“AP IMPACT: Gulf awash in 27,000 abandoned wells” - More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.
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(Dan Harris, Almin Karamehmedovic/ABC News) It's hard to believe a place like this still exists on the planet. The Kimberley, in northwestern Australia, is like the Amazon you've never heard of.
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(BedBugRegistry. com) The Bed Bug Registry is a free, public database of user-submitted bed bug reports from across the United States and Canada. Founded in 2006, the site has collected about 20,000 reports covering 12,000 locations. . .  More...

(nyt) The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal. Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times. . .  More...

(msnbc) A blood-orange blob the size of a small refrigerator emerged from the dark waters, its venomous tentacles trapped in a fishing net. Within minutes, hundreds more were being hauled up, a pulsating mass crowding out the catch of mackerel and sea bass. The fishermen leaned into the nets, grunting and grumbling as they tossed the translucent jellyfish back into the bay, giants weighing up to 450 pounds, marine invaders that are putting the men's livelihoods at risk. The venom of the Nomura, the world's largest jellyfish, a creature up to 6 feet in diameter, can ruin a whole day's catch by tainting or killing fish stung when ensnared with them in the maze of nets here in northwest Japan's Wakasa Bay. "Some fishermen have just stopped fishing," said Taiichiro Hamano, 67.  More...

(livescience) A new map plotting deaths resulting from forces of nature reveals where Mother Nature is most likely to kill you. People living in the South along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts have a higher likelihood of dying from a natural hazard compared to residents of the Great Lakes area and urbanized Northeast. And while intense hurricanes and tornadoes steal headlines for their intense winds and overall destruction, the new map shows what other previous studies have found, that everyday hazards, such as severe winter and summer weather, and heat account for the majority of natural hazard deaths in the United States. "This work will enable research and emergency management practitioners to examine hazard deaths through a geographic lens," said researcher Susan Cutter of the University of South Carolina, Columbia. "Using this as a tool to identify areas with higher than average hazard deaths can justify allocation of resources to these areas with the goal of reducing loss of life.  More...

(eg) A new report prepared in advance of the largest ever conference on climate change, details the findings of a two year preliminary study regarding how people react migrationally to changing climates. The conference, sponsored by the UN, will be held in Bonn, Germany and will be attended by over 600 experts and representatives of almost 80 nations. One of the areas of concern to be discussed at the conference is environmental based migration and the problems to poses. . .  More...

(sciencedaily) One hundred seventy-eight species in the continental U. S. and 39 in Hawaii have the dubious distinction of landing on the newest and most scientifically sound list of America's most imperiled birds. WatchList 2007, a joint effort of Audubon and American Bird Conservancy, reflects a comprehensive analysis of population size and trends, distribution, and threats for 700 bird species in the U. S.  More...

(usat) Massive recalls of lead-laced trinkets and lead-painted toys from China are making news these days. Mattel recalled 675,000 Barbie toys last month, including Barbie's Dream Puppy House and Kitty Condo. But for the thousands of kids sickened by lead each year in the USA, it's not Barbie's Dream House that makes them sick. It's their own house. The U.  More...

(Times-Picayune) More Africanized honeybees have been found in St. Bernard Parish, the state Agriculture and Forestry office said Tuesday. "In January, a colony of Africanized honeybees was found in a St. Bernard Parish house being torn down because of damage from Hurricane Katrina. The proximity of this find indicates the bees could be a swarm from that colony or could be from a ship or barge passing by on the river," Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom said in the news release.  More...