A federal advisory panel urged the U.S. Interior Department on Friday to block a $1 billion wind project off Cape Cod opposed by local business leaders and politicians but seen as helpful to the Obama administration’s energy strategy. Cape Wind Associates LLC has proposed building 130 wind towers that would soar 440 feet above the…

This month, the EPA completed its second review of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”) and published the findings of its review in the Federal Register. Such reviews are required every six years under Section 1412(b)(9) of the SDWA. The EPA reviewed existing regulations for 71 contaminants and determined…

Workers who apply certain pesticides to farm fields are twice as likely to contract melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, according to a new scientific study. The researchers identified six pesticides that, with repeated exposure, doubled the risk of skin cancer among farmers and other workers who applied them to crops. The findings add…

Canada will not unilaterally impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions from industry, saying on Thursday that it will work in tandem with the United States, as it is doing with vehicle standards. “We don’t anticipate doing this alone. Industrial regulations will require the same kind of collaboration that we’ve had with the United States on…

It is a new age of geological time or so some say called the Anthropocene Epoch. This is noted in the in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. (web issue March 29; print issue April 1). This is because of the dramatic recent or potential changes in the world such as climate warming and species…

No fooling, the DOT and EPA, in response to one of the Obama Administration’s top priorities, have jointly established aggressive new federal rules that will significantly increase the fuel economy of all passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States. They have also established new federal rules that would for the first time…

ScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2010) — Occupational exposure to certain chemicals and pollutants before a woman reaches her mid-30s could treble her risk of developing cancer after the menopause, suggests research published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Women exposed to synthetic fibres and petroleum products during the course of their work seem to be most at…

Urbanization may be having unexpected impacts in the Amazon rainforest by leaving forest areas vulnerable to exploitation by outsiders, report researchers writing in Conservation Letters. Conducting field surveys during the course of 10,000-kilometers of travel along remote Amazon rivers, Luke Parry of Lancaster University found that a sharp decrease in rural habitation has not been…

The U.S. Maritime Administration, the federal agency responsible for San Francisco Bay’s ghost fleet, has agreed to clean up and remove the abandoned and decaying ships from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet. A settlement agreement announced today resolves a long-running legal battle over the decaying fleet between MARAD and the Natural Resources Defense Council, Arc…

Oil companies with their sights on drilling for oil off Alaska on Wednesday said President Barack Obama’s offshore oil announcement allows them to press ahead with big projects there. Two companies — Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips — have spent large sums to secure drilling rights in the remote Chukchi Sea, only to see their…