Budget pressures -- at least politically perceived ones -- are threatening basic science about the nation's water resources. In recent years the US Geologican Survey has cut back its programs for measuring streamflow and water quality -- which help protect people from flood disasters and drinking unhealthful water.
"Less than a year after surging waves from a Japanese earthquake battered the California coast, causing $58 million in damage and wrecking the Santa Cruz and Crescent City harbors, the Obama administration is moving to reduce funding for the nation's tsunami warning and preparedness programs."
"It is a pattern seen in various parts of the world — children being sickened from exposure to lead from mining activities. But the scale of the problem in Nigeria’s gold-mining region of Zamfara is unprecedented: More than 400 children have died and thousands more have been severely poisoned by exposure to lead dust."
Elizabeth Grossman reports for Yale Environment 360 March 1, 2012.
"GENEVA -- John Scanlon, secretary-general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, Tuesday expressed 'grave concern' over the recent poaching of close to 450 elephants in Bouba Ndjida National Park in northern Cameroon."
"Two utility companies announced the closure of 10 aging U.S. power plants Wednesday, a move environmental groups hailed as a major victory even as critics warned it could raise the price of electricity."
Juliet Eilperin reports for the Washington Post February 29, 2012.
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"NASHUA, N.H. -- With his re-election fate increasingly tied to the price Americans are paying at the gas pump, President Obama asked Congress on Thursday to end $4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies and vowed to tackle the country’s long-term energy issues while shunning 'phony election-year promises about lower gas prices.'"
"MONTREAL -- The Canadian asbestos sector wants Ottawa's help to challenge a death-toll estimate from the World Health Organization that says asbestos-related diseases kill more than 100,000 people every year."
"Most of the biggest polluting industrial boilers are in manufacturing states east of the Mississippi River, but 68 dot the West coast states."
"The war of words between the Obama reelection campaign and billionaire conservative activists Charles and David Koch escalated Wednesday. The president's campaign manager, Jim Messina, sent a letter to Philip Ellender, Koch’s president for government and public affairs, disputing Ellender's claim that an organization partially backed by the brothers represented the interests of thousands of grassroots donors."
"LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. Forest Service plans to grant free access to nearly all national forest lands, scaling back unpopular recreation fees that have raised the ire of hikers but also sent millions of dollars to Southern California's heavily used forests."
