"Car shoppers have until Monday night to take advantage of lucrative Cash for Clunkers rebates from the government, and the Obama administration is hoping for a smooth ending to a program that has spurred auto sales but created headaches for many auto dealers."
"In a long-awaited move designed to protect people from cancer, California officials on Thursday proposed a new health goal for chromium 6 in drinking water that is thousands of times lower than the amount contaminating some water supplies."
"Alaska's marine waters -- source of 60 percent of the United States' seafood harvest -- show surprising impact as greenhouse emissions undermine the base of the food web."
"July was the hottest the world's oceans have been in almost 130 years of record-keeping. ... Meteorologists said there's a combination of forces at work this year: A natural El Nino system just getting started on top of worsening man-made global warming, and a dash of random weather variations. The resulting ocean heat is already harming threatened coral reefs. It could also hasten the melting of Arctic sea ice and help hurricanes strengthen."
Yet another deadly tree disease is spreading in North America. This one, documented in 8 states so far, affects black walnuts. Early hints indicate it could also affect other, agriculturally significant walnut tree species.
A Center for Public Integrity report indicates the number of entities officially lobbying on climate change increased 31% in the second quarter of 2009, and draws some parallels between the lobbyists involved prior to the June 2009 House vote on a climate change bill and the major pre-vote changes that happened to the bill.
The Associated Press reports "GM says mercury pollution not its problem anymore," defaulting on its dues payments just as the US government's cash-for-clunkers program is causing the retirement of many older vehicles.
"News broke on Friday that the American Petroleum Institute is urging member companies to recruit their employees, retirees, vendors, and contractors to attend 'Energy Citizen' events across the country over the August congressional recess. Today, we have some updates to the story."