Because for years, both the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) have been doing everything in their power to undercut Farm Credit in the halls of Congress. And they both have gone on record over the past year advocating that Farm Credit be abolished. [node:read-more:link]
The first comprehensive study of the content of rare earth elements in coal ashes from the United States shows that coal originating from the Appalachian Mountains has the highest concentrations of scarce elements like neodymium, europium, terbium, dysprosium, yttrium and erbium that are needed for alternative energy and other technologies. The study also reveals how important developing inexpensive, efficient extraction technologies will be to any future recovery program. [node:read-more:link]
The bald eagle has been the national symbol since 1782, but the Western artist Charlie Russell was right: The buffalo was far more important to the story of the American West. Congress agrees on very little these days, but this May, it successfully passed a bill that was quickly signed by President Obama. The National Bison Legacy Act designates the American bison, most often called the buffalo, as our first national mammal. What’s more, the bill enjoyed the support of a wide array of ranchers, environmentalists, zoos, outdoorsmen and Native Americans. [node:read-more:link]
The Bureau of Land Management is unveiling a new approach to planning how to manage its 245 million acres, one that invites diverse viewpoints much earlier in the multi-year process. Bringing people with different perspectives together is one of the goals of Planning 2.0, the BLM’s proposed new strategy for developing resource management plans, the big-picture blueprints that guide the agency’s on-the-ground decisions. It’s the first time in 33 years that the BLM has overhauled its planning procedures. [node:read-more:link]
Since Wyoming first established its feedgrounds in 1912, thousands of elk have munched taxpayer-funded rations every winter. Conservationists have long warned that the crowding could spread brucellosis, which causes miscarriages. However, since state and federal agencies have long assumed that bison, not elk, transmit the disease to livestock, they’ve focused their attention on the bison, restricting their winter migration out of Yellowstone National Park and culling hundreds each year. Research by the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
While the Zika outbreak was dominating the headlines, another mosquito-borne virus has taken hold in Africa: yellow fever. And with the large population of migrant Chinese workers in the affected area, scientists worry the disease could unleash its first outbreak in Asia. The authors of a recent paper called the current situation "unprecedented in history," writing that it is "critical" to assess the risk now and act quickly "so that a global catastrophe can be averted." Yellow fever causes 180,000 cases and 78,000 deaths in Africa per year. [node:read-more:link]
In many parts of the Northeast and Midwest, population growth is slowing at an unprecedented rate as people are getting older, women are having fewer children, and more people are moving out than in — and that signals big economic trouble ahead. The population of prime working-age adults, ages 25 to 54, will decline in 16 states, most of which are in the Northeast and Midwest, from 2010 to 2040, according to a Stateline analysis of projections released by the University of Virginia’s Demographics Research Group in the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. [node:read-more:link]
Residential solar in the U.S. grew 66 percent in 2015 over 2014, the largest annual growth rate to date, according to a recent report by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association, or SEIA. In 2015, residential solar installations amounted to 2,099 megawatts, which, when converted, equals more that 1,600 megawatts. By comparison, Montana's coal-fired Colstrip plant, the second-largest power plant west of the Mississippi River, has a peak output of 2,100 megawatts. [node:read-more:link]
“Glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet,” a World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization panel has concluded.
The Joint WHO/FAO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) came to the same conclusion about malathion and diazinon, two other pesticides evaluated along with glyphosate by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in March 2015. [node:read-more:link]
Hollywood, Florida commissioners voted 6-1 in favor of the ban before a packed house, with Commissioner Patty Asseff casting the lone dissenting vote. Under the ban, pet shops will be forced to sell dogs and cats from animal shelters and rescue groups. The controversial proposal drew more than 55 speakers, including Judy Norford, the owner of Puppy Palace, the only store in Hollywood that sells commercially bred animals. "My puppies are my life," Norford said. "I eat, sleep, drink puppies. [node:read-more:link]
