Environment on Thursday July 02, 2009

OR: Topping off gas tanks now banned in Oregon
By Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian (Portland)
If you ask a gas station attendant to top off your tank, as of today you're asking them to break the law.
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KS: Planned parks budget cuts draw fire
By Brent D. Wistrom, Wichita Eagle
City parks employees, three state representatives and a few others sharply criticized a proposal to privatize parks maintenance Wednesday at a first-of-its kind public discussion about the city's dire budget situation.
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AZ: AZ Senate fails to act on gas-storage cavern
By Tony Davis, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
A bill that would have cleared the way for a Houston company to open up a huge underground cavern to store natural gas near Eloy died in the Legislature's closing days.
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MD: Developer sues state agencies that blocked Allegany project
By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Sun (Baltimore)
A developer who wants to build 4,300 homes in a rural part of Allegany County and the county's elected commissioners have filed suit against Maryland's environmental and planning agencies, accusing them of illegally blocking the project.
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MT: Montana strives for energy independence
By Diane Cochran, Billings Gazette
As we move into the heart of the summer and look forward to celebrating July Fourth, it is a good time to celebrate the initial steps Montana has taken toward energy independence and to weigh future opportunities.
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ND: Cattle losses amid floods, snow could hit $30 million
By James MacPherson, The Associated Press, The Bismarck Tribune
North Dakota ranchers suffered an estimated $30 million loss when cattle died amid spring flooding and late-winter blizzards, a state agriculture official said Wednesday.
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NH: Some worry a new 9 percent tax on camping will keep people away
By Dana Smith, The Telegraph (Nashua)
For five months of the year, Marj Rawls and Janice Pollack make New Hampshire their home.
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NJ: New Jersey to pay developer $4.8M to save oceanfront land in Cape May
By Tom Hester Sr., newjerseynewsroom.com
The state will pay $4.8 million of a $7 million settlement with a developer to prevent the construction of houses on 78 acres of oceanfront property in the town of Cape May, state officials announced Wednesday.
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OH: Ohio EPA, Northeast Ohio Sewer District disagree about source of oil that killed gulls
By Michael Scott, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
An Ohio Environmental Protection Agency investigator trying to find out who killed more than 500 gulls last month by dumping hundreds of gallons of oil into the Cuyahoga River is focusing on a nine-mile-long storm sewer network that flows from Shaker Heights to Cleveland and the river.
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OR: Oregon Legislators give fish hatchery deal a second look
By Jeff Manning, The Oregonian (Portland)
As a longtime owner and former CEO of a Gulf Coast casino, Bernie Burkholder knows well the old maxim of the gambling business: The house always wins.
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VT: Vt. air comparatively clean, could be cleaner
By The Associated Press, Times Argus (Barre/Montpelier)
Vermont's air quality is better than that in many parts of the United States, but could be better still.
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WA: EPA -- State must conduct review, hold hearings on latest coal-plant proposal
By Scott Rothschild, The Lawrence Journal-World
The federal EPA has essentially told the state and Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to start over in considering a permit to build a coal-burning power plant in southwest Kansas.
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Furloughs cut into state services
By Pauline Vu, Stateline.org Staff Writer
With states facing a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, a growing number of them have turned to squeezing their workforce for savings, and effects both great and small will be felt.
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