"Citing the Gulf oil spill, the senator says the Republican's stance could threaten the jobs of 400,000 workers. Analysts say oil drilling is one of her most effective wedge issues."

"Lawmakers have criticized BP PLC for attempting to 'muzzle' scientists researching the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with confidentiality agreements and blocking the 'open exchange of scientific data and analysis.' But the government is employing similar tactics itself."

"The Navajo Nation's proposed coal plant always rested on shaky ground. Now, it may collapse entirely."

"Former House majority leader Tom DeLay  (R-Tex.) was both defiant and ebullient on Monday after hearing that the Justice Department had dropped its six-year investigation of his interactions with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a host of other political contributors for whom he allegedly did political favors."

"Tom Donohue scares millions of dollars out of corporations and Republicans. But is his U.S. Chamber of Commerce good for business?"

"The Interior Department has released the rest of a partially leaked document listing potential sites for new national monuments, but the move did nothing to quell Republican accusations that the Obama administration is plotting to lock up public lands."

"It has been the summer of polling discontent, or at least the dog days of disagreement on climate change."

EPA officials in New York had to postpone a planned hearing on the impact of the natural gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing. The reason: the large number of passionate people planning to attend or demonstrate.

"The opponents of Pebble, the giant copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska, have asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency to invoke its potent and rarely used power to block the potential mine. But U.S. Rep. Don Young late last month filed legislation seeking to strip the EPA of that authority."

The Minerals Management Service -- now reorganized into three separate agencies -- began in 1997 nearly giving away public resources to oil companies as favors in a party that lasted until the BP gulf oil spill.