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In a report issued on Monday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) called on the White House to implement a national food safety plan to address weaknesses in the current oversight regime. The watchdog cited negative outcomes in the existing system due to excessive fragmentation, with more than 3,000 agencies involved in the majority of food safety initiatives. “Although the US food supply is generally considered safe, foodborne illness remains a costly, common public health problem,” the report stated. It went on to recommend that the…

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The majority of crude oil produced in the US over the next few decades will come from fracked wells, according to a research arm of the Energy Department. “Tight oil” from the lower 48 states is projected to account for some 60 percent of total oil production between last year and 2040, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday. The agency said that fracking oil production is expected to ramp up to 6 million barrels per day, well into next decade. Output will then…

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Barring an order from the courts, construction will resume imminently on the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline—fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s first executive actions. On Wednesday, the US Army Corps of Engineers announced it would grant easement to the fossil fuel infrastructure project, which had been halted in the final months of the Obama administration. The corps concurrently killed a planned environmental impact statement (EIS) on the pipeline’s final leg, which crosses North Dakota’s Lake Oahe, near critical water supplies and areas considered sacred by the Standing…

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In his first few weeks in office, Donald Trump has faced relentless agitation from people in the streets, with protesters reacting to his Muslim Ban executive order, his anti-immigration plans, and the appointment of white nationalist Steve Bannon to a top job in the White House. In response, the administration has, without proof, spun an elaborate tale for all the dissent. Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Sean Spicer again floated the idea that protesters who’ve taken to the streets against Trump and alt-right figureheads like…

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The Trump administration’s recent push to roll back Dodd-Frank could see massive amounts of wealth transferred from buffers on financial instability directly to owners of the largest banks in the country. A reversal of post-crisis regulations ordered by the White House could eventually see some $100 billion move from banking reserves directly to shareholders of the six largest financial firms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday night. Relaxed rules would likely see banks use existing reserves to finance higher divided payments and stock buy-backs—moves that…

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Senate Republicans changed committee procedures to advance Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chair John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Thursday suspended rules requiring at least one member of the minority to be present for a quorum. Republicans then one-by-one voted to approve of Trump’s choice to be the leading US environmental regulator, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Senate Democrats on the committee had boycotted the vote on Pruitt because they were unhappy with answers he gave them during…

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