"Mayflies, which form swarms in the billions that are visible on weather radar, are in steep decline, mirroring the plight of insects worldwide."
Despite warnings that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would be dismantled under the Trump administration, it remains very much alive, thanks to the realities of politics and litigation. Yet its staffing, enforcement and science advisory roles remain under the gun. In the latest of our Backgrounders for the “2020 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment,” we read the tea leaves on the future of the EPA.
"Trenton Water Works — a 200-year-old utility that is owned and operated by the city and serves 217,000 customers in Trenton, Hamilton, Lawrence, Ewing and Hopewell Township — plans to spend $150 million over the next five years to replace more than 36,000 lead service lines in the water system."
"A six-mile-long barrier would help protect the city from floodwaters during fierce storms like Sandy, but critics say rising seas make the option inadequate."
"President Trump announced his administration's plan for a major rollback to an Obama-era water rule on Sunday, a move the White House believes could pay dividends with the farm vote in this year's presidential election."
"A new study unravels the mystery of what caused so many of these normally resilient seabirds to starve amid an ocean heat wave fueled in part by global warming."
"California’s governor has restarted a project to build a giant, underground tunnel that would pump billions of gallons of water from the San Joaquin Delta to the southern part of the state."
"A swath of land in the Everglades at the center of a fight between a family determined to drill for oil and a constellation of parties urging them not to might finally have a new future. The state intends to buy the 20,000-acre tract outright and halt the threat of oil drilling on the protected lands near Broward County’s western suburbs, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday."
"Is the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load and its cleanup deadline enforceable? The answer is complicated."
"A climate research organization will offer access to a risk model that predicts the probability of flooding for homes across the United States, giving the public a look at the data institutional investors use to gauge risk."
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