"US President Barack Obama would have until late February to act on TransCanada's application to build the controversial Keystone XL crude oil pipeline under legislation expected to be approved by Congress on Friday."
"Nigerian coastal and fishing communities were on Thursday put on alert after Shell admitted to an oil spill that is likely to be the worst in the area for a decade, according to government officials."
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission unanimously approved a radical new reactor design on Thursday, clearing away a major obstacle for two utilities to begin construction on projects in South Carolina and Georgia.
NOAA Fisheries Service has developed an action plan for 6 coastal regions, plus a plan for highly migratory Atlantic species. Projects outlined in the plans will include a wide range of education and communication efforts, targeted fisheries improvements, altered management approaches, scientific studies, and improvements in social and economic data.
Groundwater depletion can lead to significant impacts on uses such as drinking water, irrigation, industries, and aquifer recharge, while excess can contribute to flooding. To see how the groundwater is faring in your area, check out NASA's groundwater maps, updated weekly.
Shortly before EPA's deadline to finalize its new rules on toxic emissions from US power plants, the tri-national Commission for Environmental Cooperation released its report on emissions from 3,144 power plants in Canada, the US, and Mexico.
"There is good news from Vermont this Christmas for the little brown bat, a threatened species that’s hanging on to existence 'by a tiny little fingernail,' said a state conservationist who’s watched them die by the millions in the Northeast from a mysterious disease."
"OTTAWA — Contamination of a major western Canadian river basin from oilsands operations is a 'high-profile concern' for downstream communities and wildlife, says a newly-released 'secret' presentation prepared last spring by Environment Canada that highlighted numerous warnings about the industry's growing footprint on land, air, water and the climate."
A conservative GOP freshman congressman from Ohio, Bill Johnson, has been attacking federal surface-mining regulation for costing jobs. It advances him politically. The only problem is that it does not seem to be true.
All along the Mississippi-Missouri river system, floodplains have been reclaimed as farmlands. Often government agencies like the Corps of Engineers must make agonizing choices between these two beneficial uses.
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