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Douglas Domenech held meetings with Texas Public Policy Foundation, which was involved in suing the department

As allegations of ethics violations mount at the US Environmental Protection Agency, new evidence is raising ethics concerns about key Trump-administration appointees at the interior department.

Records reviewed by the Guardian and Pacific Standard show that a high-level interior official, Douglas Domenech, held meetings with a previous employer, the Koch-linked Texas Public Policy Foundation, while it was involved in legal action against the department.

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Local people and environmentalists have 16 working days left to stop the first spade going into the ground at a beauty spot in Co Durham

Four months after the UK government announced it was phasing out coal, campaigners are digging in to stop what they say will be the devastation of opencast mining at a beauty spot in the north-east of England.

Local people and environmentalists have 16 working days left to stop the first spade going into the ground on 71 hectares of grassland, fields and woods in the Pont valley, Co Durham.

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Hit by record droughts and rainfall and wildfires, California leads the way in tackling global warming

In 1988 – the same year Nasa’s James Hansen warned Congress about the threats posed by human-caused global warming – water expert Peter Gleick wrote about the wet and dry extremes that it would create for California:

California will get the worst of all possible worlds – more flooding in the winter, less available water in the summer.

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Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.5% in 2017, according to official data released just days after the government halved its climate spending.

Plastic can only be recycled a few times before it becomes useless. But even non-recyclable plastic can be used to help produce petrol and diesel. Could this process help overcome the recycling crisis? Muxina Konarova, Advanced Queensland Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

16 May 1968 The planting of alien conifers and poplars is changing this superb example of primeval clay woodland out of all knowledge

Norfolk
I have just been revelling in the glories of one of Norfolk’s few remaining ancient woodlands, seated on glacial boulder clay almost exactly in the centre of the county. The Domesday record shows this wood to have been a notable one in 1088, when it afforded a pannage of acorns for a hundred pigs. Over the centuries its trees and plants of the undergrowth have transformed the stiff topsoil into a rich and friable mould and it is clear that the long-continued practice of coppicing hazels in association with standards of oak and ash has encouraged the development of an exceedingly rich and flourishing ground flora. Anemones, lilies of the valley, bluebells, wild strawberries and dog’s mercury dominate vast areas, with subsidiary colonies of yellow pimpernels, early purple orchids, woodruff, ramsons, primrose, wood spurge, bugle, enchanter’s nightshade, mountain speedwell, yellow archangel, wood sorrel, and the graceful wood millet grass. In a few places I came upon patches of Herb Paris where the ground was relatively moist in the valley of a little stream.

Related: Country diary: Wayland wood, Norfolk: This small parcel of woodland inspired one of our most disturbing myths

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Queensland state govt backs up electric vehicle super-highway with release of Australia-first guide to installing EV chargers.

Energy markets are now showing negligible value for renewable energy certificates within 2 years. It gives lie to the nonsense and scare campaigns about the "crippling" cost of wind and solar.

Australia emissions rise for 3rd year, with electricity the only sector to show a fall, thanks to a policy mechanism the government tried to kill.

New Forest: Janet Elizabeth Case braved treacherous sink holes and snagging briars to see these enchanting flowers 80 years ago

Fascinated by JEC’s account of her search for the bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) in a Country diary dated 5 June 1933 (I’d come across it in the slim grey selection of her diaries published posthumously in 1939), we tried last year to relive the adventure.

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LNG was major contributor to 1.5% rise in year to December 2017, government data shows

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Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar, increasing for the third consecutive year according to new data published by the Department of Environment and Energy.

The Turnbull government published new quarterly emissions data late on Friday which reveals Australia’s climate pollution increased by 1.5% in the year to December 2017.

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It is claimed the UK's roadside wild flowers are suffering because of pollution and poor management.

Interested in finding out more about water for the environment in the northern rivers? Join us at a community forum in towns along the Barwon-Darling during May and June.

Interested in finding out more about water for the environment in the northern rivers? Join us at a community forum in towns along the Barwon-Darling during May and June.

Sturt National Park prepares for an animal release; making the switch from cows to chooks; a disability support group grows organic oyster mushrooms; and raw honey straight from the hives.

Anheuser-Busch , the largest brewer in the USA have placed an order for 800 Hydrogen-Fuel-Cell EV trucks. Will Foster's follow?

After 10 years as Chief Executive Officer of ActewAGL Michael Costello AO has advised the ActewAGL Board of his decision to retire.

Melbourne's Crown casino complex has installed one of the CBD's biggest rooftop PV systems on its admin building.

IPART confirms plans to effectively penalise NSW solar households for the lower electricity prices their rooftop PV has helped to deliver, by cutting the recommended feed-in tariff in half for 2018/19.

A luxury resort in Townsville in Queensland’s north is looking to cut its grid power consumption by up to 70 per cent, through a suite of cutting edge renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades.