Environment | WPN World People News

The City of Hoquiam and Washington Department of Ecology on September 30 released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Westway Terminal’s proposed oil shipping facility in Grays Harbor amidst widespread opposition and calls for the City to deny any permits. The FEIS comes after a successful challenge to the original permit, forcing a full environmental and public health review that received thousands of comment letters in overwhelming opposition. The release of the FEIS marks the start of the permit review process by the City of Hoquiam.

On October 01, CITES CoP17 called for countries where there is a legal domestic market for ivory that is contributing to poaching or illegal trade to take all necessary legislative, regulatory and enforcement measures to close their domestic markets for raw and worked ivory as a matter of urgency. It recognizes that narrow exemptions to this closure for some items may be warranted, but that such exemptions should not contribute to poaching or illegal trade.

Bringing the Paris Agreement on climate change ever closer to its entry into force, India on 2 October joined the new global accord at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and became the 62nd country to deposit its legal instrument of ratification.

The European Parliament will vote on Tuesday to give its consent to the ratification of the Paris climate agreement by the European Union, after Council gave its green light on Friday. For Environment Committee chair Giovanni La Via (EPP, IT) the decision allows the EU to remain a leader in climate action ahead of the next round of talks to take place in Marrakech in November.

MEPs’ plans to tighten up EU car “type approval” rules, in the wake of the VW scandal, were discussed in the Internal Market Committee on Thursday. These include stricter supervision of tests done before a car can be placed on the market and more stringent obligations on EU member states to check that those already on the road meet all EU safety, environmental and production requirements.

Three new reports published on 26 September by the Python Conservation Partnership (PCP), a partnership between Kering, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Species Survival Commission Boa and Python Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), reveal that the wild harvesting and farming of pythons is ecologically sustainable and results in socioeconomic benefits for poor households in South-East Asia.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice on 29 September announced a settlement with Chemoil Corporation that requires the company to retire 65 million renewable fuel credits to resolve alleged violations of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. The current market value of the credits -- along with an additional 7.7 million renewable identification numbers (RINs) already retired by Chemoil in the lead up to this settlement -- is more than $71 million. Chemoil will also pay a $27 million civil penalty under the settlement, the largest in the history of the EPA’s fuel programs.

The first-ever universal and legally binding global climate deal was agreed by 195 countries in Paris last December at the COP21 conference.Parliament wants the EU to ratify the Paris climate agreement as soon as possible to ensure it can rapidly enter into force. We talked to environment committee chair Giovanni La Via, an Italian member of the EPP group, about Parliament’s commitment to implement the climate deal and the challenges ahead.

Greenpeace activists closed off access for all imports and exports from palm oil trader IOI in the harbour of Rotterdam, palm oil’s gateway into Europe, on 27 September. Palm oil from companies involved in forest destruction, peatland fires and child labour is still flowing into Europe and the US through IOI facilities, a new report by Greenpeace International has revealed.