"Climate-related disasters have cost the world $650 billion over the last three years, and North America is shouldering most of the burden, according to a new report from Morgan Stanley."
"Lyft is backing a legal challenge against a key part of the Trump administration’s plan to weaken fuel emissions standards for the auto industry."
"The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors voted to shut down two aging coal-fired power plants, defying a tweet from President Trump on Monday urging the agency to keep one of them open."
"Bill Wehrum, the Environmental Protection Agency’s top air policy official, continued to stay in close touch with employees at his former law firm after joining the Trump administration, according to documents released this week under the Freedom of Information Act."
"The U.S. president has joined Kentucky's governor and the coal state's U.S. senators in trying to pressure the Tennessee Valley Authority to keep a 49-year-old coal-fired power plant operating, even though the nation's largest public electric utility has concluded that the plant is unreliable, no longer needed and too expensive to repair and operate."
"Despite promises to steer clear of his former employer, the disgraced banker who spearheaded EPA's toxic waste cleanup reform efforts communicated extensively while at the agency with the institution he once led, newly released emails show."
"EPA air chief Bill Wehrum refused for 10 months to release a recusal letter detailing his past work representing chemical manufacturers, refiners, oil drillers and coal-fired power plants."
Our latest Issue Backgrounder looks at the potentially historic impact of the ambitious climate action agenda known as the Green New Deal — not just on this Congress or the next, or even on the race for the White House in 2020, but for the soul of the Democratic Party. An analysis of a public policy program in the making, the political maneuvering it’s engendering and its prospects to sow division or prompt a united front.
The Green New Deal may be just a broad outline, even after the recent introduction of a resolution in Congress. But don’t think the lack of specificity means the Green New Deal won’t be news for the long term. This week’s TipSheet explains the reasons the Green New Deal may endure and why it matters, plus story ideas and resources for journalists covering climate, environmental politics and more.
