"A trio of utility giants building a natural gas pipeline that would cut across the Appalachian Trail has spent more than $109 million lobbying federal lawmakers and officials since the $7.8 billion project was unveiled five years ago, according to a MapLight analysis."

"William Perry Pendley, the sagebrush rebel-turned acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, has identified nearly five dozen organizations, companies and individuals that will trigger his recusal from decisionmaking, according to his ethics filing."

"Attorneys general in 17 states on Wednesday made good on a promise to sue the Trump administration over rule changes that substantially weakened how Endangered Species Act protections are considered and enforced."

"California sued the Trump administration today over EPA's refusal to extend Clean Water Act protections to salt ponds in San Francisco Bay."

"Senate appropriators approved by voice vote this morning a $35.8 billion fiscal 2020 spending bill for EPA, the Interior Department and related agencies, with bipartisan consensus and without any new 'poison pill riders.' But the bill does seek to limit Interior's ability to relocate hundreds of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) jobs out of Washington, D.C."

"Mitch McConnell staked his last Senate campaign, five years ago, in large part on his support for the coal industry and coal miners. But McConnell's unwillingness to shore up the fund that supports miners with black lung disease or their pension fund, even after dozens of his constituents traveled 10 hours by bus this summer to his Washington office, has allowed a well-funded opponent to seize on what should be McConnell's strength: coal."

"A federal judge ordered a preliminary injunction Monday halting the sale of nearly 1,200 acres of old-growth trees in the Tongass National Forest."

"The Senate voted to confirm a top lawyer for the Department of the Interior who was accused of lying to Congress. Daniel Jorjani, already the de facto top lawyer for the department, was confirmed with a 51-43 vote. He is the subject of an ongoing review by the Interior Department’s Office of the Inspector General."

"Protesters were characterized as a threat to national security in what one calls an attempt to criminalize their actions".

"The political war between California and the Trump administration escalated Monday with a letter from Andrew Wheeler, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, warning that Washington would withhold federal highway funds from the state if it did not rapidly address a decades-long backlog of state-level pollution control plans."