"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Obama administration officials on Friday proposed to update the federal government's 42-year-old exposure limits for silica dust, a move the Labor Department said would prevent 700 deaths and 1,600 new cases of silicosis every year. The proposal would provide new protections for 2.2 million American workers, cutting in half the legal limit for dust exposure on the job."
"WASHINGTON, DC -- A dam that has blocked Maryland’s Patapsco River for nearly 100 years will be removed shortly, utilizing a $3.57 million grant awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Restoration Center to the nonprofit organization American Rivers."
"CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- For the first time, nobody has bid on a federal coal tract offered for sale in Wyoming after the company that initially sought to mine the location determined that it couldn't do so profitably."
"It’s not unusual for think tanks, lobbyists, PR firms and deep-pocketed foundations to draw battle lines when the president nominates a new agency head — unless the agency is an obscure regulatory body with an ungainly nickname like 'FERC.'"
"A 'complete breakdown of safety' in 2010 has not been sufficiently addressed, a neglect that may spell trouble for its other aging lines, the report says."
"The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it will examine allegations that oil companies may be undermining efforts to distribute renewable fuels."
"SALMON, Idaho -- U.S. wildfire managers facing increasingly strained resources have opened talks with Pentagon commanders and Canadian officials about possible reinforcements of personnel and aircraft to battle dozens of blazes raging across the drought-parched American West."
"Yosemite area wildfire destroys two homes and sends tourists, residents packing. Although officials haven't closed Yosemite, wildfire has forced the closing of one of three entrances to the national park."
As wildfires rage across the West, the costs of the fight to protect lives and property are up. But budget cuts imposed by an austerity-minded Congress have meant that funds to protect people are down.
"The Interior Department [Wednesday] proposed a new rule designed to strengthen the safety of offshore oil and gas production technologies as industry reaches into deeper and riskier waters."
