Environment
July 2, 2012 -
An analysis of Chinese names on a petition urging the Obama administration to oppose strict regulations for toxic coal ash reveals hundreds of bogus monikers including "Big Steamed Bun" and "Come to China Donkey." Who's behind the petition, and what big energy interests are they fronting for?
June 27, 2012 -
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington rejects Ken Cuccinelli's challenge to the EPA's finding that unregulated greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to human health and safety. Cuccinelli, who's running for governor, says he'll take the case to the Supreme Court.
June 22, 2012 -
Following the General Assembly's passage of legislation legalizing fracking, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue's office reports receiving thousands of calls and emails asking for a veto. She also got a letter from the former mayor of a Texas community where fracking is big business warning about the bill's threats to property rights.
June 21, 2012 -
A journal funded by leading North Carolina conservative benefactor Art Pope attacks the science of sea level rise, offering as evidence an article that appeared in a periodical published by Lyndon LaRouche supporters, by someone who champions the pseudoscience of dowsing.
June 20, 2012 -
Responding to fracking opponents' concerns over how cash-strapped North Carolina can afford to regulate the industry, the legislature's Republican leadership is reportedly in talks with the American Petroleum Institute about paying for its own regulators. But given API's role leading up the BP disaster in the Gulf, does that really serve the public interest?
June 15, 2012 -
North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature has voted to legalize fracking in the state. Opponents are putting pressure on Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue to veto the bill, which does not appear to have enough support for an override.
June 15, 2012 -
The deal to combine the two North Carolina-based utility giants has won conditional approval from federal regulators, but could it fall apart over worries about Progress Energy's Crystal River nuclear debacle in Florida and other expensive problems?
