Environment | WPN World People News

Oslo District Court has announced the hearing dates for the climate case filed against the Norwegian government for granting new oil drilling licenses in the Arctic ocean. The hearing will start on 13 November and continue for two weeks. The plaintiffs, Nature and Youth and Greenpeace Nordic, argue that the Norwegian government contravenes the Paris Agreement and violates the Norwegian constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations.

Support for the controversial EU-Canada trade and investment protection deal – known as CETA – puts the European Parliament on the wrong side of history, warned Greenpeace.

On February 14, the European Commission presented a proposal to revise the decision-making rules under the so-called “comitology” procedure that is used, among other things, for approvals of products such as pesticides and GMOs.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Alaska have announced a settlement with the City of Palmer, Alaska, which addresses Clean Water Act violations at the city-owned and operated wastewater treatment plant.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on February 14, announced settlements with two Denver-area contractors as part of an ongoing initiative to protect residents of northeast Denver communities from toxic lead paint hazards during home renovations.

Members of an Indian farmers group measure local groundwater levels at an observation well.

Over a quarter of European grasshopper, cricket and bush cricket species are being driven to extinction by unsustainable agricultural practices and the growing frequency of wildfires in Europe, a new IUCN report has found.

Campaigners and activists met in Brussels and other European cities (Madrid, Rome, Berlin and Paris) on February 9 to launch a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to ban glyphosate, reform the EU pesticide approval process, and set mandatory targets to reduce pesticide use in the EU. The goal is to collect at least one million signatures from Europeans and submit the petition before the Commission’s next move to renew, withdraw or extend the EU licence of glyphosate.

On February 8, a U.S. District Court judge ordered federal agencies to immediately take steps to protect juvenile coho salmon after several years of deadly disease outbreaks in the Klamath River.

Recovery efforts are underway at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, which was impacted by a tornado at 11:25 a.m. CST Tuesday (Feb. 7). All 3,500 employees at the facility have been accounted for, with five sustaining minor injuries.