BLM has drafted a "final" rule — but that must be approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which often serves as a backroom channel for industry to change regulations. The final product — still undetermined — is likely to be a disappointment to those who had hoped for Obama administration leadership on fracking disclosure.
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday rejected a senior federal expert's recommendation to shut down California's last operating nuclear power plant until the agency can determine whether its twin reactors can withstand powerful shaking from nearby earthquake faults."
"Water pollution disasters in Mexico have turned into political battles as officials struggled Wednesday to blame each other for the problems."
"The Department of Energy Wednesday granted approval for two facilities in Louisiana and Florida to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to nearly any country."
"A trove of secret documents details the US government's global push for shale gas."
"LIMA, Peru — The authorities here are investigating the killing of an environmental advocate and indigenous leader who died along with three other men in a remote region of the Amazon jungle that he had sought to protect from illegal logging."
"A day after the National Audubon Society released a report saying that about half of North America’s 650 bird species will be threatened by climate change, a report released Tuesday by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies concluded that nearly one-third of American birds are in trouble."
"Two academic studies exploring health and water issues in the gas drilling industry on Wednesday painted very different pictures of its potential impact and brought rebukes from advocates on both sides."
"In line with President Obama's strategy to 'systematically degrade, dismantle and defeat' the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it plans to up its pressure on the terror group's oil sales."
"Climate change could kill up to 90 percent of the forests covering the Rocky Mountains, warned the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists today in a new study based in part on projections made by the U.S. Forest Service."
