Environmental Politics

"The EPA's Hydraulic Fracturing Public Informational Meeting was probably the strangest exhibition of performance art ever to grace the stage of the Broome County Forum Theater in Binghamton, New York."

"BP has reneged on promises made in November to negotiate early payments to Louisiana to help rebuild oyster beds, repair damaged wetlands and build a fish hatchery to allow the state to respond immediately to the collapse of commercial fisheries in the wake of the BP Gulf oil spill, state officials said Monday."

"The construction permits are in and the financing is ready to go, but some of the Chicago area's biggest sources of toxic air pollution still might not be cleaned up anytime soon."

"Early [Saturday] morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a funding bill that environmentalists say amounts to the biggest attack on clean air and clean water in recent history."

"Oil-price swings have doubled this year as unrest spreads through the Middle East, source of one- third of global crude supply, hampering producer and consumer efforts to stabilize the world’s biggest commodity market."

"The retirement of Sen. Jeff Bingaman — the low-key New Mexico Democrat known for his ability to strike centrist deals with Republicans — raises questions about the long-term impact his departure will have on the development of energy policy in future Congresses."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released draft staff reports Thursday on the proposed Yucca Mountain repository but omitted any conclusions about whether the site would be safe for storing radioactive waste."

"Navajo lawmakers on Tuesday approved a lease extension for a northwestern New Mexico power plant that means more money for the tribe, sending it to the tribal president for consideration."

"State lawmakers soundly criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday as two legislative panels approved different measures to shield Kentucky coal mining from federal pollution rules."

"As the players here remake the nation’s vast regulatory system, they have been grappling with a subject that is more the province of poets and philosophers than bureaucrats: what is the value of a human life?"