Environmental Health News

Links to articles in today's press about environmental health. Many more links available today at www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
Updated: 47 min 2 sec ago
Marcellus Shale Coalition hires Ridge as adviser.
Stung by a gas well blowout in Clearfield County and the likelihood of legislators slapping a new tax on underground natural gas, Marcellus Shale drillers have added a heavy hitter to their lineup -- former Gov. Tom Ridge.
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As water worries mount, researcher says Marcellus Shale poses risk to air.
Protecting watersheds in the Marcellus Shale region and forcing driller disclosure of fracking chemicals are the foremost demands of those concerned about potential environmental harm from natural gas activity.
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Oil spill highlights conflict-of-interest issue within investigation agency.
The oil industry of the Gulf Coast is an insular world in which rig foremen and federal inspectors sometimes work side by side. In the wake of the BP disaster, Congress is pressing the agency formerly known as the MMS to clamp down on potential conflicts of interest.
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What's worse for Lake Michigan, Kalamazoo River spill or Asian carp?
While Chicago Mayor Daley called an oil spill in the Kalamazoo River a bigger threat to Lake Michigan than Asian carp, many scientists disagree. Is the mayor playing politics, or is he on to something?
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China oil spill far bigger than stated.
China's worst known oil spill is dozens of times larger than the government has reported - bigger than the famous Exxon Valdez spill two decades ago - and some of the oil was dumped deliberately to avoid further disaster, an American expert said Friday.
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Army: Chemical weapons off Hawaii should stay put.
Chemical weapons dumped in deep water five miles south of Pearl Harbor after World War II should remain at the site because moving them could pose more of a threat to people and the environment, the Army said Friday.
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Ozone update.
The very first story we did back in 1991 was a brief item about the hole in the ozone layer. Now we know that the ozone problem could have been much worse if the chemical engineers had used a slightly different refrigerant. Atom for atom, bromine is a hundred times more destructive.
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Without Congress.
The Senate isn't taking up a climate change bill this summer, despite years of efforts to legislate a solution. But other plans to cap greenhouse gas emissions are beginning to grind into gear.
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Two die in Florida from mosquito-borne disease.
Two Florida residents have died from Eastern equine encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease that is rare among humans but has infected a rising number of horses in the state, health officials said on Friday.
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Oil spill adds to havoc affecting sea turtles .
This has been a bad year for the endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle. A longer and colder than usual winter delayed and shortened the nesting season. Then the nesting turtles and their offspring swam into the BP oil disaster, which polluted their feeding grounds and coated untold numbers of hatchlings with oil.
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Southern Co. moves ahead on 'clean coal.'
The future of carbon caps became murkier than ever when the latest version of carbon regulation died in the Senate this month. But Atlanta-based Southern Co. - a staunch foe of carbon regulation - is thinking ahead.
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The drift dweller.
One of the most common - and important - winter creatures you have never heard of is snow mold. Understanding how these fungi respond to new conditions might help predict how carbon dioxide emissions will change worldwide as the planet warms and snowpacks diminish.
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Forest thinning would cut release of greenhouse gas.
Turning overgrown Arizona forests into wood products and fuel for power plants could significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, conclude Northern Arizona University researchers.
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Climate-change policy: Let it be.
The Democrats have abandoned their efforts to limit emissions through legislation. But the demise of cap and trade in Congress does not mean a complete halt to the administration’s efforts to cut emissions.
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Merging onto electric avenue.
Hype over the new battery-powered Volt from GM may be surging but every major car maker has jumped onto what some are already calling a worldwide revolution that its most ardent advocates say has the potential to pre-empt wars and save the planet.
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Energy star ratings in disarray.
Labor's push to cut greenhouse gas emissions through the use of energy efficiency schemes was yesterday dealt another blow when building industry heavyweights discredited the star ratings being applied to hundreds of thousands of homes.
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Radioactive boar on the rise in Germany.
As Germany's wild boar population has skyrocketed in recent years, so too has the number of animals contaminated by radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive boar have quadrupled since 2007.
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EPA developing tool to assist in Enviro Justice Initiative.
U.S. EPA is working on a coarse screening tool as part of its "environmental justice" initiative to help its employees spot pockets of people whose health has suffered disproportionally over the years.
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Chernobyl zone shows decline in biodiversity.
The largest wildlife census of its kind conducted in Chernobyl has revealed that mammals are declining in the exclusion zone surrounding the nuclear power plant. It was based on almost four years of counting and studying animals there.
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Coal firm 'grandstanding,' judge says.
Massey Energy's Performance Coal Co. is "grandstanding" in its lawsuit challenging the government's procedures for investigating the deaths of 29 workers at the company's Upper Big Branch Mine, a federal administrative law judge has ruled.
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