Water & Oceans

"In a rebuke to the Trump administration, the Supreme Court [Monday] decided to continue hearing litigation over the Obama administration's Clean Water Rule."

"Japan's whaling fleet returned on Friday from its months-long Antarctic hunt in the name of scientific research with a take of more than 300 minke whales, a hunt that prompted complaints from Australia."

"General Electric and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are battling over the last stretch of the PCB clean-up of the Housatonic River in Massachusetts from Pittsfield through Great Barrington."

"Manatees were taken off the U.S. Interior Department's list of endangered species on Thursday and reclassified as threatened, a move condemned by conservationists who say it weakens protections for the giant marine mammal, also known as a sea cow."

"Rain-fed wildflowers have been sprouting from California's desert sands after lying dormant for years — producing a spectacular display that has drawn record crowds and traffic jams to tiny towns like Borrego Springs."

"The safety of drinking water is causing growing concern in Houston's neighborhoods after a series of Channel 2 investigations."

"Michigan and the city of Flint agreed Monday to replace thousands of home water lines under a sweeping deal to settle a lawsuit by residents over lead-contaminated water in the struggling community."

"Millions of gallons of raw sewage and untreated runoff have poured into the United States' second-largest estuary since a massive sewage treatment plant experienced equipment failures that forced it to stop fully treating Seattle's waste."

"On a day of cozy coastal grays — soft cloud cover, a silver foil-wrap sea — a dozen gray fur balls brought visitors the most comfort. Bobbing 20 feet from a harbor walkway, the sea otters were part of a record number in California. They once were believed to be as extinct as the dodo bird or the Tyrannosaurus rex."