National (U.S.)

"An Energy Department report shows that while hydro can be finicky, it could be a bigger part of a carbon-reduced future."

"Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, announced Thursday that he was running for president as a Democrat, injecting a progressive voice into the contest and providing Hillary Rodham Clinton with her first official challenger for the party’s nomination." While unlikely to win the nomination, Sanders may pull the party leftward and inject environmental issues into the campaign.

"Conservationists on Tuesday called for new safeguards for gray whales and humpbacks after a record number of the federally protected mammals got entangled in fishing gear in coastal waters off California, Oregon and Washington."

"A Senate committee voted Tuesday to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using ‘secret science’ to back its regulations."

"Male minnows exposed to a widely used diabetes drug ubiquitous in wastewater effluent had feminized reproductive parts and were smaller and less fertile, according to a new study."

The White House Tuesday issued veto threats for two GOP-sponsored 2016 appropriations bills likely to be taken up by the House this week. One is the Energy and Water appropriation, which the White House says underfunds clean energy jobs programs and contains "ideological riders" such as one that would thwart efforts to protect clean water.