Free Republic

A01 Despite more than 100 published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that have raised health concerns about a chemical compound that is central to the multibillion-dollar plastics industry, the Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe largely because of two studies, both funded by an industry trade group. The agency says it has relied on research backed by the American Plastics Council because it had input on its design, monitored its progress and reviewed the raw data. The compound, bisphenol A (BPA), has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, behavioral disorders and reproductive health problems in...

Associated Press Substance found in everyday items linked to changes in rats’ behavior, brains and precancerous tendencies TORONTO — A ubiquitous chemical found in hard plastic water bottles, DVDs, CDs and hundreds of other common items came under increased pressure Friday when Canada labeled it dangerous and said it might ban its use in baby bottles. Health Canada made the announcement shortly after a U.S. company said it would stop selling hard-plastic Nalgene water bottles made with bisphenol A because of growing consumer concern over whether the chemical poses a health risk. Health Canada is the first regulatory body in...

In the 1967 film classic The Graduate, a businessman corners Benjamin Braddock at a cocktail party and gives him a bit of career advice. "Just one word…plastics." Although Benjamin didn't heed that recommendation, plenty of other young graduates did. Today, the planet is awash in products spawned by the plastics industry. Residues of plastics have become ubiquitous in the environment—and in our bodies. A federal government study now reports that bisphenol A (BPA)—the building block of one of the most widely used plastics—laces the bodies of the vast majority of U.S. residents young and old. Manufacturers link BPA molecules into...

Associated Press Health Concerns Resurface Over Chemical Used in Hard-Plastic Polycarbonate Water Bottles ROCHESTER, N.Y., Catching his breath at a fitness club, Matt McHugh took a gulp of water from his trusty, hard-plastic Nalgene bottle and pondered the idea of switching to an alternative made of glass, stainless steel or another kind of plastic. Worries about a hormone-mimicking chemical used in the trendy sports accessory led a major Canadian retailer to remove Nalgene and other polycarbonate plastic containers from store shelves in early December. "It's definitely a concern but I'd like to learn more before I make any decisions about...

An FBI sweep launched in Puerto Rico to prevent a "domestic terrorist attack" is eliciting widespread outrage on the island - and as far away as New York City - with critics accusing the agency of trying to use terrorism as a guise to turn public opinion against Puerto Rico's independence movement. The Friday morning raid on the U.S. commonwealth, which targeted five private homes and one business, was launched to prevent attacks from the Boricua Popular Army, the FBI said. The special agent in charge of the San Juan Division of the FBI, Luis Fraticelli, said the searches were...

First paragraph at end..... While the market hub known as Mid-C or Mid-Columbia is only seconds away from Southern California on the DC Intertie, Platt's reports that traders require a 31% risk margin for transactions in California's administered markets versus transactions in the Pacific Northwest's open markets. The language in the Office of Management and Budget proposal is not clear whether the intention is to raise BPA's wholesale rates to market rates on the West Coast or to bring rates to national levels. The proposal to bring rates to national levels would make little sense as a market solution, because...

<p>BEND, Ore. - Wholesale power rates may be higher this fall thanks to Oregon's fast-evaporating snowpack and low river levels.</p> <p>Those conditions could leave hydroelectric plants unable to produce much power, according to a spokesman from the Bonneville Power Administration, which operates 31 dams in the Pacific Northwest and sells electricity to utility companies.</p>

In October, we first told you about the noisy power lines that left residents from Monroe to Woodinville feeling as if they're living inside an electronic beehive. The buzzing started after the Bonneville Power Administration doubled the voltage on a 13-mile stretch of transmission line to handle future growth in Seattle and its suburbs. Last month, BPA workers in dangling handcarts used steel brushes and moss-killing agents to scrub away gunk and debris that had built up on a small test section of line. Initial readings showed the cleaning dampened the noise by roughly 15 percent. Cattle rancher Les Gilbert,...

News from the Front #74:   Halloween Special:  General Ripper Takes Over Seattle and BPA "I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist indoctrination, communist perversion and the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." General Jack Ripper, in Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)  What a difference a few decades make.  Forty years ago, it was the far Right that worried about contamination of our "precious bodily fluids" in ways easy to lampoon.  Now it is the far Left.  The only problem is...

PORTLAND - A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit by Indian tribes and environmentalists who said the Bonneville Power Administration mismanaged fish and wildlife conservation programs by favoring energy development in the Northwest. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Bonneville had followed proper procedure for drafting and managing conservation programs to balance energy needs with efforts to protect and restore salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin. A three-judge panel in San Francisco also said the Northwest Power Act ``does not require every BPA decision to treat fish and wildlife equitably'' as long as the federal...

All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth in their military chests; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in the trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we...

<p>Electricity rates are likely to go up this fall, thanks to meager snowpacks in the Cascades and throughout the Columbia River basin.</p> <p>The lack of snow translates into low stream flows for power-generating dams.</p> <p>"The longer this dry winter continues, the prospects are very high that we will request a process to put a rate increase into effect," Bonneville Power Administration spokesman Bill Murlin said Wednesday. "That's not to say we will do it; it just says the chances are pretty good."</p>