Environmental Politics

Industry executives and their allies on Capitol Hill are citing the war in a push for long-sought policy goals such as pipeline approvals, expanded exports of natural gas and more drilling rights -- even as the White House says companies aren’t making full use of the permits they already have."

"A Trump-era FOIA policy at the Interior Department caused some professionals to worry that “political considerations” were hampering the release of information, the department’s watchdog agency reported today."

"President Biden used his first State of the Union address to reset his administration after a year of inflation and crises at home and abroad that has left him with nearly record-low approval ratings. But Biden did little to restart his stalled climate agenda."

"The war in Europe adds to the urgency of transitioning to clean energy sources such as solar and wind power that are harder for bad actors such as Russia to disrupt, those experts say."

"Federal regulators on Friday issued a draft environmental impact statement saying there were significant benefits to a plan to demolish four massive dams on Northern California’s Klamath River to save imperiled migratory salmon, setting the stage for the largest dam demolition project in U.S. history."

"It’s a race to the door for oil and gas companies with operations in Russia. Over the past 24 hours, three major international oil companies—BP, Equinor, and Shell—have publicly announced they will get out of the Russian oil business in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine."

"International officials will soon decide the fate of Mexican totoaba fish farming—and with it, possibly the last glimmer of hope for the vaquita."

"A thinktank linked to Japanese technology giant Canon is coming under pressure to remove multiple articles from a research director who describes the climate crisis as “fake news” and compares campaigner Greta Thunberg to a communist."

"The US oil and gas industry is using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to pressure the Biden administration to throw open more land and ocean for domestic drilling and to loosen regulations for large companies attempting to ramp up their fossil fuel extraction."