Stories by Lauren Gardner:
May 14, 2013
SunWise isn’t the only EPA education program on the budget chopping block.
May 14, 2013
To mark National Skin Cancer Awareness Month, a group dedicated to educating schoolchildren about the hazards of too much sun exposure will hold a reception Wednesday to honor winners of its annual poster contest.
May 10, 2013
Louisiana Democrat Mary L. Landrieu has revamped her amendment to freeze flood insurance rates for five years, removing the biggest obstacle to final Senate action this week on legislation to authorize federal projects for flood control, navigation and environmental restoration.
April 24, 2013
The musical chairmanship game set off by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus’ retirement could put one of the Democrats’ biggest oil and gas industry boosters in charge of the Energy panel — and simultaneously improve her re-election chances.
April 23, 2013
In February, the House did something rare: It passed an energy bill unanimously. Unlike the previous Congress’ standard fare of anti-EPA, pro-drilling measures, the first energy bill of the 113th Congress promoted small-scale hydropower projects and the electrification of existing dams.
April 23, 2013
In addition to its status as a carbon-free energy source that can provide baseload electricity, hydropower also offers a window into a future where variable renewables — such as wind and solar — can be more widely integrated into the grid.
April 9, 2013
The effects of transporting tar sands oil via the infrastructure currently in place are not the only questions the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will address in the coming months. The regulatory agency also must grapple with the new pipeline networks that will be needed to carry natural gas from booming shale plays to market.
April 9, 2013
An oil pipeline rupture on March 29 poured thousands of barrels of heavy crude petroleum into the streets of Mayflower, Ark., focusing the environmental debate over the Keystone XL oil pipeline back on the risks of spills.
March 17, 2013
Speaker John A. Boehner said Sunday that his views on gay marriage are unlikely to shift despite a home-state ally’s recent change of heart on the issue.
March 17, 2013
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced a $10 million outreach initiative Sunday to better convey the party’s message to voters, particularly minorities.
March 17, 2013
As lawmakers in both chambers prepare to debate competing budget plans this week, much space remains between Democrats and Republicans on the best way to spur job growth while staving off a debt crisis.
March 4, 2013
President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the EPA during his second term is familiar to many on Capitol Hill, has some bipartisan credentials from past stints in New England state governments and was previously confirmed by the Senate for her current post as head of the agency’s air office.
March 4, 2013
President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and MIT professor Ernest J. Moniz to serve as Energy secretary during his second term.
March 1, 2013
A long-awaited State Department environmental assessment found that the Keystone XL pipeline is unlikely to have a “substantial impact” on developing the western Canada tar sands, a conclusion that rejects opponents’ claims that the project would dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions.
Feb. 26, 2013
More than two years after the Interior Department launched an initiative to speed up and simplify its permitting process, there are still no commercial-scale wind projects up and running in federal waters.
Feb. 26, 2013
Among the many roadblocks that have prevented offshore wind farms from proliferating off the Atlantic coast is how to get the electricity generated from the Outer Continental Shelf to the mainland.
Jan. 22, 2013
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed off Tuesday on the segment of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that would run through his state, placing the onus back on the White House to reach a decision on the politically charged issue.
Dec. 31, 2012
President Barack Obama signaled Monday that a tentative agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff would also extend a critical tax benefit for the wind power industry.
Dec. 6, 2012
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota appears likely to inherit the top-ranking Republican seat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Nov. 26, 2012
After two vacations in Alaska and years spent on the East Coast, Colin O’Brien decided it was time to live in one of the wild environments he has worked to protect.
Nov. 26, 2012
Late in 2011, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska slipped a policy rider into the fiscal 2012 omnibus spending package, transferring from the EPA to the Interior Department the air quality permitting process for drilling oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska’s northern shore.
Nov. 15, 2012
Incoming Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden held out an olive branch Thursday to feuding colleagues, signaling he is open to a deal on offshore drilling revenue sharing that could end 16 months of stalemate on the committee.
Nov. 14, 2012
Add Sen. Mary L. Landrieu to the list of lawmakers who firmly believe in canine helpers at the office.
Nov. 13, 2012
As the EPA prepares new regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions at existing power plants, some environmental groups are urging the agency to address the issue by reducing electricity demand through energy efficiency standards that could save ratepayers and utilities money.
Nov. 2, 2012
The incoming top Senate Democrat on energy issues is taking a harder line on exports of liquefied natural gas, urging Congress to reconsider the law that limits regulators from blocking exports to any country with which the United States has signed a free-trade agreement.
