Environmental Politics

"Washington Governor Jay Inslee says he has some allies in his push for a climate debate, despite the opposition of the national Democratic Party."

"Senators at a Clean Water Act hearing expressed interest in reopening the law to clarify which wetlands and waterways it protects. But that effort would likely be stymied by the fact that participants in the Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, including ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.), expressed confusion over basic concepts of Clean Water Act jurisdiction."

"Two key research agencies in the Department of Agriculture will move to the Kansas City area, Secretary Sonny Perdue announced today. The plan will move hundreds of jobs at USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) out of Washington, despite objections from employees and some members of Congress."

"Prosecutors dropped all criminal charges Thursday against eight people in the Flint water crisis and pledged to start from scratch the investigation into one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history."

"A collection of activist groups delivered a petition with more than 200,000 signatures to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters Wednesday calling for a presidential debate focused on climate change."

"An environmental group filed a complaint against the Department of the Interior on Tuesday, saying the agency shuffled controversial employees into roles without Senate confirmation."

"Britain would bring its net production of greenhouse gases to zero by 2050 under legislation that Prime Minister Theresa May proposed on Wednesday, a move that would make it the first of the world’s major economic powers to commit to ending its contribution to global warming."

"A new proposed rule from the U.S. Forest Service designed to make environmental reviews more efficient would shortcut important oversight of industry plans, environmentalists say."

"Former Vice President Joe Biden is backing calls for a 2020 presidential debate focused solely on climate change a week after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced it would not host one."

"A group of 75 conservative organizations and leaders on Monday sent a letter to Congress expressing their opposition to a carbon tax, pushing back at an idea that has received support from politicians and policy experts on both sides of the aisle as a way to combat climate change."