"WASHINGTON -- The Agriculture Department says a statement on its website encouraging its employees not to eat meat on Mondays was made without proper clearance."

"WASHINGTON -- The Republican-led House on Thursday passed legislation that would freeze major government regulations until the unemployment rate, now at 8.2 percent, drops to 6 percent or below. The latest GOP attempt to rein in Obama administration's rulemaking, like previous anti-regulation bills, is virtually certain to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate."

"WASHINGTON — Chemical companies would need to provide more health and safety information about their products and regulators would have more authority to force harmful substances off the market under legislation approved along party lines Wednesday by a Senate committee."

"Cordial and generally noncommittal, Allison M. Macfarlane, the new chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, gave her first testimony before Congress on Tuesday without reiterating some of the positions she has taken in the past on nuclear waste."

"The League of Conservation Voters will launch a $1.5 million campaign Tuesday targeting five House Republicans who question the connection between human activity and climate change, in an effort to test whether the issue can sway voters."

For years, controversy has been raging over what little 'science' there is on questions related to the environmental and health impacts of the hydraulic fracturing boom. The scientific controversies may be a proxy for the conflict over the gas-extraction method itself. Billions of dollars are at stake, the debate is getting ever more intense, and its intensity challenges the objectivity of scientists, government regulators, and journalists.

"FRESNO, Calif. — California Gov. Jerry Brown is set to reignite the state's water wars when he makes the long-awaited announcement next week about plans to build a massive twin tunnel system to carry water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmland and cities."