Environmental Politics

"The Biden administration is defending a huge Trump-era oil and gas project in the North Slope of Alaska designed to produce more than 100,000 barrels of oil a day for the next 30 years, despite President Biden’s pledge to pivot the country away from fossil fuels."

"Four environmental organizations on Wednesday asked the Tennessee Valley Authority’s internal watchdog to investigate whether the nation’s largest public utility misused ratepayer money for lobbying and litigation that fought federal environmental regulations."

"Big Oil was dealt a stunning defeat on Wednesday when shareholders of Exxon Mobil elected at least two board candidates nominated by activist investors who pledged to steer the company toward cleaner energy and away from oil and gas."

"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 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."

"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."

"The atrazine wars offer a cautionary tale for scientists whose work triggers blowback by regulated industries, and lessons for protecting scientific integrity."