Environment

America will probably get more killer tornado- and hail-spawning supercells as the world warms, according to a new study that also warns the lethal storms will edge eastward to strike more frequently in the more populous Southern states, like Alabama, Mississippi... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — A 5,000-mile seaweed belt lurking in the Atlantic Ocean is expected in the next few months to wash onto beaches in the Caribbean Sea, South Florida, and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday will designate two new national monuments ahead of remarks at the White House Conservation in Action Summit being held at the headquarters of the U.S. Interior Department. In southern Nevada, Biden will bestow... Read More

WASHINGTON — Peak bloom isn’t expected to occur until sometime late next week, but an influx of tourists is already evident in anticipation of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which is kicking off this year on Saturday, March 18, and... Read More

ATCHAFALAYA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, La. (AP) — Stacks of valves, networks of pipes and hulking, two-story-tall tanks litter parts of the swampy landscape of Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin, rusting relics of sites where oil wells were drilled in the 1970s, an... Read More

WASHINGTON — For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing federal limits on toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water, a move the Biden administration believes will prevent serious illness and death for thousands of Americans each year. PFAS,... Read More

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The state of Ohio filed a 58-count civil lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Tuesday, seeking to hold the Class 1 railroad financially responsible for the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine that caused the release of an estimated... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is approving the major Willow oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope, according to two people familiar with the decision. The decision revealed Monday, one of President Joe Biden’s most consequential climate decisions, is... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department is investing over $25 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to advance an effort to restore wild and healthy populations of American bison and the prairie grassland ecosystem. Through a wide-ranging initiative announced last week,... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas - representing a turning point for vast stretches of the planet where conservation has previously been hampered... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to enact a change in the nation’s fuel policy, allowing the year-round sale of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline. Led by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa, the governors and other lawmakers from several... Read More

It’s a given that when the Great Backyard Bird Count begins Friday, Steve and Janet Kistler of Hart County, Kentucky, will be joining in. They’ve done so every year since the now-global tradition began 25 years ago. For Moira Dalibor,... Read More

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Don't feed the bears! Wildlife biologists and forest rangers have preached the mantra for nearly a century at national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite, and for decades in areas where urban development increasingly invaded native wildlife... Read More

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers representing both chambers of Congress and both sides of the political aisle are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to do away with fuel volatility waivers for gasoline-ethanol blends sold in Midwestern states. In a letter sent to... Read More

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Like thousands of other Austin residents, Darin Murphy began a sixth day Monday with no power in his home, wrapping his head around the city's latest demoralizing update: Getting the lights fully back on may take... Read More

SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines announced Wednesday it is eliminating in-flight plastic cups. The West Coast-based airline is the first U.S. carrier to completely transition to paper cups as a planet-friendly alternative. Alaska Airlines estimates that this move will eliminate more... Read More

WASHINGTON — Forget a weeklong vote to get a House speaker, when all is said and done, the biggest news of the month may well be how electric vehicles dominated center stage at the Washington, D.C., Auto Show. The annual... Read More

WASHINGTON — Devastating hurricanes, deadly flooding and prolonged record-setting drought in much of the U.S. were just a few of the 18 natural disasters that cost taxpayers roughly $165 billion last year, according to a new federal report. The sobering... Read More

WASHINGTON — A report from a trio of entities specializing in energy efficiency and sustainability quantifies their impact across key sectors of the American economy and demonstrates how efficiency investments reduce carbon emissions, lower energy bills and improve public health.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Climate Action Campaign, a coalition of national environment and climate action groups, met new members of Congress on their way to work to call for more congressional climate action at the opening of the 118th Congress. Greeting... Read More

ST. LOUIS (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday finalized regulations that protect hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, repealing a Trump-era rule that federal courts had thrown out and that environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to... Read More

WASHINGTON — Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is looking for answers after a rupture in the Keystone Pipeline released nearly 588,000 gallons of oil into a Kansas waterway. The Dec. 7 spill was... Read More

DALLAS (AP) — A destructive storm marched across the United States, spawning tornadoes that touched down in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, where the deaths of a young boy and his mother were reported, and it delivered blizzard-like conditions... Read More

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest was braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions, while states farther to the south saw tornadoes from a massive storm blowing across the country.... Read More

Populations of a vulnerable species of marine mammal, numerous species of abalone and a type of Caribbean coral are now threatened with extinction, an international conservation organization said Friday. The International Union for Conservation of Nature announced the update during the... Read More

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Scientists around the world are warning governments that will be gathering in Montreal, Canada, this week for the United Nations' biodiversity summit to not repeat past mistakes and are urging officials to “avoid trade-offs” between people... Read More

BOSTON (AP) — Prince William capped a three-day visit to Boston by meeting with President Joe Biden to share his vision for safeguarding the environment before attending a gala event Friday evening where he sounded an optimistic tone about solving... Read More

The 60-day jail sentence a Montgomery County, Maryland, judge imposed this week on a climate activist appears to be part of a trend among courts to get tough on environmental protesters as they become more aggressive. William Regan, 43, received... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department on Thursday announced a proposed rule to address the waste of natural gas during the production of oil and gas on federal and tribal lands. Officials with the department’s Bureau of Land Management said the... Read More

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Biden administration declared the northern long-eared bat endangered on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to save a species driven to the brink of extinction by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease. “White-nose syndrome is decimating... Read More