"Friendliness toward the drilling industry is typical for Texas, where many lawmakers receive campaign contributions from oil and gas groups or have investments in drilling companies. The three elected members of the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees the oil and gas industry, have received significant contributions from the very industry they regulate."
"President Barack Obama's pick to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told a Senate panel on Thursday that coal will remain important in the U.S. energy mix and that the EPA will be flexible in applying new pollution rules for coal-fired power plants."
"When it comes to scientific misconduct, the Interior Department has a troubled past."
"Oil industry efforts to develop the American Arctic took another hit today as ConocoPhillips scrapped plans to drill in the Chukchi Sea in 2014."
"By a vote of 87 to 11, the Senate approved Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) chief executive Sally Jewell on Wednesday as the next Interior secretary."
"President Barack Obama proposed a dramatic increase in clean-energy spending on Wednesday as he sought to expand U.S. government support for electric cars, wind power and other "green" technology despite persistent Republican criticism.
The president would pay for the expansion in part by eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for oil, gas and coal industries. Previous efforts by Obama's fellow Democrats to repeal the $4 billion worth of fossil-fuel subsidies have fallen short."
"COMING THURSDAY: Probably the most rough-and-tumble of the nomination hearings for members of President Obama’s second-term green team.
Gina McCarthy, Obama’s choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency, will appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
The Senate committee includes three of Capitol Hill’s most outspoken critics of the EPA: the panel’s ranking Republican, Sen. David Vitter (La.), and Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)."
It may come as little surprise that an unknown number of Americans could die as a result of White House weakening of food safety rules mandated by Congress. The Office of Management and Budget has been secretly weakening environmental health and safety at industry request for years. The surprise is that we found out.
President Obama's nominee for EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy, faces a confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Thursday, April 11, 2013. SEJ has urged committee members to ask McCarthy about her commitment to open government and whether she will fix EPA's "badly broken" news media policies.
The March 29, 2013, spill from ExxonMobil's Pegasus Pipeline near Mayflower, Arkansas is a big deal for several reasons. But the most important thing about the Mayflower spill may be that ExxonMobil and the federal agencies involved seem to be trying to keep news media from getting close enough to see what is going on. Read SEJ's letter protesting the media treatment, and EPA's response.
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