Environment

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FILE - In this May 1, 2009 file photo, offshore oil drilling platform 'Gail' operated by Venoco, Inc., is shown off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a new rule on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014 requiring oil and gas companies to report chemicals discharged off the Southern California coast from hydraulic fracturing. The rule goes into effect on March 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

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**FILE** Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich listens to a question at a news conference at Fort Lee, N.J., City Hall on Jan. 9, 2014. Sokolich called it "appalling" that traffic jams appear to have been deliberately created at the George Washington Bridge for three days in September 2013. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in an attempt to avoid damage from a scandal that could undermine his presidential prospects, fired a top aide who apparently created traffic jams as part of a political vendetta. Christie denied any knowledge of the scheme. (Associated Press)

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Homes are seen covered in snow and ice Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014, in Chicago. An arctic blast eased its grip on much of the U.S. on Wednesday, with winds calming and the weather warming slightly a day after temperature records — some more than a century-old — shattered up and down the Eastern Seaboard.(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

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FILE - In this March 29, 2013 file photo, workers tend to a well head during a hydraulic fracturing operation at an Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. gas well outside Rifle, in western Colorado. Illinois and California officials are writing rules to implement their states’ first-ever laws to regulate hydraulic fracturing, but environmentalists still are pushing to halt the practice amid fears it could cause pollution and health problems. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)