Environmental Politics

"Justices told a lower court to revisit their decision to uphold cuts of 75 percent to payments for solar panel owners."

"President Donald Trump plans to elevate a Democratic member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to full chair as many continue to raise questions about the agency’s independence." "The centrist Democrat has supported efforts to address power demand by strengthening grid reliability via an “all-of-the-above” philosophy." 

"Key California weather forecast offices will remain “criminally understaffed” while new hires get on board, former NWS meteorologists warn."

"The Trump administration wants to eliminate the energy-efficiency program, but bakers, builders, hot tub lobbyists, and chemical companies are trying to save it."

"An executive order signed by President Donald Trump late Thursday aims to give political appointees power over the billions of dollars in grants awarded by federal agencies. Scientists say it threatens to undermine the process that has helped make the U.S. the world leader in research and development."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unilaterally dissolved a collective bargaining agreement with members of the union that represents its workers, the union said Friday."

"Commercial fishing that recently resumed in a vast protected area of the Pacific Ocean must halt once again, after a judge in Hawaii sided this week with environmentalists challenging a Trump administration rollback of federal ocean protections."

"More than 40 years after the Passaic River was declared a Superfund site, cancer-causing toxins still line its bottom. While residents drink from its waters, cleanup stalls under corporate resistance and potential federal budget cuts."

"Though 60 miles (100km) apart, the Brazilian municipalities of Presidente Kennedy in Espírito Santo state and Campos dos Goytacazes in Rio de Janeiro state have one big thing in common: oil. Since late in the last century, their public funds have been bolstered by billions in royalties from oil finds in the offshore Campos Basin. Yet despite having significantly more resources than other towns and cities in Brazil, both still face problems such as poor sanitation and healthcare, inadequate social housing and state education as well as corruption scandals.

"In the week after floods tore through Texas Hill Country, most survivors were unable to get through to a federal aid hotline because the Department of Homeland Security let funding lapse, according to publicly available contract records and internal FEMA call center logs obtained by NPR."