Environment | WPN World People News

Australian authorities say thousands of people have fled wildfires raging through southern Australia, with one blaze destroying dozens of homes in the southern island state of Tasmania.

Forest Elephant killed by poachers being inspected by game guards. Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Replublic (CAR).

Transocean Deepwater Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties, for its conduct in relation to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Waves crash over the conical drilling unit Kulluk where it sits aground on the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, Alaska

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice announce that Kentucky Utilities Company will spend $57 million to install a sulfuric acid mist emission control system, replace a coal-fired boiler, and pay a civil penalty of $300,000 to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations (CAA) at the Ghent Station facility in Ghent, Kentucky.

Sunset Roadless Area.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded nearly $25,000 to the Onondaga Environmental Institute to train and certify central New York area residents to perform environmental jobs. Under the grant, the institute will also hold four community meetings to educate people about environmental hazards in the home, with an emphasis on lead and pollutants that trigger asthma attacks. Childhood lead poisoning is particularly a problem in low income neighborhoods in Syracuse.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday announced a proposed cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal that includes removing some of the contaminated sediment and capping dredged areas. The proposed plan also includes controls to prevent raw sewage overflows and other land-based sources of contamination from compromising the cleanup. The cost of the cleanup plan is expected to be between $467 and $504 million.

General Biodiesel, in south Seattle, will pay a penalty for failing to report their hazardous chemicals in violation of federal emergency planning laws, according to a consent agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.