The Obama budget proposes charging tiny royalties for hard-rock minerals owned by the U.S. taxpayers that have been given away free to large, profitable corporations for more than a century. Will the GOP deficit hawks go along?
"The attorneys general of New York, Connecticut and Vermont sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday, challenging a new commission policy stating that nuclear waste can be safely stored at a nuclear power plant for 60 years after a reactor goes out of service."
Down about 85% from their levels around 130 years ago, according to researchers from the US, China, Italy, Uruguay, and Australia, the decimation of native oysters — a contributor to healthy ecosystems and an indicator of ecosystem health — has largely been caused by overharvesting, disease, and introduction of exotic species.
With the US now 99-100% dependent on foreign countries for 20 of the 90 or so mineral commodities covered in a new USGS report, there are plenty of opportunities for you to concurrently cover the environment, business, national security, and crime.
After participating in an 8-year struggle to get offshore wind development approved in Massachusetts waters, federal officials are pushing for expedited reviews and approvals in a rapidly growing number of other US coastal areas.
"The U.S. Forest Service believes proposed revisions to its forest planning rule will accelerate timber sales and provide rural jobs while protecting watersheds, wildlife and quiet spaces for recreation."
"The day after the Jan. 26 snowstorm swept through the Washington region, knocking out power for 220,000 Pepco customers, the utility's parent company, Pepco Holdings, announced a $60 million dividend payment to its shareholders."
"Author Wendell Berry and 13 other environmental activists emerged from the [Kentucky] state Capitol on Monday to roars of approval and applause, ending their four-day occupation of Gov. Steve Beshear's outer office."
The cleanup of radioactive contamination at the massive Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky faces a major delay, even as contaminated groundwater continues to escape the 5.5-square mile property, likely reaching the Ohio River. One problem: money.
"Many agricultural pesticides – including some previously untested and commonly found in food – disrupt male hormones, according to new tests conducted by British scientists. The researchers strongly recommended that all pesticides in use today be screened to check if they block testosterone, which is critical to men’s and boys’ reproductive health. Thirty out of 37 pesticides tested by the University of London altered male hormones, including 16 that had no known hormonal activity until now. Most are fungicides applied to fruit and vegetable crops, including strawberries and lettuce."
