First quarter of 2012 also warmest on record; early March tornado outbreak is year’s first “billion dollar disaster” Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–April 9, 2012.  Record and near-record breaking temperatures dominated the eastern two-thirds of the nation and contributed to the warmest March on record for the contiguous United States, a record that[Read More…]

WASHINGTON, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–April 6, 2012.  As part of President Obama’s blueprint for an economy fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources, the Energy Department announced today up to $15 million available to demonstrate biomass-based oil supplements that can be blended with petroleum, helping the U.S. to  reduce foreign oil use, diversify[Read More…]

Boston, MA–(ENEWSPF)–April 6, 2012.  The likely culprit in sharp worldwide declines in honeybee colonies since 2006 is imidacloprid, one of the most widely used pesticides, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The authors, led by Chensheng (Alex) Lu, associate professor of environmental exposure biology[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–April 6, 2012.  A number of communities on Cape Cod, Massachusetts have begun to adopt or explore organic turf management practices for municipal parks and athletic fields. The towns of Wellfleet, Eastham, Barnstable, Brewster, Orleans, Chatham, and Harwich have all made moves toward adopting policies or informal practices that[Read More…]

CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–April 5, 2012.  Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced the City of Chicago has saved $2.2 million in recycling service costs during the first six months of competitive bidding, paving the way for a complete citywide recycling expansion by the end of 2013.  In addition, the City will implement a competitive[Read More…]

EPA has failed to complete a rulemaking for important national safeguards Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–April 5, 2012.  Environmental and public health groups will file a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to complete its rulemaking process and finalize public health safeguards[Read More…]

Environmental groups intervene to help defend public health rules from industry attack Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–April 5, 2012.  Yesterday, five environmental groups—Sierra Club, California Communities Against Toxics, Frisco Unleaded, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment Foundation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council—represented by the public interest law firm Earthjustice, filed an intervention[Read More…]

    Larsen B: 2002-2012  EU–(ENEWSPF)–5 April 2012.  As ESA’s Envisat satellite marks ten years in orbit, it continues to observe the rapid retreat of one of Antarctica’s ice shelves due to climate warming.  One of the satellite’s first observations following its launch on 1 March 2002 was of break-up[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–April 5, 2012.  Newly published research has documented that widely used herbicides can adversely impact non-target invertebrate organisms and that endangered species face acute risk from such impacts. Researchers found that adult numbers of the Behr’s metalmark butterfly dropped by one-fourth to more than one-third when its larvae were[Read More…]

   Centaurus A: Far-infrared and X-rays EU–(ENEWSPF)–4 April 2012.  Two of ESA’s space observatories have combined to create a multi-wavelength view of violent events taking place within the giant galaxy of Centaurus A. The new observations strengthen the view that it may have been created by the cataclysmic collision of[Read More…]