Environmental
New Rules To Keep Mercury From Calif. Landfills
May 23, 2013 11:30 am | News | CommentsNew California rules will require the makers of new thermostats to do a better job of keeping old ones containing the neurotoxin mercury out of landfills. Since 2006 it has been against state law to sell mercury thermostats in California, but millions of old ones are still in use. Tens of thousands of them are replaced every year.
Solar Plane Completes 2nd Leg Of Trip In Texas
May 23, 2013 8:25 am | News | CommentsA solar-powered plane has landed in Texas, completing the second leg of a trip across the United States. The Solar Impulse is making the first attempt by a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel to fly across the U.S. The plane landed early Thursday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport after taking off Wednesday from Phoenix.
Solar Industry Pushes For More Use In Georgia
May 22, 2013 2:09 pm | by Ray Henry, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe solar industry in Georgia is pushing a power monopoly to expand its use of solar energy as it plans to meet the state's electricity needs over the next two decades. State utility regulators heard testimony Tuesday on the energy plans from Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power, which must submit new plans every three years.
Marine Who Dumped Toxins Felt Illness Was Payback
May 20, 2013 1:55 pm | by Allen G. Breed, AP National Writer | News | CommentsAs a young Marine electronics technician at Camp Lejeune in the mid-1970s, the Massachusetts man figured he'd dumped hundreds of gallons of toxic solvents onto the ground. It would be decades before he realized that he had unknowingly contributed to the worst drinking water contamination in the country's history.
Whirlpool Cancer Cluster Lawsuit Will Take Years
May 20, 2013 7:55 am | by John Seewer, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe wait for answers is far from over for parents who for years have lived with the worry of not knowing what's behind the mysterious cancers that have sickened dozens of children in a rural area of northern Ohio. Despite a federal civil lawsuit that points toward a possible cause, the issue is far from settled.
AP: Wind Farms Get Pass On Eagle Deaths
May 14, 2013 1:48 pm | by Dina Cappiello, Associated Press | News | CommentsKilling these iconic birds is not just an irreplaceable loss for a vulnerable species. It's also a federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines.
Project Aims To Track Big City Carbon Footprints
May 13, 2013 7:47 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsLike a satellite gazing down on Earth, it scans more than two dozen points from the inland desert to the coast. Every few minutes, it rumbles to life as it automatically sweeps the horizon, measuring sunlight bouncing off the surface for the unique fingerprint of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.
Natural Gas Export Plans Stir Debate
May 13, 2013 3:19 am | by Matthew Daly, Associated Press | News | CommentsA domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster. Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.
AnythingIT Announces Continued Growth With New Tampa Facility
May 10, 2013 10:49 am | News | CommentsThe Fair Lawn, N.J.-based information electronics recycler and e-waste handler AnythingIT, Inc., has announced that its new 30,050 square-foot facility in Tampa, Florida is now on-line and fully operational. The facility was first opened at the end of March 2013 to process electronic waste and perform asset recovery for a growing number of customers.
UN Predicts Boom In Trade Of 'Green' Products
May 8, 2013 8:25 am | News | CommentsThe U.N. Environment Program says trade in organic food and beverages is likely to reach $105 billion by 2015, up from $62.9 billion in 2011. Seafood farmed according to certified sustainability standards is forecast to rise to $1.25 billion from $300 million in 2008.
Pa. Proposes Gas Drilling Health Advisory Panel
May 7, 2013 2:11 pm | by Kevin Begos, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Health Advisory Panel on Shale Gas Extraction would look at potential public health impacts from drilling, along with potential health benefits from natural gas use. The members wouldn't be paid for their two-year terms, and it's not clear how much funding will be needed for the proposal.
China City Quashes Protest Against Petro Plant
May 6, 2013 7:49 am | by Didi Tang, Associated Press | News | CommentsWhile China punishes political dissent aggressively, it has been somewhat more tolerant of environmental complaints. The public, especially members of China's rising middle class, have become more outspoken against environmentally risky plants, and several mass protests against such projects turned violent last year.
BP To Pay $18M For Texas Gulf Restoration Work
May 3, 2013 2:16 pm | News | CommentsBP PLC has agreed to finance five Gulf restoration projects in Texas expected to cost a total of $18 million. In a statement issued Thursday, BP said the projects are part of its commitment to provide up to $1 billion in early restoration funding to repair the damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Judge Won't Dismiss ExxonMobil Suit
May 3, 2013 2:15 pm | News | CommentsA federal judge has declined to throw out a 2010 environmental lawsuit against ExxonMobil Corp. over emissions from its Baytown oil refinery. U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston on Thursday adopted a magistrate's April 3 recommendation that the Sierra Club and Environment Texas lawsuit be allowed to proceed.
Oil Drilling Technology Leaps, Clean Energy Lags
May 2, 2013 1:42 pm | by Jonathan Fahey, AP Energy Writer | News | CommentsThe consequences are enormous. A looming energy crisis has turned into a boom. These additional fossil fuels are intensifying the threat to the earth's climate. And for renewable energy sources, the sunny forecast of last decade has turned overcast.
China Career Boost Can Come With Health Risks
April 30, 2013 7:45 am | by Louise Watt, Associated Press | News | CommentsWhitney Foard Small loved China and her job as a regional director of communications for a top automaker. But after air pollution led to several stays in hospital and finally a written warning from her doctor telling her she needed to leave, Small packed up and left for Thailand.
GE Sues Utility As Dredging Restarts On Hudson
April 29, 2013 7:22 pm | News | CommentsGeneral Electric Co. has filed a lawsuit against National Grid seeking money from the utility for a share of costs for the $1 billion-plus Superfund cleanup of contaminated sediment from the upper Hudson River. GE announced the suit Monday, just as crews began a fourth year of dredging PCBs from the river.
EPA Methane Report Further Divides Fracking Camps
April 29, 2013 2:04 pm | by Kevin Begos, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its estimate of how much of a potent heat-trapping gas leaks during natural gas production, in a shift with major implications for a debate that has divided environmentalists: Does the recent boom in fracking help or hurt the fight against climate change?
Tests Detail Pollutants At Former Ford-Owned Site
April 25, 2013 1:57 pm | News | CommentsTesting on a site formerly owned by Ford Motor Co. in suburban Detroit where chemical solvents have been found shows pollutants are more widely dispersed than initially suspected. Results were discussed Wednesday at a public meeting, and there's concern a park and area homes could be affected.
BPI To Pay EPA Fine For 2007 Waterloo Accident
April 24, 2013 1:23 pm | News | CommentsBeef Products Inc. has agreed to pay a $450,000 civil penalty to settle alleged violations of Clean Air Act regulations from a 2007 incident at a now-closed Waterloo packing plant which killed a worker and injured another. In the accident more than 1,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia was released into an area occupied by workers and two became trapped.
UN Climate Chief: 2015 Talks Won't Fail
April 23, 2013 2:33 pm | by Michael Casey, Associated Press | News | CommentsSpeaking ahead of a climate meeting in Bonn next week, Christiana Figueres told reporters in a teleconference that much had changed, giving her optimism that a global climate pact can be reached in Paris in 2015. Figueres says climate change is worsening and governments have already committed to reaching a deal.
Earth Day Walk Touts Coal-To-Solar Efforts In NV
April 22, 2013 11:30 am | News | CommentsActivists and faith leaders joined the "Coal to Clean Energy" walk Saturday from NV Energy's Reid Gardner generation station to a planned 350-megawatt solar project on the Moapa Paiute Reservation. The march took place about two weeks after NV Energy announced plans to begin closing Reid Gardner and invest more money in renewable energy.
ABB Plans Power-One Acquisition For About $1B
April 22, 2013 8:25 am | News | CommentsThe Swiss power technology company ABB Ltd. is buying solar equipment maker Power-One Inc. for about $1 billion. The acquisition would ramp up ABB's capability to supply a key component used in solar systems. ABB will become an even larger supplier of solar inverters, which change the variable direct current output from solar panels into an alternating current.
Cement Maker Fined, To Cut Emissions At CO Plant
April 22, 2013 8:19 am | News | CommentsA cement manufacturer in Lyons has agreed to pay a $1 million fine and to install controls to decrease its emissions of the pollutant nitrogen oxide, the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday.
IAEA: Japan Nuke Cleanup May Take Over 40 Years
April 22, 2013 7:37 am | by Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. have predicted the cleanup would take up to 40 years. They still have to develop technology and equipment that can operate under fatally high radiation levels to locate and remove melted fuel. The reactors must be kept cool and the plant must stay safe and stable.
