Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

Week of November 8, 2010

News from Across the USM Campuses

Nov. 10^th - "A Lawyer Looks at the Gulf Oil Spill:  Legal Remedies or Legal Morass?"?This lecure, by Sara Schotland, JD and Honors Lecturer, will be held from 5:30-6:30pm in the?Anne Arundel Hall Basement Lounge?on the University of Maryland, College Park campus.?The event is sponsored by The University of Maryland Honors College - World as a Classroom program. The Honors College is sponsoring a year-long series of events, lectures, discussions, debates, and seminars addressing all aspects of the continuing environmental and societal disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. These events (with the exception of courses) are open to the campus and local communities.

Nov. 12^th -? Neil Weinstein, The Low Impact Development Center, Beltsville, Maryland - "Implementing Stormwater Runoff Requirements under Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act." This seminar, sponsored by the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, will be held on Friday at 2:00pm in the Technology Research Center, Room 206, on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus, and is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Visitor parking passes for the TRC lot may be purchased for $4.00 in the CUERE office in TRC 102/105 on the UMBC campus shortly before seminar.

Gulf oil spill dispersed, though maybe not for good (By Tim Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun - B'More Green Blog, 11/3/10) [Article quotes Carys Mitchelmore of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

University of Maryland Gets A's on New Sustainability 'Report Cards' (UM Newsdesk, 11/1/10)

New USGS method improves ability to track nutrients flowing into Bay: Streamflow monitoring reveals unsettling data about effectiveness of actions taken on the land (By Karl Blankenship, The Chesapeake Bay Journal, November 2010) [Article quotes Tom Fisher and William Dennison of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science]

State of Maryland News

Maryland coast opened to offshore wind development: State's plan to erect more than 300 turbines in phases (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, 11/8/10)

City cuts energy use, aims to trim more (By Tim Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun - B'More Green Blog, 11/6/10)

Chesapeake Bay states awarded funds for cleanup projects: Maryland to get part of $3.4 million in grants (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, 11/4/10)

Maryland's 'Cash for Appliances' program to end Nov. 12: Nearly 90% of $5.4 million in federal funds has been doled out (By Liz F. Kay, The Baltimore Sun, 11/4/10)

'Intersex' fish found in Susquehanna River: Second bay tributary with abnormality; cause remains mystery (By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, 11/2/10)

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

• Practices
• Programs
• Policies

• Presentations
• Climate Change Definitions
• Facilities Master Planning
• Statewide Sustainability Efforts
• ACUPCC National Benchmarking
• Useful Links and References

Where's the Gulf oil? In the food web, study says (By Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press as reported by The Miami Herald, 11/8/10)

Climate scientists plan campaign against global warming skeptics: The American Geophysical Union plans to announce that 700 researchers have agreed to speak out on the issue. Other scientists plan a pushback against congressional conservatives who have vowed to kill regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. (By Neela Banerjee, The os Angeles Times, 11/8/10)

Dead Coral Found Near Site of Oil Spill (By John Collins Rudolf, The New York Times - Environment, 11/5/10)

Climate and consumers biggest threats to future: UN (AFP as reported by The Calgary Herald, 11/5/10)

New Report Refutes Industry Argument that Genetically Modified Salmon will Feed Hungry World Populations (Food and Water Watch - Europe, 11/4/10)

Offshore Drilling Ban Lawsuit Dismissed (By John M. Broder, The New York Times - Green Blog, 11/4/10)

Transocean Sees $200 Million Q4 Hit From Drilling Halt (By Reuters as reported by The New York Times, 11/4/10)

Solar-Panel Maker to Close a Factory and Delay Expansion (By Todd Woody, The New York Times - Energy and Environment, 11/3/10)

Voters defeat Prop 23: The measure sought to suspend California's landmark climate change bill (By Dana Hall, The Oakland Tribune, 11/3/10)

Obama to Face New Foes in Global Warming Fight (By John M. Broder, The New York Times - Energy and Environment, 11/3/10)

Labor Department Asks Court To Close Massey Mine In Kentucky (By Howard Berkes and Robert Benincasa, NPR, 11/3/10)

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Leading Edge (By Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press, 11/3/10)

Barack Obama's green agenda crushed at the ballot box: With a slew of new climate change deniers entering Congress, Barack Obama's environmental ambitions are now dead (By Suzanne Goldenberg, The [UK] Independent, 11/3/10)

Toxic chemicals found deep at BP oil spill site (By Reuters, 11/2/10)