"America the Undammed"
"More miles of the country’s rivers were reconnected last year thanks to dam removals than at any other time in history."
Source: New York Times, 05/08/2026
EJToday: Top Environmental Politics Headlines
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"Ted Turner, A Media Mogul Who Tried To Repair The Land"
"Ted Turner built a media empire, then turned much of his wealth and attention toward land, wildlife, clean energy, and conservation. His vast private landholdings became working examples of restoration, from bison herds and native trout to longleaf pines and red-cockaded woodpeckers."
Source: Mongabay, 05/08/2026"Microsoft May Abandon Its Clean Energy Powered Data Centre Targets"
"Microsoft Corp. may shelve one of the industry’s most ambitious clean-energy targets as it tries to remove hurdles that could hold it back in the race to power data centres, according to people with knowledge of the matter."
Source: Bloomberg, 05/08/2026"Trump’s Firing Plan Terrified Feds. Now, They Wait."
"President Donald Trump has yet to launch a crucial part of his workforce agenda that could rip civil service protections from thousands of federal employees." "A new employee classification is meant to purge the career workforce of impartial expertise and instead steer it toward the president’s political goals, critics say."
Source: E&E News, 05/08/2026"Storm Season Is Here and the National Weather Service Is Short-Handed"
"The National Weather Service is struggling to recover from last year’s deep staff cuts, raising doubts among some meteorologists about whether the agency is ready for severe storms or hurricane season, which starts next month."
Source: New York Times, 05/07/2026"Trump Admin Opens Door to Resumed ‘Cyanide Bomb’ Use on BLM Land"
"The Trump administration has quietly opened the door to the resumed use of so-called “cyanide bombs” on Bureau of Land Management parcels across the country, according to an internal April 2026 memo."
Source: Public Domain, 05/07/2026Texas Bills Could Have Protected Residents From Deadly Floods
"Texas lawmakers have for years rejected legislation that could have protected residents in the state’s flood-prone areas. Three bills would have banned youth camps or nearly all development in areas most at risk of dangerous flooding. Experts said the bills could have saved lives."
Source: ProPublica/Texas Tribune, 05/07/2026"Health Advocates Demand Federal Action In Nitrate “Health Emergency”"
"More than 80 health and environmental groups are calling on federal agencies to use emergency powers to protect Americans from a “public health emergency” driven by industrial farming practices that are dangerously polluting drinking water."
Source: The New Lede, 05/07/2026Georgia Officials Knew Carpet Mills Were Polluting Water. People Did Not
"Growing up in northwest Georgia, Stormy Bost lived her life in the water. During summers she plucked crawdads from the neighborhood creek and played in its cool depths, racing home for dinner to beat the setting sun."
Source: AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 05/07/2026European Firms Reflag Ships To Tap Indian Ocean Tuna Quotas, Report Finds
"The European fishing fleet has long been a powerhouse at catching tuna, with a fleet of massive vessels known as purse seiners that can hold as much as 4 million pounds (1.8 million kilograms) of fish at a time. Dozens of them roam the Indian Ocean, fishing for skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna destined for cans on grocery store shelves."
Source: AP, 05/07/2026Alaska Agents Can Kill Bears From Helicopters To Protect Caribou: Judge
"Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears — including from helicopters — as part of a plan to help recover a caribou herd that was once an important source of food for Alaska Native hunters, a judge ruled Wednesday."
Source: AP, 05/07/2026"FDA Halts Publication Of Studies On Covid, Shingles Vaccines"
"The Food and Drug Administration stopped publication of studies about the safety of vaccines to protect against covid-19 and shingles in recent months, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department said."
Source: Washington Post, 05/06/2026Trump USFS Falls Behind On Wildfire Prevention With Risky Fire Season Ahead
"With wildfires already burning and drought persisting across much of the U.S., fire experts are bracing for what could be an extreme fire season. The U.S. Forest Service is going into it having done far less work than in recent years to manage the dry, flammable vegetation that can fuel catastrophic fires."
Source: NPR, 05/06/2026Endangered Whale Protections May Be Delayed Until 2035 Under Trump Plan
"For roughly 380 right whales left in the North Atlantic, which can die after getting tangled in fishing ropes or hit by ships, the Trump administration said this month it wants to delay new protections by almost a decade in favor of commercial fishing interests."
Source: AP, 05/06/2026"Wall Street Regulator Moves To Scrap Biden-Era Climate Rule"
"Wall Street's top regulator is crafting regulations to undo a dormant Biden-era rule intended to help investors gauge companies' climate-related spending and risks, according to a notice on the U.S. budget office website."
Source: Reuters, 05/06/2026
