"Carl Portman remembers watching, heartbroken, from Anchorage in 2005 as a Senate effort to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge lost by two votes. Now, 12 years later, another effort to open up the reserve to oil and gas drilling is working its way through Congress. And this time, the political winds have shifted."

"Large tracts of America’s east coast heritage are at risk from being wiped out by sea level rise, with the rising oceans set to threaten more than 13,000 archaeological and historic sites, according to new research."

"[Wednesday] morning, the Environment and Public Works Committee moved through the nominations of Kathleen Hartnett White to be chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Andrew Wheeler to be deputy U.S. EPA administrator. Both passed on party-line votes of 11-10."

"The Trump administration is holding talks on providing nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia — a move that critics say could upend decades of U.S. policy and lead to an arms race in the Middle East."

"Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is running for U.S. Senate as a Republican. Blankenship served one year in federal prison for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards in the wake of an explosion that killed 29 miners in April 2010."

"The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled a recovery plan for the endangered Mexican wolf, but environmentalists immediately assailed the program as so deficient it would lead to the demise of one of North America’s most imperiled mammals."

"Senate Republicans may have hit a procedural snag in their bid to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. An arcane budget rule may hinder GOP efforts to include drilling in the tax overhaul legislation."

"The National Mall will soon have something new: rats on birth control."

"President Trump will travel to Utah on Monday to lay out his plans to cut the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, according to individuals briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it had not been formally announced."

"Kathleen Hartnett White's nomination for the top White House environment post is set for a Senate committee vote on Wednesday."