sally jewell

The Obama administration has pulled back the prospect of oil drilling off the southeastern U.S. coast, relieving Maryland politicians and environmental advocates who had lobbied against it but frustrating energy companies and leaders in Virginia and other states who had visions of a coastal economic boom.

Maryland Sens. Benjamin Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski joined 10 other senators Monday in urging the Obama administration to drop its proposal to allow oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic coast.

In approving gas and oil exploration, Obama ignores serious environmental and economic risks posed to coastal states including Maryland

The Obama administration proposed Tuesday opening the waters off the Atlantic coast for oil and gas drilling for the first time in more than 30 years, drawing fire from environmentalists and many East Coast lawmakers about the potential for spills to harm the Chesapeake Bay and resorts like Ocean City. Industry officials, though, expressed disappointment more areas weren't being offered for exploration.

The chief of Maryland's Energy Administration, Abigail Ross Hopper, landed a new job Thursday, running the federal agency that oversees development of offshore oil and gas and wind energy.

Delmarva's marvelously productive salt marsh ecosystem is losing ground to the rising waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Salt marsh is that green fringe that protects natural areas, farms and communities from coastal storms and tides.

Even as conservationists and government officials celebrated Friday the rebound of the endangered Delmarva fox squirrel, they acknowledged that more animals and plants are slipping toward oblivion in Maryland.

An Italian renewable energy company won the rights to develop offshore wind projects in nearly 80,000 acres of Atlantic waters off Maryland's coast with an $8.7 million bid Tuesday.

Continuing the Obama administration's push to launch a U.S. offshore wind industry, federal officials announced Wednesday that they'll auction off the rights next month to build turbines off Maryland's coast.

On Monday, 994 days since an earthquake shook the Washington Monument from top to bottom, the marble-and-granite national landmark reopens to the public.

Federal officials announced plans Tuesday to auction the rights to build industrial wind energy turbines off Maryland's Atlantic coast, a move hailed by many environmentalists but criticized by the state's lone Republican congressman.

WASHINGTON — Thousands of workers at federal agencies based in Maryland would be furloughed and their work put on hold if Congress fails to reach an agreement in coming days to fund the government, a series of agency reports released by the Obama administration Friday show.