"SAN FRANCISCO — Lax oversight by the state has allowed the oil and gas industry to contaminate protected water aquifers and endanger the public, California regulators acknowledged Tuesday while pledging to intensify supervision."
A bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act awaits Senate floor action. But the Obama administration, which once pledged to be the most open in history, has so far been strangely silent. Crickets. "Worries from the agencies are whispered into lawmakers' ears," wrote E&E Publishing's Kevin Bogardus.
After opposing gag and sealing orders in the trial of former Massey coal CEO Don Blankenship on charges of conspiracy to violate federal mine safety and health standards — and cover-up — a news media coalition led by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press won access to the trial from a federal appeals court March 5, 2015.
"A bipartisan pair of senators introduced legislation on Tuesday that would overhaul U.S. chemical regulations."
"North Carolina officials say they have hit Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electric utility, with the largest environmental fine in state history."
"The agencies charged with overseeing oil production and protecting California's ever-dwindling water sources from the industry's pollution all fell down on the job, one state official told a panel of peeved lawmakers Tuesday."
"The Senate's top Republican is telling states to ignore a central part of President Barack Obama's plans to curb the pollution blamed for global warming."
"For more than a decade, the New Jersey attorney general’s office conducted a hard-fought legal battle to hold Exxon Mobil Corporation responsible for decades of environmental contamination in northern New Jersey."
"The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto a pair of Republican bills aimed at changing the way the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses science to justify regulations."
"The Obama administration and two states have given notice of plans to appeal a federal judge's order that restored legal protection to gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region.The Obama administration and two states have given notice of plans to appeal a federal judge's order that restored legal protection to gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region."
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