"As the players here remake the nation’s vast regulatory system, they have been grappling with a subject that is more the province of poets and philosophers than bureaucrats: what is the value of a human life?"
Voting largely along party lines, House Republicans loaded a stopgap funding measure with amendments that would block EPA climate rules, gut landscape conservation, stymie EPA rulemaking on coal ash, prevent preservation of national monuments, stop the "Greening the Capitol" program, quash a Chesapeake Bay cleanup, de-fund a National Park in former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district, hamstring EPA's effort to control mercury air pollution, and fire President Obama's climate negotiator and policy "czars." The House could pass the spending measure today, sending it to the Senate on a take-it-or-leave it basis, with GOP leaders threatening a government shutdown if the Senate does not comply.
"Rising sea levels in hundreds of cities along U.S. coastlines will lose about 10 percent of their land area by 2100, finds new research led by University of Arizona scientists."
"Environmental groups said Wednesday that a 1,700-mile oil pipeline planned between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico posed safety risks and should be delayed."
"President Barack Obama [Wednesday] announced the administration's action plan, under the America's Great Outdoors initiative, to achieve lasting conservation of the outdoor spaces that power our nation's economy, shape our culture, and build our outdoor traditions."
"The United States' reliance on coal to generate almost half of its electricity, costs the economy about $345 billion a year in hidden expenses not borne by miners or utilities, including health problems in mining communities and pollution around power plants, a study found."
"An ingredient used in Coca-Cola and Pepsi is a cancer risk and should be banned, an influential lobby group has claimed."
The BP Gulf oil spill reminded us that spill-response technology had barely advanced for decades. But a new product tested during the spill may offer a leap forward in removing oil from water.
"A drawn-out fight over the guidelines for thyroid patients who are given radioactive drugs has taken a new turn, with a decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it is not a good idea for them to go to hotels."
"Sen. Frank Lautenberg introduced legislation Tuesday designed to give the federal government more tools and financial resources to combat such wildlife diseases as white nose syndrome, a fungus that has contributed to the death of more than a million bats in New Jersey and other states in the past few years."
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