"In a desert far from any city, farmers use groundwater to grow lush green hay. The hay fattens livestock all over the world. But there's a big problem: The water is drying up."

"Jim Beam was fined $600,000 earlier this month after a July warehouse fire sent a nearly 23-mile plume of alcohol into the Kentucky and Ohio rivers, killing fish."

"Officials in Mississippi are trying to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission to consult with them before opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway in Louisiana again and flooding the region with polluted river water."

"Disaster appeared imminent at the nation's tallest dam on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017....Catastrophe was averted. But the event awakened the public to the risks posed by the country's aging dam infrastructure."

"The Interior Department is moving to formally define "habitat" in the Endangered Species Act, part of an anticipated second wave of changes to the bedrock conservation law under the Trump administration."

"The U.S. Forest Service violated environmental laws by failing to adequately consider potential harm to Yellowstone cutthroat trout in a Canadian mining company’s plans to expand its search for gold in eastern Idaho, a judge has ruled."

"Federal judges today [Friday] sided with environmental groups pressing EPA to set temperature limits in the Pacific Northwest's Columbia and Snake rivers to help endangered salmon and steelhead."

"A coalition of states is heading to court to challenge the Trump administration’s repeal of the Obama-era Clean Water Rule, a landmark regulation aimed at clarifying federal water protections."

"The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, among the rarest and most endangered of the seven species of sea turtles, was found motionless shortly after high tide on Cape Cod’s Skaket Beach. It was in dire straits."

"The people who guard the gulls that nest on Mono Lake’s islets in the eastern Sierra Nevada have used dynamite, electric fences and lawsuits to protect the birds from wily coyotes and diversions of water to Los Angeles."