"Late last year, as winter approached and power companies prepared for cold weather, Gov. Greg Abbott’s hand-picked utility regulators decided they no longer wanted to work with a nonprofit organization they had hired to monitor and help Texas enforce the state’s electric reliability standards."
The power and water fiasco that followed a deep freeze in Texas was a predictable debacle and, thus, a warning signal to journalists covering disasters and climate-driven weather extremes. To help, the latest Reporter’s Toolbox provides a rundown of data sources about power grids, from local, regional and national entities, and recommends you start tracking the numbers and be prepared.
The Society of Environmental Journalists sent a letter on February 19, 2021 to Interior Secretary-Designate Debra Haaland with a list of more than a dozen recommendations for letting the sun shine more fully in the Department of the Interior, including respecting the vital role that journalists play in our democracy. Read text of the letter.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will consider the nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland as U.S. Department of the Interior secretary during a hearing scheduled for Feb. 23."
"President Biden plans to nominate David Turk, a former Obama administration official, as his deputy energy secretary."
A computer hacker nearly succeeded recently in rendering a local Florida facility a source of poisonous drinking water. And the risk of other such hacks is real, even as the vulnerabilities are hidden behind stringent U.S. secrecy laws. The latest TipSheet explores dangers to our drinking water supply — which go well beyond future hacking.
"House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) says his legislative priorities this year will include legislation to advance environmental justice and update the country’s laws governing public lands mining."
"The high-level group’s first meeting focused on job creation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
"WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and White House aides convened cabinet secretaries and the acting heads of 21 federal agencies on Thursday to begin fulfilling President Biden’s promise to mobilize the entire federal government to confront climate change.
"The world’s state-owned fossil fuel companies are poised to invest about $1.9tn (£1.4tn) in the next decade in projects that would destroy any prospect of meeting the Paris agreement climate goals."
"Rep. Deb Haaland’s road to confirmation as the nation’s first Native American Interior secretary is likely to pass through New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon. The sacred and historic site is at the nexus of fossil fuels, environmental justice, and conservation issues likely to be raised at the Senate confirmation hearing for Haaland (D-N.M.)."
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