"The Trump administration is quietly taking steps to circumvent federal laws in its quest to bolster U.S. mineral production." "The Pentagon used a little-known legal provision to shield a multibillion-dollar rare earths deal from procurement and contracting laws."
"Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said he halted construction of a wind project off the coast of New York earlier this year because scientists revealed that the Biden administration “rushed approval” of the development based on “flawed science. But Burgum himself won’t reveal what those scientists said — or present the flaws."
"Renewable projects have historically been able to qualify for federal tax credits once a developer spent 5 percent of a project’s cost. But that threshold would be scrapped under the new Treasury Department guidance."
"The Republican lawmakers who voted for Donald Trump’s anti-environment tax and spending bill have accepted more than $105m in political donations from the fossil fuel industry, a new analysis has found, raising concerns about their relationship with big oil."
"The prolonged Nordic heatwave in July was supercharged by the climate crisis and shows “no country is safe from climate change”, scientists say."
"California has approved an unprecedented plan to protect the iconic Joshua tree from climate change and development."
"In El Paso, heat deaths hit record highs in 2023 and 2024. Advocates say not enough is being done to protect the region’s most vulnerable people."
Public databases — a boon to good environmental reporting — have long been a priority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as evidenced in its just-published “open data plan.” But as an analysis in the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, that pioneering approach may succumb to Trump 2.0 policies. What’s at stake and what’s already being lost.
"The recently passed spending bill sets logging targets that federal officials don’t have the capacity to meet" "The new law sets aggressive timber harvesting goals and slashes spending for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Environmental advocates and industry insiders say those goals are contradictory and unworkable."
"Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said Thursday that climate and earth science at the agency will “move aside” as it refocuses solely on space exploration."
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