All Latest News Wires
-
Water for uranium: A Faustian bargain at Wyoming ranch?
Conflict over whether to allow more uranium mining at a Wyoming ranch exemplifies tensions between the feverish drive for domestic energy and the need to protect future water resources.
-
Stranded Alaska oil rig: Example of safe practices or Arctic risks? (+video)
A floating oil rig, carrying about 143,000 gallons of diesel fuel, doesn't appear to be leaking. But the oil rig, stranded off the coast of Alaska, has raised safety concerns: 'Oil companies keep saying they can conquer the Arctic, but the Arctic keeps disagreeing with the oil companies,' Congressman Ed Markey, said.
-
British team abandons drilling in Antarctic lake
Technical problem, fuel shortage force suspension of scientific project to find life in Earth's remotest environment. US, Russia set to begin their Antarctic drilling projects.
-
EPA head Lisa Jackson will resign
Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, says she will step down at the beginning of President Obama's second term. Her four-year tenure includes some victories, especially car fuel-efficiency standards, but was marked with disappointments over global warming and coal ash controls.
-
Genetically modified salmon not harmful, FDA says
Genetically modified salmon – despite concerns of environmental groups – is unlikely to harm the environment. The Food and Drug Administration report is the final step before approval of the genetically modified salmon, which grow twice as fast as regular salmon.
-
US government waives pollution laws for 1,500 underground water supplies
The Environmental Protection Agency has granted some energy and mining companies permission to pollute underground water supplies across the US, according to an investigation by ProPublica.
-
West Virginia natural gas explosion wipes out homes and I-77 (+video)
West Virginia explosion of a natural gas line wiped out a wide swath of Interstate 77 and flattened homes. No deaths were caused by the West Virginia natural gas explosion, and federal and state authorities are investigating the cause.
-
Gas prices crash? Prices drop 10 cents in three weeks (+video)
Gas prices crash? The average price of gasoline in the US has dropped 10 cents in the past three weeks, and it may be going lower.
-
Nations extend weaker Kyoto Protocol
UN climate conference approves extending Kyoto global-warming agreement through 2020. But new Kyoto phase will cover only 15 percent of greenhouse gases.
-
US to sell offshore wind leases
Federal plans to sell competitive leases next year for offshore wind farms off Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Virginia are a first. Each offshore wind farm could power 700,000 homes.
-
EPA bans BP from federal contracts, citing 'lack of business integrity'
The action by the Environmental Protection Administration bars BP and its affiliates from new government contracts for an indefinite period, but won't affect existing contracts.
-
Galapagos tortoise: a resurrection from extinction?
Galapagos tortoise became extinct after June death of Lonesome George. But scientists say cross-breeding could bring Galapagos tortoise back.
-
Why greenhouse gases hit record high in 2011
Carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas emitted by human activities, reached 390.9 parts per million last year, or 40 percent above the pre-industrial level, the World Meteorological Organization said. It cited fossil fuel as the primary source.
-
World Bank: Tackle warming or poverty remains
Climate change will hit all nations, but especially the poor ones, says new World Bank report. Warming could flood Vietnam and Bangladesh, dry out other areas, causing water scarcity.
-
Gas prices drop 7 cents in two weeks
Gas prices drop to an average $3.47 a gallon nationally. Memphis, Tenn., has seen gas prices drop to $3.04 for a gallon of regular unleaded, the lowest of any city in the Lundberg Survey of the Lower 48 states.
-
Oil prices fall as supplies rise
Oil prices hovered around $92 per barrel Wednesday after the government reported a bigger-than-expected increase in US crude supplies. Extra gasoline in storage projected lower demand, pushing oil prices down.
-
Coal state Dems diverge on Obama policies
Obama's moves on clean air and fossil fuels have complicated the lives of Democrats in coal-rich states that count on mining for jobs and economic growth, with incumbents and candidates adopting drastically different strategies to ensure their own political survival.
-
Why Tokyo Electric Power didn't act on safety issues before tsunami
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in a statement that it had known safety improvements were needed before last year's tsunami triggered three meltdowns. Why didn't it act on them?
-
Daryl Hannah makes 'Splash' with Texas arrest
Daryl Hannah was arrested Thursday for for criminal trespassing and resisting arrest. Daryl Hannah was arrested while protesting the construction of the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. Hannah was also arrested in August 2011 while protesting the pipeline in Washington.
-
Half of Great Barrier Reef lost to starfish and cyclones in less than 30 years (+video)
That overall 50-percent decline, they estimate, is a yearly loss of about 3.4 percent of the reef.
Become part of the Monitor community