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Coalition Statement on Ethanol Subsidy Deal
Today, Senator Feinstein announced a deal with Senators Klobuchar and Thune to end the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the tariff on imported ethanol. VEETC provides ethanol blenders with $0.45 for each gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline and is due to cost $6 billion dollars this year. Recently, 73 senators voted to end this credit by July 1st. Read More
Court rules EPA must act on aircraft emissions
Washington, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must formally determine whether greenhouse gas pollution from aircraft endangers human health and welfare, ruled a U.S. District Court today. Read More
Nuclear industry suffers major defeat in Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa — In the latest of a series of blows to the nuclear industry since the meltdown at Fukushima, the Iowa Senate adjourned today without passing a bill that would pave the way for MidAmerican Energy to charge ratepayers in advance for new nuclear reactor construction. The utility would have been allowed to keep the money even if construction was never completed. Read More
Bill introduced to regulate cosmetics threatening consumers’ health with potentially harmful nanoparticles
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), joined by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), acted today to protect consumers from potentially harmful nanoparticles in cosmetics by introducing the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, H.R. 2359. Read More
New FDA sunscreen rules called blind to nanotechnology
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s newly released sunscreen rules fail to meaningfully consider the risks posed by nanoscale ingredients, according to public interest groups including Friends of the Earth, The International Center for Technology Assessment and Consumers Union. Read More
Senate votes to end $6 billion giveaway for corn ethanol
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate voted 73-27 this afternoon to end ethanol blender tax credits, a $6 billion dollar annual giveaway for dirty corn ethanol. Read More
Public interest groups call for nuclear regulators to halt the AP1000 reactor approval process
DURHAM, N.C. — In a legal motion filed today, watchdog groups pressed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to terminate the approval process for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design. The groups said that a growing list of mistakes and omissions — and a 19th version of the experimental design filed just this week by the company — prove that the “rulemaking” process to approve the ever-changing design is legally “null and void.” Read More
House subcommittee passes bill to rush decision on dangerous tar sands pipeline
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Panel approved a bill to expedite a decision on the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The bill, from Congressman Lee Terry of Nebraska and Gene Green of Texas, would interfere with the ongoing review of the impacts of the massive project and force a decision by November 1 of this year. Read More
Three months since beginning of Fukushima nuclear disaster
This weekend marked the three-month anniversary of the start of the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan. Spurred by the massive earthquake and resultant tsunami of March 11, the Fukushima nuclear disaster has now been revealed as the worst since Chernobyl and perhaps the worst in history—and the devastating situation is far from over. Read More
World Bank’s forest carbon fund raises concerns
In the margins of the 8th Carbon Expo in Barcelona today, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) will launch a new fund, known as the FCPF Carbon Fund. The Carbon Fund is designed to pay developing countries for reducing carbon emissions caused by the destruction of their forests. Read More