"President Obama today announced three new national monuments honoring key events in the civil rights movement and expanded both the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon and the California Coastal National Monument.

The White House said the president was using his authority to mark the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday by creating two new sites in Alabama — the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and the Freedom Riders National Monument — and one in South Carolina — the Reconstruction Era National Monument.

"Rex Tillerson told the Senate panel considering his nomination for secretary of state that he supported the United States remaining in the Paris climate agreement and that he has made his views known to Donald Trump."

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday accused Fiat Chrysler of installing secret software that allowed more than 100,000 of its diesel vehicles to emit pollutants above legal levels."

"In farm country, the cost of nitrate pollution often falls on towns." "Pretty Prairie, home to 650 people on the southern Kansas plains, is a one-well town. And that well is giving the town fits."

"Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has won a showdown with Exxon Mobil, from which she demanded company documents on climate change dating back 40 years, according to a Wednesday court ruling."

"Nearly two dozen environmental, health, consumer and water utility groups are uniting to help communities replace old lead pipes that are the primary culprit behind the lead contamination of millions of Americans' drinking water."

"Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said he believes 'the risk of climate change does exist, and the consequences could be serious enough that action should be taken.' But while the Obama administration and other world leaders have aggressively pursued efforts to slash carbon dioxide emissions and stave off global warming, the former ExxonMobil chief executive expressed little such urgency when testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill Wednesday."

"Days ahead of the Trump Administration taking power, the US Department of Energy released long-demanded rules on Wednesday to protect its scientists from political harassment."

"With just days until President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Department of the Interior finalized a report Wednesday calling for major changes to the federal coal program by which the U.S. manages the leasing of land to companies for exploration and production across 570 million publicly owned acres."

"U.S. officials on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the final two oil and gas leases in a wilderness area bordering Glacier National Park that's sacred to the Blackfoot tribes of Montana and Canada."