Environmental Groups Revolt Over Obama's Energy Strategy

If advocates on the political left and right are both angry with you, does that mean you're doing something right? Juliet Eilperin and Lenny Bernstein look at the environmental vice that the Obama administration finds itself in as one group of lobbyists pressures the president to reinforce his commitment to fight climate change and the other tries to reverse new environmental regulations. 

The latest, and surprising, salvo came in form of a letter [PDF] sent to President Obama by 18 of the country's leading environmental groups that challenges the administration's "all of the above" energy strategy. Eilperin and Bernstein observe that the letter "signals that the administration is under pressure to confront the fossil-fuel industry or risk losing support from a critical part of its political base during an already difficult election year."

"The groups," which include the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice, "suggested that Obama should apply a strict climate test 'to all decisions regarding new fossil fuel development,' including hydraulic fracturing and coal mining on public lands, as well as drilling in the Arctic Ocean."