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Last updated on  February 3rd, 2012

Canada, Alberta seek to assuage oil sands critics (Reuters): Click here
Reuters - Canada will set up a new environmental monitoring system for the northern Alberta oil sands as it seeks to fend off harsh international criticism following revelations that oversight of the huge petroleum development has been insufficient.

USDA awards $40 million grants to boost local farm/food projects (Reuters): Click here
Reuters - The U.S. Agriculture Department on Friday awarded $40.2 million in grants to farmers, ranchers and farmer-controlled rural business ventures aimed at spurring locally produced food supplies and renewable energy ventures.

NRC sets vote on approving Ga. nuclear plant (AP): Click here
AP - Federal safety officials will vote Feb. 9 on whether to approve what could become the nation's first nuclear plant in a generation.

Nature's Surprise: 365 New Species Spotted in Peru (LiveScience.com): Click here
LiveScience.com - Hundreds of species never before seen in a Peruvian national park have been found during an inventory of the Amazonian forests there, according to a conservation group.

UK minister quits Cabinet to fight criminal charge (AP): Click here

FILE - This Wednesday, May, 12, 2010 file photo shows Britain's Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne wave for photographers as he arrives at the official residence of Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in London.  England's chief prosecutor said Friday Feb. 3, 2012, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, a leading Cabinet minister, has been charged with attempting to dodge a speeding penalty, casting his political career into doubt. (AP Photo/Akira Suemori, File)AP - British leader David Cameron made a third unwanted shake up of his government since 2010 on Friday after Cabinet minister Chris Huhne quit as prosecutors charged him over an alleged attempt to pin a speeding penalty on his ex-wife.



58% vs. 27% - Sharp Divide Between Republicans and Democrats on Energy and the Environment (Pew): Click here
Pew - No issue divides more along partisan lines than the importance of environmental protection – 58% of Democrats say it is a top priority, compared with just 27% of Republicans.

Lawsuit seeks info, damages in 7-year oil spill (AP): Click here
AP - An environmental watchdog group filed a lawsuit Thursday against the company it blames for an oil spill 11 miles off the coast of Louisiana, claiming oil has been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico for more than seven years with few details about what's being done to stop it.

Storm over climate change among weather forecasters (Reuters): Click here
Reuters - You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

Obama opens door to offshore wind power along mid-Atlantic coast (The Christian Science Monitor): Click here
The Christian Science Monitor - The Obama administration today unveiled plans to boost US offshore wind power by opening up four new wind-leasing regions for wind turbine power generation.

Feds: Mid-Atlantic wind farms take step forward (AP): Click here
AP - The view off the mid-Atlantic shore in the next decade could include giant wind turbines generating electricity for homes in several states if federal efforts to speed approval for the projects shave years off the process as officials intend.

Spain's Repsol begins Cuba offshore drilling-sources (Reuters): Click here
Reuters - Spanish oil company Repsol YPF has begun drilling the first well in Cuba's long-awaited exploration of offshore oilfields that the communist country says hold both billions of barrels of oil and the key to greater prosperity, industry sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Feds: 'Unusual' wear on new tubes at CA nuke plant (AP): Click here
AP - Unusual wear has been found on hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water at Southern California's San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear plant, raising questions about the integrity of equipment the company installed in a multimillion-dollar makeover in 2009.

U.S. filmmaker arrested at House hearing on shale gas (Reuters): Click here
Reuters - The director of a U.S. documentary that portrays shale gas production as dangerous was arrested and escorted out of a Republican-dominated Congressional hearing on Wednesday, touching off a dispute over public access to the event.

Feds declare Atlantic sturgeon endangered species (AP): Click here
AP - The Atlantic sturgeon, a prehistoric fish whose once bountiful populations were depleted by anglers seeking its coveted caviar, has been declared an endangered species by federal officials, a decision that could lead to moves to protect its habitats along the East Coast.

Nuclear Reactor Incidents Are Reminders of Need for Preparedness (ContributorNetwork): Click here
ContributorNetwork - A reactor at a Southern California nuclear power plant was shut down after a leak in a steam generator tube on Tuesday, Reuters reported. This incident came a day after WIFR reported a nuclear plant lost power and shut down in Byron, Ill., on Monday. While both incidents were determined to not be high emergency levels, they are reminders of the importance to include nuclear disaster planning in individual and family emergency plans.

Group Cries Foul Over EPA Fracking Report (ContributorNetwork): Click here
ContributorNetwork - The Western Energy Alliance offered testimony on Wednesday before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology's Subcommittee on Energy & Environment regarding the December Environmental Protection Agency draft report tying groundwater pollution in Pavillion, Wyo., to nearby hydraulic fracturing sites. Here are the details.

BP Goes After Halliburton for at Least $20 Billion (ContributorNetwork): Click here
ContributorNetwork - BP is stating in court documents that Halliburton should pay all the costs of the 2010 explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Nuclear accidents pose little risk to health: NRC (Reuters): Click here
Reuters - The risk to public health from a severe nuclear power plant accident in the United States is "very small" because reactor operators should have time to prevent core damage and reduce the release of radioactive materials, U.S. nuclear regulators said in a study on Wednesday.

Dragons & Elephants May Solve Australia's Environmental Problems, Scientist Says (LiveScience.com): Click here
LiveScience.com - Between out-of-control fires and destructive invasive species, Australia is facing major environmental problems. Now, an Australian scientist says he has a radical solution to these issues: Import large animals, such as elephants, to consume flammable grasses and combat the feral animals that are reconstructing the ecosystem.

Environmental Group Ranks South's Most Endangered Places (LiveScience.com): Click here
LiveScience.com - Fracking, mountaintop removal and offshore oil drilling are just a few of the top concerns facing the southern United States in 2012.

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