Alaska oil woes signal need for energy plan. The sudden loss of a portion of the U.S. oil daily production should prompt support of a national energy policy that includes oil exploration. [News Source]

How do we handle a growing pollution problem? I'm not really surprised that pollution is arriving here from the Orient. China's and India's fast-track economic growth is causing them to consume more fossil fuels for energy and has to have a definite impact on air quality in the United States. [News Source]

Will the world’s polluters pay for climate change? Americans tend to talk a lot about morality and justice, but most Americans still fail to realize that their country's refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol, and their business-as-usual approach to greenhouse gas emissions, is a moral failing of the most serious kind. [News Source]

Fuming over missed deadlines for permit. One deadline after another has passed, and state environmental regulators still haven't issued a permit for Citizens Gas & Coke Utility or worked out an agreement to address scores of alleged environmental violations at the utility's Eastside, Indiana coke plant. [News Source]

ADC to self-impose 5% ‘earth tax’ for environment. Lansing-based Advanced Design Consulting USA Inc. will begin donating 5 percent of its yearly profits to environmental causes, the company has announced. [News Source]

P.E.I. air could take fatal toll. Smog could kill 48 Islanders this year, according to estimates released at a news conference Tuesday by the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island. [News Source]

K’taka bans Pepsi, Coke in educational institutions. Karnataka on Wednesday decided to ban the sale of 11 brands of soft drinks including Pepsi and Coca-Cola in educational institutions and hospitals from August 14 in the wake of a NGO's claim that the beverages contained high levels of pesticide residues. [News Source]

Da Nang steel mills face ultimatum. Da Nang-based steel mills will face forced closure if they do not reduce their current pollution level by half before August 31. [News Source]

Philippines evacuates as volcano rumbles. Philippine soldiers appealed to reluctant villagers to leave their homes and farms near a shuddering volcano on Tuesday, as more intense seismic activity raised the risk of a violent eruption. [News Source]

Indonesian forest fires flare, region holds breath. Choking smoke from Indonesian forest fires marks the return of an annual hazard across the region which authorities appear powerless to stop and that only one thing can be relied upon to contain -- rain. [News Source]

Beijing’s power use hits new daily record. China's capital notched up a daily record for electricity use this week despite government efforts to promote energy efficiency. [News Source]