Pesticide executive to lead regional EPA office.

A former pesticide-manufacturing executive who once headed a California state environmental regulatory agency has been named to take the helm of the Seattle office of the EPA.

Smog surge in Bay Area stirs debate. A heat-driven surge in Bay Area smog has cooked up a debate about the state of the region's air quality, and whether enough is being done to clean it up. [News Source]

EPA proposes oversight plans for power plants. The U.S. E.P.A. is proposing Federal Implementation Plans allowable under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions from two power plants on tribal land in New Mexico and Arizona. [News Source]

Study tracks ozone, aerosols feeding Texas air pollution. Williams' task, along with the nearly three dozen other scientists aboard, is to identify the microscopic particles making air in Houston, Galveston and elsewhere in East Texas some of the foulest in the country. [News Source]

Exposing the organic-farming myth. Now companies from Wal-Mart to General Mills to Kellogg are wading into the organic game, attracted by fat margins that old-fashioned food purveyors can only dream of. [News Source]

Local businesses join to reduce global warming. Twenty-two businesses in Brattleboro, VT, have pledged to reduce their energy consumption by 10 percent in a local program called the 10% Challenge. [News Source]

Trinidad supports solar city idea. The city of Trinidad, CA, wants all its 150 homes to go solar as a means of increasing energy and emergency independence. [News Source]

Rowan forum probes wind power. A group of New Jersey stakeholders met on Friday to discuss developing a wind energy market in the state. [News Source]

Monroe County gets new industry. A new industry that will manufacture eco-friendly biodiesel fuel is coming to Monroe County. [News Source]

Keep on truckin’. Biodiesel fuel helps fight global warming and has fewer emissions than traditional diesel petroleum. And more and more truckers are getting on the bandwagon. [News Source]

‘Drive Beyond Oil’ coming to Tampa Bay. Four members of a national conservation group are stopping in Tampa Bay this Saturday as part of a tour of Florida to showcase real-world solutions to volatile gas prices and a means to move America beyond oil. [News Source]