A victory for the environment

he mining company based in Tucson, Ariz., emerged Wednesday from four years of bankruptcy reorganization after being purchased by Mexico City-based Grupo Mexico SAB, and will pay for cleanup at 80 polluted sites in 19 states, mostly in the West.

The Coeur d’Alene Work Trust will receive $436 million to perform work selected by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Coeur d’Alene Basin from the Silver Valley to Upriver Dam in Spokane.

“We’ve received the largest recovery of money for environmental cleanup in U.S. history,” said Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli. “This was certainly a result that no one expected when Asarco went into bankruptcy.”

Seoul to Host Environmental Summit in 2010

Korea is set to host the Business for Environment Global Summit (B4E) in conjunction with the Champions of the Earth Award next spring in Seoul to coincide with Earth Day on Apr. 22.

Business leaders from around the world will gather in the Korean capital for the annual meeting aimed at promoting dialogue and business-driven action toward a green global economy, B4E organizers said on Monday.

The 2010 B4E conference will be the first environment-related global summit to follow the UN Climate Change Conference currently being held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Climate change on the back burner?

Climate change has slipped so far down on the agenda that at least one key committee chairman has suggested it might have to wait until after the 2010 elections.

A number of factors are conspiring against the Senate version of the bill: a Republican boycott on the Environment and Public Works Committee, a new EPA analysis that could take at least five weeks and wide-ranging disagreements among six competing Senate committee leaders who have jurisdiction.

“Some people are talking about not doing it until after the 2010 election,” Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said Tuesday.

Environment awareness hits the West Coast

While a day at the beach on the West Coast in September might not appeal to everyone, one hardy group are out everyday of the entire month to bring awareness to the coast's environment.

The team heading up a festival, are making their way from Karamea down to Franz Josep, with one man making the entire 350 kilometres on foot.

"It's about engaging the West Coast communities and providing an invitation to come down and spend a day at the beach, have a whole lot of fun," says Guy Ryan, festival organiser.

In Karamea the community has come out in force to kick start day one.

Court ends Bush-era road-building in forests

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration acted illegally when it opened millions of acres (hectares) of U.S. national forests to road-building and logging, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

The U.S. Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit effectively reinstated a 2001 rule that bars development in recognized "roadless" areas of national forests, except in Idaho and the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

"The court today confirmed protections for these wild forests and rivers that Americans love and cherish," said Kristen Boyles, a lawyer with Earthjustice, who litigated the case on behalf of 20 environmental groups.