Alberta oilsands causing acid rain in Saskatchewan

By BOB WEBER Environmentalists want Ottawa to set caps on emissions from Alberta’s oilsands that are likely responsible for acid rain falling over northern Saskatchewan’s pristine rivers and lakes. “It’s not just regulation on every individual plant that’s needed. There also needs to be a regional cap that’s established for the industry,” said Peter Prebble […]

Pesticides killing California mountain frogs

Pesticides used by farmers in California’s Central Valley could be killing frogs in the Sierra mountains, report researchers. Don Sparling of Southern Illinois University Carbondale found that minute quantities of endosulfan — the active ingredient in many pesticides — was enough kill frogs. “At 0.8 parts per billion, we lose all of them,” Sparling said. […]

India soil 'seriously degraded', pollution rising, biodiversity falling, freshwater use unsustainable

At least 45% of Indian land is environmentally “degraded”, air pollution is rising and flora and fauna is diminishing, according to a report. The State of Environment Report is the first to be published for eight years and is the first to use satellite imagery to support its findings. It focuses on water, energy, food, […]

China incinerators spread mercury globally

By KEITH BRADSHER SHENZHEN, China — In this sprawling metropolis in southeastern China stand two hulking brown buildings erected by a private company, the Longgang trash incinerators. They can be smelled a mile away and pour out so much dark smoke and hazardous chemicals that hundreds of local residents recently staged an all-day sit-in, demanding […]

British woodlands suffer large-scale biodiversity loss

ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2009) — 21st century British woodlands are less distinctive than those of the early 20th century due to environmental change. Native woodland plants have re-organized over the last 70 years in response to increased soil fertility and loss of light related to increased canopy shading. The research was carried out by a […]

Air quality worsens in Malaysia as forests are burned for palm oil plantations

Air quality in Malaysian Borneo is worsening as large numbers of fires rage near the Sarawak-Brunei border, reports the Star newspaper. The Air Pollutant Index (API) reached as high as 197 in parts of Sarawak on Sunday, according to Malaysia’s Environment Department. Fires are set in Sarawak to clear brush and forest in and around […]

Arctic Ocean may be polluted soup by 2070

Without drastic cuts in emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of the Arctic’s most powerful currents and a key disperser of pollutants, is likely to disappear because of global warming by Kate Ravilious WITHIN 60 years the Arctic Ocean could be a stagnant, polluted soup. Without drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of […]

Florida Bay ecology on the brink of collapse

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer ISLAMORADA, Fla. – Boat captain Tad Burke looks out over Florida Bay and sees an ecosystem that’s dying as politicians, land owners and environmentalists bicker. He’s been plying these waters for nearly 25 years, and has seen the declines in shrimp and lobster that use the bay as a […]

Research paints bleak picture of climate change's effect on wildland fires, air quality

By BRETT FRENCHThe Billings Gazette As the climate warms over the next four decades, portions of Wyoming and Montana are at ground zero for larger areas burned by wildland fires and an increase in air pollution from those fires. The forecasts come from a recently released study done for the Environmental Protection Agency by Harvard’s […]

TVA raises coal ash spill cost to $1.2B, reports 3Q loss

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD (AP) KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority raised its estimates for cleaning up a massive coal ash spill to $1.2 billion on Friday, and partly blamed its third-quarter loss of $167 million on that cleanup. Officials also suggested a rate increase could be looming. The nation’s largest public utility said in […]

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