"President Obama yesterday got nudged from his left to nix the Keystone XL pipeline, as seven Democratic National Committee (DNC) members signed on to a resolution urging rejection of the controversial Canada-to-U.S. project on environmental, economic and national security grounds."
"President Obama’s decision early this month to side with anti-regulation business interests against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop a plan to tighten smog regulations comes during an election cycle in which Obama has received campaign donations from top polluters, and only weeks after his chief of staff met with anti-regulation industry trade associations.
"ARLINGTON, Va. -- A recently-formed judicial 'academy' funded by industry groups and conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is offering members of Congress and their staff free meals and trips in order to 'educate' the lawmakers on controversial pro-business reforms."
"The top two executives of a solar-energy company that filed for bankruptcy after getting $528 million in loan guarantees from the Obama administration said Tuesday that they will invoke their constitutional rights against compelled self-incrimination when they appear at a Congressional hearing."
"Beijing -- Authorities ordered a solar-panel manufacturing plant in eastern China to close after four days of protests by hundreds of villagers who have accused the facility of causing air and water pollution, Chinese media reported Monday.
The decision is an indication of the growing power of environmental protesters to sway government policy in China. As many as 500 villagers participated in the protests near Haining, an industrial city of 640,000 in coastal Zhejiang province.
"Tens of thousands of people marched in Tokyo on Monday in the biggest show of public opposition to nuclear power since the start of the Fukushima Daiichi crisis in March."
"US President Barack Obama on Monday introduced a wide-ranging proposal to save the federal government $3 trillion over the next 10 years by cutting spending and raising taxes, including the repeal of a number of tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry." ...
Republicans in Congress are whipping up fear among Midwest farmers that EPA will burden them with tighter dust-control regulations. The only problem is that it isn't true.
"Arizona farmer Kevin Rogers has a new routine in the morning: Checking the wind. If it’s too high, he’s required to park his tractors and combines for the day to keep from kicking up dust that’s long been a major cause of air pollution in the Phoenix area.
"The Housing Authority of Baltimore City often cites a lack of funds to explain its refusal to pay nearly $12 million in court-ordered judgments to former public housing residents who suffered permanent lead-paint poisoning as children. But the city's public housing agency has paid private lawyers about $4 million since 2005 to defend against those lead-paint claims. In May and June alone it spent $228,000 on legal fees, a total that works out to more than $5,000 per day, including expenses."
Republicans like Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) have pounced on solar panel-maker Solyndra's bankruptcy as proof that most renewable energy projects are wasteful. Yet Vitter and others energetically worked to bring federal dollars for renewables to their own districts.
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