The federal government cleared the way Thursday for waters off the Northern California coast to become the first marine wilderness in the continental United States, ending a contentious political battle that pitted a powerful U.S. senator against the National Park Service.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar settled the dispute by refusing to extend a permit for a commercial oyster farm operating in Point Reyes National Seashore.

"I believe it is the right decision for Point Reyes National Seashore and for future generations who will enjoy this treasured landscape," Salazar said Thursday.

SAN DIEGO - A regional water agency approved a contract Thursday to buy the entire output of what would be the Western Hemisphere's largest seawater desalination plant, clearing the way for construction to begin early next year.

The plant in Carlsbad is designed to produce 50 million gallons of highly purified drinking water a day, enough to supply about 8 percent of the region in 2020.

The agency will pay $2,042 to $2,290 for an acre-foot of water, more than twice what it cost to bring water from Northern California and the Colorado River on hundreds of miles of aqueducts.

Nov. 29--The period to file an appeal to either change or reverse the U.S. Forest Service's decision regarding the selection of a management plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument will draw to a close Thursday, Dec. 6.

The Forest Service's plan, Record of Decision and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) were released Sept. 4.

Elliott says that while some stakeholders raised concern over the size of trees that can be felled and over how much liberty the Forest Service might take with tree removal, to date he has only received positive reviews.

Dec. 02--PELION, S.C. -- Cooking was easy until Peggy Wise learned that toxins were polluting her family's water supply.

The Wise's suit, one of four filed together against the Taylor company, has for the first time made a connection between the sewage dump and pollution of private wells.

If they are successful in state court, the Wises could force Taylor not only to pay them damages, but also do something state regulators have not required: clean up the groundwater.

PAULSBORO, N.J. - Investigators say other railroad crews have reported possible problems with a signal where a train derailed on a New Jersey rail bridge, spewing a hazardous chemical into the air.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said Sunday that investigators will focus on the signal and bridge's locking mechanisms.

Investigators say the signal may have malfunctioned on the bridge where the train derailed Friday morning over a creek in Paulsboro, N.J. No serious injuries have been reported, but more than 70 people went to a hospital and an evacuation order remains in effect for a 12-block area.

Dec. 02--BEIJING -- In a city that never stops growing, Detroit seems a long way away.

I am visiting China for a two-week tour organized by the Honolulu-based East-West Center to give U.S. reporters and editors the chance to learn about the Chinese political system, economy and culture.

After four days in Beijing, I keep thinking about the contrast between the nearly overwhelming expansion here and Detroit's evolution to a smaller city that may never fill its available land.

If passenger train service returns to the railroad tracks that cut through the downtowns of South Florida's eastern cities, Wilton Manors wants its station to be among the first built.

But so far, state transportation officials don't have the city's station among the first 20 identified in their most recent proposal.

The city is an ideal spot for a commuter station, city officials say, as they step up their effort to persuade state planners of the rail service that would extend on the Florida East Coast railroad tracks from Jupiter to Miami.

The Illinois attorney general has fought for years to levy millions of dollars in fines against the owners of an illegal landfill that towers 80 feet over an impoverished Chicago suburb.

But if a group of local officials has its way, a new casino would be built near the dump in Ford Heights -- a move that would potentially raise the value of surrounding property, creating a windfall for the landfill owners.

But it's just the latest twist in a decades-long history of controversy for the dump's owners -- who include a well-connected municipal attorney -- and one of the poorest communities in the state.

Dec. 02--It's well known that before Rick Snyder became the governor of Michigan, he was an accountant, business executive and venture capitalist.

The bill creating the authority passed the state Senate last week and is expected to be considered by the House transportation committee Wednesday.

It's a crucial piece of the public transportation pie for metro Detroit, which has struggled to stitch together a cohesive transit system since 1956, when the last of Detroit's streetcars were decommissioned and sold to Mexico City, where they still are in use today.

The Supreme Court will hear a case from Los Angeles on Tuesday to decide for the first time who can be held responsible for polluted storm water that runs off city streets and into rivers and bays.

The case arises from a long-running dispute between Southern California environmental groups and the Los Angeles County Flood Control District over the billions of gallons of polluted water that flow into the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers after heavy rainfalls.

Congress expanded the Clean Water Act in 1987 to include storm water runoff, and since 1990 the sprawling Los Angeles district has operated under a permit.

Christmas treeThe District Department of Transportation has made several changes in the commuter traffic patterns near the Anacostia River in connection with the 11th Street Bridge project.

A new ramp connecting 11th Street SE with the westbound Southeast-Southwest Freeway opened Thursday.

The westbound side of the freeway is now closed between Pennsylvania Avenue and Eighth Street SE.

More than 800 acres along the Linton Hall corridor in western Prince William County remain the largest undeveloped parcel in the county's growth area.

Supervisor W.S. Covington III (R-Brentsville) said he hoped that by hearing from the public upfront, property owners and developers can craft a plan that has community backing.

The results: Most residents are concerned about adequate infrastructure, primarily schools and roads to handle traffic.

Dec. 02--Building a recreational trail along the Santa Cruz County coastline will be expensive and face major infrastructure improvement obstacles.

This is a position the Sentinel has held for more than four years, and now that the 31-mile coastal rail line is in county ownership, we feel strongly that an adjacent pedestrian-biking path could be a huge boon to eco-tourism here.

Eventually, a Santa Cruz County recreational trail could link up with Monterey County's hiking and biking trail, providing the possibility of traveling continuously from the North Coast -- starting as far north as Waddell Creek -- to Lover's Point in Pacific Grove, without a car.

Downeaster, as new neighbor, draws a few noise complaints

The Downeaster's schedule includes two round-trips between Brunswick and Boston each day, plus moves without passengers to position the equipment.

In Freeport, high-decibel whistle blasts and vibrations have rattled residents, businesses and hotel guests, and sparked discussion about creating a quiet zone.

PAULSBORO, N.J. - A signal may have been malfunctioning on a southern New Jersey bridge where a train derailed, causing a hazardous chemical to spew into the air and leading to health problems, evacuations, tricky cleanup decisions and broader questions about the condition of railway infrastructure.

The crew on the train told investigators that when they approached the bridge before 7 a.m. Friday, the signal light was red, telling them not to cross, National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman said Saturday.

They used a radio signal to try to change the signal to green, but it did not work, Hersman said.

Dec. 01--State water officials announced this week that they intend to undertake a cost-benefit study of a controversial, multibillion-dollar plan to transport water from Sierra Nevada snowmelt around the Delta and send it south.

A spokesman for California's Natural Resources Agency on Friday downplayed the shifting position as an effort to be responsive to the project's critics.

Gov. Jerry Brown backs the proposed $14 billion project -- called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan -- which would siphon water past the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and down to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California residents.

CHICAGO - Nebraska would issue up to $500 million of bonds backed by a slice of its sales tax under a bill likely to be debated by the Legislature in the next two weeks.

"Right now, our construction programs fund about half of what our needs are estimated at," said Dusty Vaughan, legal counsel to the Legislature's Transportation and Telecommunications Committee.

Vaughan said the state needs $350 million annually to maintain the transportation system and currently spends $316 million - down from $390 million in 2006.

Dec. 01--Architecture is historically considered a mix of art and science.

He says it's what the architect does beyond those basic requirements that turns a building into something truly special.

With the help of their professional organization, AIA Dayton, we've invited architects throughout the area to pick their favorite structures and to tell us what's special about them.

Dec. 01--A New Jersey company that washed trucks for the U.S. Postal Service from 2007 through 2010 will pay penalties totalling $500,000 for polluting Tinkers Run in Irwin, Westmoreland County, with soapy runoff.

Officials of Professional Mobile Cleaning Inc. of Fairfield, N.J., Thursday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to illegally dumping the dirty water into the creek, which flows through Irwin and into Brush Creek and then Turtle Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River.

The Postal Service contract with the firm required it to collect and properly dispose of the wash water.

Dec. 01--BEVERLY -- Beverly residents Lauren and Patrick Belmonte have presented their environmental education and recycling program to more than 2,000 students over the last three years.

Gov. Deval Patrick visited the North Beverly Elementary School to witness "Change is Simple," a program run by the Belmontes' nonprofit educational company.

"The one message I took away is a pivotal message to all of you," Patrick told the students at the end of the 75-minute class.

Dec. 01--The center for Community Development Inc., which helps spend federal housing aid in Portsmouth, has done good work.

But the agency's own financial picture is considerably murkier, according to reporting by The Virginian-Pilot's Gary Harki.

"[L]ast month, the City Council took the unusual step of giving the organization $68,000 to help pay the [tax] bill.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will adopt a combination of state and federal water pollution rules for Florida after a lengthy court fight with environmental groups that favored the federal version, agency officials said late Friday.

They had accused the agency of failing to follow its own regulations by not requiring Florida to adopt more stringent standards for such nutrients as nitrogen and phosphorus.

"We're approving Florida's rules and we're proposing numbers that will fill the gap that may exist in Florida's rules," Giattina said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The federal government is adopting state water pollution rules for Florida instead of its own version favored by environmental groups that had sued the agency.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson on Friday filed a brief statement in federal court in Tallahassee saying she had taken all actions required by a consent decree EPA entered with the environmental groups.

That triggered claims of victory by the environmentalists, but Friday evening the agency issued a news release saying it had instead adopted the state rules that the environmental groups had criticized as being too weak to stop pollution blamed for algae blooms that are chocking Florida waterways.

Dec. 01--Leading engineering firms Larsen & Toubro and Gammon India were part of a pre-bid application conference of the Oval Maidan-Virar elevated rail corridor held on Friday at Churchgate.

Moreover, the firms are expected to hold site visits next week with the railway officials to authenticate alignments.

The 63-km long Churchgate-Virar corridor, estimated to cost around Rs21,000 crore will go underground from Oval Maidan to Mahalaxmi, because of space constraints.

MERC sale delayed until cleanup plan is approved

However, the city will not close on the $6.65 million purchase of the property until the city and Casella Waste Systems, MERC's parent company, have approval under the state's Voluntary Response Action Program to clean up the site, City Manager John Bubier said.

The DEP is unlikely to issue the approval letter this week because review of the remediation plan is not completed, according to a state official.

Nov. 30--GLACIERS ARE shrinking so rapidly we might have to change the definition of the word "glacial."

The process is chronicled in the new documentary "Chasing Ice," which uses time-lapse photography to show just how drastically fast ice sheets up yonder are turning to water, raising sea levels.

"Chasing Ice" is built around the concept that seeing is believing.

Nov. 30--"We are trying to make the quality of life better for our citizens," Orangeburg County Council member Janie Cooper-Smith said Tuesday after council accepted ownership of the $3.5 million transit center on Carolina Avenue.

"It's a state-of-the-art building and everything in this building had to be made in America: the nails, the cement, the bricks, the furniture, everything," Cooper-Smith said.

The date has not yet been set.

INDIANAPOLIS - Money available for state highway and bridge projects will fall by almost 25 percent during the next budget cycle when cash from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road all but runs out, transportation officials said Wednesday.

In 2014 and 2015, highway funding will return to what Indiana Department of Transportation officials called "historic funding levels," which means the state will have the same sources of cash as it did before outgoing Gov. Mitch Daniels leased the toll road for $3.8 billion under his Major Moves program.

Those revenue streams will total about $3.1 billion during the two-year cycle, including revenue from state and federal gasoline taxes.

DOHA, Qatar - The United Nations climate chief is urging people not to look solely to their governments to make tough decisions to slow global warming, and instead to consider their own role in solving the problem.

Approaching the half-way point of two-week climate talks in Doha, Christiana Figueres, the head of the U.N.'s climate change secretariat, said Friday that she didn't see "much public interest, support, for governments to take on more ambitious and more courageous decisions."

Some delegates worried that gains made at last year's climate talks in Durban, South Africa, were at risk of unraveling, as rich and poor nations bickered over how to pull the world away from a path of potentially dangerous warming.

Nov. 30--Residents filed in to Tonawanda City Hall Thursday night to learn about the proposed plans for the proposed housing development on Little League Drive.

Council President Carleton Zeisz announced the session earlier this month when the council adopted a resolution that allowed Mayor Ron Pilozzi to begin writing a contract with Natale Builders.

Two years of negotiations with the developer yielded some positive results for the city, he said.

Nov. 30--State agencies this week announced funding for several Mid-Columbia transportation projects that will bring millions of dollars' worth of construction to the region.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission announced $25,000 from the Grade Crossing Protective Fund to pay part of the cost of a railroad crossing-safety project on West A Street in Pasco.

The city plans to install median barriers at the crossing and a raised traffic curb with traffic bumpers on South First Avenue, a news release stated.

Nov. 30--Three of Tennessee's five 2012 Green Development Awards and Grants are going to local cities or agencies.

The money also may be used for citizen outreach and education efforts, according to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Meg Lockhart.

Athens will receive $28,080 for its Green Streets Initiative, a collaborative effort with the Tennessee Public Works Institute and Tennessee Transportation Assistant Program to apply both traditional and experimental cleaning technologies to local roads, trails and parking lots.

Nov. 30--For Ice River Springs Water Co., locating a new bottling and manufacturing plant in the Lehigh Valley makes its environmentally friendly product a little greener.

Over the next three years, the Canadian producer of bottled water in containers made from recycled plastic will bring 49 manufacturing jobs to its plant in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

Based in Feversham, Ontario, family-owned Ice River Springs was looking for a place to move production closer to its customers in the mid-Atlantic region.

Projects underscore need for new ways to raise money to improve people's daily lives

TORONTO, Nov. 29, 2012 /CNW/ - Mitzie Hunter, CEO of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance (CivicAction) responds to the speech that Metrolinx President and CEO Bruce McCuaig gave at the Toronto Board of Trade today where he unveiled the next wave of regional transportation projects planned for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).

We applaud the announcement of the master agreement between Metrolinx and the TTC for four new Light Rapid Transit lines in Toronto, and that the next wave of proposed investment extends beyond major rapid transit projects to local transit, roads, active transportation and other strategic transportation initiatives.

Nov. 28--WILTON -- Wilton Recycling will pay a $7,500 penalty to the state for the company's role in an asbestos hazard at the former Forster Mill, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

The company's owner, Adam Mack, 38, said active demolition of the now-safe Depot Street site could begin at any time, whether or not he is incarcerated for unrelated charges.

"The other stuff is still ongoing and whether I'm available to directly coordinate or not, I have other responsible people in place who will continue with the Wilton project," Mack said.

SKIATOOK - Architect Daryl Bray never had heard of the Folds of Honor Foundation.

Bray volunteered to design the group's "Honor Cottage," a year- round retreat for wounded veterans and their families at CrossTimbers at Skiatook Lake.

The cottage is a joint venture among the Owasso-based Folds of Honor Foundation, CrossTimbers and the Army Corps of Engineers, said Ron Howell, the developer of CrossTimbers.

Nov. 28--WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., introduced legislation Wednesday to help clear the way for development at River Ridge Commerce Center along Ind. 62.

The legislation mirrors a similar bill introduced this year by Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., as part of the National Defense Authorization Act and helps clear the way for economic development at military installations that have been closed outside the normal Base Realignment and Closure process.

The 6,000-acre River Ridge Commerce Center fits the criteria and is being developed on the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant site that extends from Jeffersonville into Charlestown.

Nov. 29--WESLEY CHAPEL -- The potential for light rail in Pasco County is looking less likely now that Hillsborough County and Tampa officials are considering nixing a rail line along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Richard Gehring, Pasco's growth management administrator, said Hillsborough's decisions have serious ramifications to its northern neighbor -- especially if light rail is "dead" on Bruce B. Downs.

A rail line along the newly widened Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in New Tampa was supposed to be a key segment of the network -- the county even set aside an extra 20 feet of right-of-way for the future rail line.

Nov. 29--SANTA CRUZ -- Santa Cruz residents want the county's transportation leaders to start building a trail next to the railroad as soon as possible, and they'd like it close to their individual neighborhoods and homes.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Santa Cruz County held its third public workshop Wednesday at Simpkins Family Swim Center to gather input on how to move forward with the commission's recent purchase of the 32-mile Branch Rail Line, which runs from Watsonville to Davenport.

The commission's long-term vision for the rail line, which was acquired from Union Pacific in October for $14.2 million, includes a recreation pedestrian-bike trail that will eventually connect with trails in Monterey County and stretch north to the San Mateo County line.

Nov. 29--Many of the St. Cloud area lakes and rivers that drain into the Mississippi River continue to have pollution problems including too many nutrients and bacteria, according to a new report.

The MPCA began an intensive monitoring effort of the St. Cloud watershed in 2009.

Water samples were collected between 2009 and 2011 from more than 70 rivers, including the Elk, Clearwater, St. Francis and Mayhew Creek; and 69 lakes, including Clearwater, Elk, Cedar, Clear and Pleasant.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - The United States claimed "enormous" strides in reducing greenhouse emissions at the opening of U.N. climate talks Monday, despite failing to join industrialized nations in committing to binding cuts.

The pre-emptive U.S. approach underscores a showdown expected at the two-week conference as China pushes developed countries to take a greater role in tackling global warming.

China's delegate, Su Wei, said rich nations should become party to an extended Kyoto Protocol - an emissions deal for some industrialized countries that the U.S. long ago rejected - or at least make "comparable mitigation commitments."

Nov. 28--Nothing better reveals the true agenda of environmental extremists than the fact that even an immediate, total U.S. carbon-emissions halt wouldn't affect climate change significantly -- but would cripple America's economy and way of life.

Writing for The Examiner of Washington, Ron Arnold, executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, highlights that key conclusion of a new Science and Public Policy Institute report ( scienceandpublicpolicy.org ).

If America eliminated all carbon emissions today, says report author Paul Knappenberger, global temperatures would rise just 0.08 degrees Celsius less by 2050, 0.17 degrees Celsius less by 2100 -- "amounts that are ...

Nov. 28--SAN FRANCISCO -- A state appellate court has reversed a Contra Costa Superior Court decision that halted Walmart's aims of expanding its Antioch store into the East Bay's first Supercenter.

In its decision Tuesday, appellate judges agreed that the Antioch City Council correctly applied its development plan when approving the retailers expansion in September 2010 without looking at environmental issues.

Walmart is preparing to move forward with its expansion plans, Walmart spokeswoman Delia Garcia said in an email.

Nov. 28--A battle is emerging over state energy conservation standards that have saved Ohioans $1 billion on their electric bills since 2008.

Ohio's Energy Efficiency Resource Standard requires that Ohio investor-owned utilities cut a cumulative 22 percent of electric consumption through energy efficiency efforts by 2025.

The standards were signed into law in 2008 by then Gov. Ted Strickland.

COVINGTON, Ky. - A northern Kentucky community college is investing an ambitious $81.5 million into a new urban campus in the hopes it will become the foundation for urban economic development in Covington.

The new Gateway Community & Technical College campus itself will be nestled in roughly a six-block area in Covington's Central Business District.

Gateway buildings and partnerships are expected to spread throughout northern Kentucky's largest city, filling up long- vacant storefronts and bringing new foot traffic for existing businesses - and, hopefully, new ones.

Nov. 27--Future visitor restrictions on the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor?

Aquatic invasive species as Glacier Park's biggest threat?

These are some of the topics on Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright's mind as he winds down to retirement at the end of the year after 25 years with the National Park Service.

Nov. 28--As Perrysburg's public transportation system came to a halt on Tuesday night, so did the freedom of residents who rely on the service.

She was among several Perrysburg residents who attended Tuesday's meeting of the Health, Sanitation, and Public Utilities committee, which discussed options following the narrow defeat of a transportation levy on Nov. 6.

After counting provisional votes, the Wood County Board of Elections on Tuesday certified the defeat of the 1.45-mill, five-year levy that would have hired Ride Right of St. Louis to operate Perrysburg's proposed transit system.

Two of the most overcrowded lines in the subway system have been squeezing in even more riders, thanks to Hurricane Sandy.

Straphangers have been packing into the 4 and 5 trains like sardines since the R train stopped running between Manhattan and Brooklyn, transit officials said yesterday.

The extreme conditions - the two lines together typically carry about 1.07 million passengers a day - have transit officials scrambling to repair the R line's Montague Street tunnel, which has been closed since it was damaged in the storm.

View Mack Point in a larger map

CHS Inc.'s new rail facility in the Biddeford Industrial Park can store 180,000 gallons of propane and move 20 millions gallons a year into Maine.

These questions remain in the background this week, as the Searsport Planning Board holds four days of public hearings to determine if the $40 million project meets local land-use rules.

The Environmental Protection Agency updated water quality guidelines for the nation's beaches Monday, moving in response to charges that the federal government has not done enough to protect bathers from polluted water.

States have the authority to set their own water quality standards.

The EPA also issued a second set of standards with lower recommended thresholds for both bacteria.