Greenwire

DENVER -- Views of the downtown skyline and the snowcapped Rocky Mountains were obscured yesterday by a thick haze of ivory dust. In a bid to raise awareness of what many experts warn is a global spike in wildlife trafficking, the Fish and Wildlife Service pulverized its 6-ton stockpile of seized elephant ivory. The tusks and trinkets represented an estimated 3,000 dead elephants -- a small fraction of a global ivory trade that conservation officials believe was responsible for the killing of 30,000 elephants in 2012 alone.

Do environmental groups have more effective messaging on hydraulic fracturing than the oil and gas industry? During today's OnPoint, Alan Krupnick, director of the Center for Energy Economics and Policy and a senior fellow at Resources for the Future, discusses surveys completed by RFF in Texas and Pennsylvania on attitudes toward shale gas development and messaging. Krupnick also explains how he believes recent fracking bans in Colorado will affect the broader national debate.

A Russian judge today refused to release Colin Russell, one of the Greenpeace activists jailed for protesting offshore drilling in the Arctic in September.

Workers today began work on decommissioning the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Ecuador's attorney general has petitioned an international tribunal at the Hague to suspend an arbitration request from Chevron Corp.

Several major companies have spoken out in support of and against a bid to change Ohio's energy efficiency and renewable energy mandates.

A bill to tighten regulations on biotechnology seed companies in Kauai County, Hawaii, became law Saturday, when the Kauai Council voted 5-2 to override the county mayor's veto.

Maryland state lawmakers have moved away from plans to put restrictions on manure used by farmers to fertilize crops.

California regulators maintain an extensive disclosure database of hazardous waste facilities, but they often fail to take action against plants even when the plants admit to violating the terms of their permits, according to a new investigation.

Samples taken from sediment at the bottom of the ocean off the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County seem to show that harmful chemicals are disappearing without being cleaned up.

Japan has offered to help pay for a high-speed rail line between Washington, D.C., and New York City that would be twice as fast as Amtrak's Acela bullet trains.

While most U.S. consumers have a favorable view of alternative vehicles and believe they're less expensive to own over the long run, more than half would still prefer a gasoline-only engine for their next car, according to a report released today by a market research firm.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has paid its new chief executive a record $5.9 million this year.

An accident in a mine in southwestern Colorado left two miners dead from carbon monoxide poisoning and 19 others injured early yesterday morning.

The Department of Defense is ramping up its alternative energy program despite criticism from opponents who claim that military spending on new fuel technologies won't produce enough benefits.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz assured Congress on Friday that he does not intend to "take over or micromanage" the Bonneville Power Administration, despite steps to keep a closer eye on the agency in the wake of a scandal over its illegal hiring practices.

U.S. EPA's top official for international and tribal issues has stepped down from the agency to take a new post at the New School in New York.

One of the nation's foremost universities has agreed to try to help resolve an ongoing conflict between the Interior Department and Department of Defense over a proposed New Mexico-to-Arizona transmission line project that the Obama administration has made a top priority.

The Supreme Court today declined to take up a case brought by nearly 500 Maryland landowners seeking more than $1 billion in damages from Exxon Mobil Corp. due to a gasoline link that contaminated groundwater with a suspected carcinogen.

Oklahoma argued in federal court today that U.S. EPA overreached when it issued a nationwide rule to address sources of air pollution on American Indian lands that the agency claims fell through a regulatory "gap" in the Clean Air Act.

Latest Images