"Bets Thorkelson's opposition to 3M Co.'s hazardous waste incinerator began in the mid-1990s, when she learned that four moms of boys on her sons' hockey team had breast cancer."
"The discovery of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic flame-retardant chemicals everywhere from animals north of the Arctic Circle to the breast milk of California women has been a cause for considerable concern. Alternative flame retardants were introduced to replace these chemicals, but investigators had not even produced the first empirical data on the substitutes’ metabolic fate and toxicity before emerging evidence indicated they, like their predecessors, were accumulating rapidly in the environment. As the postmarket research continues, one wonders: Who, exactly, decides on the replacements for toxic chemicals, and on the basis of what criteria? And why does finding truly safer alternatives seem so difficult?"
"A U.S. Navy oiler slipped away from a fuel depot on the Puget Sound in Washington state one recent day, headed toward the central Pacific and into the storm over the Pentagon's controversial green fuels initiative."
"Republicans successfully overrode [NC] Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a fracking bill during a dramatic vote taken just after 11 p.m. Monday."
"Natural gas is causing angst and excitement in local communities across the country, but the rise of fracking will have an impact on an issue that affects everyone on the planet: climate change. Gas Planet, a special hour of radio, explores whether unconventional natural gas can help or hinder efforts to solve climate change."
"Nearly two years after the pipeline explosion that killed eight people and devastated a neighborhood in San Bruno, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. considers 239 of its natural-gas transmission lines to be at risk of a similar failure, according to a company assessment obtained by The Chronicle."
"The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Monday that it would seek to impose a $3.7 million fine -- a record civil penalty -- on the pipeline operator Enbridge over an oil spill in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan two years ago."
"With widespread power outages still plaguing a multistate swath from Indiana to Virginia after the severe “derecho” event on Friday night, the late June heat wave continues to make headlines. Numerous all-time high temperature records were set on Saturday, with additional records expected to be set during the first few days of July.
"After several years of relatively benign fire seasons, the West is headed into a hot, dry summer of potentially ferocious blazes like the ones that have scorched Colorado in recent weeks."
"MARSHALL, Mich. -- An acrid stench had already enveloped John LaForge's five-bedroom house when he opened the door just after 6 a.m. on July 26, 2010. By the time the building contractor hurried the few feet to the refuge of his Dodge Ram pickup, his throat was stinging and his head was throbbing."
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