"The CEO of America’s largest water utility warned that a federal push to streamline permits for infrastructure projects could stymie stronger water quality standards."

"As the head of the federal agency controlling billions of acres of public lands and waters, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has spent the past year making bold policy proclamations to advance President Trump’s energy agenda .... But legal experts say many of the moves were made without fully considering the laws and procedures governing changes like these, making them vulnerable to legal challenges that could delay or block them."

"The Trump administration has formally suspended a major Obama-era clean water regulation ahead of plans to issue its own version of the rule later this year."

"The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned on Wednesday, in the middle of the nation’s worst flu epidemic in nearly a decade, because of her troubling financial investments in tobacco and health care companies that posed potential conflicts of interest."

"Animal rights activists are suing to block what they say is an unprecedented federal plan to capture thousands of wild horses over 10 years in Nevada without the legally required environmental reviews intended to protect the mustangs and U.S. rangeland."

"Hong Kong boasts glittering skyscrapers, seamless transportation and billion dollar infrastructure projects, but it is struggling with a much more mundane problem: disposing of its trash."

"Alaska Governor Bill Walker said on Tuesday he has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to pare back a Trump administration plan for oil and gas leasing off the state’s coast."

"Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt says he supports a unified national vehicle fuel standard, stoking state fears that the agency may do away with waivers allowing states to implement stronger standards."

"A federal judge refused Tuesday to order a temporary halt to construction of a crude oil pipeline through a river swamp in south Louisiana, a setback for environmental groups challenging the project."

"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt insisted his job was not to 'put up fences' to prohibit industries from exploiting natural resources, and he refused to be pinned down on the agency's future direction on clean air and climate change at a Senate hearing on Tuesday."