Featured Posts By Experts

Scientists find evidence of bat-killing fungus in Md.

Posted on March 15th, 2010

Biologists say Maryland bats are infected with the same deadly fungal disease that has killed more than a million of the animals since 2006.

A state scientist doing an annual survey last week found dead and weakened bats in a cave near Cumberland. About three-quarters of the bats had clear signs of white nose syndrome.

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Former Superfund official named to top Mont. post

Posted on March 15th, 2010

The new director of U.S. EPA’s Montana bureau, Julie DalSoglio, came to her office in tragic circumstances: Last fall, the division’s former director, John Wardell, died after a climbing accident.

During that dark time, DalSoglio, then Wardell’s deputy, held the office together as its acting director, said Richard Opper, director of Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality. Recently, DalSoglio’s superiors in Colorado decided to give her the job on a permanent basis.

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Judge OKs arbitration for Chevron’s Ecuador cleanup case

Posted on March 15th, 2010

Chevron Corp. may pursue arbitration in The Hague to settle a decades-old case over contamination from the company’s former oil fields in Ecuador, a federal judge in New York ruled yesterday.

Ecuadorean plaintiffs are seeking $27 billion for environmental damage that took place between 1964 and 1990. Chevron has claimed that it is shielded from litigation by an agreement with the Ecuadorean government to clean up part of the contamination while leaving the rest to Petroecuador, the state-run oil company that purchased the wells.

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NEWS IN FOCUS

Yellowstone bears begin emerging from hibernation

March 9th, 2010

Bears are beginning to emerge from hibernation in Yellowstone National Park.

Spring doesn’t start for three weeks and wintry weather will linger longer than that in Yellowstone. But grizzly bear tracks already have been seen east of Mammoth Hot Springs in northern Yellowstone.

Guns in National Parks

March 9th, 2010

A new law that will allow firearms into national parks takes effect Monday. But the law’s passage leaves some visitors of nearby Yellowstone National Park wondering what the new law will mean for them.

Yellowstone grizzlies back on endangered species list

March 9th, 2010

A federal district court ruling in Montana today returned Endangered Species Act protections to the Yellowstone grizzly bear population.