After much debate and input, the Senate has finally passed the Farm Bill: a five-year, $500 billion bill that is rife with controversy, including major cuts to farm subsidies, land conservation efforts and rejecting a measure that would allow states the rights to require the mandatory labeling of foods or beverages that contain genetically modified ingredients.

As the national discussion over labeling of genetically modified foods heats up with the recent petition submission to the FDA boasting the most signatures in history, news has emerged that Monsanto—the largest manufacturer of GMO seeds and companion pesticides—plans to sue Vermont if the state passes a mandatory labeling law on foods containing genetically modified ingredients.

Chick-Fil-A sues Vermont artist and small business owner Bo Muller-Moore to squash his Eat More Kale merchandise line, which the restaurant says violates their rights to the slogan "Eat Mor Chikin." VT Governor Shumlin supports the artist and raises money for his legal defense fund.

]]> http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/political-action/kale-bait-vermont-backs-local-business-in-chick-fil-a-trademark-suit/feed/ 0 http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/political-action/vermont-senator-stands-up-to-anti-environmentalists/ http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/political-action/vermont-senator-stands-up-to-anti-environmentalists/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:14:08 +0000 Barbara Feiner http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/?p=7332

My environmental hero of the week is Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), who actually cares about the ramifications of climate change and the quality of the air we breathe. 

Before the June 10 defeat of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) resolution to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to enforce the Clean Air Act, Leahy employed an apt “punt, pass and kick” football analogy to chastise the “drill, baby, drill” crowd. 

Murkowski’s resolution, he explained, “would punt away constructive action to begin addressing the many threats that each and every American faces from climate change, and the threats we face every day to our national security. It would pass on the opportunities to foster cleaner air and water for us, and for the generations that will follow us. And it would kick away the progress already negotiated by the Obama administration and key industries, such as our automobile and truck manufacturers, to usher in new products that would pollute less while creating good American jobs—jobs that cannot be sent overseas. 

“Many on the other side of the aisle have been adamant in trying to wish these problems away and to forfeit the economic opportunities at our fingertips to lead the world in these new energy technologies,” Leahy added. “Powerful corporate interests are more than glad to contribute to these efforts to stalemate any progress.” 

Passage of Murkowski’s resolution would have signaled that we’re “content to keep relying on the outdated, dirty and inefficient energy technologies of the past, and to let every other industrialized nation leap in front of us in developing and selling these new technologies,” Leahy said. 

There’s no doubt that greenhouse gases are a “clear and present health and economic threat to the American people,” he added, noting that Murkowski’s resolution would give Congress permission to “undermine America’s ability to clean our air and our waters.”

Leahy wants the EPA to remain focused on protecting the American people, “whether it is arsenic in our drinking water, smog in the air, mercury in the fish we eat or greenhouse gases.”

He’s also calling on Congress to pass meaningful energy and climate legislation.