Environmental Politics

"This week marks two anniversaries of global green campaigning groups that could scarcely be more different, while holding almost identical aims."

"Citing state sovereignty and economic hardship, Republican lawmakers said Tuesday that they wanted to give Congress the authority to veto presidents' national monument designations, a power used by nearly every executive since Theodore Roosevelt."

"Central Basin Water District pays for positive stories by a firm that Google considers a news site. Officials call it innovation, but open government advocates fear it blurs the line between news and publicity."

"U.S. coal companies have pumped $1.5 million into House Speaker John Boehner's political operation this year, a sign of the industry's beefed-up efforts to fight new and proposed regulations from the Obama administration."

"Two weeks after the bankruptcy of a solar company that got $527 million in government loans, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday to explore what went wrong."

"DETROIT -- A fire at the Marathon Petroleum Corp. refinery here late last month caused little structural damage, but its timing could not have been worse for the plant's owner. The blaze, which was quickly extinguished by the refinery's emergency personnel, occurred on the morning that U.S. EPA and advocacy groups were touring the plant's industrial neighborhood as part of a national environmental justice conference at a downtown conference center."

"The White House is under pressure from two democratic senators to release a list of chemicals the Environmental Protection Agency says could endanger human health or the environment. This so-called chemicals of concern list would include eight phthalates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and bisphenol A."

"The chemical industry has attempted to block release of EPA’s proposed list over the past year.

"A divided Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday allowed the Obama administration to continue plans to close the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada."

"SAN JOSE, Calif. — Federal agents searched Solyndra Inc.'s Fremont, Calif., headquarters Thursday, just days after the high-profile solar manufacturer filed for bankruptcy protection and a week before its top executives are expected to testify before Congress.

Solyndra, which manufactured tubular-shaped solar panels for commercial rooftops, stunned the clean-tech community when it abruptly announced last week that fierce competition from China had forced it to suspend operations and immediately lay off 1,100 employees.

"The little-known federal agency charged with monitoring the system and enforcing safety measures — the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — is chronically short of inspectors and lacks the resources needed to hire more, leaving too much of the regulatory control in the hands of pipeline operators themselves, according to federal reports, an examination of agency data and interviews with safety experts."