Friday, April 22, 2011

Environment

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: One Year Later

The payment to five states and the federal government will count toward the company’s final liability.

Beyond the Oil Spill, the Tragedy of an Ailing Gulf

There is a huge dead zone off the mouth of the Mississippi, and coastal wetlands have been vanishing rapidly.

A Year Spent Wrestling With Paperwork, Not Nets

Alton Verdin is not interested in lawsuits; he just wants to get back to fishing.

The Regulator

Answering a Call, Slowly

It took a call from President Obama to convince Michael R. Bromwich to lead the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

The Counselor

Foreign Land, Familiar Words

Tuan Nguyen has helped Vietnamese fishermen in Louisiana get emergency money, mental health counseling and new jobs.

Japanese Revisit Nuclear Zone While They Can

With just hours to retrieve belongings before a government deadline, neighbors of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant flocked back home.

The Texas Tribune

A City Built on Oil Discovers How Precious Its Water Can Be

Midland and other Permian Basin cities are facing serious water problems as their above-ground reservoirs dry up.

Wildlife at Risk Face Long Line at U.S. Agency

The Fish and Wildlife Service is struggling with an avalanche of petitions and lawsuits over the endangered species list.

Gas Well Spews Polluted Water

The spill occurred at a well in northern Pennsylvania that was being opened in a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Solar on the Water

The potential of floating solar farms is enticing for some farmers, municipalities and companies that see their ponds and reservoirs doing double duty.

Justices Skeptical on Role of Courts in Setting Emissions Standards

Six states and New York City turn to the courts for help in forcing power companies to reduce emissions.

Gas Drillers Asked to Change Method of Waste Disposal

Pennsylvania regulators want the natural gas industry to stop sending waste from hydrofracking to plants not equipped to remove some contaminants.

U.S. Engineers Cite Lengthy Cleanup in Japan

Veterans of the Three Mile Island cleanup said that a much larger task faced the Japanese engineers who are trying contain and secure the damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

Plant Owner Sues Vermont Over License for Reactor

A civil lawsuit questions whether state officials have the authority to stop a reactor that has a federal approval to operate 20 more years.

Experts Busy Assessing Ferocity of Storms

A small cadre of meteorologists was busy figuring out just how many tornadoes touched down on Saturday in North Carolina and how powerful they were.

Many Hit by Spill Now Feel Caught in Claim Process

Tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents, frustrated by the process of submitting claims to BP after the 2010 oil spill, have actively sought legal help to cover loss of income or property damage.

Luck Spares Some From Deadly Tornado Swarm

Despite death and devastation in a corner of North Carolina, a sense of marvel that a mile-wide tornado didn’t do worse.

Vegan Promoter Uses Photos of Meat and Dairy Items, and Fury Follows

A San Francisco-based “vegetarian lifestyle” magazine and Web site acknowledged that it regularly used images of meat and dairy-filled foods to accompany vegan-themed articles and recipes.

Regulation of Offshore Rigs Is a Work in Progress

The revamped Bureau of Ocean Energy Management concedes that it will take time, money and more skilled employees to properly police the oil and gas industry.

Fishermen in Amazon See a Rival in Dolphins

The Amazon’s pink dolphins are protected by law, but fishermen kill them to use as bait.

Wyoming’s Boom Poses Challenges For Obama

The climb out from this recession, if Wyoming is any measure, could be as politically turbulent as the descent.

G.O.P. Push in States to Deregulate Environment

Legislatures and governors are moving aggressively against conservation measures and regulations they see as too burdensome to business interests.

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T.V.A. Agrees to Shutter 18 Generators That Use Coal

A legal settlement, announced by the E.P.A., could account for a loss of as much as a third of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal-burning capacity.

T.V.A. Considers Improvements for 6 U.S. Nuclear Reactors

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the first American reactor operator to announce safety changes that it is weighing since the nuclear crisis at a Japanese plant last month.

Resistance to Jaitapur Nuclear Plant Grows in India

As a nuclear disaster unfolds in distant Japan, a growing number of Indian scientists, academics and others have expressed concern about plans for a coastal nuclear plant.

Room For Debate

Saving Species as the Climate Changes

Regulators say they are overwhelmed by lawsuits to save flora and fauna endangered by global warming. What's the answer?

Poor Season for Sunshine Is Great One for Spores

The moss has been busy this year, and so has a gardening hot line, which fields inquiries as to how to get rid of the abundant plant.

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Whales’ Grandeur and Grace, Up Close

A photographer has created 25 true-scale pictures, including two full portraits — each composed from dozens of photographs of different sections of the whale’s body.

Chemicals Were Injected Into Wells, Report Says

Oil and gas companies put toxic chemicals into wells in a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, according to a Congressional study.

Multimedia
Climate Change and Coffee

In Colombia, coffee yields have plummeted as a result of rising temperatures and more intense and unpredictable rains.

Cloud Forests, Birds and the Origins of Island Life

An expedition to the mountains of the Solomon Islands sought to understand how new species evolve.

Power Off the Grid

Elisabeth Rosenthal reports form rural Kenya, where cheap Chinese solar panels are providing decentralized small-scale electricity to towns that have little chance of being connected to the grid.

Sampling the Air

Steve Ryan is one of the scientists at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii who measures carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

Rescuing the Yellow-Legged Frog

Vance Vredenburg hopes to protect frogs in the Sierra Nevada mountains from a fungal disease that is wiping out amphibian populations.

Timeline: 70 Years of Environmental Change

Environmental milestones over 13 presidential administrations.