Skip to main content

Closing of 259 #USDA offices raises safety concerns (AP Photo: Kodiak Fishery Industrial Technology Center)


FILE - In this file photo taken in July 2009, a technician dumps seafood byproducts into a hydrolysis machine at the Fishery Industrial Technology Center in Kodiak, Alaska. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will close 259 domestic offices, labs and other facilities as part of an effort to save $150 million per year, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday, Jan. 9, 2012.FILE - In this file photo taken in July 2009, a technician dumps seafood byproducts into a hydrolysis machine at the Fishery Industrial Technology Center in Kodiak, Alaska. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will close 259 domestic offices, labs and other facilities as part of an effort to save $150 million per year, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. (AP photo/University Of Alaska Fairbanks)

By Michael J. Crumb
Associated Press / January 9, 2012

DES MOINES, Iowa—The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Monday it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide, a move that won praise for cutting costs but raised concerns about the possible effect on food safety.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the goal was to save $150 million a year in the agency's $145 billion budget. About $90 million had already been saved by reducing travel and supplies, and the closures were expected to save another $60 million, he said.

The plan calls for 259 offices, labs and other facilities to be closed, affecting the USDA headquarters in Washington and operations in 46 states. Seven foreign offices also will be shut.
Some of the closures had been previously announced. The USDA said last year it.... http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/01/09/usda_says_it_will_close_259_offices_to_save_150m/

Popular posts from this blog

Crabbers get a boost in bairdi Tanner quotas

LAINE WELCH Image via Wikipedia FISHERIES Published: November 7th, 2009 10:10 PM Last Modified: November 7th, 2009 10:12 PM KODIAK -- Kodiak and Alaska Peninsula crabbers got some good news last week -- bigger catch quotas for bairdi Tanner crab, a mid-January fishery important to local economies. Bairdi are the larger cousins of the better-known opilio Tanners, or snow crab. The bairdi boost stems from a big pulse of new crab recruits that biologists have been tracking for years. "That is what's fueling the increase in the harvest this year. We're just getting the very beginning of that year class," said......... http://www.adn.com/money/welch/story/1004091.html
Read more

#01-14-2014 - ComFish News Roundup

Chinook Conservation, Trawling and Permit-Stacking Addressed by BoF Jan 13, 2014 View of Kodiak from Pillar Mountain (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jay Barrett/KMXT The Alaska Board of Fisheries wrapped up its Kodiak area meetings on Friday afternoon at the Harbor Convention Center. KMXT’s Jay Barrett spoke with board Chairman Karl Johnstone about some of the decisions that came out of the meeting, and how the meeting schedule may change in the future..... http://www.kmxt.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5374 3:32 PM MON JANUARY 13, 2014 The Dillingham City Council Opposes Passage of House Bill 77 By MIKE MASON The Dillingham City Council has come out in opposition to a bill that is expected to be a major focus of attention during the next session of the Alaska Legislature. KDLG’s Mike Mason has the details..... http://kdlg.org/post/dillingham-city-council-opposes-passage-house-bill-77 PORT STUDY Corps draft feasibility study on ports due in March
Read more

Danish commandos 'monitoring hippies' on Arctic offshore rig #artcticloons

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr Alaska Dispatch | May 31, 2011 Armed Danish commandos have (possibly) been summoned to monitor Earth-loving "hippies" clinging to the underbelly of an Arctic deepwater oil rig  off the coast of Greenland , sources say. The environmental non-governmental group  Greenpeace  has published  statements and  video  showing its activists aboard two ships that are attempting to "interfere" with oil exploration going on in the Davis Strait, 100 miles west of Greenland. This business has in turn prompted the Kingdom of Denmark to launch two ships and a few helicopters to monitor the Greenpeace interference. The  Leiv Eriksson  is the source of all this Arctic bait and switch. British oil company  Cairn Energy  is attempting to drill four wells at depths of at least 5,000 feet this summer in "iceberg-strewn sea" with the 53,000-ton offshore oil rig, which has made its way to Arctic waters after a month of failed attempts by Green
Read more