tim scott

March 9, 2018 - Conceived by a group of high-tech moguls and investors and championed by Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a new program that offers capital gains tax breaks for investing in poor neighborhoods could end up displacing long-term residents.

April 14, 2017 - The Trump administration unveiled plans to expand offshore drilling at last week's conference of the National Ocean Industries Association. Launched by Exxon in the 1970s to represent the offshore drilling industry, NOIA has been investing in politicians from Southeastern states where its members would like to do business.

February 22, 2017 - What's being billed as "Resistance Recess" is drawing vocal protesters to public meetings with members of Congress to express their opposition to President Trump and the Republican agenda — and some meetings are going ahead even without lawmakers there.

April 27, 2016 - While offshore drilling in the Atlantic is canceled for now, plans are still underway to conduct seismic blasting for oil and gas reserves. As scientists, environmentalists, local communities and some elected leaders press to block the tests, the industry has been contributing unprecedented amounts of money to influence key federal lawmakers.

May 22, 2015 - The disaster near Santa Barbara, the site of a 1969 oil spill that sparked the modern environmental movement, comes amid a push to open the Atlantic and Eastern Gulf to oil and gas drilling. It underscores the risk presented by coastal energy development coupled with weak regulation.

July 23, 2014 - 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?

December 21, 2012 - Dec. 22 marks four years since a coal ash impoundment collapsed at a TVA power plant in Tennessee, inundating a community and two rivers. As EPA drags its feet over issuing federal coal ash rules, politicians backed by industry interests are maneuvering to block the agency's ability to protect people and the environment -- even though their states have been adversely affected by poor regulation.

October 5, 2012 - Though the South is the U.S. region with the greatest concentration of income inequality, its representatives in Washington are doing a poor job of bridging the gap.