Environment

The project has been fraught with charges of conflicts of interest and behind-the-scenes dealings between state agencies and Enbridge.

We want all the candidates to commit to participating in a debate or forum on environmental issues and policies so we can hear detailed ideas and plans.

"So the basic idea is, I think, completely defensible – in fact, essential."

We need system change, not business as usual.

"If we fail to substantially cut the amount of carbon in our atmosphere in under 11 years, the human, environmental, and economic costs will be severe and irreversible."

Illinois and New York have approved hundreds of millions of dollars in clean-energy incentives for nuclear power companies. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland could be next.

State lawmakers across the country are advancing bills to increase penalties for demonstrators who interfere with 'critical infrastructure,' such as pipelines and gas terminals.

The organizations filed a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) challenge to the recent approval of the expanded mine, which would extract millions of tons of coal and exacerbate climate change impacts including air pollution and other threats.

"They're a brand new [type of] pollution, but there's so much of it and it's increasing so fast that it's something we really need to start learning about."

According to the first comprehensive national study of coal-ash pollution, 91 percent of all coal plants in the country are contaminating nearby groundwater with toxic pollutants.