"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt insisted his job was not to 'put up fences' to prohibit industries from exploiting natural resources, and he refused to be pinned down on the agency's future direction on clean air and climate change at a Senate hearing on Tuesday."
"Trump talked of the year's climate disasters—without saying 'climate change'—and while repeating his usual promotion of the fossil fuels that drive global warming."
Top reporters at an event sponsored by the Society of Environmental Journalists predicted clashes in 2018 over climate, drilling on public lands, environmental laws, infrastructure, national monuments and more. Here's what these journalistic veterans forecast. Plus, check out the accompanying annual issues guide.
New White House tariffs on solar imports may put the brakes on the solar installation boom in the United States. That means numerous local and regional stories are waiting to be told. This week's TipSheet has plenty of ideas for coverage, plus resources to track solar activity in your locale.
OSHA stops publishing on its website a list of U.S. workers who died on the job, a new "Silencing Science Tracker" tool and a journalists' guide to working with whistleblowers are released, plus a powerful politician pressures a scientist on environmental health policy. All in the latest WatchDog TipSheet.
"President Trump has nominated a former astronaut to head a science agency after more than a year in office — even as his administration has touted the agency as key to helping make the United States a dominant force in exporting fuel and minerals globally."
"The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says it will decide in about 90 days on a request to pump 7 million gallons a day from Lake Michigan as part of a proposed Foxconn manufacturing complex state leaders have pushed as a major job creator."
"Gov. Phil Murphy yesterday signed an executive order to have the state rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a step signaling the state is shifting to a much more aggressive stance on fighting climate change."
"The start of the new year has been rocky for Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke. He’s on the hot seat for exempting Florida from the Trump administration’s expanded oil and gas offshore drilling proposal without bothering to notify his boss, and for what appears to be a failure to disclose an investment in a Montana gun company, a possible conflict of interest."
"Kathleen Hartnett White, the former Texas regulator who has extolled the social benefits of carbon dioxide and asserted that coal helped end slavery, faces a difficult road to Senate confirmation as top White House environmental adviser, according to lobbyists and Capitol Hill sources."
