Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV)

"The hellbenders’ alarming change in behavior may be linked to deforestation, a new study found."

"The hellbender salamander has been called a lot of things. Snot otter. Mud devil. Old lasagna sides.

And now, perhaps: baby-eating cannibal, according to new research into the parental habits of these giant amphibians.

An eight-year study of hellbenders living in the cold, rocky rivers of southwestern Virginia has found that male salamanders are increasingly consuming their own young in areas near decimated forests.

"The Biden administration has thrown its weight behind the Mountain Valley pipeline, a major natural gas project favored by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and opposed by environmental advocates."

"The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to step up enforcement in Pennsylvania to ensure that it meets targets for reducing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, state and environmental officials announced Thursday."

"A Pepco pilot project to build the 1-megawatt unit poses fire and explosion risks, the residents say. Pepco says the planned facility, intended to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, meets all safety codes."

"Warnings that a large-scale plastics recycling plant planned along a floodplain in Central Pennsylvania could flush toxic PFAS into the Susquehanna River, a major source of drinking water for millions, are stirring a budding opposition movement."

"Lengthy delays. Staffing shortages. Byzantine regulations. These are trying times for Maryland’s well and septic permitting program. State officials can’t even quantify the overall extent of the permitting delays because the system lacks a centralized database."

"A federal appeals court on Monday vacated a water permit needed by developers to restart construction on the Mountain Valley pipeline in West Virginia, marking the latest setback for the $6.2 billion project."

"The Mountain Valley pipeline inched toward completion after a three-judge panel Wednesday unanimously denied environmentalists’ challenge to a Virginia water permit for the planned natural gas project."

"Alarmed by plummeting stocks of commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay, officials in Maryland and Virginia are scrambling to control invasive fish species that are causing at least part of the problem."