Senate committee approves stalled NOAA, science nominees (New York Times) The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee gave unanimous approval this afternoon to two of President Obama’s key picks for climate and science positions in his administration. The two nominees — John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco — cleared the committee in a unanimous vote this [...]

Federal spending bill paves way for state, regional projects (West Linn Tidings) Oregon will receive nearly $250 million in federal funds for infrastructure and other projects through the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009. One of the recipients will be the Wood Utilization Research Center at Oregon State University, who will get $4,545,000 for the development [...]

Wyden, Merkley tout dredging projects in bill (Oregonian) Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley say the $410 billion spending bill Congress has sent to President Barack Obama contains $23 million for waterway maintenance and dredging projects up and down the Oregon coast. The bill includes $2.3 million to establish a National Wave Energy Center located [...]

Share my ride (New York Times) The business of American car sharing originated in a bathtub in the Pacific Northwest some 15 years ago. Dave Brook, an energy-conservation agent for Oregon State University, was examining the advantages of low-flow showerheads for a local utility. Panel calls for National Climate Service outside of NOAA (New York [...]

Stem cells announcement speaks for Barack Obama’s science policy (Daily Telegraph) Another environmental scientist, Lubchenco is professor of marine biology at Oregon State university. Her work has been about climate change and its effect on the oceans. She is now head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which performs much of the Government’s own [...]