A record amount of US corn-based ethanol is being exported, despite the PR campaign touting ethanol as a domestic alternative to importing foreign oil. The reason: a Congress-passed tax credit for blending ethanol with gasoline. The credit -- a giveaway adding at least $6 billion to the federal deficit -- is scheduled to expire this year.

The Pew Environmental Group Thursday released a detailed report concluding that the risks of a blowout in Alaska's Beaufort Sea could be even worse than the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf.

"General Electric Co plans to buy 25,000 electric vehicles from makers including General Motors Co over the next five years, in a move it said could spark demand for the charging equipment it sells."

"As Republicans jockey over next year's open gavel at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michigander Fred Upton holds the upper hand of seniority, while Texan Joe Barton fights for a waiver of term limits to retain the top GOP slot. But dark-horse candidate John Shimkus of Illinois can claim an asset of his own: a lead in the campaign donation chase."

"The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report."

"In a case being followed closely by some Marine veterans and their families, a federal judge has denied the Navy's request to dismiss a civil case regarding an Iowa woman's exposure to contaminated water at Marines Base Camp Lejeune, N.C."

The Great Lakes, America's largest supply of fresh water, and surrounding forests, wetlands, and waterways are threatened by new mining of copper and nickel.

"In a continued effort to ban arsenic in chicken feed, Food & Water Watch, a Maryland consumer advocacy group, has released a study outlining the environmental and human health impacts posed by 'poisoned poultry.'"

"Eighteen months after the Environmental Protection Agency announced reforms to its controversial process for evaluating health hazards posed by dangerous chemicals, significant problems continue to hamper the program and leave the public at risk, according to a new report by a nonprofit research group."

"Hundreds of water providers around the Gulf Coast region are providing their customers with drinking water that contains radioactive contaminants that raise health risks, according to state lab results and public health scientists."