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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Friday began an investigation into whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency greatly favored left-leaning environmentalists over conservative groups when granting fee waivers for requests to access information. The lawmakers drew a comparison between the actions they say the EPA has taken with the Internal Revenue Service, which is embroiled in controversy over its targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Friday began an investigation into whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency greatly favored left-leaning environmentalists over conservative groups when granting fee waivers for requests to access information. The lawmakers drew a comparison between the actions they say the EPA has taken with the Internal Revenue Service, which is embroiled in controversy over its targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny. ...

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Gasoline prices are on the rise and headed to a record in North Dakota. The average price of gas in the state could reach $4.15 per gallon in the coming days, breaking the July 2008 record of $4.08, according ...

Don't start singing "Kumbaya" just yet

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal antitrust regulators are prepared to approve U.S. refiner Tesoro Corp.'s proposed deal to buy a BP refinery in southern California, three sources told Reuters. The Federal Trade Commission, which assessed the deal to ensure that it complied with antitrust law, may announce the deal's approval as early as Friday, according to one source with knowledge of the deal. Tesoro announced in August that it had agreed to buy BP's Carson facility for $2.5 billion. Tesoro is the second-largest refiner in California, the nation's largest gasoline market, after Chevron Corp . ...

The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Obama’s nominee to lead the Energy Department, Ernest Moniz, by a vote of 97-0. On the upper chamber’s plate now are two considerably more controversial nominees whose confirmation votes—if they come at all—surely won’t be unanimous.

President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has moved one step closer to getting the job, but it came without Republican support. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ...

By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic-controlled Senate committee backed President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, sending the nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. The 10-8 vote along party lines for Gina McCarthy, currently the agency's top air-quality official, came a week after Republicans in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee boycotted a planned vote. No date has been set for a floor vote on McCarthy, said California Democrat Barbara Boxer, the committee chairwoman. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has moved one step closer to getting the job, but it came without Republican support.

Senate Republicans on Thursday eased their opposition to the nomination of Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency—but her confirmation by the full Senate is not yet assured.

Senate Republicans on Thursday eased their opposition to the nomination of Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency--although her confirmation by the full Senate is not yet assured.

Senate Republicans on Thursday eased their opposition to the nomination of Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency--although her confirmation by the full Senate is not yet assured.

Senate Republicans on Thursday eased their opposition to the nomination of Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency--although her confirmation by the full Senate is not yet assured.

Falling natural gas prices helped drive down New England's electricity prices by nearly a quarter last year, according to a report released Wednesday by the region's power grid operator. The 2012 Annual ...

Motorists in West Virginia are getting a break from price increases at the pump. AAA East Central says the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline fell 4 cents in the past week to a statewide average ...

Gas prices across Oklahoma are up sharply during the past week — rising 20 cents per gallon. AAA Oklahoma reports the average price for a gallon of self-serve regular on Tuesday is $3.58 — compared to ...

Do nuclear power plants need a redesign? Critics of nuclear energy seem to think so, and so does nuclear energy advocate, Taylor Wilson. A physics wunderkind, Wilson became the youngest person to ever create fusion at age 14. And since graduating from high school last year, he's devoted himself to finding innovative solutions to the world's biggest problems.

Republicans’ decision to boycott a planned committee vote of President Obama’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency made them look like “sore losers,” said Christine Todd Whitman, EPA administrator under President George W. Bush.

Some of the biggest Environmental Protection Agency abuses of property rights (see last term's Sackett case and this term's Koontz case) stem from expansive interpretations of the Clean Water Act. The EPA imposes huge costs on people who want to do anything on their property, claiming the agency has the authority to regulate "wetlands." The agency is only supposed to have authority to regulate discharges to "navigable" waters, but the jurisprudence here is so confused that it's become an area ripe for federal overreach. ...