City approves Lowe's, relocation of wetlands
Wednesday, May 07, 2008-- A new development that includes a Lowe's store near Maize Road and 29th North got the go-ahead Tuesday when the Wichita City Council dedicated 54 acres of nearby land for the construction of wetland preserve and a storm water detention pond.
[The Wichita Eagle - Wichita, KS]

Wetlands violation leads to $40000 settlement with EPA
Thursday, May 01, 2008-- Contracting Inc., Bonner County, Idaho, and three individuals will pay a $40,000 settlement to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act involving filling wetlands on property near Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho without a permit.
[Capital Press - Salem, OR]

Illinois Construction company pleads guilty to burying hazardous waste
Wednesday, April 16, 2008-- Attorney General Lisa Madigan says a construction company in Normal has pleaded guilty to its role in burying 55-gallon drums containing hazardous waste back in 2003. Isaacson Construction Inc. pleaded guilty in McLean County court to two felony charges.
[WJBC News - Bloomington, IL]

EPA Increases Transparency of Regulatory Development
Tuesday, April 15, 2008-- Starting today, EPA is using Action Initiation Lists (AILs) to notify the public about new rules and other regulatory actions. AILs will be posted on the EPA Web site at roughly the end of each month; each will describe those actions that were approved for commencement during the given month. Formerly, the public had to wait for EPA's Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, which is updated only every six months, to learn about new regulatory actions.
[U.S. EPA]

Public Awareness of Energy Star Surges, Helps to Fight Climate Change
Monday, April 14, 2008-- Public awareness of the Energy Star label has grown to more than 70 percent in 2008, an increase of about 20 percentage points over the last five years, according to a report released today. In many major markets where local utilities and other organizations use Energy Star to promote energy efficiency to their customers, public awareness of Energy Star is even higher, averaging nearly 80 percent.
[U.S. EPA]

Local laws would buoy federal wetlands rules
Monday, April 14, 2008-- In other states, local regulations pick up where the federal rules leave off and provide an extra layer of protection. Galvestons leaders are now considering a local body of rules to prevent one of the islands most valuable natural resources from disappearing completely.
[Galveston County Daily News - Galveston, TX]

EPA Launches Environmental Indicators Gateway
Wednesday, April 09, 2008-- EPA today launched the Environmental Indicators Gateway Web site to provide enhanced public access to environmental and health information generated by EPA. Information is presented in the context of "environmental indicators," numerical values that provide insights into the status and trends of environmental and public health conditions over time. The Gateway establishes a single catalog of EPA's indicator work that allows browsing and searching among existing EPA Web sites and indicator materials.
[U.S. EPA]

Environmental Group Comments On Final EPA Wetlands Mitigation Rule
Friday, April 04, 2008-- The Environmental Law Institute has responded to the final ruling by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on wetlands mitigation. The Institute says that the ruling strengthens regulatory requirements for compensating damage to previously ignored areas of stream mitigation, ecological performance standards, and the watershed approach. However, the Institute also said that regulators must now focus on efforts to encourage avoiding having a negative impact on wetlands to begin with.
[Allheadlines - USA]

Army Corps and EPA Improve Wetland and Stream Mitigation
Wednesday, April 02, 2008-- he U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released a new rule to clarify how to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to the nation's wetlands and streams. The rule will enable the agencies to promote greater consistency, predictability and ecological success of mitigation projects under the Clean Water Act.
[NewsBlaze - Folsom, CA]