EPA managers intruded on dicamba decision making
Three mid-level EPA officials altered scientific documents to support their 2018 decision to keep the weedkiller dicamba in use, reported the office of inspector general at EPA on Monday. Their decision, to extend registration of the herbicide for two years, was overturned by a federal appeals …
Advocacy groups sue FSA for allegedly withholding farm loan information
Several environmental and animal advocacy groups are suing the USDA's Farm Service Agency for allegedly delaying and over-redacting its responses to Freedom of Information Act requests. The groups say the agency has systematically withheld information about its loan programs and concealed how much of its funds are directed toward industrial-scale animal agriculture.
Forest Service will tighten sexual harassment procedures in wake of new report
The Forest Service said on Tuesday it will tighten its procedures after an inspector general’s report found its sexual harassment policies lacking. The report identified three instances in which supervisors did not explain adequately why they gave more lenient punishment than was agency …
House committee considers SBA poultry loans
Members of the House Small Business Committee convened for a hearing Wednesday to discuss the findings of a recent report by the Office of the Inspector General on lending to poultry farmers.
FDA has been slow to announce food recalls, says OIG
In two recent cases, the FDA waited months before forcing the recall of contaminated food, said Inspector General Daniel Levinson, calling for "immediate attention" to the shortcoming. "Consumers remained at risk of illness or death for several weeks after FDA knew of potentially hazardous food," Levinson wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf in a rare "early alert" warning.