"WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Monday named two people to his cabinet who will be charged with making good on his threat to use the powers of the executive branch to tackle climate change and energy policy if Congress does not act quickly."

"In storm-battered Virginia, the Republican candidate for governor still doubts the science."

"The effects of climate change on the food supply exacerbated the underlying tensions that have led to ongoing Middle East instability."

"Environmentalists have a hope. If they can block the Keystone XL pipeline, they can keep Canada from developing more of its dirty tar sands oil. It takes a lot of energy to get it out of the ground and turn it into gasoline, so it has a bigger greenhouse gas footprint than conventional oil. But the State Department report, which was released Friday, says Keystone won't have much of an impact on the development of that oil from Alberta."

"President Obama plans to announce three cabinet-level nominations Monday, including a new administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, who could be on the hotseat in the looming battle over global warming."

"The federal budget sequester took effect on March 1 with a number of likely environmental impacts. With $1.2 trillion in cuts over the next decade and $85 billion through the end of the fiscal year in September, layoffs and difficulties in enforcing the nation's environmental regulations are expected."

"Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project will take about 19 months longer to complete than originally expected and cost about $740 million more than originally thought, the company said Thursday."

"For Jesslyn Brown, sequestration could not come at a worse time of the year."

"Cleanup of radioactive waste at nuclear sites across the country — including one in Washington state where waste tanks may be leaking 1,000 gallons per year — would be delayed under automatic spending cuts set to take effect Friday."

"Girls living nearest to the Fukushima nuclear disaster zone have almost a 70 per cent increased risk of thyroid cancer, the World Health Organisation says."

"The acting head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned staff on Tuesday that it may place an unspecified number of jobs on temporary furlough if across-the-board federal budget cuts take effect at the end of this week."

"A California senator's decision to quit and jump to Chevron Corp. has sparked questions about whether he should have negotiated for that job while in a position to help the company politically."

"War has erupted between clean-air activists and state leaders, with the battleground being the data driving decisions about Utah’s air quality."

The U.S. food industry's response to the emerging obesity problem has often put its own profits ahead of public health.

"Native Americans on an oil-rich North Dakota reservation have been cheated out of more than $1 billion by schemes to buy drilling rights for lowball prices, a flurry of recent lawsuits assert. And, the suits claim, the federal government facilitated the alleged swindle by failing in its legal obligation to ensure the tribes got a fair deal."