"Less than a month into his tenure as the top air-policy official at the Environmental Protection Agency, Bill Wehrum hopped into the EPA’s electric Chevy Volt and rode to the Pennsylvania Avenue offices of his former law firm."
The fierce contest over the Trump border wall has critical environmental implications, both local and regional, per the latest TipSheet. A key suit against the Trump emergency declaration was filed by environmental groups and plans for a border barrier may harm significant wildlife habitat, as well as numerous migrating species, including some that are endangered. Get the back story and why it matters, along with story ideas and reporting resources.
A scientist contracted to report on climate impacts for the National Park Service was caught up in a fracas over attempted censorship of her findings. Now she’s been fired. That, plus a FOIA case before the Supreme Court and an enviro group sues the Army Corps of Engineers over info on a permit for a new plastics plant in Louisiana. Read the latest on freedom-of-information issues in this month’s WatchDog TipSheet.
The Knight Media Forum, a two-day convening on the future of news, community and democracy in America, takes place Tuesday, February 26, 9:15 a.m. EST-Wednesday February 27, 2:00 p.m. EST in Miami. The event will be livestreamed by Detroit Public TV, with coverage anchored by Emmy-winning journalist Hari Sreenivasan, host of “PBS NewsHour Weekend” and the national public television show “SciTech Now.”
"The Interior Department is looking to increase its reliance on seasonal National Park Service (NPS) staffers who have received less training than their full-time counterparts in order to cut costs, according to a new report."
"With the natural gas fracking boom, plastics production is spreading in the Ohio River Valley. But at what cost to health and climate?"
"As the Southwest faces rapid growth and unrelenting drought, the Colorado River is in crisis, with too many demands on its diminishing flow. Now those who depend on the river must confront the hard reality that their supply of Colorado water may be cut off."
SEE ALSO:
"An iceberg twice the size of New York City is about to break off of Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf, according to NASA."
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When Army Staff Sgt. Samuel Fortune returned from Iraq, his body battered by war, he assumed he’d be safe. Then the people around him began to get sick. His neighbors, all living near five military bases, complained of tumors, thyroid problems and debilitating fatigue. Soon, the Colorado health department announced an unusually high number of kidney cancers in the region. Then Mr. Fortune’s wife fell ill."
"On Aug. 7, 2012, David Bernhardt went to bat for the American eel. Theirs seemed an odd alliance — slippery, even, to some."
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