"Activist group Sea Shepherd on Tuesday pulled the plug on its annual campaign to disrupt Japanese whaling, saying it can no longer match the country's military and economic power."
"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved construction of a high-pressure pipeline that will carry natural gas from the shale fields of Appalachia, across northern Ohio and into Michigan and Canada, a decision likely to be a death blow for project opponents concerned about safety and property rights."
"Devastation caused by Tropical Storm Harvey will only exacerbate congressional debate over flood insurance reform, likely forcing lawmakers to pass a short-term extension before the federal program expires at the end of September."
"President Trump pledged to rebuild Houston and Texas bigger and better than ever. However, earlier this month, he rescinded an Obama executive order that required flood-damaged property to be rebuilt higher and stronger. Trump also has proposed eliminating federal flood mapping and the federal government's top disaster agency."
"Even as the floodwaters continue to rise in East Texas, it's clear that Hurricane Harvey will force a new reckoning over major energy and climate policy questions."
"Oil and gas producers might have a harder time breaking even in shale plays containing federally controlled land, but that may have little to do with the regulatory and permitting burdens associated with extracting hydrocarbons from public acreage, energy researchers say."
"Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms — a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast. Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey’s path of destruction have flood insurance."
"A former banker who is now U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's point man for Superfund has been fined $125,000 by federal banking regulators and barred from banking activity."
"The U.S. EPA inspector general is planning to audit Administrator Scott Pruitt's travel back home to Oklahoma."
"Hurricane Harvey is strengthening as it approaches the Texas coast, and the massive storm is underscoring another big disturbance on the way: the battle over President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to the National Weather Service."
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