481 tornado deaths this year

A phenomenal warning from Sarah Laskow at Grist : The average number of tornado fatalities in the U.S. each year is 55. Already this year, 481 people have died .

Fifteen states, led by Texas , are looking to overturn the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. If they fail in court, they plan to stick their fingers in their ears and go “LA LA LA.”

The New York City ban on smoking in parks kicked in , bringing “clean,” “fresh” air to all. The three remaining smokers complained; no one else noticed.

The U.K.’s new green investment bank will open in April with an initial 3 billion to dole out to offshore wind, energy efficiency, waste reduction, and other parts of the green economy.

The market for solar is saturated in Pennsylvania. Incentives for bringing solar to the state were so good that they now have way more solar energy than the market will bear (especially because utilities are only required to buy a small percentage of solar). Companies may now move their solar farms to states with better incentives, because there’s no way this can happen twice, right?

Saudi Arabia is running out of easy oil but still has enough trickier-to-access heavy oil to keep the U.S. playing BFFs for years to come.

A Florida university wants to tap the Gulf Stream as a source of renewable energy. Interior’s thinking about it.

But since Sen. David Vitter is pushing to block a salary increase that would put the Secretary of the Interior’s pay on a level with other cabinet members, maybe they’re more likely to be tapping an Airstream as a source of sustainable housing.