The White House copies and pastes an entire paragraph from an ExxonMobil press release into its own press release trumpeting the company’s plans to build new natural gas and chemical plants.

Going against the consensus of the scientific community, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt denies that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change. 

Every year 1.7 million children die from living in polluted or unhealthy environments, reports the World Health Organization. 

In 58 “emerging market” nations, solar is now the cheapest form of new energy, followed closely by wind. 

Five Midwestern states now get more than 20 percent of their electricity from wind energy. 

A leaky pipeline running underneath Alaska’s Cook Inlet is spewing natural gas into habitat for endangered beluga whales. It has apparently been leaking since December, and winter conditions will prevent repairs until late March at the earliest. 

Wildfires rage in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, burning a million acres and killing seven people. 

Congress overturns the Bureau of Land Management’s Obama-era “Planning 2.0” rule, which increased public participation in the management of public lands. 

50-year-old Satao II, one of about 25 remaining “big tusker” elephants in the world, is killed by poachers in Kenya. In France, poachers break into a zoo, kill a four-year-old white rhino, and steal its horn. 

In the last six years, public bike-sharing programs have gone from providing zero rides to 28 million in 2016.

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