"North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday that his administration will oppose opening up Atlantic Ocean waters to offshore oil-and-gas drilling. Cooper’s decision reverses the state’s policy under former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who urged federal officials to promote energy exploration in ocean waters to help the nation achieve energy independence."
"If human civilization were to be destroyed and its cities wiped off the map, there would be an easy way for future intelligent life-forms to know when the mid-20th century began: plastic."
"Global warming may be unleashing new sources of heat-trapping methane from layers of oil and gas that have been buried deep beneath Arctic permafrost for millennia. As the Earth's frozen crust thaws, some of that gas appears to be finding new paths to the surface through permafrost that's starting to resemble Swiss cheese in some areas, scientists said."
"A senior Interior Department official has filed a whistleblower complaint against Trump administration political appointees, claiming he was reassigned within Interior because of his work on climate change."
"President Trump on Wednesday nominated Sam Clovis, a former college professor and talk radio host who has challenged the scientific consensus that human activity has been the primary driver of climate change, to serve in the Agriculture Department’s top scientific post."
"A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday denied a petition by environmental groups to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban the agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos, ending one of three parallel attempts to bring about the ban, court filings show."
"The top Democrats on the Senate and House energy panels are seeking an assessment of the cyber and physical security protections for natural gas, oil and other hazardous pipeline infrastructure, warning of increased cyberthreats from foreign state-backed and criminal hacking organizations."
"The House voted Wednesday to streamline the federal permitting process for a variety of oil and natural gas pipelines."
"Congressional Republicans launched efforts Wednesday aimed at reforming the Endangered Species Act to make it more friendly for states, landowners, industry and others."
"A House panel has approved a bill to cut the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) funding by $528 million but reject several deep cuts sought by President Trump."
