, to comprehensive, multi-sector adopted plans for reducing energy use.
"A once-unthinkable day is looming on the Colorado River. Barring a sudden end to the Southwest’s 11-year drought, the distribution of the river’s dwindling bounty is likely to be reordered as early as next year because the flow of water cannot keep pace with the region’s demands."
"The contamination of many First Nations by unregulated landfills and dumps is a dirty story that has yet to be fully told. Aside from the mess you can see – and smell – the risk of groundwater pollution is probably the most severe environmental impact from these waste sites. Add an improperly engineered garbage dump and the results are more than toxic."
"A Veterans Affairs official told Congress on Thursday that despite the evidence of widespread contamination of drinking water at Camp Lejeune, the agency doesn't think that the science yet exists to link exposure to the toxic water led to a host of cancers and other diseases suffered by former base residents."
Campo Kumeyaay Nation, a small tribe in the desert mountains east of San Diego, benefitted from the casino that opened in 2001. Now it wants to build a 25-turbine wind farm called Kumeyaay 1, the only large-scale renewable energy plant on Indian land in the country. But a big problem is the tribe's tax status: as a sovereign nation it can not receive the federal tax credits that make such projects feasible.
"Above the Arctic Circle in Canada near Greenland, five Inuit villages have won a court order that blocks a German icebreaker from conducting seismic tests of an underwater region that abounds with marine life -- and possibly with oil, gas and minerals."
While thoroughly bureaucratic, the 55-page guidance document, as well as EPA's Environmental Justice Strategic Enforcement Assessment Tool, can be useful resources for reporters who seek to understand and highlight potential environmental justice issues unfolding at the national, regional, or state level.
"The Navajo Nation's proposed coal plant always rested on shaky ground. Now, it may collapse entirely."
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