1. Federal Government Ignores Long-Term Solutions for Gulf Coast Remediation

   Floating Island International, a U.S. based company with an environmental solution to the spill, was approved by the U.S. Coast Guard for remediation of the spill. Unfortunately, the U.S. Coast Guard suddenly cancelled the approval of FII's bio-islands once the Macondo well was partially sealed, despite the fact that relief wells still aren’t complete.

2. Open Season for Dredge Mining in Oregon Waters

   The Oregon DEQ recently revised a mining permit that allows motorized suction dredges in state waters, including critical salmon habitat.

3. Voltage Conservation Might Create More Problems Than It Solves

   For decades, utilities, regulators and consumers have been intrigued by the concept of reducing electric consumption by lowering voltage levels on the electric grid. Theory and practice say that simply using 114 volts instead of 120 volts saves energy. However, in spite of a body of evidence favoring this little-analyzed concept, many suggest it should be relegated to the pile of good, but impractical, ideas.

4. Rhode Island’s Fight to Protect and Restore its Sea Life

   At Ninigret Pond, on Rhode Island’s south coast, the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are restoring vital saltwater eelgrass habitat. The main problem: Too much sand had ruined Ninigret Pond’s eelgrass habitat, jeopardizing the juvenile species that live there, such as bay scallops, cod, winter flounder, blue mussels, blue crabs and lobster.

5. Solving the American Power Crisis: The Future of Grid Energy Storage

   Electricity, that wonderfully efficient medium for distributing power, has a behavioral quirk imparted by natural law: you can’t save it. This simple fact dictates the way we generate electricity and also poses a problem effectively using some forms of renewable energy. A myriad of new technologies under development may help both traditional and renewable generating sources by providing cost-effective, large-scale energy storage for the electric power grid.

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