Public

"A Senate subcommittee on investigations will hold a two-day hearing when Congress returns from recess on Wall Street banks' involvement with physical commodities like oil, natural gas and metals."

"A federal judge this week struck down a government prohibition on harming the threatened Utah prairie dog on private property, setting up a potential constitutional showdown on the reach of the Endangered Species Act."

"BUTTE — The number 5,410 has special meaning to Butte. It’s the critical water level – 5,410 feet above sea level – of the Berkeley Pit. The water in the pit must be kept below that elevation or risk contaminating Silver Bow Creek."

"Every fall and winter at sunset, the sky above Staten Island fills with majestic sandhill cranes alighting in the fields. The sight is more spectacular than usual this year, as the number of cranes wintering on the island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has doubled over the same time in 2013."

"Growing numbers of non-native crayfish are leading to a “devastating” explosion in the population of destructive American mink in Scotland, experts have warned."

"UTRECHT, the Netherlands — The solution to global warming, Olaf Schuiling says, lies beneath our feet. For Dr. Schuiling, a retired geochemist, climate salvation would come in the form of olivine, a green-tinted mineral found in abundance around the world. When exposed to the elements, it slowly takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."

"A panel of federal appeals court judges in New Orleans has refused to reconsider a ruling that BP and Andarko Petroleum Corp. must pay federal fines related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster."

"Haul out the oil rigs, fracking can begin in Illinois."

"Polar bears, whales, sharks, rays and gazelles were among 31 new species granted new protection status by a UN conservation body, following six days of intense talks by leading conservationists in Quito, Ecuador."

"Chinese officials and businesspeople used a state trip by President Xi Jinping and other high-level visits to smuggle ivory out of Tanzania, an environmental watchdog said Thursday, casting doubt over Beijing's efforts to end the illegal trade that has led to rampant elephant poaching throughout Africa."