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• EPA must regulate water discharges from ships, says court.

• Studies warn of toxic chemicals in air fresheners and laundry products and cars and car seats.

• Golf carts hit the road.

• FEMA seeks immunity from toxic-trailer lawsuits.

• Panama's gourmet coffee leading to deforestation.

Hurricane Dolly hit land in Texas Wednesday as a Category 2 storm. No deaths have been reported and the storm had a minimal impact on oil and gas operations; it largely missed offshore oil and gas facilities, but did cut production 10 to 20 percent at some refineries and by 5 to 8 percent overall. Oil futures hardly budged, and a collective sigh of relief went up from those who had feared Dolly would have a stronger impact on the shaky oil market. (The hurricane did have an impact on Sen. John McCain, who cited Dolly's presence in the Gulf as the reason for canceling a planned trip to New Orleans, during which he had planned to helicopter to an oil rig and talk up offshore drilling.) With hurricanes Bertha, Cristobal, and Dolly, July 2008 has already been the third-most active hurricane-season month on record, and meteorologists are expecting a continuing busy summer for storms. More frequent hurricanes are, of course, also in line with what scientists expect to see as the climate continues to change.

sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, National Geographic News, The Washington Post

Some 420,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled into the Mississippi River early Wednesday, after a 600-foot chemical tanker collided with a fuel barge. The collision split the barge in half; thick, slow-to-evaporate fuel has traveled at least 12 miles downriver. The Coast Guard closed a 29-mile stretch of the river around New Orleans, and residents have been asked to conserve water as drinking-water intakes are closed or diverted. Cleanup is expected to take days. Full environmental impact is yet unclear, but, notes a spokesperson for the Louisiana environmental agency: "We have a lot of wildlife in the southern delta." To look on the bright side, the spill pales in comparison to the millions of gallons of oil that the Coast Guard estimates were dumped in the river following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Yes, folks, millions -- not zero.

sources: Reuters, Associated Press, WDSU, WWLTV, CNN
see also, in Grist: A special series on the Army Corps and the Mississippi River, Three cities on the Mississippi reimagine their waterfronts and themselves

Trees have emerged victorious in a California dispute that pitted redwoods against solar panels. Six months ago, Silicon Valley residents Richard Treanor and Carolynn Bissett were criminally convicted because their redwoods shaded the 10-kilowatt solar system on neighbor Mark Vargas' roof. Ultimately, Treanor and Bissett were forced to trim their trees and paid $37,000 in legal fees. To avert future disputes, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed a new law that holds that if trees were planted before solar panels were installed, the solar-panel owner cannot force the trees to be trimmed or chopped. If the solar panels came first, a civil lawsuit can be filed, but the law disallows criminal prosecution of folks with foliage. The original incident ain't over yet, though: Vargas has sued Treanor and Bissett again, alleging not only that their trees shade his solar panels, but that the trees' roots damage an underground storm drain and that their row of redwoods violates state laws that disallow spite fences.

sources: Sacramento Bee, The Mercury News, Palo Alto Online, The New York Times

The Bush administration is trying to push through a new workplace safety rule to weaken workers' protections against toxic chemicals before Bush's term ends, according to The Washington Post. The rule, which has not been made public, would mandate a reevaluation of the methods used to measure risks to workers from toxic exposure in the workplace. The rule would also require the U.S. Department of Labor to entertain additional challenges to its risk assessments before establishing new limits on exposure to chemicals. So far, work on the proposal has reportedly been fast-tracked and has been conducted largely in secret, drawing sharp criticism from worker advocates. "This is a guarantee to keep any more worker safety regulation from ever coming out of [the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration]," said workplace safety professor David Michaels. "This is being done in secrecy, to be sprung before President Bush leaves office, to cripple the next administration," he said. Once it's published, the rule will be open to public comment for 30 days.

source: The Washington Post

The Bush administration proposed rules [PDF] for U.S. oil shale development Tuesday that include charging lower royalty rates for oil-shale production on public lands than it does for other oil and gas drilling. The lower royalties are meant to encourage oil-shale production since, as it turns out, the energy- and pollution-intensive process of cooking rocks before pumping out the resulting oil is still up to three times more expensive than extracting already-liquid oil. "It is basically recognition that in the beginning there has to be a lower royalty to recognize the pioneering nature of this business," said the executive director of the National Oil Shale Association. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne had a different take on the economics of oil-shale development, saying the high costs of production are finally beginning to make sense. "For years, the cost of extracting oil from shale exceeded the benefit, but today that calculus is changing." (Thanks, high oil prices!)

source: Associated Press
new in Muckraker: Bush admin's effort to spur oil shale production won't do much for consumers in short run
see also, in Gristmill: It's a 1980 flashback, as energy price spikes make oil shale economical once again

• British eco-town plan could be illegal.

• Climate change could mean more kittens!

• Women exposed to high levels of PCBs are less likely to birth boys.

• Ford shifting to smaller cars.

• Wildfire smoke could ease warming in Arctic.

• General Motors and utility group will collaborate for electric-car infrastructure.

• California adopts solar loan law.

Taking another step toward complete indispensability, Google Maps on Tuesday became the first service of its kind to add walking directions. In addition to searches for car and transit travel, pedestrians -- and, hell, Segway-ers too -- can now find the most direct and flat route from Point A to Point B. The function works for trips up to 6.2 miles long, and recognizes that one-way streets only apply to the car-encased (suckas!). Searchers are advised to "use caution when walking in unfamiliar areas" as the directions, still in beta form, potentially lack information about pedestrian bridges, roads without sidewalks, or impassable intersections -- but they'll only improve from here. Now if Google would just add biking directions, we'd be set.

source: Google Lat Long Blog
straight to the walkin': Google Maps
see also, in Grist: An interview with Google's green energy czar

The World Bank overstates its commitment to financing sustainability-minded projects in developing countries and should greatly improve its efforts, according to an internal review. Official estimates hold that the bank put $59 billion into environment-focused projects between 1990 and 2007; while the bank's coding system makes it difficult to figure out specifics, the Independent Evaluation Group review estimates that perhaps only $18.2 billion was allocated to projects at least 80 percent environmentally focused. In addition, the review says, long-run sustainability concerns are often given short shrift; good green intentions may not carried out on the ground; and administrative priorities and coordination ain't what they could be. Bank managers acknowledge flaws, but say official statistics don't tell the whole story. Regardless, the bank needs to step it up, says the evaluation group's Vinod Thomas: "It is clear now from the Amazon to India that if environmental sustainability is not raised as a priority then all bets are off."

sources: Reuters, The New York Times
straight to the report: Environmental Sustainability: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support
see also, in Grist: Does the World Bank have a legitimate role in solving the climate crisis?, Report says World Bank should get out of carbon-offset market

Some 85 percent of 952 sunscreens tested are ineffective or contain potentially harmful chemicals, says this year's annual sunscreen review by the Environmental Working Group. Of 144 sunscreen products distributed by the top three leading brands -- Coppertone, Banana Boat, and Neutrogena -- only one meets EWG's criteria for safety and efficacy. The group raises especial alarm about common ingredient oxybenzone, which a handful of animal studies have linked to endocrine disruption. Some dermatologists accuse EWG's sun-protection rating system of lacking scientific rigor, but the group says it extensively reviewed medical literature on sunscreens and stands behind its data. If you're rushing out to buy one of the 28 sunscreens that fall under both the Effective and Low Hazard rubric, buy a hat too -- dermatologists stress that sunscreen without other sun-avoidance precautions may not have much of an effect on skin cancer.

sources: Abilene Reporter News, The New York Times
straight to the database: Sunscreen Summary
see also, in Grist: Sunscreen-slathered swimmers contributing to coral bleaching, says study

A British documentary that declared climate change to be a willful and conspiratorial hoax broke impartiality rules and misrepresented the views of some participants, British broadcasting regulator Ofcom said Monday. The not-so-subtly named The Great Global Warming Swindle, which aired on Britain's Channel 4 in March 2007, said at one point in its narration, "Everywhere, you are being told that man-made climate change is proved beyond doubt. But you are being told lies." However, while Ofcom highlighted "aspects of the presentation (and omission) of facts which caused some concern," the regulator declined to hold the channel accountable for "materially misleading the audience so as to cause harm or offense."

sources: The Independent, The Telegraph, Reuters
see also, in Grist: How to talk to a climate skeptic

The Bush administration today will propose rules for tapping the U.S.'s vast oil-shale deposits, estimated to hold up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Oil shale development is enormously expensive and spectacularly polluting, but the U.S. Department of the Interior is expected to frame the debate in terms of high fuel prices and domestic "energy security." President Bush previewed the move in his let's-go-drill-offshore speech last week, saying, "We should expand oil production by tapping into the extraordinary potential of oil shale." Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's announcement Tuesday is likely to echo Bush's speech by calling on Congress to lift the ban on developing oil shale in the U.S. West. Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar (D) last year inserted a provision into a spending bill that prohibits the feds from issuing final rules for commercial oil-shale development and thus also prohibits companies from tapping the vast deposits. But it won't keep anyone from pandering.

sources: Associated Press, Reuters

• Destroyed wetlands could unleash "carbon bomb."

• Appeals court rules in favor of whales.

• Plans for Europe's largest wind farm approved.

• People irked about leaf-blower bans.

• Mideast faces choice between crops and water.

Eco-friendliness has been seeping into pro baseball for a while, and now it's pretty much official: America's pastime has gone green. Major League Baseball partnered with NRDC at the start of the season to encourage teams to, um, win at sustainability. Head to a ball game near you, and chances are you'll toss your plastic beer cup into a recycling bin, gaze upon a solar-powered scoreboard, and pee in a no-flush urinal (sorry, men only). Scouts are traveling in fuel-efficient vehicles; stadiums are converting used cooking oil to biofuel; and teams are offsetting their carbon footprint. With 80 million spectators attending MLB games each year, the trend toward greenness is welcomed. "[T]his is signaling a cultural shift that I think is unprecedented, to have Major League Baseball embracing environmentalism," says NRDC's Allen Hershkowitz. "It's apple pie, it's motherhood, it's baseball, it's environmentalism."

source: The Washington Post

Every ecosystem in the eastern United States is tainted by air pollution, says a new report from The Nature Conservancy and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. The report looks at the impacts of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, and ground-level ozone in six different habitats, and concludes that those damn pollutants are pretty much everywhere. Coauthor Dr. Tim Tear breaks it down: "Mercury contamination results in fish that are unsafe to eat. Acidification kills fish and strips nutrients from soils. Excess nitrogen pollutes estuaries, to the detriment of coastal fisheries. And ground-level ozone reduces plant growth, a threat to forestry and agriculture." Eastern ecosystems, downwind from many large urban and industrial areas, have the highest levels of deposited air pollution -- that is, pollutants whisked on the wind that eventually settle to the land -- in North America. The report calls, of course, for better federal monitoring and regulation of said pollutants.

sources: The Nature Conservancy, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
see also, in Grist: An interview with The Nature Conservancy's new prez
straight to the report: Threats From Above: Air Pollution Impacts on Ecosystems and Biological Diversity in the Eastern United States [PDF]

The dams and aqueducts that shuttle water from California's Sacramento River Delta to the rest of the state will "appreciably increase jeopardy" to salmon and steelhead in the coming months, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said Friday. But while Wanger agreed with environmentalists that "the three salmonid species are not viable and are all in jeopardy of extinction," he declined to order a short-term remedy. The National Marine Fisheries Service, in response to a successful lawsuit from the green groups, will by March come up with operational changes to California's water-export system that will hopefully be less harmful to fish. In the meantime, greens had asked that Wanger order an immediate cutback in agricultural water diversion, but he demurred. While waiting for March to roll around, green groups and water agencies will continue discussions on how to balance fish livelihood and irrigation needs.

sources: Los Angeles Times, Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, McClatchy Newspapers
see also, in Grist: This year's salmon fishing season canceled in California

A uranium leak was discovered on Friday in an underground pipe at a nuclear fuel plant in France. Authorities said the leak was probably a few years old, but insisted it really isn't all that bad since groundwater apparently wasn't contaminated and the uranium leak was relatively small. However, the reassurances were not quite as comforting to the public as they might have been even just a few weeks ago; another leak was discovered at a different nuke facility earlier this month. On July 7, residents of southern France's Vaucluse region were told not to drink water from, swim in, eat fish from, irrigate with, or otherwise touch water in nearby rivers or other waterways following a liquid uranium spill at the Tricastin nuclear power plant. The state-controlled nuke-power giant Areva, which owns both facilities, has been heavily criticized for its delay in notifying the authorities of the Tricastin leak and has since fired its plant manager. The French government said it would test the water around all the country's 59 nuclear plants to ease public fears.

sources: The Guardian, Agence France-Presse
see also, in Gristmill: Champagne vineyards threatened by radioactive contamination

The League of Conservation Voters announced today that they're endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, citing the freshman senator's policies on climate change and clean energy. "When you look specifically at the twin challenges of cutting global warming pollution and moving toward a clean energy future, on those issues Barack Obama has the most comprehensive plan we have ever seen for a presidential nominee," LCV president Gene Karpinsky said. LCV gave Obama a rating of 67 in their annual scorecard this year, lower than his previous average due to missed votes while on the campaign trail. He maintains an 86 percent rating overall for his first three years representing Illinois in the Senate. His main opponent, John McCain, has a lifetime LCV score of 24 percent, and earned a zero for 2007 after missing every vote LCV included in this year's tally. LCV joins Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth, who have also endorsed Obama.

sources: Associated Press, League of Conservation Voters

• Hundreds of dead baby penguins wash ashore in Brazil.

• Should we move species to save them?

• Catfish farms dry up.

• California Supreme Court gives new protection to endangered species.

• Desmond Tutu rails against flying.

A federal judge has ruled that wolves should be returned to the endangered-species list for now, derailing plans for wolf hunts in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The 2,000 or so gray wolves that inhabit the three states were removed from the endangered list in March; environmentalists sued to get them back on, saying populations were not yet stable. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, over 100 gray wolves have been killed by hunters in the days since they were delisted, a rate of almost a wolf a day. The federal judge will eventually decide if the relisting should be permanent. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may appeal.

sources: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times