"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of South Dakota has sued the state over a series of new laws critics say violate the First Amendment rights of anti-pipeline activists."

"A Democratic lawmaker has asked the Interior Department's watchdog to look into reports that President Trump's nominee to lead the agency directly intervened to stop the release of a study linking the effects of two chemicals on endangered species."

"A federal judge has dealt a likely deathblow to a land-swap deal approved by the Interior Department last year that was meant to clear the way for a 12-mile single-lane gravel road through Alaska's Izembek National Wildlife Refuge."

"New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell filed a lawsuit Friday (March 29) against Entergy New Orleans, Chevron U.S.A. Inc, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company and eight other oil and gas companies, demanding they repair damage caused by exploration, production and pipeline construction activities to wetlands along the city’s eastern edges."

"President Trump signed a new order Friday granting permission for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, marking the White House’s latest effort to jump-start one of the most controversial infrastructure proposals in recent U.S. history."

"In a major legal blow to President Trump’s push to expand offshore oil and gas development, a federal judge ruled that an executive order by Mr. Trump that lifted an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic coast was unlawful."

"New York State lawmakers have agreed to impose a statewide ban on most types of single-use plastic bags from retail sales, changing a way of life for millions of New Yorkers as legislators seek to curb an unsightly and omnipresent source of litter."

"President Trump’s choice to lead the Interior Department, David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist who has been accused of conflicts of interest, faced questioning Thursday from senators who must decide whether he is the right person to oversee some 500 million acres of public land and vast coastal waters."

"The European parliament has voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans.

The vote by MEPs paves the way for a ban on single-use plastics to come into force by 2021 in all EU member states. The UK would have to follow the rules if it took part in and extended the Brexit transition period because of delays in finding a new arrangement with the EU.

"Eleven federal judges were at times puzzled, perturbed and bemused during high-stakes oral arguments yesterday involving the pesticide chlorpyrifos."