National (U.S.)

"When federal crop insurance rules stymied Gail Fuller’s attempts to innovate, he knew something had to change."

"A lot of leading companies have committed to getting all of their energy from renewable sources. Google has dispensed with its aspirational phase and will actually achieve this milestone in 2017, the company revealed Tuesday."

"One coal-state senator has vowed to block a must-pass spending bill to keep the government open unless Congress approves a fix for a pension and health care fund for retired coal miners that faces default by the end of the month."

"The company building the Dakota Access Pipeline turned to a federal judge late on Monday for a permit to finish the job after the federal government ruled against the controversial pipeline."

"In a former Montana National Guard armory where more than 20 workers got sick, lead-laced dust bunnies the size of tangerines clogged the ventilation system. ... Hundreds of armories across the United States have been contaminated by dangerous amounts of lead dust, an 18-month investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive has found."

"U.S. EPA's contentious assertion that hydraulic fracturing hasn't caused 'widespread, systemic' problems with drinking water was added shortly after agency officials met with Obama White House officials to discuss 'messaging,' according to documents obtained by public radio reporters."

"Sea ice off Antarctica and in the Arctic is at record lows for this time of year after declining by twice the size of Alaska in a sign of rising global temperatures, climate scientists say."

"Outgoing EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy sounded a note of hope Monday in response to concerns that US environmental policy could face upheaval as control shifts from a Democratic to Republican presidency."

"Former Vice President Al Gore said Monday he had a 'productive' meeting with Donald Trump, calling it 'an extremely interesting conversation.'"

"Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves. Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those resources from what they call a suffocating federal bureaucracy that holds title to 56 million acres of tribal lands, two chairmen of the coalition told Reuters in exclusive interviews."