Greenwire

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) requested an independent audit today of the State Department's environmental review system for projects such as Keystone XL, his latest step to protest the Obama administration's handling of the controversial oil sands crude pipeline.

Standards to guide federal agencies in using the National Environmental Policy Act to address greenhouse gas emissions and climate resiliency have been on the to-do list of President Obama's Council on Environmental Quality for several years. CEQ proposed a draft guidance four years ago, but after a public comment period the draft all but vanished, and the White House office isn't offering clues about where it went -- or whether it might re-emerge.

With U.S. EPA completing its final assessment of large-scale mining's impacts on the Bristol Bay watershed, lobbying efforts surrounding the Pebble mine's future are intensifying in Washington, D.C. During today's OnPoint, Joel Reynolds, Western director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, discusses the likelihood EPA will pre-emptively veto the mine and the role of politics in the final decision.

West Virginia officials are struggling to rehabilitate the state's image a month after a chemical spill contaminated the tap water of thousands of residents.

Florida lawmakers are postponing a debate on water policy until next year, frustrating environmental groups that claim the state's polluted lakes and rivers require immediate attention.

Four Texas lawmakers lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after investing in an energy trading scheme.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has petitioned U.S. EPA in a bid to gain tougher pesticide regulations to protect the monarch butterfly.

Debris from the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion last year that was disposed of haphazardly did not contaminate local drinking water, according to a report from U.S. EPA's inspector general.

Managers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., have declared the area safe two weeks after an unexplained release of radioactive materials forced workers to leave the facility.

North Carolina officials asked Duke Energy Corp. yesterday for the company's plans to deal with coal ash dumps in the wake of a spill at the company's impoundment near the state's border with Virginia.

Solar panel manufacturer First Solar Inc. saw its profits decline almost 60 percent in the most recent quarter, even as its products have become more efficient.

British banking behemoth Barclays Bank PLC confirmed today that it is closing power trading desks in Europe and New York, marking yet another move among Wall Street giants away from the energy commodity markets.

Treasure Island's long-secret legacy of radioactive waste left behind from its U.S. Navy past has complicated San Francisco's efforts to redevelop the neighborhood.

A train carrying coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming derailed near Terry, Mont., on Monday night, BNSF Railway Co. reported.

On the day Uganda's president signed a controversial anti-gay bill, the country also let 2.9 metric tons (3.2 tons) of smuggled ivory pass unchallenged across its borders en route for sale in China.

Canadian utility AltaLink LP is investigating the discovery of dozens of dead birds found under a transmission line in southern Alberta.

The group WildEarth Guardians is petitioning the Obama administration to initiate rulemaking to protect the imperiled sage grouse from surface and underground coal mines.

Officials at a hydroelectric dam in the Pacific Northwest were able to triple salmon populations by changing the dam's water discharges, according to a new study.

The Senate yesterday approved the House's version of a bill reauthorizing a drought information program, sending the measure to President Obama's desk.

Republican House leaders delayed a vote on flood insurance today after facing opposition from Democrats and conservative groups. A vote is expected next week.

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