"A messy Colorado River legal fight is much less likely in the near term now that the seven river basin states have reached consensus on how to conserve water amid a historic 23-year drought, legal observers say."

"The EPA’s internal watchdog is growing increasingly worried about hostile nations stealing sensitive information from groups that get agency funding, according to an official with the Inspector General’s office."

"More than 40 years have passed since EPA’s noise regulation program was silenced by a Reagan-era rollback. It’s time to start again, in the view of an advocacy group that accuses the agency of turning its back on a major peril."

"After more than two years of cost increases, Americans are finally feeling relief at the grocery store as food inflation cooled off for the first time in March and then again in April." "Corporate food companies have made record profits these last few years, and they’re hoping it stays that way."

"The outcome of a Chemours Co. lawsuit challenging a PFAS health advisory the EPA set for drinking water could affect cleanups, public health, and regulatory processes, attorneys said in recent interviews. The lawsuit focuses on a particular PFAS used to make a type of chemical, perfluoroalkoxy alkanes (PFA), important to the semiconductor industry."

"The Biden administration has paused finalizing an environmental impact statement for a controversial copper mine in Arizona in order to meet with opposing tribes and review the Forest Service’s consultation."

"Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware announced Monday that he will not seek reelection to a fifth term in the U.S. Senate. Carper’s announcement paves the way for a wide-open contest for the seat he has held since 2001 in heavily-blue Delaware."

"In the middle of the longest-running drought in more than a thousand years, Colorado energy companies diverted rising volumes of the state’s freshwater resources for fracking, a new analysis shows."

"The seven states that depend on the Colorado River announced on Monday that they have reached an agreement on cutting water use from the river over the next three years to prevent reservoirs from falling to critically low levels."