The latest WatchDog TipSheet details an open-records case against U.S. EPA nominee Scott Pruitt (shown), the scoop on an Agriculture Department animal welfare database that vanished then returned, a reporter busted at Standing Rock, plus items on whistleblowers, coal-ash and more.
"A research scholar at New York University has resigned from Exxon Mobil Corp.'s External Citizenship Advisory Panel, citing what she calls the oil giant’s 'targeted attacks' on environmental groups under former CEO Rex Tillerson’s watch."
"A complicated legal battle awaits the Trump administration if it tries to withdraw from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the Congressional Research Service in a new report."
Senate votes on confirming Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could come as soon as Thursday and Friday this week. Pruitt's office in Oklahoma has stonewalled open-records requests from environmentalists for his emails with energy companies -- and the first court hearing seeking to compel disclosure is scheduled for Thursday.
"A federal judge on Monday refused to stop construction on the last stretch of the Dakota Access pipeline, which is progressing much faster than expected and could be operational in as little as 30 days."
"A year after Justin Trudeau and Barack Obama pledged cooperation on climate goals, Canadian PM's first meeting with President Trump produced no mention of them."
"Joe Pizarchik spent more than seven years working on a regulation to protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining. It took Congress 25 hours to kill it."
"A year after tens of thousands of common murres, an abundant North Pacific seabird, starved and washed ashore on beaches from California to Alaska, researchers have pinned the cause to unusually warm ocean temperatures that affected the tiny fish they eat."
"Congress is racing to nullify an Obama-era order (the Bureau of Land Management's "Planning 2.0 rule") that gave hikers, bikers, hunters, fishers, and other outdoor recreation fans an equal voice with drillers, ranchers, loggers, and other industries in how the government manages over 250 million acres of federal lands."
"A lawsuit filed by 21 kids challenging the federal government to slow climate change was updated on Thursday to list President Donald Trump as a defendant, replacing former President Barack Obama."
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