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Environment

Government Roundup

January 21, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 3

Cyber attacks launched against critical U.S. infrastructure increased by 52% in 2012, and more than 7,000 industrial control systems are vulnerable, according to a year-end report by the Department of Homeland Security. There were 198 attacks overall, including seven against chemical plants and six against nuclear facilities.

USDA awarded $25 million to fund four R&D projects related to next-generation renewable energy and biobased products. The goal of the projects is to increase the availability of alternative biofuels and biobased products from sources such as the oilseed crop camelina, sorghum, switchgrass, manure, and forestry waste.

Several manufacturers—including Alcoa, Celanese, Dow Chemical, Eastman Chemical, and Nucor—have formed America’s Energy Advantage to lobby to limit the export of U.S. natural gas. The organization says the Department of Energy is using a flawed study to determine how much U.S. natural gas can be exported.

Cadmium in plastics is the subject of a call for information by the European Chemicals Agency. It is considering expansion of the European Union’s current restriction on the use of cadmium in 16 specific plastics to all plastic materials.

The Senate has confirmed Beth J. Rosenberg as a board member of the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board. A faculty member of the public health program at Tufts University School of Medicine, Rosenberg fills one of three current vacancies on the five-member board.

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