In The News / Sep 3

• Concern mounts over oil pipeline safety.

  When federal regulators learned last year that a Houston company built pipelines using defective steel, they ordered hundreds of sections dug up and replaced. Now, some pipeline steel that once would have been ordered replaced if discovered, will remain in service. That includes pipe on the new $5.2 billion Keystone oil pipeline. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri

• Massey execs' access to mine after blast questioned.

  Two officials from mine owner Massey Energy were underground unsupervised for four hours after the blast. They remained underground even after the Mine Safety and Health Administration closed the mine to all but official rescuers and authorized activity. All Things Considered, NPR

• BP says curb on drilling would imperil payouts.

  BP is warning Congress that if lawmakers pass legislation that bars the company from getting new offshore drilling permits, it may not have the money to pay for all the damages caused by its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. New York Times

• Dept. of Clarification: Earl versus the oysters.

  Instead of “hard” approaches to flood prevention like walls and levees, "soft" infrastructure proposals to combat rising sea levels and increasingly frequent storm surges – both effects of global warming-blur the line between water and land. New Yorker

• Tibetan nomads struggle as grasslands disappear from the roof of the world.

  The Tibetan plateau has been destroyed by rising temperatures, excess livestock and plagues of insects and rodents. Scientists say desertification of the mountain grasslands of the Tibetan plateau is accelerating climate change. London Guardian, United Kingdom

• Fight against mine could be a bloody affair.

  Ramping up pressure on the federal government, native leaders on Thursday expressed fierce opposition to a proposed copper-gold mine in the British Columbia Interior and warned of violent consequences if the project is approved. Toronto Globe and Mail, Ontario

• Most Map Ta Phut projects off hook.

  The Administrative Court has ordered the operating permits of only two industrial projects in the Map Ta Phut area to be terminated, allowing 74 other earlier-suspended projects to go ahead. Villagers affected by industrial pollution reacted emotionally to the verdict, which many considered as a defeat. Bangkok Post, Thailand

• Amazon at lowest level in over 40 years in Peru: Experts.

  The Amazon, the world's biggest river, is at its lowest level in over 40 years near its source in northeastern Peru, causing havoc in a region where it is used as the only form of travel, authorities said. Agence France-Presse

• Fears grow over global food supply.

  Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban on Thursday, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dependent on imports. London Financial Times, United Kingdom

• Earth 'facing mass extinction.'

  The world is facing a mass extinction event that could be greater than that of the dinosaurs, new Australian research shows. The research shows a combination of human behaviour and climate change could have devastating affects on species across the planet. Australian Associated Press

• Green revolution comes to urban neighborhoods.

  Some 200 local residents are taking part in an innovative program designed to help bridge a green divide in L.A. Many residents of low-income neighborhoods say they've been left out of the environmental movement and that clean-tech businesses are avoiding urban neighborhoods. Los Angeles Times, California

• Energy in the developing world: Power to the people.

  Around 1.5 billion people, or more than a fifth of the world’s population, have no access to electricity, and a billion more have only an unreliable and intermittent supply. A growing number of initiatives are promoting bottom-up ways to deliver energy to the world’s poor. Economist

• Green infrastructure could cut stormwater pollution in Ventura County.

  A welcome rainstorm cleans the skies and the streets but sends a chemical soup flowing into the ocean. State regulators are putting in new rules to capture much of that runoff before it fouls the coastal waters. Southern California Public Radio, California