In The News / Mar 12

• Exelon to pay $1 million-plus to settle lawsuits involving leaks from nuclear power plants.

  Exelon agreed Thursday to pay more than $1 million to settle lawsuits filed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan after the company allowed radioactive tritium to leak outside three of its nuclear power plants. Chicago Tribune, Illinois

• Postcard from Brooklyn.

  Against all odds, for the past several years Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration has lobbied to turn the borough's Gowanus Canal — a foul, PCB-laden channel that winds for nearly two miles (about 3 km) — into a destination spot for condo dwellers and upscale retail developers. Time Magazine

• Vermont rejects call from EPA to accept dioxin-laced soil.

  Vermont regulators told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday they will not allow 33,000 tons of dioxin-laced soil from a Massachusetts Superfund site to be dumped at a Moretown landfill. Burlington Free Press, Vermont

• Plan will send some Bonner mill toxic waste to Missoula landfill, worst out of state.

  Most of the 65,000 tons of toxic soil that Stimson Lumber Co. will extract this fall from the banks of the Blackfoot River will be trucked 12 miles to the Missoula landfill. Missoula Missoulian, Montana

• Prince George air group regrets not testing.

  An air-monitoring group has apologized to Prince George, B.C., residents for failing to retest for levels of a known carcinogen in their air, but they still can't explain why the retesting was never done. Formaldehyde was found in the air at 18 times the acceptable level in one neighbourhood. CBC Canada

• India's smoggy capital tries a whiff of fresh air.

  India has switched on its first public air purifier in the heart of capital New Delhi as part of an experiment that backers say could help other smog-choked cities in emerging countries. Agence France-Presse

• How will the world really end?

  Predictions about the end of the world have been around since...well, the beginning of the world. What are the most plausible scenarios for humanity's demise? And how soon? A paleontologist, an astrophysicist, a nuclear terrorism expert, and others offer a menu of doomsday scenarios. Big Think

• Political ads: Weapon in climate change war?

  Since the U.S. Supreme Court in January ruled that corporations have the same right as individuals to free political speech, big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change. Reuters

• White House finalizing rules to cut car emissions.

  The White House is finalizing rules on the first U.S. greenhouse gas emission standard for automobiles, which would raise average fuel economy 42 percent by 2016, in a bid to slash oil imports and fight climate change. Reuters

• Uranium mining in Navajo community OK’d by appeals court.

  A federal appeals court has moved to allow uranium mining operations in a Navajo community east of Gallup, NM. Financial incentives for uranium mining have increased — but opposition is intense. The Navajo Nation outlawed uranium mining in 2005. New Mexico Independent, New Mexico

• NYC judge allows Chevron arbitration to proceed.

  A judge ruled Thursday that Chevron can proceed with an international arbitration claim against Ecuador related to a 17-year-old court battle over rain forest contamination in the South American nation. Associated Press

• Mining sector ponders alternative methods of gold recovery.

  Next year supplies of mercury will begin to dwindle following the decision by the 27-member European Union to impose a ban on exports from July this year to prevent environmental contamination in small scale gold mining. Georgetown Stabroek News, Guyana

• Cyprus conflict closes leaders' eyes to water shortage.

  Cyprus has reached what geographers call Peak Water - when demand meets and then outstrips supply. Peak Oil is already a familiar concept. However, water, despite being central to life, is having a much harder time getting on to the political radar. BBC

• Severe drought puts spotlight on Chinese dams.

  Environmentalists claim that China's management of a series of dams on the Lancang River has aggravated the unfolding drought crisis. Some say the criticism is unfounded. Rising tensions in Asia could usher in a protracted regional conflict over resources. Science