National (U.S.)

"A fast-growing backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests could both challenge and help justify new Interior Department measures billed as a means to increase efficiency and improve transparency."

"Breaking with some of their biggest rivals, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota said Monday they were intervening on the side of the Trump administration in an escalating battle with California over fuel economy standards for automobiles."

"Look up the next time you’re in a park — any park — in the Mid-Atlantic. You’re likely to see vines climbing toward the treetops. These invasive vines can be deadly — not just to the trees they are overtaking, but to the larger ecosystem."

"A group of scientists assembled by the EPA to advise it on air pollution standards couldn’t reach agreement on whether the standards should be tightened or remain the same, a development that may complicate ongoing effort to update them."

"A large majority of Americans say drilling for oil and natural gas off the coasts and on public lands should decrease or remain at current levels, a viewpoint at odds with the expansion promoted by President Trump as part of his “energy dominance” agenda."

"A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a challenge by California and 16 other states to the Trump administration’s decision to revise strict U.S. vehicle emissions and fuel efficiency rules put in place under former President Barack Obama."

"The widespread environmental contaminants known as PFAS cause multiple health problems in people, according to Linda Birnbaum, who retired as director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program earlier this month."

"A secret agreement has allowed the nation’s homebuilders to make it much easier to block changes to building codes that would require new houses to better address climate change, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times."

"The Interior Department has removed heavily criticized language from the final version of its public records rule that some worried would give officials too much leniency in withholding documents."

"A new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule proposal would shrink enforcement responsibilities for farmers by narrowing the areas they must restrict human contact during pesticide applications, a move the agency is labelling easier management."