E2-Wire

Sen. Ron Wyden wants the attorney general to probe whether alleged price manipulation spilled into the United States.

A federal judge in Arizona declined to reconsider an earlier ruling affirming the Interior Department’s authority to block new hard-rock mining on public lands.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell shut down a request for a rehearing by mining industry groups on Thursday. They’re protesting whether the federal government can unilaterally withdraw public lands from mining claims, according to The Associated Press.

At issue is an action by former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in which the ex-Interior chief banned mining on more than 1 million acres of uranium-rich land near the Grand Canyon.

The House will vote next week to allow construction of the northern portion of the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, didn't pollute groundwater near an Arkansas well, according to a new study. But the geology there might make the area more resistant to pollution, The Associated Press explains. Read more...

STATE OF PLAY: President Obama's nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving closer to Senate approval, but there's still heavy lifting ahead for her supporters.

Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee advanced Gina McCarthy’s nomination Thursday in a 10-8, party-line vote. The absence of GOP support signals a tough road ahead for McCarthy, the EPA’s top air quality regulator.

Committee ranking member Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) laid out conditions for preventing a Republican filibuster of McCarthy’s nomination.

Vitter said the EPA would need to demonstrate progress on answering GOP questions regarding transparency at the agency. Republicans also want to know more about the data and information it uses to design pollution regulations they and industry oppose.

On another front, Sen. Roy Blunt said Thursday that his office is scheduling a meeting with McCarthy to discuss the procedural hold the Missouri Republican has on her nomination. Blunt has said the Obama administration has missed a deadline for an update on a levee project in his state. 

While Republicans demand more information from the EPA, McCarthy's allies are ramping up their campaigns on her behalf.

Claudia Malloy, national outreach director with the National Wildlife Federation, said chapters across the country are already writing letters to newspapers and planning to meet with editorial boards. Phone calls to lawmakers, radio time and social media are also involved, she said.

Read more...

The drilling method is enabling a U.S. oil and gas production boom but bringing fears of water and air pollution.

The hacker activist group Anonymous said it plans to target the oil-and-gas sector in a June 20 operation.

“It has been a long time coming,” the collective said of the event, Operation Petrol, in a video it released this week on its YouTube page.

The group said it would hone in on the United States, Canada, England, Israel, China, Italy, France, Germany, Russia and the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.

The Senate voted 97-0 to approve President Obama’s nomination of Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy.

Republicans have threatened to block her nomination, raising questions about transparency at the EPA.

The EPA's acting head has asked for a review of claims the EPA refuses to waive fees for conservative groups.