"Stephen Roe Lewis grew up seeing stacks of legal briefs at the dinner table — often, about his tribe’s water. His father, the late Rodney Lewis, was general counsel for the Gila River Indian Community and fought for the tribe’s rights to water in the Southwest, eventually securing in 2004 the largest Native American water settlement in U.S. history."
"Federal regulators on Thursday approved a Louisiana liquefied natural gas project that has been a lightning rod for environmental activists and an energy policy litmus test for President Joe Biden's administration."
"The Supreme Court opened the door Monday to setting new limits for how agencies account for climate and environmental risks for new projects." "The case follows the court’s recent trend of picking up controversial environmental issues."
"Rising waters on the Blue Earth River in Minnesota washed out a portion of the Rapidan Dam near the town of Mankato, 50 miles southwest of Minneapolis, as floods inundated parts of the Midwest."
"Norfolk Southern and its contractors botched the decision to blow open five vinyl chloride tank cars after last year’s disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and trackside detectors that might have prevented the crash failed to accurately detect the temperature of a burning wheel bearing 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) beforehand, according to the National Transportation Safety Board."
"Mayor Adams’ proposed budget cuts may place an outsized burden on park conservancies and small volunteer groups. With less than 1 percent of the city budget spent on parks, they’re finding it harder and harder to keep up."
When heat waves hit your area, as they did for much of the United States in June, local responses can (and should) go well beyond individual behaviors to address broader area actions — from cool pavements to urban trees. For environmental journalists, that means community-level heat response is an important climate story angle. TipSheet explains, then offers a dozen story ideas, along with reporting resources.
"BNSF Railway must pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state, a federal judge ordered Monday after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the tribe’s reservation."
"Roughly one in four U.S. households have soil exceeding the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lead screening levels of 200 parts per million (ppm), halved from the previous level of 400 ppm, a new study found. For households with exposure from multiple sources, the EPA lowered the guidance to 100 ppm; nearly 40% of households exceed that level, the study also found."
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