Aussie Mine Magnate Gina Rinehart Gets $695 Million Subsidy to Buy from U.S. Corporations for Roy’s Hill Mine Port Hedland iron ore facility with mangrove and wetlands, Pilbara region of Western Australia. Photo by Teri Shore, SeaTurtles.org, 2009 AUSTRALIA–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Yesterday the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved US $694 million[Read More…]
Science
On 5th Anniversary of Coal Ash Spill, TVA Quietly Abandons A Promise
Plans to convert to safer coal ash disposal at all TVA power plants now seemingly in limbo Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Five years after the nation’s largest coal ash spill, the Tennessee Valley Authority—owner of the Kingston Power Plant in Tennessee, where the spill occurred—now seems to be ignoring its[Read More…]
Study: Cannabis Use Unlikely To Cause Schizophrenia
Boston, MA–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. Family genetics, rather than adolescent cannabis use, increases risk of schizophrenia, according to a case control study published online in the journal Schizophrenia Research. Investigators from Harvard Medical School compared the family histories of 108 schizophrenia patients and 171 individuals without schizophrenia to assess whether youth[Read More…]
Bee-Killing Pesticides Damage Children’s Brain and Nervous System, Says European Authority
Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced on Tuesday that pesticides linked to honey bee deaths worldwide may also damage human nervous systems —in particular the brain, and recommended that the European Commission lower the guidance levels of acceptable exposure until more research is conducted. This[Read More…]
Florida Pesticide Producer to Pay $1.7 Million Penalty for Selling Misbranded Pesticides
WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–December 20, 2013. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that Harrell’s LLC, a pesticide producer based in Lakeland, Fla., has agreed to pay $1,736,560 in civil penalties for allegedly distributing and selling misbranded pesticides and other violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The penalty[Read More…]
Energy Committee Passes Senator Wyden Eastside Forest Bill
Bill Creates Jobs, Protects Trees More than 150 Years Old, Promotes Sustainable Restoration Harvests Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 2013. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today passed legislation sponsored by Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that would boost timber harvests while protecting and restoring old growth forests in Oregon. “The[Read More…]
Federal Agencies Asked to Provide Data Behind Questionable Grizzly Bear Population Numbers
Endangered Species Act Protections in Yellowstone Region at Stake LIVINGSTON, Mont.–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 2013. Citing concerns that federal estimates of Yellowstone grizzly bear population size and trends are not reliable, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service[Read More…]
New Study Shows Recently Approved Sierra Vista Development Will Directly Harm San Pedro River
TUCSON, Arizona–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 2013. A new study by University of Arizona scientists finds that a water pumping scheme to serve nearly 7,000 new homes in Sierra Vista, Ariz., will significantly decrease the San Pedro’s stream flow at the driest time of the year when the river is the most vulnerable.[Read More…]
Neanderthal Genome Shows Evidence of Early Human Interbreeding, Inbreeding
BERKELEY–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 2013. The most complete sequence to date of the Neanderthal genome, using DNA extracted from a woman’s toe bone that dates back 50,000 years, reveals a long history of interbreeding among at least four different types of early humans living in Europe and Asia at that time, according[Read More…]
EU Officials Warn of Health Risks from Pesticides Common on U.S. Fruits and Vegetables
WASHINGTON, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–December 19, 203. The decision by Europe’s top food safety agency to call for new restrictions on two pesticides common on conventionally-grown U.S. produce because they “may affect the developing human nervous system” in young children underscores the danger of reliance on pesticides, Environmental Working Group said yesterday. The[Read More…]
