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Green group fights sand dump permit near Australia's Barrier Reef Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 07:40 PM PST Environmentalists launched an appeal on Thursday to overturn a permit granted for an Australian coal port to dump millions of cubic meters of sand near the Great Barrier Reef, arguing it fails to protect the World Heritage site. An independent agency charged with protecting the reef granted a permit in January for 3 million cubic meters of soil dredged up at the port of Abbot Point to be dumped about 25 km (15 miles) from the reef. The approval by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) sparked outrage among green groups opposed to coal expansions and fighting to protect the reef, as well as marine tourism operators, who help generate $5 billion a year. The North Queensland Conservation Council filed a challenge to the permit at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Brisbane on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
Thirteen workers test positive for radiation at New Mexico waste site Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 07:01 PM PST Thirteen workers have tested positive for radiation exposure tied to an accidental release earlier this month of high levels of radiation in an underground nuclear waste repository in New Mexico, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Wednesday. No workers were underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in southeastern New Mexico when air sensors half a mile below surface in an ancient salt formation triggered an alarm on February 14 indicating excessive amounts of radioactive particles. Particles emitted from the decay of those radioactive elements can harm humans if inhaled or ingested. But analyses released on Wednesday of biological samples lifted from the workers showed that 13 of them were in fact exposed to radioactive particles, Joe Franco, manager of the U.S. Energy Department field office that oversees the plant, said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
BP loses bid to block seafood fund payments Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 05:33 PM PST | Top |
State Department acted properly on Keystone: report Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 04:58 PM PST By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department acted properly in its choice of an outside contractor to review the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a U.S. report said on Wednesday, raising calls by the project's supporters for President Barack Obama to approve it. The State Department inspector general's report cleared the State Department of accusations by environmentalists there was undue influence by the pipeline's developer on a draft federal environmental review of the contentious project. TransCanada Corp had recommended four companies to the State Department to do an environmental review, including Environmental Resources Management, Inc, or ERM, but did not tell the department it had previously worked with the company. Under U.S. law, major industrial projects like Keystone, which would carry 800,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf, must undergo an environmental review. Full Story | Top |
Spacesuits, Rover model at out-of-this-world auction in New York Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 04:34 PM PST Spacesuits, a Lunar Rover model and an emblem worn by Apollo 11 astronauts on the 1969 moon flight are among nearly 300 items of space memorabilia offered up at a special sale, Bonhams auction house said on Wednesday. The emblem, an eagle with an olive branch above the moon's surface, was on the spacesuits worn by Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin and is expected to fetch as much as $60,000 at the sale on April 8 in New York. An Apollo 11 checklist with data recorded by Armstrong and Aldrin during the lunar landing is another highlight, with a pre-sale estimate of up to $45,000, along with a spacesuit from Project Mercury, the first U.S. manned flight program. "The Mercury spacesuit epitomizes the earliest days of space exploration, a time when our world was a smaller place. Full Story | Top |
NASA oversight led to spacewalker's near drowning, panel finds Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 04:24 PM PST | Top |
UK troops mentally resilient despite Iraq, Afghan conflicts Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 03:32 PM PST | Top |
S&P 500 ends near flat; retailers fly for a second day Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 03:15 PM PST | Top |
Big utilities shunned green energy at their peril: Greenpeace Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 03:04 PM PST BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's 10 biggest utilities, produce more than half of Europe's power, but only a tiny percentage is from the new green energy sources that could revive their profits, a report from campaign group Greenpeace said on Thursday. Traditionally profitable utility companies have been hurt by an EU-wide shift towards renewable power that has created pro-sumers - or consumers with their own sources, such as solar panels, which enable them to sell back power to the grid. While the uptake in renewables has been spurred by EU policy and subsidies, the top 10 utilities largely stuck to old business models for which they are now paying the price, Greenpeace's report said. It calculates the big 10 generated 58 percent of power within Europe, but only 4 percent of this was from non-hydro renewable sources, such as solar and wind, in 2012. Full Story | Top |
Exxon Mobil CEO welcomes fracking, but not water tower in his backyard Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 02:37 PM PST | Top |
U.S. space telescope spots 715 more planets Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 02:32 PM PST By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Scientists added a record 715 more planets to the list of known worlds beyond the solar system, boosting the overall tally to nearly 1,700, astronomers said on Wednesday. The additions include four planets about 2-1/2 times as big as Earth that are the right distance from their parent stars for liquid surface water, which is believed to be key for life. The discoveries were made with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope before it was sidelined by a pointing system problem last year. The tally of planets announced at a NASA press conference on Wednesday boosted Kepler's confirmed planet count from 246 to 961. Full Story | Top |
TSX little changed as Cameco jumps, RBC slips Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:58 PM PST | Top |
Scientists pinpoint exotic new particle called quantum droplet Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:45 PM PST | Top |
Argentina hopes Repsol deal will dispel investor doubts Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:19 PM PST | Top |
Hackers target Brazil's World Cup for cyber attacks Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 12:59 PM PST | Top |
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