Exxon oil spill on Yellowstone River disrupts farms

HELENA, Montana (Reuters) - Governor Brian Schweitzer vowed on Tuesday to cling to Exxon Mobil like "the smell on a skunk" for as long as it takes to get the company to clean up a weekend oil spill that fouled an otherwise pristine stretch of the Yellowstone River in Montana. A 12-inch Exxon pipeline ruptured on Friday night about 150 miles downstream from Yellowstone National Park near the town of Laurel, Montana, southwest of Billings, dumping up to 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, of crude oil into the flood-swollen river.

EU lawmakers give backing for national GM crop bans

STRASBOURG (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers voted on Tuesday to strengthen proposals to let governments decide whether to grow or ban genetically modified (GM) crops, designed to break a deadlock in EU GM crop approvals. Despite the majority backing of the European Parliament for the plans, continued opposition from several large EU member states means the draft legislation is unlikely to be finalized this year, if at all.

EU bans Egyptian seeds over deadly E.coli outbreak

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe banned imports of some seeds and beans from Egypt on Tuesday after food safety investigators said a single shipment of fenugreek seeds from there was the most likely source of a highly toxic E. coli epidemic which has killed 49 people. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said beyond France and Germany, where outbreaks of the deadly E. coli strain have made thousands ill in recent months, other European Union countries may have received batches of suspect seeds.

Exxon has yet to craft Montana pipeline fix plan

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp does not have a definite repair plan yet for the ruptured Montana crude oil pipeline that it shut over the weekend, and company and government officials are still trying to determine the cause of the spill, a top executive said on Tuesday. The company and state and federal investigators are "working in parallel, looking at both the investigation, trying to determine what happened, as well as possible repair plans," Gary Pruessing, president of Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company, told reporters in a briefing.

Asia pollution blamed for halt in warming: study

LONDON (Reuters) - Smoke belching from Asia's rapidly growing economies is largely responsible for a halt in global warming in the decade after 1998 because of sulfur's cooling effect, even though greenhouse gas emissions soared, a U.S. study said on Monday. The paper raised the prospect of more rapid, pent-up climate change when emerging economies eventually crack down on pollution.

TransCanada says Exxon spill no threat to XL line

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp said on Tuesday that Exxon Mobil's 1,000-barrel oil spill into the Yellowstone River will not derail its plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline, but environmentalists promised renewed pressure to block approval. TransCanada is awaiting State Department approval to build the $7 billion Keystone XL line, which would carry 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil to the gulf coast refining hub. A final decision on the company's application is expected by year end.