Environmental Politics

"Are pro-mining forces trying to sway the Environmental Protection Agency on Pebble Mine?"

"Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday signed into law the nation's strictest regulations for high-volume oil and gas drilling."

"President Barack Obama may be just a month away from releasing the second-term climate change strategy that activists and donors are waiting impatiently for, although the details and timing appear to still be in flux."

"To protect profits threatened by a lawsuit over its controversial herbicide atrazine, Syngenta Crop Protection launched an aggressive multi-million dollar campaign that included hiring a detective agency to investigate scientists on a federal advisory panel, looking into the personal life of a judge and commissioning a psychological profile of a leading scientist critical of atrazine."

Part 1: "Whose Interests Is Maine’s DEP Commissioner Serving?"

"For two years, public servant Patricia Aho has overseen Maine's environmental protection. But whom does she really serve? A seven-month investigation by the Telegram points to her former corporate clients. ... Overseen by a former chemical industry lobbyist, Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection resists regulations on substances that may be harmful to children and fetuses."

"None of the companies operating in Canada's tar sands have met a commitment to clean up the vast and expanding sprawl of toxic waste ponds, an official report has found."

"BALTIMORE, Md. -- Gov. Martin O'Malley has interceded with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of Carnival Cruise Lines after the company threatened to pull its business from Baltimore over a pending air-quality regulation that would require large, ocean-going ships to burn cleaner fuel."

"The Supreme Court ruled today that Texas has no right to Oklahoma's water under a 1980 interstate compact in a case seen as having broad implications in the arid western United States."

"A White House adviser said yesterday that President Obama will soon renew his domestic efforts on climate change, as promised in his second State of the Union address, and follow the strides he made with China last weekend with further international engagement on the issue."

"Federal regulators [Wednesday] released an order granting Exxon Mobil Corp. its second extension to finish investigating the cause of a pipeline rupture that spilled an estimated 5,000 barrels of Canadian oil sands crude in the Arkansas suburb of Mayflower 10 weeks ago."