"A Texas-based federal judge assented to a Trump administration request Tuesday and ended Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken."
"Renewable projects have historically been able to qualify for federal tax credits once a developer spent 5 percent of a project’s cost. But that threshold would be scrapped under the new Treasury Department guidance."
"The Republican lawmakers who voted for Donald Trump’s anti-environment tax and spending bill have accepted more than $105m in political donations from the fossil fuel industry, a new analysis has found, raising concerns about their relationship with big oil."
"The Trump administration is also looking to revive mining in the popular wilderness area"
"California has approved an unprecedented plan to protect the iconic Joshua tree from climate change and development."
"A Hong Kong court is hearing closing arguments in the landmark trial of Jimmy Lai, one of the fiercest critics of the Chinese state". "The 77-year-old is the founder of pro-democracy publications including the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper".
"The agency plans to fast-track these projects through the development process. Nuclear energy experts worry about the feasibility and safety of the plan."
"One of the largest deer-smuggling networks in the state’s history aimed to skirt chronic wasting disease-containment rules, officials say."
"EPA expressed alarm at contamination in a creek near a predominantly Black neighborhood. Then the agency eliminated its civil-rights office and has taken no further action."
"The recently passed spending bill sets logging targets that federal officials don’t have the capacity to meet" "The new law sets aggressive timber harvesting goals and slashes spending for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Environmental advocates and industry insiders say those goals are contradictory and unworkable."
