Environmental News ICYMI 07-14-17

A weekly roundup for busy people

By Paul Rauber

July 14, 2017

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Illustration by Peter Arkle

The Bureau of Land Management outlaws rope swinging from natural arches in Utah. 

An iceberg the size of Delaware, one of the largest ever recorded, breaks off from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica. 

France will ban sales of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040.

Israeli soldiers destroy a Dutch-funded solar project that powered the Palestinian village of Jubbet adh Dhib. Israeli officials said its construction had been illegal.

Oregon, a state without a sales tax, levies a $15 tax on bicycles.

A federal judge overturns Utah’s 2012 “ag-gag” law, which made it illegal to covertly film farms and slaughterhouses. 

The number of captive desert tortoises in Las Vegas backyards may exceed that of tortoises in the wild.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI warn that hackers have penetrated the computer systems of U.S. nuclear power plants. The New York Times reports that their methods resemble those of previous Russian incursions.

Hormone-disrupting chemicals called phthalates are found in high levels in all varieties of mac and cheese tested.

Following the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says his country may follow suit.

Human-caused noise has doubled in 63 percent of protected natural areas in the United States; in 21 percent, it has increased tenfold. 

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