"A federal appeals court Tuesday (April 7) ordered a New Orleans federal judge to reconsider his ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency must decide whether more stringent rules are needed to curb the flow of fertilizer and other nutrient pollutants into the Mississippi River to stem the size of a low-oxygen "dead zone" that forms along Louisiana's coast each spring."
"Plummeting sardine populations could lead to a complete ban on harvesting the small oily fish off the U.S. West Coast starting later this year, officials with the Pacific Fishery Management Council said on Tuesday."
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sounded the alarm on a common foodborne illness that has acquired a new and challenging type of drug resistance—and the discovery betrays the difficulty, not just of finding new treatments, but of tracking resistance as it moves around the world."
"The neonicotinoid insecticide clothianidin is a likely contributor to monarch butterfly declines in North America, finds new research by a team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Theirs is the first report of neonicotinoids affecting monarchs or any other butterflies."
"The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a legislative hearing next week to discuss the draft of a House bill to reform the nation’s toxic chemical laws."
"Traceability in the food system is the goal, but questions remain since the E. coli outbreak in spinach nine years ago."
"The natural gas extraction method known as 'fracking' would be banned in Maryland until October 2017 under legislation approved Monday night by the Maryland Senate."
"Environmental Defense Fund fills a void in tackling critical climate issue, but to some, its collaboration with fossil fuel industry taints findings."
"A remarkable adventure came to a dramatic end Monday: The captain of a rogue fishing vessel that had been tailed by activists for more than three months apparently sank his ship off West Africa rather than face arrest with a load of illegally caught fish."
"Ever since a serpent enticed Eve to munch on that forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, relations between humans and snakes have been at best strained. But at least the gullible Eve and her mate had to cope with just the one snake. In South Florida, wildlife officials have struggled for years with tens of thousands of the creatures: specifically, a species known as the Burmese python, an interloper from Southeast Asia that has taken up what looks like permanent residence in Everglades National Park and other areas of the state."
