Iron and the carbon pump. New findings suggest that a lowering of the ocean water pH from increasing CO2 may decrease iron availability to phytoplankton, thereby restricting the biological carbon pump. [News Source]

Tibet temperatures hit record high in 2009. Temperatures in Tibet rose last year to the highest level since records began for the remote Himalayan region, which scientists say is particularly vulnerable to global warming, state media reported on Friday. [News Source]

U.S. declines to list the American pika as endangered. The Obama administration denies environmentalists' contention that the tiny mountain-dwelling creature will be unable to survive climate change. [News Source]

Shell to pump CO2 underground? The West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership and Shell put together six information tables to help explain their plan for capturing carbon dioxide and storing more than two miles below the ground surface in the Montezuma Hills. [News Source]

Energy production: biofuels mandate. Saying he wanted to reduce the nation's "dependence on foreign oil," President Obama on Wednesday announced a raft of initiatives designed to boost the use of biofuels and make coal-fired power plants cleaner. [News Source]

Nuclear renaissance could stall, Canada group says. Expectations of a sharp rise in nuclear generating capacity over the next two decades are likely overblown, a Canadian think tank said on Thursday, disputing conventional wisdom that a nuclear renaissance is in full swing. [News Source]

Nuke industry announces advertising blitz. The Nuclear Energy Institute on Tuesday revealed the details of a new, seven-month advertising campaign aimed at federal and state policymakers. [News Source]

Calpine Russell City gas plant gets final permit. Calpine Corp has obtained final approval to build a long-delayed natural gas-fired power plant in California that will limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, the company said on Thursday. [News Source]

New California power plant gets greenhouse gas limits. A new power plant approved for the San Francisco Bay area will be built with strict federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions – the first such project in the nation, regulators said. [News Source]

Boom in nuclear energy unlikely: Expert. An expansion of nuclear facilities and energy sources is unlikely to occur over the next two decades unless the global community adopts major changes to improve safety and security, and works to prevent the risk of proliferation, said a new report released on Thursday. [News Source]

Sceptic rubbishes computer modelling on climate change. Climatologists were downplaying the uncertainty of the long-term computer models used to predict climate change, a leading sceptic said yesterday, as repercussions spread from the mistaken IPCC claim that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035. [News Source]