Two Iowa egg producers have been forced to recall more than half a billion eggs following a salmonella outbreak that has sickened close to 1,000 people. According to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, the companies involved fell short of safety standards at their farms. On Sunday, Hamburg told CNN, "there's no question these farms involved in the recall were not operating with the standards of practice we consider responsible." The salmonella outbreak has been traced back to two Iowa egg farms, Hillandale farms and Wright County Egg.

On Tuesday, lawyers for the state of Vermont urged a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by the Conservation Law Foundation that says the state of Vermont and the federal government aren't doing enough to protect Lake Champlain from phosphorous pollution. The suite, which was filed in 2008, names the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a defendant and says the phosphorous pollution limits set in 2002 for Vermont were not stringent enough and did not take into account any effects of global climate change. The suit seeks to force EPA to reconsider the limits they approved 8 years ago.

On Monday, August 9th, the Healing Our Waters-Great lakes Coalition and the Sierra Club released a new report "Turning the Tide: Investing in Wastewater Infrastructure to Create Jobs and Solve the Sewage Crisis in the Great Lakes." The report highlights the increasing wastewater infrastructure gap occurring in this country due to insufficient federal investments, how local communities are responding to this problem with innovative green solutions and what economic benefits can be derived from wastewater infrastructure investments. Below is the official press release from August 9th.

Progress on the two relief wells being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico has restarted today in the wake of Tropical Storm Bonnie that shut down activity on the wells last week. The relief wells, long viewed as the ultimate permanent solution to stopping the gusher in the Gulf, are still on progress to be completed by early August. The wells will take several days of preparation before they are fully restarted. Workers need to reconnect with existing equipment under the water and take a number of other necessary steps to resume the drilling operation.