"Federal officials brought in $539 million in high bids Wednesday for the rights to drill for oil and natural gas in almost 1 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Students occupied an administrative building at Oxford university on Monday in protest at the university’s decision to defer a decision on whether to dump its shares in fossil fuels."

"WASHINGTON -- Senators traded some jabs at a hearing on chemical safety legislation Wednesday, but it seems likely that the bill will advance out of the Environment and Public Works Committee."

"New Jersey's state Senate passed on Monday a non-binding resolution that asks a judge to reject Governor Chris Christie's $225 million settlement with ExxonMobil, according to the New Jersey legislature website."

Did the chemical industry's main lobbying group write the bill to update the Toxic Substances Control Act? The top Democrat on the Senate Environment Committee, California's Barbara Boxer, says computer forensics show a draft of the "bipartisan" bill supported by the American Chemistry Council was written by the ACC itself. ACC denies it. Boxer has a competing bill. The controversy will erupt at a hearing today.

Robert Kenner's new film, "Merchants of Doubt," is about a "product" that is being "sold in courtrooms and the halls of Congress, he says, on television and, occasionally, in newspapers."
 

"Displeased with legislation introduced earlier this week, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) have drafted their own bill to reform the nation’s chemical laws."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a bill lauded by the struggling coal industry and called dangerous by the miners’ union."

Since Florida Gov. Rick Scott's flat denial that his administration has banned state employees from using the terms "climate change" and "global warming," employees from other agencies have come forward to confirm the "unofficial" policy not to use the terms.