Natural Resources

"After more than a decade of effort by California lawmakers, the Obama administration gave final approval Thursday to a giant expansion of two marine sanctuaries off the coast north of San Francisco that will protect one of the planet’s most prolific ocean ecosystems."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a bill lauded by the struggling coal industry and called dangerous by the miners’ union."

"Last week, with little fanfare, PNC Financial, the nation’s seventh-largest bank, disclosed a significant strategic shift. The bank said it would no longer finance coal-mining companies that pursue mountaintop removal of coal in Appalachia, an environmentally devastating practice that has long drawn opposition."

"By failing six years ago to implement higher entrance fees across all 131 parks that charge them, the National Park Service left tens of millions of dollars on the table in potential revenues, a report from the Interior Department's Inspector General asserts."

"With the recent huge growth in motorized winter sports, the Forest Service has been behind the curve in managing public lands, but last month, the agency released its final policy for managing snowmobile and other 'over-snow' vehicle use."

"The canal would allow passage for the largest ships on the water, but cut through wetlands, forests and the region's largest freshwater lake — and environmentalists worry about the consequences."