You are viewing news tagged as 'environment' || Red Lodge Clearinghouse

New federal rules do more good than harm to the economy, says OMB

Posted: April 29, 2013

The benefits outweighed costs of most of the major rules and regulations that federal agencies issued last year, according to a report released yesterday by the White House.

The Office of Management and Budget is required to provide a report to Congress each year on the costs and benefits...

Climate change threats are 'real, urgent and severe', says national security adviser

Posted: April 26, 2013

White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon spoke about the "real, urgent and severe" national security threat that climate change presents in a speech at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy this morning.

In his prepared remarks, Donilon acknowledged that it might...

EPA finds State Dept.'s latest Keystone review 'insufficient'

Posted: April 26, 2013

U.S. EPA says the State Department's latest review of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline contains "insufficient information" on several fronts, including greenhouse gas emissions, alternative routes and the consequences of a potential spill of diluted bitumen, which the pipeline would carry...

South Platte snowpack reaches 95 percent of normal

Posted: April 26, 2013

Although the string of heavy April snowstorms put a damper on some spring plans, it also extended the Colorado ski season, delayed the snowmelt and provided a reprieve from wildfire worries.

The snowpack in the South Platte River basin -- a major water supplier for the Front Range -- is...

Grizzly bear diet key to end of federal protection

Posted: April 26, 2013

A study on the nuances of Yellowstone ecosystem grizzly bear diets due this October will determine whether managers will recommend ending federal protections for the species, officials said last week.

The study, called a food synthesis, will take a “holistic approach” to analyzing grizzly...

Appeals court backs EPA in battle over CWA permit

Posted: April 26, 2013

A federal appeals court ruled today that U.S. EPA's 2011 retroactive veto of a major West Virginia mountaintop-removal mining project was legal.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit confirms EPA's contention that the Clean...

Colorado fracking database questioned by Harvard Law study

Posted: April 24, 2013

The online database that Colorado employs for disclosing the ingredients in fracking fluids used in drilling oil and gas wells is seriously flawed, according to a Harvard Law School study.

The analysis, done by the school's environmental policy initiative, found reporting errors and gaps...

The more we warm, the faster climate zones will shift

Posted: April 24, 2013

Plants, animals and agricultural systems have adapted to thrive in certain climates, be they arid or wet, tropical or temperate.

At the globe warms, those climates will shift, potentially disrupting ecosystems and agriculture. A study published yesterday in the journal Nature Climate...

Feds release EA of big Utah land swap

Posted: April 24, 2013

A long-anticipated land exchange between the state and federal governments lurched a little closer toward the finish line Monday with the release of a draft environmental assessment of a proposed deal that would give the Bureau of Land Management nearly 46,000 of state acres with conservation...

Colo. senator's bill seeks to treat damaged forests

Posted: April 24, 2013

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has introduced a bill that would tackle insect and disease epidemics on National Forest lands nationwide.

The National Forest Insect and Disease Treatment Act would instruct the U.S. Forest Service to treat National Forests that are infected by beetle damage or...