"The Senate on Thursday confirmed Andrew R. Wheeler to be the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, giving oversight of the nation’s air and water to a former coal lobbyist and seasoned Washington insider."
"A University of Florida horticulture professor known for his scientific defense of genetically modified foods lost his defamation suit against journalist Eric Lipton and the New York Times for describing his close relationships with biotech giants including Monsanto."
"Stratocumulus clouds, which hover low in the sky and create vast decks of cloud cover, have a supreme value in our warming world: Their white tops reflect lots of solar radiation back into space. ... Those stratocumulus cloud decks could vanish, further intensifying global warming."
"New efforts by President Trump and his staff to question or undermine the established science of climate change have created a widening rift between the White House on one side, and scientific facts, government agencies, and some leading figures in the president’s own party on the other."
"Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a “gold standard” level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists said on Monday."
A scientist contracted to report on climate impacts for the National Park Service was caught up in a fracas over attempted censorship of her findings. Now she’s been fired. That, plus a FOIA case before the Supreme Court and an enviro group sues the Army Corps of Engineers over info on a permit for a new plastics plant in Louisiana. Read the latest on freedom-of-information issues in this month’s WatchDog TipSheet.
"The White House plans to create an ad hoc group of select federal scientists to reassess the government’s analysis of climate science and counter conclusions that the continued burning of fossil fuels is harming the planet, according to three senior administration officials."
"The Trump administration's stated goal for a rule defining which wetlands and waterways get Clean Water Act protection: Write a simple regulation that landowners can understand. ... But scientists who specialize in the study of wetlands and waterways say it's not that simple."
"The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology devoted its first hearing of the 116th Congress to exploring the wide-ranging effects of climate change and explaining the science fueling them, a discussion that revealed a subtle shift among key Republicans toward accepting the prevailing research that points to human-driven global warming."
