Agreement Provides Access to Nearly 1.5 Million Acres of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, Paves the Way for Development of Common Safety and Environmental Standards WASHINGTON, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 23, 2013.  Today, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell applauded the enactment of the U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement that establishes a framework for[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 23, 2013.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in a Federal Register notice has found that the state of Oregon’s program to reduce nonpoint coastal pollution is inadequate. Both federal agencies state that Oregon’s program does not adequately protect streams that provide habitat for[Read More…]

Cooperatively-breeding speckled warbler (left) feeding a black-eared cuckoo fledgling (right). Credit: David Cook. AUSTRALIA–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013.  New research has found some birds choose not to reproduce so they can guard the nests of their close relatives. “One of the mysteries of evolutionary biology is why, in about nine per cent[Read More…]

Aussie Mine Magnate Gina Rinehart Gets $695 Million Subsidy to Buy from U.S. Corporations for Roy’s Hill Mine  Port Hedland iron ore facility with mangrove and wetlands, Pilbara region of Western Australia. Photo by Teri Shore, SeaTurtles.org, 2009 AUSTRALIA–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Yesterday the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved US $694 million[Read More…]

Plans to convert to safer coal ash disposal at all TVA power plants now seemingly in limbo Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Five years after the nation’s largest coal ash spill, the Tennessee Valley Authority—owner of the Kingston Power Plant in Tennessee, where the spill occurred—now seems to be ignoring its[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013.  The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced on Tuesday that pesticides linked to honey bee deaths worldwide may also damage human nervous systems —in particular the brain, and recommended that the European Commission lower the guidance levels of acceptable exposure until more research is conducted. This[Read More…]

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that Harrell’s LLC, a pesticide producer based in Lakeland, Fla., has agreed to pay $1,736,560 in civil penalties for allegedly distributing and selling misbranded pesticides and other violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The penalty[Read More…]

Bill Creates Jobs, Protects Trees More than 150 Years Old, Promotes Sustainable Restoration Harvests Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 2013.  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today passed legislation sponsored by Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that would boost timber harvests while protecting and restoring old growth forests in Oregon. “The[Read More…]

Endangered Species Act Protections in Yellowstone Region at Stake LIVINGSTON, Mont.–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 2013.  Citing concerns that federal estimates of Yellowstone grizzly bear population size and trends are not reliable, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service[Read More…]

TUCSON, Arizona–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 2013.  A new study by University of Arizona scientists finds that a water pumping scheme to serve nearly 7,000 new homes in Sierra Vista, Ariz., will significantly decrease the San Pedro’s stream flow at the driest time of the year when the river is the most vulnerable.[Read More…]