"Call it the Saudi calculus. Oil prices were already plummeting 14 months ago when, at Saudi Arabia’s insistence, OPEC put the global petroleum industry on notice: The member countries would not try to prop up prices by cutting production."

"Even before state officials designated the village a Superfund site late Wednesday afternoon, residents of Hoosick Falls have been waiting for a solution to their water contamination issue."

"SEBRING, Ohio — In a furor with echoes of the crisis in Flint, Michigan, parents in and around Sebring no longer trust the water coming out of their taps — or the explanations from community leaders — after learning just days ago that high levels of lead were detected in some homes over the summer."

"Congressman, environmentalists say California regulators endangered public health in telling SoCal Gas to maintain supplies for heating, electricity."

"A California utility failed to protect residents from the largest methane leak in state history at its natural gas field near Los Angeles, a regional pollution watchdog said in a lawsuit filed against the company."

"Canada announced new interim rules on Wednesday for environmental reviews that will impose delays on two projects - TransCanada Corp's Energy East pipeline and Kinder Morgan Inc's expansion of its Trans Mountain Pipeline."

"Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday appointed a group of government officials, health and other experts to implement long-term fixes for Flint's lead-contaminated water system, which has become a national scandal."

"The armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, which flashed into violent confrontation with law enforcement on Tuesday when eight members of the group were arrested and one was killed, appeared to be unraveling on Wednesday night when the jailed leader of the siege advised his followers to go home."

"The Senate on Wednesday started debating its first comprehensive energy legislation since the George W. Bush administration, a bipartisan measure meant to update the nation’s power grid and oil and gas transportation systems to address major changes in the ways that power is now produced in the United States."