"As Royal Dutch Shell PLC seeks to explore for oil this summer in Alaska's northern waters, the Arctic sea ice is melting at a record pace, breaking the record low-ice levels set in 2007, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The one big exception, however, is the Chukchi Sea, where Shell is hoping to explore for oil this summer."
"LONDON -- The world is depleting underground water reserves faster than they can be replenished due to over-exploitation, according to scientists in Canada and the Netherlands."
"Tropical storm Ernesto weakened on Wednesday as it dumped heavy rains over Mexico's southern Yucatan peninsula and headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, where the country's main oil operations are located."
"The President of the California Fish and Game Commission, who sparked the ire of animal rights groups when he hunted and killed a mountain lion in Idaho in an act prohibited in his home state, was unanimously voted out of his position on Wednesday."
"FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued its final rule aimed at cleaning up the largest single source of haze-causing pollutants in the country."
"The [US Forest Service] abandons a long-held policy to let nature take its course on public wilderness lands. The long-term effects will be costly."
"The damage caused by a fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond will take months to repair and will hobble one of the West Coast's biggest sources of fuel, industry experts said Wednesday."
"WASHINGTON -- This probably comes as no surprise: Federal scientists say July was the hottest month ever recorded in the lower 48 states, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s."
An independent journalist for 18 years, Melissa Gaskill specializes in science, nature, and travel, primarily the outdoor or sustainable type. She's also the author of Best Hikes with Dogs: Texas Hill Country and Gulf Coast and recently was a 2012 Fellow at the Scripps Howard Institute on the Environment and Science in Florida.
An analysis of records and statistics by Post reporter James Ball concluded: "Three years later, new evidence suggests that administration officials have struggled to overturn the long-standing culture of secrecy in Washington. Some of these high-profile transparency measures have stalled, and by some measures the government is keeping more secrets than before."
