"Astronauts on the International Space Station will not be abandoned by NASA's ground crews. National Science Foundation-supported researchers working on the planet's frozen poles won't be cut off from communications, either. Flood-stricken Colorado will continue to receive aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and if a hurricane approaches U.S. shores, the National Weather Service will be there to tell us about it. But as Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress continue to squabble over which party is to blame for the first government shutdown since 1995, the impact is already being felt in all federal agencies involved with climate- and climate change-related research and policy."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will take one of the biggest hits of any federal agency if the government shuts down this week, operating with under 7 percent of its employees, according to guidance issued by the agency."

"Desiccated corn and sun-scorched soybeans have been in high supply lately -- and we're paying through the nose for them. The federal government forked out a record-breaking $17.3 billion last year to compensate farmers for weather-related crop losses—more than four times the annual average over the last decade."

TransCanada and Department of Homeland Security keep close eye on activists, FOIA documents reveal."

"WASHINGTON -- Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe failed for more than a year to discipline two supervisors who retaliated against whistle-blowers at an Oklahoma field office, the Interior Department's inspector general says in a harshly worded letter that accuses Ashe of damaging the agency's credibility and integrity."

"With Arctic sea ice thinning and shrinking rapidly in recent years, the U.S. military and scientific agencies are scrambling to cope with the looming prospect of a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean."

"The environment may not come to mind when most people think about former President Bill Clinton, but on Wednesday he defended his legacy as the Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., was renamed in his honor."

"WASHINGTON, DC -- The latest environmental assessment of the controversial TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is flawed because the contractor hired by the U.S. State Department to write the review 'lied' on its conflict of interest disclosure form about its past work for TransCanada, finds research released Wednesday by two environmental groups."

"Josh Fox galvanized the U.S. anti-fracking movement with his incendiary 2010 documentary 'Gasland.' Now he’s back with a sequel — and this time, he’s targeting an audience of just one."

"This week could be pivotal not only for the future of the farm bill, but also the direction for the rest of this Congress."http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=policy&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc3e43976e013fbbecd2200e83&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

"Hydrologist David Evetts drove north from his office in Boise, Idaho, to the former prospecting town of Elk City on May 2. Fifty miles down a dead-end mountain road, he stopped at a gray metal box on a bridge over the South Fork Clearwater River. Reaching inside, he turned off the satellite feed that once relayed the river's water-level measurements from stream gauge number 13337500 every 15 minutes."

"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- As the West battles one catastrophic wildfire after another, the federal government is spending less and less on its main program for preventing blazes in the first place."

Part 1: "Whose Interests Is Maine’s DEP Commissioner Serving?"

"For two years, public servant Patricia Aho has overseen Maine's environmental protection. But whom does she really serve? A seven-month investigation by the Telegram points to her former corporate clients. ... Overseen by a former chemical industry lobbyist, Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection resists regulations on substances that may be harmful to children and fetuses."

"The White House has blocked several Department of Energy regulations that would require appliances, lighting and buildings to use less energy and create less global-warming pollution, as part of a broader slowdown of new antipollution rules issued by the Obama administration."

"Federal regulators [Wednesday] released an order granting Exxon Mobil Corp. its second extension to finish investigating the cause of a pipeline rupture that spilled an estimated 5,000 barrels of Canadian oil sands crude in the Arkansas suburb of Mayflower 10 weeks ago."