stream
Latest News

New U.S. Clean Water Rule Clarifies Stream Protections

WASHINGTON, DC, May 28, 2015 (ENS) – One in three Americans, about 117 million people, get their drinking water from streams that lacked clear protection before a new Clean Water Rule issued Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. […]

flooded highway
Latest News

Extreme Weather Proves Deadly in Texas, Oklahoma

HOUSTON, Texas, May 26, 2015 (ENS) – Heavy rains, flash floods, hail and high winds pummeled Houston today, severe weather conditions that hit the city Monday night. Houston Mayor Annise Parker has proclaimed a state of disaster for the nation’s fourth largest city. […]

Dooley
Energy

Australia: ‘Road-Ready’ Fuels Made From Waste Plastic

BERKELEY VALE, New South Wales, Australia, May 26, 2015 (ENS) – Australia’s first commercial-scale plant to convert waste plastics to “road-ready” fuel has produced its first batch. The facility will turn discarded non-recyclable household plastics into diesel and gasoline. […]

skylark
Latest News

Europe’s Species and Habitats: Some Worse, Some Better

BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 24, 2015 (ENS) – Across Europe, once common farmland birds such as the Eurasian Skylark are declining, and around 17 percent of all bird species are threatened, finds a new report providing the most comprehensive picture yet on the State of Nature in the European Union. […]

baby
Latest News

Toxic Teethers Identified in Lab Tests

FRANKFURT, Germany, May 20, 2015 (ENS) – Endocrine disrupting chemicals, which can interfere with the actions of hormones in the body, are present in some plastic teethers for babies, new research reveals. […]

dry lawn
Latest News

$50 Million Federal Dollars Will Ease Historic Drought

LOS ANGELES, California, May 20, 2015 (ENS) – The Obama Administration will invest nearly $50 million to improve water efficiency and conservation in California and 11 other western states squeezed by years of crippling drought, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced today. […]

oil spill
At Risk

Burst Pipeline Spills Crude Oil on California Coast

SANTA BARBARA, California, May 20, 2015 (ENS) – Thousands of gallons of black smelly crude oil that spilled from a broken pipeline Tuesday in the California coastal county of Santa Barbara has fouled popular beaches and spread across nine miles of ocean. […]

signatories
Air/Climate

12 Governments Fight Climate Change With ‘Under 2 MOU’

SACRAMENTO, California, May 19, 2015 (ENS) – California Governor Jerry Brown today signed a first-of-its-kind agreement with international leaders from 11 other states and provinces, representing more than 100 million people, to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius. […]

ash spill
Energy

Coal Ash Crimes Cost Duke Energy $102 Million

WASHINGTON, DC, May 19, 2015 (ENS) – Admitting guilt for a massive coal ash spill last year, three subsidiaries of Duke Energy, the largest utility in the United States, will pay a $68 million criminal fine and spend $34 million to benefit rivers and wetlands in North Carolina and Virginia. […]

nanosponges
Health

Nanosponges in Disguise Mop Up MRSA Staph Infections

SAN DIEGO, California, May 19, 2015 (ENS) – A new gel filled with nanosponges that absorb toxins has proven effective against the “super bug” MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be life-threatening. […]

workers
Latest News

RCA Taiwan Ex-Workers Win Pollution Lawsuit

TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 17, 2015 (ENS) – The Taipei District Court has ruled in favor of former assembly line workers employed between 1970 and 1992 at the now-defunct electronics company Radio Corporation of America, or RCA. […]

Kathmandu
At Risk

Another Severe Earthquake Terrifies Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nepal, May 12, 2015 (ENS) – People in Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu had just begun to pick up the pieces after the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that claimed more than 8,000 lives late last month, when another major quake today shook an area between Kathmandu and Mount Everest. […]

Obama, Saudis
Gov/Politics

Saudi King Calls Obama But Stays Home

WASHINGTON, DC, May 11, 2015 (ENS) – King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia called President Barack Obama today to express his regret at not being able to travel to Washington this week for a meeting of the Arab States regional council. […]

Yanomami leader
Land Use/Forests

Brazil Pursues Illegal Miners on Indigenous Land

BRASILIA, Brazil, May 11, 2015 (ENS) – Federal Police officers from the states of Roraima, Rondônia, São Paulo, Amazonas, and Pará are in the process of serving 313 warrants against people suspected of clandestine gold and gemstone mining on indigenous lands. […]