"The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has been under tough Congressional scrutiny over the last two years for what critics assert are flawed evaluations of health risks at the nation’s worst contaminated sites. Now the Government Accountability Office has issued a report detailing some problems with the agency’s internal policies and inconsistent monitoring by its management."
"President Barack Obama, seeking a gas-sipping fleet of the future, will order the government to begin working on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks in the 2017 model year and beyond."
"The coal baron who runs the West Virginia mine that last month saw the deadliest U.S. mine accident in 40 years came unbowed to Capitol Hill today, insisting that his company 'does not place profits over safety.'"
"The Environmental Protection Agency has directed oil giant BP to use a less toxic form of chemical dispersants to break up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."
A CBS News crew captured on video orders from BP contractors and US Coast Guard officials to stop filming environmental damage from the BP-owned oil fouling Louisiana beaches and coastal wetlands. The Coast Guard denied that it or BP has rules prohibiting coverage.
"Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took steps to increase the transparency of the response to BP's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil company's actions have been criticized for failing to disclose or monitor important information about the spill, including the quantity of oil erupting into the Gulf, the potential health impacts of the oil and the chemicals used to disperse it, and water and air quality information."
The Environmental Council of the States, World Resources Institute and United States Environmental Protection Agency are collaborating in this conference to provide a better understanding and use of a broad array of environmental information aligning with the Administration's call for open government and transparency, participation and collaboration.
Exhibitor Information 2010
The vast deposits of deepwater methane hydrates may have been a major factor in the Deepwater Horizon blowout and explosion. Methane hydrates expand 164 times in volume when destablilized by heat and reduction in pressure. Such conditions may have existed the night of the explosion, causing a quickly expanding bubble of methane gas to shoot up the drill column before exploding on the platform on the ocean's surface.
"The health hazards of bisphenol A are well documented, but now scientists report that the chemical used in the coating of cans to protect food from corrosion and bacteria is pervasive in the canned goods on our kitchen shelves."
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/headlines/toxic-substances-agency-draws-fire
[2] http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/toxic-substances-agency-draws-fire/?ref=energy-environment
[3] https://www.sej.org/headlines/friday-announcement-obama-pushing-higher-fuel-efficiency-standards
[4] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hTIfEP47jBc2oIQC8_M6IJY9uRzAD9FQR3SO0
[5] https://www.sej.org/headlines/senators-grill-massey-ceo-safety-doomed-mine
[6] http://www.aolnews.com/2010/05/20/senators-grill-massey-ceo-on-safety-at-doomed-mine/19484875/
[7] https://www.sej.org/headlines/epa-demands-less-toxic-dispersant-gulf-spill
[8] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100520/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_gulf_oil_spill_chemicals
[9] https://www.sej.org/headlines/uscg-and-bp-threaten-journalists-arrest-documenting-oil-spill
[10] http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/coast-guard-and-bp-threaten-journalists-with-arrest-for-docume
[11] https://www.sej.org/headlines/epa-and-dhs-order-bp-stop-hiding-oil-spill-information
[12] http://www.ombwatch.org/node/11018
[13] https://www.sej.org/calendar/2010-national-training-conference-tri-and-environmental-conditions
[14] https://www.sej.org/initiatives/sej-annual-conferences/AC2010-advertise
[15] https://www.sej.org/headlines/did-deepwater-methane-hydrates-cause-bp-gulf-explosion-0
[16] http://solveclimate.com/blog/20100519/did-deepwater-methane-hydrates-cause-bp-gulf-explosion
[17] https://www.sej.org/headlines/report-hazardous-chemical-our-canned-food
[18] http://www.aolnews.com/science/article/bpa-pervasive-in-our-canned-food-national-workgroup-for-safe-markets-says/19482419
[19] https://www.sej.org/search_results
[20] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4546
[21] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4543
[22] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4544
[23] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4545
[24] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4548
[25] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4549
[26] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4550
[27] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4551
[28] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=4968