The New York Times' Felicity Barringer interviews Sierra Club head Michael Brune about environmental politics, money, and President Obama.

"All environmental politics is local, and local politics can be fierce, particularly at the Sierra Club. Witness members' outrage over the revelation in February that the group had accepted $26 million for its "Beyond Coal" campaign from a natural gas company, Chesapeake Energy.

Chesapeake is one of the biggest players in the controversial business of fracking deep rock structures to free embedded natural gas. At the same time came a declaration by the club's executive director, Michael Brune, who had succeeded Carl Pope in the job in 2010, that the group had stopped accepting  Chesapeake money after he took over. ...

Last month Mr. Brune sat down and offered his views on many subjects local and national, including the Obama administration's abandonment of an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to curb emissions of smog-causing chemicals, and the E.P.A.'s subsequent adoption of  a rule to make utilities cut emissions of toxic mercury."

Felicity Barringer reports for the New York Times' Green blog April 17, 2012. [2]