2017 May Environment & Climate News:

The May issue of Environment & Climate News reports President Donald Trump announced in late March that he had approved the final leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline, linking oil fields in Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. The president had earlier approved the Dakota Access Pipeline. Both projects had been stalled and then blocked by the Obama administration.

Also in this issue:

• Trump has signed a multi-part executive order rolling back numerous climate policies restricting fossil-fuel development and use imposed by President Barack Obama's administration.

• In a threat to private property nationwide, a federal court ruled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can list private property as critical habitat even if no members of an endangered species exist on the property.

• A Massachusetts plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will result in higher emissions overall for New England.

• North Dakota is spending more than $1 million to remove 48 million tons of trash, abandoned vehicles, and propane tanks left by anti-pipeline activists.

• Calling it a "horrible rule," Trump ordered the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review and reconsider Obama's Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.