Yesterday, President Obama unveiled a broad plan aimed at curbing carbon pollution. In his new climate action plan (the most comprehensive one by a U.S. president to date), the president calls for expanding natural gas development as a cleaner energy source. While burning natural gas emits half the emissions as coal, the method used to develop the fossil fuel is anything but clean and could outweigh any benefits.

Today, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act (SB 1715), which would give the state the strongest oversight rules on fracking in the country. Though by no means perfect, the Illinois legislation is a step in the right direction and could influence debates and strengthen rules about oil and gas drilling and extraction in other states.

Members of Congress are rightly outraged at the epidemic of sexual assault in the military. No one should have to suffer the trauma of sexual assault – least of all those Americans who have volunteered to serve our country, and whom our military has a duty to keep safe. Sadly, that promise is not being kept. Approximately 26,000 service members were victimized in the past year, according to a recent Defense Department survey. Even worse, of the women service members who suffered sexual assault, nearly 70 percent did not report the crime to a military authority – a majority of which said that they felt uncomfortable making a report. And no wonder why: of the women who did report, more than 60 percent said they suffered retaliation for doing so.

Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its revised proposed rule for natural gas drilling (commonly referred to as fracking) on federal and tribal lands. The much-anticipated rule violates President Obama's recently issued executive order that requires new government information to be made available to the public in open, machine-readable formats.