Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT http://www.envirolink.org en Copyright 1992-2012 The EnviroLink Network The EnviroLink News Service compiles the most relevant news stories of interest to the global environmental community from sources around the Internet. newsdesk@envirolink.org support@envirolink.org http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201201102214120.972775 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT Canada let loose an extraordinary rant against opponents of a controversial project to pump tar sands crude to Pacific Coast ports on Monday, accusing campaigners of colluding with foreign "radicals" and "jet-setting celebrities" to hijack the government. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201201102214270.949327 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT Research by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shows that there are 495 more wells producing gas, or ready to produce gas, than DEP has recorded as ever being drilled, and 182 of those wells don't even show up on the state's Marcellus Shale permit list. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201201102214330.23828 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT The U.S. should declare a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in populated areas until the health effects are better understood, doctors said at a conference on the drilling process. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201201102214500.165974 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT Scientists from Duke University and the International Fund for Animal Welfare have conducted a study of the harp seal in northern Canada. Harp seals, the cute and cuddly creatures, have long been hunted for their prized furs. To add to their struggle, the thinning ice is playing havoc with their breeding ground. Female seals depend on stable winter ice to give birth and feed their young in peace. Forced to go to ice closer to land, the baby seals are sitting ducks for arctic predators and human hunters. The seal pups are being forced to fend for themselves before they are ready. As a result, their populations are dropping catastrophically. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201201102214010.400944 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT The EPA has unveiled its analysis of the 2010 Toxics Release Inventory, a database on the disposal or release of 650 potentially dangerous chemicals used by almost 21,000 facilities. But it provides only a snapshot of the pollution produced by American industry, and estimates in some cases dramatically understate the extent of pollution. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201112040747160.0697553 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT More than three dozen former factory workers have settled their multimillion-dollar five-year legal battle against Siemens Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. over trichloroethene and other toxic chemicals they allege the companies carelessly dumped into drinking water, causing them to develop cancer. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201112040746450.95223 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT The Arctic zone has moved into a warmer, greener "new normal" phase, which means less habitat for polar bears and more access for development, an international scientific team reported on Thursday. Arctic air temperatures were higher - about 2.5 degrees F (1.5 degrees C) higher in 2011 than the baseline number for the previous 30 years - and there was a dramatic loss of sea ice and glacier mass, the scientists said in a telephone briefing. With less bright ice to reflect sunlight, and more dark open water to absorb it, the Arctic's changed characteristics are likely to feed on each other and accelerate, specialists from 14 countries said in an annual assessment called the Arctic Report Card. (here) "We've got a new normal," said Don Perovich, an expert on sea ice at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201112040747160.0697553 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT More than three dozen former factory workers have settled their multimillion-dollar five-year legal battle against Siemens Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. over trichloroethene and other toxic chemicals they allege the companies carelessly dumped into drinking water, causing them to develop cancer. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201112040746350.394383 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT Deforestation and forest degradation are down moderately from August through October 2011 relative to the same period a year ago, reports a satellite-based assessment released today by Imazon, a Brazilian group. Imazon's near-real time system, which tracks change in forest plots 25 hectares (62 acres) or larger, found that 512 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared between August 2011 and October 2011, the first three months of the deforestation calendar year, which runs from August 1 through July 31 to coincide with the dry season when it is easiest to measure forest cover. The figure represents a 4 percent decline from the 533 square kilometers cleared in 2010. EnviroLink http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=201112040746530.804177 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:42 EDT A team of scientists have used the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA's Aura satellite to confirm major reductions in the levels of a key air pollutant generated by coal power plants in the eastern United States. The pollutant, sulphur dioxide, contributes to the formation of acid rain and can cause serious health problems. EnviroLink