"The administration is spending at least $67 million worth of fees paid by visitors to national parks on fixing D.C. fountains and the Reflecting Pool."
"Artificial intelligence is making it easier for bad actors to initiate cyberattacks on water infrastructure, yet the water sector remains inadequately prepared, a panel of experts told lawmakers Thursday." "House lawmakers are considering whether more funding or expanded EPA authority could address the problem."
"It’s a milestone moment that shows just how much clean energy has matured in a short amount of time — and a lot more growth is on the way."
"At the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission headquarters in Virginia, staff knew their crumbling asphalt parking lot was in desperate need of repair. But instead of replacing the lot with more dark blacktop, the group chose an alternative."
"Plans for a celebrity-backed “hyperscale” data center in rural Utah, so massive that it would consume more than double the state’s current electricity use, have generated an intense public and political backlash in a state where the motto is “industry” and a Republican supermajority tends to be deferential to development."
"California is considering giving oil refineries and other major polluters billions in free pollution permits under a major overhaul of its carbon market. The fight is exposing a deeper question inside Gov. Gavin Newsom's climate agenda: Can California lower emissions without driving up gas prices?"
"For the first time ever, solar is set to generate more electricity than coal in the power market managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Nobody is building new coal power plants in the state, but developers are adding more solar there than anywhere else in the country."
"As an Ebola outbreak rages in central and East Africa, public health workers say that the response has been stymied by the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid and global health organizations." "One health provider who works on the ground says that basic medical equipment like masks and hand sanitizers are in short supply due to funding cuts."
"White sage burning, Norma Meza Calles gathers guests at a Mexican wellness resort into a semicircle facing Kuuchamaa Mountain and asks everyone to close their eyes and feel its presence."
"The general manager of President Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., has offered suggestions to guide the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and helped recruit one of the contractors for the job, according to federal documents and a government spokeswoman."
