EJToday: Top Headlines

What Are The Factors That Caused The Unseasonal California Fires? [9]

"Southern California is experiencing it’s most devastating winter fires in more than four decades. Fires don’t usually blaze at this time of year, but specific ingredients have come together to defy the calendar in a fast and deadly manner."

Climate Change [10]
Disasters [11]
Environmental Studies [12]
Public [13]
California [14]
Source: AP [15], 01/09/2025
- Read more about What Are The Factors That Caused The Unseasonal California Fires? [9]
"Trump Wants Oil Drilling in Alaska. A Lease Sale There Just Flopped." [16]

"One of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s biggest “drill, baby, drill” initiatives suffered a significant setback on Wednesday as the Interior Department announced that a lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ended without a single bidder."

Climate Change [10]
Economy & Business [17]
Energy & Fuel [18]
Environmental Politics [19]
Natural Resources [20]
Wildlife [21]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Alaska and Hawaii [23]
Source: NYTimes [24], 01/09/2025
- Read more about "Trump Wants Oil Drilling in Alaska. A Lease Sale There Just Flopped." [16]
"Frontline Communities Fight to Evict a Toxic Roofing Company" [25]

"One of America’s largest shingle makers is pumping pollution into Black and brown communities from Texas to Minnesota"

Air [26]
Chemicals [27]
Environmental Health [28]
Environmental Justice [29]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Pollution [31]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [32]
Source: Sierra [33], 01/09/2025
- Read more about "Frontline Communities Fight to Evict a Toxic Roofing Company" [25]
Biden FWS Declines To Remove Grizzly Bears From Endangered List [34]

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will keep endangered species protections for grizzly bears in place in most of the western U.S., the agency announced Wednesday, rebuffing states that petitioned for their removal."

Agriculture [35]
Biodiversity [36]
Environmental Politics [19]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Natural Resources [20]
Wildlife [21]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [37]
Source: The Hill [38], 01/09/2025
- Read more about Biden FWS Declines To Remove Grizzly Bears From Endangered List [34]
"Trump Rails Against ‘Quagmire’ Of Enviro Rules" [39]

"President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his pledge to expedite environmental reviews for some companies as he blasted a “quagmire” of U.S. regulations."

Environmental Politics [19]
Journalism & Media [40]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Source: E&E News [41], 01/09/2025
- Read more about "Trump Rails Against ‘Quagmire’ Of Enviro Rules" [39]
"Landmark Study Affirms Fluoride’s Link To Lowered IQ, Adds To Debate" [42]

"Fluoride exposure is consistently linked with lowered IQ, according to a landmark analysis of more than 70 published studies on the subject."

Chemicals [27]
Environmental Health [28]
Water & Oceans [43]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Source: The New Lede [44], 01/09/2025
- Read more about "Landmark Study Affirms Fluoride’s Link To Lowered IQ, Adds To Debate" [42]
"Thailand Bans Imports Of Plastic Waste To Curb Toxic Pollution" [45]

"Thailand has banned plastic waste imports over concerns about toxic pollution, as experts warn that failure to agree a global treaty to cut plastic waste will harm human health."

Chemicals [27]
Energy & Fuel [18]
Environmental Health [28]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Pollution [31]
Waste [46]
Water & Oceans [43]
Public [13]
International [47]
Asia [48]
Source: Guardian [49], 01/09/2025
- Read more about "Thailand Bans Imports Of Plastic Waste To Curb Toxic Pollution" [45]
"Calif. Wildfires Threaten Insurers Already Teetering From Climate Shocks" [50]

"It’s too soon to know the financial cost of the wildfires burning around Los Angeles. But the toll on California’s troubled insurance market could be enormous."

Climate Change [10]
Disasters [11]
Economy & Business [17]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
California [14]
Source: NYTimes [51], 01/09/2025
- Read more about "Calif. Wildfires Threaten Insurers Already Teetering From Climate Shocks" [50]
Elon Musk’s Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight [52]

"Elon Musk’s Boring Company is constructing a planned 68-mile tunnel system beneath Las Vegas where drivers will ferry passengers around the urban core in Teslas. Despite its size, the project, because it’s privately funded, has not gone through the vetting typical of public transit systems, including lengthy governmental studies."

Infrastructure [53]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Transportation [54]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [37]
Source: ProPublica [55], 01/09/2025
- Read more about Elon Musk’s Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight [52]
"To Save the Great Salt Lake, Farmers Will Have to Grow Less Alfalfa" [56]

"The Great Salt Lake is shrinking, and new research published Tuesday reports that saving it requires reducing the amount of farmland that is irrigated in the region."

Agriculture [35]
Climate Change [10]
Water & Oceans [43]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [37]
Source: Inside Climate News [57], 01/09/2025
- Read more about "To Save the Great Salt Lake, Farmers Will Have to Grow Less Alfalfa" [56]
Fires Tear Through Pacific Palisades, LA area; Gusts Of Up To 99 mph Reported [58]

"The Palisades fire had grown to more than 2,900 acres as of Tuesday evening, driven by ‘life-threatening and destructive’ winds. The extreme wind event blasting Southern California is forecast to peak between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m."

Climate Change [10]
Disasters [11]
Natural Resources [20]
Public [13]
California [14]
Source: LA Times [59], 01/08/2025
- Read more about Fires Tear Through Pacific Palisades, LA area; Gusts Of Up To 99 mph Reported [58]
"Meta Ends Fact-Checking, Drawing Praise From Trump" [60]

"Meta will dismantle its extensive fact-checking program in the United States, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday, ending a practice that has sought to limit the spread of falsehoods on its platforms but has been assailed as censorship in conservative circles."

Environmental Politics [19]
Journalism & Media [40]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Source: Washington Post [61], 01/08/2025
- Read more about "Meta Ends Fact-Checking, Drawing Praise From Trump" [60]
"Trump Promises to End New Wind Farms" [62]

"President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Tuesday that “no new windmills” would be built in the United States when he takes office, a direct rebuke of the Biden administration, which has approved 11 commercial-scale offshore wind projects."

Climate Change [10]
Energy & Fuel [18]
Environmental Politics [19]
Infrastructure [53]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Water & Oceans [43]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Source: NYTimes [63], 01/08/2025
- Read more about "Trump Promises to End New Wind Farms" [62]
"Campaigners Celebrate As Firm Making First-Ever GMO Fish Ceases Operations" [64]

"AquaBounty Technologies, the first company in North America to get regulatory approval to sell a genetically engineered animal for human consumption — an Atlantic salmon spliced with genes from other fish — announced on Dec. 11 that it was closing its last facility, ceasing fish farming activities, and culling remaining stock.

Activism [65]
Biodiversity [36]
Consumer [66]
Fish & Fisheries [67]
Food [68]
Technology [69]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
Canada [70]
Source: Mongabay [71], 01/08/2025
- Read more about "Campaigners Celebrate As Firm Making First-Ever GMO Fish Ceases Operations" [64]
Calif. And Greens Sued Exxon Over Plastics. Now Exxon Is Striking Back. [72]

"On Monday, Exxon Mobil filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of environmental groups over their criticism of the company’s plastics recycling initiatives."

Chemicals [27]
Energy & Fuel [18]
Environmental Health [28]
Environmental Politics [19]
Journalism & Media [40]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Pollution [31]
Public [13]
National (U.S.) [22]
California [14]
Source: Grist [73], 01/08/2025
- Read more about Calif. And Greens Sued Exxon Over Plastics. Now Exxon Is Striking Back. [72]

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