"Environmental groups, states and cities are urging the Trump administration to give the public more time to weigh in on key agency rules as almost all sectors of society are focused on the coronavirus pandemic."
"The Trump administration is moving full-steam ahead to allow more drilling for oil and natural gas on public lands — despite the precipitous drop in petroleum prices now undercutting their value."
"A federal appeals court sided with scientists Monday, forcing a lower court to reconsider a case challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to bar those who receive agency grants from sitting on its boards."
"The Minnesota Court of Appeals sent an air-emissions permit for the PolyMet copper-nickel mine back to state regulators for further review on Monday, giving another victory to environmental groups who oppose the project."
"EPA has moved forward on a new policy that would restrict telework even as agency leadership has encouraged staff to work from home during the coronavirus outbreak."
"Ten miles north of Pensacola, Florida, on the west bank of the Escambia River, an aging chemical plant, its tanks, smokestacks and stainless steel pipes sprawling across hundreds of acres, is a climate killer hiding in plain sight."
"Scientists have found a new point of major vulnerability in the Antarctic ice sheet, in a region that already appears to be changing as the climate warms and has the potential to raise sea levels by nearly five feet over the long term."
"A series of missteps at the nation’s top public health agency caused a critical shortage of reliable laboratory tests for the coronavirus, hobbling the federal response as the pandemic spread across the country like wildfire, an Associated Press review found."
"Against a backdrop of a worsening public health crisis, cranky senators continued negotiations over a third phase of COVID-19 stimulus, as House Democrats injected climate change into the pandemic debate with their own relief package."
In the second of a two-part return from hiatus recast as an opinion column from SEJournal Online’s Joseph A. Davis, WatchDog looks at freedom of information developments at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior. Plus, check out part one [20] for more on the column relaunch and for background on open-information activities by the Society of Environmental Journalists, as well as a look at the lack of government openness around coronavirus.
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/headlines/advocacy-groups-push-back-business-usual-epa-during-virus
[2] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/488753-advocacy-groups-push-back-on-business-as-usual-at-epa-during
[3] https://www.sej.org/headlines/trump-doi-continues-oil-and-gas-leasing-during-price-drop-and-pandemic
[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/03/23/the-energy-202-trump-administration-continues-oil-and-gas-leasing-during-coronavirus-pandemic/5e752cba88e0fa101a74ec1a/
[5] https://www.sej.org/headlines/court-sides-scientists-epa-ban-grantees-agency-boards
[6] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/489110-court-sides-with-scientists-in-epa-policy-barring-its-grantees-from
[7] https://www.sej.org/headlines/minnesota-court-appeals-sends-polymet-permit-back-mpca
[8] https://apnews.com/fdbd8b24452453fb8248dceaa4a29ebc
[9] https://www.sej.org/headlines/epa-policy-limit-telework-emerges-during-pandemic
[10] https://www.eenews.net/stories/1062681577
[11] https://www.sej.org/headlines/florida-plant-emits-vast-quantities-potent-greenhouse-gas-n2o
[12] https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23032020/plant-florida-emits-vast-quantities-greenhouse-gas-nearly-300-times-more-potent-carbon
[13] https://www.sej.org/headlines/scientists-discover-massive-new-vulnerability-antarctic-ice-sheet
[14] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/03/23/denman-glacier-climate-change/
[15] https://www.sej.org/headlines/testing-blunders-crippled-us-response-coronavirus-spread
[16] https://apnews.com/c335958b1f8f6a37b19b421bc7759722
[17] https://www.sej.org/headlines/pandemic-house-democrats-push-greener-stimulus-senate-talks-lag
[18] https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1062685351
[19] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog/nasty-grams-return-plus-wrangling-over-foia-rules-epa-interior
[20] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog/sejournal-relaunches-watchdog-voice-plus-coronavirus-and-more
[21] https://www.sej.org/search_results
[22] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1772
[23] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1769
[24] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1770
[25] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1771
[26] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1774
[27] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1775
[28] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1776
[29] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=1777
[30] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=5018