Pennsylvania representative Scott Perry (R) says that God is responsible for polluting Chesapeake Bay with nitrates and phosphates.

The Trump administration grants a permit for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. At Canada’s insistence, the United States drops President Trump’s previous promise that the pipeline would be constructed using U.S. steel.

In the winter of 2016-17, sea ice in the Arctic dropped to its lowest level on record.

The Senate votes to allow the killing of wolf pups and bear cubs in their dens.

Gray wolves are delisted in Wyoming. In much of the state, they could soon be shot on sight. 

Between 2005 and 2014, Americans reduced their beef consumption by 19 percent. Together with other dietary changes, this led to a 10 percent reduction in diet-related carbon pollution, the equivalent of taking 57 million cars off the streets. 

Those emails now-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote about climate change when he was CEO of ExxonMobil under the nom de plume “Wayne Tracker”? Exxon says it lost them. 

Researchers find 7,000 underground gas bubbles in northern Siberia, apparently a product of warming permafrost. When they explode, they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The phenomenon is related to the “exploding pingos” that have left enormous craters in the tundra.

2016 saw a dramatic drop in the development of new coal-fired power plant capacity. There were slowdowns in all stages of development, and a freeze at more than 100 project sites in China and India.

With the Trump administration rumored to be readying a 31 percent cut to the EPA’s budget, people are sending agency employees chocolate chip cookies and messages of encouragement. 

This is a weekly edition of "Up to Speed," an environmental news roundup for short attention spans. For more, go to sierraclub.org/uptospeed.