Public

"With the Obama administration about to decide whether to green-light a controversial pipeline to take crude oil from Canada’s oil sands to the United States Gulf Coast, e-mails released Monday paint a picture of a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship between lobbyists for the company building the billion-dollar pipeline and officials in the State Department, the agency that has final say over the pipeline."

The multi-billionaire Koch brothers have financed a big part of today's conservative surge in U.S. politics, and they have a penchant for secrecy. As a result the U.S. news media have reported their opposition to government regulation -- but not the fact that Koch companies have used bribes to win business in Africa, India, and the Middle East, and that they have "sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism."

"Earlier this week, I published a post pointing out that the Daily Caller's claim that the EPA plans to hire 230,000 employees to enforce new climate regulations is false. Since then the Daily Caller has quadrupled-down on the claim, despite a number of other outlets -- first Politico, then Greg Sargent's Washington Post blog -- also pointing out that it was flat-out wrong. Now the Caller has published an editor's note that, rather than reasserting the claim, attempts to reframe their entire argument."

Many people have told stories of getting severely sick near natural gas wells, especially ones using the controversial fracking technique. One of the biggest barriers to determining whether the gas production is causing illness is the gas industry's resistance to disclosing the toxic emissions and hazardous wastes they generate.

Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz originally reported the story for ProPublica September 16, 2011.

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"WAYNESBURG, Pa. -- A surge in mining damage to waterways, houses and roads has sparked a fierce debate in southwestern Pennsylvania's coal region about whether regulations are strong enough to protect property and natural resources."

"A devastating Texas drought that has browned city lawns and caused more than $5 billion in damages to the state's farmers and ranchers could continue for another nine years, a state forecaster said on Thursday."

"'It is possible that we could be looking at another of these multiyear droughts like we saw in the 1950s, and like the tree rings have shown that the state has experienced over the last several centuries,' State Climatologist John Nielson-Gammon told Reuters.

"EPA finds trichloroethylene causes kidney and liver cancer, lymphoma and other health problems. The decision could raise the cost of cleanups nationwide, including in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys."

"SANTA FE -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a plan for the clean up of the largest and highest priority abandoned uranium mine on the Navajo Nation."

"ALBUQUERQUE -- Acquisition of 570 acres to establish a national wildlife refuge along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque has been approved, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today in Albuquerque."

"SACRAMENTO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today ordered a $60 million cleanup of groundwater polluted with rocket fuel at the Aerojet Superfund Site in Sacramento County, the latest phase of a long-term decontamination project at the site."