News bites: Espionage and electric cars, climate rules reversed in New Mexico, and more

“BP (BP.L) has selected a new director of communications, sources familiar with the matter said, as it seeks to rebuild its image in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill,” Reuters reports.

“Peter Henshaw, head of government affairs at British gas producer BG Group (BG.L) and a former long-time BP employee, will take up a new position heading both internal, press and government relations at BP, the sources said,” their piece adds.

On to global warming … ClimateWire, via The New York Times, unwraps Rep. Ralph Hall’s (R-Texas) views on climate change. Hall is the new chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee.

Hall said he’s not a climate skeptic, but the piece points out that others aren’t so sure and details Hall’s questioning of climate science and opposition to emissions limits.

“Hall, known in part for his strong support of the oil and gas industry, opposes cap-and-trade policies and U.S. EPA’s plans to regulate heat-trapping emissions. He said last month that, as chairman of the science panel, he would investigate ‘global warming or global freezing,’” the story states.

With the fate of climate change rules uncertain in Washington, The New York Times reports on the death of state rules in New Mexico.

“Acting on a campaign promise, New Mexico’s new Republican governor, Susana Martinez, has scuttled a state regulation requiring annual 3 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions,” the paper reports.

Dying birds and fish are in the news a lot these days. Here’s another tale, this time from Maryland:

“Millions of dead fish have washed up along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay over the past week, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment,” MSNBC reports.

“Officials are investigating the fish kill but say that according to preliminary results the cause was likely stress from unusually cold water temperatures.”