"U.S. officials closed commercial and recreational fishing in a large swathe of waters hit by the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Sunday."
"A stack of lawsuits is piling up against the federal government in response to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's April 28 decision to approve the Cape Wind project, America's first offshore wind farm."
"Utah State Representative Chris Herrod has gotten a lot of attention since his bill to explore seizing federal land through eminent domain became law last month. Colleagues in other Western legislatures have called seeking tips on replicating his success in their states. And the law was a topic of discussion this week when U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar paid a visit to Salt Lake City."
"The Center for Biological Diversity has formally notified the predator control branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, that it will file a lawsuit over Wildlife Services' traps, snares, and poisons, which risk injuring or killing endangered jaguars and ocelots in the Southwest."
"A historic environmental protection bill is in danger after a massive oil spill put a new focus on the perils of offshore drilling, a feature that was supposed to win wider support for the legislation."
"Heavy winds continued to whip up high waves on the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, thwarting attempts to contain the growing slick that's washing ashore in southern Louisiana and threatening the Mississippi and Alabama coasts. Rough waves rolled over containment booms, pushing oil-slicked water closer to shore, where wetlands and other fragile ecosystems stand at risk."
Federal agencies and BP were embarrassed when their lowball estimates of the volume of oil spilling into the Gulf were corrected by a small, independent environmental group analyzing federal satellite data from their West Virginia office. The finding called into question the credibility of federal and company statements.
"Calling the expanding plume of oil rising from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico a crisis of dramatic proportion, President Barack Obama told Louisiana oyster farmers and the country Sunday that the full force of the federal government was focused on assisting southeast Louisiana."
"Along with officials' consistently cautious predictions about the scope of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, another group has been calling for a tempering of dire oil-spill forecasts: the Gulf of Mexico seafood industry."
"The oil spill spreading across the Gulf of Mexico is sending ripples through Florida and national politics, giving Gov. Charlie Crist a reason to withdraw his support for offshore drilling." Crist Thursday announced he would bolt the Republican party and run for re-election without party affiliation.
