"Donald Trump isn’t getting the “big, beautiful” wall he wants at the border with Mexico anytime this year. And it’s highly unlikely he’ll get it in 2019 or 2020."

"The White House’s nominee to head a top US conservation agency lacks her predecessors’ experience, while her political connections raise potential conflicts of interest, a Guardian analysis has found. Aurelia Skipwith, who started her career at the agrochemical giant Monsanto, has been nominated to lead the interior department’s Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees endangered species and wildlife refuges."

"Japan is to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and resume commercial whaling next year, a report claimed on Thursday, in a move that drew condemnation from Australia, with other anti-whaling nations expected to follow suit."

"Nine Eastern states have committed to cut transportation emissions in their region by designing a new cap-and-trade system. It's the latest and perhaps most significant example of states working together to fill a void left by the federal government to address climate change."

"About a dozen retailers have pledged to stop selling paint removal products that can kill their customers, but formal restrictions promised by a federal agency have yet to materialize."

"A Trump administration proposal to roll back protections for some marshes and streams could affect more than 30,000 acres of wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, according to a new report."

"Michigan legislators were poised Tuesday to remove legal protections from many of the state’s wetlands and other inland waterways, which provide wildlife habitat and perform vital tasks such as preventing floods."

"Throw-away plastic items such as straws and polystyrene cups will be banned in the European Union by 2021, EU officials agreed on Wednesday, as they passed measures to cut plastic use in a bid to reduce marine litter."

"City lawmakers in the District of Columbia voted unanimously Tuesday to pass legislation mandating 100 percent renewable electricity in the capital by 2032."

"EPA offered a steady defense today [Tuesday] of Obama-era ozone standards the agency previously considered scrapping.

During long-awaited oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, government lawyers defended the agency's 2015 thresholds for the air pollutant as "forward progress" aimed at protecting vulnerable people.

"The revised ozone standards here represent notable forward progress in protecting the health of all Americans across this country," Justice Department attorney Justin Heminger told a three-judge panel this morning."