The natural gas drilling industry refuses to disclose what potentially harmful chemicals are used in thousands of hydraulic fracturing gas wells across the country, despite evidence that the chemicals are poisoning drinking water supplies. As concerns mount, several states are considering action to curb use of the process despite the federal government's efforts to encourage it with large subsidies and environmental exemptions.

Recent actions by investors and the New York State Attorney General are pressuring companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and the risks they face from climate change. Many regard such information as essential to investors' right to know about the potential liabilities facing thousands of industries as the climate warms and new emissions regulations become a near certainty.

After two years, numerous protests by the public, a formal grievance from a government employee union, a critical governmental report, and congressional intervention, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reopened agency libraries it closed as a purported cost-saving measure. The libraries generally are smaller and open fewer hours than before, are now controlled by a political appointee, and may have lost materials in the interim, but they are open to the public.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) told a Senate oversight committee Sept. 16 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ignored recommendations from an advisory committee established to assist the agency in creating policies to protect children's health. For example, in developing three recent air quality standards on particulate matter, ozone, and lead, EPA either rejected the committee's recommendations or treated them as one of many public comments, according to GAO.