The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulates carbon dioxide pipelines, and is holding a two-day conference in Des Moines to take public input and discuss issues surrounding the pipelines. Opponents believe they threaten air and water quality as well as the people who live near them. Ethanol producers say removing carbon dioxide via pipelines and burying it deep in the ground through a process known as carbon capture and sequestration is an effective way to address safety and environmental concerns. .
New research shows ancient chili peppers were likely growing in Southwestern states like New Mexico millions of years earlier than previously thought. Scientists believe birds - which, unlike people, lack heat receptors and don t wince, or worse - when eating the spicy "berry-like" fruits, and spread their seeds across vast areas. Now, researchers at the University of Colorado say a previously collected fossil shows they were growing in the Americas as much as 50 million years ago - much earlier than the 15 million years ago previously thought. .
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008 would result in ahuge expansion in ownership of land in the United States. This would restrict access to energy and limit economic opportunity at atime when the nation should be increasing domestic supply.