Two steps forward, two steps back, and standing in place could just about sum up the state of environmental protections heading into this raucous election year.

The science behind some environmental policies, especially climate change, continues to be debated on the campaign trail, where the discussion of jobs and the economy collides with some regulatory requirements and enforcement -- and not just along the expected partisan lines.

Organized labor joined Republicans and the oil industry, for instance, in favoring the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project, which President Obama said this month he could not approve until more environmental studies are completed. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, not alone in his party, wants to jettison the Environmental Protection Agency and replace it with an organization that would work with businesses and the states.

Amid the arguments, there are times when evidence rises, inarguably, to the surface: The endangered North Atlantic right whale population has made a slow comeback from near-extinction in 1900, thanks to years of bipartisan conservation measures.

And U.S. crude oil consumption has dropped, perhaps temporarily, to levels not seen in a decade. But there are always new worries. Mercury toxicity from coal-burning plants is not just a known health hazard to humans, but increasingly a toxic threat to songbirds and bats in the Northeast, according to recent studies.

Hydraulic fracturing, an old process aided by new technologies, has been hailed as a blessing in helping the U.S. develop domestic sources of energy -- and putting Americans to work. But it is now a suspected threat to water supplies in states such as Wyoming, New York and Texas, near drilling sites where chemicals are used to extract natural gas from rock. In Pennsylvania and Wyoming, tests suggest water contamination is linked to drilling. The EPA, against objections raised by the oil and gas industry, recently launched a multi-year study of fracking.

Such are the tradeoffs -- and battle lines -- in a society that consumes huge quantities of energy while desiring a pristine environment.

-- Alexis Simendinger

Introduction

Federal Debt, Deficit, Budget

Employment

Crime

Military, Alliances and U.S. Image Abroad