"Surprise inspections of deepwater drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico dwindled to about three a year over the past decade, even as exploratory drilling far from shore increased, according to federal data analyzed by The Wall Street Journal."
"Since the [Superfund] program was launched 30 years ago, only three of the 13 [hazardous waste] sites in Bergen and Passaic counties have been fully cleaned. Eight sites have been on the list for more than 25 years."
Plans for one of the first new nuclear power reactors in decades -- a third unit at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, were put on hold by Constellation Energy. The Energy Department said the project is so risky that Constellation must pay high fees if it wants the U.S. taxpayers to guarantee construction loans. But those subsidies were not high enough for Constellation. The demise of its poster child raised questions about the so-called "nuclear renaissance."
"The Department of Energy and Washington State Department of Ecology have reached agreement on a consent decree that sets new court-enforced deadlines for emptying Hanford tanks of radioactive waste and treating the waste."
"The White House is pushing back against the draft reports the National Oil Spill Commission released Wednesday on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that included scathing criticism of the administration's handling of the disaster. The reports' harshest criticism was directed toward the administration's handling of information about the size of the spill and the extent of the damage."
"Alaska native corporations would lose their special contracting privileges under legislation that Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) intends to introduce next month, a move that will stir debate about the billions of dollars' worth of federal set-aside contracts that the companies receive."
"Earlier this week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the state of Ohio's ban on labels that identify milk as rBST- or rBGH-free, meaning produced without the use of artificial bovine growth hormone. Consumer and organic food groups were jubilant at the Ohio news, which may have far-reaching repercussions not only for all milk, but for genetically engineered foods."
"Pregnant women who eat canned vegetables daily have elevated levels of bisphenol A, an estrogenic chemical found in food containers and other consumer products, according to new research published today. More than 90 percent of pregnant women had detectable levels of BPA, and a variety of sources of the chemical were identified in the study. Pregnant women who were exposed to tobacco smoke or worked as cashiers also had above-average concentrations."
"The emergency plans for companies operating natural gas pipelines like the one that exploded in San Bruno, Calif., killing eight people and destroying a neighborhood, are effectively off-limits to the public and industry watchdogs because the federal pipeline safety agency doesn't keep copies in its offices."
"The White House blocked efforts by federal scientists to tell the public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could have been, according to a panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history."
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