Economy & Business

"U.S. stocks fell Monday as investors struggled to assess the financial fallout of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami."

"In the debates about the prospects for a U.S. nuclear power rebirth, there was one thing advocates, foes and regulators seemed to agree on: The industry could not afford another Three Mile Island accident."

"Wal-Mart is banning a controversial flame retardant found in hundreds of consumer goods, from couches to cameras to child car seats, telling its suppliers to come up with safer alternatives."

"Proposed rules governing air pollution generated by the nation's power providers could cost the industry nearly $200 billion in upgrades and new, cleaner generation but provide four to eight times that amount in economic benefits, with Tennessee being one of the big winners, according to a recent study."

An author tells the story of the Hawks Nest, WV, hydroelectric tunnel, whose drilling Union Carbide began in 1927. It was run as a mining operation, but not regulated by any government agency. Of the 5,000 men who worked on the tunnel over 18 months, at least 764 men, mostly African-American migrant workers, died of the industrial disease silicosis, well known even then. Managers wore protective masks during inspection visits, but did not provide any to workers. The company hired doctors to tell the men it was their fault, and buried them in unmarked mass graves. West Virginia kept the story out of the state's history curriculum until last year.

Some House Democrats, citing a GAO report, say Republicans should start their efforts to reduce the deficit by collecting the money legally owed the Treasury by oil and gas companies who profit from taxpayer-owned resources they extract. For decades, oil companies have been underpaying.

"The Department of Energy said on Thursday it has offered a conditional $102 million loan guarantee to support a wind farm in Maine. The financial aid will support the Record Hill wind project, a 50.1 megawatt wind power plant and transmission line in Maine."

"Corn-based ethanol is the renewable fuel environmentalists love to hate. But as turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa has sent oil prices soaring, U.S.-made ethanol is making a comeback."

"A two-decade-old crackdown on smog and soot under the Clean Air Act will yield about $2 trillion in annual benefits by 2020, according to a study that was released by U.S. EPA this morning and was touted as proof that the embattled agency's rules are an economic boon for the American people."