"The Obama administration will approve significant oil and gas exploration off America's coasts, including a possible sale two years from now of leases off Virginia's coast, administration officials said Wednesday."

"The embattled head of the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change has been cleared of allegations of financial irregularity by an independently conducted review."

"The White House Conference on America's Great Outdoors will be held April 16. It will focus on how local leadership, not the federal government, can encourage conservation."

"In Maryland, messing with Big Chicken can bring big trouble. The latest case study is playing out in Annapolis, where the state Senate wants to impose greater scrutiny on the University of Maryland's environmental law clinic. The reason? Apparently, it's the law clinic's pro bono work for an environmental group that is suing an Eastern Shore chicken farmer and the poultry giant Perdue Farms."

"Why some right-leaning evangelical Christians have become true believers in climate change. God and green go together, these conservatives say."

"Lord Oxburgh, former non-executive chairman of Shell, will head up a team of leading scientists looking at claims fossil fuels cause global temperatures to rise."

"The leader of the [California's] largest water pollution regulator is married to a lobbyist for agencies it regulates, a potential conflict of interest she did not disclose publicly until an ethics complaint was brought against her."

"Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White earned more than $2.6 million serving on the board of a gas well servicing company that now is part of a congressional investigation into possible groundwater contamination."

"A group of 14 Midwestern electric utilities continued its push today for a different direction on global warming legislation, asking the Senate's lead climate negotiators to get a full economic study on their bill for businesses and consumers in coal-dependent states."