SETTLEMENT: Five years after the nation’s worst oil spill inundated the Gulf of Mexico, BP reached an $18.7 billion settlement Thursday designed to close one of the most contentious chapters in environmental history. (Los Angeles Times)
ALSO: Texas says it will receive $750 million of the BP payout for the Gulf oil spill, as part of a total of $4.9 billion going to five Gulf states, which also include Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. (FuelFix)
METHANE: Investors representing $1.5 trillion in assets have released a statement supporting a strong federal standard to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. (Sustainable Brands)
POLITICS: A Republican entrepreneur seeking to push his party to fight climate change and support clean energy said on Sunday he has given $500,000 to GOP Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. (Reuters)
SOLAR FLIGHT: A Swiss pilot attempting to circumnavigate the globe with a solar-powered plane landed in Hawaii on Friday, after a record-breaking five-day, non-stop solo flight across the Pacific Ocean from Japan. (TIME)
ON-SITE GENERATION: A new study from Deloitte finds 55 percent of large U.S. businesses generate some portion of their electricity on site, marking a growing trend. (Utility Dive)
FEDERAL BUDGET: The Office of Management and Budget for the first time is asking federal agencies to submit budgets that include climate impacts on the construction and maintenance of federal facilities. (The Hill)
OFFSHORE WIND: Five massive structures that will be attached to the ocean floor for the nation’s first offshore wind farm are headed to Rhode Island. (Associated Press)
FUEL CELLS: Fuel cell technology in Ohio is already moving from research and development into commercialization, according to industry experts at the 2015 Ohio Fuel Cell Symposium. (Midwest Energy News)
TRIBAL LOGJAM: Tribal lands hold 10 percent of U.S. renewable energy potential, yet they have only one significant wind project generating power, which critics blame on federal red tape. (High Country News)
COAL: Possum Point Power Station, about 30 miles south of Washington, DC, hasn’t operated for more than a decade, but environmentalists worry its coal ash could leak into the nearby Potomac. (The Washington Post)
DIVESTMENT: Students at Catholic universities across the U.S. are hoping the pope’s encyclical on climate change will help them persuade their schools to drop investments in fossil fuel. (The Huffington Post)
CARBON CAPTURE: Carbon capture and storage is not happening because it’s cheaper and easier to build wind and solar farms than to collect and store carbon from coal plant emissions. (Climate News Network)
EARTHQUAKES: The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision to allow a lawsuit against energy companies over earthquakes linked to fracking could encourage other liability cases. (InsideClimate News)
ARCTIC DRILLING: Environmentalists are racing to stop Shell from drilling in the Arctic Ocean, using a wide assortment of tactics. (The Hill)
POLAR BEARS: The top threat to the survival of polar bears is greenhouse gas emissions, according to a draft of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s first plan for saving the polar bear. (The Hill)
VEHICLES: Sales of hybrid and electric vehicles fell sharply in the first half of 2015, hurt by low gas prices, fewer incentives and a broader market shift away from cars. (The Detroit News)