Environment

BEIJING (Reuters) – A spill from a tailings dam at a molybdenum mine in northeast China on Saturday has contaminated water up to 110 km (68 miles) downstream, environmental authorities said on Wednesday. Tailings dams are commonly used by mining firms to store waste remnants of ore but they have come under close scrutiny since

A long exposure picture shows cars of Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo displayed in front of a showroom of Stierli Automobile AG company in St. Erhard, Switzerland April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Swedish automaker Volvo Cars confirmed Tuesday it is in talks with California to reach a voluntary emissions agreement. Mary Nichols, who

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese government panel has said any major eruption of Mount Fuji would rain so much ash on the capital Tokyo that its transportation network of trains and highways would be paralyzed in three hours. FILE PHOTO: File picture of Mount Fuji as seen from a plane. Picture taken November 24, 2019.

HOUSTON (Reuters) – As a weekend standoff over oil shipments emerged between Texas pipeline operators and shale producers, a state energy regulator has renewed his controversial call for mandated 10% cuts to address a growing a crude glut. Oil prices have fallen more than 60% this year as the coronavirus pandemic has destroyed fuel demand

KABUL/ ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – An earthquake shook some buildings in Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday, witnesses said. The magnitude 4.9 quake was centered in the mountainous Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan, at a depth of 211 km (130 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Reporting by

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Air pollution has decreased in urban areas across Europe during lockdowns to combat the coronavirus, new satellite images showed on Monday, but campaigners warned city-dwellers were still more vulnerable to the epidemic. A general view shows the South Tower during the lockdown imposed by the Belgian government to slow down the coronavirus

(Reuters) – A large tornado struck the city of Jonesboro in Arkansas on Saturday, wrecking buildings and flipping cars, according to local media and images posted online. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was killed or injured by the tornado, which hit the city of about 75,000 people in the northeast of the state

JAKARTA (Reuters) – A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Indonesia on Saturday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said here, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The quake’s epicentre was 105 kilometres (65 miles)south of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, and 40 km (25 miles) below the earth’s surface. Indonesia’s meteorology and

(Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday unveiled measures to help oil refineries cope with fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, including waiving anti-smog requirements for gasoline and extending the deadline for small facilities to show compliance with the nation’s biofuels law. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler looks on during

A combination image distributed by the European Space Agency (ESA) on March 27, 2020, shows the average nitrogen dioxide concentrations from air pollution across Italy in March, 2019 (L), and from March 14-25, 2020, as mapped by the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, a reduction that the ESA says is due to the strict quarantine measures during

LONDON (Reuters) – Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, says it has made significant progress removing cocoa produced in protected forests in West Africa from its supply chain as pressure builds from consumers and governments for ethically sourced cocoa. FILE PHOTO: Nestle logo is pictured on the door of the supermarket of Nestle headquarters in

(Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to delay the deadline for oil refineries to comply with the nation’s biofuel regulation past March 31, to help the industry cope with fallout from the coronavirus, agency chief Andrew Wheeler said on Thursday. Asked about the possibility on a conference call with reporters, Wheeler

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest regional utility A2A said on Thursday it planned to beef up its climate targets by cutting its carbon emissions 46% over the next ten years. In a statement the multiutility said the planned reduction by 2030 was for so-called Scope 1 emissions. Scope 1 includes direct emissions under a company’s

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin, wed on Wednesday at her family’s Australia Zoo, in an event that spurred online protest as it came just hours before a ban on ceremonies with more than two witnesses took effect. Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Steve Irwin, poses at

(Reuters) – The Trump administration has decided not to appeal a court ruling that would sharply reduce its use of waivers exempting refineries from the nation’s biofuels regulation, cheering the corn lobby but drawing anger from oil refiners. FILE PHOTO: Choices at the gas pump including ethanol or no ethanol gas are seen in Des

LONDON (Reuters) – For European governments battling to brace economies pummeled by the coronavirus, there might be no better time to go green. FILE PHOTO: The lignite power plant complex of German energy supplier and utility RWE is reflected in a puddle in Neurath, north-west of Cologne, Germany, February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo Normally