Nearly as rejuvenating as attending the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual gathering is perusing the après-conference spoof by contributing quipster David Helvarg. While it seemed he was mostly there unabashedly preselling his forthcoming book, he somehow found time to send up SEJ’s earnest sessions, lambast its blown-up tours and rib its beat dinners. Read his Chicago roast.
"Burning time for North American wildfires is going into overtime. Flames are lasting later into the night and starting earlier in the morning because human-caused climate change is extending the hotter and drier conditions that feed fires, a new study found."
"Drought in the contiguous United States has reached record levels for this time of year, weather data shows. Meteorologists said it’s a bad sign for the upcoming wildfire season, food prices and western water issues."
"The commission is pushing to get data centers onto the grid, and fast. The high-stakes move could tip the balance of regulatory power against the states."
"The Trump administration will pull its emergency levers to head off a major water and power crisis." "Interior said it will cut releases out of one of the river’s two main reservoirs, Lake Powell, to the minimum amount legally allowed — 6 million acre-feet — between now and October."
"The Potomac River, otherwise known as “the nation’s river,” has been named the most endangered river in the country, following a massive sewage spill earlier this year and the ongoing buildout of thirsty data centers across the watershed."
"The U.S. government plans another oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — following two prior sales that saw no interest from major oil companies and amid ongoing litigation aimed at blocking drilling in a region seen as sacred by the indigenous Gwich’in."
"In a setback to the Trump administration’s extraordinary legal campaign against state climate action, a federal judge threw out the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to prevent the state of Hawaii from suing oil companies for damages."
"The ocean’s fastest and most formidable predators might also be the most physiologically vulnerable to warming waters, researchers warn." "The evolutionary edge that fueled great white shark dominance for millions of years could soon become its greatest downfall."
"Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over its decision to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the Endangered Species Act, a move they say threatens both the coastline region and the law designed to protect threatened plants and animals."
