"U.S. EPA [Tuesday] proposed to start gradually banning a pesticide often used on cocoa beans and dried fruits that degrades to fluoride, a move closely linked to the Obama administration's decision last week to curb the maximum levels of fluoride in drinking water out of concern for children's health."

"Snow and ice carpeted much of the Deep South on Monday, leaving four people dead, cutting off power to thousands and closing countless roads, authorities said."

"A projected shortfall in the production of an important green energy alternative could hurt U.S. efforts to move away from fossil fuels, a ClimateWire analysis has found."

"Republicans in Congress are introducing legislation to curtail the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and to prevent and roll back regulations intended to reduce air pollution such as mercury emissions from cement plants. These efforts amount to attacks on the nation's health, the advocacy coalition Health Care Without Harm said [Tuesday]."

"A Russian company that took control of uranium mines in Wyoming is barred from exporting produced material and executives at U.S.-based subsidiaries will remain in charge, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report."

"Now numbering in the millions, these shockingly destructive and invasive wild hogs wreak havoc across the southern United States."

"Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically wounded Saturday in an asassination attempt at a mall parking lot in Tucson, was a longtime ally of the environmental movement and recipient of the Sierra Club's 2005 "Most Valuable Player" award from the Grand Canyon Chapter."

"The presidential commission looking into the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico concludes its work on Tuesday with the release of its final report at 10 a.m."

"Environmental health groups are now looking to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to impose tougher standards on fluoride in drinking water, building on a decision Friday by the federal Department of Health and Human Services to lower the recommended level for the first time in nearly 50 years."
 

"New House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) drew attention last week when he solicited advice from a number of corporations, trade groups and organizations about federal regulations covering a variety of issues. A number of energy companies, manufacturers were on the list that are likely to focus on regulations from the Environmental Protetion Agency in their response.  The letter raised some eyebrows in DC, of course."