Pacifica OKs biodiesel plan. The City Council re-affirmed Pacifica's reputation for alternative energy initiatives in a vote Monday night to move forward on installing a biodiesel production facility to run the city's wastewater treatment plant. [News Source]

Critics blast Texas plans for new ‘dirty’ coal plants. Texas utility companies proposing to build 17 new coal-burning power plants and one petroleum-coke power plant over the next four years have the support of the governor, but mayors in some of the state's largest cities are putting up a fight. [News Source]

`Climate change a serious issue’. T.S. Subramanian interviews James Connaughton, Chairman, U.S. Council on Environmental Quality, on global climate change and U.S. policy. [News Source]

Heart attacks decline after smoking ban: study. A Colorado city ban on smoking at workplaces and in public buildings may have sparked a steep decline in heart attacks, researchers reported on Monday. [News Source]

More plants make more rain. A statistical study of satellite images indicates that more plants create more rain - adding to the impetus to preserve green spaces in dry regions, in order to help prevent deserts from growing and encroaching on agricultural land. [News Source]

Proposition 87 fires up California energy debate. Californians are weighing an initiative that would put the state smack in the middle of the explosive debate over soaring energy costs, air pollution and foreign oil dependence. [News Source]

Gas guzzlers in the capital. Despite their support for legislation to fight global warming, Gov. Schwarzenegger and some of the leading Democratic lawmakers who voted for the measure still use gas-guzzling vehicles for official state business. [News Source]

Wilmette thinks global, acts local on car fees. Riding the wave of towns trying to make global warming a local issue, Wilmette has unveiled a new vehicle-sticker plan that increases fees for most cars and trucks by 50 percent but gives a break to those that pollute less. [News Source]

$330 million deal to settle Katrina oil spill. An oil company and plaintiffs affected by the worst environmental disaster during Hurricane Katrina said Monday they had agreed to a $330 million settlement. [News Source]

The environmental load of 300 million: how heavy? As the US population rises, environmental problems that were once pushed aside may get worse, experts say. [News Source]