"The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to hear from the public about what's being called the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement." Consumer advocates say it puts people at risk of food-borne disease by allowing the spinach and lettuce industries to police themselves when it comes to food safety.
At a time when tea-party budget-cut fervor is taking food out of the mouths of children, the paper industry is reaping billions in unintended taxpayer-funded federal subsidies from a loophole meant to encourage alternative fuels.
"Home is where the heart is. It's also probably where a lot of stink bugs are right now, crawling out from cracks and crevices. They were introduced into Allentown, Pa., from Asia in the 1990s and have been spreading ever since, reaching seemingly plaguelike proportions in the mid-Atlantic states. But an experiment is under way to reintroduce the stink bug to its mortal enemy: a parasitic Asian wasp."
"Wildfires have burned about 1.5 million acres in Texas since January, egged on by a drought that federal forecasters say is the worst to hit the state in 45 years."
"Aiming a legal shot directly across the bow of Gov. Rick Scott’s anti-regulation agenda, a Miami federal judge on Tuesday cleared the way for the federal government to do something he contends the state has failed to do for decades: Enforce water pollution standards tough enough to protect the Everglades."
A House Homeland Security subcommittee April 14 approved a bill (HR 901) that effectively extends chemical plant security rules put in place by the Bush administration. Chemical industry groups applauded, while Greenpeace said it puts public safety at risk. Various trade publications reported the action, although most mainstream media did not.
"Most Americans fear that the United States someday could face the kind of nuclear emergency that's plagued Japan in recent weeks, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll."
"When Chesapeake Energy lost control of a Marcellus Shale gas well in Pennsylvania on April 19, an emergency response team from Texas was called in to stop the leak. By the time the team arrived more than 13 hours later, brine water and hydraulic fracturing fluids from the well had spewed across nearby fields and into a creek."
"Conservative leader Stephen Harper has declared that Canada will not ban the export of asbestos -- despite calls from health groups -- because to do so would hurt Canadian industry."
"House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) yesterday walked a fine line on the thorny issue of oil-industry tax benefits targeted for elimination by the White House, stating that 'we oughta be looking at' ending some subsidies even as he ruled out any potential tax increases."
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