MUST READ

EPA Halts Mountaintop Removal...Or Does It?

Everybody's reporting the Environmental Protection Agency's notice that hundreds of mountaintop removal coal-mining permits would be put on hold Tuesday to evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands.  But late in the day the agency issued a clarification that seems to take the teeth out of the warning.  [Washington Post; Greenwire/New York Times; AP; Reuters; NPR; Clarification: Grist]

OPINION

Robert Kennedy, Jr. applauds the decision.  [Washington Post]

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF

Here's the original press release.  And then the clarificaction.  Stay tuned!

GOOD READS

Insurers Weigh Climate Risks

Insurers in Texas are starting to look closely at climate change, after a hurricane-battered year that brought soaring damage claims and record losses for the state's industry.  [ClimateWire/New York Times]  

Guide for Climate Disasters

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is releasing a a study on climate extremes that will serve as " a practical guide for tackling natural disasters and fill a gap in past reports focused on the gradual effects of global warming."  [Reuters]

What Color is Your Collar?

What exactly does a "green collar job" look like? And how are people getting trained for these jobs?  A look at students from a community college in Tehachapi, California preparing for these "jobs of the future." [BBC]

Our Choice

And, oh yeah, Al Gore's writing another book.  Our Choice will "pick up where An Inconvenient Truth left off" and focus on solutions.  [AlGore.com]