Democrats Pen Principles for Climate-Change Bills (Washington Post) Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday unveiled a set of principles that will guide their efforts to craft legislation aimed at slowing global warming, firing an opening salvo in what is likely to be one of the year's central legislative debates. [News Source]

Boxer signals intention to act on climate change (The Hill) Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) signaled her intention of moving quickly on climate change legislation by releasing a set of commonly shared principles... [News Source]

Water - another global ‘crisis’? Why do some communities have so little access to water? And how will the current picture change in a world where the human population is growing, where societies are urbanising and industrialising, and where climate change may alter the raw availability of water significantly? [News Source]

Biofuels more harmful to humans than petrol and diesel, warn scientists. A new study finds corn-based ethanol, produced extensively in the US, has a higher combined environmental and health burden than conventional fuels, buttressing an increasing body of research raising concerns about the impact of modern corn-based biofuels. [News Source]

Energy provision may test priorities. Environmental groups are protesting a proposed $50 billion increase to an existing federal loan program for "innovative" energy technologies--that could expand beyond renewable energy to include nuclear power and certain kinds of coal plants. [News Source]

Utilities ditch coal, switch to gas and wind. An uncertain regulatory climate has prompted four rural electric cooperatives to scrap plans for a $900 million coal-fired power plant east of Great Falls and turn instead to natural gas and wind to meet the needs of 65,000 Montana customers. [News Source]

Snow is consistent with global warming, say scientists. Britain may be in the grip of the coldest winter for 30 years and grappling with up to a foot of snow in some places but the extreme weather is entirely consistent with global warming, claim scientists. [News Source]

Nemo could get lost in acidifying seawater. In new lab experiments, orange clown fish larvae didn’t respond normally to scent when researchers reared them in more acidic seawater. Ocean chemists predict that the current increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from human activity is lowering the pH. [News Source]

Is Punxsutawney Phil responding to global warming? Since 1886, when the tradition first began in the western Pennsylvania borough, Phil has presaged an early spring only 14 times. But – as another signal of our warming climate – nine of those times have occurred since 1975. [News Source]

Climate change might be altering waters along US west coast. Scientists believe climate change is the cause of stronger winds that drive upwelling of nutrient-rich deep ocean waters. [News Source]

Study to assess global warming impact on infrastructure. The Tasmanian Government has given $100,000 to help fund a project that will asses the risks posed to the state's infrastructure by climate change. [News Source]