"U.S. lawmakers have reached an agreement on the Farm Bill that drops a proposal to tighten food stamps restrictions backed by President Donald Trump, and are looking to vote on it this week, according to congressional staffers."
As Democrats take charge of the House of Representatives next month, they’ll be wielding powerful congressional oversight powers over environment and energy matters. Watch for oversight drama in 2019 as committees take a closer look at natural resource policy at the Interior Department, the rollback of climate policy, attacks on climate science and more. All in our latest Issue Backgrounder.
Environmental justice-related stories are expected to get more attention in the news media in 2019. But that’s not because the challenge of protecting marginalized communities from lopsided environmental impacts is being met. This week’s TipSheet explains, in a look-ahead to environmental justice stories making the news, the many forms the problem takes, the many communities affected and the emerging notion of “climate justice.”
"Environmental attorneys are calling on the National Elk Refuge to make good on old promises and produce a decade-delayed plan detailing how it will achieve a court-ordered reduction in elk feeding."
"A new water rule that will strip federal protections from an estimated 60-90 percent of U.S. waterways will dramatically ease restrictions on how polluting industries do business. ... But oil and gas transport companies may benefit most from the imminent shift."
"California's building codes are not keeping up with the severe, wind-driven wildfires that are becoming the norm."
"Indigenous and youth groups disrupted a U.S. government event at the U.N. climate talks Monday, criticizing the Trump administration’s policy of backing the extraction of fossil fuels, the burning of which increases global warming."
"The United States worked with Russia and Saudi Arabia on Saturday night to sideline climate science in U.N. negotiations, angering nations that say urgent action is needed for their survival."
"OPEC and its Russia-led allies agreed on Friday to slash oil production by more than the market had expected despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to reduce the price of crude."
"The Trump administration’s proposal to roll back fuel economy standards relies on an error-ridden and misleading analysis that overestimates the costs and understates the benefits of tighter regulation, an independent study by leading economists, engineers and other experts has found."
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