Environmental Politics

"EPA's non-responsiveness in the Texas air pollution story is troubling because it keeps taxpayers in the dark about a critical issue."

"From all of the commotion around the new federal school lunch standards, you'd think they were really Draconian. Republican legislators have railed against them. Districts have threatened to opt out. The School Nutrition Association (SNA), the industry group that represents the nation's 55,000 school food employees, has officially opposed some of them—and doubled its lobbying ....  Here's who doesn't mind the new standards: kids."

"A nonprofit group backing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is spending $2 million-plus this month on TV ads that slam his Democratic challenger, a campaign partly dedicated to impugning her record on coal that leads some political observers to wonder if the industry is behind the curtain."

"The decision by a small coastal city in Maine to ban the export of crude oil from its harbor brought threats of lawsuits from the oil industry Tuesday and put South Portland on the front lines of a battle over development of Canada’s huge and controversial tar sands deposits."

"WASHINGTON -- The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday strongly defended the approach and legitimacy of an Obama administration power plant rule that Republicans attacked as regulatory overreach and Democrats said was vital."

"President Obama has named two energy experts to fill soon-to-be openings at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)."

"North Dakota’s Heritage Center makes for a jarring sight in this Midwestern prairie capital. The newly-expanded museum consists of four interlocking cubes of stone, steel and glass, a gleaming architectural statement poking out of the otherwise drab Capitol grounds. Each cube features a gallery devoted to an era of North Dakota’s history, but the state’s present is everywhere."

"SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Tom Blake, like thousands of his neighbors in this coastal town, is used to living alongside the oil industry. Tank farms cluster in neighborhoods, by the park where families watch the movie "Frozen" on a summer night, next to schools and senior citizens apartment buildings. As a child, Blake, the town's former mayor, used to jump into high snow drifts from the massive oil tank next door."

"Deputy premier Rich Coleman challenged Thursday the conclusions of a scientific panel into the environmental effect of shale gas development using fracking."

"There are the signs. Stop the Pipeline. Protect our Common Wealth. No Fracked Gas in Mass. And there are the meetings."