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Despite new data suggesting increased risks to whales, dolphins and porpoises, Govs. Pat McCrory and Terry McAuliffe are urging federal regulators to allow seismic testing from Delaware to Central Florida.

Five years after the BP disaster, a group of governors led by North Carolina's Pat McCrory is pushing for drilling in the Atlantic. The group has close ties to a secret-money nonprofit and energy lobbyists, a relationship that raises questions about transparency, ethics and the blurring of public and private interests.

With the public comment period for Atlantic oil and gas drilling set to close on March 30, coastal residents, businesspeople, elected officials and scientists are speaking out in unprecedented numbers against what they see as an excessively risky proposal.

While governors in the Southeast are pushing for offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic, elected officials in other East Coast states are fighting the proposal, saying the potential cost is too great.

Environmentalists and others have condemned the Obama administration's decision to open up the Atlantic to seismic testing for oil and gas reserves, blaming political pressure from deep-pocketed oil and gas interests. Just how much is the industry spending to influence federal policy?

As some conservative lawmakers target the state's renewable energy law for repeal, a new study details its benefits to the state's economy and consumers.

The government's decision to at least temporarily ban BP from federal contracts is a result of not just the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill, but years of safety problems at the oil giant.