Laws & Regulations

In a complex legal settlement with the Sierra Club, Ohio's American Electric Power Company would eventually convert three coal-burning plants totalling 1,500 megawatts to natural gas and bring online 900 megawatts of wind and solar.

"A U.S. appeals court said on Tuesday Obama administration regulations limiting emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants can remain in effect while the government revises the rules in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling."

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finalized a new rule Monday that will require all producers of raw ground beef to keep records of where the meat has come from."

"Food companies are mounting an aggressive year-end push to head off mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods."

"CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A federal judge is set to hear the state's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by groups challenging Wyoming laws enacted this year that restrict data collection on open land."

"State and city regulators need to do a better job enforcing laws meant to protect children from lead poisoning if the longtime health scourge is ever to be eliminated, key lawmakers and community leaders said Monday."

"The US is set to ban personal care products that contain microbeads after the House of Representatives approved a bill that would phase out the environmentally-harmful items."

"A months-long investigation shows how the energy giant pressured the Interior Department during the company's gung-ho Arctic push—and got most of what it wanted (except oil)."

"Last May, four months before the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell suspended exploration in offshore Alaska, Christopher Putnam needed to get something off his chest.

"Emission controls required on out-of-state power plants have yielded big reductions in mercury pollution in Western Maryland's air, a study has found. So far, however, the state's fish remain as contaminated with the toxic chemical as ever, researchers say."

Environmental policy riders are one of the bones of contention stalling a massive omnibus funding deal in Congress as the December 11 government shutdown deadline looms.

"WASHINGTON — The bazaar is open on Capitol Hill as lawmakers rush through unfinished budget business.

Congress is trying to wrap up its work for the year and it's hoping to go out with a bang by passing a massive spending bill and a separate measure reviving a boatload of tax breaks that mostly reward business interests like high-tech firms and producers of renewable energy.