Coalition of U.S. farmers and food companies petitions regulators to assess risks of biotech crops and weed-killing chemicals. The petitioners are calling for environmental studies of products developed by Monsanto Co. and a unit of Dow Chemical. The companies are racing to roll out combinations of genetically altered crops and new herbicides designed to work with them as a way to counter rapidly spreading herbicide-resistant weeds choking millions of acres of U.S. farmland. But critics say key ingredients in the new herbicides — 2,4-D for Dow and dicamba for Monsanto — already are in use in and have damaged unintended cropland because they are hard to control. Reuters
Study says “green” Internet companies are moving east in pursuit of cheaper, and sometimes dirtier, power. The report from the environmental group Greenpeace cited Internet companies that are moving operations to North Carolina, Virginia, northeastern Illinois and other regions whose main sources of energy are coal and nuclear power. It singles out Apple as a leader of the charge to coal-fired energy. Apple disputed the findings, saying that the company planned to build two huge renewable energy projects at its recently opened data center in North Carolina that would eventually offset much of the coal-fired and nuclear energy use. The New York Times
Traffic pollution claims more lives than crashes, researchers say. A study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers found that emissions from cars and other vehicles cause nearly 5,000 premature deaths in the United Kingdom every year. By comparison, road accidents in 2010 took 1,850 lives in the U.K., while exhaust from aircraft accounted for 2,000 deaths. One of the researchers said vehicle pollution is particularly deadly because it occurs “right by where people live and work.” BBC, The Telegraph
Members of presidential panel that investigated the BP oil spill criticize Congress for inaction. The panelists credited the Obama administration and the energy industry for taking steps to prevent a future disaster but faulted Congress for failing to pass significant oil-spill legislation or properly fund regulators. “Delays in taking the necessary precautions threaten new disasters, and their occurrence could, in turn, seriously threaten the nation’s energy security,” panel members wrote in a report card they released to mark the second anniversary of the April 20, 2010, blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. It killed 11 men and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg
Regulators suing Florida company to reinstate worker who was fired after complaining about rodents. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it is taking the legal action against Aquatech Technologies because its Stuart, Fla., plant dismissed the worker as an act of retaliation, in violation of federal whistle-blower protections. The suit seeks, along with the employee’s reinstatement, back wages and compensatory and punitive damages. OSHA said that Aquatech fired the worker one day after the employee filed a complaint with the agency about the company refusing to take further steps to correct a persistent rodent problem at its plant. OSHA
Recalls: STOK gas grills, Evanix air rifles, Specialized Bicycle Components brake levers, Kaytee bird feed, Stouffer’s lasagna, Hospira morphine sulfate injections
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein
