Water & Oceans

Telling the Stories of the Silent Sentinels

To many, plants are a merely green backdrop, indistinguishable and inconsequential. But, freelancer Karen Mockler says that such “plant blindness” belies an urgent need for our notice. More than a third of the world’s trees and thousands of other plant species face extinction. Their plight — and their many blessings — offer perceptive journalists a wealth of reporting and storytelling opportunities. Mockler on why to write about plants.

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Trump Wants To Upend Calif. Water Policy. Officials Say It Could Do Harm

"In one of the first acts of his second term, President Trump is seeking to put his stamp on California water policy by directing the federal government to put “people over fish” and send more water from Northern California to the Central Valley’s farms and Southern California cities."

Source: LA Times, 01/24/2025

"With EPA Support, The Corps Is Moving Forward With The Yazoo Pumps"

"The U.S Army Corps of Engineers announced last Friday it’s moving forward with an altered version of the Yazoo Pumps, a flood relief project that the agency has touted for decades. The project now also has the backing of the Environmental Protection Agency, whose veto killed a previous iteration in 2008 because of the pumps’ potential to harm 67,000 acres of valuable wetland habitat."

Source: Mississippi Today, 01/24/2025

Trump Wants Showers And Toilets To Flow Greatly Again; So May Utility Bills

"President Donald Trump once expressed concern with how low showerhead flow affected his “perfect” hair. Now back in the White House, he’s again taking aim at some high-efficiency household items — and that may mean higher water and electric bills in your home."

Source: AP, 01/22/2025

"Trump Freezes New Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Wind Leases"

"President Trump directed the Treasury Department to freeze new offshore wind leases on the outer continental shelf Monday evening as one of a flurry of executive orders he signed within hours of taking office."

Source: The Hill, 01/22/2025

"Trump Freezes Inflation Reduction Act And Infrastructure-Law Funding"

"The Trump administration has ordered federal agencies to ​“immediately pause the disbursement of funds” under the landmark federal climate and energy laws passed during the Biden administration, a move that will throw tens of billions of dollars of lawfully designated federal funding into limbo — and one that is likely to be challenged in court."

Source: Canary Media, 01/22/2025

Biden NMFS Withdraws Proposal to Expand Protections for Right Whales

"The Biden administration on Thursday withdrew a proposal to expand protections for an endangered whale species. The rules would have required some ships along the Eastern Seaboard to slow down." "The proposed rules would have slowed more ships to prevent collisions with endangered North Atlantic right whales."

Source: NYTimes, 01/17/2025

"Texas Is Unprepared for Compound Climate Disasters"

"Sandra Edwards awoke on the morning of July 8 to the sounds of howling winds and gushing water. As she made her way from the bedroom to the living room, she stepped in a puddle. She turned on her phone’s flashlight and saw a hole in the roof, wooly insulation hanging off the ceiling and water pouring in. Hurricane Beryl had just made landfall in Houston."

Source: Public Health Watch, 01/17/2025

Maine: "Yarmouth Approves Plan To Remove Two Royal River Dams"

"The Yarmouth town council voted unanimously this month to remove two town-owned dams on the Royal River and consider fish passage improvements at a stretch of rapids in between them, a historic vote more than two decades in the making."

Source: Maine Monitor, 01/15/2025

"DC Sues Federal Government Over Pollution In Anacostia River"

"The District of Columbia on Friday filed a lawsuit against the federal government over pollution in the Anacostia River, arguing it has inflicted “catastrophic harm” on the mostly poor and minority communities living along the urban waterway."

Source: AP, 01/15/2025

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