State oil and gas regulators are spread too thin to do their jobs. Regulators in West Virginia and other states are overwhelmed as they try to keep tabs on the nation's nearly one million active oil and gas wells, a number that's likely to climb as the feverish growth in natural gas exploration continues. [News Source]

EPA, concerned over gas drilling, questions New York State’s plans. The federal Environmental Protection Agency told New York State on Wednesday that it had major concerns about how proposed hydraulic drilling for natural gas would affect public health and the environment. [News Source]

Valley air board, AG differ on limiting emissions. The Valley air board this month adopted California's first guidelines for greenhouse-gas reduction on new development, but the state Attorney General's Office questions whether they will hold up in court. [News Source]

Explosion danger at waste plant, Firefighters are battling a huge blaze at a waste plant amid fears gas canisters on the site are "bombs" waiting to explode. [News Source]

Tower block development flattens RAK mangroves. Officials and residents are concerned over the continued destruction of mangroves in the downtown area as more development cuts into the swamps. [News Source]

First nation challenges expansion of landfill. A first nations group is threatening to bring Metro Vancouver's garbage woes to the world's attention during the 2010 Winter Games unless the province reconsiders plans to expand the the Cache Creek dump. [News Source]

EPA concerned about New York’s natural gas drilling rules. The Environmental Protection Agency says the state's proposed rules for natural gas drilling need some tweaking. [News Source]

Holiday revelers urged not to flout no-burn warning. A week after trying to snuff out the cheery glow of Christmas Eve fires, state and county air-quality regulators aimed to dim the flames of the New Year, declaring today another no-burn day as haze began to build. [News Source]

Environmentalists ask EPA to freeze AQMD permits for polluting facilities. Five environmental groups have petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tell an air quality district not to issue permits for air-polluting small business and government facilities until they follow federal law. [News Source]

Denver theater company to take smoking-ban case to U.S. Supreme Court. Denver's Curious Theatre will petition the U.S. Supreme Court for the right to smoke non-tobacco products in its theatrical productions, artistic director Chip Walton said Wednesday. [News Source]

Community’s actions count. The beautiful, scenic Carrisa Plain has many qualities that make it ideal for solar power generation. But I wish these facilities would just go somewhere else that is already ugly, like the oil fields on the other side of the Temblor Range. [News Source]