7/26/05:
Summary of the Harmful Provisions in the Energy Bill - Listed below are just a few of the provisions in the final energy bill: (see the full report at U.S. PIRG.

• Threatens drinking water by amending the Safe Drinking Water Act to allow the unregulated underground injection of chemicals during oil and gas development and during geothermal energy development. [Section 322]
• Grants the oil and gas industries an exemption for their construction activities from compliance with Clean Water Act provisions that require all types of construction activities to reduce polluted runoff from these sites. [Section 323]
• Provides "backdoor immunity" to the producers and distributors, of the likely carcinogenic gasoline additive MTBE by removing MTBE claims from state court to federal court when the claims are based on state tort law, nuisance law, or consumer law. This unfairly deprives injured parties and their representatives (water utilities, states AGs, etc) of their right to have their claims heard in their state forum and could derail many legal claims entirely, effectively shielding those companies responsible for MTBE contamination from their full financial liability for the damages they have caused. [Sec. 1504]

7/24/05:
Lawmakers remove roadblock to energy bill
".. House and Senate conferees abandoned giving makers of the gasoline additive MTBE liability protection against environmental lawsuits on Sunday, removing the major roadblock to enactment of broad energy legislation. Senate negotiators rejected a House proposal for a..." Associated Press.

Find out more about MTBE in drinking water.

7/12/05:
Coalition Launches Landmark Campaign: "ExxposeExxon.com" - The ExxposeExxon.com website will reveal the truth about the world’s largest and most profitable oil company’s actions: including actively lobbying Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, trying to avoid paying all the damages due to those harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, and funding organizations that work to discredit the science behind global warming.

6/29/05:
Resolution to Disapprove EPA Mercury Rule Introduced in Senate - Senators Patrick Leahy (VT), Susan Collins (ME), and James Jeffords (VT) introduced a bipartisan joint resolution today to disapprove an EPA rule that scuttles strict controls for toxic mercury pollution from power plants. The rule, known as the "delisting rule," removes power plants from the list of sources subject to strict controls for their emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants and is also the subject of numerous court challenges.

Apr. 21, 2005:
"Oil Companies Lose Effort to End Suits Over Contaminated Water" - The ruling means that plaintiffs can proceed with some 80 lawsuits against oil companies asserting that the additive, methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE, fouled groundwater... The suits assert that the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding MTBE to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They say the oil companies knew that MTBE would cause widespread contamination because the chemical does not readily cling to soil and moves faster and farther in the ground than other gasoline components.

"Although politicians talk about wanting to protect wetlands, some help developers destroy them..." St. Petersburg Times.