Take advantage of the National Park Service's free admission days during National Park Week in April, first day of summer (June 21), National Public Lands Day (September 24) and the November 11-13 Veterans Day weekend.
Topics at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Feb. 17-21, 2011 in Washington, D.C., include climate change, energy, health, oceans, national security, nanotechnology, GMOs, religion, space weather and many more.
Some light bulbs require special handling to reduce toxic exposures. EPA's latest guidance for old fluorescent bulbs that contain PCBs and current generation CFLs that contain mercury both provide important fodder for consumer-awareness stories.
Permittees and lessees of public lands are a key part of covering issues that involve grazing, hunting, public lands access, utility corridors, and related topics. The public comment period on BLM's proposal to identify these people closes Feb. 7, 2011.
President Obama's new executive order requiring executive agencies to test regulations for balance between costs to industry and benefits to Americans drew mixed reactions. Environmentalists called it a cave-in and business lobbyists said it did not go far enough. In fact, it did not much change existing executive orders already on the books to do the same thing. Stakeholders and analysts saw it as a maneuver in a complex game of appearances and a feint that may blunt a GOP plan to do things far more radical.
Cash-strapped communities across the country find themselves being courted by private companies -- including Goldman Sachs -- who want to buy their water utilities. They should heed the unhappy experiences of communities who have already privatized.
Water managers, farmers, electric utilities, skiers and some 30 million water users breathed a sigh of relief in recent weeks with news that snowpack in the basin of the Colorado River was better. The relief may be temporary. The drought that has plagued the region for 11 years may become the new "normal."
"Tuna and swordfish collected from some California grocery stores and sushi restaurants contained mercury levels as much as three times the threshold that authorizes federal food regulators to pull seafood from shelves, according to a study by an environmental health group."
"The Obama administration opened an aggressive new legal front in the enduring trade fight over lucrative softwood lumber exports, accusing Canada of violating a 2006 deal by allowing British Columbia to sell vast quantities of cut-rate, Crown-owned timber to lumber companies."
Darrell Issa, the incoming GOP chair of the House Oversight Committee, has vowed to investigate Democratic wrongdoing. First, though, he may have to put to rest questions about his own past.
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