"Burning Man Gets Federal Permit After Clash With Officials"
"The annual Burning Man festival received a permit to use federal land in Nevada’s desert after a clash over federal land managers’ expensive requests."
Source: The Hill, 08/14/2015
Laws & Regulations
"Judge Approves Exxon Mobil Settlement Over 2013 Arkansas Spill"
"A federal judge on Wednesday approved Exxon Mobil Corp's $5.07 million settlement of charges that it violated the federal Clean Water Act and state environmental laws in connection with a 2013 oil spill in central Arkansas."
Source: Reuters, 08/13/2015
Still Interested? Some Feds Hope You Will Give Up on FOIA Requests
Federal agencies sometimes wait years to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests, then ask if they are still interested in receiving the requested information. Now the Justice Department's Office of Information Policy has issued an official "guidance" that frowns slightly on overuse of the "still interested?" practice.
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Federal Judge Strikes Down Idaho "Ag-Gag" Law as Unconstitutional
"The facts show the state's purpose in enacting the statute was to protect industrial animal agriculture by silencing its critics," district Judge B. Lynn Winmill wrote. Sometimes investigative journalists need to go undercover. And sometimes muckraking journalists need undercover whistleblowers to tip them to abuses.
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"The Teflon Toxin: DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception"
"Concerns about the safety of Teflon, C8, and other long-chain perfluorinated chemicals first came to wide public attention more than a decade ago, but the story of DuPont’s long involvement with C8 has never been fully told."
Source: The Intercept, 08/12/2015
"NOAA Proposes to Task Foreign Fisheries"
"A proposed regulation would prohibit imports from foreign fisheries that do not meet U.S. standards for protecting whales and dolphins under the Marine Mammal Protection Act."
Source: Courthouse News Service, 08/12/2015
"EPA Moves To Fix Air Pollution Rule After Supreme Court Loss"
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to fix by this spring the problem that caused the Supreme Court to rule against its major air pollution regulation in July."
Source: The Hill, 08/11/2015
"Freight Trucks at New Jersey Port Must Curb Idling"
"The air in Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, is expected to clear up now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized agreements with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and port terminal operators that will cut air pollution caused by idling diesel trucks at the port."
Source: ENS, 08/07/2015
Conservationists Declare Victory as Idaho Halts Controversial Wolf Kill
"Conservationists declared victory on Wednesday in a legal battle over Idaho's systematic killing of wolves in a national wilderness area after the state notified federal land managers it did not intend to reinstate a controversial kill program."
Source: Reuters, 08/06/2015
"Strawberries Are in Big Trouble. Scientists Race To Find Solution."
EPA is trying to phase out the soil fumigant methyl bromide, on which the commercial strawberry crop has been dependent. Methyl bromide damages the ozone layer of the atmosphere. But the effort to find an adequate substitute has scientists scrambling.
Source: Wash Post, 08/06/2015
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