National (U.S.)

"Retirements and departures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have shrunk its workforce to levels not seen since the Reagan administration."

"The federal government's top fisheries experts say that three widely used pesticides — including the controversial insecticide chlorpyrifos — are jeopardizing the survival of many species of salmon, as well as orcas that feed on those salmon."

"U.S. EPA appears to no longer be releasing preliminary assessments of potentially hazardous new chemicals or new uses of existing chemicals, according to documents reviewed by E&E News."

"Ford Motor Co installed software that enabled its F-250 and F-350 Super Duty trucks to cheat at passing federal emissions tests, according to a lawsuit by truck owners filed on Wednesday, a claim the No. 2 U.S. automaker described as “baseless.”"

"If the Environmental Protection Agency follows through with a reform now under consideration, teenage farmworkers and other working minors would once again be allowed to handle dangerous pesticides while on the job."

"At 5:20 on Tuesday evening, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tweeted a photo of himself at the Tallahassee airport with Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, announcing that he had decided, after meeting with Governor Scott, to exempt the state from a new Trump administration plan to open up most of the nation’s coastline to offshore oil drilling."

"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke launched an unprecedented effort Wednesday to undertake the largest reorganization in the department’s 168-year history, moving to shift tens of thousands of workers to new locations and change the way the federal government manages more than 500 million acres of land and water across the country."

"Hunkered down in the PJM Interconnection operations center near Valley Forge, Pa., shift supervisor Brian Oakes waited for a distress call."

"U.S. EPA's internal watchdog plans to review Administrator Scott Pruitt's use of a special hiring authority to fill top political jobs at the agency."

"The Democratic attorneys general of 12 states say Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt needs to recuse himself from all matters related to the repeal of the Obama administration’s climate change rule for power plants."