"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke gave 10 of his acting directors more permanence in January, signing an order giving them most of the authority of a Senate-confirmed director."
"John Konkus, a top political aide to U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, received approval from ethics officials to work outside the agency as a media consultant."
As new research reminds us that pollution often disproportionately affects poor and minority communities in the United States, a long-standing mapping tool from the EPA can help reporters explore and discover those environmental justice stories nearest them. The latest TipSheet explains the problem, and walks you through the mapping app.
"After last year’s calamity, officials are making the same decisions that put homeowners at risk in the first place."
"The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, facing ongoing criticism about his taxpayer-funded, first-class travels, says he plans to spend more time in coach."
"A top Interior Department official who served as a special assistant to Secretary Ryan Zinke resigned Wednesday after CNN discovered her history of making anti-Muslim and conspiracy theory posts on social media."
A hard-nosed account of Monsanto and its controversial and popular herbicide Roundup comes in a new book by a former wire service reporter, who pieced together documentation and fact-finding from over 20 years to make a case there was a dangerous cover-up. BookShelf reviews Carey Gillam’s “Whitewash.”
They count in the tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands, and each one is a potential story. This week’s TipSheet looks at abandoned mines spread across the United States, many of them polluted, and with few cleanups underway. Find out what’s at stake, and get reporting resources.
"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has redrawn his ambitious plan for reorganizing the Interior Department after the agency received numerous complaints from Western leaders and members of Congress that splitting up states into multiple regions would cause more harm than good."
"With fanfare, U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt convened top officials from across the government last week to discuss a coordinated federal effort to combat lead poisoning. What did they do? Hard to say."
