"The Carson City (Calif.) Council declared a local emergency Monday night over contamination in the city’s Carousel tract, upping the pressure on Shell Oil to expedite cleanup of benzene, methane gas, and other hazardous chemicals on the site."
"An appeals court on Tuesday unanimously upheld a decision striking down New York City’s restrictions on the sale of large, sugary drinks, dealing a serious blow to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s hopes of reviving the rule before his term runs out."
"The White House this afternoon nominated New Mexican Mike Connor, a former aide to Sen. Jeff Bingaman and current head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, to be second in command at the U.S. Department of the Interior."
John Fleck reports for the Albuquerque Journal's N.M Science blog July 30, 2013.
"NEW YORK -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $410 million to settle allegations it manipulated energy markets in California and the Midwest."
"WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barbara Boxer will seize control of efforts to regulate industrial chemicals during what lobbyists are calling a 'mega-hearing' Wednesday that will test her ability to navigate a major environmental law through a divided Congress."
"How far a person lives from a manufacturing plant that releases the chemical benzene into the environment may determine their risk of developing immune system cancer, a new study suggests."
Some chemicals can cause cancer. But the chemical industry, unable to get the results it wants from toxicologists at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, is now trying to get them by using lawyers, lobbyists, and legislators.
"BOSTON -- The new head of the Environmental Protection Agency told an audience at Harvard Law School on Tuesday that cutting carbon pollution will 'feed the economic agenda of this country' and vowed to work with industry leaders on shaping policies aimed at curbing global warming."
"'Climate change will not be resolved overnight,' EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told the 310-member audience. 'But it will be engaged over the next three years. That I can promise you.'
"FRESNO, Calif. -- Mountain residents and the Fresno County sheriff are squaring off against a federal wildlife agency over frogs and toads -- an Endangered Species Act fight that spreads like wildfire along the Sierra Nevada."
University of Minnesota officials want the feds to share the burden of cleaning up a 3500-acre ammo plant on land owned by the university.
