Tis the season for extra garbage, officials warn.

As shoppers spread holiday cheer to their families and friends this season, local environmentalists hope they’ll think of the earth as well.

[News Source]

Activists want EPA action on Xcel plant. A Denver-based clean air group sued the EPA today, charging the agency ignored a citizen petition challenging a pollution permit for an Xcel power plant near Platteville in Weld County. [News Source]

Tennessee senator urges mercury study. Federal rules governing mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants may not be strong enough to protect Tennesseans, Sen. Lamar Alexander said in urging Gov. Bredesen to continue studying the issue. [News Source]

Lee may turn fill into fuel. The methane gas from rotting garbage buried in a controversial east Lee County landfill could be used to create fuel for LeeTran buses and county vehicles. [News Source]

Toxicologist’s mission: get the lead out. A group at Johns Hopkins University is focused on educating Maryland residents about lead dangers. [News Source]

LNG opponents hail Ventura vote to hold facility to stricter controls. Local opponents of a proposed liquefied natural gas facility for the coast of Malibu/Oxnard were cautiously jubilant last week as the Ventura County Air Pollution Control Board voted to oppose the plant's permit being considered by the EPA. [News Source]

Ports approve clean air action plan. An unprecedented clean air plan designed to cut pollution in half over the next five years was approved Monday at a joint meeting of the Long Beach and Los Angeles harbor commissions. [News Source]

5 counties asked not to burn wood fires. Meteorologists for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District say tiny bits of soot and dust are making air-quality poor for people who have breathing problems. [News Source]

Air group sues EPA over citizen petition. A Denver-based clean-air group took the EPA to court Wednesday, charging that the agency ignored a citizen petition that challenged a pollution permit for an Xcel power plant near Platteville in Weld County. [News Source]

TCEQ proposes more stringent clean air rules. The executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has proposed new clean air rules for the Dallas-Fort Worth area that he says could allow the area to meet a 2010 deadline for cleaning up its dirty air. [News Source]

As pipelines expand, so do fears of clearcuts, spills. When pipeline heavyweight Kinder Morgan began felling a thousand trees along its right-of-way on Burnaby Mountain last September, it touched off a protest it clearly didn't see coming. [News Source]