"The scandal-ridden federal Minerals Management Service is gone, at least in name."

"An Indian tribe, an indigenous rights support group and a mining watchdog group have failed in their joint court bid to block the expansion of a gold mine in northeastern Nevada."

"As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday."

Despite public statements of open media access to Gulf response operation by the Coast Guard and BP, local police are still prohibiting photography. They say BP directed them to do it.

"The White House has postponed until next week a meeting set for Wednesday between President Barack Obama and key senators on energy legislation. The move clears Obama's schedule as he grapples with what to do about Gen. Stanley McChrystal, his Afghanistan war commander."

"The Louisiana judge who struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports. He's also a new member of a secret national security court."

"In the intense but inscrutable debate about the chemicals that drillers inject underground to flush out natural gas, this much can be said: Everyone is for disclosure."

Whole stands of oaks and hemlocks in New England are dying. "Scientists see a fingerprint of climate change in the denuded branches, and a pattern of things to come."

"The oil industry and Louisiana officials support a lawsuit challenging the [offshore drilling] restrictions, saying they will cause more economic pain for gulf states already reeling from the spill fallout." A judge could rule in the case today.