National (U.S.)

"If the levee wall is constructed, it will essentially destroy the refuge, a federal official told the Observer."

"After a five-year review, U.S. EPA has proposed leaving unchanged its two primary air quality standards for nitrogen oxides."

"They landed, one after another, in 2015: plans for nearly a dozen interstate pipelines to move natural gas beneath rivers, mountains and people's yards. Like spokes on a wheel, they'd spread from Appalachia to markets in every direction."

"A U.S. Geological Survey program coordinator has sent an alert to colleagues around the world, warning that the Trump administration's proposed 2018 budget cuts, if approved, will undermine important data-gathering programs and cooperative studies in areas including forests, volcanoes, flooding, wildfires, extreme precipitation and climate change."

"While U.S. EPA waits on a legion of nominees to emerge from the Trump White House, Administrator Scott Pruitt has sought to fill the void by spreading political deputies across his agency."

"The Trump administration on Thursday announced its first offshore oil and gas lease sale, offering 76 million acres (30 million hectares) in the Gulf of Mexico and reduced royalty rates for shallow-water leases to encourage drilling at a time of low oil prices."

"PEQUANNOCK, N.J. — Time after time, as the river has risen and the water has crept up Roosevelt Street, Leni-anne Shuchter has fled the white clapboard home she bought more than four decades ago."

"The House Appropriations Committee approved a $37.6 billion annual spending bill for the Department of Energy and water infrastructure programs on Wednesday."

"The House defeated an amendment to a defense policy bill Thursday that would have blocked a Department of Defense study into the impacts of climate change on national security."

"The appointment of fisheries biologist Chris Oliver to lead NOAA Fisheries — the agency within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is charged with sustainable management of commercial fisheries worth more than $140 billion — represents a striking departure from the Trump administration’s scientific and environmental personnel and policy choices."