"Feds Let BP Off Probation Despite Pending Safety Violations"
"BP’s refining subsidiary was released [Monday] from criminal probation related to a 2005 explosion in Texas City that killed 15 workers."
Source: ProPublica, 03/14/2012
Laws & Regulations
Va. Supreme Court Denies Cuccinelli Access to Climate Scientist Emails
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R, pictured at left), who avows himself a global warming skeptic, had sought from the University of Virginia grant applications by former U.Va. climate scientist Michael Mann, creator of the "hockey stick" graph, and emails between Mann and other scientists.
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"Lawyers Descend En Masse for Arguments on Greenhouse Gas Rules"
"If the importance and complexity of a court case can be established based on the number of lawyers at the lectern, then the battle over the Obama administration greenhouse gas regulations is of epic proportions. When the three interlinked cases are argued over two days at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit this week, no fewer than 18 different attorneys will advocate for their clients before the three-judge panel."
Source: Greenwire, 02/28/2012
Despite High Court, Navy Keeps WA Town in Dark on Explosion Threat
A landmark Supreme Court decision awarded Port Townsend residents the right to know about the potential location of explosives on the Indian Island Naval Magazine near their town. After losing the case, the Defense Department bolstered its legal grounds for secrecy by asking Congress to slip into the 2012 Defense Authorization an amendment creating a new statutory exemption to FOIA for the DOD.
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Read the Secret Backgrounder on the Secret 2012 Farm Bill
This year's Farm Bill deliberations have been less transparent than ever before. In that spirit, SEJ's WatchDog shares a backgrounder, published by the Federation of American Scientists, on the 2012 Farm Bill done by the Congressional Research Service — which keeps their taxpayer-funded reports secret from the public.
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"Gulf Oil Spill's 'Trial of the Century' Could End Before It Begins"
"Some leading analysts and legal observers believe the highly anticipated 'trial of the century' over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, set to begin in three weeks, will end before it starts. BP and negotiators for federal and state governments are frantically working to confect a settlement so they won't have to leave the fate of billions of dollars in potential pollution fines and spill damage payments in the hands of U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier."
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/06/2012
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