"A state appeals court has struck down a plastic bag ban in Laredo in a high-profile fight over local control that could ultimately impact similar laws in other Texas cities."

"Think of Mesa Verde National Park and you probably imagine iconic cliff dwellings sketched in sandstone. Those homes were built by the Ancestral Pueblo before they left the area in the late 13th Century. Climate change may be putting some of those dwellings in jeopardy."

"A puzzling concentration of the greenhouse gas methane over the Southwestern United States appears to come mostly from leaks in natural gas production, scientists said Monday."

"Negotiators for two Native American tribes and the state of Oklahoma said Wednesday they have reached a settlement that would end a modern-day water rights and tribal sovereignty dispute that has its roots in the 19th century."

"A Texas baby born with Zika-related birth defects has died, officials said Tuesday, the first death related to the virus in the state."

"The Ogallala aquifer turned the region into America's breadbasket. Now it, and a way of life, are being drained away."

"A tiny South Texas town is continuing to fight plans for an oil and gas waste site half its size, even after state regulators gave developers the go-ahead to build it."

"In Texas, there were more than 2,700 spills at oil and gas sites last year. But the state tracked only about half of those."

"The EPA has already spent $100 million to remediate decades of mining."

"The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved expanding a wastewater permit for a South Texas coal mine over vocal opposition from locals Wednesday."