Government Roundup

Environment Canada has concluded that genetically modified salmon from eggs produced by Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies are not harmful to the environment or human health. The assessment brings AquaBounty one step closer to gaining approval from the Canadian government to sell the eggs on a commercial scale.

Pesticide regulations in the European Union could block more than 40% of U.S. agricultural exports of certain food crops, a report commissioned by the industry group CropLife America concludes. The group worries that pesticides will be classified as endocrine disruptors and removed from the market based on hazard rather than risk.

Duke Energy pleaded guilty last month to killing birds at a wind farm and agreed to pay a $1 million fine in the first penalty under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The company acknowledged guilt in the deaths of 14 golden eagles and 149 other protected birds at two of the company’s wind projects in Wyoming.

Nitrous oxide emissions could double globally by 2050 if countries do not act to restrict them, says the United Nations Environment Programme. The chemical is a potent greenhouse gas and depletes stratospheric ozone. Facilities manufacturing adipic acid or nitric acid are among N₂O emitters.

Federal procurement of safer, more environmentally friendly products is the aim of draft guidelines developed by EPA and the General Services Administration. The new guidance would help federal purchasers identify which private-sector ecolabels and performance standards they should consider in procurement decisions.

A 3.7 °C increase in global average temperatures over preindustrial levels is expected by 2100 given current greenhouse gas emissions policies around the world, says an analysis by three European groups. This contrasts with the globally agreed-on goal to restrain human-caused global warming to less than 2 °C by the end of the century.