National (U.S.)

"Ford Motor Company said on Thursday that it was investigating how it tested the emissions and fuel efficiency of its vehicles after employees reported possible flaws with the company’s computer models."

"A new super PAC launching on Thursday will back Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D) potential run for president."

"Federal grazing fees for 2019 have been lowered, according to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Fees for 2019 were set at $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM), down from $1.41. The new AUM fee is for both BLM and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands."

"President Trump derided the Green New Deal as a “high school term paper that got a low mark.” ... Yet, despite that disdain, the goals of the far-reaching plan to tackle climate change and economic inequality are within the realm of technological possibility."

"The Trump administration has broken off talks with the California Air Resources Board over vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and is on track to roll back standards set by President Barack Obama, the White House said in a statement Thursday."

"Carrizo cane is the border wall no one wants. A pernicious plant on the banks of the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border, carrizo cane (Arundo donax) grows as much as 30 feet tall and so thick that people entering the country illegally can easily hide in it. Border patrol officers can’t see into it. Infrared signals can’t penetrate it."

"Conservation groups fighting the Trump administration’s bid to open the Atlantic Ocean to offshore drilling asked a federal court Wednesday to block companies from conducting seismic tests to determine the location of oil and gas deposits."

"Residents of cities like Chester, outside Philadelphia, fear a rise in pollution from incinerators after China’s recycling ban".

"Democrats are facing a defining Senate vote this week on the Green New Deal climate change plan — which Republicans hope will bolster their argument that the party is too far left for the country."

"The nation’s biggest coal-burning power companies paid a top lobbying firm millions of dollars to fight a wide range of Obama-era environmental rules, documents obtained by POLITICO reveal — shortly before one of the firm’s partners became President Donald Trump’s top air pollution regulator."