Environmental Politics

The Army Corpts of Engineers changed the operating schedule for the Clearwater Dam on the Black River in Missouri in the 1990s in response to requests by Missouri farmers. On October 3 Arkansas is going to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that the Corps action has damaged the 23,000-acre Black River Wildlife Management Area 115 miles downstream. What's more, the state is arguing that the Corps should compensate it under the "takings clause," a favorite conservative legal weapon.

"WINNSBORO, Texas -- Two anti-tar sands pipeline activists were arrested in east Texas on Tuesday as demonstrators continue a three-day-old tree-sit to block TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline."

Shannon Bebe of Dallas and Benjamin Franklin of Houston delayed pipeline construction for most of the day when they locked arms around construction machinery being used by TransCanada to build the southern branch of a pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

"SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Tuesday setting a two-year moratorium on closing state parks in the wake of a scandal in which some parks officials hid surplus funds while facilities were threatened with being shuttered."

"ALBANY, N.Y. -- State regulators claim a strong record of oil and gas drilling oversight, but their own reports reveal thousands of unplugged abandoned wells and other industrial problems that could pose a threat to groundwater, wetlands, air quality and public safety."

"Forty-seven Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing Speaker John Boehner to eliminate the wind production tax credit, a tax break that has split Republicans and drawn criticism from presidential hopeful Mitt Romney."

"MEXICO CITY -- Water-rights activists on Tuesday questioned the theory of Mexican state prosecutors that the killing of a state legislator-elect this month was orchestrated by his designated substitute."

25 Senators are asking the White House to spend more money on dredging harbors and channels -- a special problem in the Great Lakes, where near-record low water levels caused by drought and possibly climate change are costing shippers money.

Climate change may be more of a deciding issue in November's election than many analysts realize.

The vaunted "free market" is a fairy tale when energy industries are begging for subsidies from the federal government.

"COEBURN, Va. — Wearing helmets, headlamps and uniforms streaked with grime, the workers at Paramont Coal sound weary of fighting. They are in the middle of what they call a long-running 'war on coal' that is threatening their livelihood and stoking fury directed at the federal government."