Water & Oceans

"Oil prices on Sunday crossed into triple digits for the first time since 2022 — a stark sign of how the Iran war is throttling global supplies and raising consumers' costs."

"West Virginia lawmakers in the Senate passed a bill to weaken drinking water protections by loosening regulations for certain aboveground storage tanks. It is the latest move to weaken the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, passed in 2014 after a chemical leak from Freedom Industries along the Elk River contaminated drinking water for nearly 300,000 West Virginians in the Charleston area."

"After days of debate and disagreements, the House Committee on Agriculture on Thursday passed its version of the 2026 Farm Bill, which includes controversial provisions critics say will hamper the ability of states to put in place strict rules for pesticides and animal welfare."

"Brenntag Mid-South continues to amass serious environmental violations related to its chemical repackaging plant in East Durham, where state inspectors cited the company in November for failing to clean up leaking barrels on the property."

"The city of Dayton anticipates spending hundreds of millions of dollars to remove PFAS from its drinking water. The city recently filed a new lawsuit claiming Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is liable for the costs."

"Shortly after President Donald Trump took office last January, employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture were reportedly instructed to flag and delete any webpages that mentioned climate change — including resources used by farmers to prepare for extreme weather. In response, a group of environmental and agricultural nonprofits sued the agency over the loss of critical information. In May, just days before a scheduled hearing, the USDA announced it would restore its climate webpages."

"Climate change’s rising seas may threaten tens of millions more people than scientists and government planners originally thought because of mistaken research assumptions on how high coastal waters already are, a new study said."

"No companies bid for the chance to drill in more than 1 million acres of water off Alaska’s Cook Inlet, the Interior Department said Wednesday."

"The Trump administration on Tuesday took the first ​step toward loosening regulations ‌that protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale from ​vessel strikes."

"Two state lawmakers introduced legislation this month that aims to crack down on a major source of water pollution from cruise ships in Alaska waters."