"The White House scrubbed language about how climate change fuels more extreme weather events from draft EPA guidance, newly released documents show."
"Members of the Blackfeet Nation want tourists to understand how the story of Glacier National Park is really the story of their nation."
"The Environmental Protection Agency is changing its approach to chemical toxicity oversight, according to a report issued recently by the Government Accountability Office. In the overhaul, the EPA reassigned staff from its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)—a program that conducts comprehensive scientific reviews—to duties related to the Toxic Substances Control Act, which has a narrower mandate. The agency has also reduced the number of its ongoing chemical toxcity assessments from 20 to three. Former EPA officials contend the shake-up takes chemical assessments out of the hands of career scientists, potentially to the detriment of public health."
"President Donald Trump's administration has launched yet another attempt to control the use of science in federal policymaking—this time with a memorandum to government agencies from the White House budget office."
"After pressure from the Defense Department, the Environmental Protection Agency significantly weakened a proposed standard for cleaning up groundwater pollution caused by toxic chemicals that contaminate drinking water consumed by millions of Americans and that have been commonly used at military bases."
"The Trump administration on Thursday confirmed that it will likely delay the release of a long-awaited plan that had been expected to open most of the nation’s coastline for offshore oil drilling, pending the final outcome of a recent court decision that blocks drilling off the Alaskan coast."
"A grand duel is taking place out West, but no cowboys are involved. It’s between the native sagebrush, which has dominated the Western landscape for more 12,000 years, and a newer, highly invasive and flammable species called cheatgrass."
"When you're an embattled EPA administrator, it helps to have a well-connected lawyer. Last year, former EPA chief Scott Pruitt's legal defense fund received a $50,000 contribution from Diane Hendricks, a billionaire businesswoman and Republican donor."
"U.S. senators are fighting over the details of an approximately $13 billion disaster aid package to help these states and Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. But congressional feuding over disaster aid is unlikely to stop even after the current impasse is resolved. In a typical year, taxpayer spending on the federal disaster relief fund is almost 10 times higher than it was three decades ago, even after adjusting for inflation, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data."
"A federal appeals court has overturned a U.S. District Court's dismissal of a lawsuit by environmental groups challenging a federal agency's killing of wolves in Idaho."
