"West Virginia lawmakers in the Senate passed a bill to weaken drinking water protections by loosening regulations for certain aboveground storage tanks. It is the latest move to weaken the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, passed in 2014 after a chemical leak from Freedom Industries along the Elk River contaminated drinking water for nearly 300,000 West Virginians in the Charleston area."
"Two Utah Congress members have introduced a resolution that could end protections for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Conservation groups worry similar maneuvers on other federal lands will follow."
"In an effort to quell blowback on data centers, President Donald Trump announced at a White House roundtable on Wednesday the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” a set of nonbinding promises that Big Tech companies signed to keep household utility bills from skyrocketing."
"A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration’s efforts to shut down New York’s congestion pricing program are unlawful."
"After days of debate and disagreements, the House Committee on Agriculture on Thursday passed its version of the 2026 Farm Bill, which includes controversial provisions critics say will hamper the ability of states to put in place strict rules for pesticides and animal welfare."
"TerraPower, a Bill Gates–backed nuclear power start-up, received the federal green light to start building a power plant in Wyoming. The approval paves the way for the first new commercial nuclear reactor in the U.S. in nearly a decade."
"Brenntag Mid-South continues to amass serious environmental violations related to its chemical repackaging plant in East Durham, where state inspectors cited the company in November for failing to clean up leaking barrels on the property."
"Shortly after President Donald Trump took office last January, employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture were reportedly instructed to flag and delete any webpages that mentioned climate change — including resources used by farmers to prepare for extreme weather. In response, a group of environmental and agricultural nonprofits sued the agency over the loss of critical information. In May, just days before a scheduled hearing, the USDA announced it would restore its climate webpages."
"A group of prominent scientists launched an independent autism advisory panel Tuesday over fears that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has politicized the key federal autism advisory board he oversees."
"High along the Southwind Nature Trail, the tallgrass prairie waves in all directions, a mix of present-day reality and historical mirage stretching to the horizon much as it did more than 150 years ago." "Today, the vast majority of what was an estimated 140 million to 170 million acres of tallgrass prairie is gone, plowed under by 19th century agricultural sprawl and the development that followed."
