"President Xi Jinping of China pledged on Tuesday that his country would adopt much stronger climate targets and achieve what he called “carbon neutrality before 2060.” If realized, the pledges would be crucial in the global fight against climate change."
"The White House is threatening to veto an energy bill rolled out by Democrats last week, calling it a “a top-down approach that would undermine the administration’s deregulatory agenda.”"
"Four former heads of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Democrats and Republicans, on Monday issued a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration’s record on the environment after the current administrator said the agency is focused on “work that has been neglected for years.”"
"President Trump has made dismantling federal climate policies a centerpiece of his administration. A new analysis from the Rhodium Group finds those rollbacks add up to a lot more planet-warming emissions."
"In secretly recorded meetings, executives with the Pebble Mine project said the operation could run nine times longer than outlined in their permit filings."
More revelations of Trump administration duplicity on the science front, per the new WatchDog opinion column, which reports on a scoop about political appointees trying to warp weekly public health data to ensure they don’t undercut Trump’s political messaging. Oh, and Bob Woodward’s new book affirming the president knew of COVID-19’s dangers early on, but deliberately played them down.
Although the realities of the pandemic may mean fewer state and local ballot measures in the upcoming election — and the presidential contest is drawing much of the spotlight — they can still be potentially fruitful stories for reporters willing to seek them out. Here are eight top ways to track this year’s environment and energy ballot measures, from the latest Reporter’s Toolbox.
"Wildfires in Western states aren't slowing down and conspiracy theories about who started them are only making things harder for responders."
"NEWARK, N.J. — Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law Friday a measure giving state regulators power to deny development permits to businesses whose operations pollute predominantly Black and other minority communities."
