"Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden (D) declared today he will block the confirmation of Daniel Jorjani to become the Interior Department's solicitor over concerns about how the agency handles Freedom of Information Act requests."
"A study promised a rare positive development from global warming for Maryland’s favorite crustacean. But the bad news wasn’t far behind."
"A forthcoming EPA overhaul of standards for lead in drinking water will essentially ban partial lead pipe replacement, in which part of a lead pipe is removed but another part is allowed to remain, Bloomberg Environment has learned."
"President Jair Bolsonaro threatened on Thursday to dismiss officers at the Brazilian agency that monitors deforestation in the Amazon over its publication of data he disagrees with."
"A group of environmental advocates filed a joint lawsuit against EPA on Thursday challenging the agency’s finalized June Dust-Lead Hazard Standards that the group says are too lax to protect families."
"The Environmental Protection Agency on Aug. 1 proposed changes to the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review permitting program, which currently requires industrial facilities to install new pollution controls each time a company adds a new facility or expands existing operations."
"Record-breaking spring rains and historic flooding in the Midwest were poised to create one of the biggest dead zones on record in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, researchers had estimated. Instead, Hurricane Barry mixed up the waters, making the dead zone smaller than expected, scientists said during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration press conference on Thursday."
"A federal judge blocked construction of a giant copper mine in Arizona’s Coronado National Forest, overturning a decision by the federal government and handing a major victory to environmental groups and tribes that have been fighting plans for the mine."
"Plans for protecting sage grouse in five Western states are being changed in ways that will conserve habitat while allowing ranchers to maintain their livelihoods, federal officials said Thursday. ... Environmental groups blasted the plan based on the Forest Service’s three-bullet-point summary released Thursday ...."
"Just as utilities have begun making costly plans to move toxic coal ash out of fragile storage ponds to protect waterways and aquifers, the Trump administration may be about to give them a cheaper alternative: Letting them use unlimited amounts of ash at certain construction sites."
