"President Obama launched the America's Great Outdoors initiative Friday, an attempt to reshape U.S. conservation policy at a time when the nation is facing new environmental threats but the government is hard-pressed to afford new spending programs."
"Interior Department policies don't ensure accurate measurement of oil and gas production on federal leases that generates billions of dollars in royalty payments each year, according to a government audit released today."
NOAA's new tool makes it easy to identify and find basic information about the 1,637 US marine protected areas.
Six public listening sessions in April and May will provide input for the agency's draft national policy on marine aquaculture products.
The case, Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, focuses on genetically engineered alfalfa. One of the concerns is that GE alfalfa can cross-contaminate, rendering organic alfalfa noncompliant with federal standards, and precluding export.
Mine safety experts are questioning the appointment of Norman Page to head the MSHA investigation into the Massey mine disaster. As an MSHA inspector, Page oversaw faulty inspections that led to a mine explosion that killed 5 people in 2006.
SEJ President Christy George relays her experience of federal agency access shutdown and how SEJ works to reverse the trend.
The good news: government for the first time is centralizing data about contractors at all federal agencies who were terminated, disbarred or suspended from a federal contract or grant. The bad news: taxpayers (and investigative reporters!) are not allowed to see it.
In the face of public outrage (and press coverage), the legislature partially backed down — but kept a requirement that the law clinic report to the legislature on whom it represented.
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