Olympic gold medalist and Summer and Winter X Games champion Shaun White was arrested Sunday on charges of public intoxication and vandalism at a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. White, 26, was staying at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, where police were summoned at 2 a.m. after he drunkenly pulled a fire alarm. A hotel employee also reported seeing White destroy a hotel phone. When he attempted to flee, White fell into a fence, giving himself a black eye visible in a mug shot taken shortly after hi... Read More
Shell has called off its attempts to drill for oil in the Arctic for the year following a series of technical mishaps that undermined operations in the area. Since work began a few weeks ago, the company has dealt with a damaged oil containment barge and spreading sea ice that forced them to pull up and move a drilling vessel. Environmentalists lauded the development, citing the lack of resources available to clean up a potential spill in the area. "We don't have the equipment for cleaning up ... Read More
With up to 6.7 million North American bats dead of white-nose syndrome since 2006, the Nature Conservancy is putting the finishing touches on an artificial cave that they hope will protect the animals from the deadly ailment. Built into a hill 70 miles outside of Nashville, the concrete cave, which is about 78 feet long and 11 feet tall, can accommodate over 200,000 bats on its ridged ceiling. It will be scrubbed clean each autumn and spring to protect against the soil-based fungus believed to... Read More
The European Union is set to limit the use of crop-based fuels after studies showed they resulted in minimal emission savings and contributed to price increases in the cost of food. The new plan calls for crop-derived biofuel use to max out at five percent of energy consumption by 2020 from its current level of 4.5 percent. Additionally, the E.U. will move to end subsides for crop-based biofuels by 2020, threatening a $21.7 billion a year sector. Because the E.U. still aims to source 10 percen... Read More
On Friday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Tim DeChristopher's conviction for disrupting the sale of federal oil and gas leases in an attempt to stop an auction he believed to be illegal. In a 2-1 decision, the court said that DeChristopher knowingly violated the law by participating in the Bureau of Land Management auction in Salt Lake City, bidding $1.8 million for 14 parcels of land with no intention to pay. "Whether the BLM complied with all applicable environmental regulations in... Read More
