"This week, while attention was focussed on the Senate’s health-care bill, the Trump Administration continued to quietly do the one thing it does well: wreak havoc on the environment."

"Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, plans to convene a team of researchers to test the scientific premise of human-caused climate change, he told coal industry executives on Thursday."

"In the four months since he took office as the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt has moved to undo, delay or otherwise block more than 30 environmental rules, a regulatory rollback larger in scope than any other over so short a time in the agency’s 47-year history, according to experts in environmental law."

"A year ago, the U.S. House tried to block the military from preparing for climate change. Now, several GOP members have voted to support studying the security risks."

"In forceful remarks before Germany’s Parliament on Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to defend the ­international climate agreement spurned by the Trump administration, anticipating a difficult meeting of the leaders of the world’s major economies next week in Hamburg."

"Mainstream experts in energy policy and finance reacted skeptically to the White House's carefully orchestrated energy policy hootenanny this week, as President Donald Trump and his Cabinet declared what he called 'a golden age of American energy dominance.'"

"An Office of Inspector General report on the National Park Service (NPS) found that the agency did not change records on crowd sizes at the inauguration nor did its public affairs officials leak information to the press."

"Southern Co. said it will stop all work on the carbon-capture portion of its $7.5 billion power plant in Kemper County, Miss., indefinitely suspending a project that coal backers in Washington had hoped would boost prospects for clean coal."

"Desert ranchers in New Mexico are hoping the new GOP administration in Washington will dramatically shrink a recently designated national monument in the south of the state where outlaw Billy the Kid and Apache leader Geronimo once sought refuge."

"With wildfire season raging in western states, Congress is embroiled in a battle over how best to fight the fires. Many Republicans want to help prevent and fight wildfires by giving the agencies that manage the federal forests more money and greater ability to thin out the forests. Most Democrats, as well as environmental groups, say the bill would lead to more logging without first considering potential damage to the forests."