House Republicans just passed a bill forbidding scientists from advising the EPA on their own research

House Republicans just passed a bill forbidding scientists from advising the EPA <em>on their own research</em>

"The "reform" measure makes room for industry-funded experts on the EPA's advisory board"

Keystone CEO "Keystone Will Create 50 Jobs"

GOPers Wrong Again: Solyndra-Type Loans Made Billions

GOPers Wrong Again: Solyndra-Type Loans Made Billions

"The much-maligned government program that funded the failed solar tech company Solyndra is expected to make taxpayers a $5 to $6 billion return, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Wednesday.The loan program is run out of the Department of Energy (DOE), and covers a large umbrella of investments to encourage green energy and low-carbon technologies.

According to Businessweek, the expected positive returns on those investments are detailed in a new report DOE will be releasing, perhaps as early as Thursday, on the loan program’s performance — the first such estimate the agency has made of the fruits of its efforts."

CEO of Coal Mine Where 29 Workers Died Is Indicted

http://www.alternet.org/ceo-coal-mine-where-29-workers-died-indicted
"Don Blankenship, the CEO of the Massey Energy coal mine that exploded and killed 29 workers in 2010 has been indicted on charges that he conspired to violate federal mine safety and health standards.
The indictment, handed down by a federal grand jury in Charleston, West Virginia, says that Blankenship hid safety violations at the West Virginia mine between January 2008 and April 2010, when the disaster took place. The suppressing of the safety violations impeded a federal mine safety investigation following the blast, the indictment alleges.
Blankenship can face 31 years in prison if convicted."

Thanks To ALEC, Arizona To Roll Back Efficiency Standards

Thanks To ALEC, Arizona To Roll Back Efficiency Standards

"The Koch brothers strike again! Model legislation written by ALEC is calling a halt to the remarkable progress in energy efficiency made by the state of Arizona and replacing it with "free market principles" -- i.e. Kochs buying legislators in order to increase their personal fortunes."

Republican Admits She Doesn’t Care About Democracy, Plans to Ignore Fracking Ban Approved by Voters

Republican Admits She Doesn’t Care About Democracy, Plans to Ignore Fracking Ban Approved by Voters

"the Republican love for big government is now playing out in Denton, Texas where citizens recently voted 59-41 percent to ban fracking, yet Texas Railroad Commission Chairwoman Christi Craddick (a Republican) has pretty much said she doesn’t care what voters want, she’s going to continue to issue permits for fracking anyway."

Finally a Member of the Oligarchy Is Indicted for Culpability in Worker Deaths: 29 Coal Miners Killed

http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/finally-a-member-of-the-oligarchy-is-indicted-for-culpability-in-the-death-of-workers-29-coal-miners-killed
"Blankenship is a nasty piece of work, even in the pitiless exploitative business of coal mining, but his outlook on profits before lives is not uncommon in the extraction industry and in corporations in general."

Massey Energy CEO Indicted In Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster

Massey Energy CEO Indicted In Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster

"Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive of Massey Energy, was indicted today on charges that he violated federal mine safety laws at the company’s Upper Big Branch Mine prior to an April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners."

Deadly mine explosion leads to indictment of Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship

Fox News Host Embarrassed After Blatant Lie About Keystone XL Pipeline Gets Debunked

Fox News Host Embarrassed After Blatant Lie About Keystone XL Pipeline Gets Debunked

"The reality of the Keystone XL pipeline and job creation is that when all is said and done, it’ll create somewhere between 35-50 permanent jobs. Yeah, that’s the “big job creator” Republicans have been harping on about for years. Heck, you could create more permanent jobs than that by just opening one Applebees. As we all know, this isn’t about creating jobs, it’s about the GOP kissing up to big oil just like they always do. But being that Republicans are masters at propaganda, they’ve somehow convinced tens of millions of conservatives that Canadian oil will help America become more energy independent and a single pipeline will somehow magically create tens of thousands of jobs – even though the reason why oil companies build these pipelines is because they don’t require many people to operate them. It’s a good thing for Republicans that conservatives are often so gullible, because it takes a truly naive person to believe the total nonsense they’ve been pushing about this pipeline these last few years."

Texas Oil Regulator Says It Will Not Honor Town’s Vote To Ban Fracking

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/10/3590690/texas-fracking-ban-denton/
"On Tuesday, the town of Denton, Texas, voted by a wide margin to ban fracking within the city limits. Two days later, the chairwoman of Texas’ oil and gas regulator said she would not honor the ban."

Koch Party Wins Big, Planet in Peril

Koch Party Wins Big, Planet in Peril

"The Koch's Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit dark money group that does not disclose its donors, is reported to have spent some $77 million on competitive Senate and House races, says a spokesman. The Koch's new Freedom Partners Action Fund, a super PAC that discloses some of its donors, spent some $25 million. Not all Koch candidates won their races, but the Koch were ranked big winners in the Sunlight Foundations post-election "return on investment" analysis.

This $100 million does not count all the Koch-tied groups, their personal contributions or all contributions of the Koch network of funders which may top the $300 million Washington Post estimate. As a point of comparison, the DNC and the RNC combined spent $300 million this election cycle."

Mitch McConnell feels a “deep responsibility” to block climate action

Mitch McConnell feels a “deep responsibility” to block climate action

"Mitch McConnell is drawing his battle lines, and as feared, it’s bad news for the planet."

Here Comes the Sun: America's Solar Boom, in Charts

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/11/solar-energy-power-boom-charts
"Last week, an energy analyst at Deutsche Bank came to a startling conclusion: By 2016, solar power will be as cheap or cheaper than electricity from the conventional grid in every state except three. That's without any changes to existing policy."

The top Republican climate change denier just got a whole lot more powerful

GOP’s frightening plan to melt the planet: Koch $, burning fossil fuel, and junk science

GOP’s frightening plan to melt the planet: Koch $, burning fossil fuel, and junk science

"The voters in Tuesday’s election were – as midterm races usually are — comparatively old, with 37% of voters older than 60, according to an NBC exit poll. Those voters won’t be around when the full effect of the policies the Republicans are about to implement will be felt.

But make no mistake. This Republican congressional majority will kill our planet."

The MidTerms Were all About the Keystone Pipeline

The Koch brothers’ underhanded attack on wind energy

The Koch brothers’ underhanded attack on wind energy

"Well that took absolutely no time at all. A coalition of conservative groups lead by the Koch-affiliated American Energy Alliance (and including the Koch-affiliated Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-affiliated Competitive Enterprise Institute, among others) are showing up in force against renewable energy, urging congressional Republicans to allow a key wind energy tax credit to expire."

Americans Are Voting For Fracking Bans Because They Don’t Trust The Oil And Gas Industry

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/05/3589429/fracking-bans-trust-oil-industry/
"In California, Ohio, and Texas, citizens in four localities voted to ban hydraulic fracturing and other activities associated with unconventional oil and gas drilling, challenging the balance of power between state officials in charge of regulating drilling and local communities concerned about the potential risks. The bans in California and Texas, in particular, could have ripple effects in neighboring counties and portend future battles between localities skeptical of oil and gas drilling and state governments that support new development."

Election Divides GOP On Whether To Seize And Sell America’s Public Lands

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/07/3590195/election-divides-gop-public-lands/
"In the run-up to Tuesday’s elections, each week seemed to bring a new Republican candidate for federal and state office advocating for America’s national forests, wildlife areas and other public lands to be seized by the states or auctioned off to the highest bidder. Even the Republican National Committee (RNC) passed a resolution endorsing these extreme proposals earlier this year."

Payback: A First Look at the Fossil-Fuel and Anti-Environment Agenda of the Next Congress

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2014/11/05/100549/payback-a-first-look-at-the-fossil-fuel-and-anti-environment-agenda-of-the-next-congress/
"the new Republican-led Congress is expected to aggressively pursue a number of other individual special-interest giveaways. With control of both chambers, Republican leaders will likely push, for example, to mandate the construction of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, which taxpayer advocates say is a massive waste of government money; clear the way for the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona and the Pebble Mine in Alaska; and allow logging of old growth forest in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska."

This man is about to become one of America’s most powerful climate villains

This man is about to become one of America’s most powerful climate villains

"Be afraid: James Inhofe, one of the Senate's most fervent climate deniers, is set to lead its environment committee"

Anti-Science Republicans To Run The Science Committee & Even Grimmer Results

Direct Democracy Tackles Fracking, GMOs, Pesticides on Election Day

Direct Democracy Tackles Fracking, GMOs, Pesticides on Election Day

"Voters in cities and states across the United States will vote on a number of ballot propositions affecting the environment on Tuesday, November 4."

How Cheap Wind Energy Threatens To Upend The Kansas Governor’s Race And Upset The Koch Brothers

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/27/3582322/kansas-wind-governors-race-koch/
"Kansas is not only home to plentiful wind resources, it is also home to the ultraconservative Kochs, whose affiliated groups have spearheaded many of the attacks on clean energy across the country."

Obama Launches Solar Energy Job Program For 50,000 Veterans

http://samuel-warde.com/2014/10/obama-launches-solar-energy-program/
"Cue the howling from the right. They won’t take this lying down. You can expect to see a lot of Koch funded ads spreading the lie that renewable energy will be the death knell for our economy. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the truth is that the age of fossil fuels is on the way out and the age of renewable, sustainable energy is on the way in. It’s get on board or get out of the way because this train ain’t stopping for the Koch brothers and their paid minions."

Politico & BP Blatantly Conspire To Hide BP's Devastating Oil Spill

Monsanto Spends Millions in Bid to Defeat Local GMO Labeling Initiative

Monsanto Spends Millions in Bid to Defeat Local GMO Labeling Initiative

"Monsanto, the largest genetically-modified seed corporation in the world, has so far spent over $4 million in a bid to crush an Oregon initiative, up for vote in November, to mandate the labeling of genetically engineered food."

Purchase of Election by Chevron Shows We Have 'Oligarchy, Not Democracy': Sanders

Purchase of Election by Chevron Shows We Have 'Oligarchy, Not Democracy': Sanders

"The Independent U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders was in the city of Richmond, California on Thursday and said local elections in the city have become prime examples of how U.S. politics, at all levels, have become corrupted by the unlimited amount of money wealthy corporations and individuals can spend on campaigns."

Clean jobs save small town America

Mainstream US Corporate Media Ignore Increased Fukushima Water Radioactivity

Mainstream US Corporate Media Ignore Increased Fukushima Water Radioactivity

"According to The Japan Times, the news gets worse: "In addition, materials that emit beta rays, such as strontium-90, which causes bone cancer, also shattered records with a reading of 1.2 million becquerels, the utility said of the sample"."

Why Is Chevron Trying to Buy the Government of This Northern California City?

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-chevron-trying-buy-government-northern-california-city
"This comes only two years after an explosion at a local Chevron plant sent 15,000 people to the hospital."

Climate: A national security ‘threat multiplier’

Attention deniers: Earth just had its hottest September ever recorded

Attention deniers: Earth just had its hottest September ever recorded

"Since climate deniers love it when NASA says something that can be deliberately skewed as suggesting that the planet isn’t warming, here’s hoping everyone pays attention to this announcement, too: according to the U.S. space agency, last September was Earth’s hottest on record."

Hundreds Of Hunting And Fishing Groups Voice Their Support For Action On Climate Change

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/10/3578498/hunting-fishing-groups-support-climate-action/
"On Wednesday, 325 hunting, fishing, and outdoors groups and individuals signed a letter to the president voicing their support for the Administration’s rule aimed at curbing carbon emissions from existing power plants. The sportsmen’s groups, which include Trout Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, are part of what they say is a $90 billion hunting and fishing industry and combined represent millions of members."

New Study Details Alarming Acceleration In Sea Level Rise

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/15/3579893/sea-level-rise-faster-6000-years/
"Melting polar and glacial ice and thermally expanding ocean water have accelerated sea level rise to the highest rate in at least 6,000 years according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

California Aquifers Poisoned by Fracking While State's Water Shortage Becomes Grim

http://www.alternet.org/fracking/california-aquifers-poisoned-fracking-while-states-water-shortage-becomes-grim
"In the midst of the worst drought in California’s history comes news that hydrofracking operations are polluting the state’s dwindling water supplies."

What could the future of energy look like?

Pentagon Says Global Warming Poses an Immediate Risk to National Security

http://www.alternet.org/us-defense-secretary-hagel-outlines-militarys-response-climate-change-threat-multiplier
"Hagel said the U.S. military refers to climate change as a “threat multiplier” because it has the potential to exacerbate many of today’s challenges – from infectious disease to terrorism."

In Senate Debate, Rep. Cassidy Says ‘Not Sure Climate Change Is The Issue’ As Louisiana Sheds Coastline

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/15/3580032/lousiana-cassidy-landrieu-climate-coastal-land-loss/
"Every hour, the state loses about a football field’s worth of land, and over the last 80 years some 2,000 square miles of the state’s ecologically diverse coastal marshland has succumbed to open water."

Pentagon: Global Warming Poses ‘Immediate Risk’ To National Security

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/14/3579338/pentagon-global-warming-national-security/
"In terms of U.S. defense strategy, climate change is a “threat multiplier” that can worsen national security problems such as terrorism and infectious disease spread, according to a new Pentagon report released Monday."

Two guys and a lobster boat

Paul Ryan Still Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About On Climate Change

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/14/3579499/paul-ryan-debate-climate-change/
"On Monday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) reiterated that he doesn’t think climate change is worth fighting, or that human beings are to blame."

Senate Candidate Admits Cause Of Climate Change, Still Won’t Do Anything About It

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/07/3576735/senate-candidate-climate-change/
"Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO), in a neck-and-neck fight to unseat Sen. Mark Udall and under pressure to moderate his views in an increasingly blue state, is trying to have it both ways on climate change."

California’s Drought Is So Bad, Even Its Hydropower Is Drying Up

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/07/3576715/california-drought-hydropower/
"California’s ability to produce renewable energy from hydroelectric dams has been significantly hampered over the last few years because of an increasingly severe and widespread drought, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday."

The Future of Energy

‘The Other CO2 Problem’: How Acidic Oceans Will Cost Our Economy Billions

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/09/3577544/ocean-acidification-cost/
"Oceans have absorbed so much carbon dioxide emitted from power plants, deforestation, manufacturing, and driving, that their acid levels have increased by a staggering 26 percent over the last 200 years, the report said. The disruption of the ocean’s natural pH levels are directly impacting the health of marine life and ecosystems and scientists emphasize that if these trends continue unchecked, it could be both horribly detrimental for the world economy and largely irreversible for thousands of years."

This Is Big!

The Planet Just Had Its Hottest September On Record

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/13/3579242/nasa-hottest-september-on-record/
"Last month was the warmest September globally since records began being kept in 1880, NASA reported Sunday. January through September data have 2014 already at the third warmest on record. Projections by NOAA make clear 2014 is taking aim at hottest year on record."

The war on the war on coal

Report Documents Walmart Heirs' Efforts to Destroy Rooftop Solar Revolution

Report Documents Walmart Heirs' Efforts to Destroy Rooftop Solar Revolution

"The Walton family—who, as heirs to the Walmart fortune, have more wealth than 42 percent of American families combined—are impeding the nation's transition to a clean energy future, a new study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) finds."

If You Live Near The Coast - YOU MAY WANT TO MOVE!

Sea Levels Rising at Unprecedented Rate, Scientists Warn

Sea Levels Rising at Unprecedented Rate, Scientists Warn

"Over the past century, the Earth's sea levels have risen on a scale that is unprecedented by any other fluctuation over the past 6,000 years, new research shows."

Senators join together to stop climate change

Big-money Chevron muscles local government election

Three State Legislators Want To Kill Michigan’s Popular Clean Energy Law

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/09/3577832/michigan-clean-energy-law-repeal/
"Michigan State Rep. Tom McMillin (R), introduced a bill on October 1 that would repeal the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS), Midwest Energy News reported on Tuesday. Passed in 2008, the RPS stipulates that 10 percent of Michigan’s energy come from renewable sources by 2015."

Planet on the Brink: Human Activity Killing the Planet's Life-Supporting Systems

Planet on the Brink: Human Activity Killing the Planet's Life-Supporting Systems

"Among the report's findings is a dramatic loss in biodiversity. Its Living Planet Index, managed by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and based on over 10,000 populations of over 3,000 species, shows a 52 percent decline in global wildlife between 1970 and 2010. And that's a trend that "shows no sign of slowing down"."