"Even after legalization, illicit cannabis grows continue to pollute California’s public lands. And the contamination, new research shows, lingers."
They’re a carbon sink, a playground and a major market, but also a source of smoke pollution and pest infestation. Millions of acres of Canadian forest are a big North American story, and the latest Reporter’s Toolbox points you to a central data source that can help quantify, analyze and visualize the numbers and see the proverbial forest for the trees.
"Chronic exposure to pollution from wildfires has been linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States, according to a new study."
"A House hearing exposed sharp divisions over whether loosening environmental laws and expanding logging will protect communities from catastrophic fires. Scientists urged a shift toward investing in fire-resilient homes and landscapes."
"A recent, non-binding opinion from the Government Accountability Office may pave the way for Congress to begin rescinding management plans for national monuments across the country, environmentalists and experts say, potentially leading to protected areas being further opened up for resource extraction. And Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah is yet again at the center of the renewed threats to the nation’s monuments."
"The U.S. Forest Service announced revisions to its oil and gas leasing rules today that the agency promises “modernizes and streamlines” the permitting process to drill for fossil fuels in the nation’s forests and grasslands. The changes prompted the ire of environmental groups who say it is the latest in a year’s worth of attacks on public lands protections by President Trump’s administration."
"A niche rule established by the U.S. Forest Service to justify the clearing of tens of thousands of acres of forest in the name of reducing wildfire risk was unlawfully created and applied, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon found last week, invalidating its future use across the United States."
"Police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname have arrested nearly 200 people in their first-ever joint cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining in the Amazon region, authorities said Thursday."
"Neither the House nor the Senate included funding for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service in new spending bills. The Interior Department is still forging ahead."
"The House of Representatives voted 214 to 208 Wednesday to open up hundreds of thousands of federal acres to mining near the border of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness."
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