After 18 months of resistance from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the US EPA has withdrawn proposed guidelines for cleaning up dioxin-contaminated soil at polluted sites. EPA says other guidelines issued in the meanwhile made them unnecessesary. Environmental groups condemned the move and the chemical industry applauded it.
"ATLANTA -- Clean air advocates and environmental groups won a victory Monday when the utility consortium Power4Georgians agreed to cancel its proposal to build a coal-fired power plant near Fitzgerald in Ben Hill County, Georgia."
"Old swaths of Appalachian forest land left barren by decades of coal mining may find their past is their future, if efforts to restore the American chestnut tree in reclaimed coal fields are successful."
"The reversal of fortune in America’s energy supplies in recent years holds the promise of abundant and cheaper fuel, and it could have profound effects on what people drive, domestic manufacturing and America’s foreign policy.
Cheaper fuel produced domestically could reduce the cost of shipping and manufacturing, trim heating and cooling bills, improve the auto market and provide tens of thousands of new jobs.
"An 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia on Wednesday, sending residents around the region scurrying from buildings and raising fears of a huge tsunami as in 2004, but authorities said there were no reports suggesting a major threat."
"SAN FRANCISCO — Some nail polishes commonly found in California salons and advertised as free of a so-called 'toxic trio' of chemicals actually have high levels of agents known to cause birth defects, according to state chemical regulators.
A Department of Toxic Substances Control report to be released Tuesday determined that the mislabeled nail products have the potential to harm thousands of women who work in more than 48,000 nail salons in California, and their customers.
"Maryland is about to become the first state to ban the use of additives containing arsenic in chicken feed, a practice already prohibited by Canada and the European Union."
"The warming Atlantic Ocean is drawing moisture away from the Western Amazon, drying the rainforest and catching residents by surprise. 'We weren't prepared.'"
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