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IRS Complaint Filed Against HSUS, Whole Foods, GAP

Today, we filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against Whole Foods Market, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and Global Animal Partnership (GAP) for what we believe is an improper profit-driven effort to benefit Whole Foods. HSUS and surrogate animal-liberation allies are currently engaging in campaigns threatening restaurants and other companies to switch to GAP-certified meat. GAP was created by Whole Foods (its first address was the Whole Foods corporate HQ) and has been funded predominately by Whole Foods since its inception. [node:read-more:link]

Products containing certain neonic insecticides should be subject to ESA analysis, judge finds

The Environmental Protection Agency may have to assess the effects on endangered species of 59 products containing clothianidin and thiamethoxam, two neonicotinoid insecticides. A federal judge has found that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act by registering the products without complying with Endangered Species Act consultation requirements, said Center for Food Safety attorney George Kimbrell, who represents his group and other plaintiffs in the case, including four beekeepers, Beyond Pesticides, the Sierra Club and the Center for Environmental Health.U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Growers, farmworkers say immigration raids scaring away labor

Growers and farmworker unions said Tuesday that a federal immigration crackdown in rural towns is scaring away workers and forcing cutbacks in production of hand-harvested produce. “Wherever I go in California — I was just up in the wine industry — when I talk to dairy farmers, when I talk to small farmers in the Bay Area, even some in the Central Valley, they tell me they can’t find workers,” Feinstein said on a conference call with reporters. “That workers are scared, that they’re afraid they’re going to be picked up and deported, that they have disappeared.” [node:read-more:link]

Dakota Access pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in April

The Dakota Access pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in South Dakota early last month, which an American Indian tribe says bolsters its argument that the pipeline jeopardizes its water supply and deserves further environmental review. The April 4 spill was relatively small and was quickly cleaned up, and it didn’t threaten any waterways. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. blocks major pipeline after 18 leaks and a 2 million gallon spill of drilling mud in Ohio

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has curtailed work on a natural-gas pipeline in Ohio after the owner, Energy Transfer Partners, reported 18 leaks and spilled more than 2 million gallons of drilling materials. The pipeline regulator blocked Energy Transfer Partners, which also built the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, from starting horizontal drilling in eight areas where drilling has not yet begun. [node:read-more:link]

Perdue proposes reorganization of USDA

This report identifies actions we are taking at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to meet the challenge of advancing agricultural trade, improving service delivery to agricultural producers, and addressing the needs of Rural America. These steps are part of a broader on-going review of the Department based on the President’s March 13, 2017; Executive Order 13781 entitled “Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch.”  Section 3208 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, Pub. L. [node:read-more:link]

Environmentalists triumph as Senate upholds drilling rule

Environmentalists notched a rare win in the Republican-led Senate on Wednesday as a GOP effort to reverse an Obama-era rule restricting harmful methane emissions unexpectedly failed. The 51-49 vote against the repeal measure was a blow to the fossil- fuel industry and groups linked to the conservative Koch Brothers, which had waged a public campaign to overturn the Interior Department rule.The rule, finalized in November, would force energy companies to capture methane that’s burned off or “flared” at drilling sites because it earns less money than oil. [node:read-more:link]

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