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Swedish PM wants answers on Baltic Sea dumping
February 4th, 2010 
Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Agence France-Presse: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Thursday requested explanations from a previous government on Russia's release of toxic waste into Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea, his spokeswoman told AFP. Swedish public television SVT reported Wednesday that between 1991 and 1994 Russia dumped chemical weapons and radioactive waste off the shores of Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. The network also said the Social Democrat government that came into power in 1994 was ...
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Experts observe whale hunt noise
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
BBC: Scientists on Shetland believe they may have discovered a previously-unobserved technique being used by killer whales to catch herring. Researchers from Aberdeen and St Andrews Universities recorded the whales emitting a low-pitched noise which caused the fish to bunch up. The mammals then stun the fish with their tails before eating them. The scientists said this behaviour has not been seen anywhere else in the world. The findings have come to light in the BBC2 ...
Europe Leans Toward Bluefin Trade Ban
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
New York Times: European officials are increasing pressure for an international ban on the commercial fishing of bluefin tuna, a threatened species whose fatty belly is prized for sushi. But they are facing a delicate balancing act as they try to weigh economic interests of a Mediterranean fishing industry, a sushi-loving Japan, and a species that some experts say is on the verge of extinction. In the latest move toward protecting the fish, France said Wednesday that it would back a ban starting late ...
Australia: Coalition needs more than just true believers
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Australian: IN August last year the Victorian coastal Borough of Queenscliffe Council decided to take its own action on climate change and rising sea levels. At a secret meeting the council decided to introduce draconian planning measures limiting building, housing extensions, new projects and subdivisions within a "flood zone" based on predictions of sea levels through to 2100. Approximately 600 homes in the suburbs of Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff were immediately affected, and future development, ...
Cape wind review called ‘rushed.’
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Boston Globe: A federal inspector general`s investigation into the Minerals Management Service`s environmental review of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm has concluded that several federal agencies felt "unnecessarily rushed`` to finish their contributions to the report, although no agency believed its overall conclusions changed as a result. The US Department of the Interior`s Office of Inspector General also found that the Minerals Management Service`s January 2009 final environmental ...
South Africa: Prime property at risk as sea levels rise
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Cape Times: Sixteen prime coast areas, including Milnerton Harbour, Green Point, Sea Point, Camps Bay and the entire Strand beachfront are at "high risk" from rising sea levels, says the City of Cape Town's latest sea-level risk assessment. If sea levels rise, as they are predicted to do in the next 25 years, billions of rands of coastal infrastructure will be damaged. In a report submitted on Tuesday to the planning and environment portfolio committee, Darryl Colenbrander of strategy and ...
NASA: Arctic melt season lengthening
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Mongabay: Newly released images from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center show that the Arctic's melt season has lengthened significantly over the past few decades. The melting season--i.e. the length of time in which continuous melting occurs--has increased on average by 6.4 days for every decade between 1979 and 2007. Around the lower-latitude edges of the ice pack, however, this lengthening was far above the average. According to NASA, researchers collect this data by using ...
France backs ban on tuna exports
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
BBC: France has added its voice to calls for a ban on the global trade in bluefin tuna, the numbers of which have dwindled through overfishing. France wants a ban after an 18-month delay to allow scientists time to study the data on tuna stocks, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said. The bluefin tuna trade might be curbed at world conservation talks in March. France is among the Mediterranean countries that fish bluefin tuna for export to Japan, the main ...
Global warming may cook sea turtle eggs
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Discovery News: When they emerge onto beaches around the world to lay their eggs in the sand, sea turtles expose themselves to a trio of threats from climate change: cyclones, rising seas and warming temperatures. A new study finds that for the world's largest population of sea turtles -- in Australia's northern Great Barrier Reef -- blazing hot sands pose the greatest threat to the animals' breeding success over the long term. The researchers predict that from now until 2030, sea level rise ...
France to support bluefin tuna trade ban: source
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Reuters: France will support a ban on global trade in bluefin tuna, a government official said on Wednesday, bowing to environmentalists' concerns about stocks of the giant fish found mainly in the Mediterranean. France's iTele news channel reported that the proposed ban would not come into force for 18 months. There was no immediate confirmation of this and full details of the French stance were due to be released later in the day. Environmentalists have warned that a prolonged delay ...
