National (U.S.)

"The U.S. Minerals Management Service, which grants offshore drilling permits, set aside safety regulations for oil exploration in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, environmental groups alleged in a lawsuit on Tuesday."

"The Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia was plagued by persistent problems with airflow in the weeks and months before a massive and deadly explosion in April, an NPR News investigation has found. NPR has also learned that the FBI is focused both on the airflow problems and on possible tampering with safety monitors as part of its criminal probe."

"An obscure family of chemicals -- important to the metalworking industry but virtually unknown to the public -- is suddenly the subject of scrutiny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

"[Peter] Gleick, a freshwater expert, is the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water. In the book, he examines how drinking water was commodified and branded over the past 30 years, turning what was once a free natural resource into a multibillion-dollar global industry — while raising questions about the taste and safety of drinking tap water."

"New satellite images show oil starting to enter the Gulf Loop current, which would pull it through the Florida Keys, into the Gulf Stream and up to Palm Beach County, according to a scientist tracking the oil spewing into the Gulf."

"Fifteen organizations, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Friends Committee on National Legislation, which is a Quaker lobbying group, have formed the Climate Reality Check coalition to oppose the legislation, released last week by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.)."

"President Obama will establish an independent commission to investigate the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an administration official said Monday, as the federal government came under increasing scrutiny for regulatory failures that might have contributed to the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig."

"Chrys Oynes, the associate director of Offshore Energy and Minerals Management at the Minerals Management Service will retire May 31, reports The Washington Post."

"The University of Virginia has hired a law firm to explore its options in responding to a demand by state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that UVa turn over documents and correspondence related to a former climatology researcher."