Environment

pruitt_epa_coal_mine_03421.jpg

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, left, shakes hands with coal miners during a visit to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

pruitt_epa_coal_mine_78173.jpg

A group of coal miners listen to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt during his visit to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) ** FILE **

pruitt_epa_coal_mine_18368.jpg

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt holds up a hardhat he was given during a visit to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

prehistoric_sea_creature_85336.jpg

This July 14, 2011 provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, an experts on marine reptiles, Pat Druckenmiller works carefully to prepare the plesiosaur skull for its plaster jacket at the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, Mont. at a dig site for a fossil found in Montana nearly seven years ago that has led to the discovery this new species of prehistoric sea creature. The new species of elasmosaur is detailed in an article published Thursday, April 13, 2017, in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The creature lived about 70 million years ago in the inland sea that flowed east of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. (Marcus Hockett /U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services via AP)

prehistoric_sea_creature_78120.jpg

This July 7, 2011 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services shows workers and paleontologists move dirt to keep the creek flowing, a constant challenge at a dig site for a fossil found in Montana nearly seven years ago that has led to the discovery this new species of prehistoric sea creature. The new species of elasmosaur is detailed in an article published Thursday, April 13, in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The creature lived about 70 million years ago in the inland sea that flowed east of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. (Erin Clark / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services via AP)

prehistoric_sea_creature_06479.jpg

This undated image provided by Ken Olson shows a drawing of the plesiosaur (marine reptile). A fossil found by an elk hunter in Montana nearly seven years ago has led to the discovery this new species of prehistoric sea creature. The new species of elasmosaur is detailed in an article published Thursday, April 13, in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The creature lived about 70 million years ago in the inland sea that flowed east of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. (Ken Olson via AP)

prehistoric_sea_creature_66906.jpg

This July 14, 2011 provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services shows fragments of bone protruding from the top edge of this piece of shale are several plesiosaur vertebrae.at the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, Mont. at a dig site for a fossil found in Montana nearly seven years ago that has led to the discovery this new species of prehistoric sea creature. The new species of elasmosaur is detailed in an article published Thursday, April 13, in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The creature lived about 70 million years ago in the inland sea that flowed east of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. (Marcus Hockett /USFWS via AP)

aquifier_contamination_10030.jpg

In this July 2013, photo United States Geological Survey scientist Roy Bartholomay, standing, and Flint Hall, with Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, collect a water sample from the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer at a U.S. Department of Energy nuclear site in eastern Idaho. Scientists said the giant aquifer below an eastern Idaho federal nuclear facility is as free of radioactive contamination and other pollutants as it has been in more than six decades of monitoring but that the water level is at the lowest level ever recorded. (Brian Twining/USGS via AP)

us_steel_chemical_spill_68690.jpg

With Portage Mayor James Snyder at his side, Branch Chief from the EPA Emergency Response team Sam Borries, right, takes questions from reporters about the chemical spill in Lake Michigan. Federal officials are awaiting more test results to determine whether a potentially carcinogenic chemical entered Lake Michigan during a wastewater spill at a U.S. Steel plant in northern Indiana. (John J. Watkins /The Times via AP)

us_steel_chemical_spill_66746.jpg

The National Park Service has closed beaches around a chemical spill on Lake Michigan Thursday, April 13, 2017. Federal officials are awaiting more test results to determine whether a potentially carcinogenic chemical entered Lake Michigan during a wastewater spill at a U.S. Steel plant in northern Indiana. (John J. Watkins /The Times via AP)

us_steel_chemical_spill_86141.jpg

Though a few boats make their way onto Lake Michigan, beaches have been closed due to a chemical spill from U. S. Steel, Thursday, April 13, 2017. Federal officials are awaiting more test results to determine whether a potentially carcinogenic chemical entered Lake Michigan during a wastewater spill at a U.S. Steel plant in northern Indiana. (John J. Watkins /The Times via AP)

alaska_underwater_pipelines_61752.jpg

File - This April 3, 2017 photo provided by Cook Inlet Spill Prevention and Response, Inc. shows pan ice taken during an agency overflight near a Hilcorp Alaska LLC offshore platform in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Alaska's Cook Inlet is home to endangered beluga whales, a significant slice of the state's wild salmon population, and along the sea floor, a spider web of petroleum pipelines. So when natural gas was found spewing from an underwater pipeline belonging to the area's largest petroleum producer, alarm bells went off. (Derek Samora/CISPRI via AP, File)

alaska_underwater_pipelines_43506.jpg

File - This April 3, 2017 photo provided by Cook Inlet Spill Prevention and Response, Inc. shows pan ice taken during an agency overflight near a Hilcorp Alaska LLC offshore platform in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Alaska's Cook Inlet is home to endangered beluga whales, a significant slice of the state's wild salmon population, and along the sea floor, a spider web of petroleum pipelines. So when natural gas was found spewing from an underwater pipeline belonging to the area's largest petroleum producer, alarm bells went off. (Derek Samora/CISPRI via AP, File)

Pruitt_EPA_Coal_Mine_44174.jpg-b0f6e.jpg

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks to a group of miners during a visit to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

National_Monuments_Trump_35762.jpg-113b6.jpg

This May 23, 2016, file photo, shows the northernmost boundary of the proposed Bears Ears region, along the Colorado River, in southeastern Utah. Western Democrats are pressuring President Donald Trump not to rescind land protections put in place by President Barack Obama, including Utah's Bears Ears National Monument. Obama infuriated Utah Republicans when he created the monument on 1.3 million acres of land that is sacred to Native Americans. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, File)

north_korea_koreas_tension_71059.jpg

North Korea was ready to conduct a nuclear test in April but postponed it under pressure from China. Satellite images showed evidence. U.S. officials now see similar signs of activity that could lead to a sixth underground nuclear test. (Associated Press/File)