2 Reports Call Water Shortages Serious, Widespread Threat

August 4, 2010–Sandia National Laboratories and the Natural Resources Defense Council independently publish similar conclusions based on a range of scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report, in conjunction with various economic models.

New Federal Web Site Pulls Together Coastal Info

July 7, 2010–NOAA's "State of the Coast" contains both quick facts and detailed information regarding this 95,000-mile-long zone and all the players involved. It generally addresses longer-term issues, such as environmental degradation, climate, hazards, economics, and demographics.

Hired BP Muscle Still Blocking Access; ACLU Weighs In

June 30, 2010–Mother Jones' Mac McClelland reports that some of those guys wearing uniforms and harassing journalists are actually off-duty local law enforcement officers being paid for their time by BP.

TOOLBOX: Follow the Money on Gulf Oil Spill Contracts

June 30, 2010–Investigative Reporters and Editors brings news of a special Gulf Oil Spill Report put out by the Federal Procurement Data System which lists all federal contracts that the General Services Administration (GSA) knows about.

Rooftop Solar Leasing Deals: Better Business for Renewables?

June 23, 2010–Driving this trend is mounting time pressure in many states for utilities to meet deadlines and quotas for renewable energy production, as well as the recession and federal tax incentives.

BP Contractors, Feds Continue to Bar Media from Public Property

June 16, 2010–WDSU, the NBC affiliate in New Orleans (Channel 6), found that BP's highly publicized statement that it is not barring news media from witnessing the cleanup, or its failure, is in fact not true. See video of this and other examples, and get contact info for the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center if you've been denied access.

BLM Tweaks Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Policies

June 9, 2010–The changes affect only new drilling areas and may include greater consideration of environmental impacts, more public review, fewer "categorical exclusions" from environmental review, and more.

Manufacturing Plants Are Source of Drugs in Waterways

June 9, 2010–Wastewater treatment plants can't mitigate the problem, which is compounded by other sources of water contamination, such as drugs that end up in landfills or flushed down toilets, and metabolites or unutilized drugs that pass through people who take the drugs.

BP Hires Cheney Spokeswoman, Defender of Secrecy, as PR Boss

June 2, 2010–Anne Womack Kolton, who as former VP Dick Cheney's press aide defended the secrecy of his energy task force, has been brought in to fix BP's PR problems in the Gulf oil spill.

Cleanup Workers' Contract: Don't Talk to Media

June 2, 2010–Workers in the "Vessels of Opportunity" Gulf spill cleanup program had to sign a contract prohibiting them from talking to the news media or disclosing "proprietary and confidential" information.