"WASHINGTON — The federal government on Thursday designated the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species, a long-anticipated announcement that politicians warned could set off a possible battle over states’ rights."

"Less than a week after an oil spill in the Houston Ship Channel, environmentalists say there has been limited damage to nearby bird sanctuaries, but it is too soon to know whether there will be long-term problems to wildlife."

"An Endangered Species Act listing for the lesser prairie chicken is either a death knell for the U.S. oil boom or business as usual for energy developers and landowners in the southern Great Plains. It depends on whom you ask."

"WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is refusing to turn over documents related to enforcement of environmental laws at wind farms where dozens of eagles and other protected birds have been killed, House Republicans charged Wednesday."

"Several weeks after a Danish zoo euthanized an 18-month-old giraffe named Marius and fed it to lions in front of visitors, the same wildlife park has killed four more of its animals."

"U.S. authorities expected a 'tapered' re-opening of the Houston Ship Channel, but gave no timeline on Monday of when vessels could start moving again after an oil barge spill shut the waterway for a third day, forcing the nation's second-largest refinery to curb production."

"On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine water. At the time, it was the single biggest spill in U.S. history. In a series of stories, NPR is examining the lasting social and economic impacts of the disaster, as well as the policy, regulation and scientific research that came out of it."

"Sick and confused sea lions convulsing with seizures are being found in increasing numbers along the California coast, suffering from what Stanford University scientists say is a form of epilepsy similar to the kind that attacks humans."

"The Japanese whaling fleet has left the waters of the Antarctic Treaty Zone, ending whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for this season, according to data from the whale defense organization Sea Shepherd Australia."

"Insects living in wetland grasses along Louisiana's coast oiled in the aftermath of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster are still dying, the result of exposure to remaining oil in the marsh almost four years later, Louisiana State University entomologist Linda Hooper-Bui said Wednesday."