CLIMATE COMPROMISE: After months of debate, the House climate bill will come to a vote on Friday. Democratic leaders have finally patched over some crucial differences, namely concerns from Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., that the bill would be too hard on farmers, and say they're ready to move forward with the 1,201-page legislation (couldn't they trim one page and have a nice, even 1,200?) Co-author Henry Waxman, D-Calif., announced late Tuesday that he had reached an agreement with Peterson, shifting more oversight to the USDA from the EPA and clearing one of the last major intraparty hurdles the bill faced. President Obama spoke in favor of the bill during his press conference Tuesday, saying it "will lead to the development of new technologies that lead to new industries that could create millions of new jobs in America — jobs that cannot be shipped overseas." (Sources: Washington Post, New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse)

 

FINGER IN THE WIND: Speaking of those new jobs, more than a few would be created by the intensive development of wind power around the country — a prospect that grew brighter Tuesday when the Interior Department issued its first-ever "exploratory" leases for testing offshore wind power on the Outer Continental Shelf. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave four companies the right to build research towers six to 18 miles off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware; the towers will gather data on wind speeds to determine the practicality of offshore wind farms in those areas. (Sources: Philadelphia Inquirer, Scientific American)

 

BAD AIR: People in hundreds of communities around the United States are at high risk for developing cancer thanks to the blankets of toxic air pollution they breathe daily, according to a new report released today by the EPA. The agency examined concentrations of 80 cancer-causing toxins emitted by cars, factories and other sources, finding that while the nation's overall cancer risk has dropped since its last analysis in 2006 — from 41.5 in 1 million to 36 in 1 million — certain hotspots have become cancer breeding grounds. Parts of Los Angeles and Madison County, Ill., had the country's highest cancer risks, with 1,200 in 1 million and 1,100 in 1 million, followed by neighborhoods in Allegheny County, Penn., and Tuscaloosa County, Ala. Kalawao County, Hawaii, and Golden Valley County, Mont., had the least toxic air. (Sources: USA Today, AP)

 

CANCER IN THE WILD: People create and distribute many of the environmental carcinogens out there, and we tend to think of getting cancer as also a mostly human problem. But wild animals are exposed to the same toxic air and polluted water, and they're not immune to cancer any more than we are. Tasmanian devils' deadly facial tumors are one of the most widely known examples of wildlife cancer, but it's a more widespread problem than we can necessarily see, New Scientist reports, since "most wild animals live and die in anonymity." (Source: New Scientist)

 

STERN REFUSAL: Since being appointed earlier this year, U.S. climate-change envoy Todd Stern has elicited cheers from international crowds who are relieved that the United States seems to finally take global warming seriously. But he can only promise so much — and cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020, as some countries are requesting, is too much, he told environmental ministers from around the world on Tuesday. "In our judgment [this kind of cut is] not necessary and not feasible given where we are starting from," he said. "So it is not in the cards." The currently proposed U.S. climate bill, up for a House vote Friday, calls for a 17 percent reduction from 2005 levels by 2020 and an 80 percent cut by 2050. (Source: Guardian)

 

DEEP TROUBLE: Geothermal power is one of the most exciting types of renewable energy because it's so stable and reliable — the sun sets and the winds fade, but the Earth's mantle stays red-hot 24/7. Tapping into that heat could theoretically yield 60,000 times more energy than the United States would know what to do with, or could at least, more realistically, provide around 15 percent of the country's electricity by 2030. But it has a major drawback: Digging miles deep into the planet's crust can cause earthquakes, like the one in Basel, Switzerland, on Dec. 8, 2006, that shelved a major geothermal project there. As another company plans a similar project near San Francisco that will involve drilling far into the ground near a major fault zone, the NY Times takes an in-depth look at the alluring promise yet shaky future of geothermal power. (Source: NY Times)

 

ARREST OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN: Actress Daryl Hannah, NASA scientist James Hansen, former U.S. Rep. Ken Hechler and 27 other demonstrators were arrested Tuesday during a protest against mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia. After a rally at a nearby elementary school, the protestors marched quietly to a coal-processing plant, where they were blocked by several hundred coal miners. Sitting down on State Route 3 in defiance, they were arrested by police for obstruction and impeding traffic. (Sources: Huffington Post, Guardian)

 

— Russell McLendon

 

(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)