"The regulator in charge of environmental enforcement in Alberta bent to pressure from the provincial government and oil companies to eliminate a limit on natural gas flaring as Canadian oil production increased, according to documents seen by Reuters."
"With dwindling oversight, cattle are grazing where they’re not supposed to and in greater numbers or for longer periods than permitted. This can spread invasive plants, pushing out native species and worsening wildfire risk."
"The Trump administration on Wednesday cemented its delay of Biden-era regulations on planet-warming methane coming from the oil and gas industry."
A steep decline in the enforcement of environmental laws means the monitoring of pollution by citizens is more important than ever. But as the latest TipSheet notes, some states have passed laws that severely constrain the use of citizen monitoring or the sharing of findings. Get the backstory, along with top reporting angles and resources for finding monitoring in your area.
"A new legal petition filed by a dozen public health and farm worker groups demands the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stop allowing farms to spray antibiotics on food crops in the US because they are probably causing superbugs to flourish and sickening farm workers."
"Environmentalists and former agency employees warn of increased workloads for park employees at a time when park staffing is already low." "U.S. citizenship will determine how expensive it is to access America’s national parks beginning next year, the Interior Department announced yesterday."
"Shifting politics, intensive lobbying and surging disinformation online have undermined international efforts to respond to the threat."
"When the Trump administration began freezing federal funding for climate and ecosystem research, one of the programs hit hard was ours: the U.S. Geological Survey’s Climate Adaptation Science Centers." "The centers have been helping to track invasive species, protect water supplies and make agriculture more sustainable in the face of increasing drought conditions. They’re improving wildfire forecasting, protecting shorelines and saving Alaska salmon, among many other projects."
"The scores aimed to predict a property’s risk from a fires, floods and storms, but some in the real estate industry as well as homeowners have called them inaccurate."
UPDATE: As of Dec. 1, NPR reports funding for USDA's Beltsville, Md., research center has been resored. No link available.
"Industry groups and scientists have urged the Trump administration to reconsider its plan to close a renowned Agriculture Department center in Maryland and disperse its work around the country."
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