Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The state legislature killed nearly all legislation introduced this year to regulate fracking after Big Oil and Gas companies flooded Sacramento with campaign contributions, the LA Times$ reports, citing data compiled by the Berkeley-based Maplight.org. Big Oil and Gas donated at least $464,000 and outspent fracking opponents by a 7-1 margin. Although polls show that a majority of Californians support a moratorium on fracking, eleven of twelve bills designed to regulate the controversial oil and gas extraction method went down to defeat and the only one left is a weak, watered-down bill. Politicians who voted against the fracking bills received 31 times the amount of donations from Big Oil and Gas as they did from groups that want to regulate fracking.
