by Jess Zimmerman. The government is convening a panel of experts to weigh in on how (and whether) fracking can be made safer. Yay! Six of the seven committee members have financial ties to the natural gas industry — including the chairman, who's a board member of two energy companies and has received $1.4 million from them over three years. Boo! A group of concerned scientists has written a letter to the Secretary of Energy in which they object to the panel's skewed composition:

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