House Republicans Push Bills This Week To Dismantle Environmental Laws

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/17/856481/sept-17-news-house-republicans-push-bills-this-week-to-dismantle-environmental-laws/

By Stephen Lacey on Sep 17, 2012 at 8:14 am

The House is slated to vote this week on the latest GOP bill to thwart White House environmental policies that Republicans call economically burdensome. [The Hill]

The GOP bill combines a number of measures that have already passed the House to curtail policies that Republicans contend will thwart coal-mining and coal-fired power generation. It would nix the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and take aim at other air pollution rules; restrict planned EPA rules governing management and disposal of coal ash, a waste product from coal plants; and restrict potential Interior Department rules on coal-mining wastes; among other provisions.

Thousands of farmers are filing insurance claims this year after drought and triple-digit temperatures burned up crops across the nation’s Corn Belt, and some experts are predicting record insurance losses — exacerbated by changes that reduced some growers’ premiums. [Associated Press]

Drought conditions are costing homeowners bundles of money as their foundations crack, shift or crumble because of the clay-heavy Midlands earth pulling away from homes because of a lack of moisture. [Omaha World Herald]

More than 2,000 homes in Wyoming face a high or the highest possible risk from wildfires, which endanger $659 million of home value, according to an analysis firm in its inaugural wildfire risk report. [Star Tribune]

As one of the hottest summers ever recorded drew to a close, Jay Portnoy watched patients stream into Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., coughing and wheezing with asthma, 20 admissions per day for the week that started with Labor Day, he said. [Washington Post]

The chance to save the world’s coral reefs from damage caused by climate change is dwindling as man-made greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, scientists said in a study released on Sunday. [Reuters]