"The U.S. State Department must halt plans to expand an oil sands pipeline route from Canada to Wisconsin until possible environmental harm has been closely studied, several green groups said in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday."

"Legislation to force the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline picked up support Thursday as more Democratic senators signed on to Sen. Mary Landrieu's effort."

"Bills to take approval of the contentious Keystone XL pipeline from Canada out of the hands of the Obama administration could be headed for votes in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Democrat Mary Landrieu, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said she would propose debate later on Wednesday and a vote on Thursday on a bill floated in May to approve the project, which would deliver heavy Canadian oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

"Any hope for Congress to reconvene with a sense of bipartisanship was quickly erased Wednesday morning as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) sharply criticized the announcement of a new climate deal between the United States and China."

"President Obama’s landmark agreement with China to cut greenhouse gas pollution is a bet by the president and Democrats that on the issue of climate change, American voters are far ahead of Washington’s warring factions and that the environment will be a winning cause in the 2016 presidential campaign."

"A week after a historic vote to ban hydraulic fracturing (or fracking — the controversial drilling method that forces oil and gas from shale formations with pressurized water, sand and a host of chemicals), Denton, Texas, has been told the state will continue to issue drilling permits within the city limits."

"Senate Democrats are considering bringing legislation to the floor during the lame-duck session that would approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, according to a report in Bloomberg. The report by Bloomberg, quoting a Democratic Senate aide, said Democrats are considering the vote as part of an effort to save Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)."

"Haul out the oil rigs, fracking can begin in Illinois."

"Promoters of the Yucca Mountain, Nev., nuclear waste repository left for dead by the Obama administration are celebrating Republicans' Senate takeover as a chance for resurrecting a project stymied by outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)."

"A day after voters decided to make Denton the first city in Texas to ban hydraulic fracturing, the reaction by the energy industry and government was swift."