Environmental Politics

"Documents obtained by Greenpeace detail a desperate astroturf PR strategy designed by Edelman for TransCanada to win public support for its Energy East tar sands export pipeline. TransCanada has failed for years to win approval of the controversial border-crossing Keystone XL pipeline, so apparently the company has decided to 'win ugly or lose pretty' with an aggressive public relations attack on its opponents."

The Senate's vote next week on legislation to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline may come down to a handful of Democrats, who are now being courted aggressively by advocates on both sides of the debate."

"The controversial government program that funded failed solar company Solyndra, and became a lighting rod in the 2012 presidential election, is officially in the black."

"The U.S. State Department must halt plans to expand an oil sands pipeline route from Canada to Wisconsin until possible environmental harm has been closely studied, several green groups said in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday."

"Legislation to force the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline picked up support Thursday as more Democratic senators signed on to Sen. Mary Landrieu's effort."

"Bills to take approval of the contentious Keystone XL pipeline from Canada out of the hands of the Obama administration could be headed for votes in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Democrat Mary Landrieu, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said she would propose debate later on Wednesday and a vote on Thursday on a bill floated in May to approve the project, which would deliver heavy Canadian oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

"Any hope for Congress to reconvene with a sense of bipartisanship was quickly erased Wednesday morning as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) sharply criticized the announcement of a new climate deal between the United States and China."

"President Obama’s landmark agreement with China to cut greenhouse gas pollution is a bet by the president and Democrats that on the issue of climate change, American voters are far ahead of Washington’s warring factions and that the environment will be a winning cause in the 2016 presidential campaign."

"A week after a historic vote to ban hydraulic fracturing (or fracking — the controversial drilling method that forces oil and gas from shale formations with pressurized water, sand and a host of chemicals), Denton, Texas, has been told the state will continue to issue drilling permits within the city limits."