Test Finds Mercury in Every Fish

EPA cuts down on criminal cases, says focus is on biggest offenders

(NEWSER) - The EPA has taken a decidedly less aggressive tack in criminal cases, the Washington Post reports, a trend advocates fear will embolden polluters. The number of prosecutions, new investigations, and total convictions have all dropped by more than a third. One ex-official, who resigned in protest, blamed the Bush administration, saying agents couldn’t count on support from the White House. More»

Industrial chemicals raise contaminant levels into range unsafe for eating

(NEWSER) - Industrial chemicals contaminate many species of fish that populate the Great Lakes, making them too hazardous for safe human consumption, says a Canadian conservation group. "The lakes continue to be polluted to such an extent that human health is threatened," says a report released yesterday that lists industrial pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs, and methyl mercury among the contaminants. More»

They protect polluters on the false pretext of saving jobs: EPA chief

(NEWSER) - House Republicans claim that to create jobs, we need to loosen environmental regulations. To that end, they’ve “averaged roughly a vote every day” in session to weaken the rules—and have already cut back the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other laws, writes EPA chief Lisa Jackson in the Los Angeles Times . “This pseudo jobs plan to protect polluters might well be called ‘too dirty to fail,’” she writes. More»

EPA regulators can perform cost-benefit analysis before ordering upgrades: ruling

(NEWSER) - Federal regulators may perform cost-benefit analysis on new power plant equipment designed to protect fish, and decide whether to require the equipment based on that analysis, the Supreme Court ruled today. The 6-3 decision overturns an appellate court ruling that barred the EPA from performing cost-benefit analysis because it wasn't intended by the authors of the Clean Water Act, the New York Times reports.. More»

(AP) - About four out of 10 freshwater fish species in North America are in peril, says a major study by US, Canadian, and Mexican scientists. And the number of subspecies of fish populations in trouble has nearly doubled since 1989, the new report says. One biologist called it "silent extinctions" because few notice the dramatic dwindling deep in lakes, rivers, and streams. And while they are unaware, people are the chief cause of the problem by polluting and damming freshwater habitats, experts said. More»