One especially ambitious element of the Biden infrastructure plan would swap out millions of lead pipes. It’s a massive, costly endeavor, but could remove from the country’s water supply a neurotoxin that harms human health, especially of kids and the poor. TipSheet looks at the new plan and offers ideas for reporting the story in your area.
"President Joe Biden’s push to elevate racial justice and the needs of disadvantaged communities is starting to overshadow a key player at the forefront of environmental justice for more than two decades: the Environmental Protection Agency."
"The White House today [Monday] announced a group of community leaders and green activists to join the Council on Environmental Quality's Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Members include Texas professor Robert Bullard, regarded as the father of the environmental justice movement."
The CDC, long a storied agency of serious import not just to health and science reporters, but also to environmental journalists, took a massive hit to its credibility during the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest WatchDog opinion makes the case it can do better, and offers 15 steps that may help restore the federal entity to its gold-standard days.
The push for federal infrastructure legislation may mean money for local water and sewage projects under a long-standing and broadly bipartisan program called WIFIA. The new TipSheet explains how the program works and why the latest developments could spell news for local environmental reporters. Plus, story ideas and reporting resources.
March 24, 2021 — The Society of Environmental Journalists wrote to President Biden, calling on him to keep his campaign promise to speak out publicly against the murder of the Saudi Arabian journalist and Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi. Full text of the letter.
"Conservatives have long argued against regulating fossil fuel production for the climate’s sake, claiming that doing so would interfere with the holy free market. A new study shows that’s a total fairy tale because the invisible hand isn’t responsible for dirty fuels’ market dominance—implicit government subsidies are. The findings show those subsidies total in the billions each year."
"President Biden’s economic advisers are pulling together a sweeping $3 trillion package to boost the economy, reduce carbon emissions and narrow economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich."
"China and the United States will set up a joint working group on climate change, China’s official Xinhua news agency said, in a potentially positive takeaway from what was an unusually rancorous high-level meeting."
"Jane Lubchenco, who was the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during the Obama administration is joining the White House to help lead climate and science efforts.
Lubchenco, who held the top role at the NOAA from 2009 to 2013, will take on the newly created position of deputy director for climate and environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
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