California and Other States to Sue EPA over Greenhouse Gases California intends to sue the U.S. EPA over the Bush administration's recent decision that the agency doesn't have the authority to regulate emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, Gov. Gray Davis (D) announced on Friday. Nine other states, including Illinois, New York, and Washington, are expected to join the suit, which argues that the EPA should have the power to regulate carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases under the federal Clean Air Act. Last year, California passed the nation's first law aimed at reining in CO2 emissions …

Illegal Dumping Pushes Up Toxic Contamination in Great Lakes Toxic pollution in Great Lakes waterways has jumped 25 percent over the past six years, thanks at least in part to rampant illegal discharges from large industrial facilities and sewer plants. Meanwhile, government enforcement efforts on both the national and state levels are stagnating, meaning that most of the violators don't get punished. In Michigan, for example, the state Department of Environmental Quality now has only five employees working on enforcement of water laws -- not nearly enough to catch all the violators. "You're looking at people violating limits sometimes by …

As of yesterday, Oct. 1, the most successful program in U.S. history for improving energy efficiency in federal buildings is toast. The demise of the Energy Savings Performance Contracting program is no insignificant matter, seeing as how the federal government is the single biggest energy-user in the nation. Taxpayers spend $4 billion per year to power 500,000 federal buildings nationwide, from science labs to military bases. Sayonara to more CFLs? The ESPC program grew out of the Energy Conservation Policy Act, which was enacted in 1992 by President Bush the First, whose intent was to allay problems that seem to …

Oil and Gas Supplies Will Peak in a Decade, Swedish Scientists Assert World oil and gas supplies will peak soon after 2010 and be in short supply thereafter, causing worldwide economic havoc unless societies have adopted alternatives to fossil fuels, Swedish scientists predict in a controversial article published today in New Scientist magazine. Other scientists have estimated that supplies might top out in 2050, but geologists at the University of Uppsala in Sweden say that forecast is off base because oil and gas supplies are 80 percent smaller than widely believed. If the Swedes are correct, one possible side effect …

Global Warming May Be Killing 160,000 People a Year Climate change and its side effects may be killing about 160,000 people a year, with children in developing countries particularly vulnerable, according to a new report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization. By 2020, the annual number of deaths attributed to climate change could almost double. The majority of the deaths are expected to occur in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, where people are more vulnerable to malnutrition, malaria, and diarrhea as hotter temperatures settle in and floods and droughts become more …

Three Gorges Dam Causing Unexpected Pollution Problems Unexpected environmental problems are already cropping up at China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower and construction project. After the dam went into operation in June, the reservoir behind it reached 443 feet and was supposed to stay at that level until 2006, but the Chinese government recently announced that the reservoir is now expected to rise another 13 feet by the end of October. This increased water level could cause serious pollution problems, say dam observers, because it will inundate polluted sites that weren't yet scheduled to be cleaned up. Enviros …

Russia Still Undecided on Kyoto Protocol Russia still has not decided whether to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, President Vladimir Putin said today. The nation has the power to make or break the climate-change treaty, which cannot go into effect until it is ratified by nations accounting for 55 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The treaty would likely be a good deal for Russia because the nation's emissions are already below the required levels, thanks to the industrial collapse that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union; this means Russia could sell emissions credits to nations that have trouble meeting their …

Malaysian Mining Industry Is Getting a Second Wind Twenty years after a glut in the global tin market sent the Malaysia mining industry into a freefall, the country's miners are lobbying for a second chance -- this time, with coal. Recently, prospectors in Malaysia found nearly 237 million tons of new coal reserves. That's good news for the country's economy, but bad news for the environment, since the reserves are in a pristine forest on Borneo. Mining representatives say they can get to the coal while protecting the forest (and its resident apes), and they're meeting with the government this …

Dear Umbra, I'm in the market for a new dishwasher, one that uses as little water and energy as possible and still gets that flatware sparklin' clean. But I don't have a lot of dough to blow on appliances. Any thoughts? DeanOrem, Utah Dearest Dean, I really can't say enough about Consumer Reports and its online archives of product reviews and ratings. The subscription is worth the $4.95 per month. An Energy Star-bellied dishwasher.Photo: U.S. DOE. I approached buying a dishwasher by cross-referencing the Consumer Reports recommendations with handy Energy Star ratings. Energy Star is a labeling project of the …

Arctic's Biggest Ice Shelf Breaks Apart, Signaling Increased Warming A 3,000-year-old ice shelf in the Arctic Ocean, the largest in the Northern Hemisphere, has broken into pieces over the past two years, highlighting significant warming trends, according to new research published in Geophysical Research Letters. Scientists said they couldn't determine whether the melting was related to increased greenhouse-gas levels caused by human activity, but they said the disintegration of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf was just one of many signs of huge climate shifts in the far northern reaches of the globe. "We believe that these events fit into a …