The Russian Department of Environmental Management and Ecology in July and August examined 58 petrol-filling stations (189 samples were taken) in Moscow and registered six cases of environmental violations. The total number of registered violations since January has reached 15 cases, Timur Chernyshev, the Department’s press-secretary, told The Moscow News. Continue reading →

The tremor was felt in an area located 50.82 degrees in longitude and 31.70 degrees in latitude, the report added.

There have been no reports of any casualty or damage to property caused by the quake.

Iran is often hit by quakes of varying magnitudes as it sits on some of the world’s most active seismic faultlines.

Romanian and Bulgarian premiers, Adrian Nastase and Simeon Saxa-Coburg Gotha, have attended on Sunday a ceremony marking 50 years since the opening the existing bridge linking Giurgiu and Ruse.

The bridge was inaugurated on June 20 1954, after two years and three months of works and at that time it was one of the longest bridges in Europe, with a total length of 2.2 kilometers.

Adrian Nastase and Simeon Saxa-Coburg Gotha have symbolically met in the middle of the bridge and have attended ceremonies organized on both banks of the river.

With bigger majorities in both the House and Senate, though, Republicans have the best chance to get a drilling bill through since 1995, when they passed an ANWR drilling bill only to be stymied by President Clinton’s veto. Despite their powerful position, though, Republican Congressional leaders are divided on when, where and how to present an ANWR drilling proposal. The President’s omnibus energy bill died on the vine last year due to the inclusion of ANWR drilling.

Congressman Joe Barton, the Texas Republican who chairs the House committee writing the new version of the energy bill, says he would rather keep ANWR drilling out of his bill so as to increase its chances of passage later this session. But other influential House Republicans, including majority leader Tom Delay of Texas, have labeled ANWR an important part of the energy bill, and are vowing to include it in the final version.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans fear they won’t have the 60 votes needed to cut off a promised Democratic filibuster. One way around this would be for Republicans to add an ANWR drilling provision to the budget resolution, which maps out how Congress plans to spend its money over the following year. The budget resolution cannot be filibustered and needs only 51 votes to pass. But last year Congress failed to pass an even less contentious budget resolution due to lack of consensus on spending priorities.

While Congressional positioning on ANWR is in the spotlight right now, environmentalists are quietly cheering on BP, ConocoPhillips and ChevronTexaco for pulling out of A?ctic Power, the lobbying group formed to promote oil drilling in ANWR. Only ExxonMobil remains an active member and funder of the initiative, leaving many to wonder why the White House is so keen on scratching its ANWR itch when the industry that stands to gain the most shows relatively little interest.

The protesters took to the streets at the weekend to paste mock tickets on the windscreens of the `Chelsea Tractors’ parked in the heart of the shopping area.
Campaigners from the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s slapped the bogus tickets on gas-guzzling Jeeps, Range Rovers and even an American Humvee which declared "Poor Vehicle Choice" and "Axles of Evil".

They looked like parking fines with a yellow and black design but on closer inspection turned out to be leaflets issued as part of a nationwide campaign to drive huge four-wheel-drive cars back to the countryside.

The first to get a ticket was a Jeep Cherokee parked outside the Central Library. Hundreds more followed, each with a ticket that declared: "Dirty and dangerous car (as you should know)."

The spoof ticket claimed only five per cent of 4x4s are ever taken off road, off-roaders only give you 12 miles per gallon and sends twice as much carbon-monoxide into the atmosphere.

Rockfalls
It also claimed 4x4s often handle poorly because they are badly-designed and are twice as likely to kill other road users or pedestrians than smaller motors.
On the back , the ticket suggests 4×4 owners had been conned: "Be honest with yourself. You got a bit over-excited when you saw the advert where the shiny 4×4 dodges Himalayan rockfalls while chasing lions in the Serengeti. But how do you feel now? In reality, urban 4x4s handle very poorly, are far less economical to run than ordinary family cars and are far more dangerous – to the other road users, to the people inside and to the health of everyone around them."

Mark Griffiths, who was ticketed after he parked his 4.4 litre Range Rover in the city centre with his partner and child, said: "If you have a family you need a vehicle this size to cart all the clobber around because you can’t get it in a small vehicles. 4x4s are a very suitable way to be going about your daily activities."

Campaign spokesman Dave Coleman, a 41-year-old business consultant from Lymm, who drives a BMW diesel, said: "Too many people are driving what are basically pieces of modified agricultural machinery through our crowded streets because they think they are a fashion accessory.

"Most 4×4 drivers don’t want to be selfish but don’t realise the impact these vehicles have or how widely they are resented and ridiculed."
What do you think of 4x4s? Have your say

BiH has ratified the Convention as the last of the 13 participating states.

The meeting of ministers and other senior officials of the Danube basin countries, responsible for managing the water resources and protection of environment in the basin of river Danube, was organized ten years after the adoption of the Convention on Cooperation in Protection and Sustainable Usage of River Danube.

Further, the participants of the Ministerial Conference have adopted a declaration titled ?The Danube Basin in the Hearth of Europe?.

The countries that share the basin of river Danube have expressed their commitment to further strengthening of cross-border cooperation on sustainable managing of water resources within the Danube region.

The Declaration also sets priorities, goals and the main actions for the next ten years.

The Vienna meeting has also marked the Action Programme for sustainable protection from floods in the Danube basin.

The meeting in Vienna was attended by ministers and senior political representatives responsible for managing water resources from Austria, BiH, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldavia, Romania, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and the European Commission.

Technical accident happened during the continued navigable canal construction through Bystroe estuary in the Danube reserve. Environmentalists warned about the danger of accidents, but officials were deaf to protests and warnings. Continue reading →

Two Greenpeace members chained themselves to the fencing in front of the seat of government in central Bucharest while several others unfurled two banners reading “Nastase, save Rosia Montana,” in reference to Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase. Greenpeace spokeswoman Ana-Maria Bogdan said the protestors were “brutally” dispersed by police. Continue reading →

The project includes a hazardous waste incinerator and is similar to a project the Ministry of Environment proposed several years ago. At the public meeting designed to allay local fears about the project’s impacts, local villager Georgi Binev commented to officials, “Why are you still lying to us? You’ve been showing us the same presentation for the last four years. Tell us about the dioxins!” Continue reading →

It’s worth mentioning that in the letter of ad interim Minister of international relations of Ukraine V. Yelchenko addressed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine V. Yanykovich he suggested: “with the aim to explain the justification of the position of Ukraine concerning the necessity of construction of navigation canal and to prevent the creation of negative image of our state at the international arena in this context we suggest: to authorize Ministry of environment, Ministry of transport, State committee on radio and TV to conduct necessary public awareness efforts among Mass Media”. Continue reading →