National (U.S.)

"A federal judge has thrown out a key section of an Interior Department rule that declared global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear."

"In 2008, both the Democratic and Republican candidates for president, Barack Obama and John McCain, warned about man-made global warming and supported legislation to curb emissions. After he was elected, President Obama promised 'a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change,' and arrived cavalry-like at the 2009 United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen to broker a global pact.

But two years later, now that nearly every other nation accepts climate change as a pressing problem, America has turned agnostic on the issue."

"IOWA CITY -- Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation's capital. But Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity."

"LONDON — Anadarko Petroleum Co. has agreed to pay $4 billion to BP PLC as part of a settlement related to last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill."

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The Keystone XL pipeline that would bring petroleum from Canada's tar sands to US terminals in Houston is proving a political headache for President Obama. It pits many of his erstwhile allies -- such as unions and environmentalists -- against each other.

"House Republicans pushed through legislation Friday that gives the states the power to regulate coal ash from power plants as if it were municipal garbage, pre-empting pending federal regulations that could be much tougher."

EPA has charged a Maryland man with fraud in an alleged biofuels credit scheme, signalling a federal crackdown on fraud and abuse of the Renewable Fuels Standard.

"As legislation to limit U.S. EPA's power to regulate coal ash hits the House floor this week, environmental advocates see industry footprints all over the bill's language. They say millions of dollars spent in lobbying and campaign contributions have yielded another congressional proposal to block Obama administration environmental oversight -- and have allowed the industry to frame the debate."

"In wake of last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a new study from an environmental watchdog group contends that current federal standards underestimate the risk to pregnant women and children of cancer-causing contaminants that can accumulate in seafood from such spills."

"Energy Department career employees admonished and occasionally ignored the Obama fundraiser who managed DOE’s public rollout of Solyndra's loan guarantee, according to internal Obama administration emails that POLITICO reviewed on Wednesday."