"The Alaska state agency that submitted most of the bids in a lightly attended auction for drilling rights in the Arctic Nationa"l Wildlife Refuge expects to have those leases in hand by next week, the organization’s executive director said on Wednesday."

"A top federal banking regulator today finalized new standards against pledges by major banks to halt investment in the fossil fuel industry."

"Toyota Motor is set to pay a $180 million fine for longstanding violations of the Clean Air Act, the U.S. attorney’s Office in Manhattan announced on Thursday, the largest civil penalty ever levied for a breach of federal emissions-reporting requirements."

"President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan to end “a crisis of deep human suffering” by speeding up vaccines and pumping out financial help to those struggling with the pandemic’s prolonged economic fallout."

"Conservation groups filed suit Wednesday against the federal government, saying it has taken too long to act on proposals to expand protections for critically endangered right whales."

"With ticks spreading out across the country, the CDC says there may be nearly half a million cases of Lyme every year".

"West Virginia's Joe Manchin once shot a hole in a climate bill in a campaign ad. People who know him say his views have since evolved."

"Wildfire smoke now accounts for up to half of all fine-particle pollution in the Western U.S., according to a new study that blames climate change for worsening air quality and health risks in both urban and rural communities in recent years."

"A broad coalition of organizations is urging Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to mandate a national moratorium on water and other utility shutoffs on day one in the White House, in order to curtail the spread of Covid-19 and ease the financial burden on struggling Americans."

"Talk of global warming was out, and relations among the eight countries that make up the council, once a highly collaborative group and a steady force for climate action, became dysfunctional."