House approves $2 billion to extend ‘clunker’ plan. The House on Friday voted, 316 to 109, to provide emergency funds for the car-rebate program after the original funding was quickly snapped up. [News Source]

Forged letters to congressman anger local groups. As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman’s office received at least six letters from two minority organizations voicing opposition to the measure. The letters were forgeries. [News Source]

U.S. coal power hitting roadblocks. As more states are turning against coal power plants, advocates are using the legal system to halt pending plants. In Georgia, a major case is testing the implications of the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency that carbon dioxide is a pollutant. [News Source]

Seth Grae wants to lead the new nuclear power charge. Seth Grae, president of Northern Virginia-based Thorium Power Ltd., says he has a way to make nuclear energy safer, less expensive, and more effective. So why isn't he getting more reaction? [News Source]

Plague strikes French oysters. France's oysters have been struck by a mystery plague that has killed millions of the prized shellfish and plunged the industry into crisis for the second year running. [News Source]

After years of debate, light rail trains enter Seattle. It takes only a few moments to ride an elevator from the platform of the famous and once futuristic Seattle monorail down to the platform of this city’s new $3.9 billion light rail line. Creating the connection, though, took nearly a half-century. [News Source]

Scientists hit back at climate scepticism. Senior Australian climate scientists have hit back at climate scepticism among the nation’s politicians and media, warning that the threat from climate change is real and approaching a series of ‘‘tipping points’’ where it will feed on itself. [News Source]

Clean energy: U.S. still lags in research and development. Significant basic research and development needs to happen before renewables can truly displace fossil fuels. And unlike the first Apollo Project, the U.S. seems far from ready to spend the money needed to create long-term solutions to global warming. [News Source]

British insurers prepare for ‘worst case’ climate impacts; Americans mostly don’t . British insurers are raising rates on homeowners to insulate themselves from increasing claims blamed on climate change, a justification that U.S. companies are hesitant -- or unable -- to embrace. [News Source]

Uncertainties surround future monsoons. It is almost halfway through the rainy season, and the monsoon in many parts of South Asia continues to remain unreliable. This failure of the monsoons to behave as expected has led to the question of whether climate change is to blame. [News Source]

India rejects emissions cuts for a decade. India will not discuss signing up to legally binding obligations to make absolute cuts in greenhouse gas emissions for at least 10 years, Jairam Ramesh, the country’s environment minister, said on Friday. [News Source]