Environmental Politics

Trump, Congress Face Test on Infrastructure Politics, Funding

Infrastructure is much in the news these days, with battles over politics and funding yielding stories for environment reporters. In play are a Trump plan, who gets to pick projects, who pays and much more. But in an election year, how likely are infrastructure plans to move forward? The backstory, with angles for environment and energy, plus what to watch for in 2018, in our Backgrounder on infrastructure.

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Tools and Contacts for Covering Infrastructure

Covering local infrastructure projects often means covering energy and the environment. This week’s TipSheet offers a companion to our special backgrounder on the national infrastructure story emerging out of Washington. We’ve got dozens of resources and links for finding infrastructure news and information from Congress, executive agencies, infrastructure organizations and environmental groups.

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Interior Plan To Fund New Projects By Drilling Met With Skepticism

"A new Interior Department plan to build roads in national parks, fix visitors centers and complete other infrastructure projects using money raised by drilling on public lands is facing skepticism from members of Congress and a former senior department official."

Source: The Hill, 02/20/2018

"Interior To Hold Largest Oil And Gas Lease Sale in US History"

"The Interior Department is planning to hold the largest sale of oil and gas leases in the country's history.

The plans, announced Friday, would auction off 77.3 million acres of offshore waters to drilling, covering coastal waters in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

The auction will take place March 21.

Areas protected under a 2006 congressional moratorium, which bans drilling within 125 miles of the Florida coast until 2022, will be excluded from the lease."

Source: The Hill, 02/19/2018

U.S. Environmental Penalties Nearly Halve In Trump's First Year: Report

"The Environmental Protection Agency levied around half the average number of penalties against polluters in the first year of the Trump administration as in the same period of the past three presidential administrations, according to a report released Thursday."

Source: Reuters, 02/16/2018

"Top EPA Science Adviser Has History Of Questioning Pollution Research"

"In 2015, the top toxicologist for the state of Texas, Michael Honeycutt, was interviewed on Houston Public Radio. At the time, the Environmental Protection Agency was pushing for tighter limits on ozone, a type of air pollution that is hazardous for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases."

Source: NPR, 02/16/2018

Coalition Warns Federal Funding Cuts Would Harm Great Lakes

"Although it’s expected that President Trump’s plan to gut Great Lakes programs will be “dead on arrival” in Congress again, a major coalition of environmental groups is prepared to show how such draconian cuts could severely hurt public health and the economy — not just the environment."

Source: Toledo Blade, 02/16/2018

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