Free Republic

Environmental groups on Tuesday accused the Biden administration of putting the profits of big agribusiness over public health and critical pollinators by attempting to obstruct the Mexican government’s ongoing push to ban genetically engineered (GE) corn. “The U.S.’s shameful efforts to strong-arm Mexico into accepting GE corn it has rejected is nothing short of 21st-century imperialism,” Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the U.S.-based Center for Biological Diversity. “Our government is working tirelessly to pad the multibillion-dollar profits of domestic agribusiness corporations by pushing GE corn, even though our glyphosate-drenched GE cornfields are playing an outsized role in driving...

World oil prices rose on Friday as the dollar fell against the euro amid improving demand for crude, analysts said. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February climbed 29 cents to 91.89 dollars a barrel in London trade. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, gained 16 cents to 87.86 dollars. The dollar fell against the euro on Friday as positive German economic data and EU efforts to safeguard the single currency helped to offset a huge ratings downgrade for Ireland and more Spanish debt problems. A weaker dollar makes crude priced in dollars cheaper for...

“Bernhardt got this nomination as a reward for months of work cramming America’s natural heritage into a wood chipper,” Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “He’s already done more damage to our environment than anyone else in Interior Department history. Confirming him as Interior secretary would be a boon to polluters and a colossal disaster for our public lands and endangered species.” Center for Western Priorities' Executive Director Jennifer Rokala called Bernhardt's nomination "an affront to America's parks and public lands." "As an oil and gas lobbyist, Bernhardt pushed to open...

Democrat super-lobbyist Tony Podesta was paid $170,000 over a six-month period last year to represent Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, seeking to end one of the Obama administration’s economic sanctions against that country, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned. Podesta, founder and chairman of the Podesta Group, is listed as a key lobbyist on behalf of Sberbank, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms. His firm received more than $24 million in fees in 2016, much of it coming from foreign governments, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Details of a large non-profit’s plans to combat the Keystone XL pipeline have surfaced, and offer some insight into the strategies and tactics of groups looking to combat the use of fossil fuels. Canadian news channel Sun News uncovered of a PowerPoint presentation from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund detailing its work with other groups to derail the Keystone XL pipeline and other similar projects it deemed parts of “a globally significant threat.” The presentation, written in 2008, describes the allocation of $7 million to environmental non-profits for tactics that include the use of the legislative and legal systems to delay...

NOTE: Here is the text of the Los Angeles Times opinion piece as originally accepted by the editors. Please note the the highlighted sections (in red) were cut or changed at the last minute by the editors. I had no opportunity to choose a different edit, as I would have if given the chance. I'm sorry the article doesn't give the public the names of the specific initiatives (CSA and SFI) that they could refer to for information. Otherwise I am very pleased the Times chose to run my article.Click here for a link to the LA Times article...