NOAA, seal products, concrete, pollution controls

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

Jane Lubchenco, marine biologist and conservation advocate, was confirmed as head of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Woo! (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/20/AR2009032003295.html?hpid=moreheadlines

House Democrats introduced an ambitious bill for cutting CO2 emissions. (Grist; the site layout was recently changed)
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/3/31/183040/523

The EU proposed a ban on importing Canadian seal products; Canada's government threatened to "launch a World Trade Organization action" if it does so. [This seems to have happened before]. (CBC; the article doesn't discuss the issue's controversial nature, but the 568+ comments do).
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/04/03/seal-canada.html

A planned coal and petroleum-coke power plant in Louisiana was suspended by the local government (Times-Picayune, New Orleans)
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/03/psc_orders_entergy_to_suspend.html

A bill in the Florida legislature would make it easier for developers to destroy wetlands. (St. Petersburg Times)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wetlands/article985783.ece

Earthjustice
A federal court ruling in February gave producers of major toxin-tainted sites less leeway to avoid paying cleanup costs, and the EPA more responsibility to force them.
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2009/court-rules-cleanup-tab-for-mines-and-other-hazardous-sites-should-not-fall-to-public.html

Another ruling ordered the EPA to revise its standards for particulate air pollution (soot, smoke etc)
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2009/earthjustice-wins-case-seeking-stronger-particulate-pollution-standards.html

New York Times
"Environmentalists" are clashing over renewable energy projects vs. place protection, e.g. solar arrays in desert wilderness. [A Grist writer posted a miffed response along the lines of 'If they stop solar projects to preserve desert, climate change will give them a lot more desert.' Ideologically, it's not that simple.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/science/earth/24ecowars.html?scp=1&sq=%22solar%20panels%22%20%22environmentalists%22&st=cse

On efforts to make concrete more environmentally-friendly
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/science/earth/31conc.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science