Energy excess

US lawmakers working out details of a broad US energy bill voted on Tuesday to expand daylight-saving time by two months to conserve energy, but refused to boost mileage requirements for gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles.

Negotiators on a joint Senate House committee are racing to finish a final energy package by August 1. Waste watch CANADIAN spotter planes will for the first time start monitoring Arctic waters for illegal discharges of waste by ships which could damage the region’s delicate environment, officials said on Tuesday.As part of an experiment, the aircraft, which currently monitor ice conditions in the North, will look for signs of pollution until the end of October, when the waters freeze.Tree target INDIA is unlikely to meet a target of increasing forest cover to one-third of its territory by 2012 because some trees will be cut for industrial activity to meet the needs of economic development.The environment ministry said in its 2003 forest report that 23,68 per cent or 778 229 sq km of the nation’s area was covered by forests, which included trees in non-forested areas, up a marginal 0,65 per cent from 2001.- Nampa-ReutersWaste watch CANADIAN spotter planes will for the first time start monitoring Arctic waters for illegal discharges of waste by ships which could damage the region’s delicate environment, officials said on Tuesday.As part of an experiment, the aircraft, which currently monitor ice conditions in the North, will look for signs of pollution until the end of October, when the waters freeze.Tree target INDIA is unlikely to meet a target of increasing forest cover to one-third of its territory by 2012 because some trees will be cut for industrial activity to meet the needs of economic development.The environment ministry said in its 2003 forest report that 23,68 per cent or 778 229 sq km of the nation’s area was covered by forests, which included trees in non-forested areas, up a marginal 0,65 per cent from 2001.- Nampa-Reuters