"A federal judge in New Orleans ruled Thursday that 3.19 million barrels of oil were spilled during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The ruling means BP now faces up to $13.7 billion in pollution fines for the spill, well below the amount federal prosecutors want the company to pay."
"Canada’s Natural Resources Minster Greg Rickford was on Capitol Hill again Tuesday pitching Keystone XL, as Senate supporters of the controversial pipeline tried to round up sufficient votes to override U.S. President Barack Obama’s threatened veto of any Congressional attempt to force approval of the project to ship Alberta oil sands crude to the Texas Gulf coast."
"New scientific sampling and analysis has found high concentrations of ammonium and iodide, two potentially hazardous pollutants, in oil and gas well drilling wastewater discharged into streams and rivers in Pennsylvania and other states."
"U.S. solar companies boosted their employee rolls by 22 percent last year, and now employ 86 percent more workers than they did in 2010, driven by rising demand in the world’s third-largest market."
"The White House announced on Wednesday that it is setting new goals for reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, aiming to cut those releases by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025."
Nobody has ever explained why Congress refuses to release the tax-funded explainers produced by the Congressional Research Service. They are a gold standard for journalists needing quick background. Here are some recent CRS reports relevant to environmental journalists, helpfully released by the Federation of American Scientists.
The industry got Congress in 2005 to block the public from knowing about these chemicals, which can end up in people's drinking water. But the enviro groups, led by the Environmental Integrity Project, want to use a different law to help unlock the data.
"The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed new requirements for testing the toxicity and effectiveness of chemical dispersants used to break up oil spills."
"The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline faces a potential new legal challenge and the prospect of further delays from ranchers along its proposed route in Nebraska who say they “aren’t finished fighting” yet."
"Customers in 42 of the nation's 50 largest cities — including Charlotte and Raleigh — would save money by installing rooftop solar instead of buying all their power from local utilities, says the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center."
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