Kate Sheppard observes that it is very hot outside in much of the eastern U.S. She notes a blog post by Miles Grant citing NOAA records showing "June 2011 was the 316th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average." Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh says that the Heat Index is a government conspiracy.
"The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday ended a markup without taking highly anticipated votes on a plan guaranteeing energy production revenue to coastal states and the underlying offshore drilling safety bill."
"Despite strong pressure from the coal industry and its political allies, the Obama administration on Thursday finalized new guidance aimed at reducing the environmental and public health impacts of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia."
"Executives from Wal-Mart, Walgreens, SuperValu and other stores joined Michelle Obama at the White House on Wednesday to announce a pledge to open or expand a combined 1,500 stores in communities that have limited access to nutritious food and are designated as 'food deserts.'"
"With the government declaring formaldehyde a carcinogen, these might be boom times for alternative embalming fluids — if it weren't for the so-called everlasting effect funeral directors stake their reputations on."
"A federal magistrate refused Wednesday to order the White House to provide BP PLC with emails by a former top adviser to President Barack Obama about the administration's response to last summer's massive Gulf oil spill."
Fish bones are full of calcium phosphate. Now clean-up engineers are finding that fish bone meal is a good way to remedy lead contamination in soil, because they can bind lead in a form that the human body can not absorb.
"People living in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida are most at risk in the United States from toxic emissions spewing from coal and oil-fired power plants, two leading American environmental groups said in a report on Wednesday."
"A lengthy, blistering heat wave that is blanketing the eastern half of the United States is putting significant stress on the nation's power grid as homeowners and businesses crank up their air conditioners."
Congress created a cap-and-trade plan for air pollution from the nation's aging fleet of power plants 20 years ago. In its time, it was successful in cutting pollution, but today, tattered by politics and lawsuits, its future is uncertain.
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