"The US State Department, tasked with deciding on a controversial giant pipeline between the United States and Canada, faced fresh charges Thursday of bias over the project."
"The nation’s leading chemical manufacturers on Thursday bashed a Senate measure that would revamp the nation’s chemical safety law, as concerns mount that ingredients used in making everyday consumer products may lead to serious health problems. But another influential trade group — one that represents more than 200 companies that make those products — held its fire and acknowledged that it needs to provide federal regulators with more useful data about the chemicals that are used."
"WASHINGTON — In a politically charged hearing Thursday, Republicans in the House of Representatives accused Energy Secretary Steven Chu of breaking the law in how he handled the restructuring of a loan for the California solar-energy company Solyndra. Chu said he did nothing illegal but instead made a tough decision that gave him the best shot at getting taxpayer money back that had been loaned to the company. Chu said his department's top lawyer said his plan was legal."
"A settlement outlined Wednesday between a major manufacturer of Chinese-made drywall and homebuilders who used the tainted product in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi could affect anywhere from 800 to 1,500 homes, attorneys said."
"The European Union on Monday prohibited the use of X-ray body scanners in European airports, parting ways with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which has deployed hundreds of the scanners as a way to screen millions of airline passengers for explosives hidden under clothing."
"The U.S. has begun to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants—quietly, with little fanfare and starting in Texas."
"The climate change think tank formerly known as the Pew Center of Global Climate Change is no more, after the Pew Charitable Trusts pulled $3.5 million in yearly funding to the organization. That single donation, as the name of the think tank implied, formed the overwhelming majority of the group's funding, 80% (Economic Times)."
President Obama is beating a retreat from some of his strong environmental promises as the campaign season begins.
Energy Secretary Chu faces a grilling on the Solyndra loan today from a hostile House committee.
"U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said it may take similar skills to navigate Washington politics as it does to make advances in physics research, a field in which he won a Nobel Prize in 1997.
A special joint investigation by National Public Radio, the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News, the Investigative News Network, and others shows that hundreds of U.S. facilities have been violating their Clean Air Act permits for years without running into federal or state enforcement. In many cases, the pollution has made people sick, and sometimes local communities have taken up the job that federal and state agencies have failed at.
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