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When it comes to TransCanada Corporation's Keystone XL pipeline approval process, corruption has been rampant, as well covered by DeSmogBlog as it unfolded. The Keystone XL pipeline, currently in limbo, would carry tar sands crude — a thick and dirty fossil fuel called bitumen — from the Alberta tar sands through the heartland region and eventually down to Port Arthur, Texas, to be refined and placed on the global export market.

This week, a new layer of corruption was revealed by Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group, this one involving insider trading of TransCanada's stocks by four members of Congress, as well as by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice.

The politicians implicated and amount of money they invested in stock are as follows, according to Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group:

• "Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, reported in his 2010 financial disclosure form—the most recent available, filed on May 15, 2011—that he owned Transcanada stock worth between $115,002 and $300,000 (financial disclosure forms ask members to report their assets within broad ranges)."
• "Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., reported owning between $15,001 and $51,000 in TransCanada stock in his 2010 financial disclosure; according to his office, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee sold his stock on January 5, 2011."
• "Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., has held Trans Canada stock since 2004; her most recent disclsosure shows she owns a stake in the company worth between $1,001 and $15,000."
• "Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.…reported a $798 interest in Trans Canada."
• "U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Susan E. Rice filed that she owned between $250,001 and $500,000 of TransCanada stock."

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Al Gore has announced a multi-million dollar campaign urging the U.S. to slash greenhouse emissions. The effort by the Alliance for Climate Protection will combine advertising, online organizing and partnerships with grass-roots groups to educate the public about climate change and press politicians for solutions.

The movement crosses political boundaries, with several one-time opponents coming together in their bid to protect the planet from global warming.

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Politicians, business leaders and economists have joined environmentalists in calling for new laws to restrict greenhouse gases. The US administration has thus far rejected these efforts, but momentum for change has been building since the February 2 release of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that called global warming "unequivocal" and said with 90 percent probability that human activities help cause it.

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Here's some video footage of Democratic House Leader, Nancy Pelosi, talking tough on global warming and energy independence.

Within the first 100 hours of the new Congressional session, Pelosi and the Dems have committed to introducing new legislation "repealing big oil subsidies and investing in renewable fuels." So far, the Democrats have kept to their word and passed the Clean Energy Act, rolling back subsidies to big oil companies.

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From ThinkProgress: This morning on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos reported that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “is considering setting up a special committee in the House to deal with climate change and global warming.” Also on ABC, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) called climate change “the most serious environmental problem” we face, and said “we’ve got to get action on it” and “not wait until everybody around the world is going to do it.”