Disasters

"The voluntary quality control system widely used in the nation's $1 trillion domestic food industry is rife with conflicts of interest, inexperienced auditors and cursory inspections that produce inflated ratings, according to food retail executives and other industry experts."

"Just nine days after the Obama Administration lifted the deepwater drilling moratorium, Chevron announced on Thursday that it was going forward with a $7.5 billion project to develop two giant deepwater fields in the gulf."

"A new set of federal rules issued for shallow-water drilling are null and void because federal regulators didn’t offer the proper notices or public comment period, a judge in New Orleans said this week."

"ON THE FLOOR OF THE GULF OF MEXICO -- Just 20 miles north of where BP's blown-out well spewed millions of gallons of oil into the sea, life appears bountiful despite initial fears that crude could have wiped out many of these delicate deepwater habitats."

Will the undervaluing of environmental risks and resources lead to another financial meltdown like the sub-prime mortgage disaster? A new report says credit rating agencies are ignoring water scarcity risks when rating municipal utility bonds. Investors stand to lose hundreds of billions.

"U.S. environmental groups filed a suit on Wednesday against British-based oil giant BP Plc saying the world's worst offshore spill inflicted "ongoing unlawful" harm on endangered wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico."

"The crude has stopped gushing and coastlines are largely clear of the thick goo that washed ashore for months, but the impact of the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history will no doubt linger for years."

"Six months after the rig explosion that led to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, damage to the Gulf of Mexico can be measured more in increments than extinctions, say scientists polled by The Associated Press."