"Natural gas has already been blamed for shuttering of coal plants and slowing wind and solar financing. Evidence suggests nuclear is also falling victim to the glut of cheap natural gas. The closure of a nuclear plant in Wisconsin Tuesday is exhibit A."
"A key House Democrat [Wednesday] criticized the Obama administration's proposal for regulating hydraulic fracturing on public land, saying it appears to be watering down the rule "under pressure from industry."
"A Senate Committee will vote Thursday on whether to advance President Obama’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the full Senate."
InsideClimate News' Lisa Song notes that US EPA's website had originally shown 1,149,460 gallons of oil recovered from the 2010 Enbridge spill near Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sometime in mid-March 2013, she reports, that number was removed from the EPA site and replaced by one much lower, the amount Enbridge claims was spilled.
The unanimous decision turned down a FOIA request by a California resident for records in Virginia. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, only a "handful" of states have similar residents-only restrictions to their FOI laws. But the doctrinal impact of the decision is likely to be large, since the court held, among other things, that the First Amendment conveys no right of access to government information.
SEJ members have complained a lot over many years about difficulties getting information and interviews from US EPA. SEJ officers and FOI watchdogs have talked to EPA about the problems for a long time, too. If a regular call to a line press officer brings poor results, try explaining your problem to the boss — here are their numbers!
Explosions from ammonium nitrate fertilizer, like the one in West, Texas that killed 15 people in April 2013, are only one of many hazards posed to communities from dangerous materials under the purview of EPA and other agencies. Toxic inhalation hazards could kill tens of thousands of people if released in crowded areas. Here are several tools to help you find local facilities that handle toxic, explosive, flammable, corrosive, and otherwise hazardous materials.
Until recently the American food revolution seemed to have bypassed the Rustbelt region which rims the Great Lakes from Buffalo to Detroit. But an "interdependent web of chefs, butchers, farmers, millers, bakers and brewers" there are "cooking sustainably, supporting agriculture and raising families — all while making world-class food with a strong sense of place."
"Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday that he intends to change California's landmark consumer-safety law in an attempt to reduce frivolous lawsuits and give the public clearer information about toxic chemicals."
"Federal judges wrestled today with whether U.S. EPA ran afoul of the law in directing states to implement regulations to address climate change."
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