The Senate on Wednesday voted in favor of a one-year extension of the ethanol tax credit and the ethanol import tariff at existing rates, despite complaints the subsidies were wasteful. The bill will be welcomed by the struggling ethanol industry and by American farmers who supply the corn to produce the fuel that is blended into automotive gasoline.
Regulation is deficient in Canada's oil sands: study
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Reclamation in Canada's oil sands is not keeping pace with rapid development and that could leave the public vulnerable to major financial burdens in years to come, a scientific panel said Wednesday. The study by Royal Society of Canada scientists, the latest report on the effects of the country's multibillion-dollar oil sands sector, also concluded that governments and regulators are lagging world standards in their ability to oversee the industry and monitor its environmental impact.
Carbon curbs could save polar bear: study
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - All is not lost for the polar bear, despite the rapid melt of Arctic sea ice that they need to survive, researchers reported on Wednesday. Contrary to pessimistic assertions that polar bears are doomed because summer sea ice has melted past the point of no return, a new study concludes that significant curbs in carbon emissions would effectively cool the planet, rebuild ice and save the Arctic habitat and the bears in it.
Over-fished cod get some reprieve in EU quota deal
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's conservation-minded fishing chief won a partial victory on Wednesday, convincing fishing nations to forego some short-term profits in 2011 to help rehabilitate over-exploited species such as cod. But Britain appeared to have succeeded in diluting plans to halve the catch of cod in Scottish waters, possibly weakening efforts to protect the main species used in the traditional fish and chips meal.
Climate change affects toads, salamanders: study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Climate change is affecting the breeding cycles of toads and salamanders, researchers reported on Tuesday, in the first published evidence of such changes on amphibians. They documented that two species were breeding later in the autumn than in years past, and two others were breeding earlier in the winter.
EU gets draft deal to curb gas-guzzling vans
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union struck a provisional deal on Wednesday to improve the fuel efficiency of vans and curb emissions blamed for climate change. But the deal was not formally approved by EU member states, most notably Europe's top van maker Germany, and will be put to the vote again by ministers in Brussels on Monday.
U.S. says financing core part of Cancun climate deal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite tough economic times, rich countries must make good on short-term pledges of billions of dollars in financing to help developing countries tackle global warming, the U.S. climate envoy said. The climate deal forged among more than 190 countries at the annual U.N. talks in Mexico's Cancun beach resort on Saturday included agreements on measuring emissions, technology transfer and $100 billion in financing for developing countries from 2020.
Bulgaria CO2 trade could be restored by May, June
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's carbon trading rights could be fully restored by next May or early June, an environment ministry spokeswoman told Reuters. Bulgaria was banned from international carbon trading in June this year, following a review by a U.N. panel that found the country had been in breach of greenhouse gas emission reporting rules under the Kyoto Protocol.
U.N. panel continues HFC-23 carbon offset issuance
LONDON (Reuters) - A United Nations panel issued nearly 2 million carbon offsets to a hydrofluorocarbon-23 destruction project in China on Wednesday, it said on its website. The Zhejiang Juhua Co. in China was awarded 1,997,903 U.N.-backed offsets called certified emissions reductions (CERs).
U.S. expected to file Gulf oil spill civil case
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is expected to announce as early as Wednesday its first significant legal action stemming from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a federal government source familiar with the matter said. The source said the action involved the filing of civil lawsuits, rather than criminal charges, stemming from the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history and that it was expected to be announced at a news conference as early as Wednesday.
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