Taxpayers' money funds the Congressional Research Service as it produces objective and authoritative reports on issues facing Congress — many on subjects of interest to environmental journalists. Congress, however, does not share these reports with the public who paid for them. Thanks to the Project on Government Secrecy, another batch of the reports has been leaked and published.
"A 60 Minutes segment claiming that federal government efforts to encourage clean tech -- the production and use of alternative energy sources and more efficient technology -- have failed drew some harsh disagreement among reporters covering the energy beat who say the negative report ignored many successes and focused too narrowly on a few unsuccessful companies."
Sometimes hydraulic fracturing of underground shale formations to produce oil and gas goes awry. Pumping fluids into formations at high pressure to release hydrocarbons can cause oil, gas, and toxic liquids to spew from old abandoned wells.
"BEIJING -- China approved the construction of more than 100 million tonnes of new coal production capacity in 2013 - six times more than a year earlier and equal to 10 percent of U.S. annual usage - flying in the face of plans to tackle choking air pollution.
"Several homes near the village of Plaster Rock, N.B., were evacuated Tuesday evening after a train carrying 'dangerous goods' derailed and caught fire."
"WASHINGTON -- The oil industry's leading trade group on Tuesday praised Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R) call for a review of the country's effective ban on exporting crude oil."
"WASHINGTON — As a new year dawns in the nation’s capital, the Obama administration and Congress find themselves grappling with a scenario that was unthinkable just a short time ago: What to do with the domestic oil flowing out of West Texas, North Dakota and other states?"
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A state-sponsored study meant to examine potential pollution from the boom in natural gas drilling never actually tested key wastes from the Marcellus Shale formation, according to a West Virginia University researcher who led the effort."
"U.S. EPA modified its proposed 2014 renewable fuel standard rule last year after the White House raised concerns about production targets being too high and based on unreliable analyses, according to documents from interagency reviews of the draft proposal."
SEJ and Woodrow Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program presented the 2nd Annual "Year Ahead in Environment and Energy" event, January 24, 2014, in Washington, DC. Watch the archived webcast here. Bloomberg BNA's Larry Pearl began with an overview of the key legislative, regulatory, and legal developments expected in 2014, followed by a roundtable with six top journalists covering local, national, and international environmental issues, moderated by Douglas Fischer, editor of The Daily Climate (pictured).
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