Natural Resources

"State officials will challenge a court ruling that revoked the water permit for a silver and copper mine proposed beneath a Montana wilderness area, a Department of Natural Resources and Conservation spokesman said Monday."

''The U.S. Interior Department’s inspector general office has opened a probe into recently-confirmed Secretary David Bernhardt on several allegations, including conflict of interest, it said in a letter to lawmakers on Monday."

"The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries, as secretary of the interior. The confirmation of Mr. Bernhardt to his new post coincided with calls from more than a dozen Democrats and government watchdogs for formal investigations into his past conduct."

"Holding aloft a bottle of milky orange drinking water from his home state, Kentucky Democrat John Yarmuth reminded his House colleagues about the immediate action taken when lead contamination was found in Capitol Hill office buildings."

"Scientists and officials around the US have told the Guardian that the Trump administration has withdrawn funding for a large, successful conservation program – in direct contradiction of instructions from Congress."

"New Mexico lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill to protect federal lands around the Chaco Canyon from drilling and mining, attempting to permanently shield the Native American cultural site from recurring attempts at oil and gas leasing."

"Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) will introduce today bipartisan legislation to provide permanent, full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, his office confirmed last night."

"Sniped at for decades by health advocates, Russia’s doggedly defiant producer of asbestos — a substance banned as a killer by more than 60 countries — thinks it has perhaps finally found the perfect figure for a campaign to rehabilitate the product’s deeply stained image: President Trump."