Welcome to the GreenNews RoundUp, a quick recap of some of the week’s top environmental stories.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation soaks EPA with Clean Water Citizens’ suit
After years of failed efforts to clean up Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, along with several local politicians, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, claiming the agency has violated the Clean Water Act.
The Washington Post reports that for years the administrators responsible for the bay failed to clean it up, all the while submitting false reports overstating their progress.
China plans to build world’s largest solar power plant
Two Chinese companies announced plans Friday to construct the largest solar project on the planet. Once completed, the plant is expected to be able to generate 1 gigawatt (1,000 megawatts) of electricity, nearly twice the amount of the next largest project, a proposed 550-megawatt facility in California. One megawatt of energy is enough to power roughly 1,000 homes.
Scientists say they expect global temperature to rise in 2009
British climate researchers are predicting this year to be one of the top-five warmest years on record, with the average global temperature expected to be more than 0.4 degrees Celsius higher than the planet’s long-term average.
In other climate news, the BBC reports that global warming has reduced the growth of the Australian Great Barrier Reef to its slowest rate in 400 years.
On a brighter note, British scientists have discovered huge algae blooms off the coast of Antarctica that could be capable of absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide, according to the Daily Mail. Ironically, the blooms are created as a result of iron released into the southern Ocean by melting icebergs.
Bush administration pushes two more last-minute environmental law changes
The Bush administration has proposed two new eleventh-hour environmental policy changes before leaving office: The Interior Department has decided to double the rate of logging in Oregon’s federal forests, while the U.S. Forest Service plans to ease restrictions currently blocking developers from converting mountain forests into housing subdivisions.
Indiana Department of Environmental Management stops issuing fines
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has stopped imposing fines on state agencies that violate their environmental permits, to the ire of local environmentalists. The department has replaced the fines with toothless legal settlements, which carry no threat of penalties of any kind should an agency fail to comply.