National (U.S.)

"During the 1970s, Nashville averaged just under a foot of snowfall each winter. Nowadays, Music City is lucky to see half that in a season."

"When the Bureau of Land Management moves its Washington-based headquarters to Grand Junction, Colo., this year, more than half of the senior leaders may be as new as the office itself."

"The Environmental Protection Agency’s top official in California was abruptly removed from office Wednesday. No reason has yet been given for Mike Stoker’s dismissal."

"Neighbors and scientists are worried, but operators argue there’s no better way to provide carbon-free energy."

"As Bernie Sanders pushes a fracking ban and Joe Biden warns against abandoning it, the industry faces its own problems."

"Democrats are drilling down on opposite sides of the fracking divide, widening a schism between the party’s climate-concerned progressive wing and centrists who fear a hard-line stance against fossil fuels risks ceding critical swing states to President Donald Trump.

"Fifteen years ago, farmers produced so much soybean oil they couldn't figure out what to with it all. It was good for cooking and salad dressing — and not much more. ... Then came the renewable fuel standard in 2005, mandating the use of biofuels in the nation's fuel supply."

"Documents released yesterday as part of a legal settlement show deep contacts between former Energy Secretary Rick Perry's department and Perry's longtime ally Michael Bleyzer as he sought to obtain natural gas contracts in Ukraine."

"President Trump in his State of the Union address last night claimed credit for making the United States the world's leading oil and natural gas producer but offered no major new energy proposals or environmental protection initiatives."

"The Bureau of Land Management may stop studying how its long-term blueprints for millions of acres of public lands would affect the environment, according to a document shared with Bloomberg Environment."

"Add fireflies to the list of insects in massive decline, often called the “insect apocalypse.” That was the broad upshot of a study released today in the publication BioScience. According to the report, firefly populations face a triple threat posed by rapid development, artificial-light pollution, and pesticides."