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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: A not happy anniversary: environmental health issues for Iraq & Afghanistan veterans; Hard times for sea lions ... PLUS: Oil drilling scandal in Los Angeles ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Caution: Pet flea treatments can be dangerous; Most power plants still spewing toxic mercury; GAO scolds EPA for not protecting kids from toxic chemicals; BP wins $99 million reduction in fines for toxic pollutants; California’s salmon vs. agribiz interests; Huge Mojave desert solar project moves ahead ... PLUS: Climate Crock of the Week: Flogging the Scientists ...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• Burn Pits: A Toxic Legacy for Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans:
• GET MORE INFORMATION: BURN PITS ACTION CENTER (Burn Pits.org)
• Another Gulf War Syndrome?: Burning trash on bases is sickening soldiers, but the Army refuses to extinguish the burn pits. (Mother Jones)
• The Other Burn Pits --- in Area 51 (Mother Jones)
• VA, DoD seek better data on burn-pit exposure (Military Times):
• VA, DoD seek better data on burn-pit exposure (Navy Times):
  “We have a particular need to solve this as best as we can,” said Victoria Cassano, acting director of VA’s Environmental Agents Service. “You tell us what the science is. You tell us what the evidence is. Do we have enough to [move] forward with a presumption or not?”
  ...
  Congress could create a law saying veterans potentially connected could automatically receive a “presumption of service connection” for those ailments, similar to a law that assumes service connection for Vietnam Veterans whose diseases could have come from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam.
• VA to look into effects of 'burn pits' on veterans (CNN)
• Veterans speak out against burn pits (LA Times):
  
  A range of health problems are linked to the pits on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Toxic substances have been found in the smoke.
  ...
  Items burned in the pits have included medical waste, plastics, computer parts, oil, lubricants, paint, tires and foam cups, according to soldiers and contractors. Some say amputated body parts from Iraqi patients were burned in Balad, site of a large U.S. military hospital
• Health Panel Begins Probing Impacts of Burn Pits (Greenwire)
• Halliburton, KBR sued for alleged ill effects of 'burn pits' (CNN, 4/28/2009)
• Military Acknowledges Burn pits could cause long-term damage to troops (CNN, 12/18/2009)
• A Sickening Situation: Lawsuit Over Wartime 'Burn Pits' (Newsweek, 6/27/2009)
• FLASHBACK: March 20, 2003: U.S. Launches Invasion of Iraq:
  
  WASHINGTON, 3/20/03 --- U.S. and coalition forces launched missiles and bombs at targets in Iraq as Thursday morning dawned in Baghdad ... Administration sources said the decision to strike came after a nearly four-hour meeting in the Oval Office in which CIA Director George Tenet and Pentagon officials told Bush they could lose the "target of opportunity" if they didn't act quickly; Bush then gave the green light.
• Bad Times for California Sea Lions:
• Starving sea lion pups washing up on Orange County beaches: Climatologists say El Niño's warming effects on Pacific waters are causing fish to flee to colder areas. (LA Times)
• Bad Year for Sea Lions, Starving Pups Washing Up Along California Beaches (Treehugger)
• Starving sea lion pups wash up on Calif. beaches (PhysOrg)
• Famous San Francisco sea lions leave in droves (PhysOrg, 12/30/2009)
• Hard times for young sea lions (Mercury News)
• Galapagos Sea Lions Moving to the Waters Off Peru (Treehugger)
• The Case of San Francisco's Disappearing Sea Lions (Treehugger, 12/31/2009)
• Oil Drilling Scandal in L.A.: State Regulator Accused of Lax Oversight of Regulate-ees:
• L.A. oilfield now a battleground: Lawsuit filed; residents want promised park (LA Times)
• Still Drilling on Baldwin Hills Park Land, Despite Shady Regulation (LA Curbed)
• FLASHBACK: Drilling for Oil in Downtown L.A. --- Record Oil Prices Have Brought Fresh Interest in the City's Wells:
  
  "That increase in oil prices has caused expansion of exploration and production throughout the country and especially in California," says Steve Rusch, vice president of a Texas oil company that does extensive drilling in and around Los Angeles. "There's a huge incentive."

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report...

• Pet flea treatments can be dangerous, more safety steps in the works, EPA says (Environmental Health News)
• Most power plants still spewing toxic mercury, report says (McClatchy DC)
• GAO report scolds EPA (USA Today)
• BP wins $99 million reduction in toxic fumes case (Houston Chronicle)
• The water wars: California’s salmon vs. agribiz interests (Grist)
• Major California Solar Project Moves Ahead (Green Inc.)
• Solar Energy Foes Try to 'Block' Sun: Cartoon-style confrontation in Hawaii is no laughing matter (Earth Justice)
• VIDEO: Peter Sinclair's Climate Crock of the Week: Flogging the Scientists (YouTube Greenman 3610)


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Article Categories: Environment, Green News