"Worried whale researchers in Washington state are wondering where a grey whale had been feeding before it died in West Seattle last week. The 11-metre whale, which came ashore alive, swallowed an unusual amount of garbage, including sweatpants, a towel, a golf ball, rubber gloves, drink containers and numerous plastic bags."
"Indigenous activists threatened a clash with Brazil's government as they dispatched boats carrying 150 men on Wednesday to occupy the planned site of a controversial hydro-electric dam in the Amazon, a chief said."
"Rates of lung cancer among women and colorectal cancer among men are significantly elevated throughout Pompton Lakes, but two other cancers linked to a neighborhood contaminated by a DuPont munitions plant are not elevated borough-wide, health officials said Wednesday."
"West Virginians who live near streams polluted by coal mining are more likely to die of cancer, according to a first-of-its kind study published by researchers at West Virginia University and Virginia Tech."
"Three weeks after the Upper Big Branch explosion left 29 mine workers dead in Raleigh County, federal regulators fanned out in 10 states to examine 57 mines for safety flaws in a massive effort to avoid a repeat of the worst mining tragedy in four decades."
"Pollution before the first Earth Day was not only visible, it was in your face: Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire. ... The challenges to the planet today are largely invisible -- and therefore tougher to tackle."
"The first of 98 rescued workers from the oil rig explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig arrived at a Kenner hotel Thursday shortly after 4:30 a.m., after a 100-plus mile boat journey from the burning rig to Port Fourchon Wednesday evening."
Focus will be on three main themes: 1) Ensuring Survival: Oceans, Climate and Security; 2) Preserving Life: Marine Biodiversity; and 3) Improving Governance at National and Regional Levels and in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction.
Sixteen chemicals may be added to the TRI, after nearly a decade of erosion under the Bush administration.
Several journalists have raised questions about why more was not known publicly about the safety defects that led to the deaths of 29 miners at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine in April 2010.
