2012 May Environment & Climate News

The May issue of Environment & Climate News reports on an Environmental Protection Agency proposal that would effectively ban the construction of coal-fired power plants.

Also in this issue:

• The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has voted against a proposed wind farm.

• Construction of BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah solar power project in the Mojave Desert is destroying the habitat of threatened desert tortoises.

• The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academies, says EPA is underestimating the costs of nutrient restrictions it is imposing on Florida waters.

• Rising levels of ground-based ozone in the western United States are caused by emissions in Asia transported across the Pacific Ocean by westerly winds, according to a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

• Green jobs programs enacted by various states are causing economic harm on an economy-wide basis that outweighs the limited economic benefits within the “green” energy sector, according to a newly published study by the nonpartisan State Budget Solutions.

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has denied a petition by environmental activists to ban the chemical bisphenol-A from food packaging.