"One year after the worst structural failures at a major U.S. dam in a generation, federal regulators who oversee California's half-century-old, towering Oroville Dam say they are looking hard at how they overlooked its built-in weaknesses for decades."

"When oil companies drill offshore, they still need to build infrastructure onshore, things like pipelines and helicopter pads. And it's cities who control the zoning and building permits that allow that, not the federal government." That gives state and local governments a way to say no."

"Oakland Unified [school district] estimates it will cost $38 million to address high lead levels in water taps at its schools."

"House Democrats on Thursday called for $1 trillion in federal dollars for an infrastructure overhaul, a proposal that comes just days ahead of the announcement of President Trump’s long-awaited infrastructure proposal."

"Frank Lyko, a biologist at the German Cancer Research Center, studies the six-inch-long marbled crayfish. Finding specimens is easy: Dr. Lyko can buy the crayfish at pet stores in Germany, or he can head with colleagues to a nearby lake."

"Governments are slowly advancing efforts to reduce climate and health impacts of soot."

"Governments are poised this week to begin discussing rules to curb black-carbon pollution from ships, after nearly seven years of preparation. The sooty emissions, which are produced by diesel engines, warm the climate and harm human health.

"State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, in a letter sent Monday to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, called the proposed oil and gas lease sales off Washington “unlawful, unsafe and harmful to the economy.”"

"Eleven Democratic state attorneys general on Tuesday sued President Donald Trump’s administration over its decision to delay implementation of an Obama-era rule that would have expanded the number of wetlands and small waterways protected by the Clean Water Act."

"Anchored in flood-prone areas in every American state are more than 2,500 sites that handle toxic chemicals, a New York Times analysis of federal floodplain and industrial data shows. About 1,400 are located in areas at highest risk of flooding."