The Senate March 15, 2016, unanimously passed a bill (S 337) improving the 50-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). But the appearance of bipartisan consensus may belie a rocky road to final enactment in a highly politicized election year.
The marsh Arabs who live at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have a culture and economy that has survived for millenia. Now climate change is drying up the water they depend on, and expecially affecting the roles of women.
"Study also finds companies fracked into underground sources of water and at much shallower depths than previously known, close to drinking water wells."
"Yosemite National Park’s former concessionaire wants a federal judge to keep secret an appraisal that set a $44 million value on the company’s trademarks."
"An electrical plant on the Saskatchewan prairie was the great hope for industries that burn coal. ... But the $1.1 billion project is now looking like a green dream."
"The industry’s new crisis communications expert advocates “reputation management.”"
"16,000 preterm births a year are linked to fine particulate pollution, costing the US $4.33 billion annually".
"The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Volkswagen Group of America, accusing the car manufacturer of running deceiving advertisements for so-called “clean diesel” vehicles that in fact were designed to evade federal emissions tests."
"Long before gunmen burst into Berta Cáceres Flores’s house in rural Honduras, Beverly Bell gave up any hope that her friend would live to an old age. “This was a marked woman,” said Bell, who kept a long list of the death threats. “Everyone knew it.”"
"An official with Flint's water plant said Tuesday he had planned to treat the drinking water with anti-corrosive chemicals after the city began drawing from the Flint River but was overruled by a state environmental regulator."
