"After a string of scandals and amid rising bills, lawmakers in statehouses across the country, including in Maryland, have been pushing legislation to curb utilities spending ratepayer money on lobbying, expert testimony in rate cases, goodwill advertising, charitable giving, trade association membership and other costs."

"EPA’s internal watchdog is warning the agency is at risk of cyberattacks because of lax controls for its data."

"A federal agency is asserting legal rights to waters that feed the Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge, setting up a new battle with a mining company seeking permits to withdraw more than 1.4 million gallons daily for a project that critics say could irreparably harm one of America’s natural treasures."

"Plastic food packaging contains chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system — and that can leach into food, a new study has found."

"For generations, the water infrastructure beneath this southern Alabama city was corroding, cracking and failing — out of sight and seemingly out of mind — as the population shrank and poverty rose. Until it became impossible to ignore."

"The natural gas industry lost its initial bid to strip key climate-friendly measures out of national homebuilding guidelines, HuffPost has learned. The rules in the model building code will require new homes to come equipped with the circuitry to hook up induction stoves and electric car chargers, and will be used as a benchmark in almost every state."

"Many Panhandle residents whose dwellings and possessions burned in the region’s ongoing wildfires may never financially recover for one simple reason: Their homes weren’t insured."

"A photojournalist lost her case against North Dakota officials over her arrest while covering a Dakota Access Pipeline protest in 2017."

"With a presidential election looming, a wave of state-level legislation circulating, an international plastics treaty taking form and fights brewing over proposed facilities, 2024 is set to shape the regulatory future of chemical recycling in the U.S."

"The Supreme Court is once again weighing legal challenges with potential ramifications for the global fight against climate change." "Justices heard first arguments last week on legal challenges to laws passed by Florida and Texas that could make it harder for social media companies to curb misinformation."