Week of September 14, 2009

News from Across the USM Campuses

Activists wish for bolder carbon reduction plan: Student senators still plan to vote for bill (By Derby Cox , UMCP's Diamondback Online, 9/14/09)

September 18, 2009?- Dr. Sacoby Wilson? University of South Carolina, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics?- "Environmental (In)Justice and Environmental Health Disparities: Issues, Research, and Policy Solutions." The seminar will be held on Friday at 2 PM in the Technology Research Center, Room 206, on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus, and is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Visitor parking passes for the TRC lot may be purchased for $4.00 in the CUERE office in TRC 102/105 on the UMBC campus shortly before seminar.

Virtually all USM institutions have signed on to the Maryland Green Registry, which is a list of "Organizations Working Toward a Sustainable Maryland." For those campuses not yet signed up, the application can be downloaded and the completed form emailed to MarylandGreen@mde.state.md.us. For details about the specific activities on campuses, visit the Maryland Green Registry.

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

• Practices
• Programs
• Policies

• Presentations
• Climate Change Definitions
• Facilities Master Planning
• Statewide Sustainability Efforts
• ACUPCC National Benchmarking
• Useful Links and References

New Chesapeake era? Our view: Some hopeful signs that the politicians in Washington are willing to get serious about cleaning up the nation's largest estuary emerge - at long last (The Baltimore Sun, Editorial, 9/13/09)

Stricter vehicle emissions rules are targeted: A lawsuit challenges President Obama's efforts to further limit greenhouse gas emissions by seeking to block the waiver the EPA gave California under the Clean Air Act. (By Jim Tankersley, The Baltimore Sun, 9/11/09)

U.S. calls for more action to restore bay: Plan would widen regulation of development, agriculture (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun - B'More Green Blog, 9/11/09)  

National and International News

Metal Finishing Plant Cited, Again, For Worker Exposure to Chromium VI (OSHA Press Release, 9/13/09)

Stimulus Money Hits The Waves In Hawaii (By Lynn Neary, National Public Radio, 9/13/09)

Clean water laws often ignored, at cost to health: Nationwide, polluters have violated federal act more than 500,000 times (By Charles Duhigg, The New York Times as reported on MSNBC.com, 9/12/09)

Baucus makes a grab for climate bill (By Lisa Lerer, Politico, 9/11/09)

EPA Releases Preliminary Results for Surface Coal Mining Permit Reviews (EPA Press Release, 9/11/09)

BPA: Low Doses Are Poisonous, Too (By Cate Nelson, Ecochildsplay.com, 9/11/09)

New York City Braces for Risk of Higher Seas: With Ocean Levels Rising, Coastal Cities Assess Computer Forecasts as They Weigh Future Costs, Exposures and Dangers (By Robert Lee Hotz, The Wall Street Journal, 9/11/09)

House Unearths a 14th Forged Letter from a Lobbyist (By David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post, 9/10/09)

LanzaTech Plants New Zealand Flag on New Waste Gas-to-Ethanol Process (By Tina Casey, Cleantechnica, 9/10/09)

Fresh From the White House Garden? (By Rachel L. Swarns, The New York Times, 9/8/09)

Google plans new mirror for cheaper solar power (By Poornima Gupta, Reuters, 9/9/09)

Smithsonian exhibit features outdated global cooling myth. (By Amanda Terkel, Thinkprogress.org, 9/8/09)