National (U.S.)

Republicans in a House subcommittee will vote Thursday to stop enforcement of a nonexistent rule on dust which EPA says it has no intention of ever issuing.

"Today, the United States has begun marching millions of airline passengers through the X-ray body scanners, parting ways with countries in Europe and elsewhere that have concluded that such widespread use of even low-level radiation poses an unacceptable health risk. The government is rolling out the X-ray scanners despite having a safer alternative that the Transportation Security Administration says is also highly effective."

"Hollywood legend Robert Redford has starred in his second anti-Keystone video in less than two weeks. And this time he is advocating encircling (not occupying) the White House on November 6 to show President Barack Obama the 'people's' opposition to TransCanada's $7-billion pipeline.

"A coalition of health campaigners on Tuesday urged a boycott of Johnson & Johnson until it removes from its baby shampoo a preservative considered by the government to be a possible trigger for some cancers and skin allergies."

"NEW YORK -- Environmental activists spent the weekend here trying to push their issues to the forefront of the Occupy Wall Street movement, staging mini-protests in the shadow of the World Trade Center on everything from relicensing the Indian Point nuclear power plant to hydraulic fracturing to global water scarcity.

The protests were the result of three weeks of planning by an Occupy splinter group that wants to use the broader movement's momentum to bring attention to energy-sector profits and what the activists view as widespread greed within associated industries."

"IRVINE, Calif. -- A non-radioactive ammonia leak at a Southern California nuclear plant prompted an emergency alert and precautionary evacuation of nearby workers before it was contained Tuesday, authorities said.

Workers stopped the leak by 5 p.m., about two hours after it was detected in a storage tank in the water purification system of Unit 3 at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, said Todd Adler, the plant's engineering manager.

Front-running Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain revealed that he was unaware that China had nuclear weapons. The revelation came in an October 31, 2011, interview with Judy Woodruff on PBS Newshour.

"President Obama said Tuesday that he will decide whether to approve or deny a permit for a controversial 1,700-mile Canadian oil pipeline, rather than delegating the decision to the State Department.

"The Obama administration announced Monday that it has extended nearly 1,400 deep-water oil and gas drilling leases to make up for delays caused by last year's Gulf spill and a subsequent moratorium on some offshore exploration."

"The Interior Department plans to issue a proposal soon forcing companies to reveal the chemicals they use in the so-called fracking drilling process on federal lands, as the Obama administration responds to public safety concerns over the shale exploration boom."