eNewsUSA: Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

WIMS Environmental HotSheet 5/20/14

National / International News

<> EPA Finalizes Standards to Protect Fish, Aquatic Life from Cooling Water Intakes - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today finalized standards to protect billions of fish and other aquatic life drawn each year into cooling water systems at large power plants and factories.

Vitter: EPA's Cooling Water Rule Newest Attack on Base Load Power

<> USDA Announces Availability of Loans and Grants to Support Rural Economic Development - May 20, 2014 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the Department is accepting applications for loans and grants to support community development projects, business expansion and job. . .

<> Insurer's Climate Change Class Actions: More to Come? - Source: Reuters - A major insurance company is accusing dozens of localities in Illinois of failing to prepare for severe rains and flooding in lawsuits that are the first in what could be a wave of litigation over who should be liable for the possible costs of climate change.

<> EDF Climate Corps Expands Internationally, Focuses on Top Energy-Saving Opportunities - expansion into China, the world's largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions -- places specially trained graduate students in companies, cities and universities to save energy, money and the environment

<> Energy Department Awards $7 Million to Advance Hydrogen Storage Systems - The Energy Department announced $7 million for six projects to develop lightweight, compact, and inexpensive advanced hydrogen. . .

<> Vitter to McCarthy: EPA Must Correct Data Before Revising Ozone Standard - memoranda announcing that the Agency will not have the results of an analysis to be included in scientific assessments in support of EPA's lowered ozone standard before the Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Ozone Panel meeting.

<> GAO-14-618T, Nanomanufacturing and U.S. Competitiveness: Challenges and Opportunities, May 20, 2014 - Forum participants described nanomanufacturing as an emerging set of developments that will become a global megatrend: a technological revolution that is now in its formative phases but that man. . .

House Subcommittee on Research and Technology Hearing

<> GMO Myths and Truths – Second Edition - Genetically modified crops and foods are neither safe nor necessary to feed the world, a new report by genetic engineers shows. Click to download report (5.5mb PDF) The second edition of GMO Myths and Truths

<> Shimkus: Yucca Mountain Should Move Forward - Last Friday marked a milestone for the Department of Energy's management of nuclear power. The agency ceased collecting nuclear waste fees from ratepayers in response to a court order that found DOE was not complying. . .

<> Hidden Greenland Canyons Mean More Sea Level Rise - Scientists at NASA and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), have found that canyons under Greenland's ocean-feeding glaciers are deeper and longer than previously thought, increasing the amount of Greenland's estimated. . .

<> GAO-14-435, Arctic Issues: Better Direction and Management of Voluntary Recommendations Could Enhance U.S. Arctic Council Participation, May 16, 2014 - What GAO Found The Arctic Council (Council) is a voluntary intergovernmental forum for Arctic States, with involvement of indigenous organizations and other stakeholders, to address various environmental and economic issues. . .

<> SEEC & Senate Environmental Groups to Host Event on Climate Threats - Washington, D.C. – May 20 evening, the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) and Senate Climate Action Task Force will host a panel discussion on the threat climate change poses to our health, security. . .

U.S. Appeals Court Environmental Decisions

<> People of the State of California v. US Dept. of the Interior - 5/19/14. In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Case Nos. 12-55856 & 12-55956. The panel affirmed the district court's summary judgment in favor of federal defendants and intervenor water districts in an action challenging an environmental impact statement prepared by the Secretary of the Interior that analyzed the effects of water transfer agreements on the Salton Sea in southern California.

<> BP denied rehearing by 5th Circuit – 5/19/14. In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, Case No. 13-30315 & consolidated cases. the Petition for Rehearing En Banc is DENIED. In the en banc poll, five judges voted in favor of rehearing.