"Researchers and public health groups are suing the Trump administration to stop the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) policy blocking grant recipients from serving on advisory committees.

The litigants say the policy, unveiled in October by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, violates government ethics standards, the federal law governing advisory committees and laws that created the specific committees.

"The would-be developer of the widely opposed Pebble Mine copper and gold project in salmon-rich southwestern Alaska announced on Thursday it will file its first application for a permit."

"One of the longest and most consequential campaigns against science in modern history is becoming more extreme—and turning against its originators."

"The island is getting slapped with new taxes as it drowns in debt and tries to recover from a catastrophic hurricane."

"A federal court wants the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to report, with “precision and specificity,” how it plans to take a key step in implementing a 2015 smog pollution rule."

"The Trump administration's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency's Midwest office is a former Wisconsin state official who rolled back enforcement of anti-pollution laws, reduced funding for scientific research and scrubbed references to human-caused climate change from government websites."

"A federal judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, saying U.S. prosecutors willfully withheld critical and 'potentially exculpatory' evidence from the defense."

"President Trump on Wednesday was poised to sign the new tax bill, passed by Congress, which lifts a decades-old ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. ... Will exploration begin immediately? No. Both supporters and opponents say it could be years before the first lease sale, a precursor to any drilling."

"EAST CHICAGO — The U.S Environmental Protection Agency said Monday it issued two unilateral administrative orders to six companies to clean up soil and indoor dust at the USS Lead Superfund site."

"The Interior Department is working on possible Endangered Species Act changes, in a move that alarms environmentalists but could gratify Westerners and others unhappy with the current law."