"State regulators, consumer advocates, and environmental groups say the Department of Energy is acting illegally in forcing aging, costly power plants to stay open."
"The Trump administration is diverting federal funds away from the Energy Department’s wind, solar and electric vehicles programs, despite the spending levels set under the current congressionally passed budget, according to a document posted on the agency’s website."
"As the Guadalupe River swelled from a wall of water heading downstream, sirens blared over the tiny river community of Comfort -- a last-ditch warning to get out for those who had missed cellphone alerts and firefighters going street-to-street telling people to get out."
"Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has doubled down on her past calls to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — but also says it should be “remade” as the agency responds to floods in Texas."
"The National Severe Storms Laboratory sits on a campus of radar equipment and office buildings at the University of Oklahoma, off a state highway in Norman. It’s responsible for radar breakthroughs in forecasting that the nation relies on for storm warnings and emergency preparedness. But the Trump administration wants to shut it down, prompting a rare rebuke from a prominent Republican member of Congress."
"With 7 of its most ambitious rules for cars, trucks and trains repealed, California officials now must find new ways to clean up the nation’s worst air pollution. But officials face growing pushback about affordability and costs."
"Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week’s European heat wave, a first-of-its-kind rapid study found."
"Employees at energy and environmental agencies are bracing for deep cuts to their workforces and sweeping restructuring after the Supreme Court toppled a lower court’s injunction that had paused the Trump administration’s plans."
"The Department of Energy report is widely viewed as groundwork for the White House to order coal and gas plants slated for closure to run for longer."
"First, a filthy Chesapeake Bay represented all that wasn’t working with America’s stewardship of its natural environment. Then, the bay became a success story. The sloughs of poorly treated sewage at the bottom of slime-green lagoons disappeared, and oyster populations, once nearly wiped out, made a near-miraculous comeback. ... In recent years, however, progress has stalled."
