"A U.S. judge has dealt another blow to the Trump administration's efforts to increase domestic oil and gas output from public lands, saying officials failed to protect habitat for a declining bird species when it issued energy leases on hundreds of square miles."
"The Trump administration's aggressive deregulatory agenda has run full-speed into a blockade set by Democratic attorneys general."
"Federal pipeline inspectors didn't like what they found when they looked at construction of the Permian Express pipeline."
"International negotiations designed to address the sweeping global threat of climate change will quite likely be delayed by a full year because of the coronavirus pandemic."
"Struggling commercial fishers and environmentalists say the White House is exploiting COVID-19 to privatize the ocean."
"A judge threw out a lawsuit on Friday from a coalition of states, environmental groups and American Indians which sought to revive an Obama-era moratorium against U.S. government coal sales on public lands in the West."
"A coal company has challenged an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) power plant pollution regulation in court after the agency recently finalized changes that weaken the standards' legal underpinnings."
"Some of the nation’s automakers are set to intervene in a lawsuit from a conservative group challenging the Trump administration’s plans to drastically reduce fuel economy standards."
"An executive order signed by President Trump directing agencies to slash regulations in order to boost the economy is likely to lead to a number of court challenges."
Unheeded warnings are the hallmark of many disasters. And with coronavirus still hobbling the nation, communities and journalists must now watch for all the ways COVID-19 could make even the most familiar hazards far worse. Prepare with this extensive Backgrounder, which touches on issues around evacuations and emergency readiness when facing storms, fires, toxic releases and more.
