Despite phase-out plan, Japan will not stop work on new nuclear reactors. The country announced last week it will stop using nuclear power by 2040, but a government spokesman said that the ban wouldn’t apply to several planned reactors. The country allows nuclear plants to run for 40 years and apply for extensions after that, so these facilities could remain on-line long after the ban goes into place. The government’s atomic exit strategy has been criticized for its long time-frame and vagueness — seen as ways to mollify the plan’s opponents in the business sector while alleviating public concern over nuclear power. The New York Times, Deutsche Welle
EPA falls short on cleaning up contaminated sites. Hundreds of thousands of abandoned and polluted properties, known as brownfields, mar communities nationwide, despite the $1.5 billion in grants and loans the Environmental Protection Agency has made for cleanup efforts over the last 19 years. An investigation found widespread problems stemming from limited funds, lack of oversight and bureaucratic processes favoring larger and middle-class communities. In Massachusetts, funds have gone mostly to suburban areas where developers want to build rather than to urban minority communities. What’s more, monitors at the sites are paid by developers, raising questions about potential ethics conflicts and oversight. Connecticut has fully cleaned up and certified just 19 brownfields since 1994, even after receiving $60 million in federal funds. Investigative News Network
French President vows to uphold fracking ban. President Francois Hollande said the ban on the shale gas extraction method known as fracking would remain in place during his five-year term. French lawmakers banned fracking in 2011, but a favorable government study into the potential fuel source released this spring had given hope to energy companies as well as labor unions who see the practice as a way to create jobs. Shale gas advocates vowed to fight on, but environmental groups praised the decision. Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep underground and may contaminate drinking water. Bloomberg, Energy Live News
Air pollution may affect fetal development, study suggests. Breathing polluted air during pregnancy may increase a woman’s risk of giving birth to premature or low birth weight babies, Harvard researchers have found. Researchers analyzed 634,244 Massachusetts births and found that on average, for every 10 percent increase in a mother’s exposure to airborne pollution called particulate matter, the odds of a premature birth rose by 6 percent and the baby’s birth weight dropped by nearly an ounce. The study confirms earlier findings linking air pollution to low birth weight, but was the first to use satellite data to assess pollution levels, which yield more accurate and detailed information than ground-based air pollution monitors. Environmental Health News
Safety regulators probe Ford police cars. Complaints about a possible defect that could lead to a loss of steering control prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open a preliminary investigation into Crown Victoria police cars. The probe will determine whether a defect exists and whether a recall is needed. The safety agency received three complaints that part of the steering column had separated, and another 10 that it was about to. No injuries were reported but one driver whose steering column separated reported losing mechanical connection to the front wheels. The probe could affect 195,000 vehicles made between 2005 and 2008. Reuters, The New York Times
Recalls: Ford Edge SUVs
