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Democratic-controlled Washington stepped in to help save Chrysler nearly 30 years ago when the automaker was on the verge of bankruptcy due to lackluster sales of its fuel-thirsty vehicles.

The banks of China’s massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of millions of people, are at risk of collapse, a state-run newspaper reported Monday.

The BP-funded Energy Biosciences Institute will fund research at  Illinois, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley Lab, along with an ongoing series of workshops. The deadline for pre-proposals is June 8. See the call for proposals at http://www.ebiweb.org/grants.htm.

The Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable has a new P2 Search box. Powered by Google, it searches EPA, the P2Rx Centers, DOE, Canadian, and international sites for pollution prevention and clean technology information. Give it a test drive at http://www.glrppr.org/search/. Comments welcome.

World’s Most Ethical Companies List Unveiled
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35054
Ethisphere Magazine publishes its inaugural ranking of ethical companies; IKEA, Dole, Baxter Healthcare, Starbucks, Duke Energy, Berkshire Hathaway and others make the list of worldwide leaders in ethical practices.

IBM Launches Billion-Dollar ‘Project Big Green’
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35045
As part of a comprehensive, worldwide effort to reduce energy use in data centers and save companies money, IBM will spend $1 billion per year to implement and create new programs, services and products.

U.S. Solar Power Industry Takes Off
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35053
Plans to build new solar-cell manufacturing plants and to boost domestic production of polysilicon mean that the U.S. solar industry is growing at a record pace.

Thirty-One States Join to Create U.S. Climate Registry
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35043
States once again take the lead over the federal government on climate change, this time creating a voluntary reporting program to begin tracking greenhouse gas emissions state by state.

Citigroup Pledges $50 Billion to Fight Climate Change
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35039
Over the next ten years, the company will dramatically increase its investments in alternative energy, clean technology, and other projects to reduce carbon emissions.

BP Releases 2006 Sustainability Report
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35042
Highlighting its investments in alternative energy projects and steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, BP has published its 16th annual sustainability report.

Rupert Murdoch Pledges to Make News Corp. Greener
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35040
In an announcement to employees today, the News Corp. CEO said that not only would the company become carbon neutral by 2010, but would also weave environmental messages into Fox programming.

Most Companies Would Benefit from a ‘Chief Energy Officer’
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35038
New research from Hill & Knowlton finds that the majority of companies do not have an energy strategy for dealing with global warming, and creating a CNO position would help them better manage energy needs.

Minnesota Legislature Passes Country’s Toughest E-Waste Bill
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35031
The state’s groundbreaking legislation will require electronics manufacturers to pay for collecting and recycling e-waste.

Fourteen New Companies Join U.S. Climate Change Fight
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35033
The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of major businesses and environmental organizations, has announced the latest round of new members pushing for national climate-change legislation.

Wal-Mart Launches Major Solar Power Project
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35032
The solar pilot project, which covers 22 stores, marks a big step in the company’s goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy.

Entergy Wins 2007 Climate Protection Award
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35030
The company is the only utility company named by the EPA as a winner of this year’s award for working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Restoring Nature’s Capital: Sustaining Ecosystem Services
http://www.greenbiz.com/toolbox/reports_third.cfm?LINKADVID=78563
Using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as its backdrop, Restoring Nature’s Capital proposes action steps for business, governments and civil society to reverse ecosystem degradation.

The Tricky Question of Biofuels
By Alice Kenny, Ecosystem Marketplace
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/reviews_third.cfm?NewsID=35051
Steep gasoline prices and climate change concerns have driven a wave of investment in ethanol and biodiesel, but heavy use of biofuels may have a number of unintended consequences.

The Sustainable MBA: Using Living Systems to Manage for Innovation
By Jessica Williams
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/columns_third.cfm?NewsID=35041
Work environments are as complex and chaotic as natural environments. By embracing that fact and learning to control and account for the elements of your office’s ecosystem, companies can create the conditions that allow true innovation to emerge.

Climate Wise: Mutual Funds: What, Me Worry?
By Marc Gunther
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/columns_third.cfm?NewsID=35057
The mutual fund industry, which has long resisted any attempts at shareholder activism, may be the missing link in the push for corporate action on climate change.

The Collaborative Biodiesel Project is a student-led initiative at Appalachian State University and is partially funded by the EPA P3 Award: Student Design Competition for Sustainability. The purpose of the project is to create a closed loop biodiesel processing facility that provides for its own energy needs, and recycles its waste products. Papers, presentations, schematics, and other project publications are available here.

With the multi-megawatt backdrop of New York City’s Times Square, Yahoo! Inc. will issue a challenge today in search of the greenest city in America. Cofounder David Filo, joined by actor Matt Dillon and Global Green USA CEO Matt Petersen, will introduce “Be a Better Planet” (http://better.yahoo.com/planet), a program that empowers Americans to take action against climate change. Consumers participate by using Yahoo! tools, resources and communities to become better planetarians.

The winning city, which will be announced following the program’s conclusion on June 8th, will be rewarded with a fleet of hybrid taxi cabs or the equivalent cash donation, to be dedicated toward city greening projects. To kick off the program, Yahoo! will also donate a fleet of hybrid taxis to New York City, recently determined to produce 1% of all U.S. greenhouse gases.  By displacing traditionally fueled cabs with hybrid taxis, Yahoo! will be helping New York City edge closer to its ambitious environmental goals. The City will also save enough gas per year to drive a hybrid vehicle 56 times around the Earth. (more…)

Received today from EHP.

Thank you for your continued interest in EHP Student Edition. In the past 2.5 years we have produced more than 90 high-quality lessons that help students develop critical thinking and other other important skills while learning about interesting and relevant environmental health topics.

Next month, June 2007, will mark the final issue of EHP Student Edition and accompanying new lessons. Although we will not be producing any further new lessons, the EHP Science Education website will continue to offer free access to all the student content published to date, both articles and lessons. The newly designed site will have a user-friendly interface that allows you to find EHP Student Edition lessons that meet your instructional needs. You will be able to search for lessons by academic subject, topic, skill, implementation length, lesson type, and grade level.

We hope you will continue to use and enjoy this valuable resource. Thank you for your hard work as educators in helping to develop our future researchers!

EPA has issued a final rule to extend the compliance dates for facilities affected by the Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations. EPA has extended the compliance dates in order to provide the time necessary for the regulated community to comply with the revised requirements that EPA expects to propose in 2007.

For facilities (other than a farm) that started operations on or before Aug. 16, 2002, the facility must maintain its existing SPCC plan and amend and implement the plan no later than July 1, 2009. If the facility began operations after Aug. 16, 2002 through July 1, 2009, it must prepare and implement an SPCC plan no later than July 1, 2009. If the facility starts operations after July 1, 2009, it must prepare and implement an SPCC plan before beginning operations.

If a farm started operations on or before Aug. 16, 2002, it must maintain its existing SPCC plan and amend and implement the plan when EPA promulgates a rule specific for farms. If a farm began operations after Aug. 16, 2002, then it must prepare and implement an SPCC plan when EPA promulgates a rule specific for farms.

Information about the EPA Oil Program and the SPCC regulations: http://epa.gov/oilspill

In an effort to create a more balanced understanding of the actual rights policies in place at most journals, and in the hope of tempering the often overheated rhetoric regarding the role of copyright in scholarly communication, three prestigious organizations representing the international scholarly publishing community today (8 May) issued a White Paper on the academic use of journal content.

For a copy of the position paper by the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), the Association of American Publishers Professional and Scholarly Publishing division (AAP/PSP), and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), download Author and Publisher Rights for Academic Use: An Appropriate Balance, May 2007.