Reuters: Environment

China plans tougher quality standards for coal to tackle pollution

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:27:19 GMT

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China may impose higher quality standards for imported and locally traded coal to cut air pollution, two sources said, in a move that could slash imports while boosting the fortunes of a faltering domestic industry.

Oklahoma tornado victims astounded at how they survived

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:58:09 GMT

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Tornado survivors thanked God, sturdy closets and luck in explaining how they lived through the colossal twister that devastated an Oklahoma town and killed 24 people, an astonishingly low toll given the extent of destruction.

Oklahoma tornado victims astounded at how they survived

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:43:20 GMT

America's frogs and toads disappearing fast, study warns

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:23:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frogs, toads and salamanders have been in trouble for decades, but a new U.S. government study shows just how quickly many amphibians are disappearing from ponds and creeks across the United States.

In China, food scares put Mao's self-sufficiency goal at risk

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:20:33 GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - The discovery of dangerous levels of toxic cadmium in rice sold in the southern city of Guangzhou, the latest in a series of food scandals, has piled more pressure on China to clean up its food chain - possibly at the expense of Mao Zedong's cherished goal of self-sufficiency.

Montreal tells 1.3 million residents to boil their drinking water

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:16:42 GMT

(Reuters) - Montreal, Canada's second-largest city, has asked 1.3 million people to boil their drinking water after a problem at one of the city's water treatment facilities.

CP Railway reopens line, cleans up after oil spill

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:03:59 GMT

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd said on Wednesday it has repaired and reopened a rail line near Jansen, Saskatchewan, and continues to clean up after a derailment that spilled 575 barrels of crude oil on Tuesday.

Whole neighborhoods razed by Oklahoma tornado that killed 24

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:30:58 GMT

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Rescuers went building to building in search of victims and thousands of survivors were homeless on Tuesday after a massive tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, wiping out whole blocks of homes and killing at least 24 people.

Showers to slow U.S. corn seedings from blistering pace

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:21:02 GMT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Occasional rainfall over the next week to 10 days will slow seedings of the U.S. corn crop, which was planted at a record fast pace last week, an agricultural meteorologist said on Tuesday.

China says its legal ivory trade not to blame for poaching

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:05:19 GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's small traditional trade in carving uses ivory acquired through legal auctions and in no way encourages or worsens the problem of elephant poaching in Africa, a senior Chinese official said on Tuesday.

Shell feared disaster days before Alaska rig grounding: official

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:08:10 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Days before a Shell drillship went aground in the storm-tossed Gulf of Alaska, it was clear that towing failures could spell disaster for the vessel, the crew and the marine environment, a company official told a U.S. Coast Guard panel on Monday.

Drop in U.S. underground water levels has accelerated: USGS

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:10:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Water levels in U.S. aquifers, the vast underground storage areas tapped for agriculture, energy and human consumption, between 2000 and 2008 dropped at a rate that was almost three times as great as any time during the 20th century, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Powerful tornadoes strike in four central U.S. states

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:16:20 GMT

(Reuters) - A massive storm front swept north through the central United States on Sunday, hammering the region with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City. News reports said at least one person had died.

U.S. pesticide makers seek answers as bee losses sting agriculture

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:21:11 GMT

(Reuters) - Monsanto Co is hosting a "Bee Summit." Bayer AG is breaking ground on a "Bee Care Center." And Sygenta AG is funding grants for research into the accelerating demise of honeybees in the United States, where the insects pollinate fruits and vegetables that make up roughly a quarter of the American diet.

Insight: The road to a greener America is littered with road-kill

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:09:07 GMT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In October 2004, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled up to a pioneering fueling station at Los Angeles International Airport in a hydrogen-powered metallic blue Hummer loaned to him by General Motors Corp.

EU energy chief says EU to look at fracking this year

Mon, 20 May 2013 06:10:23 GMT

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Environmental concerns over the practice of hydraulic fracturing to tap shale gas will be on the European Union's agenda this year, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told a German newspaper.

Insight: The fight for North Dakota's fracking-water market

Mon, 20 May 2013 04:48:39 GMT

WATFORD CITY, North Dakota (Reuters) - In towns across North Dakota, the wellhead of the North American energy boom, the locals have taken to quoting the adage: "Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting."

Analysis: At margins of shale oil boom, a tempered euphoria

Mon, 20 May 2013 04:09:43 GMT

HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the past three years, the boom in the U.S. shale oil industry has outstripped all expectations. Production surged far faster than any forecasts; drillers raced to secure space in new pipelines to get their crude to market.

Severe Kansas tornado prompts stark National Weather Service warning

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:49:10 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A dangerous, half mile-wide hurricane struck near Oklahoma City Sunday afternoon, part of an extreme weather system moving through the central U.S. and stretching from north Texas to Minnesota.

Extreme global warming seen further away than previously thought

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:06:05 GMT

OSLO (Reuters) - Extreme global warming is less likely in coming decades after a slowdown in the pace of temperature rises so far this century, an international team of scientists said on Sunday.

Analysis: Airline emissions deal may not come before EU deadline

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:42:48 GMT

(Reuters) - Hope is fading for a global deal to regulate the airline industry's greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a fall deadline, even though failure could push the industry back to the brink of a trade war over the European Union's emissions trading system.

Northeast Japan jolted by magnitude 5.9 quake, no tsunami warning

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:42:29 GMT

TOKYO (Reuters) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 jolted northeastern Japan on Saturday, but no tsunami warning was issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

All missing residents accounted for after Texas tornadoes

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:15:56 GMT

GRANBURY, Texas (Reuters) - All seven people listed as missing after a monster Texas tornado that tore homes from their foundations and uprooted trees on Wednesday have now been accounted for, leaving the death toll at six, authorities said on Friday.

Belgian regulator to recommend reopening nuclear reactors -paper

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:25:51 GMT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium's nuclear safety regulator will recommend reopening two GDF Suez nuclear reactors closed last year over safety concerns, newspaper Le Soir reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the regulator's report.

China gives environmental approval to country's biggest hydro dam

Fri, 17 May 2013 05:14:03 GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's environment ministry has given the go-ahead for the construction of what will become the country's tallest hydroelectric dam despite acknowledging it will have an impact on plants and rare fish.