"A federal judge on Friday (Feb. 13) dismissed a controversial wetlands damage lawsuit filed by the east bank levee authority against more than 80 oil, gas and pipeline companies, ruling that the authority failed to make a valid claim against the energy firms."
"A woman and two men from Southwest Michigan are facing up to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty in what investigators say may have been the largest release of asbestos in Michigan since the material was declared a hazardous air pollutant in 1971."
Congress keeps secret the top-notch nonpartisan explainers from the Congressional Research Service. Or tries to. Thanks to the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project, you can read the reports your tax dollars paid for below.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, despite changing from Democrat to Republican control, unanimously approved a FOIA bill (S 337) on February 5, 2015. A similar House bill (HR 653) was introduced February 2 and awaits action by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
A coalition of journalism and photography groups, including SEJ, objected to requirements for permits and fees for photography in the public parks of Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. In a February 4, 2015, letter to the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA), the 14 groups asked the agency to revise its rules to protect photojournalists' First Amendment rights.
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A year after a toxic leak contaminated drinking water for 300,000 residents, West Virginia lawmakers are considering a series of proposals that would weaken a new chemical tank safety law, remove stronger pollution protections for streams across the state, and protect the coal industry from enforcement actions over violations of water quality standards."
"Anadarko Petroleum Corp., a minority investor in BP's failed Macondo well, is on the hook for federal pollution fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, regardless of whether the company was responsible for the disaster, a federal judge said Monday (Feb. 2)."
"A few years back, U.S. EPA enforcement agents tracked a Utah environmental fugitive to a trailer parked at a marina in the Florida Keys. Larkin Baggett, one of EPA's 'most wanted' criminals at the time, appeared in the trailer doorway sweeping an assault rifle toward the approaching EPA agents and local cops, saying things like, 'I won't go,' according to court documents. The officers opened fire, wounding Baggett and taking him into custody."
"A pipeline that ruptured recently in North Dakota and spilled nearly 3 million gallons of saltwater produced during oil drilling wasn't inspected by the state before being installed, according to state regulators."
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