National (U.S.)

Emergency Responder Health: What Have We Learned from Past Disasters?

"As the Deepwater Horizon disaster unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, public health practitioners are having a sinking déjà vu feeling. Once again, environmental disaster has struck, and tens of thousands of emergency responders -- some professionals, but many more volunteers -- have swung into action, potentially risking their health as they work to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Veterans of similar disasters are wondering if historical lessons learned can help keep the ?damage to a bare minimum. But a paucity of ?hard data on emergency responder health makes it difficult even to ask the right questions."

Source: EHP, 08/06/2010

Energy and Elections: "Turning a Crisis Into an Opportunity"

A lot of politicians have bet their futures on what they think the voters want regarding climate change, energy policy, and oil spills. Or what the politicians can make the voters think they want. The election season now underway is already providing data about who was right. President Obama may have reversed initial criticism of his Gulf spill performance and is now campaigning against the GOP as a spill villain. Media portrayed Republicans who voted for the House climate bill in 2009 as vulnerable to conservative vengeance -- but this has not proven true in primaries. One pundit says the public's disapproval for Congress' failure to act on climate, energy, and spills may turn out to fall on both parties alike.

Source: NYTimes, 08/06/2010

"Former Governor Tom Ridge Signs Lucrative Marcellus Contract"

"Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, along with two of his former gubernatorial campaign managers, signed a $900,000 contract on July 30 to go to bat for the heavily polluting Marcellus Shale gas drilling industry. Ridge’s contract follows on the heels of an exodus from the Rendell administration to the cash-rich industry. Three top Rendell staff members have jumped ship to work in governmental relations jobs for the industry over the past year."

Source: Philadelphia Weekly Press, 08/05/2010

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