Consumer Reports finds that some varieties of dark chocolate contain the dangerous heavy metals lead and cadmium. 

The United Arab Emirates appoints Sultan al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to lead this fall’s COP28 climate summit. 

Senator Joe Manchin’s chief of staff leaves to take a top job at the American Petroleum Institute.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tallies 18 US weather/climate disasters in 2022 with losses exceeding $1 billion each, resulting in the deaths of 474 people. 

At least 19 people have died in California as a result of the series of “atmospheric rivers” that have pummeled the state since late December. The Sierra snowpack is at 226 percent of normal to date.

Many ski resorts in the Alps are closing because of a lack of snow due to unseasonably warm weather.

Ocean heat reached record-high temperatures in 2022.

Black bear 609, which had been relocated to a national forest in Georgia after digging into garbage bins in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, travels 1,000 miles to return home. 

The worldwide loss of bees and other pollinators has caused a 4.7 percent decline in the harvest of fruits and nuts and a 3.2 percent loss of vegetables. 

A court rules that the Trump-era EPA failed to consider the environmental effects of the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor when it approved its expanded use. 

The EPA will dispense $100 million in grants to advance environmental justice, including $30 million for nonprofit organizations.

Enforcement actions by the EPA drop to a new low under the Biden administration. 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls Zline gas ranges because they can emit dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. 

Ohio governor Mike Dewine signs legislation that defines methane gas as a form of “green energy.”

The nonprofit behind Burning Man sues, seeking to block the development of a geothermal energy project near Gerlach, Nevada, the gateway to the annual festival.

Two German cabinet ministers propose decriminalizing the salvaging of food from supermarket garbage bins. 

Utah’s Great Salt Lake could vanish in five years.

The most popular password at the US Department of the Interior is “Password-1234.”

California shipping lanes are shifted to protect endangered blue, fin, and humpback whales. 

Chemical manufacturer 3M will cease production of PFAS (“forever chemicals”) by 2025.

Former Arizona governor Doug Ducey’s wildlife-blocking makeshift border wall, constructed out of piled-up shipping containers, is being dismantled. The total cost to Arizona taxpayers will be more than $200 million.

Two Washington State men admit to sabotaging an electrical substation in order to burglarize a local business during the ensuing blackout. In North Carolina, grid attacks are linked to neo-Nazis. 

After phasing out incandescent lightbulbs, the Department of Energy proposes to do the same with compact fluorescents.