Environmental Watchdog

The National Weather Service offices in Louisville and Jackson have issued winter weather advisories. Predictions are that anywhere from a half-inch to 2 inches of snow could fall tonight and early Friday morning, the weather service said.

Environmental groups have filed a new document in a case against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over a surface mine in eastern Kentucky. Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Sierra Club are fighting a permit the Army Corps granted to a coal company. They say the Corps is required to take potential health effects from a project into account before granting a permit…and in this case, the agency ignored studies that have been done over the past few years showing associations between health problems and mountaintop removal mining.

It feels like spring outside today with a temperature of 54 degrees at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The high later will soar to 67, just one degree shy of the record on this date, set 99 years ago in 1914, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio. It will be mostly cloudy. A major change is coming early Wednesday as a strong cold front approaches from the west, bringing the potential for hazardous showers and thunderstorms by 4 a.m.

A Louisville non-profit has filed to amend its pending lawsuit against the Ohio River Bridges Project, arguing the federal government should have taken greenhouse gases into consideration. The Coalition for the Advancement of Regional Transportation, or CART, filed the amendment in federal court on Saturday.

A new analysis shows that certain cancers are more prevalent in areas near the Rubbertown neighborhood in west and southwest Louisville. But it’s impossible to determine what role—if any—pollution from nearby industries plays in the elevated cancer rates. Everyone in Rubbertown knows someone with cancer. But are people in these neighborhoods actually more likely to get cancer than other Louisville residents? I called someone who should know: Dr. Tom Tucker, the head of the Kentucky Cancer Registry.

Gov. Steve Beshear has proclaimed February as Earthquake Awareness Month in Kentucky as local, state and federal officials continue to prepare for The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut Earthquake Drill, scheduled for Feb. 7, 2013. The 2013 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut is expected to involve more than 2 million people through a broad‐based outreach program, partnerships with the media, and public advocacy.

Chalk air pollution regulators up as the latest group to splinter because of increasingly divisive partisanship in Washington, D.C. Regulators from 17 states—including Kentucky and Indiana—are forming a new association to assist states with air pollution policies. Right now, 43 states are members of a group called the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, or NACAA. The group has been around for 32 years, and is a non-partisan member organization that represents state and local air regulators.

Today's high will only be in the upper teens across Kentucky. And tonight will again see Arctic air invade the state as lows hit around 10 degrees with wind chills even lower. It will warm to about 30 on Wednesday and Thursday. But a wintry mix of precipitation will hit the state Thursday night. The chance for precipitation is 70 percent, according to the National Weather Service in Louisville.

We're stuck with bitterly cold air until Thursday of this week and even then the high will only be slightly warmer than the freezing mark. But compared to the high temperatures today, Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday's high of 33 will seem warm in comparison.

White Nose Syndrome has been confirmed in Mammoth Cave National Park. White Nose Syndrome is caused by a white fungus, and is deadly to bats. Since 2006, the fungus has been found in 21 states. The disease has killed more than 6 million bats in four Canadian provinces and 19 states, including Kentucky. Mammoth Cave has been taking steps to keep the fungus out of its caves--like making visitors walk over cleansing mats--but park superintendent Sarah Craighead confirmed the disease's presence today.

The National Weather Service office in Louisville has issued a winter weather advisory for sleet from 5 p.m. EST today to 5 a.m. EST Wednesday. Cities in the advisory area include Leitchfield, Elizabethtown, Lawrenceburg, Versailles, Lexington, Paris, Carlisle, Bardstown, Springfield, Harrodsburg, Lebanon, Danville, Lancaster, Richmond, Morgantown, Brownsville, Munfordville, Greensburg, Campbellsville, Liberty, Stanford, Russellville, Bowling Green, Franklin, Scottsville and Glasgow.

The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection has finished analyzing data of all the toxic chemicals that were released in the state in 2011. Since 1986, companies have been required to report the number of pounds of toxic chemicals they release into the air, into water and on land, and there’s been a definite downward trend in Kentucky as new regulations go on the books.

Kentucky’s second sandhill crane hunting season is officially over. This year hunters killed 92 birds—42 more than last year. Most of the birds killed were in Hardin and Barren counties on private land. No more than 400 birds could be hunted during the season, and the actual amount taken didn’t come even close to that. But Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Migratory Bird Specialist Rocky Pritchert says the department is counting the season as a success.

All of the major factories in Louisville's Rubbertown area have permits that allow them to put specific amounts of certain chemicals into the air. But when residents report unpleasant smells, it’s hard to know where they’re coming from and whether a factory is violating its permit. If you live near Rubbertown on the West End, there's a lot to worry about. There's a possibility of a major disaster—like the explosion that ripped through the DuPont plant in 1965 or the 2011 explosion at Union Carbide. But day-to-day, the pressing concern is the odor in the air and what chemicals and health complications they might bring.

In the late 1990s, Louisville spent nearly $200 million revitalizing a blighted area on the West End. Park DuValle emerged—and has since been nationally-recognized as a model mixed-income community. But one thing the city couldn't change was the neighborhood's location. And like the housing projects that stood before it, Park DuValle is next to Louisville’s industrial area. Residents say the odors in the air are often unbearable.