"Bobby Magill knows all too well the challenge of getting a federal agency scientist on the phone for an interview on deadline.... 'I've been told by researchers there that they are not allowed to talk to press without prior authorization from D.C.,' he said."

"A new report by staff members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the safety of the nation’s 59 aging nuclear power plants, recommends that the commissioners significantly weaken or reduce safety inspections of the plants."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is getting rid of a policy that let pollution enforcement officials drop in at power and chemical plants for unannounced inspections."

"The Environmental Protection Agency rejected a petition by environmental and public health groups Thursday to ban a widely used pesticide that has been linked to neurological damage in children, even though a federal court said last year there was “no justification” for such a decision."

"A federal judge ruled that President Trump's pardon last year of Oregon ranchers Dwight Hammond and Steven Hammond likely isn't enough to justify former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's decision to reinstate the father and son's federal grazing permits."

"Interior Secretary David Bernhardt can expect lots of questions and pushback from congressional Democrats regarding his plan to relocate hundreds of senior positions within the Bureau of Land Management from its Washington, D.C., headquarters to various Western states, several members of both parties said yesterday on Capitol Hill."

"After a 19-year legal struggle, three former makers of lead paint have agreed to a $305 million settlement with California county and city governments to mitigate poisoning dangers still present in old housing."

"Fewer mock commando raids to test nuclear power plants’ defenses against terrorist attacks. Fewer, smaller government inspections for plant safety issues. Less notice to the public and to state governors when problems arise. They’re part of the money-saving rollbacks sought by the country’s nuclear industry under President Donald Trump and already approved or pending approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, largely with little input from the general public."

"Donald Trump’s leases of public lands and waters for oil and gas drilling could lead to the production of more climate-warming pollution than the entire European Union contributes in a year, according to a new report."

"BUTTE COUNTY, Idaho — The Big Lost River earns its name. Beginning in Idaho's tallest peaks, moving through irrigation dams and diversions, the river flows into the desert here and simply ends."