National (U.S.)

"U.S. EPA is reducing its efforts to address water pollution from livestock operations."

The fracking industry loves to argue that there's no proof its gas-extraction methods cause pollution. One reason they succeed because they settle lawsuits claiming pollution damages by obligating the plaintiffs to remain silent.

"U.S. domestic crude-oil production exceeded imports last week for the first time in 16 years, a government report showed [Wednesday]."

"American wheat farmers and a food safety advocacy group filed a lawsuit Thursday against biotech seed developer Monsanto Co, accusing the company of failing to protect the U.S. wheat market from contamination by its unauthorized wheat."

"Millions of dollars in farm subsidies for irrigation equipment aimed at water conservation have led to more water use, not less, threatening vulnerable aquifers and streams."

"Washington -- U.S. regulators are directing 31 nuclear reactors similar in design to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, where an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown two years ago, to take additional steps to help contain radiation and other damage from any accident that is not quickly halted."

"ANDREWS, Texas -- Republican mega-donor Harold Simmons' remote hazardous waste dump in West Texas began accepting low-level radioactive material Thursday from a federal lab in New Mexico — the latest step in Simmons' vision of a site that accepts all types of waste."

"U.S. regulators are giving the oil industry and other stakeholders more time to weigh in on a controversial proposal to stiffen standards for wells drilled on federal lands, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell pledged Thursday."

"Migration used to be a good strategy for animals to find the best food, but a recent study appears to show that climate change and human interference favor animals that stay put."

"The Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce targets for U.S. ethanol use in 2013 and 2014 this summer, an EPA official told lawmakers on Wednesday, even as critics of the program warned of a brewing fuel crisis."