1. Black farmers finally see justice.
After enduring decades of discrimination at the hands of the US Department of Agriculture and then what seemed like an endless gauntlet to get a Congressional appropriation to pay the legal settlement they won, black farmers finally got their due in a Dec. 8 signing ceremony at the White House.
2. Nutrition groups and good food advocates make their voices...
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Whether it’s from flood, fire or a tornado, there are few more devastating events than losing a home. But it’s hard to equal the shock of having your house suddenly just blow up.
That’s why the Al Amendariz, Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6 Administrator, deserves kudos for issuing an emergency order last week (Dec. 7) directing a major gas drilling company to heed warnings from two Texas...
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Indications are that the wasteful corn ethanol tax credit may be included in a legislative deal negotiated by the Obama White House to extend tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush. Last week the Environmental Working Group published a top ten list of reasons why Congress should allow the ethanol tax credit to expire at the end of the year. Today (Dec 9) EWG leaders weighed in on what a renewal of...
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The $1.15 billion settlement awarded to black farmers to compensate for decades of discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) become a reality yesterday (Dec. 8) as President Obama signed the funding legislation in a White House ceremony.
The Pigford litigation began in 1997 when black farmers sued USDA, claiming discriminating on the basis of race in its handling of agricultural grant ...
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For more than thirty years, contamination from high-intensity farming has been adding to the pollution that fouls Chesapeake Bay, one of America’s most storied waterways. A new report from the Environmental Working Group today (Dec 7) shows that weakly regulated agricultural practices in the six states of the Chesapeake watershed are overloading soils with phosphorus, a major reason the bay is in...
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