National (U.S.)

"America smashed the record for billion-dollar weather disasters this year with a deadly dozen – and counting."

"The Food and Drug Administration must come up with a decision by March 31 on whether to ban a chemical that’s widely used in plastics and the metal linings of food containers, according to a court settlement reached Wednesday between the agency and the Natural Re­sources Defense Council."

"At a hearing in Washington yesterday, lawmakers pressed product safety and health regulators about their three-year investigation into contaminated drywall, expressing frustration with their progress on all fronts."

"An exhaustive new report meant to address public fears about possible links between breast cancer and the environment finds evidence strong enough to make only a few firm recommendations, most already well known and none with a large proven benefit."

"For the first time, a US appellate court has ruled that the federal government must continue to protect an animal – in this case, Yellowstone grizzly bears – in part because of consequences of global warming."

"Montana's rivers are pristine and iconic, but they are also at the center of a property rights dispute that wound up before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Gwen Ifill discusses the details of the dispute with Marcia Coyle of The National Law Journal."

"An unusual confluence of environmental, political and economic events are colliding to take down the coal-fired power plant, shifting American power generation from the country’s historically dominant fuel source."

"WASHINGTON — The issue may be dust in the wind, but Republicans are still moving to block it. Environmental Protection Agency officials have said — over and over again — that they won't propose new regulations to limit dust kicked up by farm equipment. But anti-regulation sentiment is strong this year on the campaign trail, and real or not, House Republicans are planning to vote this week to prevent such regulations."

"Range Fuels Inc., a cellulosic ethanol company backed by as much as $156 million in U.S. loans and grants from President George W. Bush's administration, is being forced by the government to liquidate its only factory after failing to produce the fuel."

"Stephen Harper heads to the White House on Wednesday to unveil a long-awaited border security agreement with U.S. President Barack Obama, but the visit comes at a particularly tense moment in Canada-U.S. relations as TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline saga rages on."