Climate Change

"U.S. environmental groups say they are hiring lawyers and preparing for a major legal showdown with President Donald Trump's administration over its rapid-fire and sweeping efforts to sidestep federal regulations on oil, gas and coal development. The preparations will pose a test for the Trump administration’s strategy since January of relying mainly on emergency authorities and executive orders to slash what it views as obstructions to a surge in fossil fuel energy production."

"An exclusive Inside Climate News analysis found that a single year of greenhouse gas emissions from tankers carrying LNG from the United States more than cancels out the annual reductions achieved through driving all the electric vehicles currently on U.S. roads."

"By slashing teams that gather critical data, the administration has left the federal government with no way of understanding if policies are working — and created a black hole of information whose consequences could ripple out for decades."

"Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has given a former oil executive and aide to Elon Musk broad latitude to cut costs and consolidate work within his vast department, which oversees more than 500 million acres of land across the United States."

"A federal program that screens coal miners for black lung disease has been shuttered because of layoffs and budget cuts."

"Hundreds of marches, pickets and cleanup events are taking place across the US in the run-up to Earth Day on Tuesday, as environmental and climate groups step up resistance to the Trump administration’s authoritarianism and its “war on the planet”."

"Pope Francis’ care for the environment was telegraphed early in his papacy. His chosen name honored St. Francis, the Italian friar who proclaimed “Praise God for all his creatures.” As pope, Francis called for immediate action on climate change and exhorted the world’s Catholics to “better recognize the ecological commitments which stem from our convictions.”"

"The Everglades is more than just swamps, fan boats and alligators and restoration efforts impact more than the land between Florida’s east and west coasts. Florida Bay, a body of water located between the southern end of mainland Florida and the Florida Keys, makes up about a third of Everglades National Park."

"In a move energy advocates say will increase electric bills for Louisiana residents and allow the state’s utilities to keep earning money for electricity they don’t provide, Louisiana’s energy regulators voted 3-2 Wednesday to scrap plans for an independently operated energy efficiency program more than 14 years in the making."

"U.S. oil producers are stuck between President Donald Trump’s policies, benefiting from relaxed environmental regulations but facing weakening oil prices as tariffs weigh on the global economy."