In The News / Jul 2

• Exxon, Valero face new curbs on carcinogenic gases under Obama.

  President Barack Obama is considering new curbs on U.S. oil refineries whose gas emissions pose a cancer risk to hundreds of thousands of people living near the plants, setting up a potential conflict with companies over the cost of new regulations. Bloomberg News

• EPA ready to settle Bay Area pesticide suit.

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today a proposed settlement of a lawsuit that could result in scrutiny of how dozens of dangerous pesticides affect threatened and endangered species living around San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Chronicle, California

• U.S., California programs to reduce ship emissions.

  Targeting one of the biggest sources of air pollution, federal and state regulators moved forward Wednesday with plans to slash emissions from big diesel-powered ships entering U.S. coastal areas. Los Angeles Times, California

• Climate's smoky spectre.

  Recent research suggests that lowly soot particles--black carbon-- could be responsible for a large fraction of Arctic warming. In SE Asia, studies suggest that it is choking the moisture supply for the Indian monsoons and contributing to the retreat of mountain glaciers that provide fresh water for more than a billion people. Nature

• Sea level rise: It's worse than we thought.

  Scientists are more than a little astonished at the rate at which our planet's frozen frontiers seem to be responding to global warming, as more ice is sliding into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise faster and faster. New Scientist, England

• An insurance plan for climate change victims.

  As Western governments dither at the negotiating table over how to help the world's poorest people cope with climate change, some unlikely saviours have stepped up to the plate: the giants of the global insurance industry. New Scientist, England

• Electronics firms fight state recycling programs.

  Five companies are threatening litigation against Washington state's new electronic waste law, which requires manufacturers to fund recycling and collection services for old TVs, personal computers and monitors. Wall Street Journal

• Russian scientist helps eliminate toxic legacy.

  Russian scientist Olga Speranskaya's research and push to inform the public about the toxic legacy of huge stockpiles of industrial chemicals and pesticides in the former Soviet Union led to the creation of a powerful environmental advocacy network in 11 former Soviet states. Voice of America

• Villagers' drinking supply undermined.

  More than 3,000 villagers in Guangdong province must travel 3 kilometers to take a sip of potable water after the local drinking supply was found to be contaminated from an illegal mine. China Daily

• Turkey plans to restart work on controversial dam project.

  Turkey today announced plans to resume a controversial £1bn dam project in the face of environmental protests that it would displace thousands of people, destroy habitats and drown priceless archaeological treasures. London Guardian, England

• Nigeria oil company rejects damning Amnesty report.

  Nigeria's state oil company rejected an Amnesty International report's findings that pollution and environmental impacts from the oil industry in the Niger Delta are creating a "human rights tragedy." It said local communities cause much of the environmental damage by vandalizing pipelines for monetary gain. CNN

• ExxonMobil continuing to fund climate sceptic groups, records show.

  The world's largest oil company is continuing to fund lobby groups that question the reality of global warming, despite a public pledge to cut support for such climate change denial, a new analysis shows. London Guardian, England

• More animals than ever in danger of becoming extinct.

  The extinction crisis facing the world's wildlife could be even worse than previously thought, according to the latest analysis. Nearly one third of amphibians and coral, more than one in eight birds and nearly a quarter of mammals are threatened with extinction. London Daily Telegraph, England

• N.J.'s alarming bat die-off.

  Up to 90 percent of North Jersey's bat population was killed off over the winter by an unusual fungus that has been associated with the deaths of more than a million bats in nine states. Officials are concerned that this could have a larger affect on many ecosystems. Bergen County Record, New Jersey

• Hazardous chemical found in northwest Missouri soil.

  Environmental investigators went looking for hazardous chromium 6 where it shouldn’t be — in northwest Missouri farm soil — and they found it. Questions linger in a controversy that for several years has consumed the Cameron area, where residents fear that something has been causing brain tumors. Kansas City Star, Missouri