Natural Resources

"Miners and their advocates worry that DOGE's cuts to the Mine Safety and Health Administration will put them at risk."

"When Leslie Stewart moved to her home in a rural expanse of Lincoln County outside of Oklahoma City more than 20 years ago, she thought she’d found a slice of heaven. ... But several years ago, her neighbor began applying sewage sludge, which consists largely of human waste left over from municipal wastewater treatment facilities, as a fertilizer on his farmland, causing a rancid smell so powerful it nearly took her breath away."

"The Trump administration's efforts to end federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs has hit an unexpected target: In February, communities around the country learned that funding was canceled for a nationwide tree-planting program aimed at making neighborhoods cooler, healthier and more resilient to climate change."

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, although battered by Trump administration attempts to impose massive staff and budget cuts on the agency, nevertheless continues to publish critical climate information, including some dire drought warnings in the spring outlook published March 20 by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center."

"Advocates fear the agency will “justify avoiding any enforcement whatsoever” of millions of tons of coal ash nationwide."

"With the release of its fourth and final round of color-coded hazard maps this morning, California’s firefighting agency is showing just how much of the state is prone to wildfire — and how much that computationally-modeled danger zone has grown since the state issued its last round of local hazard maps more than a decade ago."

"Sardines in the Mediterranean struggling for a decent bite of shrinking plankton are accidentally ingesting more and more microplastics and microfibres, scientists have found. And the root cause of all their problems? Well, it's climate change - of course."

"Fifteen years of coordinated conservation efforts have produced a significant recovery in the U.S. population of the American oystercatcher, a bird with a distinctive bright red bill that breeds and roosts on beaches and coastal marshes, at a time when most shorebirds are declining."

"President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order intended to boost production of critical minerals in the United States and confirmed a deal to gain access to minerals in Ukraine was still on track.'