Environmental Politics

"Battle lines have been hardening over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline over the last couple of weeks. The pipeline, which will stretch from Alberta in Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, would nearly double the United States' capacity to import oil made from Canadian oil sands. Canadian oil sands are a plentiful and secure source of oil, but the extraction process is high in carbon dioxide emissions and takes a toll on pristine Canadian forest ecosystems."

"It is a 20-block trip from the Interior Department headquarters to the House Natural Resources Committee's Capitol Hill hearing rooms, and Secretary Ken Salazar may get to know it well."

"Until recently, Prop. 26, which would require the Legislature and local governments to use a two-thirds vote rather than a simple majority to pass fees on businesses, had been overshadowed by other measures."

"Republican leaders have begun gathering evidence for sweeping investigations of Barack Obama's environmental agenda, from climate science to the BP oil spill, if as expected, they take control of the House of Representatives in the 2 November mid-term elections, the Guardian has learned."

"A tightening congressional race in upstate New York could become the first public referendum on shale-gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing."
 

"Months after the funding was approved, state legislators still haven't decided how to proceed with a study of the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine."

"Some of the country's largest emitters of heat-trapping gases, including businesses that publicly support efforts to curb global warming, don't want the public knowing exactly how much they pollute."

"TOKYO -- Delegates from more than 190 countries struggled Friday to break a deadlock on setting ambitious goals to preserve animals, plants and ecosystems, raising the prospect that the two-week U.N. meeting might end in failure."

"Energy magnate David Koch ceded his spot on a National Cancer Institute (NCI) advisory board last month, but green advocates are taking aim at the conservative mega-donor nonetheless by calling for a review of federal ethics policies that allowed him to sit on the panel despite a potential conflict of interest."

Despite the dominance of jobs and government spending as issues in Washington state congressional races, anti-environmental positions seem to be a non-starter in a state where so many people love the outdoors.