Public

"Multiple coal ash sites in Illinois sit within or adjacent to flood plains, according to environmental watchdogs."

"With countless acres of flat, fertile farmland traversed by major rivers, Illinois is familiar with major flooding.

Just as towns were built along rivers in decades past, so were coal-fired power plants that relied on the water for cooling and transporting coal. Now, those plants — some defunct and some still operating — are also repositories for toxic coal ash that could pose a risk of contamination when floodwaters rise.

"Imports of waste from across the country have turned parts of the state into ‘a toilet bowl’ – and residents are fighting back"

"The latest Census of Agriculture, released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), shows a number of familiar trends: farm consolidation is continuing; the largest agribusinesses are increasing in number and acreage; the average age of American farmers is still climbing; and mid-sized farms are fading away."

"The New York Times sent a climate policy survey to the 18 declared candidates. They all want to stick to the Paris Agreement. Beyond that, they diverge."

"Russian social media accounts focused on U.S. division over coal jobs as part of an effort to sway the 2016 presidential election, according to the newly released report from special counsel Robert Mueller."

"Anti-abortion Christians are among those protesting an Environmental Protection Agency proposal that would limit consideration of health benefits in regulating mercury and other toxic emissions from industrial sources like coal-burning power plants."

"South Carolina’s Republican-majority Senate advanced a measure on Wednesday that would require the state to block new infrastructure to transport or process offshore oil and gas as state lawmakers fear the Interior Department will open the Atlantic coast to offshore drilling."

"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s already shaky bid to persuade Canadians to fight climate change will get even tougher after the election on Tuesday of conservative Jason Kenney as premier of the energy-rich province of Alberta."

"A high-profile NASA temperature data set, which has pronounced the last five years the hottest on record and the globe a full degree Celsius warmer than in the late 1800s, has found new backing from independent satellite records — suggesting the findings are on a sound footing, scientists reported Tuesday."

"Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who has made climate change the focal point of his presidential campaign, called on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to hold a debate centered solely on the issue.

“Climate change is the biggest threat facing our nation. And it demands to be the sole focus of a nationally televised debate. Democrats must put this issue front and center,” he said in a petition to pressure the DNC to hold the debate.