"SPOKANE, Wash. — Numerous speakers told a state Senate committee Tuesday that they oppose the rapid increase in railcars carrying crude oil from the Bakken fields of North Dakota and Montana through the state."

"The Environmental Protection Agency has announced strict new carbon emissions regulations. Washington state has the largest reduction target — about 72 percent overall."

"Spokane is taking what’s described as another big step toward improving water quality."

"Newly licensed marijuana growers in Washington state may find themselves without a key source of water just as spring planting gets under way."

"The Oregon Department of Transportation, the state’s rail safety overseer, says it will no longer ask railroads for reports detailing where crude oil moves through the state after The Oregonian successfully sought to have them made public."

"An agreement that settles decades of conflict over water in the Upper Klamath River Basin was signed today by officials from the federal government, the states of Oregon and California, tribal authorities and water users."

"The city of Portland, Ore., is flushing 38 million gallons of drinking water down the drain because a 19-year-old man urinated in an open reservoir early Wednesday morning, city water officials said, prompting criticism from some who called the move 'wasteful.'"