Natural Resources

"House Republicans added a provision to their sweeping tax cut package authorizing sales of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in Nevada and Utah, prompting outrage from Democrats and environmentalists who called it a betrayal that could lead to drilling, mining and logging in sensitive areas."

"Dozens of programs, many linked to climate change and diversity, have been designated for elimination by DOGE, according to people with knowledge of the plan."

"The former island prison is both a National Historic Landmark and a national park site that draws more than a million visitors each year."

"The Trump administration’s slashing of budgets and staff have Great Lakes scientists concerned that they have lost the ability to protect the public from toxic algal blooms, which can kill animals and sicken people. "

"Just one year ago, JD Vance was a leading advocate of the Great Lakes and the efforts to restore the largest system of freshwater on the face of the planet.

"Presidents have long used coal miners as political props. Yet federal policies have done little to improve their lives, and some things have actually gotten worse."

"Amid the vast forests carpeting the corrugated slopes of the Appalachians sit some of the country’s only remaining mountain bogs and a rare, threatened species of turtle living in them."

"For the first time, scientists have mapped groundwater variables nationally to understand which aquifers are most vulnerable to contamination from orphan wells." "A new study from the U.S. Geological Survey finds that groundwater in Appalachia, the Gulf Coast and California is susceptible to contamination from orphaned oil and gas wells."

"In the fast-growing Bangladesh capital, sun-scorched activists demand protection for city's last green oases."

"Lawmakers are preparing for a tense markup in the House Natural Resources Committee on legislation to expand mining and drilling." "One committee is moving ahead swiftly to advance its piece of the Republicans’ sprawling budget package, while other panels with power over energy and environment policy get bogged down."

"House Republicans passed a measure Thursday that would repeal the government’s decision to place California’s longfin smelt, a finger-sized fish, on the endangered species list."