A U.S. federal appeals court in Washington D.C. on Friday delayed regulations that would have limited emissions from coal plants. The court ruled that a January 1 implementation date for did not allow enough time for legal challenges to the regulations, which the Environmental Protection Agency handed down in July and place strict limits on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from coal plants. The agency estimates that the rules would save between $120 and $280 billion in health care c... Read More
A California outdoors writer is reportedly paralyzed after a climbing accident in Joshua Tree National Park in December. Bill Becher was climbing Saddle Rock, a 600-foot formation in the park, when he fell 30 feet and landed on his lower back. Rescue workers transported Becher to the park's Oyster Bar Parking Area, where he was picked up by helicopter and transferred to the Desert Regional Hospital in Palm Springs. Becher was named California Outdoors Writer of the Year in 2004, and has contr... Read More
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 15-year-old climber Jordan Romero became the youngest person ever to summit the highest mountain on each of the world's seven continents when he successfully climbed Antarctica's 16,050-foot Mt. Vinson. Romero became the youngest person ever to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2005 at age 10 and is also the youngest person to summit Mt. Everest, which he climbed in May of 2010 when he was 13. Jordan's Seven Summits record may remain unchallenged, as China and Nepal have... Read More
Law enforcement officials in Washington State are searching for a man who shot and killed National Park Service Ranger Margaret Anderson Sunday morning, then fled into the forest in Mount Rainier National Park. Anderson, 34, a mother of two, was shot while attempting to stop a speeding car believed to be driven by Benjamin Colton Barnes. Rangers began pursuing Barnes, 24, an Iraq war veteran who police say was involved in a four-person shooting in Seattle early on New Year's day, when he faile... Read More
The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday unveiled long-awaited rules limiting mercury emissions from power plants. EPA head Lisa Jackson said the restrictions, which will reduce the amount of mercury released by 91 percent within four years, could save as much as $59 billion in heath care costs annually. Representatives from the energy industry expressed concern that complying with the law could cost $10 billion and put some older plants out of business. Nationwide, the law will requir... Read More
