Public

"More U.S. coal-fired power plants could retire due to environmental regulations and weaker-than-expected electric demand, costing the industry up to $144 billion, economists at consultancy Brattle Group said."

"The South Korean government on Monday designated the area around a chemical spill in the southeastern city of Gumi a special disaster zone, after more than 3,000 people were injured. On 27 September, an explosion at the Hube Globe chemical plant released about eight tonnes of hydrofluoric acid, which can damage lungs and bones and affect the nervous system. The leak killed five workers and injured 18 others, according to the state-run Yonhap news agency."

"The ice covering the Arctic Ocean was at a record low, in keeping with a sharp warming trend in the far north. At the same time, the amount of the ocean around Antarctica covered by sea ice hit a record high. It's winter in Antarctica when it's summer in the Arctic. But why in a warming world is wintertime ice growing?"

"As carbon dioxide continues to build up in the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels, the seas absorb much of it.The full effects have yet to be felt."

Murray Energy's CEO Robert Murray has raised money for GOP politicians all over the country. In August Presidential candidate Mitt Romney used Murray's Century Mine in the battleground state of Ohio for a speech attacking President Obama as "anti-coal." Century employees were forced to attend without pay, and later featured in Romney campaign ads. Now it appears that salaried Murray employees are being coerced to give money to the company's political action committee and to GOP candidates chosen by the company.

"In the worst wildfire season on record, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service ran out of money to pay for firefighters, fire trucks and aircraft that dump retardant on monstrous flames."

"Gov. Jerry Brown calls for the immediate release of a cheaper, but less environmentally friendly, blend of gasoline in an effort to bring down pump prices."

"Drought conditions in the United States eased slightly over the last week, though dry soils and water shortages persisted across wide swaths of important farm states, particularly Nebraska, a key corn and cattle state."

"CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- A land conservation group has reached a long-sought agreement to prevent a gas drilling project near a southern approach to Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park by buying out a vast area of mineral leases."

"A killer fungus has attacked ash trees across northern and central Europe, prompting pleas for the UK to ban sapling imports. But it may already be too late"