Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane can't approve a public hearing on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station until an appeal period is completed for the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board's decision to call for a hearing.
A federal judge refused to reconsider a ruling that upheld the Interior Department's power to ban new hard rock mining projects on federal land, The Associated Press reports.
Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tn., and Joe Manchin, D-W.V., introduced a bill that would ensure that only domestically-made fuels can be used to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard, The Chattanoogan reports.
The bill passed on a 235-161 vote mostly on party lines. It was the latest salvo against the Securities and Exchange Commission by House Republicans, who opposed the 2010 financial overhaul legislation expanding the SEC's powers and have resisted increasing its budget. Congress enacted the regulatory overhaul in response to the 2008 financial crisis with an eye to preventing another meltdown.
The Houston-based company said Friday in its weekly report that 1,408 rigs were exploring for oil and another 354 for gas. Seven were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1,986 active rigs.
Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, North Dakota and Wyoming each gained three rigs and Alaska gained one.
Kurt Mix's trial was scheduled to start June 10, but U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. agreed to reschedule it for Dec. 2 to give Mix's attorneys more time to review millions of government documents related to the case.
Mix, a resident of Katy, Texas, pleaded not guilty last year to two counts of obstruction of justice.
Obama's jobs tour took him to Baltimore after riding through one eruption after the other during the past few weeks, from new questions over his administration's handling of last year's deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, to revelations of political targeting at the Internal Revenue Service and a secret probe of The Associated Press and its confidential sources.
