"Senators pressed federal fire officials to ramp up preparations for a potentially catastrophic wildfire season, amid challenges of protecting firefighters and the public from coronavirus exposure."
"The environmental injustice that disadvantaged communities suffer affects the country’s overall health and economic bottom line, witnesses told House lawmakers Tuesday."
"Senators voted last night [June 8] to begin debate on a massive legislative package to fund the upkeep of national parks and public lands, 80-17."
The Society of Environmental Journalists stands with journalists of color who are shedding light on systemic racism, inequities, and discrimination inside and outside of the newsroom. We condemn violence against people who are peacefully protesting police killings of Black people, and violence against journalists reporting on them. We condemn the silencing of Black voices in any newsroom, as well as voices from other underrepresented communities.
"President Trump’s latest executive order, lifting environmental review of major projects, will have a disproportionately harmful effect on minorities, experts warn."
"U.S. taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in climate-related property losses as the government backs a growing number of mortgages on homes in the path of floods, fires and extreme weather."
"Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) says President Trump supports amending a sweeping public lands package to allow Gulf Coast states to receive more revenue from offshore oil and gas leasing, a move that critics say incentivizes states to allow drilling."
"Communities with large minority populations are among the most vulnerable in the U.S. to the effects of climate change and could become more threatened as the coronavirus pandemic weakens their resilience to disasters, according to experts and federal data."
Mishandling of vital information by the U.S. government worsened the COVID-19 pandemic, argues the latest WatchDog. The no-holds-barred opinion piece, which notes that coronavirus is as much an environmental story as a public health one, points the finger at the White House and the “Silent CDC,” sifts the wreckage of the testing program and speculates about the dearth of data as the nation reopens.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, there’s another respiratory disease to worry about. Legionnaires’, which attacks the lungs, is already the deadliest waterborne illness in the United States. And the dangerous bacteria may now be breeding in the plumbing systems of buildings shut down during the outbreak. Contributor Brett Walton asks: Is the nation prepared for a safe reopening?
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