Shareholders in British oil company BP balked at reports it would seek urgent investment from a wealthy Middle East or Asian country as clean-up costs for its U.S. oil spill topped $3 billion. Over the weekend, while U.S. Independence Day holidaymakers shunned Gulf of Mexico beaches tarred by the leaking well, media reports said BP…

Native woods and trees in urban areas, including gardens, provide haven for wildlife, reduce air pollution, surface run-off and flooding Reversing the declining numbers of native trees and woods in cities would provide numerous benefits at ‘relatively little cost’, says a report from the Woodland Trust. As well as access to green space, the report,…

A supertanker adapted to scoop up oil from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico began tests on Saturday amid a report that some major investors expect the energy giant to replace its top executives. The vessel named “A Whale” and dubbed a “super skimmer” is operating just north of the blown out well…

Environmental groups, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard reached tentative agreement on Friday on measures to prevent sea turtles from being incinerated alive in controlled burns of spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The deal would settle a lawsuit accusing BP of violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act and terms of its lease with…

(Reuters) – A Kyoto Protocol scheme may be encouraging projects to emit more greenhouse gases because of incentives to earn carbon offsets from subsequently destroying these, a U.N. report said. The projects under investigation are the most lucrative under Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and account for more than half carbon offsets sold under the…

The dark deeps of the ocean has always been mysterious because they are dark (of course) as well hard to visit and see what is down there. For example the Coelacanth, long thought extinct, lives down deep and was only discovered in 1938 as well the elusive giant squids of legend. A study of the…

The reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by major sources of these pollutants is gaining momentum. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing requirements under its national mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program for underground coal mines, industrial wastewater treatment systems, industrial waste landfills and magnesium production facilities. The data from these sectors will provide…

June 30, 2010 – MillerCoors, a leader in brewing industry sustainability practices, released its 2010 Sustainable Development report yesterday in which the company announced that it had exceeded its 2015 waste reduction goals 5 years early, and has achieved “zero waste” at two of its brewing facilities.

This fall, stores in the Chicago will start sending used cups to a Green Bay, WI, paper mill, where a Georgia Pacific facility will turn them into napkins. The program will start small but is a significant step to address the company’s devouring of 3 billion paper cups and 1 billion plastic cups annually. Starbucks…

For the past 16 years the state of Texas has been issuing air quality permits to refineries and other major sources that permitted emissions caps on facilities, and allowed facilities to comply with the caps in a manner that gave them some operating flexibility while not exceeding the overall facility cap specified in the permit.…