OSHA stops publishing on its website a list of U.S. workers who died on the job, a new "Silencing Science Tracker" tool and a journalists' guide to working with whistleblowers are released, plus a powerful politician pressures a scientist on environmental health policy. All in the latest WatchDog TipSheet.
"President Trump has nominated a former astronaut to head a science agency after more than a year in office — even as his administration has touted the agency as key to helping make the United States a dominant force in exporting fuel and minerals globally."
"The German government on Monday dismissed as unjustifiable any auto emissions testing on monkeys or people."
"The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says it will decide in about 90 days on a request to pump 7 million gallons a day from Lake Michigan as part of a proposed Foxconn manufacturing complex state leaders have pushed as a major job creator."
"Gov. Phil Murphy yesterday signed an executive order to have the state rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a step signaling the state is shifting to a much more aggressive stance on fighting climate change."
"Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has rejected a permit to build the nation’s largest oil-by-rail terminal in Vancouver."
"The start of the new year has been rocky for Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke. He’s on the hot seat for exempting Florida from the Trump administration’s expanded oil and gas offshore drilling proposal without bothering to notify his boss, and for what appears to be a failure to disclose an investment in a Montana gun company, a possible conflict of interest."
"Kathleen Hartnett White, the former Texas regulator who has extolled the social benefits of carbon dioxide and asserted that coal helped end slavery, faces a difficult road to Senate confirmation as top White House environmental adviser, according to lobbyists and Capitol Hill sources."
"U.S. EPA's internal watchdog has put the White House on notice that its lean budgets could hinder its efforts to root out waste and fraud."
"The Trump administration wants to make major changes to permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act as part of its infrastructure plan, according to a draft White House document obtained by The Washington Post."
