E This Week

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From: "E-The Environmental Magazine" <ethisweek@earthtalk.org>
Date: Jun 9, 2014 6:38 AM
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View it in your browser June 9, 2014 WHAT WE'RE FOLLOWING Billionaire Steyer Launches New Fund to Help Victims of Climate-Related Disasters Environmentalist/billionaire Tom Steyer, who has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars targeting Republicans who reject climate change, announced Friday that he is now creating a fund to help victims of extreme weather disasters, starting with wildfires in the American West. Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor launched the Climate Disaster Relief Fund with profits from withdrawing all of the couple's investments in Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy companies in North America. Steyer's NextGen Climate confirmed that the couple made an initial contribution of $2 million. By Scott Smith, AP Enviros Sue to Halt Bay Area Oil Refinery Expansion Environmental advocates seeking to curb Chevron's plans to modernize and expand its Richmond oil refinery have sued Bay Area air-quality regulators, claiming they approved construction based on outdated reports that understated the plant's greenhouse gas emissions and the pollutants it would spew into surrounding neighborhoods. The city of Richmond issued a new draft study in March that found the project would emit nearly 1 million tons a year of climate-changing greenhouse gases, and would also release increased amounts of airborne particulate matter into communities already suffering from high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses, the advocacy group Communities for a Better Environment said in its lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court. By Bob Egelko, SFGate.com Federal Agencies Propose Tougher Chemical Safety Regs After Texas Disaster A federal working group released a report last week detailing how the government can improve chemical plant safety and security, more than a year after the deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The April 2013 explosion killed 15 and injured several hundred others. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, and related agencies submitted potential proposals to the administration in January. The new report builds on those suggestions and proposes actions that would improve community preparedness, improve data management, and update federal policies and regulations.The report also lays out timelines for implementing the proposals, and includes specific ways to improve handling of ammonium nitrate, the chemical that caused the Texas blast. By Kate Sheppard, HuffPostGreen EARTHTALK Q&A Feeding the World by Better Managing Ocean Resources Hunger is a growing problem around the world, in both developing and developed countries. As our population continues to rise, the amount of arable land per capita is declining and climate change is either drying out or flooding many formerly productive agricultural belts, making it more and more difficult to keep up with the growing demand for food. While more efficient agricultural practices can help, conservationists are increasingly looking to the ocean as a potential way out of our hunger woes. By Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss, EarthTalk.org         This content is brought to you free by E-The Environmental Magazine, which is published by Earth Action Network, Inc., a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization. Our address is 28 Knight Street, Norwalk, CT 06851. Forward email This email was sent to aquarianm@gmail.com by ethisweek@earthtalk.org |   Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. E - The Environmental Magazine | 28 Knight Street | Norwalk | CT | 06851