"Environmental regulators in Kentucky have found high levels of lead contamination at a former foundry site in Newport that is located next to homes. In Portland, Ore., state officials said Thursday that they will start canvassing a neighborhood near a former lead factory site as they prepare to test yards there for contamination."
"YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the license for the Northwest's only commercial nuclear power plant by an additional 20 years, the plant's operator announced Wednesday."
"The White House appears to be blocking Environmental Protection Agency efforts to tighten oversight of engineered nanoscale pesticides and other chemicals, according to environmental and safety advocates."
"Moving quickly to stem a controversy, President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated an expert on nuclear waste to lead the federal agency that regulates the nation's nuclear power plants."
"HOUSTON -- As the Memorial Day weekend and the summer driving season approach, gasoline prices are easing. But most drivers will find prices only modestly lower than a year ago."
"If the world can be seen in a grain of sand, watch out. As Wisconsinites are learning, there's money (and misery) in sand—and if you've got the right kind, an oil company may soon be at your doorstep."
"The ultra-conservative Heartland Institute admitted it was in financial crisis on Wednesday, with the flight of corporate donors making it difficult to pay staff or cover the costs of its annual conference aimed at debunking climate science."
"CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The departing head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission o n W ednesday continued to press for heightened safety regulations, at a meeting of industry officials who have often chafed at his push for new rules."
"In an average summer in the United States, there are 1,332 heat-related deaths. But climate change will make that number rise to 4,608 by the end of the century, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. In total, the US can expect 150,000 deaths due to excessive heat by 2100, the report projects."
"For years, U.S. government agencies have told the public, veterans and Congress that they couldn't draw any connections between the so-called 'burn pits' disposing of trash at the military's biggest bases and veterans' respiratory or cardiopulmonary problems. But a 2011 Army memo obtained by Danger Room flat-out stated that the burn pit at one of Afghanistan's largest bases poses 'long-term adverse health conditions' to troops breathing the air there."
