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The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force yesterday released its comprehensive preliminary strategy for long-term restoration. The strategy, which will be presented to President Obama at the end of a period of public review and feedback, aims to address long-standing issues contributing to the decline of the gulf ecosystem. According to a press release, the strategy “builds upon on-going efforts underway in the Gulf Coast states includes specific steps for on-the-ground action and represents the Task Force’s commitment to putting Gulf coastal restoration on an equal footing with other national priorities.” “Even before last year’s oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico endured decades of decline that threatened the environmental and economic health of this region

The Inspector General for the U.S. State Department has responded to a request from more than a dozen members of Congress for an investigation into the approval process for the Keystone XL pipeline, which critics say has been tainted by a cozy relationship between the agency and the company that owns the pipeline. Inspector General Harold Geisel told the legislators in a letter that he is initiating that investigation “to determine to what extent the Department and all other parties involved complied with federal laws and regulations relating to the Keystone XL pipeline permit process.” The investigation will include interviews with State Department personnel and a review of communications between the agency and TransCanada, the owners of the pipeline.

All politics is local, especially when it comes to energy politics. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) proved that today in Fairbanks when she outlined a plan to

PG&E -- the owner of the natural gas pipeline that exploded in San Bruno, Calif., killing at least four people and damaging dozens of homes -- has set up a

A burning sugar cane field (Pic by skatoolaki, via Flickr) The high costs of American sugar, coupled with quotas that make it near-impossible for the product to be imported, have led two congressmen to file a bill that would overhaul the way the industry does business.

Arizona voters, polled after last week’s election, said they voted to recall Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce because of his divisiveness and because they want Arizona’s legislature to focus more on the economy and job creation and less on immigration. “Our research clearly shows that Arizona voters want their politicians to work together to focus on practical solutions for improving the state’s economy,” said Jill Hanauer, President of Project New West , which conducted the poll. “Russell Pearce’s decision to focus on extremist immigration policies played a role in his defeat, and could do so for more Arizona Republicans if they continue to ignore the priorities of voters.” Among voters who did not support Pearce, 38 percent cited either his divisiveness, fanaticism, rigid ideology, or issue platforms

In a surprise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decided to call today’s vote to end debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform

Protecting public lands can be a boon for the private sector, attracting companies and workers to the communities that border them, more than 100 economists wrote in letter to President Obama this week. Thompson Divide The letter (pdf) urges the president to invest in the nation’s public lands infrastructure and establish new wilderness, parks and monuments that can create jobs and jump-start the businesses around them.

Senate Democrats, back to business this week, are blasting out some snazzy graphics regarding the Bush tax cuts. Here’s one from today: The grist for the

Unlike the Republicans, who adopted the strong conservative position of resisting almost every Democratic reform proposal from the start, Democratic leaders ruled out the liberal single-payer proposal early in the debate.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) just announced that she will block the nomination of Jack Lew to be the Obama Administration’s new Office of Management and Budget

James Gordon, the former director of operations for the North American branch of ArmorGroup -- the State Department contractor accused of physical and sexual

Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards briefly joined a debate on WAMU’s Diane Rehm Show Wednesday, where she refuted the notion

Let’s unpack a claim about the Guantanamo detainees, as summarized by Marc Ambinder: It had been the hope of administration legal advisers that a majority of

Kansas officials are planning to move forward with another set of rules aimed at abortion clinics in the state. Recently, a court blocked the state’s efforts to shut down two of the last three remaining clinics. However, officials say that the court’s ruling gives them latitude to move forward with other rules.

It was a scenario that tapped into Americans’ deepest fears about increased government involvement with health care: President Obama was planning to a create

It will come as no surprise to Coloradans force-fed a fire-hose stream of ugly and untrustworthy campaign election material over the last two years that independent spending– that is, spending directly tied to no candidate and mostly free of accountability– more than tripled in the state from 2008 to 2010. This according to a recent report released by watchdog group Follow the Money , which singles out Colorado for study. The authors report that, although the state has relatively strong disclosure laws, larger changes in campaign finance rules have let loose here as everywhere in the country a storm of money and a sea of roiling paperwork that can cover over as much as it reveals

In a piece published today, TWI detailed how a recount in the gubernatorial race between Democrat Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer might play out. Dayton

There’s talk about how Iran’s apparent rejection of President Obama’s outreach represents the end of a 2008 campaign goal. And it’s not exactly wrong, though it

Senator-elect Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is among the most forthright of conservative deficit hawks when it comes to straight talk about cutting spending, but in his

President Barack Obama (Pic by The White House, via Flickr) A petition protesting the EPA’s “numeric nutrient criteria,” a set of stringent water pollution standards specific to the state of Florida, has been sent to President Barack Obama, in an attempt to urge him to “reign in the EPA’s power grab and return water quality regulation to state government.” The petition was backed largely by the Florida Farm Bureau , a group whose members could be hit with costly upgrades or fines because of the new rules. The Farm Bureau worked with “a coalition of municipalities, regulated industries and other agricultural associations” to gather at least 5,000 signatures for the petition, which reads: I am a registered voter in Florida and concerned about the higher costs associated with the EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria rule. Several studies put the cost of this rule in the billions

After spending at least a month “right in the corner of (Wis.) Gov. Scott Walker 100 percent,” Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain told

Arguing that access to health care is the right of everyone, not a privilege for the wealthy, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) explains that while doesn’t really