Agriculture

"A commercially valuable but unpronounceable toxicant with multiple chemical variations is being increasingly found at harmful levels in Michigan waters. Sound familiar? It’s not PFAS or PCBs this time. Now, it’s neonicotinoids, or “neonics” — a type of synthetic pesticide that’s widely used on corn and soybeans."

"Dozens of dust events probably happen each year across the 120-square-mile playa once covered by the Great Salt Lake. But there are no comprehensive state or federal records of them."

"A Texas-based federal judge assented to a Trump administration request Tuesday and ended Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken."

"One of the largest deer-smuggling networks in the state’s history aimed to skirt chronic wasting disease-containment rules, officials say." 

"Syngenta is another step closer to potentially putting an end to thousands of lawsuits brought by people blaming the company’s paraquat weed killer for causing Parkinson’s disease."

"President Donald Trump should block the U.S. House from limiting the regulation of pesticides and "forever chemicals" in its environmental appropriations bill or risk losing Republican support, more than 200 activists aligned with the "Make America Healthy Again" movement said in a letter to Trump."

"France’s highest court on Thursday blocked a key part of a contentious farming law that would have brought back a banned pesticide."

"The Fish and Wildlife Service will have to reconsider whether gray wolves in the western United States merit Endangered Species Act protections in light of Republican-backed efforts to aggressively cull the animals in the Northern Rockies, a federal judge ruled Tuesday."

"The U.S. has suspended live cattle imports from Mexico due to concerns about the New World Screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite found in southern Mexico. This suspension has severely impacted ranchers in Sonora, who are already struggling with drought."

"The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions, according to current and former NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions would be permanently terminated, because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere."