National (U.S.)

Hoping to please the farm lobby, Congress ordered the nation's gasoline refiners to blend more ethanol into the fuel Americans use. But fuel demand falling because of the recession and more efficient vehicles has made this impossible.

"Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has directed the agency's regions and research stations to jointly produce draft "landscape conservation action plans" by March 1 to guide its day-to-day response to climate change."

"The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season ended Monday without a hurricane landing on U.S. shores and with the fewest named storms in 12 years, according to the National Hurricane Center."

"Despite months of additional study and a self-imposed timetable, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration likely will not release its ruling Monday on the safety of bisphenol A, a chemical used in thousands of household products that has been linked to developmental and behavioral problems."

"A group of U.S. senators who could determine the fate of a climate bill received more than $20 million in campaign contributions over the past two decades from energy interests with a direct stake in pending legislation."

Monsanto's use of market dominance in genetically modified seeds to crush competion and coerce farmers into paying higher prices has drawn complaints. After years of looking the other way, antitrust enforcers are thinking about acting.

"Last year, an estimated 17 billion catalogs were sent to U.S. households. ... Now, a growing chorus of environmental groups is sounding the alarm.... Some are seeking a national 'Do Not Mail' registry, modeled on the 'Do Not Call' list."

The giant evergreen forests of the American West could play a signficant carbon-storage role as the nation "bridges" to sustainable energy.

A federal agency that is supposed to protect communities from toxic threats is being accused of using bad science to falsely reassure communities, after it reversed its findings in two recent incidents.