The EPA is now taking on the most expensive and most technically complex cleanups ever attempted -- large stretches of urban waterways where the pollution is out of sight.
Source: Wall Street Journal | Nation |
August 14, 2012
President Barack Obama used his first stop in Iowa to announce that the Agriculture Department would purchase $170 million of pork, chicken, lamb and catfish in an attempt to alleviate the burden put on U.S. farmers from the drought.
Source: Washington Post | Arlington County, Va. |
August 14, 2012
In Northern Virginia, ground runoff and discharges from stormwater systems are the second largest contributors of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollutants to streams and rivers feeding into the Chesapeake Bay.
Source: AP/Tennessean | Chattanooga, Tenn. |
August 13, 2012
Seeking to improve Chattanooga’s reputation as an environmental city, the mayor is mandating that city departments and offices reduce energy use by 25 percent by 2020.
When this project starts delivering electricity to the grid under a power-purchasing agreement, it will be the first tidal-power turbine to do so in the United States.
Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania are home to the most toxic air pollution from power plants, according to an analysis of 2010 data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), conducted by the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department could slash more than 80 percent of its staff over the next five years in a drastic overhaul to cut costs and reduce customers' rate increases.
Source: Newark Star-Ledger | New Jersey |
August 8, 2012
The rule is hailed by businesses who say they are buried in environmental red tape. Environmentalists, however, are livid over the potential to undermine protections to New Jersey’s land, water and air.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission won’t approve licenses for new or existing nuclear power plants until it figures out what to do with hazardous waste that's been piling up at storage sites across the country.
Source: AP/Philadelphia Daily News | Nation |
August 6, 2012
Though serious drilling began only five years ago, the sheer volume of Marcellus production suggests that in some ways there's no going back, even as New York debates whether to allow drilling in its portion of the shale, which also lies under large parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.
Source: AP/Myrtle Beach Online | North Carolina |
August 6, 2012
North Carolina lawmakers have temporarily banned using a science panel’s recommendation to plan for rising sea levels, after the governor decided not to veto the measure.
As the drought worsened in the Midwest and Great Plains, Congress did not provide broad relief for farmers and ranchers before leaving for a month of campaigning Thursday.
The University of Southern California and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday announced a partnership to establish a think tank that will seek bipartisan solutions to environmental problems, economic policy, political reform and other public policy issues.
Nationally, six straight years of revenue declines have put enormous pressure on state and local governments, nevertheless, some are thriving. Standard & Poor's, the credit-rating agency, reports that it issued more bond upgrades than downgrades in 2012.
The Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act are in full swing. With the influx of people who will be applying for benefits and the ACA requirement for online enrollment, it is more important than ever to verify the identities of those accessing benefits up front.