The upward trends for renewable energy sources like wind and solar are a sure source of news for 2019, even if challenging political, economic and technical obstacles remain. This week’s TipSheet explains why, plus suggests stories to look for, notes the points of possible contention and offers a range of reporting resources to turn to.
"House and Senate negotiators are still haggling over a year-end public lands package that would reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund but would also include several parochial bills, some of which could be controversial."
"The Interior Department tomorrow is due to auction off the last available oil and gas leases at the eastern edge of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 22.1-million-acre block of federal property on Alaska's North Slope."
"Rural Republicans in the U.S. House now face a stark political choice: Either saying no to a bill farmers in their districts desperately need or saying yes and surrendering in their battle to crack down on the federal food stamp program."
"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.
"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has resurrected a federally chartered board that advises the National Park Service with his own appointees, nearly a year after most of its former members resigned in frustration." ... "The new members are either all registered Republicans or have voted in GOP primaries."
"An industrious but finicky pest could be the key to restoring Washington State’s wetlands and salmon populations."
"Environmental groups have gone to court to challenge the state's decision last month to grant two key permits for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine near the Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a challenge by three conservation groups to the authority of President Donald Trump’s administration to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a victory for Trump who has made the wall a centerpiece of his hardline immigration policies."
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