National (U.S.)

"The House on Tuesday approved a bipartisan bill that would update regulation of harmful chemicals for the first time in nearly 40 years."

"The network of corporate-funded right wing think tanks in America is massive. The money that flows to these organizations is even more massive than the networks themselves, and it flows in almost total secrecy thanks to Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund."

"Strife within the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has burst into the open again with one board member seizing control and ordering immediate suspension of the agency’s entire executive staff."

"In the absence of global action to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the United States by the end of the century may face up to $180 billion in economic losses because of drought and water shortages, according to a report released Monday by the White House and Environmental Protection Agency."

"The southern pine beetle, which for generations has attacked forests throughout the southeastern United States, is methodically making its way into the Northeast, destroying thousands of trees in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere."

"Firefighters were working on Friday to contain several massive wildfires raging from Alaska to drought-hit California that have forced hundreds of people to evacuate from their homes and damaged dozens of structures."

"Don Blankenship always knew exactly what he wanted during the years he ran Massey Energy, once the sixth-largest coal company in the United States. He had specific and emphatic ideas about how to operate mines, how to treat employees and how to deal with regulators. When he issued instructions, he wanted them followed to the letter, and this wasn’t just true about his business."

"U.S. EPA [Friday] unveiled proposed regulations that would tighten fuel efficiency standards to significantly cut carbon emissions from tractor-trailer rigs and other heavy- and medium-duty vehicles by 2027."

"The Senate Appropriations Committee [Thursday] morning approved the $30 billion fiscal 2016 spending bill for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA on a 16-14 party-line vote, as Democratic frustration with spending cuts and multiple policy riders boiled over."

"Scientists are concerned that officials waited too long to order a ban on U.S. Pacific sardine fishing that goes into effect July 1. The dire state of the sardine population is a cautionary tale about overharvesting these and other forage fish that are a critical part of the marine food web."