Clean Start: September 14, 2011

Welcome to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Green’s morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what we’re reading. What are you?

Pennsylvania’s decision to end its participation in several federal environmental lawsuits, including global warming and smog, has raised concerns from local, state and national environmental organizations. [AP]

The destruction from Tropical Storm Lee has dealt a devastating blow to the Pennsylvania’s agriculture industry. [Citizen's Voice]

The enormity of the devastation caused by last week’s record flooding began to emerge as President Barack Obama issued a disaster declaration for 19 Pennsylvania counties and state officials on Tuesday released a very preliminary estimate of more than 4,500 homes destroyed or damaged — a number sure to rise significantly as more damage reports come in. [AP]

The government moved Tuesday to stiffen safety requirements for offshore oil and gas drilling, as a top regulator took aim at critics in the industry who insist the U.S. takes too long to approve coastal energy projects. [Houston Chronicle]

Thomas Friedman marvels that Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) is “rejecting the science of climate change while his own state is on fire.” [NYT]

While the core of the sport remains unchanged, Nascar, its teams, track operators and sponsors are employing an ambitious set of green initiatives that includes collecting used fuel, planting trees to offset carbon emissions, and deploying sheep to keep the infield grass short. [NYT]

A leak from a shallow water crude oil pipeline in the Main Pass Area of the Gulf of Mexico has led Chevron to shut down its offshore Louisiana Main Pass pipeline network, the company said on Tuesday. [Reuters]

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was on Capitol Hill yesterday to urge senior lawmakers to buck the current zeal for budget cutting and boost federal investment in clean-energy research and development. [E2]

A coastal mayor says tests show tar balls washed onto Alabama’s beaches by a recent tropical storm are from last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. [Washington Post]

EPA chief Lisa Jackson is staying put, she told Politico on Tuesday, despite speculation that she might step down after the White House undercut her efforts to set a stricter smog limit. [Politico]

Hurricane Irene battered western VIrginia’s tobacco crop. [Brunswick Times-Gazette]

Europe’s seas are changing at an unprecedented rate as ice sheets melt, temperatures rise and marine life migrates due to climate change, a report by the Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystem Research (CLAMER) project warned. [Reuters]

The clean-up bill after Hurricane Katia ravaged parts of the UK is expected to come in at £100 million, experts said. [Daily Mail]

A House panel Tuesday voted to delay two sets of Environmental Protection Agency air-pollution rules by 15 months. [WSJ]

The state of Sokoto in Nigeria is on flood alert, and governor Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko has called on religious leaders, traditional rulers and the entire people of the to pray fervently against the recurrence of flood disaster in the state. [All Africa]