fire
Land Use/Forests

U.S. Endures Heat Waves, Extended Drought

WASHINGTON, DC, July 16, 2013 (ENS) – Heat waves and drought conditions are shriveling grasslands across the western states and stressing eastern urban residents, forcing lawmakers and public lands managers alike to rethink their approach to water supplies. […]

pipeline
Energy

Keystone XL Pipeline: Deciding Without Data

OAKLAND, California, July 8, 2013 (ENS) – The U.S. State Department is in the process of deciding whether the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline would be in the U.S. national interest, but the determination is being made without location data on milepost markers, waterbody crossings and the centerline route. […]

Taksim Square
Gov/Politics

Istanbul Environmental Protest Turns Deadly, Inflames Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 2, 2013 (ENS) – What began on Friday as a peaceful environmental protest against government-backed plans to replace a park in central Istanbul with a military barracks and shopping center has touched off anti-government demonstrations across Turkey. […]

Weipa woods
Land Use/Forests

Australia OKs Mine on World Heritage Quality Cape York

CANBERRA, Australia, May 22, 2013 (ENS) – Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke has approved Rio Tinto Alcan’s new South of Embley bauxite mine on Cape York, the peninsula in northern Queensland that the Australian government intends to propose as a UNESCO World Heritage site. […]

Peter Kallang
Energy

Sarawak Native Leader Barred from Hydropower World Congress

KUCHING, Sarawak, Malaysia, May 20, 2013 (ENS) – This morning Sarawak indigenous leader Peter Kallang, chairman of the SAVE Rivers network, which opposes a dozen dams planned for the rivers of Borneo, was barred from the first meeting of the International Hydropower Assocation’s World Congress ever held in Asia. […]

Statue of Liberty
Land Use/Forests

Sandy Eco-Restoration Gets $1 Billion+ in Federal Grants

WASHINGTON, DC, May 8, 2013 (ENS) – The Department of the Interior is releasing $475.25 million in emergency Hurricane Sandy disaster relief appropriations to 234 projects that will repair and rebuild parks, refuges and other Interior assets damaged by the storm. […]

Cape York
Land Use/Forests

Australia Moves Toward Cape York World Heritage Nomination

CANBERRA, Australia, May 6, 2013 (ENS) – Parts of Cape York Peninsula, one of the last wilderness areas on Earth, will be nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the Australian Government even as the Queensland Government develops a new bauxite mine there. […]

bee, flower
Food

Honey Bee Decline Due to ‘Complex’ Multiple Factors

WASHINGTON, DC, May 2, 2013 (ENS) – Multiple factors are responsible for the steep decline in honey bees across the United States, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure, federal government officials reported today, releasing a new scientific consensus on honey bee health. […]

salmon
Land Use/Forests

Bristol Bay: Largest Salmon Fishery vs Giant Mine Proposal

SEATTLE, Washington, April 29, 2013 (ENS) – If Bristol Bay, Alaska is opened to mining, the ore deposit would be mined for decades, and the wastes would require management “for centuries or even in perpetuity,” finds a revised environmental assessment issued Friday by the U.S. EPA. […]

aluminium factory
Land Use/Forests

Inner-City Pollution in East Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, April 19, 2013 (ENS) – From the outside, the building in the residential district of Jalalabad’s Do Saraka area looks like any of the family homes nearby. What distinguishes it from its neighbors is the constant din of machinery running inside. […]

Sally Jewell
Gov/Politics

Jewell Will Handle $11.9 Billion Interior Budget in 2014

WASHINGTON, DC, April 11, 2013 (ENS) – President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget, “starts getting the Department of the Interior out of a ditch,” said outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday, just after the budget was released. “It’s a thoughtful budget and we’re proud of it.” […]

drought Kenya
Gov/Politics

Canada Turns Its Back on International Drought Treaty

OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, April 2, 2013 (ENS) – The Government of Canada is quietly withdrawing from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD, the only legally binding international treaty that addresses desertification, land degradation and drought. […]

oil spill
Energy

Arkansas Tar Sands Spill Amps Up Keystone XL Debate

MAYFLOWER, Arkansas, April 1, 2013 (ENS) – An ExxonMobil pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Canada broke open in Arkansas on Friday, spilling thousands of gallons of black diluted bitumen into residential streets outside Little Rock and forcing the evacuation of 22 homes. […]