A high-level seminar in Washington June 29 probed the apparent disconnect between scientific knowledge and public understanding, especially as it relates to climate change. The debate spilled over into the blogosphere.

"A U.S. appeals court rejected on Tuesday a legal challenge by General Electric Co to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) orders that direct companies to clean up hazardous waste."

Hurricane Alex made landfall in northeastern Mexico about 10 pm EDT Wednesday night. The storm is far from the Gulf oil spill, but cleanup vessels were sidelined by the hurricane's ripple effects. Six-foot waves churned up by the hurricane splattered beaches in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida with oil and tar balls.

"The first round of government tests of the chemical dispersants that are being used to break up the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico found they aren't overly damaging to shrimp and small fish, but more tests are needed to determine what happens when they're mixed with oil."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday officially overturned a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program it says violates the Clean Air Act, leaving some of the country's largest refineries in a state of limbo."

"The Interior Department has fined BP America $5.2 million for filing false reports related to gas production on Indian tribal lands in southwest Colorado."

"Congress on Wednesday took major steps to rein in Big Oil's offshore drilling practices, as one Senate panel voted to lift all caps on liability in oil spills and another moved to deny offshore leases to companies with poor track records."

News media and activists for weeks have reported how federal and local officials have barred them from reporting the Gulf oil spill story from public beaches -- even though they have a legal right to be there. Now Mother Jones' Mac McClelland quotes the Terrebonn Parish Sheriff's office saying some 40 of the deputies enforcing BP'S illegal ban are being paid to work in uniform for BP during their off-duty hours.

Louisian Gov. Bobby Jindal has vetoed Republican-sponsored state legislation that would have made public all records from his office related to the BP Gulf oil spill.