"Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher knew what he was doing when he made $1.8 million in false oil and gas drilling bids at a federal auction. He knew he couldn't possibly pay for them. And he knew he could end up behind bars. But he did it for the cause. On Thursday, a federal jury convicted him on two felony counts of interfering with and making false representations at a government auction."

Past efforts to regulate toxic and polluting waste from oil and gas drilling operations were thwarted when back-room industry pressure subverted the law and science that justified it. Today, history may be about to repeat itself.

"Federal mine safety regulators quietly warned lawmakers just two weeks before the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster about serious enforcement lapses, including incomplete inspections and inadequate enforcement actions, according to a previously unpublished report to Congress."

"As prices for agricultural land surge across America’s grain belt, regulators are warning that a new real estate bubble may be forming."

Republicans and some coal-state Democrats are trying to stop EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, saying it will hurt jobs. But several economists point to evidence from past history and other nations which suggests that the exact opposite is the case.
 

"Corn-based ethanol is the renewable fuel environmentalists love to hate. But as turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa has sent oil prices soaring, U.S.-made ethanol is making a comeback."

"Most plastic products, from sippy cups to food wraps, can release chemicals that act like the sex hormone estrogen, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives."

"A fungus under control for 50 years is back and ravaging wheat crops in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Once it gets in a field, it corrodes the stalks, turning them shades of brown and red that gives the disease, wheat stem rust, its name. Farmers can do little but harvest what's left, sometimes losing 60% of their crop."

"It’s clear that Agent Orange was 'very widely used' in Ontario for more than three decades and may have been used in other provinces and territories, the Ontario government said Monday."