News Reference Facts Information Sources Intelligence Haven Works !-) HavenWorks.com/earth Earth News !-| EARTH News, Planet News.Earth
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
NEWS HAVEN INFORMATION REFERENCE SOURCES FACTS ;-) HavenWorks.com
Earth News, Planet Earth News, Earthquake News, Land News
Search:
Google: HavenWorksWeb  EARTH DAY News. PLANET EARTH DAY News.Earth_Day
HavenWorks
A-Z SIGHT MAP SUBJECT CATEGORY DIRECTORYEARTH News. Planet Earth News.
EARTH News, Planet Earth News.
AIR News, Wind News.
FIRE NEWS Wildfire News Forest Fires News.
WATER News, H2O News.
DISASTER News.
ENVIRONMENT News.
REAL ESTATE News. HOUSING News. HOMES News.
MAPS News, Map News.
SCIENCE News, SCI-TECH News
SPACE News.
TRAVEL News.
WEATHER News, Climatology News.
WORLD News, Global News.
US News, USA News, United States of America News.


More Earth News @ the Environment News Page
See Also the 
Earth Weblog below

~~~~~~~~~~~~

EARTH NEWS, PLANET EARTH NEWS, TERRA NEWS, EARTHQUAKE NEWS, QUAKE NEWS, PLANET NEWS

EARTH News:

    20081216
    SCIENCE News. SCIENTISTS News.
    GLOBAL News.GlobalCLIMATE News.ClimateHISTORY News.HistoryEARTH News.EarthFOSSIL FUEL News. FUEL News.Fossil FuelGASES News. ATMOSPHERE News.GasesANTARCTIC News.AntarcticOCEAN News. PACIFIC OCEAN News.  WATER News.Pacific OceanUS AMERICAN News.USBRITAIN NewsBritain
    "NASA reports 2008 is ninth warmest year since 1880." ... "The year 2008 was the ninth warmest year since instrumental temperature measurements began in 1880, and all of the nine warmest years have occurred in the past 11 years, NASA [National Aeronautics and Space Administration] reported on Tuesday." ... "The new data from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and other government agencies on Tuesday adds to the evidence scientists have been observing about a warming Earth as fossil fuel burning emits heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere." ... "NASA also reported that the January to November global temperature was 0.76 degrees Fahrenheit above the average for the 20th Century." ... "NASA also noted that the past year was cooler than any since 2000. Scientists note that global warming is a steady trend, but within it there are natural variations." ... "The NASA report noted that "Eurasia, the Arctic and the Antarctic Peninsula were exceptionally warm, while much of the Pacific Ocean was cooler than the long-term average." It said the relatively cooler temperature in the tropical Pacific was due to a La Nina, the cool phase of a natural temperature variation." ... "Britain's Met Office on Tuesday also said that La Nina was part of the reason 2008 was slightly cooler than earlier years this decade. By Britain's accounting, 2008 was the 10th warmest year on record dating back to 1850, and all 10 of the warmest years occurred since 1997." -By Renee Schoof -McClatchyDC.com
    20081209
    ENVIRONMENTAL News. Endangered Species News. Forest News.
    PLANT News. Whitebark Pine News. Tree News.PlantsANIMAL News. Mountain Animals News. Grizzly Bears News. Birds News. Elk News. Grouse News. Mountain Pine Beetle News.AnimalsFOOD News. Seeds News.FoodWATER News. SNOW News.WaterSOIL News. EARTH News.SoilGLOBAL News.GlobalCLIMATE News.ClimateSCIENCE News. SCIENTIFIC News.ScienceFEDERAL GOVERNMENT News.GovernmentUS AMERICAN NewsUSCANADA News.Canada
    "Tree's rapid decline sounds alarm on global warming." ... "The whitebark pine, a tree found in the high elevations of the western U.S. [United States] and Canada, is being killed as a consequence of global warming and should be protected as an endangered species, an environmental group formally told the Interior Department Tuesday." ... "If the federal government accepts the scientific arguments in a petition by the Natural Resources Defense Council, it would be the first time a wide-ranging tree has been added to the list. The NRDC [Natural Resources Defense Council] also sees an endangered designation as a warning about worsening climate change." ... "The whitebark pine has declined dramatically due to a triple threat — a disease called the white pine blister rust; the mountain pine beetle, which thrives in the warmer high-altitude conditions produced by the burning of fossil fuels, and forest management practices that have allowed other trees to crowd it out, the NRDC's petition said." ... "Warming also will limit the range of the whitebark pine, the petition said. Many live more than 500 years." ... "The whitebark pine stabilizes the soil and shades the snow, providing water over longer periods for other plants. Grizzly bears, smaller mammals and birds eat its seeds, and elk, grouse and other mountain animals find shelter beneath it." -By Renee Schoof -McClatchyDC.com
    Gov Reference: "Whitebark Pine Communities"
    20081202
    ENVIRONMENT News. EPA News: Environmental Protection Agency News.
    BARACK OBAMA News.Barack ObamaSTEPHEN JOHNSON News.Stephen JohnsonSTREAMS News. FLOODING News. WATER News.WaterEARTH News.EarthCOAL News. ENERGY News.CoalCOMPANIES News. ECONOMY News.CompaniesGOVERNMENT News.GovernmentLAW News. LAWSUITS News. ILLEGAL News.LawLAW ENFORCEMENT News.EnforcementPOLITICS News. POLITICIAN News.PoliticsKENTUCKY News.KentuckyTENNESSEE News.Tennessee
    "EPA to gut mountaintop mining rule that protects streams." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the [Republican President] Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks leftover from mining." ... "The 1983 rule prohibited dumping the fill from mountaintop removal mining within 100 feet of streams. In practice, the government hadn't been enforcing the rule. Government figures show that 535 miles of streams were buried or diverted from 2001 to 2005, more than half of them in the mountains of Appalachia. Along with the loss of the streams has been an increase of erosion and flooding." ... "The 11th hour change before President George W. Bush leaves office would eliminate a tool that citizens groups have used in lawsuits to keep mining waste out of streams. Mining companies had been pushing for the change for years." ... "It also means that [Democratic] President-elect Barack Obama's administration will have to decide whether to try to restore and enforce the rule, a process that could take many months of new rulemaking. Obama's transition team declined to comment on its plans on Tuesday." ... "Another option would be for opponents to go through the courts. Opponents have argued that the rule change is illegal." ... "For now, however, the EPA's approval means there are no further obstacles to the Office of Surface Mining's plans to change the rule. The White House's Office of Management and Budget approved it on Monday. The Department of Interior, which includes the mining office, plans to make the rule final in December after briefing members of Congress, and it will go into effect 30 days after that, said spokesman Peter Mali." ... "The timing means the rule is expected to be in effect when Obama takes office in January." ... "In approving the change in writing as required by law, [Republican President Bush's Environmental Protection Agency] EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected the appeals of environmentalists and some coal-country officials, including Kentucky [Democratic Governor] Gov. Steve Beshear and Tennessee [Democratic Governor] Gov. Phil Bredesen, both Democrats." ... "In a letter in November to Johnson, Beshear said his state had to protect its water and that while coal was important to the economy, it should be mined in environmentally responsible ways." -By Renee Schoof and Bill Estep -Herald-Leader -McClatchyDC.com
    20081121
    OPINION News.
    ELECTRIC News. OIL News. ENERGY News. BATTERY News.ElectricCAR News. Car Makers News.CarsINDUSTRY News. MONEY News. BUSINESS News. MARKET News. INVESTMENT News.IndustryMANUFACTURING News. MAKERS News.ManufacturingTECHNOLOGY News.TechnologyTRANSPORTATION News.TransportationINFRASTRUCTURE News.InfrastructureJOB News. UNEMPLOYMENT News.JobsCONSUMER NewsConsumerMILITARY News.MilitaryHISTORIC News.HistoricSAN FRANCISCO News. SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA News.San FranciscoSACRAMENTO News. CALIFORNIA'S CAPITAL: SACRAMENTO CALIFORNIA News.SacramentoCALIFORNIA News.CaliforniaMICHIGAN News.MichiganOREGON News.OregonWASHINGTON News.WashingtonUS AMERICAN NewsUSGLOBAL News.GlobalPLANET News.PlanetCLIMATE News.ClimateCO2 EMISSIONS News.Emissions
    "Recharge America with Electric Cars." ... "Today, our country is facing a set of seemingly insurmountable problems:"
    "• an economic meltdown of historic proportions"
    "• a car industry crashing, because of a lack of innovation and growth"
    "• oil dependence transferring our wealth abroad"
    "• an extended military presence in the Middle East"
    "• and climate change, which threatens the health of our planet"
    "Yesterday, joined by San Jose [California] Mayor Chuck Reed and Oakland [California] Mayor Ron Dellums I [San Francisco, California's mayor Gavin Newsom] announced a nine-step policy plan for transforming the Bay Area into the "Electric Vehicle (EV) Capital of the U.S. [United States]" In support of this initiative Better Place, a global electric transportation company announced that it would enter the U.S. market with California as its first state, beginning in the Bay Area." ... "Commercial availability of electric cars is targeted to begin in 2012, and Better Place estimates its network investment in the Bay Area will total $1 billion when the system is fully deployed. I welcomed Better Place's announcement and anticipate many other EV companies will focus on the Bay Area as a top-priority market." ... "Electric vehicles represent an overarching, game-changing solution that allows us to transform, and recharge the American transportation sector for the 21st century. By accelerating the conversion of the car industry from its oil dependent past, to a new electric century, we can jump start the car industry, eliminate our dependence on oil, reduce our required presence in the middle east, create millions of jobs, and eliminate a significant portion of our CO2 emissions." ... "This plan ties together a triangle of influence that can get our nation back on track: Detroit [Michigan] car makers who know how to scale production, working in concert with San Francisco's culture of innovation, aided by Sacramento [California's capital] and Washington DC [America's capital] policy-making. The goal is to create a sustainable strategic advantage for the US instead of a series of bailouts." ... "As California prepares to launch this electric recharge infrastructure project, it can also serve as a blueprint for a more widely integrated solution." ... "California can generate upwards of $2.5B in new investment in jobs and the economy for the infrastructure effort, with billions more in cars and battery sales to consumers. The nation as a whole can trigger tens of billions in infrastructure, manufacturing and innovation investment. At the same time, this conversion reduces the cost to the consumer and nation per mile we drive. California, followed by the western US states of Oregon and Washington are ready to drive this effort." -By Gavin Newsom -HuffingtonPost.com
    20081009
    OPINION News.
    NOTEWORTHY News.NoteworthySARAH PALIN News.Sarah PalinMILITARY News.MilitaryTERRORISM News.TerrorismALASKA News. ALASKAN News.AlaskaFEDERAL News.FederalOIL News.OilLAND News.LandMONEY News.MoneyPOLITICS News. POLITICIAN News.PoliticsUN News: United Nations News.INTERNATIONAL News.InternationalLAW News.LawUS AMERICAN NewsUS2008 ELECTION News2008 Election
    "Alaskan Independence Party: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel." ... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah] Palin, it could be argued, following her own logic, thinks so little of America's perfection that she continues to "pal around" with a man--her husband, actually--who only recently terminated his seven-year membership in the Alaskan Independence Party. Putting plunder above patriotism, the members of this treasonous cabal aim to break our country into pieces and walk away with Alaska's rich federal oil fields and one-fifth of America's land base--an area three-fourths the size of the Civil War Confederacy." ... "AIP's charter commits the party "to the ultimate independence of Alaska," from the United States which it refers to as "the colonial bureaucracy in Washington." It proclaims Alaska's 1959 induction as a state "as illegal and in violation of the United Nations charter and international law."" ... "AIP's creation was inspired by the rabidly violent anti-Americanism of its founding father Joe Vogler, "I'm an Alaskan, not an American," reads a favorite Vogler quote on AIP's current website, "I've got no use for America or her damned institutions." According to Vogler AIP's central purpose was to drive Alaska's secession from the United States. Alaska, says current Chairwoman Lynette Clark, "should be an independent nation."" ... "Vogler was murdered in 1993 during an illegal sale of plastic explosives that went bad. The prior year, he had renounced his allegiance to the United States explaining that, "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government." He cursed the stars and stripes, promising, "I won't be buried under their damned flag...when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Palin has never denounced Vogler or his detestable anti-Americanism." ... "Palin's husband Todd remained an AIP party member from 1995 to 2002. Sarah can be described in McCarthy-era palaver as a "fellow traveler." While retaining her Republican registration, she attended the AIP's 1994 convention where the party called for a draft constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent nation of Alaska. The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that she also attended AIP's 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006 convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention." -By Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -HuffingtonPost.com
    20081007
    OPINION News.
    SARAH PALIN News.Sarah PalinTERRORISM News.TerrorismPOLITICS News. POLITICIAN News.PoliticsALASKA News.AlaskaIRAN News.IranUN News: UNITED NATIONS News.HISTORY News.HistoryUS AMERICAN NewsUSFEDERAL News. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT News.FederalLAW News.Law -LAW ENFORCEMENT News.EnforcementEARTH News.EarthENVIRONMENT News.Environment2008 ELECTION News2008 Election
    "The Palins' un-American activities." ... ""My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."" ... "The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the Alaska Independence Party. Inconveniently for [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah] Palin, that's the very same secessionist party that her husband, Todd [Palin], belonged to for seven years and that she sent a shout-out to as Alaska governor earlier this year. ("Keep up the good work," Palin told AIP members. "And God bless you.")" ... "AIP chairwoman Lynette Clark told me recently that Sarah Palin is her kind of gal. "She's Alaskan to the bone ... she sounds just like Joe Vogler."" ... "So who are these America-haters that the Palins are pallin' around with?" ... "Before his strange murder in 1993, party founder Vogler preached armed insurrection against the United States of America. Vogler, who always carried a Magnum with him, was fond of saying, "When the [federal] bureaucrats come after me, I suggest they wear red coats. They make better targets. In the federal government are the biggest liars in the United States, and I hate them with a passion. They think they own [Alaska]. There comes a time when people will choose to die with honor rather than live with dishonor. That time may be coming here. Our goal is ultimate independence by peaceful means under a minimal government fully responsive to the people. I hope we don't have to take human life, but if they go on tramping on our property rights, look out, we're ready to die."" ... "This quote is from "Coming Into the Country," by John McPhee, who traipsed around Alaska's remote gold mining country with Vogler for his 1991 book. The violent-tempered secessionist vowed to McPhee that if any federal official tried to stop him from polluting Alaska's rivers with his earth-moving equipment, he would "run over him with a Cat and turn mosquitoes loose on him while he dies."" ... "Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue." ... "That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages." ... "AIP leaders allege that Vogler, who was murdered that year by a fellow secessionist, was taken out by powerful forces in the U.S. before he could reach his U.N. platform." -By David Talbot -Salon
    20080906
    LITIGATION News. LAW News.
    SARAH PALIN News.Sarah PalinMONEY News. FINANCIAL News.MoneyPOLITICS News. POLITICIAN News.PoliticsSPORTS PAGES. Hockey News. Soccer News. Basketball News.SportsROAD News.RoadsCONSTRUCTION News.ConstructionLAND News.LandALASKA News.Alaska2008 ELECTION News2008 Election
    "Palin's Hockey Rink Leads To Legal Trouble in Town She Led." ... "The biggest project that [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town [Wasilla, Alaska] was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters." ... "The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla." ... ""It's too bad that the city of Wasilla didn't do their homework and secure the land before they began construction," said Kathy Wells, a longtime activist here. "She was not your ceremonial mayor; she was in charge of running the city. So it was her job to make sure things were done correctly."" ... "Litigation resulting from the dispute over Ms. Palin's sports-complex project is still in the courts, with the land's former owner seeking hundreds of thousands of additional dollars from the city." -By Michael M. Phillips -WSJ.com
    20080619
    FLOOD News. WATER News. Streams and Creeks News. Flood Plains News. FLOODING News. RAIN News.
    DISASTER NewsDisasterENVIRONMENT News. NATURE News.EnvironmentHUMAN News.HumanAGRICULTURE News.AgricultureLAND News. LANDSCAPE News.LandSCIENCE News.ScienceIOWA News. IOWAN News.IowaHISTORY News.HistoryWEATHER News.Weather
    "Iowa Flooding Could Be An Act of Man, Experts Say." ... "[Cedar Falls, Iowa college professor and City Council member Kamyar] Enshayan, director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa, suspects that this natural disaster wasn't really all that natural. He points out that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been filled and developed." ... ""We've done numerous things to the landscape that took away these water-absorbing functions," he said. "Agriculture must respect the limits of nature."" ... "Officials are still trying to understand all the factors that contributed to Iowa's flooding, and not everyone has the same suspicions as Enshayan. For them, the cause was obvious: It rained buckets and buckets for days on end. They say the changes in land use were lesser factors in what was really just a case of meteorological bad luck." ... "But some Iowans who study the environment suspect that changes in the land, both recently and over the past century or so, have made Iowa's terrain not only highly profitable but also highly vulnerable to flooding." ... "" (1, 2) -By Joel Achenbach with contributions by Kari Lydersen -WashingtonPost
    20080527
    NOTEWORTHY News.
  • JOHN MCCAIN News. 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John Sidney McCain III News.John McCainRICK RENZI News. Arizona Republican Politician Rick Renzi News.Rick RenziJON KYL News. Arizona Republican Politician Jon Llewellyn Kyl News.Jon KylMONEY News. INVESTORS News. LLC News. CORPORATION News.MoneyPOLITICIAN News. POLITICS News.PoliticsFEDERAL News.FederalINVESTIGATION News. FBI News: Federal Bureau of Investigation News.InvestigationPHOENIX News. PHOENIX ARIZONA News.PhoenixARIZONA News.ArizonaREAL ESTATE News.Real EstateLAND News.LandLEGISLATION News. ATTORNEY News. TRIAL News. LAW News.LegislationNEVADA News.Nevada - "FBI interviews Arizona staffers." ... "Federal agents interviewed staffers for likely [2008 Election] Republican presidential nominee [and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain (Ariz. [Arizona]) as part of their corruption case against [Arizona Republican Representative] Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.[Republican-Arizona])." ... "[United States] U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Diane J. Humetewa and fellow prosecutors disclosed the interviews with aides for McCain and fellow Arizona Republican [Senator] Sen. Jon Kyl in a written response to Renzi’s attorneys, who asked for the contents of the interview to help prepare for Renzi’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled for October [2008]." ... "The aides were interviewed about land exchanges, according to an April letter from Humetewa filed with the U.S. District Court of Arizona late last week." ... "A federal land swap critical to developing a $3 billion copper mine southeast of Phoenix [Arizona] is at the heart of the case against Renzi, who is facing 35 public corruption charges, including conspiracy, money-laundering, extortion and insurance fraud." ... "Renzi is alleged to have told executives for Resolution Copper Mining that he would not support a land deal the mining company was interested in unless they bought his former business partner’s property as part of the deal, according to the [February] Feb. 22 federal indictment." ... "Under the deal, 5,000 acres of non-federal land owned by Resolution Copper were to be exchanged for 3,025 acres of federal land. The federal land sits on a large copper deposit, and the exchange would have allowed mining on land for the first time since a 1954 executive order by [Republican] then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower." ... "Renzi allegedly wanted land owned by a business partner who owed Renzi money to be included in the deal. If the land had been included, prosecutors charge, it would have allowed the business partner to pay a debt to Renzi." ... "Resolution Copper refused to cooperate, but another company, Preserved Petrified Forest Land Investors LLC [Limited Liability Company] of Las Vegas [Nevada], agreed to buy the land. Prosecutors allege this netted Renzi more than $700,000." ... "Renzi twice introduced a land swap bill, in 2005 and 2006, before taking his name off of the measure after the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] raided his family business in April 2007. [Arizona Democratic Representiave] Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.[Democratic-Arizona]) then introduced the legislation on [August] Aug. 1, 2007, along with Arizona [Republican Representatives] Reps. Jeff Flake and John Shadegg, both Republicans, and Democrat[ic Representative] Harry Mitchell (D[Democratic])." ... "Sens. McCain and Kyl introduced companion legislation in the Senate, most recently in July 2007. " (1, 2) -By Susan Crabtree -TheHill.com
  • 20080516
    NOTEWORTHY News.
  • JOHN MCCAIN News.John McCainMONEY News. OWNERS News.MoneyPOLITICIAN News. POLITICS News.PoliticsREAL ESTATE News. HOMES News.Real EstateARIZONA News.ArizonaLAW News.LawFEDERAL News. GOVERNMENT News.FederalMILITARY News.MilitaryLAND News. LANDOWNERS News.Land2008 ELECTION News2008 Election - "McCain Hit Again on Arizona Land Deals." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Sen. John McCain's ties to the real estate development arm of his home state's power company continued to prove nettlesome today, as a newspaper reported that McCain secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that benefited the firm." ... "Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that McCain had championed a deal to trade valuable federal land in northern Arizona to a rancher who then enlisted Tempe[Arizona]-based SunCor Development to build as many as 12,000 homes on the property." ... "SunCor's president, Steve Betts, is a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the senator's presidential bid." ... "Today's report, in USA Today, revealed that McCain inserted $14.3 million into a 2003 defense bill to buy land around Luke Air Force Base [Arizona]. SunCor sought the provision as the largest of about 50 landowners near the base. SunCor representatives, upset with a state law that restricted development around Luke, met with McCain's staff to lobby for funding, John Ogden, SunCor's president at the time, told the paper." ... "The Air Force later paid SunCor $3 million for 122 acres near the base, according to the report. It was the highest single land transaction of the private lots purchased by the government -- three times the county's assessed value and twice the military's estimated value." -By Matthew Mosk -WashingtonPost
  • 20080515
    NOTEWORTHY News.
  • JOHN MCCAIN News.John McCainMONEY News. OWNERS News.MoneyPOLITICIAN News. POLITICS News.PoliticsARIZONA News.ArizonaREAL ESTATE News.Real EstateLAW News.LawFEDERAL News. GOVERNMENT News.FederalMILITARY News.MilitaryLAND News. LANDOWNERS News.Land2008 ELECTION News2008 Election - "Price of power: McCain action helped Arizona land developer." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, public records show." ... "McCain, who has made fighting special-interest projects a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, inserted $14.3 million in a 2003 defense bill to buy land around Luke Air Force Base [Arizona] in a provision sought by SunCor Development, the largest of about 50 landowners near the base. SunCor representatives, upset with a state law that restricted development around Luke, met with McCain's staff to lobby for funding, according to John Ogden, SunCor's president at the time." ... "The Air Force later paid SunCor $3 million for 122 acres near the base. It was the highest single land transaction of the private lots purchased by the government — three times the county's assessed value and twice the military's estimated value. SunCor also donated another 122 acres. Alan Bunnell, a spokesman for SunCor's parent company, Pinnacle West Capital, said the donation was meant to minimize the company's tax bill and enhance the value of adjacent property it owns." ... "McCain has long-standing ties to SunCor and Pinnacle West:" ... "• McCain's campaigns have received $224,000 since 1998 from donors connected to Pinnacle West, including $104,100 for his current presidential run, according to a USA TODAY analysis of campaign-finance data compiled by the non-partisan CQ MoneyLine. Donors include employees of Pinnacle West and its subsidiaries, employees' spouses and the company's lobbyists and political committees." ... "• Pinnacle West's Chief Executive Officer Bill Post, vice president and lobbyist Robert Aiken and former president Jack Davis, who retired in March, are fundraisers for McCain's current presidential campaign. SunCor President Steve Betts, who joined the company weeks after the military land deal, is a former campaign lawyer for McCain and has raised more than $100,000 for his current campaign." -By Matt Kelley -USATODAY 
  • 20080509
    NOTEWORTHY News.
  • JOHN MCCAIN News. 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John Sidney McCain III News.John McCainMONEY News.MoneyPOLITICAL News. POLITICIAN News.Politics2008 ELECTION News2008 ElectionENVIRONMENT News. FORESTRY News. ENVIRONMENTALISTS News.EnvironmentHISTORY News.HistoryARIZONA News.ArizonaNEVADA News.NevadaFEDERAL News.FederalREAL ESTATE News. HOMES News.Real EstateLAND News.Land - "McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers]." ... "Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks." ... "When McCain's legislation passed in November 2005, the ranch owner gave the job of building as many as 12,000 homes to SunCor Development, a firm in Tempe, Ariz. [Arizona], run by Steven A. Betts, a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the presumptive Republican nominee. Betts said he and McCain never discussed the deal." ... "The Audubon Society described the exchange as the largest in Arizona history. The swap involved more than 55,000 acres of land in all, including rare expanses of desert woodland and pronghorn antelope habitat. The deal had support from many local officials and the Arizona Republic newspaper for its expansion of the Prescott National Forest. But it brought an outcry from some Arizona environmentalists when it was proposed in 2002, partly because it went through Congress rather than a process that allowed more citizen input." ... "Although the bill called for the two parcels to be of equal value, a federal forestry official told a congressional committee that he was concerned that "the public would not receive fair value" for its land. A formal appraisal has not yet begun. A town official opposed to the swap said other Yavapai Ranch land sold nine years ago for about $2,000 per acre, while some of the prime commercial land near a parcel that the developers will get has brought as much as $120,000 per acre." ... "In an interview, Betts said there is "absolutely no" connection between his contributions to McCain's presidential bids and the deal involving rancher Fred Ruskin and the Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership." ... "Betts is among a string of donors who have benefited from McCain-engineered land swaps. In 1994, the senator helped a lobbyist for land developer Del Webb Corp. pursue an exchange in the Las Vegas [Nevada] area, according to the Center for Public Integrity. McCain sponsored two bills, in 1991 and 1994, sought by donor Donald R. Diamond that yielded the developer thousands of acres in trade for national parkland." ... "In the late 1990s, McCain promoted a deal in Arizona's Tonto National Forest involving property part-owned by Great American Life Insurance, a company run by billionaire Carl H. Lindner Jr., a prolific contributor to national political parties and presidential candidates." ... "In Arizona, SunCor is a subsidiary of Pinnacle West, the state's largest power company. Betts, as Ruskin described him, "politically is a very powerful guy in the state."" ... "Officials from the company and its subsidiaries have accounted for $100,000 in contributions to McCain's political campaigns over the years, records show." (1, 2) -By Matthew Mosk with contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
  • 20080508
    LAW News. LAWSUITS News.
  • OIL News. OIL COMPANIES News. GASOLINE News. MTBE News: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether News.OilCORPORATION News. CORP News. COMPANIES News. MONEY News.CorporationsAIR News.AirENVIRONMENT News.EnvironmentGROUND News. EARTH News. UNDERGOUND AQUIFERS NewsGroundGROUND WATER News. WATER News. RAINFALL News.WaterSAFETY News.SafetyHEALTH News.HealthSCIENCE News.SciencePOLITICS News.Politics - "Chevron, 11 Oil Companies to Pay $423 Million in MTBE Lawsuits." ... "Water suppliers in 17 states will collect $423 million from Chevron Corp. [Corporation], BP Plc [Public limited company] and 10 other oil companies as part of a settlement of contamination claims involving the gasoline additive MTBE." ... "The suits claim the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They claim the oil companies hid information showing MTBE would cause ``massive'' contamination." ... "The settlement was filed yesterday with U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York, who is presiding over the 59 settled lawsuits brought by 153 municipalities. The six oil companies and refineries that didn't settle include Exxon Mobil Corp. [Corporation], the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, according to Robert Gordon, a lawyer for the plaintiffs." ... "The municipalities ``will use the money to continue to treat water so that it is safe and pure,'' Gordon said in a phone interview." ... "MTBE reduces air pollution by making gasoline burn more completely in a car's engine. MTBE discharged into the air contaminates groundwater through rainfall. The additive has been banned in many states." ... "Estimates of the cost to treat contaminated water in the U.S. have reached $30 billion." ... "Scheindlin denied a request by the oil companies to dismiss the suits in 2005." ... "``Innocent water providers -- and ultimately innocent water users -- should not be denied relief from the contamination of their water supply if defendants breached a duty to avoid an unreasonable risk of harm from their products,'' Scheindlin said at the time." ... "The case is In Re: MTBE, 00-cv-1898, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). " -By David Glovin -Bloomberg
  • 20080507
    NOTEWORTHY News.
  • WATER News. DRINKING WATER News. Rivers and Streams News. Wastewater Systems News. Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis News. National Association of Clean Water Agencies News.WaterINFRASTRUCTURE News.InfrastructureHUMAN News. PEOPLE News.HumanHEALTH News.HealthSAFETY News.SafetyLAW ENFORCEMENT News.EnforcementENVIRONMENT News. EPA News: Environmental Protection Agency News.EnvironmentUNDERGOUND News. EARTH News.UndergroundMONEY News.MoneyHISTORY News.HistoryWEATHER News.WeatherANIMAL News. Aquatic Animals News.AnimalsPLANT News.Plants - "Aging systems releasing sewage into rivers, streams." ... "America's aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers and streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned agencies responsible for sewage overflows, a Gannett News Service analysis shows." ... "The analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data found that since 2003, hundreds of municipal sewer authorities have been fined for violations, including spills that make people sick, threaten local drinking water and kill aquatic animals and plants." ... "DATABASE: Sewer treatment plant reports by state[.]" ... "Local governments across the USA plan to spend billions modernizing failing wastewater systems — some of which are more than 100 years old — over the next 10 to 20 years, EPA, state and local sewer authority officials said." ... "Those improvement efforts face a huge challenge mitigating problems in what the EPA estimates to be 1.2 million miles of sewers snaking underground across the USA." ... "Waste gurgles from manholes and gushes down streams and rivers somewhere in the USA almost every day, the EPA estimates." ... "Gannett News Service analyzed enforcement and compliance records compiled by the EPA and state regulators from January 2003 to February 2008." ... "The analysis found that at least one-third of the nation's large, publicly owned sewage treatment systems were the subject of formal enforcement actions by the EPA or state regulators for sewage spills or other violations. Those enforcement actions included fines as well as orders to fix problems or expand treatment capacity. Fines totaling $35 million were assessed against 494 of the nation's 4,200 municipal facilities that treat at least 1 million gallons of sewage daily, the analysis shows." ... "An EPA 2004 report to Congress estimated that 850 billion gallons of storm water mixed with raw sewage pour into U.S. waters every year from older, combined sewer systems that were designed to overflow in wet weather. These combined systems, built by cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries, are now considered antiquated and a threat to public health and the environment, according to the EPA and environmental groups." ... "The EPA's 2002 Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis reported the nation's municipal sewer authorities' capital needs to meet clean water requirements from 2000 to 2019 ranged from $331 billion to $450 billion. Based on that data, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies now puts that range at $350 billion to $500 billion for the next 20 years, association spokeswoman Susan Bruninga said." -By Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith with contributions by Robert Benincasa and Dan Klepal -USATODAY
  • 20080503
    CHRISTIAN News. FAITH News. BIBLE News. SCRIPTURE News. WORSHIP News. HOLY News. RELIGION News.
  • PEOPLE News.PeopleHEALTH News. Dr News. Hospital News. Patients News.HealthENVIRONMENT News.EnvironmentPLANT News. OAKS News. PALM TREE News. TREES News.TreesGLOBAL News.GlobalEARTH News.EarthSCIENTIFIC News.SciencePOLITICS News.PoliticsBOOK News. AUTHOR News.BookNORTH CAROLINA News.North Carolina - "Caring for planet increasingly tied to faith groups." ... "Abraham sits at the oaks. Deborah holds court under a palm tree. Moses speaks to a bush." ... ""I would say connecting this to the Bible is important for some people," said Dr. Matthew Sleeth, a former hospital chief of staff who couldn't shake the faces of patients with seemingly increasing environment-related illnesses. So he quit his job, gave away half his belongings and began spreading the word on the urgency of people paying more attention to the environment." ... "Pointing out the symbolism of trees in Scripture has helped Sleeth link faith with personal responsibility. His book, "Serve God and Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action," is in its seventh printing. Sleeth also has a prominent role in the publication of an upcoming "green Bible."" ... ""The change has come when people who are strong in their faith, who might be against it," Sleeth says of the deterioration of the Earth, "then go look at the Bible with this in mind and they see a different story."" ... "The statewide faith and environment conference that Sleeth will co-headline at Catawba College in Salisbury [North Carolina] this month grew out of a meeting among Greensboro [North Carolina] houses of worship at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. Participants tried to broaden the conversation between the scientific and faith-based communities." ... ""When people realize that there is this direct tie between our own faith and being good stewards of this Earth," said John Wear, founding director of Catawba's Center for the Environment, "then it gives them a purpose that didn't exist before."" -By Nancy McLaughlin -News-Record.com
    CenterForTheEnvironment.org
  • 20080502
    NOTEWORTHY News.
  • STEPHEN JOHNSON News. Republican President Bush's Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L Johnson News.Stephen JohnsonCORPORATE News.CorporateGOVERNMENT News. FEDERAL News.GovernmentPOLITICS News. POLITICIAN News.PoliticsFETAL News. PARENTS News.FetalHUMAN News.HumanHEALTH News.HealthSCIENCE News.ScienceENVIRONMENTAL News. Environmental Protection Agency News.EnvironmentalSAFETY News.SafetyENFORCEMENT News. LAW ENFORCEMENT News.EnforcementEMERGENCY News.EmergencyWILDLIFE News. ANIMAL News.WildlifeSOIL News. EARTH News.SoilWATERWAYS News. WATER News. LAKE News.WaterLAW News. ATTORNEY News.LawMANUFACTURING News. MANUFACTURING PLANT News.ManufacturingHISTORY News.HistoryMICHIGAN News.MichiganILLINOIS NewsIllinois - "EPA's top Midwest regulator forced out: Mary Gade, based in Chicago [Illinois], says [Republican President] Bush administration made her quit over Dow Chemical case." ... "The Bush administration forced its top environmental regulator in the Midwest to quit Thursday after months of internal bickering about dioxin contamination downstream from Dow Chemical's world headquarters in Michigan." ... "In an interview with the [Chicago] Tribune, Mary Gade said two top officials at the U.S. [United States] Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington stripped her of her powers as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1." ... "Gade said she had told the agency she would resign her position, based in Chicago [Illinois]." ... "For the past year, Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich. [Michigan], plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron." ... "Gade, a former corporate attorney appointed by Bush in September 2006, invoked emergency powers last year to force Dow to clean up four hot spots of dioxin, including the largest amount of the cancer-causing chemical ever recorded in the United States." ... "In January, Dow urged officials at the EPA's [Environmental Protection Agency's] headquarters to intervene after Gade broke off negotiations intended to renew the terms for a more comprehensive cleanup. Neither side would reveal details, citing confidentiality agreements, but Gade said Dow resisted taking steps needed to protect human health and wildlife." ... "Though regional EPA administrators typically have wide latitude to enforce environmental laws, Gade drew fire from officials in Washington last month after she sent contractors to test soil in a Saginaw [Michigan] neighborhood where Dow had found high dioxin levels." ... "She said top lieutenants to Stephen Johnson, the national EPA administrator, repeatedly questioned her aggressive action against Dow, which long ago acknowledged it is responsible for the dioxin contamination but has resisted federal and state involvement in cleanup plans." ... "Dow dumped dioxin-contaminated waste into the waterways for most of the last century. The chemical, which is so toxic that it is measured in trillionths of a gram, was a manufacturing byproduct of the Vietnam-era herbicide Agent Orange and other chlorinated herbicides." ... "Company documents show Dow knew by the mid-1960s that it could make people sick or even kill them." ... "Citing years of independent studies, the EPA says dioxin can cause cancer, disrupt the immune system and alter fetal development." ... ""We have a responsibility to make sure people are living in a healthy and safe environment," Gade said. "This problem has been out there for more than 30 years, and it's unconscionable that action hasn't been taken."" (1, 2) -By Michael Hawthorne -ChicagoTribune 
  • 20080430
    FOOD News. CORN and PALM OIL News. GRAIN STOCKS News. MEAT News. CORN BELT News.
  • FARMERS News. AGRICULTURE News. CROPS News.AgricultureFACTORIES News.FactoryPRICE News. COMPANIES News. MONEY News.CompaniesPOOR News.PoorPEOPLE News.PeopleNUTRITION News.NutritionHEALTH News.HealthUS AMERICAN News.USUN News: United Nations News.WORLD News.WorldFOSSIL FUELS News. BIOFUELS News. NATURAL GAS News. ENERGY News.BiofuelGAS News. OXYGEN News. AIR News.AirSOIL News. GROUND News. EARTH News.SoilWATER News. STREAMS News. GROUNDWATER News. SEA News. MARINE News.WaterENVIRONMENTAL News.EnvironmentANIMAL News.AnimalsPLANT News.PlantsSCIENCE News.Science - "Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer." ... "Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition." ... "Rising demand for food and biofuels prompted farmers everywhere to plant more crops." ... "Fertilizer companies are confident the shortage will be solved eventually, noting that they plan to build scores of new factories. But that will probably create fresh problems in the long run as the world grows more dependent on fossil fuels to produce chemical fertilizers." ... "The demand for fertilizer has been driven by a confluence of events, including population growth, shrinking world grain stocks and the appetite for corn and palm oil to make biofuel. But experts say the biggest factor has been the growing demand for food, especially meat, in the developing world." ... "Fertilizer is plant food, a combination of nutrients added to soil to help plants grow. The three most important are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The latter two have long been available. But nitrogen in a form that plants can absorb is scarce, and the lack of it led to low crop yields for centuries." ... "That limitation ended in the early 20th century with the invention of a procedure, now primarily fueled by natural gas, that draws chemically inert nitrogen from the air and converts it into a usable form." ... "Environmental groups fear increased use, particularly of nitrogen fertilizer made using fossil fuels. Because plants do not absorb all the nitrogen, much of it leaches into streams and groundwater. That runoff has long been recognized as a major pollution problem, and it is growing." ... "A barometer of the pollution is the rising number of dead zones where rivers meet the sea. In the Gulf of Mexico, for instance, nitrogen runoff from fields in the Corn Belt washes downstream and feeds plant life in the gulf. The algae blooms suck oxygen from the water, killing other marine life." (1, 2) -By Keith Bradsher and Andrew Martin -NYTimes 
  • 20080423
    OPINION News.
  • GOVERNMENT News.GovernmentENVIRONMENTAL News. Environmental Protection Agency News. EPA News.EnvironmentalSCIENCE News. SCIENTISTS News. SCIENTIFIC News.SciencePOLITICAL News. Politicization News.PoliticsHUMAN News.HumanHEALTH News.HealthLAW News.LawAIR News.AirGROUND News. EARTH News.GroundWATER News.WaterHOMES News.HomesWORKPLACE News.WorkplaceINDUSTRY News.IndustryUS AMERICAN NewsUSGLOBAL News.GlobalCLIMATE News.ClimateFREE SPEECH News.Free SpeechCENSORSHIP News.Censorship - "Interference at the EPA: Science and Politics at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." ... "The U.S. [United States] Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the simple yet profound charge "to protect human health and the environment."  EPA scientists apply their expertise to protect the public from air and water pollution, clean up hazardous waste, and study emerging threats such as global warming. Because each year brings new and potentially toxic chemicals into our homes and workplaces, because air pollution still threatens our public health, and because environmental challenges are becoming more complex and global, a strong and capable EPA is more important than ever." ... "Yet challenges from industry lobbyists and some political leaders to the agency's decisions have too often led to the suppression and distortion of the scientific findings underlying those decisions—to the detriment of both science and the health of our nation. While every regulatory agency must balance scientific findings with other considerations, policy makers need access to the highest-quality scientific information to make fully informed decisions." ... "Concern over this problem led the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to investigate political interference in science at the EPA. The investigation combines dozens of interviews with current and former EPA staff, analysis of government documents, more than 1,600 responses to a survey sent to current EPA scientists, and written comments from EPA scientists." ... "The results of these investigations show an agency under siege from political pressures. On numerous issues—ranging from mercury pollution to groundwater contamination to climate change—political appointees have edited scientific documents, manipulated scientific assessments, and generally sought to undermine the science behind dozens of EPA regulations." ... "These findings highlight the need for strong reforms to protect EPA scientists, make agency decision making more transparent, and reduce politicization of the regulatory process. Congress, the next president, and the next EPA Administrator must restore independence and scientific integrity to the EPA by:"
    • "   * Protecting EPA Scientists: Scientists should be free to report the distortion, manipulation, and suppression of their work without fear of retribution. Congress should pass a whistleblower law that includes protection for scientists. The EPA should adopt a communications policy that lets scientists speak freely to the press about their findings."
    • "   * Making the EPA More Transparent: Too many decisions are made behind closed doors with little accountability. The EPA’s scientific findings should be freely available to the public. The EPA should open up its decision-making process to congressional and public scrutiny to help reveal misuses of science[.]"
    • "    * Reforming the Regulatory Process: The White House should not change scientific findings in order to weaken, delay, or prevent new public protections."
    • "    * Ensuring Robust Scientific Input to EPA's Decision Making: The EPA should review and strengthen how it uses the scientific expertise of its staff and external advisory committees to create policies—especially when scientific input is critical or required by law."
    • "    * Depoliticizing Funding, Monitoring, and Enforcement: Problems with funding, monitoring and enforcement also need to be addressed by Congress and the next President to ensure that the EPA