National (U.S.)

"Thousands of protesters opposed to a new oil pipeline from Canada to the United States circled the White House grounds on Sunday to press President Barack Obama to reject the project for environmental reasons.

Opponents to TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude produced from oil sands, have dogged the president for months, arguing that the carbon emissions produced in the process of extracting oil from the sands would exacerbate climate change.

"WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana -- An ant species common to the mainland United States that is known for its tropical smell has invaded Hawaii for the first time. A population of odorous house ants, Tapinoma sessile, has been found at an upland site on the island of Maui. Also called stink ant, and coconut ant, these ants got their names because they invade houses and smell like coconut when smashed."

"BP has agreed to pay a record $50 million fine to Texas for unlawful releases of air pollution during and after the deadly explosion at its Texas City refinery in 2005."

"Over the protests of its Democratic minority, a House subcommittee voted on Thursday to authorize the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee to subpoena documents from the White House related to the solar manufacturer Solyndra."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will take steps to remove 20 rodent control products from the marketplace because they contain toxic chemicals."

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released the outlines of its long-awaited probe into whether hydraulic fracturing -- the unconventional drilling technique that's led to a boom in domestic natural gas production -- is contaminating drinking-water supplies. Investigators will try to determine the impact of large-scale water withdrawals, aboveground spills of drilling fluids, and the fracturing process itself on water quality and quantity in states where tens of thousands of wells have been drilled in recent years."

"Democrats on Thursday blocked the first major bill in the Senate that would have delayed the Environmental Protection Agency's clean air rules."

"Earlier this year, top officials with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Department of Justice hauled a handful of senior State Department officials into a White House meeting. The gathering was the governmental equivalent of being called into the principal's office."

As GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Hermain Cain speak to the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Foundation Friday, hundreds of protesters plan to rally against the billionaire brothers who bankroll anti-environmental causes. The Koch-Cain connection is the nexus of an evolving political scandal over alleged improper management of campaign funds by Cain's smoking campaign manager, Mark Block.

"Scientists from the National Aquarium and the Johns Hopkins University say they've found low but potentially harmful levels of toxic oil contaminants in the Gulf of Mexico months after the Deepwater Horizon well blowout was capped."