Public

"A high-priority Obama administration push to unclog a backlog of contested mine safety citations is backfiring. After a West Virginia coal mine explosion in April exposed a weak link in a system designed to identify safety violations, the government has spent $23 million to reform the system. ... Instead, the list of unresolved safety appeals has grown to 18,100 cases, from 16,600 at the time of the disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine."

"In a newly unveiled campaign ad, the Democratic Senate candidate and current West Virginia governor, Joe Manchin, picks up a rifle and fires a bullet into a target labeled 'Cap and Trade Bill.'"

A New York Times article on research implicating a fungus-virus combination as a cause of bee colony collapse failed to mention that the lead author received funding from a company making a pesticide that is also a leading suspect.

"The Chevy Volt  has been hailed as General Motors' electric savior. Now, as GM officially rolls out the Volt this week for public consumption, we're told the much-touted fuel economy was misstated and GM 'lied' about the car being all-electric."

"The China National Offshore Oil Corp. will pay Chesapeake Energy $2.2 billion for a one-third interest in a South Texas oil and natural gas shale project and will pay billions of dollars more for its share of development costs over the next several years."

When the Gulf oil spill came to Grand Isle State Park, Louisiana ranger Leanne Sarco knew her job running a summer program for children would be cancelled. So she used Facebook to recruit and organize volunteers in a project to clean oiled hermit crabs.

"Petroleum giant BP's corporate sponsorship of Arco Arena has been lucrative for the Sacramento Kings during a long run that's set to end next year. It's also been a sweet deal for state Capitol workers. Since 2000, Arco's parent company has lavished more than $430,000 in the form of free tickets to basketball games, concerts and other arena events on lawmakers, their staff members and relatives, according to a Bee review of lobbyist disclosures by BP."

"The need for rare-earth minerals like neodymium could define the relationship between the United States and China and elevate Idaho into a critical role in the nation’s industrial future."

"The Department of Energy plans to provide a loan guarantee to the world's largest wind farm, increasing the agency's total loan guarantees or conditional commitments to almost $16 billion."