"The American Chemistry Council has more than trippled its political spending ahead of the midterm elections as it fights tougher chemical regulations in Washington, according a new report from a watchdog group."
"The federal agency tasked with regulating the safety of offshore oil-and-gas drilling does not consistently enforce rules for permit review on its regional offices, according to the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG)."
"Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of a bill to reform the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is drawing indignation from community groups and state legislators who had pressed for broad changes at the troubled agency."
"Federal regulators approved Monday night plans for a proposed liquefied natural gas, or LNG, export terminal that would be the closest one to the Marcellus Shale region."
"The company promoting the controversial and beleaguered Pebble mine project lost a legal battle Friday when a federal judge threw out one of its lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency."
After proposing a directive that seemed to require permits and fees for journalists working in U.S. Forest Service wilderness lands, the USFS announced that it had never intended the restrictions to apply to journalists. Tim Wheeler, chairman of the Society of Environmental Journalists' Freedom of Information Task Force, talked with USFS Chief TomTidwell to clarify the USFS position. Here's his report.
"SEATTLE - Faced with increasing criticism of a proposal that would restrict media filming in wilderness areas, the head of the U.S. Forest Service said late Thursday that the rule is not intended to apply to news-gathering activities."
"The U.S. Forest Service has tightened restrictions on media coverage in vast swaths of the country's wild lands, requiring reporters to pay for a permit and get permission before shooting a photo or video in federally designated wilderness areas."
As a nationwide newspaper chain probed safety threats posed to the public by gas pipelines, an Alabama court imposed prior restraint on the Montgomery Advertiser, to prevent it from publishing the Alabama Gas Corporation's safety plan, citing homeland security and trade secrets. Now a judge has ruled that the court erred in granting a temporary restraining order.
The U.S. Forest Service is seeking to harden rules that would require a journalist to get a permit and pay a fee of up to $1,500 in order to report inside a federal wilderness. [Update -- 9/25/14: Forest Service Chief Tidwell says media don't need permit]
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