National (U.S.)

"In nearly every major city in the U.S., people of color are exposed to more extreme urban heat than white people, a new study found."

"The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this month ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to go back and reconsider its lead hazard standards for homes—again."

"A bipartisan bill to fund highways, roads, and bridges set to be considered on Wednesday perpetuates the U.S. transportation system’s entrenched safety, sustainability, and inequality problems, advocacy groups say. The $303.5 billion highway bill that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to mark up would boost funding by 34% compared with the last long-term surface transportation law."

"The Biden administration is moving forward with mandatory cybersecurity requirements for pipelines, according to a person briefed on the plans, following the ransomware attack earlier this month that paralyzed the biggest fuel pipeline in the nation."

"The Biden administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced a joint effort to bring offshore wind energy to the Pacific Ocean along the California coast."

"Ben Santer, one of the nation’s leading climate scientists, said he is cutting ties with a prestigious government-funded laboratory over its plans to invite a scientist who has spread climate denial to speak in a seminar."

"When Biden issued an expansive day one executive order on climate change and public health, it included a little-noticed provision that intended to reinstate a flood-mitigation policy that President Obama had established in 2015 and President Trump revoked in 2017."

"The linchpin of President Biden’s climate plan faces a perilous path through the Congress, as scientists say nations must move now to aggressively reduce the pollution that is heating the planet and the United States is trying to reassert a leadership role in that global effort."

"Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's father was a highly active and respected member of the American Petroleum Institute for more than two decades, according to interviews with four former colleagues. Michael Coney's time at the powerful oil and gas industry trade group has raised concerns from environmental lawyers about Barrett's participation in a high-profile climate case that the Supreme Court decided last week."

"Trump EPA officials purposely veered from the agency's principles of scientific integrity to approve continued use of the weedkiller dicamba on genetically modified crops, the agency has admitted."