"A group of commercial fishers, fishing guides and seafood processors in southwest Louisiana is suing liquefied natural gas company Venture Global, claiming that dredging operations in preparation for the construction of a new terminal resulted in a sediment spill that killed millions of oysters and diminished catches of finfish, crabs and shrimp."
The Farm Bill — omnibus legislation that affects the food supply of millions of Americans, as well as their air, water and soil — is bogged down in hyperpartisan division. But as Backgrounder outlines, environmental journalists would be wise to track how Congress ultimately uses it to address matters like land and water conservation, rural water supply and pollution, pesticides and more.
"Bryce Black kneels in a wheat field battered by intense drought. He holds two strands, remarking on how small the seed head is compared with what’s normal."
"A new study identifies the chemical groups that packaging manufacturers and regulators should target for replacement in the food system to protect human health."
“Trump said Friday that he was authorizing legal documents to be drafted to give farmers and ranchers ‘the right to process their own food,’ casting the move as an effort to break what he called a ‘nasty monopoly’ in the meat industry,” Macias reported." “The announcement came after cattle producers and some Republicans pushed back on Trump’s plan to temporarily allow tariff-free imports of up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef, a move intended to ease pressure on consumers facing high prices at the meat counter.”
"More than 1,000 chemicals that migrate from packaging into food pose serious health risks, a new study shows. But the vast majority of chemicals lack enough information to tell if they’re safe."
"The Trump administration has rolled out several programs intended to pacify consumers frustrated with high beef prices and ranchers angered by beef imports."
"Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found."
"The Trump administration is working to cut global health funding to developing nations by tens of billions of dollars by 2030, according to a new analysis of the secretive agreements U.S. officials have pursued with more than a dozen governments to date."
The world may be your oyster, but if you’re an environmental journalist, the oyster may also be your story. The latest TipSheet points out (amid numerous tasty serving tips) that oysters say a great deal about the health of local waters … and of the humans who consume the mollusk. Get a dozen-plus oyster story ideas and reporting resources.
