National (U.S.)

"The White House has proposed to spend $200 billion more in infrastructure but remains unsettled on how to pay for the investment, despite President Trump’s hints of an increase in the federal gas tax, his transportation chief said Tuesday."

"Congress’s watchdog agency is looking into the role that political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) played in picking new scientists and other agency advisory committee members."

"Two senior Senate Democrats asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday to provide details about how a business associate of the head of his security detail got a security contract with the agency."

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly begun allowing more trophy hunting of African elephants, despite President Donald Trump’s pledge last year to uphold a ban on importing parts of animals killed by big-game hunters."

"Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sued agricultural giant Monsanto on Monday, alleging the company concealed dangers posed by a toxic chemical compound it manufactured for nearly a half century."

"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke gave 10 of his acting directors more permanence in January, signing an order giving them most of the authority of a Senate-confirmed director."

"The Bureau of Land Management on Monday removed about 17,300 acres of land in central Montana from an upcoming oil and natural gas lease auction, just a week before the scheduled sale."

"Major utilities are finding evidence of groundwater contamination at coal-burning power plants across the U.S. where landfills and man-made ponds have been used for decades as dumping grounds for coal ash."

"John Konkus, a top political aide to U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, received approval from ethics officials to work outside the agency as a media consultant."