Soot produced by burning coal, diesel, wood and dung causes significantly more damage to the environment than previously thought, according to new research.
So-called “black carbon” could cause up to 60% of the current warming effect of carbon dioxide, according to the US researchers, making it an important target for efforts to slow global warming.

The pilot of a ship that spilt 58,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay killing some 2000 birds in November 2007 has been charged with criminal negligence.
John Cota, who was also charged with breaking environmental laws, faces 18 months in jail and up to $100,000 in fines if convicted.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is tightening air quality standards in an effort to help improve public health.
It is lowering the amount of smog-forming ground-level ozone permitted in the atmosphere for the first time in more than 10 years. The EPA says the change could save 4,000 lives each year.

The battle of a third runway at Heathrow in the UK is really intensifying.
Now the British Government Agency in charge of environmental issues - the Environment Agency - has added its weight to the growing criticism by saying the government has failed to prove that expansion plans will not breach EU rules on air pollution.

Ecuador is reopening its main oil pipeline, three days after a landslide ruptured an 80-meter (262-foot) section of the duct, spilling thousands of barrels of oil into the local environment.
The ecological fallout from the 4,000 barrel spill in a mountainous region 25 miles east of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, is “grave,” as many tributaries for the […]