By Burton LeBlanc One month after the Deepwater Horizon exploded, oil has come ashore on Louisiana’s mainland coast. The oil spill is beginning to infiltrate our marshes, the most prized piece of our economy and our environment. This is everything we have feared: our home is being invaded by this black menace. WWL in New [...]

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the slick from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is getting dangerously close to the Loop Current, a stream of water that moves through the Gulf, around the tip of Florida, and into the Atlantic Ocean. The Coast Guard also stated that, as of late Tuesday, [...]

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has revealed that several popular brands of perfumes and colognes contain “secret” ingredients that may cause health problems such as allergic reactions and hormone disruption.  Exposures to chemicals are known to present serious health risks, but many people don’t think about such exposures in their cosmetics. EWG analyzed laboratory tests [...]

On Sunday, May 16th, 60 Minutes aired an informative and emotional story that investigated the facts and the human tragedy behind the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon on April 20th—the explosion that triggered the oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. In the story, viewers had the chance to learn more about the operation of [...]

Toxic exposure to chemicals has been connected to the development of cancer, neurological injuries, and many other problems.  A recent study has concluded that common pesticides may cause attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.  The study, which appeared in the medical journal Pediatrics, found that children with high levels of pesticides’ breakdown products in their [...]

As part of their tactics to battle the oil slick expanding through the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum is using a chemical dispersant called Corexit to break up the oil. Dispersing the oil is intended to keep more of it from making landfall, but according to the EPA, BP’s chemical choice may be making the Gulf [...]

Interesting enough, the Deepwater Horizon—which exploded and caught fire on April 20th, triggering a catastrophic oil spill off the Gulf Coast—was not operating under the American flag, but under what is known as a “flag of convenience” from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a small group of islands in the South Pacific. Just like [...]

The U.S. Senate voted 64 – 35 on a measure offered by Senator Al Franken (D. Minn.), giving the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the authority to appoint a panel to assign ratings agencies to firms with securities in need of rating. The amendment comes at a time when allegations are coming to light about [...]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced new rules to lessen greenhouse gas emissions from large industrial facilities.  Such facilities, including power plants and oil refineries, are responsible for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources in this country. The new requirements will be phased in beginning in January 2011.  At that [...]

An E. coli outbreak caused by tainted romaine lettuce has sickened at least 23 people in Michigan, Ohio, New York, and now Tennessee.  The number of confirmed cases has risen from 19 last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Seven other reported cases have not yet been confirmed. The tainted [...]