Government

By Cheryl Pellerin

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2014 – The Defense Department has made critical contributions to the fight against the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and today Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel described additional ways the Pentagon is helping in the broader battle against infectious disease outbreaks of the future.

He spoke at a gathering of top government and military officials and infectious disease experts from 44 countries here to attend the Global Health Security Agenda, or GHSA, Summit hosted by President Barack Obama.

Hagel said ...the department also is accelerating the manufacture of potential treatments and starting clinical trials for a vaccine candidate and it has received approval to begin safety testing for one [Ebola] vaccine candidate that will be conducted at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.”

...The DoD Cooperative Threat Reduction Program is providing unique resources and expertise to enhance detection and surveillance, Hagel said, and all department assets will help civilian responders contain Ebola's spread and mitigate its economic, social and political fallout.

For fuller description of the Defense Department's activities to counter Ebola see link to the full article:

Press Statement

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/230613.htm

Image: The Dan River site.

ecowatch.com - May 22nd 2014 - Brandon Baker

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Duke Energy reached a deal Thursday afternoon to clean up one of the largest coal ash spills in U.S. history.

The deal comes after months of advocates demanding answers and residents calling for stricter enforcement.

As a result of Duke spilling thousands of tons of coal ash into the Dan River near Eden, NC in February, the EPA decided the company must:

    Perform a comprehensive assessment
    Determine the location of coal ash deposits
    Remove deposits along the Dan River as deemed appropriate by EPA, in consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Image: Senator Mary Landrieu, of Louisiana. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

theguardian.co.uk - May 1st, 2014 - Suzanne Goldenberg

Barack Obama faced a new challenge on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on Thursday when Democrats and Republicans in the Senate introduced a bill taking the decision out of his hands.

The bill, introduced by Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu and North Dakota Republican John Hoeven, would bypass Obama, authorising immediate construction of the 1,660-mile pipeline.

The two senators said they were hoping for a vote as early as next week. Landrieu said she hoped to “greenlight construction of the pipeline immediately”.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)