The Gulf relief wells, so close to being completed, will have to wait out a storm before being finished. A series of tropical thunderstorms passed over Haiti and the Dominican Republic today, and forecasters think the storm will likely be at the Gulf over the weekend. “This is necessarily going to be a judgment call” [...]

Oakland, California made history today when it legalized large-scale marijuana cultivation for medical use. The city plans to issue up to four permits for “industrial” cultivation starting in 2011. The resolution passed the city council easily after a nearly four-hour debate. “This is going to grow as an industry. And someone is going to have [...]

China’s largest reported oil spill has now more than doubled in size to 165 sq. miles. The oil slick started spreading five days ago when a pipeline at a northeastern port exploded, sparking a massive fire that took almost a full day to contain. China Central Television has stated that the oil spilled so far [...]

The International Energy Agency has released a report that has officials in China racing to double check the findings. The agency claims that China’s 2009 consumption of energy sources was equal to 2.265 billion tons of oil, compared to 2.169 billion tons for the U.S. According to the IEA statistics, China’s energy consumption has more [...]

Nevada is well on its way to becoming the nations leading geothermal energy producer if current growth continues. As of right now, the state has 86 planned or developing geothermal power plants, which will have the capacity to supply power for 2.6 million homes, and enough to power 100% of the homes in the Las [...]

Obama Administration officials today released the Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force, which would establish a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes (National Policy) and create a National Ocean Council (NOC) to strengthen ocean governance and coordination. The Final Recommendations prioritize actions for the NOC to pursue, [...]

Last night, representatives from the government ordered BP to step up monitoring of the well after “undetermined anomalies” were discovered on the seafloor near the recently capped oil well. Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who is the face of the government during this crisis, noted that tests had detected a seep a [...]

BP has (so far) managed to stem the flow of oil leaking into the Gulf Harbor with the test cap it successfully placed on the well a couple of days ago. People around the world are holding their collective breathe to see if this capping attempt will continue to hold. A BBC report suggested that [...]

NASA is closely monitoring a major event in our atmosphere. In the upper arcs of our atmosphere, a rarefied layer of gas called “the thermosphere” has partially collapsed and now is rebounding again. “This is the biggest contraction of the thermosphere in at least 43 years,” says John Emmert of the Naval Research Lab. “It’s [...]

$2.5 Million. That’s the amount of the largest fine ever given out under a U.S. pesticides law, and it will be agricultural powerhouse Monsanto that will pay it. The Environmental Protection Agency will be collecting the $2.5 million fine, which considering other payments Monsanto has had to pay out in the past, is barely a [...]