2012 August Environment & Climate News

The August issue of Environment & Climate News reports on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement of plans to hold a fire sale of unused trains purchased by the state as part of a failed high-speed rail project. The state is hoping to recoup half a million dollars from the sale of the trains, a far cry from the $70 million the state invested in the project.

Also in this issue:

• Michigan’s beleaguered Upper Peninsula is experiencing a dramatic economic turnaround thanks to a resurgence in mining.

• Alaska state officials are crying foul after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took the unprecedented step of issuing a highly critical assessment of a mining project even though plans for the project have yet to be developed.

• Ohio is cutting its ties with the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, a group of state and local air pollution control officials that routinely champions environmental activist claims and controversial U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restrictions.

• The production of oil and natural gas through hydraulic fracturing methods creates only a low risk for inducing earthquakes that can be felt by people, the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, concludes in a new study.

• The State of Wyoming and Colorado Mining Association have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the federal government’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

• Two prominent environmental activist groups--the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council--are rallying against California Gov. Jerry Brown’s efforts to fast-track construction of high-speed rail in the state.