by Chris Kirk | Feb 28, 2012 | Environment
WASHINGTON — In a Senate hearing that was supposed to be about the Interior Department’s proposed $11.4 billion budget, senators instead bickered Tuesday over the question of whether President Barack Obama’s energy policies are responsible for skyrocketing gasoline...
by Jaclyn Skurie | Feb 22, 2012 | Environment
WASHINGTON — While birth control stirs up election-year conversation in the U.S., environmental activists are also talking about contraception. But for a different reason — to tackle overpopulation at the impending United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development....
by Chris Kirk | Feb 15, 2012 | Environment
Interior Department Budget Proposal By the numbers – $11.4 billion: Total proposed budget, an increase of 1 percent – $65 million: Funds projected to be raised from an increased offshore oil and gas inspection fee, $3 million more than what Congress...
by Ariel Rothfield | Feb 15, 2012 | Environment, Politics
Congressmen, veterans and energy assistance groups gather at the House Triangle to push for funding for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which provides subsidized home heating. (Jaclyn Skurie/Medill)Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., chat...
by Ariel Rothfield | Feb 15, 2012 | Environment, Politics
WASHINGTON— Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., planned to announce details today of a bill that would keep home heating assistance at its current level of funding. The announcement comes days after President Barack Obama unveiled his 2013 budget, which proposes reducing the...
by Patrick Svitek | Feb 14, 2012 | Environment
The Sierra Club’s Kate Colarulli jokes with a fellow environmentalist while carrying the boxes to Capitol Hill. (MNS)A member of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s communications staff accepts another flash drive with all the signatures loaded on it....
by Chris Kirk | Feb 8, 2012 | Environment, Politics
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s new emission caps on oil and coal-fired power plants are the most costly regulations on utilities to date, House Republicans argued at a hearing Wednesday. “It is simply unacceptable for this administration to continue to impose...
by Kit Fox | Feb 8, 2012 | Environment
WASHINGTON — Cheryl Cook squinted toward the wine glass in her outstretched hand to scrutinize the liquid inside. She swished the contents, took a sniff and brought the glass to her lips. “This tastes better than my tap water,” she said Wednesday after taking a sip...
by Ed Demaria | Feb 8, 2012 | Environment, Politics
WASHINGTON – A blue-ribbon commission Wednesday recommended creation of a new government agency to control nuclear waste and a new consent-based strategy to deal with the issue. Members of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future advised a House...
by Chris Kirk | Feb 7, 2012 | Environment, Politics
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives has never been less concerned with the environment, a leading environmental organization said Tuesday after scoring congressmen based on their voting records last year. Led by House Republicans who dismiss environmental...
by Ben Kamisar | Feb 7, 2012 | Environment
Ben Kamisar / Medill WASHINGTON — A House committee toughened a controversial bill that would authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, recently rejected by the Obama administration. The amendment, added Tuesday by Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., forces the Federal...
by Chris Kirk | Feb 1, 2012 | Environment
WASHINGTON — A Republican-led House committee Wednesday criticized as “unnecessarily alarming” a report from the Environmental Protection Agency that concluded natural gas drilling contaminated groundwater in Wyoming. The EPA released a draft in December of a...
