Environmental Politics

"The two-year budget deal reached by congressional leaders would set up the biggest sale in history from the nation’s emergency oil stockpile."

"The budget deal that [passed early Friday morning] includes the one-year, retroactive renewal of a host of expired tax breaks." They included extension of tax breaks for renewable energy.

"House Democrats on Thursday called for $1 trillion in federal dollars for an infrastructure overhaul, a proposal that comes just days ahead of the announcement of President Trump’s long-awaited infrastructure proposal."

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released annual data about how it is enforcing the nation’s environmental laws, saying it had racked up nearly $5 billion in criminal fines and civil penalties, as well as significant commitments from companies to clean up contaminated sites around the country."

"A bipartisan group of 19 Western governors said Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke did not consult with them about major plans for reorganizing the agency, and have asked him to delay implementing the proposal until he speaks with them."

"The Bay Journal, a monthly paper covering the Chesapeake Bay, isn’t the New York Times or CNN, and has so far avoided mention in the president’s Twitter feed. But the Bay Journal may be a casualty in the administration’s war on the media: the Journal recently lost its largest source of funding, in what its lawyers say was likely a violation of its First Amendment rights."

"As head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt has repeatedly questioned the scientific consensus that rising levels of carbon dioxide from human-fueled activity are warming the planet. He’s now taking a different tack: Even if climate change is occurring, as the vast majority of scientists say it is, a warmer atmosphere might not be so awful for humans, according to Pruitt."

"Republican lawmakers are threatening to cut off U.S. funding for the World Health Organization’s cancer research program over its finding that the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup is probably carcinogenic to humans."

"The top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee sent a letter to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday, calling into question a dramatic decrease in grant funding awarded by the agency in the past year."

"State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, in a letter sent Monday to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, called the proposed oil and gas lease sales off Washington “unlawful, unsafe and harmful to the economy.”"