A long-standing law designed to protect public information about environmental impacts is facing an unfavorable overhaul, while a proposal dictating how EPA uses scientific findings in its rulings is nearing finalization. WatchDog has those items, plus how states are using the COVID-19 pandemic to restrict press and more.
For reporters investigating the coronavirus-environment connection, you might look to the untreated sewage that can sometimes overflow municipal systems during wet weather, possibly bringing the novel pathogen to beaches and other places where people can get sick from it. The latest TipSheet takes a look at the reality, plus provides story ideas and reporter resources.
During more than three years in office, President Trump has attempted to undo dozens of environmental regulations. That effort has taken on a new dimension during the pandemic. In a move that environmental groups call reckless, the Administration has ordered a stop to enforcement of many of its environmental and health protections. Join SEJ and the Earth Institute of Columbia University, 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET, for a discussion of what has happened, and what it means.
"Five years ago, members of the Rockefeller family walked away from the fossil fuels that made them rich, alarmed that burning oil and gas was causing climate change. Now it also seems like a smart financial move. The $1.1 billion Rockefeller Brothers Fund — largely free of oil and gas — has outpaced financial benchmarks, defying predictions of money managers."
"Bucking GOP elders, they’ve drafted the American Climate Contract as the right’s response to the Green New Deal."
"Hydrogen has long been touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Now, as major economies prepare green investments to kickstart growth, advocates spy a golden chance to drag the niche energy into the mainstream of a post-pandemic world."
"In some ways, the dire lockdowns undertaken to stop Covid-19 have fast-forwarded us into an unlikely future—one with almost impossibly bold climate action taken all at once, no matter the cost."
"The Trump administration on Thursday agreed to change rules governing key renewable energy tax credits, a win for wind farm owners seeking more time to claim the subsidies because new projects have been stalled by the global coronavirus pandemic."
"Reports of bugs nicknamed "murder hornets" in the United States generated a lot of buzz as well as new legislation this week — and climate change could make the problem worse."
"The coronavirus pandemic is endangering a $900 million program that underpins Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s long-term strategy for shrinking the annual massive toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie’s western basin."
