"The coal baron who runs the West Virginia mine that last month saw the deadliest U.S. mine accident in 40 years came unbowed to Capitol Hill today, insisting that his company 'does not place profits over safety.'"
"Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took steps to increase the transparency of the response to BP's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil company's actions have been criticized for failing to disclose or monitor important information about the spill, including the quantity of oil erupting into the Gulf, the potential health impacts of the oil and the chemicals used to disperse it, and water and air quality information."
The vast deposits of deepwater methane hydrates may have been a major factor in the Deepwater Horizon blowout and explosion. Methane hydrates expand 164 times in volume when destablilized by heat and reduction in pressure. Such conditions may have existed the night of the explosion, causing a quickly expanding bubble of methane gas to shoot up the drill column before exploding on the platform on the ocean's surface.
"As BP prepares to launch its latest effort to plug the oil leak in the gulf, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the agency will be split into three arms to oversee leasing, safety and royalties."
"American Municipal Power, an Ohio nonprofit utility, will permanently retire its Richard H. Gorsuch Station coal-fired power plant near Marietta, Ohio under a settlement to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act."
"Chrys Oynes, the associate director of Offshore Energy and Minerals Management at the Minerals Management Service will retire May 31, reports The Washington Post."
"The Minerals Management Service has routinely issued drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico since 2009 without obtaining other federal permits needed to account for the toll energy exploration would take on endangered species and marine mammals, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post."
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) released their draft Senate climate and energy bill Wednesday. It pairs a cap-and-trade scheme with major concessions to the fossil-fuel and nuclear industries. Weighing in close to 1,000 pages, it covers a cross section of the nation's top environmental and energy issues. Both business groups and environmental groups have mixed reactions. The big question now is whether the bill can garner enough votes to succeed on the Senate floor.
"A House energy panel investigation has found that the blowout preventer that failed to stop a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had a dead battery in its control pod, leaks in its hydraulic system, a "useless" test version of a key component and a cutting tool that wasn't strong enough to shear through steel joints in the well pipe and stop the flow of oil."
When it comes to environmental law, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's positions are largely a mystery.
Advertisement 
