"Washington, DC — A controversial decision to pull the plug on a federal study of the socio-economic impacts of coal strip mining has no identified author, according to documents obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Nor were the reasons behind the action pinpointed, as key documents are still being withheld as “deliberative.”"
"The Trump EPA has tried to stack the deck against tougher standards for smog and soot by recruiting anti-regulatory advocates for key advisory committees."
"The federal agency that manages the vast wildlife refuge in the Okefenokee Swamp says a private company’s plan to mine minerals near the swamp edge could pose “substantial risks” to the environment, and some damage may be irreversible."
"Employees are increasingly going to integrity officers with concerns over interference into science."
The nation’s parks are generally thought to be pristine natural havens. But a recent study finds the overwhelming majority suffer from air pollution problems like smog and ozone. That makes for important local and regional news stories, per the latest biweekly TipSheet. Get background, story ideas, resources and more.
"The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department’s acclaimed in-house scientists."
"The reversal may not be enough to satisfy the courts, which have repeatedly faulted agencies for not calculating their actions’ carbon footprint."
"The White House proposed Friday that federal agencies no longer have to take a project’s long-term climate impacts into account when assessing how they will affect the environment, reversing a major Obama administration policy.
"president Donald Trump is trying to take an ax to federal advisory committees, ordering that their numbers be slashed. Trump signed an executive order Friday that directs every federal agency to evaluate the need for all of its advisory committees created under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. And it gives agency heads until September to terminate at least one-third of current committees created by agency heads."
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"Polluters have long exaggerated the cost of new regulations and downplayed their benefits. Now, the Trump administration is turning that approach into policy as it seeks to slash regulations governing power plant emissions and weaken other environmental laws."
"Democratic lawmakers are challenging a new Trump administration report they say is – along with other White House moves – a precursor to opening the Grand Canyon to uranium mining."
