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"NRC Says New South Texas Nukes Don't Pass Ownership Test"

"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it would suspend review of the non-foreign ownership requirements of the proposed new reactors at South Texas because Japanese multinational Toshiba effectively controls the project. Foreign companies cannot control nuclear plants in the United States."

"In a letter dated December 13, the NRC said its staff would continue to review the application but would not issue a license until the foreign ownership requirements were met.

Source: Reuters, 12/15/2011

"Leader of Nuclear Agency Hears Litany of Objections"

"WASHINGTON -- In exchanges that ranged from merely testy to caustic, four members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a House committee on Wednesday that their chairman had withheld information from them, berated the agency’s professional staff, reduced female employees to tears with abusive comments and created a 'chilled' atmosphere that was hurting the agency’s ability to function."

Source: NY Times, 12/15/2011

"OPEC Opts to Increase Its Level of Output"

"The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Wednesday to increase its production target for the first time in three years, a move that appeared to signal that Saudi Arabia and Iran had put aside their recent differences on oil policy, at least temporarily.

Source: NY Times, 12/15/2011

Wisconsin: "Mine Plan Prompts Backlash"

"WEST ALLIS, Wis.--Plans to develop an open-pit iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin are the latest flash point in a growing national debate that weighs the prospect of new jobs against concern about environmental damage."

Source: Wall St. Journal, 12/15/2011

"Gulf Oil Spill Restoration: First Round of Projects Total $57 Million"

"Officials released a first round of oil spill restoration projects Wednesday that included proposals to create or enhance oyster habitat, salt marshes, sand dunes, and nearshore reefs in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida."

"Drawing from a $1 billion pool established by BP as a down payment on fines related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, representatives from the Gulf States agreed on $57 million worth of restoration projects.

Those proposals will be up for public comment at a series of meetings in January and February."

Source: Mobile Press-Register, 12/15/2011

"Is It Safe To Drill? Learn What New Oil-Spill Report Says"

"BP and the oil industry drilling in the Gulf of Mexico lacked the proper safety attitude to handle the large risks of deepwater drilling, leading to the many bad decisions behind the nation's worst offshore spill, a panel of expert engineers said today.

More specifically, the industry needs to radically redesign the blowout preventers that are meant to be a last line of defense against runaway wells or else risk a repeat of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the National Academy of Engineering concluded.

Source: AP, 12/15/2011

Federal Law Fails To Protect Health and Safety Whistleblowers

One example is Walt Tamosaitis, who works for an Energy Department subcontractor. He told a Senate panel on December 6, 2011, that when he raised technical issues about whether nuclear waste cleanup was being done right at the Hanford Site in Washington, he was taken off the project and exiled to the basement.

States Partly Fill Federal Vacuum on Fracking Fluid Disclosure Law

Colorado, which adopted its disclosure rules December 13, 2011, joins Texas, Pennsylvania, and several other states in requiring some disclosure by drillers of the chemicals they pump into shale formations under high pressures to release natural gas. Scores of chemicals, some very toxic, may be involved.

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