"The Environmental Protection Agency is expected Friday to approve a tough new rule to limit emissions of mercury, arsenic and other toxic substances from the country's power plants, according to people with knowledge of the new standard."
"The Institute of Medicine report stops short of asking the federal government to retire all the animals, saying future unseen threats to human health may require their use."
"The shutdown-averting budget bill will block federal light bulb efficiency standards, giving a win to House Republicans fighting the so-called ban on incandescent light bulbs."
"SAN FRANCISCO – Nearly 36,000 people gathered last week in two groups on opposite ends of the Earth to discuss the same thing: Our planet and our future. But their responses are starkly divergent. One group -- scientists at the American Geophysical Union meeting drilling ever deeper into the evidence -- said, in broad terms, 'Change is worse than we thought.' The other group -- delegates at the United Nations climate talks -- countered, 'Mañana.'"
"SEATTLE -- For years, the federal agencies that helped the U.S. wolf population recover under the Endangered Species Act have also quietly killed hundreds of wolves that threaten livestock or prized game. They've even taken to the skies - and are considering doing so again."
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a document yesterday that got no attention on the nightly news, or almost anywhere, really. Its title, I'm sure you'll agree, is a snooze: National Nutrient Management Standard. Yet this document represents the agency's best attempt to solve one of the country's -- and the world's -- really huge environmental problems: The nitrogen and phosphorus that pollute waterways."
"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it would suspend review of the non-foreign ownership requirements of the proposed new reactors at South Texas because Japanese multinational Toshiba effectively controls the project. Foreign companies cannot control nuclear plants in the United States."
"In a letter dated December 13, the NRC said its staff would continue to review the application but would not issue a license until the foreign ownership requirements were met.
"WASHINGTON -- In exchanges that ranged from merely testy to caustic, four members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a House committee on Wednesday that their chairman had withheld information from them, berated the agency’s professional staff, reduced female employees to tears with abusive comments and created a 'chilled' atmosphere that was hurting the agency’s ability to function."
"The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Wednesday to increase its production target for the first time in three years, a move that appeared to signal that Saudi Arabia and Iran had put aside their recent differences on oil policy, at least temporarily.
"Federal and state authorities today unveiled a legal settlement intended to finally complete the Deep Tunnel, the Chicago region’s massive flood- and pollution-control project."
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