National (U.S.)

"Oil drilling in a vast Alaskan wildlife refuge moved a step closer to reality on Wednesday after the U.S. Senate energy and natural resources panel voted 13-10 to open part of the r eserve coveted by conservationists."

"Bernadette Demientieff says it is a 'very scary time' for the Gwich'in indigenous nation as proposed US budget legislation would open a key section of a nearly 20-million acre wildlife refuge in the Arctic up to oil-and-gas development."

"Monsanto Co and U.S. farm groups sued California on Wednesday to stop the state from requiring cancer warnings on products containing the widely used weed killer glyphosate, which the company sells to farmers to apply to its genetically engineered crops."

"House Republicans overcame bipartisan opposition Tuesday to pass a bill that would reauthorize and overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program, which has strained to pay out billions of dollars to policyholders after this year's run of devastating hurricanes."

"Helen Nez had 10 children. Now she only has three. Seven of her children died of a disorder called Navajo neuropathy, which is linked to uranium contamination."

"Critics call Perry's proposal raising coal, nuclear plants' rates a bailout".

The GOP-controlled Senate has already shown it will confirm Environmental Protection Agency leaders with massive conflicts of interest. "Yet Michael Dourson, the industry scientist Trump nominated to head EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, may be unable to clear even this low bar." Some of the opposition is from red states.

"At a private meeting in September, congressional aides asked Rebeckah Adcock, a top official at the Department of Agriculture, to reveal the identities of the people serving on the deregulation team she leads at the agency."

"Senate opponents of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge hope to convince their colleagues over the next few weeks that energy development there threatens America's entire wildlife refuge system, primarily for the sake of alleviating Alaska's fiscal crisis."