Supreme Court Rules for Power Plants, Against Fish

Texas' Louie Gohmert says Alaskan pipeline is hot date meet-up

(NEWSER) - A Texas Republican congressman is adamant in his backing of the trans-Alaska pipeline, but not because of silly energy independence. No, we must keep the oil flowing for the sake of ... caribou romance. So argued Rep. Louie Gohmert, tongue perhaps in cheek, during a meeting of the House Natural Resources committee last week, reports the Washington Post . Gohmert made the case that the warmth of the oil making its way through the pipeline encourages the randy behavior (and population boom) of the region's caribou. More»

10 states could face less stringent limits on emissions

(NEWSER) - The EPA finalized a new rule to curb industrial pollution this summer; three months later, the agency has proposed to loosen the restrictions in 10 of 27 affected states. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, meant to cut power-plant emissions that can blow across state lines, has faced sharp criticism from the industry and the states themselves, who argue the measure could cut jobs and rattle the power supply. More»

It uses Clean Water Act to kill West Virginia plan

(NEWSER) - Environmentalists won a big victory today in the debate over mountaintop mining: The EPA took the rare step of revoking a permit for a massive site in West Virginia, ruling that it would foul the water for residents in that region of Appalachia, reports the Charleston Gazette . Mountaintop mining involves blasting the top off mountains to get at the coal underneath, but the resulting rubble wreaks havoc on the streams and valleys below. The Obama administration has been taking a critical look at the practice . More»

Scientists have little experience with oil from below

(NEWSER) - The Gulf oil spill will affect all living things in the area—but determining what those consequences will be is stumping the best minds in environmental science. There's never been an oil spill of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon accident on the ocean floor, and data is scarce on the effect the submerged slick will have. "This is a three-dimensional spill," one oceanographer tells the Wall Street Journal . "The physics, the chemistry and the biology action are very different when you have oil released from below." More»

Expect a fierce battle for liberal justice's replacement

(NEWSER) - What will John Paul Stevens’ retirement mean for the Supreme Court? Here are three early thoughts on what comes next:

• Expect the tea partiers to get extremely riled up over whoever President Obama nominates, writes Chris Good of the Atlantic . They have a “very strict (one could almost say fundamentalist)” take on the Constitution, and they’re itching for a post-health care fight.