• More than 10,000 pesticides approved by EPA without rigorous review

    Congress allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use what is called “conditional registration” to approve pesticides deemed especially beneficial for food production – even before all the toxicity tests have been completed. Congress intended conditional registration to be used only sparingly, but the EPS has been using the loophole in a wholesale fashion to approve 65 percent – or more than 10,000 – of the 16,000 pesticides submitted to it for approval. The EPA cannot easily track the history of conditionally approved pesticides to determine whether required toxicity data was submitted, whether that caused a dangerous use of a pesticide to be cancelled, or whether the uses or restrictions should be modified based in such data.

  • U.K. outlines its long-term nuclear future

    Over the next two decades it is forecast that, globally, there will be £930 billion investment in building new reactors and £250 billion in decommissioning those that are coming off line. The nuclear new build program in the United Kingdom alone could generate up to 40,000 jobs in the sector at its peak. Government publishes industrial strategy to enable the UK to seize the opportunities for economic growth in the nuclear industry.

  • U.S. infrastructure grade raised from D to a D+, but problems loom

    The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in its just-released 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, gave the U.S. infrastructure an overall grade of D+, showing slight progress from the D in the last Report Card issued in 2009. The Report Card concludes that to raise the grades and get U.S. infrastructure to an acceptable level, a total investment of $3.6 trillion is needed by 2020. Currently, only about $2 trillion in infrastructure spending is projected, leaving a shortfall of approximately $1.6 trillion.

  • Improved weather, climate predictions strengthen the U.S. economy

    The economic costs of damaging weather events have an immense and increasing impact on the U.S. economy. These costs could be anticipated and mitigated by improved weather and climate predictions, say a range of experts in the public and private sectors. These experts will meet in early April in an American Meteorological Society event to discuss the economic benefits of how environmental forecast, prediction, and observation programs and services strengthen the U.S. economy.

  • New technology for carbon-dioxide capture, clean coal reaches milestone

    An innovative new process which releases the energy in coal without burning — while capturing carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas — has passed a milestone on the route to possible commercial use.

  • Instead of a renaissance, U.S. nuclear energy industry is facing tough times

    Five years ago, U.S. nuclear industry executives and energy industry analysts talked about an American nuclear renaissance, with up to twenty new reactors to be added to the nation’s stock. Things are very different today, however, and the U.S. nuclear energy industry, rather than expanding, is fighting to hold on.

  • Widely used FBI surveillance method ruled unconstitutional

    A national security letters (NSLs) is an administrative subpoena which allows the FBI to ask Internet companies and communication service providers to turn over subscriber information on American customers, while prohibiting the providers from informing these customers that their personal information has been turned over to the FBI. Since the 9/11 attacks, the bureau has issued an average of 50,000 NSLs a year. A federal judge in California says this is “rendering the statute impermissibly overbroad.”

  • Petroleum use, greenhouse gas emissions of U.S. automobiles could drop 80 percent by 2050

    A new National Research Council study finds that by the year 2050, the United States may be able to reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent for light-duty vehicles — cars and small trucks — via a combination of more efficient vehicles; the use of alternative fuels like biofuels, electricity, and hydrogen; and strong government policies to overcome high costs and influence consumer choices.

  • Helping coal miners escape underground disasters

    Recent advances in mining research and practices have improved the safety and health of underground coal miners and extensive rescue strategies are in place, but more coordinated planning and training are needed better to prepare miners to escape in the event of a mine emergency, says a new report from the National Research Council.

  • “Dirty blizzard” accounts for missing Deepwater Horizon oil

    The Deepwater Horizon disaster spilled more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Microbes likely processed most of the oil within months of the spill, but these microbes do not account for all of the spilled oil. Scientists have now found what happened to the oil not processed by microbes: the oil acted as a catalyst for plankton and other surface materials to clump together and fall to the sea floor in a massive sedimentation event that researchers are calling a “dirty blizzard.” The oily sediments deposited on the sea floor could cause significant damage to ecosystems and may affect commercial fisheries in the future.

  • DHS asked to help shield Port of Hueneme from the effects of sequestration

    The Port of Hueneme is the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Sequestration-related budget cuts mean the port’s six CBP and two Department of Agriculture inspectors can no longer work on Saturdays, or work overtime. This means that ships arriving at the port now have to wait outside until inspectors are available – at a cost to carriers of between $25,000 and $50,000 per day depending on the size of the ship. Port authorities and local businesses are worried that it will not be long before carriers direct their ships to other ports.

  • The infrastructure of asteroid-mining economy

    An asteroid-mining space economy would be easier to build if there were the equivalent of a few Stuckey’s around out there. As is the case with other enterprises, a space economy will need fuel, liquids, and supplies, and these could be stored in outposts on dwarf planets like Ceres.

  • Obama: at least some Chinese cyberattacks on U.S. are “state sponsored”

    In an interview to be aired today on ABC News, President Barack Obama said that some, but not necessarily all, cyberattacks on U.S. firms and infrastructure originating in China were “state sponsored.” Obama stressed the need to avoid “war rhetoric” when discussing cyberattacks, and renewed his calls for Congress to strengthen cyber security while protecting civil liberties.

  • The benefits of multi-state catastrophic risk pool

    A modeling platform from Kinetic Analysis Corp. enabled researchers to drill deeply into large volumes of storm-related data spanning nine states and 140 years. Study finds that multi-state catastrophic risk pools offer significant benefits in major tropical events.

  • Air Force, DoD curtailing air activity

    Federal budget cuts are starting to take their toll. Department of Defense (DoD) comptroller Robert Hale has sent out updated travel guidelines to DoD employees, which take account of  the $46 billion being cut from the Pentagon’s budget. In addition, training flight hours will be cut by 18 percent, which comes out to approximately 203,000 hours.