Environmental reporters who use databases to find and build stories have a fresh windfall, including three new datasets from EPA, plus many others relevant to the EJ beat.
After intense recovery efforts resulting in an increase from ~400 nesting pairs in 1963 to the current count of >7,000, the bald eagle may soon be removed from the USFWS list of endangered and threatened species, with monitoring ongoing for at least five more years.
States and territories are each designing and running their own unique rebate program, with funding from the US DOE for development and implementation.
President Obama's $3.8 trillion fiscal 2011 budget proposal, released Feb. 1, funds private nuclear plants, Great Lakes and Chesapeake cleanup, and acquisition of land for conservation. It cuts Yucca Mountain, fossil subsidies, and EPA. It still hopes to get revenue from cap-and-trade ... and affects the environment in myriad other ways.
"Jared Blumenfeld, the newly appointed director of the U.S. EPA's Pacific Southwest region, Region 9, is pledging to make life difficult for polluters, especially those who despoil the environment in underserved and vulnerable communities."
"Climate change and clean energy programs, which the Obama administration has championed, are expected to remain priorities at U.S. EPA and the Energy Department in the president's fiscal 2011 budget request despite a request to freeze non-military discretionary spending for the next three years."
In a historic step forward, EPA's proposed rule would require disclosure of ALL pesticide ingredients — which has not been required for decades.
But apparently confidentiality claims will only be rejected in cases where the chemicals have already been disclosed in the Toxic Substances Control Act inventory.
This includes three new datasets from EPA, PLUS many other datasets relevant to environmental issues, released in response to a Dec. 8, 2009, White House open government order.
Advertisement 
