Environmental group joins KC in fight against southland sludge (KGET 17 Bakersfield) Sludge, it seems, makes strange bedfellows. An environmental group known for taking the county to task on air pollution issues is joining the county in its defense of Measure E—the biosolids ban passed by voters last June. The Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment has field a motion in federal court to intervene on behalf of Kern County in the southland's lawsuit challenging Measure E. [News Source]

Beijing looks to clear air for Olympics.

A cutback in production and planned shutdown of a sprawling steel plant just outside Beijing is part of the city’s plan for cleaner air for the 2008 Olympics.

[News Source]

E.U. considers broad new penalties in pollution disasters. The executive arm of the European Union proposed legislation Friday that would make companies and individuals subject to criminal penalties for environmental disasters anywhere within the 27-nation bloc. [News Source]

Mercury pollution rising as Canada, US opt to keep talking. Canada has sided with the U.S. and India to delay international rules that would force countries to cut mercury pollution. [News Source]

Another Kyoto? Canada opposes mercury pact. Canada's refusal to support a legally binding global pact to cut highly toxic mercury pollution is another Kyoto-style evasion that allies Ottawa with Washington, critics say. [News Source]

Stove saves money, uses renewable energy source. While President Bush is urging Americans to become less dependent on foreign oil, one man has put his money where his house is by heating his home with a grain burning stove. [News Source]

Big on rooftop gardens. Brisbane's skyline is set to turn green, with commercial and industrial buildings and even private homes sprouting rooftop gardens. [News Source]

Branson offers $25m climate prize. Sir Richard Branson brought his talent for publicity to bear on climate change on Friday, offering a $25m prize to anyone who invents an economical way of removing carbon from the atmosphere. [News Source]

Reaction to EU proposals for car CO2 output. The European Commission proposed a strategy on Wednesday to curb carbon dioxide emissions from cars as a way to combat global warming. Manufacturers, environmentalists and government officials saw the news very differently. [News Source]

Greenhouse gas ocean burial can start Feb 10. International rules allowing burial of greenhouse gases beneath the seabed will enter into force, in what is to be a step toward fighting global warming, if storage costs are cut and leaks can be averted. [News Source]

Fuel Tech Gets Order From Utility Client (AP via Yahoo! Finance) Fuel Tech Inc., which makes equipment to control air pollution, said Friday it was awarded a three-year contract by an existing electric utility company in the Southeast. [News Source]