Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (shown) told House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal Neal on the first deadline that the Treasury was consulting with the Justice Department on turning over President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Credit: Alex Wong/Getty

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin left little doubt Tuesday that the administration will reject a congressional request for President Donald Trump’s tax returns by a self-imposed May 6 target for a “final decision,” setting the stage for a legal battle that will test the limits of congressional oversight.

In a 10-page letter to House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who formally requested Trump’s returns on April 3, Mnuchin questioned Neal’s motives and laid out “some of the legal concerns” the administration has with the request. While Neal has argued that the committee needs to see the returns as part of its oversight of the IRS, Mnuchin wrote that is a “pretext” for the Democrats’ aim to make Trump’s returns public, which Mnuchin called “constitutionally suspect.”

Neal, who had set a 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline for the IRS to turn over the documents, said in a statement that he plans to “consult with counsel about my next steps.” He is likely to …

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Mitch McConnell and Trump

So all the “fake news” was true. A hostile foreign power intervened in the presidential election, hoping to install Donald Trump in the White House. The Trump campaign was aware of this intervention and welcomed it. And once in power, Trump tried to block any inquiry into what happened.

Never mind attempts to spin this story as somehow not meeting some definitions of collusion or obstruction of justice. The fact is that the occupant of the White House betrayed his country. And the question everyone is asking is, what will Democrats do about it?

But notice that the question is only about Democrats. Everyone (correctly) takes it as a given that Republicans will do nothing. Why?

Because the modern G.O.P. is perfectly willing to sell out America if that’s what it takes to get tax cuts for the wealthy. Republicans may not think of it in those terms, but that’s what their behavior amounts to.

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Listening to the account of a woman who was raped.

The U.S. is reportedly threatening to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at preventing the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war and terrorism. The issue at hand? The proposal includes promises to provide reproductive and sexual health support to survivors of rape in conflict — and the U.S. is allegedly having none of it.

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Dana Carvy as the church lady

Red State conservatives may insist that the rest of us should keep aspirin between our knees and be forced to bear Divine Justice Babies when we don’t. They may refuse to provide cake or flowers for gay weddings, or even to attend. They may pretend that teens won’t do it if we just don’t tell them how. They may adopt the Church Lady posture if anyone mentions sex that doesn’t involve one man, one woman, the missionary position and a pulsing desire for more offspring . . . . But online search traffic from behind closed doors in Jesusland suggests that the bad, nasty sexual impulses that righteous believers are trying so hard to shut down may be their own. And if Google search patterns mean anything, they’re not succeeding too well.

A new search analysis adds to the evidence that members of conservative religious communities are America’s biggest porn hounds.

Do as I say, not as I do

For almost two centuries, what happened in the Bible Belt, sexually at least, stayed in the Bible Belt. Oh, sure, there was the odd scandal involving a small town preacher and the pretty young wife …

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Limerick Nuclear Power Plant.
Credit: Exelon

New Jersey ratepayers will fork over $300 million annually over the next three years so that PSE&G can continue operating its nuclear reactors. The utility had threatened to shut them without the additional funding.

State regulators said it was critical to keep the nuclear energy industry afloat so residents did not have to rely as heavily on alternative energy sources with harmful emissions, such as natural gas.

“We’re here to save our jobs and continue our carbon-free energy,” said Theresa Widger, a PSE&G employee who works at the Salem nuclear plant.

Yet critics pointed to analyses done by state staffers and a hired consulting firm that both predicted  PSE&G could remain financially solvent without the ratepayer-funded infusion.

“Everybody who has taken a look at this is saying that they are, in fact, financially viable and they are, in fact, making money. By threatening to close, they put the commissioners in a terrible position,” said Stefanie Brand, the state’s ratepayer advocate.

In a statement, PSE&G praised the award and said it would save ratepayers money, keep jobs in the state, and avoid environmentally harmful emissions from other energy sources.

The state Board of Public Utilities …

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Credit: ejatlas.org

The three smokestacks of PacifiCorp’s coal-fired Hunter Power Plant loom in the skies on a 1,000-acre site just south of Castle Dale, Utah.

Commissioned in 1978, the Hunter plant burns millions of tons of coal a year and generates more than 1,500 megawatts of electricity for use in nearby communities.

But it also generates something else: greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants, including coal ash.

Coal ash, or coal-combustion residuals, is primarily produced from burning coal in power plants. It contains mercury, arsenic and other byproducts that can pollute waterways, drinking water and the air, according to the EPA. These chemicals can cause cancer, developmental disorders and reproductive problems, says Earthjustice, a nonprofit organization that specializes in litigation of environmental issues.

While some power plants dispose of coal ash in landfills, others discharge it into nearby waterways under the plants’ discharge permits.

Those discharges add up. According to the first comprehensive national study of coal-ash pollution, 91 percent of all coal plants in the country are contaminating nearby groundwater with toxic pollutants.

The study, conducted by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project with assistance from Earthjustice, found that the groundwater near 242 out of 265 coal-fired power plants…

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