National (U.S.)

"Federal forecasters on Thursday called for another winter of extremes, with the Pacific Northwest expecting a wetter and colder season than average and the South and Southeast yearning for rain."

"Just nine days after the Obama Administration lifted the deepwater drilling moratorium, Chevron announced on Thursday that it was going forward with a $7.5 billion project to develop two giant deepwater fields in the gulf."

"A new set of federal rules issued for shallow-water drilling are null and void because federal regulators didn’t offer the proper notices or public comment period, a judge in New Orleans said this week."

"ON THE FLOOR OF THE GULF OF MEXICO -- Just 20 miles north of where BP's blown-out well spewed millions of gallons of oil into the sea, life appears bountiful despite initial fears that crude could have wiped out many of these delicate deepwater habitats."

For Tea Party activists in Indiana, manmade climate change is a 'flat-out lie.' For them, Rush Limbaugh and the Bible speak with more scientific authority than scientists, scientific organizations, or research institutes. One consequence is that a Democrat who voted for cap-and-trade is endangered.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to explain why it determined that polar bears are merely threatened under the Endangered Species Act, not endangered. Environmentalists are in court seeking the more protective classification.

"U.S. environmental groups filed a suit on Wednesday against British-based oil giant BP Plc saying the world's worst offshore spill inflicted "ongoing unlawful" harm on endangered wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico."

The billionaire Koch brothers, who are estimated to have given as much as $50 million to anti-environemental groups, meet twice yearly with major industries to coordinate right-wing efforts to eliminate 90 percent of all laws. Those in on the planning include the Wall St. Journal's Stephen Moore and Fox News' Glenn Beck.

"The bankruptcy estate of General Motors will commit $773 million toward cleaning up old plant sites and other property abandoned by the automaker, under a deal reached Wednesday with the Obama administration and 14 states."