Public

Spanish settlers the wake of Coronado's visit in 1540 brought sheep to New Mexico. Four centuries later the settlers' descendants are scrabbling to produce the only certified-organic spring lamb (also descendants) in New Mexico. There is a close relationship between the food and the land.

"The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether a global warming lawsuit against five big power companies can proceed, with several justices saying the Environmental Protection Agency, not federal judges, should deal with the issue."

"Federal regulators [Tuesday] reopened commercial and recreational fishing in all federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico that were closed to fishing due to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill."

"Mediterranean fish, including bluefin tuna, sea bass and hake, are in danger of extinction from overfishing, marine habitat degradation & pollution, according to a report Tuesday from the International Union for Conservation of Nature."

"Mexican American school children in California are contaminated with seven times more flame retardants than children in Mexico and three times more than their own mothers, according to a new study. The 7-year-olds in the Salinas Valley had more of the chemicals in their bodies than almost all other people tested worldwide."

"Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday that the federal government has approved construction of the controversial wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, which could commence this fall."

"The Japanese government is considering whether to impose legal controls on access to an evacuated area around a damaged nuclear power plant, a senior official said on Wednesday."

Today is the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon blowout that caused a catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. The consequences to people, natural resources, and industries are still happening, and just beginning to be understood. BP is making profits, paying dividends, and having protestors from the Gulf hustled out of its shareholder meetings by police. The tarballs? Security guards patrolling Louisiana public beaches still prevent journalists from filming them. The $20 billion in compensation set aside by BP has not prevented many people from feeling that their lives have been ruined by the event. Elected officials have resumed the chant: "Drill, baby, drill." Now Freedom-of-Information requests have brought to light documentation that the UK government refused to go to war in Iraq without guarantees that BP and other British firms would get a share of the conquered nation's oil.

"Hundreds of activists protesting fossil fuels marched to the Department of the Interior's headquarters [Monday] and swarmed inside, calling for the abolition of offshore oil drilling, coal mining and tar sands extraction."