New governor approves one coal-fired power plant for Kansas. In a stunning reversal from his predecessor, Gov. Mark Parkinson signed an agreement Monday ending a two-year fight over plans to build coal-fired power plants in western Kansas. [News Source]

US supports reducing climate-warming gases. The Obama administration expressed a preference for drastically reducing hydrofluorocarbons widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners that are promoted under the U.N.'s ozone treaty rather than phasing them out entirely. [News Source]

Arctic thaw may slow crackdown on toxic chemicals. A thaw of the Arctic linked to global warming may slow a drive to get rid of industrial chemicals that are harming indigenous people and wildlife, an expert said on Monday. [News Source]

US climate change denier James Inhofe joins Al Gore in fight to save the Arctic. In a surprise U-turn, conservative Republican senator James Inhofe has put forward a bill to review the climate-warming dangers of black carbon. [News Source]

EPA: Global warming could hurt Houston smog control. Houston’s elusive goal of meeting clean-air standards could become more difficult because of global warming, according to a new government report. [News Source]

Bolivia’s Chacaltaya glacier is gone. If anyone needs a reminder of the on-the-ground impacts of global climate change, come to the Andes mountains in Bolivia. Chacaltaya, an 18,000 year-old glacier that delighted thousands of visitors, is gone, completely melted away as of some sad, undetermined moment early this year. [News Source]

Why global warming could make or break south-east Asia. In the middle of this financial crisis there is a debate taking place over whether governments can afford both massive tax-funded spending programmes needed to revive ailing economies, and the emissions cuts that are needed to combat climate change. [News Source]

Council set to vote on climate-action plan. Berkeley's City Council is headed for a passionate debate tonight on its controversial plans to fight global warming, with some on the council wanting to tone down the city's goals and others insisting the plans do not go far enough. [News Source]

White House to step up ethanol efforts. The Obama administration will increase the availability of ethanol at filling stations and speed up subsidies to struggling biofuel producers. But the trade-off is also expected to result in a rule that could make certain biofuels look less climate-friendly. [News Source]

Sun oddly quiet — hints at next “little ice age”?. A prolonged lull in solar activity has astrophysicists glued to their telescopes waiting to see what the sun will do next—and how Earth's climate might respond. [News Source]

Greenhouse limits may ‘mark end of oil era.’ The UAE and other oil producers need to recognise that new greenhouse gas limits could herald the end of the hydrocarbon era, even though technology may still offer a solution, experts at a climate change conference in the capital said yesterday. [News Source]