Obama warned over oil pipeline WASHINGTON (AP) — The oil industry’s top lobbyist warned the Obama administration Wednesday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline or face “huge political consequences” in an election year. ADVERTISING Jack Gerard, president of the
Obama warned over oil pipeline
WASHINGTON (AP) — The oil industry’s top lobbyist warned the Obama administration Wednesday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline or face “huge political consequences” in an election year.
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said it would be a “huge mistake” for President Barack Obama to reject the 1,700-mile, Canada-to-Texas pipeline. Obama faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion pipeline is in the national interest.
“Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest,” Gerard said at the trade association’s annual “State of American Energy” event. “A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences.”
Gerard said the oil group has teamed up with at least 15 unions to support the pipeline, which would create thousands of jobs.
“We will stand shoulder to shoulder” with labor unions that have backed the pipeline, including the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, Gerard said.
More U.S. women are having twins
ATLANTA (AP) — The number of twins born in the U.S. soared over the last three decades, mostly the result of test-tube babies and women waiting to have children until their 30s, when the chances of twins increase.
In 2009, 1 in every 30 babies born in the U.S. was a twin, an astounding increase over the 1 in 53 rate in 1980, according to a government report issued Wednesday.
“When people say it seems like you see more twins nowadays, they’re right,” said Joyce Martin, an epidemiologist who co-authored the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
Some increase was expected as more women are delaying starting a family until they are over 30. For some unknown reason, mothers in their 30s are more likely to have twins than younger or older women. As much as a third of the increase can be attributed to that, Martin said. The rest of the rise is due to fertility drugs and treatments.
FDA limits drug used in livestock
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday ordered farmers to limit the use of a type of antibiotic they give livestock because it could make people more resistant to a key antibiotic that can save lives, encouraging news for public health advocates who say such animal antibiotics are overused.
FDA officials have been clear in stating their belief that antibiotics given to animals before slaughter are linked to growing antibiotic resistance in humans, but it has struggled with how to tackle the problem because the powerful livestock industry says the drugs are needed to keep animals healthy.
The agency’s order Wednesday will limit cephalosporins, which are given to some cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys before slaughter. The drugs are used to treat pneumonia, skin infections and meningitis, among other diseases, in humans.
Man charged in L.A. arson spree
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A German man was charged Wednesday with 37 counts of arson in connection with a rash of fires that terrorized Los Angeles over the New Year’s weekend.
Harry Burkhart, 24, was charged with 28 counts of arson of property and nine counts of arson of an inhabited structure, District Attorney Steve Cooley said.
The complaint alleged the arson was caused by the use of a device designed to accelerate the fire. Court documents revealed an incendiary device was placed under the engine area of cars.
More charges could be filed when Burkhart returns to court for arraignment on Jan. 24. He was ordered held on $2.85 million bail and could face several dozen years in prison if convicted.
“The amount of harm he did to the psyche of the citizens of these particular communities and all of Los Angeles County, I think it merits a life term,” Cooley said.
Burkhart is suspected of setting more than 50 blazes that caused an estimated $3 million in damage. He has refused to cooperate with investigators since his arrest on Monday.
The charges are based on a dozen fires in the Hollywood and Sherman Oaks sections of Los Angeles and the city of West Hollywood.
Authorities said they believe he was angry over his mother’s legal troubles and went on a nighttime rampage of burning parked cars a day after she appeared in court last week, when he went on a profanity-laced tirade denouncing the United States.
