The government is calling off a recently announced moratorium on applications to build solar plants on public lands.
The Bureau of Land Management decision came after public opposition to its original decision.
The BLM wanted to put new applications for solar plants on federal land on hold while reviewing potential environmental impacts from such plants.
That process could [...]

Senate Republicans blocked a global warming bill that would have required major reductions in greenhouse gases.
Democratic leaders fell a dozen votes short of getting the 60 needed to end a Republican filibuster on the measure and bring the bill up for a vote, prompting Majority Leader Harry Reid to pull the legislation from consideration.
The Senate [...]

A Senate bill to cut greenhouse gases and address climate change is heading toward almost certain defeat after nearly a week of stalemate and partisan bickering. Both sides are charging the other with blocking action.
The Associated Press has learned that senators close to the issue privately say there is virtually no chance to get the [...]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a gold miner’s son from the top gold-producing state in the nation, is confronting competing political interests as House Democrats prepare to rewrite an antiquated hard-rock mining law.
The minerals mining industry holds huge sway in Nevada and industry is balking at some of the most far-reaching reforms. Reid [...]

With Democrats in control of the Congress, the U.S. mining industry can anticipate the resurrection of mining law reform, more environmental and safety regulation, and a “big fistfight” in the next two years over climate change issues.
Meanwhile, government regulators warned, agency budgets to support and promote mining and exploration activity could shrink even further.
In a [...]

One of their top lobbyists is warning the US mining industry that the new Democrat controlled Congress will be largely hostile to their views on everything from taxes to environmental regulation.
Dan Gerkin sounded the alarm in Sparks in a speech Friday at the Northwest Mining Association’s 112th annual convention. The National Mining Association’s senior vice [...]

Now that both houses of Congress have passed bills opening up the U.S.’s outer continental shelf to drilling, oil and gas companies are celebrating, right?
Wrong.
The tough battle still lies ahead. And the whole tale starkly illustrates the challenges business faces navigating the political shoals of Washington.
WIDE GAP IN BILLS.
For starters, companies and industry groups lobbied [...]

Republicans are trying to boost their bid to cut estate taxes with a last-minute legislative add-on that would pay for abandoned coal mine cleanup projects and health care for retired miners.
A coalition of labor, environmentalists and mining companies is behind the drive to renew the mine reclamation program, which uses fees on mined coal to [...]

After receiving assurances from Senate leaders that his state’s coastline would be protected, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida agreed Thursday to support a measure to permit offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
With his agreement, the Senate is expected to pass a proposal next week that would allow the harvesting of oil and natural [...]

A bill to open waters in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida to oil and natural gas drilling easily cleared a procedural hurdle on Wednesday that paves the way for the U.S. Senate to vote on the measure in coming days.
But Senate Republican leaders said they would oppose a push by Democrats to widen debate [...]