2012 March Environment & Climate News

The March issue of Environment & Climate News reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is fending off criticism after issuing a draft report claiming it has found chemicals consistent with hydraulic fracturing in groundwater in Wyoming.

Also in this issue:

• Oklahoma state officials are challenging a new EPA mandate that will force the state’s two largest utilities to spend at least $800 million to install emissions scrubbers.

• President Barack Obama has denied a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would deliver up to 900,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to American refineries.

• A highly touted cellulosic ethanol venture has been sold for pennies on the dollar after failing to produce a single drop of ethanol. Federal and state taxpayers are out $162.2 million.

• Whooping cranes are extending their range into North Carolina, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports. Observers say a pair of the endangered birds is wintering in western North Carolina, the first time whooping cranes have been observed wintering in the state.

• Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, delivering another setback to advocates of global treaties to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

• After months of deliberations, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission unanimously approved new rules increasing disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals. The new rules are among the most comprehensive in the nation.