Military

"The House defeated an amendment to a defense policy bill Thursday that would have blocked a Department of Defense study into the impacts of climate change on national security."

"A coalition of 14 conservative groups urged U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to support an amendment to the House of Representatives' annual defense bill that would prevent the Pentagon from implementing climate-change and green energy policies meant to save taxpayers money and protect the planet."

"The daughter of the murdered Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres has survived an armed attack, just weeks after being named leader of the indigenous rights organisation formerly led by her mother."

"A year ago, the U.S. House tried to block the military from preparing for climate change. Now, several GOP members have voted to support studying the security risks."

"U.S. authorities are investigating a cyber intrusion affecting multiple nuclear power generation sites this year, E&E News has learned. There is no evidence that the nuclear energy industry's highly regulated safety systems were compromised. But any cybersecurity breach — targeted or not — at closely guarded U.S. nuclear reactors marks an escalation of hackers' probes into U.S. critical infrastructure."

"The North American Electric Reliability Corp., in its 'State of Reliability 2017' report, noted there were no cybersecurity attacks that took down parts of the U.S. grid in 2016, but NERC officials took little comfort in the conclusion."

"A key federal official who helps adjudicate claims by veterans who say they were exposed to Agent Orange has downplayed the risks of the chemical herbicide and questioned the findings of scientists, journalists and even a federal administrative tribunal that conflict with his views."

"At the end of a Senate hearing last month, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) challenged Dave McCurdy, president of the American Gas Association, to say how Congress and the public can be confident about the cybersecurity defenses of the nation's natural gas infrastructure when no one is keeping score."

"As local lawmakers continue to pressure the military to do more to clean massive groundwater pollution near its bases in Bucks and Montgomery counties, contaminant levels appear to have increased in the past year."