TATAY RIVER, Cambodia (AP) — Up a sweeping jungle valley in a remote corner of Cambodia, Chinese engineers and workers are raising a 100-meter- (330-foot-) high dam over the protests of villagers and activists. Only Chinese companies are willing to tame the Tatay and other rivers of Koh Kong province, one of Southeast Asia's last great wilderness areas.
The Cambodian government said Wednesday that it will allow Chevron to begin developing its first offshore oil field early next year, once it has "all the necessary laws and regulations in place," The Wall Street Journal reports.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will introduce Myanmar's president to a large gathering of American companies in the aftermath of eased U.S. sanctions on the country.
Clinton will meet President Thein Sein in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Friday. Together they will participate in a forum aimed at bringing investment to Southeast Asia.
More than 500 Cambodian villagers have paid tribute to a prominent environmentalist who was shot dead by a military policeman last month after investigating illegal logging.
Human rights activist Ou Virak says Friday's memorial service in the forest in Koh Kong province, near where Chut Wutty was killed, was meant to honor him as a protector of the forests and show illegal loggers that the struggle to stop them will continue.
Human rights and environmental groups on Friday denounced the shooting death of a prominent Cambodian environmental activist by military police who had confronted him while he was investigating illegal logging.
Military police spokesman Kheng Tito said National Resources Protection Group director Chut Wutty was shot Thursday in a clash at a checkpoint in Koh Kong province. He said the activist fatally shot a military police officer in the confrontation, and that it was unclear what triggered the violence or who shot first.
A prominent Cambodian environmental activist was fatally shot Thursday in a confrontation with military police near a forest area where illegal logging reportedly takes place, a human rights group and police said.
Military police spokesman Kheng Tito said National Resources Protection Group director Chut Wutty was shot in a clash at a checkpoint in Koh Kong province during which the activist also fatally shot a military police officer.
Three Cambodia ministries on Wednesday jointly proposed regulating fishing in part of the Mekong River to protect the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin.
The head of the semi-official Commission for Mekong Dolphin Conservation said the tourism, agriculture and transportation ministries will submit a decree to Cambodia's Cabinet limiting fishing activity along a 180-kilometer (112-mile) stretch of the river.
Touch Sieng Tana said the rule would not prohibit all fishing, but would ban the use of floating houses, fish cages and gill nets, the large, almost invisible nets that entangle all sorts of aquatic life.
One of the world's most endangered turtles has been released into a Cambodian river with a satellite transmitter attached to its shell to track how it will navigate through commercial fishing grounds and other man-made hazards.
The 75-pound (34-kilogram) southern river terrapin — one of only about 200 adults remaining in the wild — waddled into the Sre Ambel river in southwestern Cambodia this past week to the cheers of local residents and conservationists.
Four Southeast Asian nations on Thursday again postponed a decision on Laos' plan to build the first dam across the Mekong River's mainstream amid a barrage of opposition from neighboring countries and environmental groups.
The Mekong River Commission, a regional management forum, said the countries would approach Japan and international agencies to further study the impacts of the proposed $3.5 billion Xayaburi dam.
The commission's decisions are not binding, and there are signs that Laos is starting preparations for the project.
The planned Cape Wind offshore project in Massachusetts won a $200 million commitment from Denmark's public pension fund, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., pledged to push a vote to complete the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility in Nevada if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., moves to limit filibusters, Roll Call reports.
The Army Corps of Engineers said it would not conduct a cumulative environmental review of three coal export terminals or consider overseas climate change impact in its reviews, E&E reports.
Legal experts say U.S. natural gas companies could file lawsuits against the Energy Department to speed decisions on liquefied natural gas exports, Reuters reports.
House Appropriations Committee Democrats criticized Republicans for cutting Energy Department spending on renewable energy by 50 percent, The Hill reports.
A communique released at the close of the G8 summit expresses leaders' concerns over climate change and pledges support for a new international climate change treaty in 2015, Business Green reports.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced a bill to open parts of Alaska's Tongass National Forest to timber development, KTOO reports.
