"A few hundred voters in the remote hills of western Alaska cast ballots this week -- in one of the most closely watched elections in the country -- to halt big mining projects that might poison fishing streams. That initiative was targeted squarely at the giant Pebble Mine.
"This summer, as environmental groups converged on Washington, DC, to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a Canadian 'grassroots' nonprofit by the name of Ethical Oil went on the counteroffensive. The group's YouTube videos and TV ads all carried the same blunt message: You can buy oil from Saudi Arabia and bankroll terrorism, the oppression of women, and fanatical Islam, or you can buy oil from Canada, your friendly, democratic neighbors to the north."
As the natural gas drilling boom based on "fracking" has spread across the U.S. from Texas to New York, ordinary householders have signed more than a million leases allowing companies to drill on their land. But bankers and real estate executives are now starting to ask what happens if they lend money for a piece of land that ends up storing huge amounts of toxic drilling wastewater.
Ian Urbina reports for the New York Times October 19, 2011.
"Over the past 10 years, chlorine has been involved in hundreds of accidents nationwide, injuring thousands of workers and townspeople, and killing some. In one California town, more than a year after a chemical cloud forced them to run for their lives, the employees of a recycling business are back to work – but not back to normal."
Jane Kay reports for Environmental Health News October 20, 2011.
London's Metropolitan Police face a mounting crisis after revelations that their agents spied on environmental groups for years and then lied about it in court under oath. Top police officials ordered the agents to deceive the courts. Undercover agents had sex with activists, ran their organizations, provoked protests, and then helped get protestors arrested. The failure of many such prosecutions demonstrated the incompetence of the police effort in achieving its goals.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it will develop rules for the booming shale gas industry to dispose of its wastewater, which has been linked to polluted surface water.
The move is one of several that signal the Obama administration plans to push ahead with regulating whatever aspects of shale gas production fall under its authority.
"A team at the University of California Berkeley that set out to test the temperature data underlying the consensus on global warming has concluded that the mainstream estimate of the rise in the earth’s surface temperature since 1950 is indeed accurate. It has warmed about 1 degree Centigrade (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the researchers say."
The New York Times' Green blog had the story October 20, 2011.
"BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the Ozark hellbender as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Hellbenders are among the world's largest salamanders. The Ozark hellbender inhabits the White River system in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas."
"DETROIT -- Transit providers across the United States will receive a share of $928.5 million in federal funds for more than 300 public transportation projects in urban, suburban, and rural areas, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Monday."
"MIAMI -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is in South Florida to learn about the progress of the Tamiami Trail Bridge Project.
A press release says Salazar and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe on Thursday will be highlighting the Department's work to help preserve and protect America's great outdoors."
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel had the story October 20, 2011.
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