Environmental Law

In The News (October 28)

By Dennis Pfaff and Kevin Livingston, Editors

• The Environmental Protection Agency is working on a new rule that would weaken pollution regulations for power plants, allowing them to increase emissions without adding controls, with officials on a fast track to meet a Saturday deadline, reports McClatchy Newspapers.
• Rising carbon dioxide levels in the world's oceans in combination with warmer sea temperatures, could accelerate coral bleaching, destroying some reefs before 2050, says a new Australian study cited in this Reuters dispatch.
• China wants rich countries to commit 1 percent of their economic worth to help poor nations fight global warming, Reuters reports.
• A big energy company has announced it plans to cut back its 2009 wind energy development plans; FPL Energy says it is trying to cut capital expenditures, reports RenewableEnergyWorld.com. 
• And the company, it seems, needs the wind to blow harder, according to this posting from the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blog.
• Henry David Thoreau, climate researcher: It's maybe not how he thought of himself but scientists are now using his detailed 19th century notes to discern how the climate has transformed over the decades, writes The New York Times.
• Internet giant Google is increasingly looking to the energy sector as a potential business opportunity, according to this look at the company's plans in The New York Times.
• There might be something else to worry about when it comes to ethanol, aside from the concerns already raised about its effect on food prices and the like: The potential fire hazards posed by its transport, as documented in this article from the Washington Post.  

Full post as published by Climate Law Update on October 28, 2008 (boomark / email).