Environmental Politics

Interior Dept Finally Releases High Official’s Financial Disclosure

"After a long delay, the Interior Department’s Office of Government Ethics last week provided Public Domain the financial disclosure of Karen Budd-Falen, a high-ranking Trump appointee at DOI." "Karen Budd-Falen, a self-described “cowboy lawyer," owns ranch operations and real estate rentals. Her family has also had sizable investments in oil companies."

Source: Public Domain, 12/05/2025

Farmers Block Mexico’s Congress With Tractors To Protest Water Law Proposal

"Dozens of farmers drove their tractors in a caravan to Mexico City and blocked an entrance to Mexico’s Congress on Wednesday to protest a new national water law that imposes stricter controls on water use."

Source: AP, 12/05/2025

Chesapeake Bay Leaders Agree on Longer Timeline and Tribal Role in Cleanup

"The revised watershed agreement extends pollution-reduction targets and bets on voluntary measures to achieve cleanup goals that have remained elusive for decades."

Source: Inside Climate News, 12/05/2025

"US Congress Repeals Biden-Era Limits On Oil And Gas In Alaska Refuge"

"Congressional lawmakers on Thursday voted to repeal a Biden-era policy that limited the amount of land in an Alaska wildlife refuge that could be leased for oil and gas development. The U.S. Senate voted 49-45 to approve a resolution that revokes the Interior Department's 2024 rule governing energy development on the 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

Source: Reuters, 12/05/2025

Rare Win for Renewable Energy: Trump DOE Funds Geothermal Network Expansion

"The U.S. Department of Energy has approved an $8.6 million grant that will allow the nation’s first utility-led geothermal heating and cooling network to double in size."

Source: Inside Climate News, 12/04/2025

"After Ohio’s Landmark Decisions On HB 6 Utility Scandal, What’s Next?"

"In landmark rulings last month, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ordered FirstEnergy’s three regulated companies to pay roughly $250 million for violations linked to the state’s largest-ever utility corruption scandal. More than $186 million of that will be refunded or credited to consumers."

Source: Canary Media, 12/04/2025

Whitmer 7th Governor Urging EPA To Monitor Microplastics In Drinking Water

"Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week joined governors from six other states signing onto a petition demanding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency add microplastics to its program collecting data on contaminants not currently covered by the Safe Drinking Water Act."

Source: Michigan Advance, 12/04/2025

"Trump Dismantles Programs Designed To Cut Electricity Demand"

"The Trump administration is scrambling to ensure there’s enough electricity to power new data centers and stem rising utility bills — even as it dismantles some critical programs designed to help solve the problem."

Source: E&E News, 12/04/2025

"Trump Logging Plan Threatens Centuries-Old Trees, Fuels Lawsuits"

"Visiting a freshly logged forest in western Oregon earlier this fall, retired federal wildlife surveyor Erich Reeder stepped over mangled tree roots and dead limbs scattered across a denuded slope that was once an evergreen forest. He squatted over a foot-tall Douglas fir stump to count its rings: 120 years old."

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 12/04/2025

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